NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 07952699 6 X FRED LOCKLEY RARE WESTERN BOOKS 4227 S. E. Stark St. PORTLAND. ORE. >'\' >V- 1. V \ ALFRED HOWE TERRY. First Colonel Seventh Connecticut Volunteers. Afterward Major General, U. S. A. JOSEPH ROSWELL HAWLEY. Second Colonel Seventh Connecticut Volunteers. Afterward Brevet Major General, U. S. V. Twenty-four Years in U. S. Senate. History OF THE Seventh Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Hawley's Brigade, Terry's Division Tenth Army Corps 1861-1865 COMPILED BY STEPHEN WALKLEY PRIVATE, COMPANY A, SEVENTH CONNECTICUT VOLUNTEERS CLERK IN ADJUTANT GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT AT GENERAL TERRY'S HEADQUARTERS THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 1907931$ ASTOR, LENOX AND WLDBN FOUNDATIONS B 1942 L TO THE CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN OF THE BRAVE BOYS WHOSE NAMES ARE BORNE ON THE ROLLS OF THE SEVENTH REGIMENT CONNECTICUT VOLUNTEERS THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. PREFACE. At the thirty-fifth annual reunion of The Seventh Con- necticut Regiment Association, held at Meriden, September 7, 1904, the following resolution was passed. Resolved: That Comrade Stephen Walkley be, and is hereby appointed historian, and authorized to compile a history of the Regiment from 1S61 to 1865. Attest, V. F. McNeil, Secretary. In accordance with the above resolution this volume has been compiled. The authorities principally consulted are : 1. Official Records of the War of the Rebellion. 130 volumes and 175 maps. Published by the War Depart- ment. These are referred to in notes as "OfficialRecords." For the use of these I am indebted to the courtesy of Con- gressman E. Stevens Henry. 2. A complete itinerary of the regiment compiled from private letters by Capt. E. Lewis Moore, A. A. G. By his permission I have copied freely, sometimes changing phraseology to adapt it to other parts of the narrative. For the many cases in which such changes impair his felicitous style I confidently expect pardon. 3. Extracts from Company Records furnished by O. S. Firmin of the Auditor's Department in Washington. 4. The Company Records of Co. H. loaned by the late Lieut. W. F. Goodyear. 5. Numerous private letters, journals, etc., which can- not be specifically mentioned. 6. Verbal accounts gathered by attendance at thirty- two company and thirty-five regimental reunions. Preface. 7. "The Defense of Charleston Harbor," copyrighted. This volume was written by A Taj or John Johnson of the Confederate Engineers (now Rev. John Johnson, D. D.), by appointment of General Beauregard. I am indebted to Dr. Johnson for man}' courtesies. Special acknowledgments are also due to Herbert W. Beecher of New York City, historian of the First Connect- icut Light Battery, and Sergeant John Taylor, historian of the First Connecticut Heavy Artillery, for the free loan of engravings and many other courtesies. Remembering that out of about two thousand enlisted in the regiment only about two hundred are left, it is evident that most of the readers of the work will be the children and grandchildren of the soldiers. Since such are not supposed to be familiar with some of the military terms used, definitions and explanations have been given in man}' cases. It it hoped that the comrades to whom this was not necessary will excuse it for their children's sake. Stephen Walkley. SOUTHINGTON, CONN., May I, I905. ENGRAVINGS Page General Alfred Howe Terry, - - / r^ t d zj i Frontispiece General Joseph Roswell Hawley, - \ Hilton Head, -------- 35 Winter at "Lone Tybee," - - - - -36 Winter in Connecticut, - - - - - 36 A Sling Cart, ....... ^q Battle at Secessionyille, - - - - - 53 Swamp Angel, -------- 89 Fort Sumter Before Bombardment, - - - 97 Fort Sumter After First Bombardment, - - 97 Ten-inch Parrott Rifle Seryed by the Seyenth Against Fort Sumter, - - - - - 98 Torpedo, --------- i02 Sumter, December, 1863, Interior, - - - 109 Sumter, December, 1863, Exterior, - - - no Palmetto on the St. John, - - - - - 125 City Point, - - - - - - - - 130 Pontoon Bridge, - - - - - - - 144 Plan of Fort Fisher, - - - - - - 180 Interior of Fort Fisher, ----- i^0 Resolution of Congress, - - - - - 194 Mrs. Joseph Roswell Hawley, - - - - 215 The Tablet to the Memory of Mrs. Hawley, - 219 Gillmore Medal, - - - - - - - 221 Appendix — J. Massey Rhind's Designs for Tablet, 19 Joint Monument, ----- 23 MAPS I. Coast Bet. Savannah and Charleston, facing 28 II. James Island, - facing 48 III. Operations on Morris Island, - facing 69 IV. Part of Coast of Florida to Illustrate Battle of Olustee, - - - - 118 V. Richmond and Bermuda Hundred, facing 151 VI. Fortifications Around Petersburg, - - 163 5 The Story of the Seventh* CHAPTER I. HOW IT BEGAN. Disastrous as was the rout of the Union forces at Bull Run, on Sunday, July 21, 1861, it was doubtless worth more to the Union cause than would have been a victory. It taught the North how great was the task before it ; but more than that, it sent a sting of shame throughout the country which made thousands eager to enlist and wipe out the disgrace. Among those who keenly felt this sting, were Colonel Alfred H. Terry of the Second Connecticut Regiment and Joseph R. Hawley, captain of rifle company A of the First. It was not shame for themselves ; they had brought off their commands in good order and in official dispatches were mentioned with honor.* Stedman of the New York World wrote of the three Connecticut regiments brigaded under General Tyler : ''The Connecticut brigade was the last to leave the field of Bull Run, and by hard fighting had to defend itself and protect our scattered thousands for several miles of the retreat." Colonel Terry and Captain Hawley were ardent patriots, and during their short term of service had become sincere friends. As soon as their men were cared for they sought each other to talk it over. "Colonel," said the captain, "This makes me feel that the whole North is humiliated ; what effect do you think it will have on future enlistments?" * See Appendix 1. How it Began. August, 1861. "How does it make you feel, like backing out?" "No! I feel if possible more like seeing the thing through than before." "Well, I think that will be the effect all through the North ; I, for one, am determined to commence recruiting a regiment for the war as soon as this farce of three months' regiments is played out." "I am with you there, three months is scarcely time to teach the men the facings ; we have all been fools ; this disgrace ought to teach us a little wisdom." Before parting, they pledged themselves to each other to go home and begin recruiting a regiment for three years or the war. A little more than two weeks later, their three months having expired, they were mustered out and went home ; Colonel Terry to New Haven, and Captain Hawlev to Hart- ford. Governor Buckingham, on August 15th, issued general orders directing that volunteers be accepted for the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth, three vears' regiments. Col- onels Chatfield and Terry were appointed colonels respect- ively of the Sixth and Seventh ; and those regiments were ordered to rendezvous at New Haven. Captain Hawlev at once commenced recruiting a company, with the hope of joining one of them. Such was the feeling of the officers of the Seventh ; a single example will illustrate the spirit of their men. Three young men of Hartford County, cousins, were discussing the question of their own duty. They did not think of enlisting immediately, but thought it might be well to begin drill and other preparations, so that they might be in a measure ready if needed. They drove into Hartford to see Captain Hawlev. After one of them had stated their feeling, the captain said: How it Began. August, 1861. "My advice is that you enlist at once." "But two of us occupy positions that cannot be relin- quished hastily and one has a wife and child to support." "Of that, of course you are the best judges ; all that I can say is that two hundred thousand men now, will be worth more than twice the number six months hence." "Well, of course we want to go if it is necessary, but it seems as if it was the duty of some who are not so much tied up as we are to go first." The captain smiled. "Did you ever see anything accomplished by waiting for others to do their duty? The fact is, that those of us who see the need of men will have to do more than our duty to make up for those who do less than theirs." "Are you recruiting a company?" "Yes, and I hope to make it up from men like you, who go in not for the excitement, but from principle. I have already some such men from Hartford and adjoining towns, and if you join us, I think you will mid congenial company." The young men went home inspired by the captain's words. They agreed that if the married one could provide suitable care for his wife and child during his absence, and could get his life insured, they would all enlist together. There was no difficulty about providing for his wife at her father's home ; but when he tried to take out an insur- ance policy he found that all the agents to whom he applied were refusing war risks. At length he asked a business man who was going to Xew Haven to see what he could do there. When the gentleman stepped off the car at Xew Haven, the first man he met was a prominent life insurance agent. "You are just the man I was looking for. Will you issue a policy of life insurance to a man about to enlist in the volunteer army?" 9 How it Began. August, 1861. "Yes, if he is a sound risk in other respects." This settled it. The young men had thrown the deci- sion on Providence and thenceforth had no doubt that it was the will of God that they should enlist. This was on Friday ; they saw some other young men with whom they had previously spoken, and on the next Monday with nine others, five of whom were members of one Sunday school class, drove into Hartford and enrolled themselves in Captain Hawley's company. They were sur- prised to see two of their fellow townsmen there before them and eventually twenty-five from their town joined the same company. Similar scenes were transpiring in contiguous towns ; a short time afterward Captain Hawley's company was full. "Birds of a feather flock together." After the company reached camp and became acquainted, it proved to have in its membership many whose prime motive in enlisting was religious principle. After the war, three of its members studied and became ministers of the Gospel ; in camp it acquired a reputation which is well illustrated by an anecdote. In 1868 one of its members was paymaster in a manu- facturing company. One day, just after pay day, an employee came into the orifice and asked for five dollars. "What do you want it for?" "To pay my board." "Why didn't you pay your board out of what you got yesterday?" "Because there was not enough of it to go around." "Then you should have paid more for board and less for beer." "You don't think I have got on a bigger jag than I can carry do you?" 10 How it Began. August, 1861. "No, but I think you could have carried it straighter if you had gone twice for it." "Well, give me five dollars." "No, you can't have a cent." "That's a pretty way for an old soldier to treat another." "What was your regiment?" "The Seventh Connecticut." "Why, that was mine, too." "Yes, I know you ; you belonged to that Bible class company." While the right flank company was forming, a similar spirit was moving throughout the Commonwealth. The announcement that Terry was to be colonel of the Seventh brought to his standard squads and companies from all over Connecticut. When camp was established at Oyster Point (now City Point), New Haven, the regiment rapidly filled; it repre- sented every county, and one hundred and thirty-four out of the one hundred and sixty-eight towns of the state. * Following this history through the war, and knowing the survivors, one cannot but feel that they were fair samples of what Connecticut homes, schools and churches have done to produce good citizens. Not all of native stock, all had caught the true American idea. Of all re- ligions, a few claiming to be of no religion, there were many who would have felt it no honor to be known as "a Bible class company ;" yet all honored right, truth and goodness, and were ever ready to stand boldly in their de- fense. Whether because sacrifice ennobles men, or whether only the noble will offer themselves for sacrifice, I am sure that any one who knew the inner and outer life of those men would acknowledge that they were "Nature's Noblemen." *See Appendix 2. ir How it Began. August, t86i. Private letters and journals show that in nearly every company there was a nucleus of strong" characters drawn together by the earnest patriotism of one or more of their number. One teacher of a high school in Litchfield County closed his school for the purpose of enlisting. Seven of his pupils enlisted with him in Company G, and fifteen in all joined the regiment, inspired by their example. In Windham County a minister cheered on a squad from his congregation who enlisted in Company K, and his letters, gifts and prayers followed them wherever they went. Such was the material of which the Seventh Regiment was composed. 12 CHAPTER II. AT OYSTER POINT. As the companies assembled at Camp English, Septem- ber i, 1861, where they found the Sixth encamped, tents were pitched, company streets policed, and the daily routine of military life commenced. One member of the company sent home to his wife the following program of daily duty: 5 A. M. Reveille and Roll Call. 6 A. M. Breakfast. 8 to 10. Drill. 12 M. Dinner. 2 to 4 P. M. Drill again. 6. Supper. 9. Tattoo and Roll Call. Xext — Family Prayers in our tent. 9.30. Three taps of the drum — lights out. A member of another tent's crew writes in his journal that same program, except that he substitutes euchre for prayers. At first, drill was partly conducted by teachers or pupils from Russell's Military School, but soon the sergeants were able to drill their own squads, and the words "Left!" "Left!" "Left!" "Right!" "Left!" sounded all over the parade grounds. The frequent meet- ing of squads gave practice in changing the line of march to the "Right Flank!" or "Right About March!" Many bought copies of Hardee's Tactics, and one tent's Note. The companies were mustered into the U. S. Service in the following order: Companies A, D and H, September 5th. Com- pany C, September 6th. Companies B, E and G, September 7th. Company F, September 9th ; K, September 12th; I, September 13th. 13 At Oyster Point. September i to 18, 1861. crew bought a copy of Army Regulations, and studied it together between supper and tattoo. While not at drill, swimming in the sound, writing letters home, athletic exercises and camp jokes filled the time agreeably. With intelligence, study and patience on the part of both officers and men, a good degree of proficiency in company drill was acquired. Colonel Terry was wise enough to see that an essential preparation for service was thorough discipline. To those who felt themselves everybody's equal and whose only law was their own sweet will, this came rather hard. To respect rank, regardless of character, and to bear silently reproof, sometimes undeserved, is never easy. Though the officers were more considerate and lenient in Xew Haven than after we reached Washington, such escapades as some other regiments relate were not tolerated in the Seventh. Colonel Terry's discipline may be illustrated by three anecdotes. When we were at Annapolis, Private John Bacon was stationed as sentry at a gate and told to allow no one to pass without the countersign. A field officer, who had imbibed so freely that he felt as if he owned the State of Maryland, rode up and attempted to pass. The sentry brought his piece to "charge," and demanded the countersign. The officer tried to spur his horse over him, and the sentry pricked the horse's breast with his bayonet. The animal, which had not shared the potations of his master, refused to breast the bavonet aq-ain. The officer had to dismount and give the countersign. He then re- mounted and rode to camp in high indignation, saying : "I will have you court martialed for this, sir!" Shortly after- wards, the officer of the guard relieved the sentry and took him to regimental headquarters. Coming into Colonel Terry's presence, he saluted, and the colonel asked : "Did you prick Major 's horse?'' 14 At Oyster Point. September i to 18, 1861. "Yes, sir." "Why did you do it?" "Because he refused to give the countersign and tried to ride over me.'' "Did you finally let him pass?" "Yes, sir." "Did he give the countersign first?" "Yes, sir." The colonel turned to the officer of the guard with that kind smile which the boys remember so well and said : "Put this man back on his post. I wish we had a thousand more like him." At Edisto, a sergeant who had been outside the lines with his squad on picket duty, passed an abandoned church. Going in, he found that some lawless persons had committed depredations upon the cushions and hymn books. Under the desk was a beautiful pulpit bible, and wishing to save it, he slung it under his rifle and, with one of his men, started to carry it to camp. On the way they were met by Colonel Terry, who said : "What have you there, Ser- geant ?" -A bible." "Where did you get it?" '' "At the church back there." The colonel rose in his stirrups and said in a severe tone : "Carry it back at once ! I did not suppose a member of my regiment would steal a bible !" For a time Seabrook's Island was picketed by some of the regiments in alternation, and the negroes had found that when some regiments were there the safest place for their chickens was in the cabin with themselves. The chaplain relates that once when the Seventh relieved another regi- ment, a colored matron was heard to say to her husband : "Come, Monday ; we's got to rassle 'round and get in dem chick'ns; it's most dark." "No," was the reply. "We 15 At Oyster Point. September i to 18, 1861. ain't got to get de chick'ns in the cab'n to-night ; (lis regi- ment neber steal." In New Haven clothing and arms were issued : clothing September 13th; arms and accoutrements five days later. In the matter of uniforms, those who had hoped for gorgeous trappings were sadly disappointed. Some one has said that a wonderful example of faith in Divine Providence is when a tailor makes a suit of ready made clothing in confidence that the Lord will make a man to fit it. If the contractors who made our uniforms had that faith, it was a case of misplaced confidence, for a good fit was rarely secured. After receiving them, one company was in line for dinner. Some ladies and gentlemen from the city came along and stopped to see the performance. One of the boys who felt the exhibition humiliating, sang out, "This way, ladies, we are about to feed the animals." The cowhide shoes, christened "gunboats" or "gub- bies," were subject to much ridicule and were at first far from comfortable. When one of the boys was asked how his shoes fitted, he replied, "Well, they fit my corns right snug, but everywhere else in them there is as much spare room as there is in a midweek prayer meeting." The buttons on the uniforms, supposed to be gilt, were adorned with the State Seal. These were in great demand as souvenirs. Many a young man lost a button which, after we marched away, reposed in a velvet lined box in his sweetheart's boudoir. Collecting buttons became quite a fad. Two girls whose bold looks and actions were the reverse of charming, accosted a man on camp guard. "Soldier, give us a button?" "Really, ladies," said he, "Til give you the rest of the uniform with pleasure, but I want to keep the buttons ; they are the only ornamental part of the whole outfit." 16 CHAPTER III. IN WASHINGTON. On the eighteenth of September the regiment marched down to Long Wharf and took a steamer for Jersey City. Arriving there at about three o'clock in the morning we waited until about eight ; then took cars for Philadelphia. There a glad surprise awaited us. We were marched first into a large lavatory for a wash. To one who had washed his hands by having a little water poured on them from a canteen, it was a great luxury to plunge them to the wrists in sparkling water in a marble basin and wash his hands and face with scented soap and wipe them with a clean white towel. From the lavatory we were ushered into a dining room where were long tables spread with spotless linen, shining silver, gleaming china and such food as our wives and mothers would have prepared. Behind the table were ladies who evidently moved in the first circles of society. The sight of their natty white bib aprons and refined faces was a feast in itself, and the grace and polite- ness with which they waited on us brought tears to many an eye. A long time after, when a long march in the rain had emptied the boys' haversacks, and the commissary wagons were delayed, a man sat cherishing his hunger as the cap- tain passed by. "Captain, give me a pass?" said he. "What do you want a pass for?" "I'd like to walk to Philadelphia and get a good square meal." Even now, after forty-three years have passed, many of 17 In Washington. Sept. 19 to Oct. i, 186 1. the boys have a warm place in their hearts for the kind and beautiful ladies of Philadelphia.* From Philadelphia we rode principally in cattle cars, to Baltimore. Before marching" from one station to the other in that city, ten rounds of cartridges were served to each man, but everything was quiet, and they were not needed. From Baltimore we rode slowly until we reached Washington. A long march of about three miles under a broiling sun with our heavy knapsacks on our shoulders, proved so trying that a few fell out. At length we found ourselves on Meridian Hill, a large plateau about three miles north of Washington, from which the dome of the Capitol was plainly visible. There camp was pitched, we were brigaded under Brig. Gen. H. G. Wright,! and initiated into the second degree of Army life. Camp and picket guards were established, thorough discipline commenced, and battalion drill substi- tuted for company drill. To trot around for two hours under a burning sun, car- rying forty pound knapsacks and rifles, was by no means easy at first, but it strengthened our muscles and prepared us for severer service yet to come. It seemed to us that we had to go through some movements an unnecessary number of times. Colonel Terry would not be satisfied with slip shod, half way work. If the company officers had been like him, perhaps the work would have been easier. There seemed to be required a knack in drill quite aside from a mental comprehension of the movements. One company commander of high intellectual ability and scholarly attainments could never drill his company; they were frequently out of place, and Colonel Terry's *See Appendix 3. f See Appendix 4. 18 In Washington. Sept. 19 to Oct. i, 1861. patience was exhausted in trying to make them execute the proper movements without leaving a ragged gap in the line. Colonel Terry once said : "Company — can't you ever come into line in time?" "Yes, replied one man (sotto voce), if Captain will go and sit on the fence." Other officers with no claim for anything more than a common school education could, without a show 01 effort, bring their men around in the right place at the right time. The three weeks spent on Meridian Hill were none too long preparation for actual service. When we consider how necessary it is that soldiers should have such thorough drill and practice that when the word of command is given each man will fall into place without having to stop to think what his place is and how to get there, it seems as if it was a risk to land the regiment in the face of the enemy with only six weeks of preparation. But a good way to learn how to do our duty is by doing it. The troops who were rushed into service in 1861 had to learn their duty in that way, and they learned it well. Dry Washington clay is not soft, and when embossed with pebbles does not furnish an attractive bed. There was a barn filled with strawr not far from the camp, and the quartermaster bought the straw for beds. Details were made from the companies to bring it into camp. They did their duty so well that in a short time the straw was all gone, and the board sheathing of the barn with it. The latter experienced a new incarnation in the form of bunks and tent floors. I do not know how this affected the quartermaster's vouchers. Near the camp was a sutler, who sold all sorts of goodies, but the boys thought his prices high. One bought a very small bun. He said to the sutler: "That seems rather small." 19 In* Washington. October i to 9, 1861. "How big a bun do you expect to get for a cent?" "As big as the cent," was the reply. On the first of ( October orders came to get ready to march with three days' rations, but this proved a false alarm. At last about midnight of October 8th the long roll beat: the order was, "Strap your knapsacks and strike your tents at once !" After doing this, and packing the tents in the wagons, the men sat or stood, in knapsacks and rubber blankets, ready for the march. A pouring rain was falling ; camp fires were started and the straw from the beds thrown on lighted up the darkness. Some small birds hovering over the fires, seemed to have golden wings. These with the sputtering rain drops flashing as they came into the light made a weird sight. At length the last wagon was packed and orders to march were given. Down to Washington we marched through the sticky mud, wading the gutters and stumbling over the curb stones, while the rain poured on our devoted heads, and finding its way under our rubber blankets ran in rivulets down our backs. In the morning we halted at the foot of a hill evidently a pasture for hogs and geese. Here was a long building, having painted in large letters upon it "The Soldiers' Rest." In this we found long wooden tables, and on them the usual fare, boiled corned beef and hard bread, with potatoes boiled in their jackets. The tables were not very clean and flies were much in evidence, but we were too hungry to mind such little things. Along the tables here and there were placed camp kettles filled with cofTee. One of the boys took his plate, knife and fork from his haversack, laid the plate on the table and laid on it an attractive hunk of beef. On cutting it open two or three fat maggots rolled out. He emptied his plate on the dish 20 At Annapolis. October 9 to 20, 1861. and reached for a hard tack. This broke easy. The reason was shown, as several lively skippers trickled down on his plate. "I Yum!" said he, "I'll drink my coffee with my eyes shut," and he did. Similar experiences were the rule all along the line. The boys made their breakfasts of coffee and boiled potatoes, though some were so fas- tidious that the sight of the specimens of entomology took away their appetites. A slow ride of six hours in freight cars, with clothing so wet that it took about all that time to dry it, was not a luxury. If, tired of standing, you sat down on the floor, you found it hard, and the constant bumping soon became agony. But all things earthly come to an end at last. Arriving at Annapolis, we were quartered in buildings connected with the Xaval Academy. There we had con- veniences for washing, soft bread was issued fresh from a bakery every morning, and on the whole it was a pleasing rest after Meridian Hill. At Annapolis we remained eleven days, our only employ- ment being daily drill. 21 CHAPTER IV. THE EXPEDITIONARY CORPS. There were reasons for making South Carolina the seat of war. It had been the first state to pass the Ordinance of Secession ; it had fired the first gun upon the flag, and it was right that the state which began the war should feel its rigor. Again, the coast from Savannah to Charleston was composed of islands surrounded by deep creeks or rivers, through which light draft steamers could pass, avoiding the blockading fleet of Charleston harbor. To occupy these islands would help the navy to make blockade run- ning dangerous. Lastly, a base of supplies between Cape Fear and St. Augustine was needed to sustain operations on the Atlantic coast. For the full understanding of further movements we need to go back to August 2, 1861. At that time an expedition to South Carolina was planned. The point chosen by Lieutenant General Scott was in the neighbor- hood of Port Royal, but the precise place was left to be determined by the naval and military commanders, namely, Captain Du Pont of the Navy and Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Sherman of the Army.* It was desired that the expedition should start as soon as the hot weather was over. But at this time no troops were available. General McClellan, who felt that the safety of the nation depended on the Arm>- of the Potomac, was asking for more men, and none could be spared from any other point. Con- sequently, the land forces must be recruited, armed, equipped, and drilled in the short space of two months. * See Appendix 5. 22 The Expeditionary Corps. October 19, 1861. General Sherman was sent to the governors of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island to urge the hurrying forward of 12,000 men.* The request was afterward changed to one for three regiments from Maine, two from Xew Hampshire, three from Mass- achusetts, one from Rhode Island, two from Connecticut, and three from Xew York. Connecticut was the only state that was able fully to comply with General Scott's request. Governor Andrew of Massachusetts had one full regiment and two well under way, but had to urge Sher- man to see that General Butler did not divert them to his command. In answer to his appeal the Secretary of War telegraphed "Select the regiments yourself for Sherman and supply him first." Governor Morgan sent the three regiments from New York in time, but none of them were full, and some lacked equipment. The Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island troops arrived just in time to sail with the expedition, but it was delayed for three weeks. In the meantime Lincoln and Scott were urging haste, f The President indicated October 1st as the time to sail: Governor Buckingham had in Washington September 21st two full regiments armed and equipped, ready for sailing orders, not one of whom had enlisted before August 15th. J Xow, having reviewed the general plan for the expedi- tion, we are ready to resume the story of the part taken by the Seventh. The regiment embarked at Annapolis October 19, 1861 on the Steamer "Illinois." The harbor was full of transports. During Sunday ,the 20th, they lay at anchor; at about 7 A. M. on the 21st weighed anchor and sailed slowly down * See Appendix 6. f See Appendix 7. X See Appendix 8. 23 The Expeditionary Corps. October 18 to 21, 1861. Chesapeake Bay. For two days fog- and rain made it necessary to sail slowly with frequent soundings and to anchor at night. ( )n the morning of the 23rd it cleared away and the steamer reached Hampton Roads and anchored near Fortress Monroe. Here we remained six days. Drill such as ship board permitted was established, and on one day the regiment practiced disembarking in small boats as a preparation for landing at its final destina- tion. Owing to the delay, caused mainly by unfavorable weather, it was necessary to call on General Wool, Com- mandant at Fortress Monroe, for additional commissary supplies. General Wool took a pessimistic view of the management and wrote to the War Department accord- ingly.* With the exception of Hamilton's U. S. Light Battery, the troops destined for the expedition were comparatively undrilled and none had seen service. In response to Gen- eral Sherman's request for at least one regiment that had some military experience, the War Department asked Gen- eral McClellan if he could spare the 79th New York Highlanders, which had been at Bull Run and was well seasoned. He declined to detach a single man from his command, f While lying at Hampton Roads the first death in the regiment occurred. William Farris of Essex, a member of Company A, borrowed a tin wash basin, sought a secluded place on the lower deck and stripped for a wash all over. In some way the wash basin slipped off the side of the vessel ; he looked over after it and seeing that it floated, leaped over the rail for it. He swam after it, caught it, put it on his head, and then turned to swim back to the steamer. The tide was running out swiftly and in spite * See Appendix 9. f See Appendix 10 and 11. 24 The Expeditionary Corps. Oct. 29 to Nov. i, 1861. of his efforts, drifted him down stream. A boat was lowered and manned, but by this time he had been carried some two hundred yards out. The men bent to their oars and had so nearly reached him that one of the crew reached out his hand to catch him, when he suddenly sank and was seen no more. Whether it was from cramps, exhaustion or a shark was never known. This event deeply impressed us, for then sudden death was a stranger. Alas ! how familiar he afterward became. On the morning of October 29th the fleet set sail under sealed orders led by the Navy. Each steamer loaded with troops towed a sailing vessel carrying commissary's or quartermaster's stores. Nearing Hatteras the lookout on our steamer gave the sudden cry "Breakers ahead." The orders "Stop her! Back her!" quickly followed and were obeyed. The "Golden Eagle" however, which the "Illinois" was towing, was not turned quick enough. She crashed into our quarter, knocking down our after smoke stack, carrying away the starboard rail and one boat, and poked her nose into the upper cabin. Great alarm followed, quickly allayed by the announcement "She's all right." One of the amusing incidents of the panic was that Colonel Terry's white servant came tumbling on deck with a life preserver carefully strapped to each leg. Before the steamer could proceed at full speed it was necessary to replace the fallen smoke stack. Fine weather opened the morning of November 1st, fol- lowed by a southeast gale, with the usual result to landsmen. As some one facetiously remarked, "Every man had a chance to learn how much was in him." November 2nd, the wind shifted to the southeast and the gale became almost a hurricane. The fleet became scattered. The "Baltic," on which were 25 At Sea. November 2 to 7, 1861. ( General Wright and his staff bumped upon a reef and came near being demolished by a large sailing vessel which she was towing. ( )ne hawser by which the "Illinois" was tow- ing the "Golden Eagle" broke and the other had to be cut. The "Governor," with a battalion of marines on board showed signals of distress and came near the "Illinois" for help which she was unable to give. A gunboat later came to her assistance and saved most of the passengers and crew, but the ship went down. The Steamer "Union," on which were supplies, was driven ashore and fell into the hands of the enemy. The next morning was fair. The fleet began to collect, and such sailing vessels as were cut loose in the storm were taken in tow again. The fleet moved slowly in order that all might get together. On the morning of the 4th the air was soft and balmy. Some butterflies came on board the vessel and we came in sight of land, said to be in the neigh- borhood of Port Royal. For the next two days we awaited the movements of the Navy. The ships remaining, had all arrived, and on the 5th Commodore Tatnall steamed out to attack the fleet, but finding it too powerful prudently withdrew to the cover of the forts. Our gunboats followed and exchanged shots with the forts for about forty-five minutes with a view to ascertain the strength of their armament. On the 6th the weather was too boisterous for an attack and the fleet lay at anchor. On this day the land forces of the enemy were reinforced, making about 1,100 men, and on the same day 650 more men landed at Seabrook Wharf, making the entire number of land forces on the east end of the island about 1,700. At last the 7th of November dawned bright and serene without a ripple on the water. In consequence of the loss of means of disembarkment during the storm it was decided 26 At Port Royal. November 7, 1861. to first reduce the forts by the navy without the co-opera- tion of the land forces. At about nine o'clock in the morning the navy, headed by the flagship "Wabash" moved to the attack. At 9.25 one nine-inch Dahlgren gun opened upon the "Wabash" from Fort Walker, but the shell exploded near the muzzle of the gun and produced no effect. Other shots followed from both forts and soon the fire became general on land and water. The war ships passed both forts unharmed. and sailing in a circle delivered telling shots at each fort as thev passed it. For more than four hours the bombard- ment continued with no apparent injury to the navy, but with evident damage to the forts. In addition to the mov- ing battery, Fort Walker was enfiladed by two gunboats anchored to the north of the mouth of Fish Hall Creek and another at a point on the edge of the shoals to the south. This enfilading fire was most damaging and as the thirty- two pounder on the right Hank was shattered earl}' in the engfaerement bv a round shot, and no guns had been mounted on the north flank, the fort had to endure it with- out reply. By two o'clock all but three of the guns on the water front of Fort Walker had been disabled, and only 500 pounds of powder remained in the magazine. The com- mander directed one or two guns served slowly until the wounded were removed, and then the whole force evacuated the fort. When the firing ceased and the smoke cleared away, it was seen that the garrison was retreating. A crew from the flag ship rowed quickly to the shore and raised the stars and stripes. Cheers from the transports rent the air, the bands played patriotic airs, and sounds of rejoicing spread through the fleet. The right of the line of land forces had beeen assigned to General Wright's brigade, and he designated the 27 At Hilton Head. November 7, 1861. Seventh Connecticut as the first to land. At a given signal small boats from the fleet were rowed to the "Illinois"; in these the Seventh quickly embarked and were towed by a steamer as near the shore as it could safely go ; then cast- ing- off. the men rowed through the shallow waters until their boats grounded, then sprang out, waded to the shore and formed in line of battle on the beach. It proved for- tunate for them that the garrison had retreated before the landing occurred, for two carronades had been placed on the beach in front of the fort, and for want of carriages were buried in the sand, heavily loaded with canister, and so aimed that if both had been discharged when the regiment was forming in line they would have made terrible havoc. As it was the Seventh unfurled the stars and stripes and state flag, and marched into the fort as peace- ably as to dress parade. They were soon followed by the Sixth, and both regiments bivouacked for the night. Com- panies A, B, and C, of the Seventh established pickets at a suitable distance from the fort ; Company F was detailed as camp guard, and the remainder of the regiment slept unmolested within the fort. So within six months after Sumter was fired upon, the Seventh regiment had the honor to establish the stars and stripes and the three-vined flag of Connecticut side by side on the sacred soil of South Carolina in place of the stars and bars and the Palmetto flag of that state. Note. The motto of Connecticut is "He who brought over will sustain"; that of South Carolina " Prepared in mind and resources "; one a declaration of confidence in God, the other of self confidence. As we follow the course of events since our landing, we shall see that both of these mottoes were significant. South Caro- lina was irjdeed well prepared for war and did all that human devo- tion could do in defense of secession, but the Divine Purpose designed better things for her than human pride could plan or human might accomplish. After forty years, the vine planted in 1620, and ravaged in 1861, has spread through the land, and is now tended with loving hands from the Atlantic to the Pacific* * See Appendix 12. 28 CHAPTER V. AT HILTON HEAD. On the morning of the 8th of November the Seventh Connecticut, under command of Colonel Terry, escorted Captain Gillmore, the chief engineer officer, on a recon- naissance to the northern part of the island, following the line of retreat. That line was easily traced by articles of equipment thrown away by individuals of the enemy in their haste. The owners of the plantations had fled pre- cipitately, abandoning much property which such negroes as had contrived to remain on the island were looting with- out restraint. Over such portions of the line of march as the face of the country permitted, the troops were deployed as skir- mishers. Starting at about 9 A. M. they reached Sea- brooks Landing* on Alackey's Creek at about 2 P. M. At this point the retreating force had embarked in steamers for Charleston. Here were found fifteen loads of quarter- master's and commissary's supplies and a few small arms. The negroes were jubilant and anxious to sell sweet pota- toes and other eatables which had cost them nothing. After remaining at Seabrooks long enough for Captain Gillmore to make some surveys the party marched back to camp. On the next evening, the tenth, General Wright and Captain Gillmore escorted by three companies of the Seventh Connecticut started on a reconnaissance to Brad- docks Point at the extreme west end of the island, distant by the road nearly fifteen miles. They started about ten o'clock in the evening and returned on the afternoon of the *C map I. 29 At Hilton Head. November io, 1861. next day. They reached Lawton's plantation* about mid- night and halted there until about four o'clock in the morning. Lawton's is about four miles from Braddock's Point. At four o'clock the march was resumed and about day- break the column reached the point where the road strikes the beach, where another halt was ordered. When it became light enough to reconnoiter, a single company was sent forward for that purpose. The report came back that the place seemed to be abandoned, when General Wright and staff went forward. They found a parapet 263 feet long and four guns. A few rounds of grape and canister were scattered on the beach, a good garrison sling cart, and the finished parts of a wooden platform for mounting a Columbiad, full circle. Three A tents and quite a number of shanties were standing, all giving evidence of a hasty retreat. These reconnaissances showed that the entire island had been abandoned. Braddocks Point was henceforth occu- pied by Major Gardner and three companies of the Seventh. A brief summary of our work to this point follows. Hilton Head Island about twelve miles long and six miles wide had fallen into our hands. We had taken possession of Fort Walker on the west, and Fort Beauregard on the east side of the mouth of Broad River. Forty-two cannon were captured, which, with the exception of eight or nine disabled in the engagement, were fit for service. On Hilton Head and the adjoining islands considerable cotton was stored and all sorts of supplies were open to looting by the blacks. It has been said (not by military men, but by news- papers), that Sherman might have followed the retreating forces to Charleston, and thus accomplished what * B map I. 30 At Hilton Head. November io to 28, 1861. Gen. W. T. Sherman did two years later. A little con- sideration disposes of this fallacy. The ammunition and commissary supplies were packed in the holds of the ves- sels ; the only way to unload them was by snrf boats and scows. The few wagons we had were mostly lost on the steamer "Union." The plan of living on the enemy, to which the North was reconciled in 1863 would have been thought barbarous in 1 861. Even if eight or ten thousand men by a brave and bold dash had reached Charleston it would have been what Lexington was to the British in 1775. In three days a force twice our number would have attacked our raw troops, most of whom had never stood in line of battle, and if they had not captured us, would have harrassed us through a march of fifty miles. The only thing to do first was what we had been ordered to do, namely, to establish a sure base of supplies, take measures to make it convenient as well as safe, and then make such advances into the interior as a complete knowl- edge of salient points would permit. This work was at once entered upon. Forts Walker and Beauregard were repaired and strengthened and named respectively Fort Welles and Fort Seward. Large build- ings were put up for quartermasters and commissary stores. A long wharf was built extending out into deep water, a bakery was established sufficient to furnish soft bread to the whole command. Some of this work was done by Serrell's Regiment of Xew York Volunteer Engineers assisted by artificers brought down from the Xorth but a considerable part by fatigue details from the infantry regiments. While this was going on, scouting parties were sent out, parts of the island subject to attack were picketed, and points on other islands occupied as fast as found desirable 31 At Hilton Head. November 28, 1861. and safe. When not engaged in other duties our regiment was perfected in battalion drill. The 28th of November was Thanksgiving Day at home. All men not on duty were relieved from drill and permitted to celebrate it. Of course one important part of the cele- bration was the Thanksgiving dinner. The only record that I find of this important service is copied below. "The bill of fare for our company was as follows : Beef Stew Boiled Ham Plum Pudding Fried Apple Fritters Coffee Hard Tack The cook, a Xew Haven institution, got hold of a liberal supply of secesh whiskey and became gloriously drunk. He spilled the stew on the sand, spoiled the pudding by putting it in cold water, forgot to boil the ham, and burned the fritters. In consequence we made our dinner of hard tack and coffee." At 2 P. M. the church call sounded, and all men not on duty gathered in front of Lieutenant Colonel Hawlev's tent. He said he would preach his sermon first, which was in substance as follows : "I am glad to see so many Connecticut men celebrate their home festival on South Carolina soil, an unprecedented event. I have not the honor to be a member of any church, yet I consider that man less than human who does not acknowledge God as the Supreme Director of the universe. Give me for a soldier the man who believes in God and has a conviction that his cause is just. I expect professors of religion to stand up for their leader, else you are not fit to be in God's army." The colonel's voice trembled as he proceeded, and there were fewr dry eyes in the assembly. Then the good Chaplain Wayland spoke from the text, "The Lord has done great things for us, whereof we are glad." 32 At Hilton Head. November 28, 1861. He reminded us that three weeks before we had sailed from Hampton Roads on an important, but to us, unknown errand. We had been providentially preserved from wreck on the dangerous shoals of Hatteras ; then from a perilous collision. Two other days and two sleepless nights we were tossed on a raging sea in danger of foundering until hope almost tied. From this dreaded fate we had been saved by the divine power. :;c When later we saw the strong fort and powerful armament which we believed we must face in deadly assault, we saw the defenders of the fort flee to the shelter of the woods and with unbroken ranks marched into the fort and slept safely behind its sheltering parapet. This was far from a jolly Thanksgiving day, but many still remember it as a day on which they thanked God more sincerely than they had ever done before. Soon winter came, with raw, piercing winds alternating with hot days. Malaria began to put in its somber work. The novelty of the soldier's life had worn away and its dreary monotony began to tell. Xow if ever that delicious but enervating longing for home called homesickness came to the front, manifesting itself in various ways. One soldier on detached service wrote home to his wife as follows : "I give it up. I have lied to myself and you as long as I can. and am going to indulge just once in the honest truth, I am deathly homesick! Xot on account of my work ; I welcome that as a relief from thought ; nor for my food, though I still sometimes spleen against the pork and bacon ; but because of the dreary loneliness of my sur- roundings. Away from my regiment, my work among commissioned officers, between whom and a private, mili- *A few months later the "Illinois" was condemned as unsea- worthy. 33 At Hilton Head. N 28 to Dec. 18. 1S61. tarv rules forbid that familiar intercourse which gives life its dearest charm,* I work all day long respectfully and silently. At night I go to my lonely tent, lay my rubber blanket on the sand, put my knapsack on it for a pillow, and drawing my stuffy blankets over me try to sleep. The piercing wind finds its way under the flap of my tent and drifts the sand into my ears, the fleas put in their satanic w«»rk. and between them and malarial headache sleep is anything but restful. A few mornings ago when I shook out my blankets I shook out of them a snake nearly two feet long. It was what the negroes call a glass snake, a harmless variety, but the thought of such a bed fellow made me squirm. I do not mind the mice who nibble my hard tack, for there is enough for them and me. If I walk out to see the beauties of nature there are none to see. The Palmettoes are interesting : the live oaks with their silvery moss are beautiful, but all else is a flat waste of dreary. dirty sand. The weeds have been killed by the frost t there is no grass here!, and hold up prickly burrs to clutch my ankles as I walk. The matted vines trail down into the dank edges of the swamps and the hot sun by day decays them enough to exhale malarious gases by night. Aside from the fort I have not seen a hill a foot high nor a rock big enough to throw at a robin. The sun rises from the ocean and goes down into the sand, and always apparently in about the same place, so there is no variety in the sun- - ts. The face of nature presents the utmost possible con- trast with breezy, sparkling, ever changing New England. Prose is good enough for this country, but it is too tame for Connecticut, so like Silas \\ egg I have dropped into poetry. I do not suppose it is very good poetry, but it has done ire good to give free vent to my moan. Xow. having gotten the lie off my conscience and the bile off my stomach I feel better. * Appendix 13. 34 z - — =- 2 WINTER AT "LONE TYBEE." WINTER IN CONNECTICUT. At Hilton Head. Nov. 28 to Dec. 18, 1861 A HOME SICK SOLDIER TO HIS WIFE. I stand alone on the moonlit shore, When the soldier's work is done, And I think the thoughts often felt before, As I've seen the surf with its dashing roar Leap up 'neath a southern sun. I think of a land where the glistening snow, Twinkles clear 'neath the moon to-night, Of a cheerful home where full well I know, Shines a mellow lamp with its cheerful glow, And a fireside's genial light. I think of a mother who's sitting there, With a dear little boy on her knee ; And she tickles his neck so soft and fair, Till I seem to hear through this misty air, That child laugh ringing and free. Then she kisses good night to the lips so red. And pillows the sunny hair. In a neat and snug little cradle bed ; It may be she presses her weary head, And wishes that I was there. Now the pearly eyelids sleepily close, Shutting the blue orbs in; And a motherly hand smooths down the clothes, Tucks them around the uneasy toes, And under the dimpled chin. How the days grow short which were long before, When I think what a wealth of joy, Will be mine when my country's need is o'er And I look into those hazel eyes once more, And clasp our own bright-haired boy. Then I pray that if here I am called to die, We may meet with the spirits who roam. Through the beautiful worlds in the starry sky; And on shining pinions where'er they fly, They are never away frotn home. 37 CHAPTER VI. AT LONE TYBEE. More fatal diseases than homesickness awaited the regiment. On December 19th we embarked for Tybee Island to take part in the reduction of Fort Pulaski. Captain Gillmore was instructed to report whether it was practicable to reduce or capture the fort, and if so how. Fort Pulaski was a brick work of five sides or faces including the gorge, casemated on all sides, walls 7V2 feet thick and 25 feet high above high water, and mounted forty-eight guns. A full armament would have been 140 guns. Captain Gillmore reported that he thought it practicable to breach the fort from Tybee Island and recommended ten ten-inch mortars, ten thirteen-inch mortars, eight heavy rifled guns of the best kind and eight columbiads. This was a bold scheme. It was contrary to the mili- tary science of that day. A standard military work reads as follows : "An exposed wall may be breached with certainty at distances from 500 to 700 yards, even when elevated 100 feet above the breaching battery ; and it is believed that in case of extreme necessity it would be justifiable to attempt to batter down an exposed wall from any distance not exceeding 1,000 yards, but then the quantity of artillery must be considerable, and it will require from four to seven days firing according to the number of guns in battery and the period of daylight, to render a breach practicable." The nearest point on Tybee at which a battery could be erected was 1,670 yards from Fort Pulaski. It will natur- ally be asked how it was that Captain Gillmore was willing 38 At Lone Tybee. Dec. 19, 1861, to April 3, 1862. to risk his military reputation by attempting so much more than the best authorities thought possible. We must remember, however, that the breaching guns used had been smooth bores. Lieutenant Parrott, who was constantly seeking to improve the gun which bore his name, had rifled the bore and so arranged that the shot was greatly improved in accuracy and length of range. The James rifle also had shown great range and accuracy in firing. Captain Gillmore, who was fully up to date, believed that the improvements would make it possible to breach a fort at 700 yards greater distance than with smooth bores. General Sherman had not his faith, but thought that at least enough iron might be thrown into the fort to make it untenable. The War Department thought the experiment worth trying, and the armament asked for was furnished. There were great difficulties to overcome in building the batteries and mounting the guns. "A dog that will fetch a bone will carry a bone." The guns of the fort would reach the batteries, and it was not to be supposed that the garrison would tamely see formidable earthworks built within reach of their guns. It was necessary there- fore to work at night and to mask the work done each night by making whatever changes were necessary so gradually, that at a distance of a mile and a quarter they would not be noticeable. But building the works was by no means all the diffi- culty. The guns, ordnance supplies, etc., were landed two and a half miles away from the batteries and were hauled by men that distance on sling carts. The last mile of the route lay in full view of Fort Pulaski ; consequently this work had to be done exclusively at night. General Gill- more says in his report : "No one except an eye witness can form any but a faint 39 At Lone Tybee. Dec. 19, 1 86 1, to April 3, 1862. conception of the herculean labor by which mortars of 8J/2 tons weight and columbiads but a trifle lighter were moved in the dead of night over a narrow causeway, bor- dered by swamps on either side, and liable at any moment A SLING CART. It will be seen by the height of the officer, that the wheels were about ten feet in diame- ter. A mortar or gun was slung under the large wheels, raised by means of the screw at the top, then two hundred and fifty men took hold of ropes attached to the front wheels, and drew it to its destination. to be overturned and buried in the mud beyond reach. The stratum of mud is about twelve feet deep, and on several occasions the heaviest pieces, particularly the mortars, became detached from the sling carts and were with great difficulty, by the use of planks and skids kept from sinking 4*3 At Lone Tybee. Feb. 21 to March 15, 1862. to the bottom. Two hundred and fifty men were barely sufficient to move a single piece on sling carts. The men were not allowed to speak above a whisper, and were guided by the notes of a whistle." On the 2 1 st of February the first vessel with ordnance and ordnance stores for the siege arrived in Tybee Roads. From that time until April 9th the Seventh Connecticut was constantly engaged in landing and transporting ordnance, ordnance stores and battery materials, making fascines and roads, constructing gun and mortar batteries, service and depot magazines, splinters and bomb proof shelters for the relief of cannoneers off duty, and drilling at mortars. The landing place was A, map I. The work was not all done by the Seventh ; the Forty- Sixth Xew York, two companies of the Volunteer Engi- neers, and for most of the time two companies of the Third Rhode Island Volunteer Artillery were engaged in the same work. At first only the seven companies which came from Hilton Head were at Tybee; on the 15th of March the other three companies joined the main body.* Details of three or four hundred men were made from the regiment every day, so that fatigue duty, guard duty or drill, occupied the whole force. There was much sickness, and during about three months of such duty more deaths occurred than during five months before. Guns were fired occasionally from the fort, but no casualties resulted. We admire those who risk their lives in battle, but some- times forget that patient endurance is as heroic as bravery in battle. This endurance was severely tested on Tybee. One test beside those mentioned ought to be spoken of. Tybee had been used as a hog pasture and swarmed * They had been first at Braddock's Point, then on Danfuskie Island. 4i At Lone Tybee. Dec. 19, 1861, to April 3, 1862. with fleas. The boys were constantly subject to annoyance from these insects. Some could endure it better than others. Though fleas, like every living- thing that has nerves, there are grades in their liking. I have known two men who lay under the same blanket ; one of them would sleep all night and show only a few blotches in the morning, while the other would writhe through a half sleep- less night and rise with every place that lay on his blanket one solid blotch. A flea loves to be in a tight place. If he bites your foot his favorite haunt is under your ankle, where you cannot reach him without full notice of your intention. After you poke your finger down to his lair, he may be a hundred miles away for aught you can learn to the contrary, but as soon as you relinquish your search he is there again. Perhaps at length you resolve to get him away from there at any cost. You unlace your shoe carefully, turn down your stocking with equal care and peer under your ankle in vain. You pull off your stocking and turn it wrong side out, but cannot find him. A flea will slip through a stock- ing or a blanket as nimbly as a squirrel through a knot hole. You whip your stool with your stocking till you are sure he is gone, then put on your stocking and shoe and resume your work. In less than five minutes an exasperat- ing nip advertises that he is "still doing business at the old stand." It is hard to catch a flea and harder to hold him. He greases his hide and will slip out of your grasp the second your grip is loosened. The only way to kill one is to find him working in plain sight. Then wet your finger and pounce on him just as he has inserted his jaws for a fresh mouth- ful ; roll him between your thumb and finger until you tangle his long legs, then open your fingers slowly until you can see about a hundreth of an inch of his body ; press 42 At Lone Tybee. Dec. 20, 186 r, to April 3, 1862. the thumb nail of your other hand on this and hold him until between your two thumb nails you can crush his ribs. There is a fiendish delight in this, but it has no practical effect ; after you have killed a thousand there are more left than when you began. A careful statistician estimates that for every flea killed, ten are born. In Xew England this may be funny to think of, but on Tybee it was agon}' to endure. Imagine that you have worked all night long dragging heavy mortars and in the morning you take a breakfast of salt pork, hard tack and coffee, and spreading your rubber blanket on the sand, pull your woolen blankets over you for a sorely needed rest. Then the fleas skip out of the sand and begin their work. Where your clothing is loose they tickle ; where it is tight they bite, and between the two if you get any wholesome rest you must be very thick skinned or very tired. If you can imagine all this, you have a faint idea of what the capture of Pulaski cost the Seventh, in blood and violation of the third commandment. Though profanity is never excusable, fleas are exten- uating circumstances. One of the boys tells of being awakened in the middle of the night at Tybee by an unusual noise. Looking up he saw a comrade who sometimes embellished his speech with expletives, stand- ing in the middle of the Sibley tent, whipping the tent-pole with his shirt, while with the strongest lan- guage at his command he condemned the fleas to the hottest place in the universe. A fellow feeling led the listener to condone the offense. On the 3rd of April Maj. Gen. David Hunter assumed command of the Department, relieving General Sherman. On the 9th all things were supposed to be in readiness for the bombardment, but it was discovered that there were no fuse plugs for the ten-inch mortars. The ordnance 43 At Lonk Tybee. April io, 1862. officer was in despair till it was suggested that there wras a Yankee regiment in the command and they ought to he able to make some by hand. So the Seventh regiment was set at work whittling- by the light of their camp fires with the result that they whittled out a full supply. The Seventh Connecticut was detailed to serve the five mortar batteries, mounting seven ten-inch and eight thir- teen-inch mortars." Major General Hunter, commanding the Department of the South and Brigadier General Benham, commanding the northern district, both arrived with their staffs April 8th. Just after sunrise on the morning of the 10th General Hunter dispatched Lieut. J. H. Wilson of the Topograph- ical Engineers to Fort Pulaski, bearing a flag of truce and a summons to surrender. Colonel Olmstead in command of the fort replied, "I am here to defend the fort and not to surrender it." On receipt of this reply the order was given to open fire commencing with the mortar batteries, agreeably to instruc- tions previously given. The first mortar to be fired was a thirteen-inch from Battery Halleck.f Captain Sanford had written on the shell, "A nutmeg from Connecticut; can you furnish a grater ?" This shell was fired at a quarter past eight. As rapidly as it was practicable to determine approximate ranges by the use of signals, all the batteries were brought into play, so that before half past nine A. M. shots wrere thrown at the fort about three times per minute. By one o'clock it could be seen by the aid of a powerful telescope that the rifled projectiles were chipping away the * Appendix 14. |A thirteen inch mortar is mounted on the monument of the First Heavy Artillery on the Capitol grounds, and another at Hub- bard Park. Meriden, Conn. 44 At Lone Tybee. April ii, 1862. wall of the fort at the point where their fire was directed. The breaching guns fired often upon the barbette guns of the fort in order to keep down their fire. Two of the barbette guns were dismounted and three casemated guns silenced. As evening closed in, all the pieces ceased firing except four, which were served with intervals of about fifteen or twenty minutes for each. The object of this was to prevent repairs of the breach or filling of the casemates in its rear with sand bags or other material. On the morning of the nth a little after sunrise the batteries again opened upon the fort. After three hours an entire casemate had been shot away and by twelve o'clock the one next to it was in the same condition. This opened the way to the magazine and the fire was directed upon it. To resist longer would be foolhardy and not brave, for a shell penetrating the magazine would cause an explosion which would destroy both the fort and garrison. Colonel Olmstead was brave but not foolhardy and at two o'clock raised a white flag in token of surrender, and the batteries ceased firing. Acting Brig. Gen. Q. A. Gillmore was dispatched to the fort to arrange terms of surrender which are given in the appendix.* By this capture there fell into our hands forty-seven guns, a great supply of fixed ammunition, 40,000 pounds of powder and large quantities of commissary stores ; also 360 prisoners. Of the part taken by the Seventh in the capture General Pdunter said in his report to the Secretary of War : "Our gallant volunteers under the scientific direction of Captain Gillmore, displayed admirable energy and per- severance in the construction of the earthworks on Tvbee * Appendix 15. 45 At Fort Pulaski. April ii to May i, 1862. Island, and nothing could be finer or more impressive than the steadiness, activity, skill and courage with which they worked their guns in battery." General Benham wrote : "The Seventh Connecticut regiment under Colonel Terry, very ably manned the bat- teries which they had most laboriously constructed, so that I designated them ( as I was pleased to find had been, unknown to me, the previous selection of General Gillmore) for the honor of being the first to garrison the surrendered fort. The ceremonies of capitulation and other delays occupied so much time that it was not until nearly midnight that we marched into the fort and rested that night within its walls. The next day we were set at work clearing up the ruins and preparing the way for repairs by the engineers. Seven companies were quartered within the fort and three com- panies outside. The soldiers composing the captured garrison were fine looking men and the officers perfect gentlemen. Colonel Terry and Colonel Olmstead conversed frankly for more than an hour in regard to the work on both sides. Among the captures were two splendid English rifled cannon ; quite a number of the others were of confederate manufacture. On the 15th some men of the Third Rhode Island Artillery were engaged in emptying some unexploded James shells. One of them tapped a shell on a granite traverse and if exploded, killing two men, mortally wound- ing two others, and maiming a fifth. Some three weeks or more were spent in cleaning and repairing the fort ; on the 29th we commenced drilling five hours a day. Great care was taken to preserve the health of the command. Straw hats and flannel sacks were pro- 46 At Fort Pulaski. May i, 1862. vided, the ice houses were filled with ice, and fresh meats were kept on hand for the use of the garrison. The forces on Tybee dismounted the guns and some of the most effective were added to the armament of the fort. On April 25th, Colonel Terry was promoted to be Brigadier General, a well deserved promotion. A few men had complained of his rigid discipline and the hard drill that he gave them, but every one sincerely respected and honored him. The whole regiment shared his honor. I once overheard General Wright say that the Seventh Connecticut was the best drilled and best disciplined volun- teer regiment that he had ever seen. This left Lieut. Col. Hawley in command of the regi- ment and he was immensely popular. On May 1st the full strength of the regiment was 961 men and thev were in fine trim. 47 CHAPTER VII. JAMES ISLAND EXPEDITION. After some rumors and false reports the regiment embafked on the steamer "Cosmopolitan" May 31st and steamed away to the north. Reaching Xorth Edisto, sixty miles away, on the first of June, the stores were discharged and the men crossed the river to Johns Island. Taking up the line of march on the 2nd we marched about five miles, oppressed with heat and thirst. We bivouacked at Sea View plantation until June 5th. On that day we started at 10 A. M. in a pelting rain and marched about a dozen miles to a deserted village called Legareville. We bivouacked that night and the next day. The boys complained of sore feet caused by the long march in the rain. Rations were scarce and the Chaplain made a forced march to the rear for coffee and sugar and brought good cheer on his return. On the 7th we crossed the Stono River to James Island where we lay down in a muddy cotton field with the rain pouring on our devoted heads. Early in the evening a foraging party brought in a small drove of very small cattle. The butchers quickly turned them into beef. Rousing from their uneasy beds the boys sliced off tender (?) morsels and making fires of such sticks as they could find, toasted the bits of beef before smoky fires, using their bayonets for spits, then ate them without pepper or salt and lay down again in the mud. On the 8th the Seventh Connecticut and Twenty-Eighth Massachusetts made a reconnaissance toward Charleston. The right wing encountered the enemy in some woods and for a short time the firing was quite brisk — one man was 48 vS, LC^.'''lTOWER QUNBOAffL GRlfVlBiiLs3G^ASAWj?IGlHT % I& WILLIAMS Jl ft- /V A A A A A UNION#^tf GUNBOAT^ q CAMPS OF v-^ K<&y *BEl"^m r & ^e> ,^ A---' -^,y y..--A«i-'«x>- /camps of y .p. ••AAAAAA ..-•* c* >N p ^ iGEN. STEVENS ^ ^ ^ U ^ s SUNBOAJ D ^ 0 V> ^ V r^ 4 v A TLA N T ! C OCEAN 0 MAUTICAL M. Li -*i- STATUTE M. £l_ Froni Hist. 1st James Island Expedition. May 31 to June 16, 1862. wounded and one missing".* The force returned to the cotton fields where they again passed an uncomfortable night. The 10th was Sunday. The entire force was under arms all day ; seven companies on the advanced picket line. ( )ur tents arrived that day and were pitched. An old house occupied by the picket was within range of the enemy's batteries and desultory firing caused some slight casualties. At three P. M. on the nth Company G made a dash on the enemy's pickets by order of a member of General Stevens' staff. They discovered some earthworks and a considerable force drawn up in front of the works supported by artillery which opened fire, wounding only one man. They withdrew after firing a single volley in response. The island at that point was about one and a half miles wide — some corn and cotton were growing ; the corn about shoulder high and the cotton little more than a foot high. The Seventh Connecticut, Eighth Michigan and Twenty- Eighth Massachusetts were brigaded together under com- mand of Colonel Fenton. (For the entire force see appendix.)! From the 13th to the 15th we remained in camp pre- paring for a movement planned by General Benham. The account of that movement is given in Colonel Hawley's report below. Headquarters Seventh Connecticut Volunteers. James Island, S, C June 16, 1862. Colonel : I submit a brief report of the part taken by this regiment in the assault on the enemy's earthworks this morning. Our line was formed promptly at one o'clock as ordered. *This was Private, afterward Corporal Woodford of Co. A. For an interesting incident connected with his capture, see appendix 16. f Appendix 17. 49 At James Island. J^ne 16, 1862. There were two field, five staff, two non-commissioned staff, and eighteen line officers ; seventy-six non-commissioned officers, and 497 privates; total 600. In addition ten or twelve musicians and more accompanied the surgeons. We were assigned to the center of your brigade, the First Brigade, Second Division, and as we approached the enemy we were ordered to move forward into line on the left of the leading regiment, the Eighth Michigan. As our right passed the building afterwards used as a hospital, and through the heavy hedge, entered the first of the two fields between us and the earthworks, it formed into line and continued to march on at a rapid step. It was impos- sible for all of the left to get forward into line on the run across the high ridges of the cotton field encumbered as they were and worn down by night fatigue. I halted the right for one single minute, the left still running, and the completed line moved on in excellent order over the hedge between the two fields and steadily advanced upon the enemy, whose grape and rifle shots came in showers. When within 200 or 300 yards of the earthwork, the left wing came obliquely upon an unforeseen ditch and morass, so that in advancing it must crowd by its right flank toward the center. At this moment a terrible fire of grape and musketry opened upon us. The line was inevitably broken. The colors stood fast, protected by Captain Palmer's Company (E) ; Captain Hitchcock with part of Company G. and Lieutenant Atwell with part of Company C advanced within 130 yards of the parapet. These and a portion of the right wing, conceiving that the time had come when the order not to fire might be waived, opened a lively fire upon the parapet. The men stood bravely, but the line could not be formed until the colors were brought into the open field. As soon as this was done, the regiment moved by the right flank under the heaviest fire, the left wing rapidly closing up. and under your orders, when well across the field toward the marsh, filed to the left, and advanced upon the enemy. After moving a short distance. Captain Stevens brought me an order from General Stevens to call the men off. They could not resist the temptation offered by the enemy at the guns, and a por- tion of the right was slow to get the order and fall back, preferring to pick off gunners and riflemen. Formed by the rear rank, the battalion marched to the hedge and lay behind it until an order 50 At James Island. June 16, 1862. from General Stevens brought it back to the hedge in front of the hospital. In a few moments the general again sent us to the hedge across the fields, where we lay while three pieces (two howitzers and a rifle) of the Connecticut Light Battery came up and carried on a rapid, and for the most part a well directed fire. Several times my men assisted with the utmost eagerness in moving the guns and giving other aid. A portion of the best marksmen were permitted to fire at the enemy's parapets. When the pieces had retired beyond danger, by order from General Stevens, we were again moved in regular line to the rear, the enemy's rifled cannon and howitzers playing upon us. After standing behind the hospital hedge a short time General Stevens ordered us to camp, whither we returned in good order. An immediate inquiry showed very few missing men, and the number of absent not positively known to have been left on the field dead or severely wounded does not exceed three or four. I find it impossible to select individuals for praise. Capt. Edwin S. Hitchcock of Company G among the foremost, and enthusiastically cheering on his men. was severely wounded in his thigh. He continued to call out cheerfully and to fire rifles handed him by his men until he received a rifle ball straight from the front through his upper lip. Four of his men then undertook to carry him to the rear. While they were doing this, two of them. Sergeant Haynes and Private J. Newton Dexter, were wounded by rifle balls, and they were obliged to leave the gallant captain dying there. Lieutenant Hooton of Company D was doing his whole duty nobly, rallying and regulating his company, when a heavy grape shot passed entirely through his right thigh nearly up to his body. He was carried to the rear, praising his men and urging them on, and he lived but a short time. Lieutenant Dempsey of Company B, while in the discharge of his duty, was disabled by a ball through his left shoulder, inflicting a painful but not dangerous wound. Sergeant (acting 2nd Lieu- tenant) Upson of Company F, was heroically at work when a grape shot took off three fingers and dashed through his right shoulder. There are but very slight hopes of his recover)-. Major (acting Lieutenant Colonel) Gardiner, Captain (Acting Major) Rodman, Adjutant Mills and Quartermaster Terry and Sergeant-Major Sanger of the Field and Staff, did all that could be asked of the bravest soldiers. They were entirely fearless and constantly active 5i At James Island. June 16, 1862. and near me every moment. The same. T may say. from personal observation, of nearly every line officer, and for aught I know it is true of all. At a most critical moment when we were rearranging the line for the second advance, nothing could have been better than the conduct of Captains Gray, Palmer and Skinner, and Lieutenants Chamberlain, Atwell. Thompson. Townsend and Green. Formid- able as were the obstacles, I cannot help believing that had we possessed a better knowledge of the ground, the highest success would have crowned our efforts. This regiment was most actively engaged in the reduction of Fort Pulaski, but this was the first time it had encountered a heavy direct infantry tire. To meet that discharge of grape and musketry was a severe test. When the ditch broke up our line the men did not leave the ground ; they stood patiently until the line was formed, and our advances and retreats were in regular line and time. Surgeon Bacon and Assistant Surgeon Porter and their assistants were very industrious in bringing off the wounded, to which I attribute our small number of missing. I have the honor to be very respectfully. Your obedient servant, Joseph R. Hawley, Lieut. Col. Commanding Seventh Reg. Connecticut Vols. Col. Wm, M. Fenton, Commanding First Brigade, Second Division. It was an open secret that the assault on the forts at Secessionville was disapproved by the brigade commanders and also by General Hunter. A letter from General Hunter to the Secretary of War tells the whole story. Headquarters Department of the South. Hilton Head, S. C. June 20, 1862. Sir: On the 13th inst. I had the honor of informing you that we had occupied the southwestern portion of James Island, on the Stono River, within five or six miles of Charleston, intending to make a rush for that city as soon as re-enforcements should arrive. As we failed in being able to make a coup de main on Charleston 52 /I iT ^7H ^ is Hf§ ifiS4 r* 1 iii: w r» At James Island. June 16, 1862. in consequence of our transportation not having been returned to us from the North, the enemy had time to throw strong re-enforce- ments on James Island, rendering an advance with our existing force extremely hazardous. I therefore determined to make no forward movement, having satisfied myself by reconnaissances of the increase of the enemy's strength ; and on leaving the Stono to return to this point, where matters affecting the safety of the command in other portions of the department called for my presence, I gave positive orders to General Benham that no advance should be made until further explicit orders had been received from the headquarters. General Benham disobeyed these orders and clear instructions and the result, I deeply regret to say, has been a disastrous repulse, only redeemed by the brilliant con- duct of the troops while engaged in the assault and their steadiness and patient courage when compelled to retire. I inclose herewith a copy of General Benham's report of his assault upon the enemy's fortifications, as also of my orders for- bidding that any such movement should be made. You will see that General Benham endeavors to evade the responsibility of hav- ing violated his instructions by terming his attack upon the enemy's works "a reconnaissance in force," but such a plea is too puerile to deserve consideration. In view of these circumstances and the serious consequences which have arisen from his disobedience, I have felt it my duty to arrest General Benham and order him North by the steamer con- veying this letter. This step has cost me much regret, as previous to this unhappy act of rashness he has been industrious, energetic and wholly devoted to his duties. We still hold our former position and shall continue to hold it so long as any hope of being enabled to make it useful by the receipt of re-enforcements shall remain. It is a most valuable point d'appui* for operations against Charleston, and should not lightly be abandoned. From all the evidence reaching me, however, I am satisfied that Charleston has been heavily re-enforced of late, possibly by some brigades from the Army of Corinth, and the injudicious attack of General Benham will doubtless contribute, both by its calling attention to the place and by the eclat of the Confederate success there to still further swell the number of its defenders. *Point of support. 55 At Hilton Head. J^ne 16 to July 7, 1862. I have the honor to be, sir. very respectfully, your most obedient servant, 1). HUNTERj Maj. Gen. Commanding. Secretary of War. Washington.* The casualties to the Seventh were nine killed, sixty- nine wounded, and four captured or missing, making an aggregate of eighty-two — the aggregate of casualties to the whole command was 683, of whom 107 were killed. The whole number engaged on the Union side was about 6,600 men. The number of the enemy is not reported. There were five regiments and five battalions. As they fought largely behind entrenchments, their aggre- gate loss was only 204. On the 20th of June, Lieutenant Colonel Hawley was promoted to Colonel. Xo prospect of re-enforcements appearing. General Hunter ordered the evacuation of James Island. This was effected under General Wright, who was assigned to the command of the district when General Benham was relieved. The Seventh Connecticut was sent first to Edisto Island, reaching there July 7th. They remained there but a few days and then returned to Hilton Head. There was a great contrast in the appearance of the boys when they left Fort Pulaski May 31st and when they reached Hilton Head early in July. Then they were clean, healthy and alert, and marched with an elastic step ; now they were dirt}' and ragged ; their ranks thinned by sick- ness, wounds and death, and their strength depleted by disease and exposure; they marched wearily with heavy step. Xearly all appliances for comfortable camping were lost or destroyed. New cooking utensils were issued and such clothing * Appendix 18. 56 At St. John's Bluff. July 7 to Oct. 3, 1862. as was needed ; sky blue pants for all. Two brigades from the department were sent north to McClellan's army, and General Terry placed in command of the district, includ- ing- all posts south of Hilton Head as far as Key West, Florida. Colonel Hawley was sent north on recruiting service. Since active operations were deferred during the heated term, some of the officers' wives and other visitors came down from the North. General Terry and staff went to Key West and attempting to return were quarantined for three weeks. Two months of camp and outpost rested the Seventh. General Hunter went north on sixty days' leave, leaving General Brannan in temporary command of the Depart- ment. On the 5th of September Colonel Hawley returned from the North with fifty volunteer recruits. They were good men and proved a credit to the regiment. About the nth of September Major Gen. Ormsby M. Mitchell assumed command of the Department of the South, relieving Brigadier General Brannan, who resumed command of the tenth corps. The weather was unsuitable for active operations and the sick list large. The sick in the tenth corps averaged ten per cent of the entire com- mand. On the 1st of October all of the Seventh, except the sick, who were left in camp, embarked on the "Ben De- Ford" for operations against St. John's Bluff, Florida. The gun boats made reconnaissance up the river and were immediately and warmly engaged by batteries on St. John's Bluff, on which they withdrew. The troops effected a landing at Mayport Mills, and afterwards established a position at Mount Pleasant Creek. A further reconnais- sance made October 3rd showed that the enemy had aban- 57 At St. John's Bluff. Oct. i to 13, 1862. doned the batteries on St. John's Bluff, whereupon General Brannan immediately advanced from Pleasant Creek and took possession of their works. Though well constructed, well armed, and well supplied with ammunition, they seemed to have deserted in great haste, the guns being all mounted, loaded, and in good condition, the ammunition served and everything in good fighting order. The guns wTere dismounted by our troops, and with the ammunition were put upon the transport "Neptune" and forwarded to Hilton Head ; the magazines blown up, and the works otherwise destroyed The Confederate Commander, General Finegan, cen- sured Lieutenant Colonel Hopkins in command of the bat- teries for abandoning them so hastily. Colonel Hopkins demanded a Court of Inquiry and was exonerated from all blame, on the ground that an attempt to hold his position "against a greatly superior force would have inevitably resulted in the complete reduction of the batteries and the capture of the command." The Seventh Connecticut returned to Hilton Head from this bloodless, but fatiguing victory, October 7th by the steamer "Boston." The remainder of the command reached Hilton Head October 13th. The total results of the expedition were the destruction of the batteries, securing eight cannon for our own use, sixty stand of small arms and one steamer, the "Governor Milton," which the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers with the help of the navy captured in a creek about twenty-seven miles from the town of Enterprise. 58 CHAPTER VIII. POCOTALIGO. On the 2 1 st of October an expedition was organized to attempt the destruction of a part of the Charleston and Savannah Railroad near Pocotaligo. It was under com- mand of General Terry and numbered about twTo thousand. For the part taken by the Seventh in this expedition Colonel Hawley's report is here given in full. Hilton Head, S. G, October 25, 1862. Captain : I submit for the consideration of the Brigadier General Com- manding a report of the part taken by this regiment in the late expedition and the actions which took place near Pocotaligo on the 22nd inst. General Terry ordered me to furnish a force of 500 men including officers, ' and, in accordance with verbal instructions, I organized them into six companies, commanded by Captain Cham- berlain (first company). Skinner (second company), Gray (third company), Dennis (fourth company), Tourtellotte (fifth company), and Burdick (sixth company). Captain Dennis, being unable to walk, the command of his company fell to Lieut. E. S. Perry. Capt. O. S. Sanford acted as Major. Lieutenant Colonel Gardiner being ill and Major Rodman absent on recruiting service. Capt. James A. Burns, acting quartermaster, and Capt. C. C. Mills, who returned from recruiting service after the force was organized, both waived all questions of etiquette and went on my staff (the latter as adjutant) and rendered constant service and indispensable and constant aid in the field and elsewhere. Assistant Surgeon Horace P. Porter, acting surgeon, accompanied us. Doctor Hine remaining with the sick in camp. The other officers were Chaplain H. S. Wayland, First Lieutenants John Thompson, Win. E. Phillips, Edward S. Perry and S. S. Atwell, and second Lieutenants Wilson, Wildman, Hutchinson. Van Keuren. Barker, and Marble. The entire force that left Hilton Head was, field and acting 59 Pocotaligo. October 22, 1862. staff officers six. non-commissioned staff three, company officers sixteen, color bearers two, musicians and others (hospital attend- ants) seventeen, enlisted men bearing arms 470; aggregate 514. This excludes a corporal and five men without arms, put in charge of our stores on the "Boston." We embarked on the "Boston" on the afternoon of the 21st. at 1 1 P. M. On the passage up Broad river, by order of General Terry, I detailed Captain Gray, Lieutenant Hutchinson and seventy- four men, to whom were added about twenty men of the Third New Hampshire under Lieutenant Head, to proceed up the river in boats manned by the navy and guided by two negroes past Mackay's Point; and then landing on the main land to cut off and capture the rebel picket, said to number about sixty, on duty at that point. A barge with a howitzer from the "Paul Jones" accompanied them. They safely passed the point apparently without being noticed; but the negro in the leading boat with Captain Gray conducted them two or three miles beyond the proper landing point, where a causeway might have been reached and the picket inter- cepted. The fact was ascertained by inquiring of the other negro in Lieutenant Hutchinson's boat and the party turned about, but the favorable moment had passed. Daylight appeared before they got back to the spot and they kept on to Mackay's Point, where they found our troops debarking, the enemy of course having fled. Lieutenant Smith of the Third New Hampshire, who accom- panied Captain Gray as far as the tug boat "Relief" towed the party and then went up the Pocotaligo with twelve men, is reported to have been more successful and to have captured several of the enemy.* The "Boston" reached Mackay's Point (E map I) about 8 A. M. on the 22nd, and the regiment promptly debarked and formed line. The Seventy-Sixth Pennsylvania, Colonel Strawbridge of this bri- gade being already on shore, took the lead, following the first brigade. Colonel Chatfield commanding. After delays and halts, arising from causes of which I know nothing, the two brigades marched on. At about 12:30 o'clock we heard artillery firing in advance of the column and moving on rapidly at double quick we passed evidences of the commencing conflict, and by General Terry's order *The letters below referred to will be found on map I. 60 PocotalKiO. October 22, 1862. I detained half of my fifth company under Lieutenant Green as a guard for the field hospital being established. They did their duty faithfully for fifteen hours, and rendered great aid to the wounded, constructing temporary litters with saplings and strips of their own blankets, bringing off the disabled, etc., there being no occasion to resist the enemy. A few minutes after, by the general's order, I detailed half of my fifth company under Captain Tourtellotte and Lieutenant Phillips, to guard and help draw the three boat howitzers. They did not fail in their duty for a moment. The remaining five companies, by the general's order, formed column by company and continued advancing. Approaching the two strips of thick wood, divided by a marsh and crossed by the road nearly at right angles, General Terry ordered us in line at the right of the brigade and we halted. Advancing a few paces, the brigade again halted and the men lay down, the enemy's artil- lery and infantry keeping up a lively fire, which more particularly endangered the regiments (the Seventy-Sixth Pennsylvania and the Third New Hampshire) on our left. Some minutes passed, our artillery working fiercely, and the first brigade, which had been hotly engaged re-forming its lines. A general advance followed, there being one brief halt after jumping the ditch. The thick and almost impassable wood was entered and the marsh soon reached, but the enemy held the opposite bank (F map I). As' the general ordered, we moved by the left flank until we touched the road, then countermarched to bring my right to cross the causeway, which after a halt, we did at a lively pace, following the Sixth Connecticut Volunteers. A rapid march of two or three miles followed, much of it at double quick ; but the men endured it remarkably well. The sounds of a renewed fight reached us, and we hurried along the narrow road through a heavy wood toward the front, where I was ordered to file to the right into the wood. I obeyed, changing the direction a little to the right to go behind the reserve of the Fourth New Hampshire, halted, reported, and was instructed that my duty was to hold the position and the marsh in front at all hazards. Moving by the left flank a little, and throwing forward my right, so as to bring my line more nearly perpendicular to the road, I dressed the line, halted and ordered the men to lie down, the artillery of the enemy sending occasional missiles in our direc- tion, one of which instantly killed private James Cook of Com- pany I and wounded one or two others. I found near me a small 61 Pocotaligo. October 22, 1862. reserve of the Fourth New Hampshire, and sending forward to the edge of the wood skirting the marsh, I learned that more of the regiment were there deployed as skirmishers and maintaining a dropping fire. They returned word that they could hold their position if well supported. I informed their commanding officer, Colonel Bell, and rested, having no orders to transmit to any other regiment. General Tern- soon ordered me to send forward our Sharps riflemen to the edge of the wood (H map I) to work upon the enemy's battery across the marsh. I ordered forward Companies A and B. Captains Chamberlain and Burdick (Captain Sanford, acting Major superintending the movement), the men to be deployed at short intervals. There were nearly 100 of them, and they opened a fire of astonishing rapidity with sights ranging from 400 to 600 yards, and I must believe with accuracy, for the enemy's field pieces, and even his infantry fire was silenced in a very few moments. Again receiving General Terry's instructions, the regi- ment rose up and moved in good line to join Companies A and B at the edge of the wood, and commenced firing by file with the greatest satisfaction to the men. The officers cautioned them to elevate the sights properly and to fire deliberately. The Sharps riflemen were ordered to cease firing that they might reserve some ammunition. After a time (the enemy being nearly quiet), I caused the bugle to sound "Cease firing," and the men promptly obeyed and were ordered to lie down. The moment any groups of the enemy appeared on the edge of the not very thick woods opposite, or about the buildings, or near the one field piece which we could see (the other had been drawn out of sight), our fire was opened for a short time, and the Sharps were permitted to work at intervals. At one time I had six men from each company detailed to maintain such a fire as would keep down the enemy. Again and again the regiment opened and ceased firing, obeying the bugle calls as promptly as if simply on drill. General Terry at one time desired us to charge across the marsh if it was practicable, and to send some one to examine the ground. I called for half a dozen volunteers and thrice the number sprang up immediately. I selected five, and after exploring they reported that as far as I ordered them to go (150 or 200 yards), the footing was very fair and they could see no creek. Satisfied that there was one, I called again for volunteers and Lieutenant 62 Pocotaligo. October 22, 1862. Perry and private Crabbe eagerly offering were accepted and ordered to keep low and find the creek. Our men were notified and cautioned not to hit them. They went, stooping under the fire of both parties, two-thirds of the way across, and reported a deep creek, of the character common here, with muddy banks and low water. I sent the lieutenant to General Terry. Though we prolonged the expenditure of ammunition as much as possible, I was obliged to report that (if any was to be reserved for future contingencies) it would soon be necessary to relieve us. We had sometimes previously heard a locomotive whistle dur- ing a lull, and there was repeatedly great cheering among the rebels, for which (their fire having been repeatedly silenced) there was no apparent cause, unless their re-enforcements had come up through the woods in their rear. Such must have been the case, for it required more constant work to keep their fire quiet and their rifles were getting a better range of our position ; but they never showed any disposition to cross to us. The Forty-Seventh Pennsyl- vania was ordered to take our places after a time, and as we moved by the right of companies to the rear, they promptly advanced and opened a hot fire. By General Terry's order we again formed in line a few hundred yards back, and when the Forty-Seventh Pennsylvania had taken a position back of us we filed into the road, and perhaps 1. 000 yards to the rear filed to the left, and again formed a line perpendicular to the road, faced by the rear rank, our right resting upon the road, while the Third New Hampshire, Colonel Jackson, occupied a corresponding position across the way. After all the wounded and stragglers had passed, by the gen- eral's orders we took the road and proceded to Mackay's Point, five or six miles distant, reaching it in about seven hours from the time we ceased firing, our frequent halts were owing to regiments ahead, and to the necessity of caring for the wounded. Upon reach- ing the field hospital all our wounded were attended to, and as weary as our men were, about twenty cheerfully volunteered to go back and assist in bringing along others. We bivouacked at the Point, and during the night obtained a fresh supply of ammunition. In the morning, October 23rd. we embarked on the "Boston," on which were about 120 dead and wounded of various regiments, and returned to Hilton Head. For every officer and non-commissioned officer (save possibly 63 At Hilton Head. October 22 to 31, 1862. one of the latter). I have none but words of unqualified praise. The captains have made written reports by name of all privates who failed to keep the ranks throughout. The list is very small, and those against whom the suspicion of cowardice or desertion arises are very few indeed. Of the regiment as a body it is pre- cisely true that it was regular, steady, promptly obedient and fully under control every moment. I do not know what more I could have asked of it. or asking could have obtained. I have the honor to be very respectfully your obedient servant, Joseph R. Hawley, Colonel Seventh Connecticut Volunteers. Capt. Theodore Bacon, A. A. A. G. 2nd Brigade, 10th Army Corps. The revised report of casualties in the Seventh on this expedition gives two enlisted men killed, and twenty- seven enlisted men wounded, total twenty-nine. The casualties for the entire command were four officers and thirty-nine enlisted men killed, thirteen officers and 281 enlisted men wounded, three enlisted men captured or miss- ing ; aggregate casualties 340. The casualties of the enemy were, 21 killed, 124 wounded, eighteen missing; aggregate 163. Among the incidents worthy of mention was the death of Sergeant Reynolds of Company A. He was mortally wounded in the fight, and his comrades carried him on a blanket the six weary miles to the landing, only to see him die after they reached there. He was a large, heavy man, and frequently said, "Boys, this is too hard work for you ; leave me here ;" but they could not bear to leave him while life lasted. On reaching Hilton Head the regiment went into camp to rest, but yellow fever broke out at Headquarters, result- ing in the death of General Mitchell and a captain of his staff. One member of Company A of the Seventh on detached service at Department Headquarters, namely, 64 At Beaufort. Nov. i to Dec. 31, 1862. Wm. H. Harrison, was taken with the fever, was carried to camp, and there cared for by two of his comrades, but died. On the 31st of October the regiment removed to Beau- fort, the weather grew cooler and health improved. In a general order issued by General Brannan com- manding the corps, the general said of the troops: * * "The commanding general has learned from the events of this expedition that he can place the most implicit con- fidence in the bravery and devotion of his troops, and feels satisfied that in all subsequent operations the Tenth Army Corps will proudly maintain the good reputation it so hardly earned on the plains of the Pocotaligo." The remainder of General Mitchell's staff went north. General Terry in command of the Post at Hilton Head was much occupied in looking after the health of the troops, and was exceedingly popular. Doctor Crane, the medical director, announced that the last case of yellow fever was convalescent, and General Saxton, who was practically military governor, appointed Thursday, November 6th, a day of Thanksgiving. Chaplain H. L. Wayland resigned and went north on account of some informality in his appointment. During December the regiment remained in camp at Beaufort. Christmas was celebrated as a holiday in all the camps. Extra dinners ; Christmas tree presents and sports were the order of the day. The men had learned new and better ways of cooking army fares and making their quarters comfortable. They were neat in dress and par- ticular about their accoutrements. Pay days in the depart- ment were very irregular, which to those who had families at home to support was inconvenient. 65 CHAPTER IX. OFF FOR FLORIDA. January, 1863, found the boys again at Camp Hitch- cock, Hilton Head, in fine condition, Chaplain Wayland, having been reappointed with all due formality, reported for duty and was gladly welcomed. The regiment went to work diligently improving the camp and making itself comfortable in anticipation of a long stay. But as usual on such occasions, orders came to break camp and forsake our comfortable quarters. All embarked on board the "Delaware," January 13th, except the very sick and three men on detached service at Depart- ment and Post Headquarters, and sailed to Fernandina, Florida. On the 19th of January, General Hunter assumed com- mand of the Department of the South and the naval force was increased. Colonel Hawley was in command at Fer- nandina and Lieutenant Perry acting adjutant. The regiment remained for about two months, the only thing of importance recorded being that E. Lewis Moore of Company G, who had been for some time a clerk at Department Headquarters, was promoted to adjutant of the Seventh ; joined the command at Fernandina, and was assigned to duty as adjutant of the regiment and Post.* On the 1st of April, the Steamer "Cossack" appeared with orders for Colonel Hawley to proceed to Hilton Head with five companies of his regiment to report for orders ; the force to take three days' rations and outfit for field service. On the next day he sailed, as directed, leaving Lieuten- *See Appendix No. 19. 66 Hilton Head and Fernandina. April i to 10, 1863. ant Colonel Gardiner in command at Fernandina. Arriv- ing at Hilton Head, his battalion was ordered to land and encamp within the fort, while he was assigned to the com- mand of the Post of Hilton Head, relieving General Terry, who was ordered to join certain operations against Charles- ton, which had already been initiated by the occupation of Seabrook's Island. After commanding the Post ten days, the greater part of the expeditionary force returned to Hilton Head, General Terry resumed command of the Post, and Colonel Hawley with his force returned to Fernandina and he assumed command of that Post. The reason for this change of plans is given in official reports. It seems that the plan was that the navy should attempt to reduce the forts in Charleston Harbor, and at the same time the land forces should proceed by way of Edisto and Folly Islands to take the shore batteries. The attempt of the navy failed, as is shown by the fol- lowing letter from Admiral Du Pont : Ironsides, April 8, 1863. Maj. Gen. D. Hunter, My Dear General : I attempted to take the bull by the horns, but he was too much for us. These monitors are miserable failures where forts are concerned ; the longest was one hour and the others forty-five minutes under fire, and five of the eight were wholly or partially disabled. I write this to say that the "Flambeau" will leave this morning (or as soon as you may be ready), for Fortress Monroe. She has very small accommodations, but if you desire to send a staff officer home I will direct Captain Upshur to give him a passage. I have sent the "Patapsco" to help take care of Port Royal. I am, general, yours most truly, S. F. Du Pont. The sequel is shown by the following extracts from a general order issued by General Hunter three days later : 67 Fernandina. April 8 to June 24, 1863. "II. Gen. A. H. Terry's division will return to Port Royal Harbor. Its disposition will be made in further orders. III. The Seventh Regiment Connecticut Volunteers, Colonel Hawley, will return immediately to Fernandina, Florida." On the 19th of April Major Rodman, with Companies A and B was ordered to Hilton Head. On the 24th the troops received six months' pay to February 28th. May 8th Colonel Hawley with his regiment was ordered to St. Augustine to garrison that Post, relieving the Seventh Xew Hampshire. The principal duty at St. Augustine was to regulate and feed the resident population, numbering about 700 whites and 300 colored. A foraging party sent out by Colonel Hawley brought in 150 head of cattle captured from a Confederate contractor named Daniel Futch. One hundred men were required daily for guard duty. On the whole the period of about two months spent by the regiment at St. Augustine was looked upon as one of the easiest times of its service. Colonel Hawley went fish- ing and caught a thirty-three pound bass. This story sounds a little fishy, but is vouched for by the adjutant. On the 17th of June the anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill was celebrated by a meeting in the church. The celebration consisted of speeches by Colonel Hawley and Lieutenants Dempsey and Wildman and music by the glee club. June 24th Companies I and K were ordered to join A and B, under Major Rodman at Hilton Plead. From there they proceeded under General Strong to Folly Island to take part in the movement to be described in the next chapter. Our narrative follows them there leaving the other six companies quietly resting at St. Augustine. 68 CHAPTER X. OPERATIONS AGAINST CHARLESTON. The importance of the operations of the Union Army against the defenses of Charleston during the summer of 1863 is little realized in popular history. The reasons are evident. Three great armies were then operating at Virginia, Port Hudson and Vicksburg. Their very magnitude overshadowed the quiet work that General Gillmore, with but 10,000 men, was laboriously prosecuting at a point where newspaper correspondents were not encouraged and sometimes not permitted. For this reason it seems proper that we should not con- fine the story of that campaign to the part in it taken by the Seventh, but should sketch briefly the plan and execu- tion of the general movement. It is not too much to say that in that campaign more ingenuity was displayed, more devotion and bravery exer- cised, and more knowledge gained in the science of ord- nance and fortifications than at any other place or period during the civil war. Of this Major General Halleck, General-in-Chief, wrote: "General Gillmore's operations have been characterized by great skill and boldness. He has overcome difficulties almost unknown in modern sieges. Indeed, his operations on Morris Island constitute a new era in the science of engineering and gunnery." A writer in the French Journal of Military Science writes : " Prodigies of talent, audacity, intrepidity and persever- ance are exhibited in the attack as in the defense of this 69 Operations Against Charleston. June, 1863. city, which will assign to the siege of Charleston an excep- tional place in military annals." Lastly, Viscount Wolseley, Adjutant General of the British Army, in reviewing a collection of historical papers writes : "Were I bound to select out of all four volumes the set of papers which appears of most importance at the present moment, not only from an American, but also from a European point of view, I should certainly name those which describe the operations at Charleston."* Toward the close of May, 1863, General Gillmore was ordered to Washington, and informed that the Navy Department wished to make another trial of the iron-clad gunboats against the defenses of Charleston Harbor. He was asked what part the small land force available for the purpose could efficiently take in such an operation. His opinion in substance was, that Fort Sumter could be reached and its offensive power practically destroyed, without any material increase of the land and naval forces then serving in the Department of the South ; but sug- gested that there should be a "cordial and energetic co-op- eration between the two branches of the service," and that the naval commander should be one who had "confidence in the efficiency of the monitors and their adaptation to such work, and was willing to risk his reputation in the development of their untried powers." He also suggested that the most that the land forces could accomplish was the demolition of Fort Sumter. A land attack against Charleston was not contemplated. The naval authorities then at the seat of the government regarded Fort Sumter as the key to the position. The final result of the conference was that General Gillmore was placed in command of the Department of the *North American Review, November, 1889. 70 Operations Against Charleston. June 12, 1863. South and Rear Admiral Dahlgren in command of that portion of the navy which was to co-operate with him. No written instructions whatever were given by the War Department ; everything connected with the operations of the land forces being left to General Gillmore's discretion and judgment. He assumed command of the Department of the South June 12, 1863. The Union forces then controlled the coast from Light House Inlet to St. Augustine, a distance of nearlv 250 miles. The positions actually occupied by our troops were : Folly Island, Seabrooks Island on the North Edisto, Saint Helena Island, Port Royal Island, Hilton Head Island, Tybee Island, Fort Pulaski, Ossabaw Island, Fort Clinch, Amelia Island, and the city of St. Augustine.* The forces were withdrawn from Ossabaw Sound and the North Edisto, and joined the main force; making nearly 11,000 men available for operation against Fort Sumter. The plan outlined by General Gillmore was as follows : 1. To erect on the north end of Folly Island masked batteries strong enough to silence the battery of the enemy nearly completed on the south end of Morris Island. This was done successfully by Gen. I. Vogdes' com- mand, and screened by the undergrowth so that the enemy was not aware of the nature of the works until they were discovered by a Confederate scouting party two days before the attack. f 2. In order to make the real attack a surprise, Gen- eral Terry with about 3,800 men, was directed to make demonstration on James Island by way of Stono River, with the hope of drawing a part of the Morris Island gar- rison in that direction. He was supported by the gunboat *The last three in Florida — the rest in South Carolina and Georgia. f Appendix No. 18, page 61. 7i Approach^ to CHAJALiiLsiTOJsL June 18 to July io, 1863. "Pawnee" and two lightly armed transports. This move- ment, as was afterward ascertained, was successful. 3. For the purpose of delaying re-enforcements from Savannah, Col. T. W. Higginson, with a regiment of colored troops, was ordered to ascend the South Edisto river and cut the Charleston and Savannah railroad at Jacksborough. This movement signally failed with a loss to us of two pieces of field artillery and a small steamer which was burned to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy. It had been planned to make the real attack on Morris Island on the 8th of July, but for some reasons, mainly the unseaworthy condition of the boats, it wras determined to defer it until the following night. Early on the 9th about 2,000 men under command of General Strong,* were ordered to have three days' cooked rations on hand and be ready to march at about sunset that night. The part taken by the battalion of the Seventh is condensed from official reports as follows : "We (the Seventh) were assigned the post of honor on the right of General Strong's brigade, supported by the Sixth Connecticut Volunteers. The brigade was formed and marched across Folly Island. To prevent any mistake in the night, each officer and man had on his left arm a white badge three inches wide, sewed to his blouse. We embarked in Folly River and rowed up Lighthouse Inlet and halted at a point close to the east side of the inlet, where we were screened from the enemy on Morris Island by the marsh grass. Shortly after daybreak our bat- teries on Folly Island opened and were served rapidly for about two hours. Soon the enemy discovered our boats and opened upon them with shell and solid shot. Though the river was full * Appendix No. 21. 72 Assault on Morris Island. July io, 1863. of boats, but one was struck, containing some of the Sixth Connecticut ; one man was killed and one or two wounded. The shots struck and shells burst all around us, making our position anything but pleasant. About this time two discharges of grape seemed to envelop General Strong's boat, but strange to say, no one was hit. Just at this moment Colonel Rodman begged General Strong to let him land his command, declaring emphatically that they could take the battery. The general at first hesitated ; then said, "Go." Then Rodman stood in the stern of his boat and said, "Seventh Connecticut, man your oars and follow me." Oarsmen had previously been designated for each boat and they were all in line and in good order. They imme- diately headed for the shore and as the boats struck the sand, each man sprang out as if by instinct and in an instant all were in line on the beach. Captain Chamberlain sent forward skirmishers under Lieutenant Van Keuren, and we advanced rapidly to the first line of rifle pits. Our skir- mishers cleared it at a bound and advanced to the second line, while our main force occupied the first line ; the foe retired, firing. Rodman now sent word back to General Strong to land the entire force, as we could hold the line we then occupied. Colonel Rodman sent Company B to the left and Company I to the right, to engage the enemy in the battery and drive him out if possible, while A and K held the line already occupied. The brigade soon landed. The Sixth Connecticut rowed to the right in the face of the enemy's batteries, landed on the southeasterly point of the island, and formed the right of the column, while the bat- talion of the Seventh led the advance on the left and center. The two columns now moved forward under a lively discharge of shell, grape and canister, converging towards the works nearest the southern extremity of the island and 73 f .% Assault on Morris Island. July io, 1863. thence along its commanding ridge and eastern coast, cap- turing successively the eight batteries of one heavy gun each, occupying the commanding points of that ridge, besides two batteries, mounting, together, three ten-inch sea coast mortars. Captain Burdick on the left, captured a number of prisoners and one or two camps. Lieutenant Jordan, with a detachment of Company I rushed into their battery on the right and finding the first gun disabled by a shot, pushed forward to what was afterward named Battery Rodman, in which was an eight-inch sea coast howitzer, turned it on the retreating foe, and burst several shells over their heads before they reached Fort Wagner. By nine o'clock the entire southern part of the island was occupied, capturing twelve batteries, five stand of colors (among which was a battle flag inscribed "Pocotaligo, October 22, 1862"), about 127 prisoners including three commissioned officers, considerable camp equipage and ammunition, and several horses and mules. The loss on the Union side was one officer and fourteen enlisted men killed and one officer and ninety men wounded ; total 106. On the Confederate side, three officers and thirty-seven men killed; eight officers and 166 men wounded; three officers and 124 men captured, total 303. About one mile from Fort Wagner and within range of its guns, the Seventh New Hampshire was stationed under cover of the sand hills ; two companies were thrown out as a picket line within four or five hundred yards of the fort. The battalion of the Seventh Connecticut, utterly exhausted by two sleepless nights and the battle of the morning, was halted under cover of the hills and the sound of bursting shells over the heads of the men was more terrifying than dangerous. That night, the first one out of three, they lay down to sleep. 74 CHAPTER XI. FIRST CHARGE ON WAGNER. About 2.30 on the morning of July nth, General Strong came and called Lieutenant Colonel Rodman out for a short consultation. When he returned, he said to the officers, "Turn out, we have a job on hand." They well knew what that meant. The men were aroused from sleep, formed into line, pieces loaded and primed and bayonets fixed. Silently and quietly they moved up to our advanced picket line. General Strong was there. He informed them that the fort was to be assaulted, that they were chosen as the "Forlorn Hope," and that there were but three guns that looked this way. He directed them to move quietly forward until the enemy's pickets fired, then follow them close and rush for the work, and they should have prompt support. "If you fire, aim low, but don't stop to fire ; trust in God and give them the bayonet."* "Forward the Seventh" was the order, and forward they went. Soon the enemy's pickets opened fire, and scarcely waiting for the order the Seventh took up the double quick step with a cheer and rushed for the works. Before reaching the outer work, a murderous fire of musketry met them and a few men fell, temporarily checking the advance. An encouraging word from the officers restored order, and right gallantly they sped to the outer work, over it with a will, down into and across the moat, through water about a foot deep, and scrambled up the slope of the *General Strong was a fine type of the true Christian soldier. One who was wounded in that charge afterward said to the writer : "When I learned what we were to do my knees shook so that I thought I should drop, but the way General Strong said Trust in God' braced me right up, I never thought of myself after that." 75 First Charge on Wagner. July ii, 1863. parapet where they lay down so near the crest that one had but to raise his head, and rest his gun upon the parapet to kill his man. There they lay busying themselves with pick- ing off sharpshooters and gunners while anxiously awaiting the promised support. All were doing their best to keep down the fire of the o-arrison and a few cases of individual bravery were specially noticed and reported. Quite a number of the garrison were killed or wounded, while our men were in that position. Captain Gray said to private William DeWitt of Company A, who lay by his side, "Shoot that gunner." He rose, took deliberate aim and fired. At the same time a bullet hit him in the head and he fell with his gun across the parapet. In the meantime what had become of the supporting column? These were the Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania in close column, and after them the Ninth Maine. When the Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania had come within range of 200 yards the enemy opened simultaneously along his whole line, and the column halted and lay down. Though they remained but a short time in that position, that halt was fatal, for the interval was lost and the garrison filing out of the bomb-proof gathered in the flank of a bastion and poured an enfilading fire along the parapet, while others threw hand grenades from within the fort. The Pennsylvanians soon rose and moved gallantly up to the ditch on the right and the Ninth Maine on the left, but only to a useless sacrifice, for the 1,200 men in the fort with their three cannon were by this time mowing them down, and nothing was left for them but to join the retreat. Their mistake cost them dear ; their casualties were in that short period 180. Of them. General Strong said in his official report : "The Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania Regiment, heretofore bearing the reputation of a most gallant and thoroughly 76 First Charge on Wagner. July ii, 1863. disciplined organization, will have another and early oppor- tunity to efface the remembrance of their involuntary fault. The causes of their failure, and hence the failure of the assault, were, first the sudden, tremendous and simultaneous fire which all encountered, and second, the absence of their colonel, who was taken ill before the column was put in motion." Before the support came on "the forlorn hope" had quickly to choose whether to surrender, to rush down into the fort to certain annihilation, or to run the gauntlet of fire from the cannon and musketry of the garrison. The last was chosen. Reluctantly Lieutenant Colonel Rodman gave the order to retreat. Down the slope, across the moat and along the beach they ran, with a strong enfilading fire of musketry, besides three cannon from the fort pouring out grape and canister. This cut them down on all sides. Lieutenant Colonel Rodman was shot first in the side ; then a grape shot plowed through his left leg. This was about 150 yards from the fort. Lieutenant Green stopped to help him and he was shot in the leg. Others went to his assistance and four men carried him to camp, dodging down their heads every time a charge of grape or canister came along. This so added to the colonel's suffering that he said, "Stand up, they can't hit you." General Strong, who met them on their return, said with tears in his eyes : "Ah, my brave fellows, you deserved a better fate ; you have covered your- selves with glory." About fifteen minutes after reaching camp, the roll was called and only eighty-eight men responded. The whole number who went into the fight were eleven officers and 185 men. Capt. Theodore Burdick, Lieut. John H. Wilson and twenty-five enlisted men were killed, two officers and forty-two enlisted men wounded, and four officers and fifty- 77 First Charge on Wagner. July ii, 1863. four men captured. Of the fifty-four captured, eighteen were wounded and sixteen afterward died in prison from wounds or privation, so that though the official report of casualties gives an aggregate loss of 103 in killed, wounded and missing, the actual loss of life in consequence of the charge was forty-three, more than one-fifth of those who were engaged. The following lines which were read at a reunion of the right flank company are here published by request. THE FIRST CHARGE ON WAGNER. At Morris Isle on a summer night, Near where the waves flashed phosphor light, A tired battalion of soldiers lay; Companies A, B, I and K. Wean- with waiting on Folly's shore, Weary with watching the night before. Weary with fighting from early dawn Through the sultry hours of a July morn, Beyond the hilltops' wavy crest, They laid them down for a needed rest ; And with labored breathing, long and deep, Fast were locked in dreamless sleep. The red half moon began to glower Over Saint Michael's steepled tower,* When 'mid the sleepers a tumult began Spreading itself from man to man. Hark, 'tis the sergeant's muffled voice, "Fall in ! the Seventh, fall in here boys !" They spring to their feet with sleepy stare; They brush the sand from out their hair, Rifle and cartridge box they grasp. Around their waists their belts they clasp, And rolling their blankets with hasty care, They fall in line; none are missing then. *St. Michael's Church — a prominent object in Charleston as seen from Morris Island. 78 First Charge on Wagner. July ii, 1863. They march toward Wagner along the beach Until our picket post they reach ; Then halt and rest the line along. When out to the front steps General Strong. "Men, where yon fort's embrasures yawn, Our flag must float when the day shall dawn And yours be the honor the charge to lead, Brave hearts and strong hands your efforts need, When you fire aim low. and trust in God And give them the bayonet;" then with a nod To Colonel Rodman he seeks the rear And "Forward the Seventh" comes firm and clear. Many a man when soul is fired With rage or with battle's zeal inspired Will face his death with unflinching brow, But when the pulse is cool and slow, When brain is still and thought is clear. None but a hero can conquer fear. The little band of companies four Who heard that word upon the shore, Might well with fluttering heart-beat send A farewell thought to home and friend, Or lift to Heaven a silent prayer; For they knew that Death was in the air. But as they march to meet their fate Their step is true and their line is straight, Elbow to elbow, each to each They firmly tread the silent beach. In their faces the guns of the picket flash "Double Quick ! Charge !" and on they dash Met by the deafening roar and crash Of bursting shell and musket's flash. Quick in the moat their knees are wet : Quickly they mount the parapet : They throw themselves upon the fort To await the arrival of their support, Loading and firing they hold their place. Looking thrice their number in the face. "Now if our comrades were only here We'd carry the fort with a rush and cheer, 79 First Charge on Wagner. July ii, 1863. Where linger the regiments in the rear, Who shoulder to shoulder were marching near." Alas, the enemy's murderous fire Has checked their advance, will they retire? Later they charge, but they charge too late To save their brothers from adverse fate. So the little band on the fort who lie Must choose to surrender, retreat or die. "Retreat" was Rodman's reluctant word, "Save himself who can'' and those who heard Helping the wounded and leaving the dead, Back, back through the fiery gauntlet sped, While the roar and whistle and hum and buzz Of grape and canister around them rose. One hundred and ninety-six all told Had taken part in that charge so bold, But when they returned to their bivouac Only just eighty-eight came back. Some in their last long sleep lay low "With their backs to the field and their feet to the foe" Some maimed or surrounded by hostile foes Were compelled to surrender; and out of those Full many by wounds or privation died. Where in Southern prisons for home they sighed. One-fifth of those who joined the strife, There gave their lives for the nation's life. All honor to them, and when we meet Our comrades old of the Seventh to greet. The Seventh, which faced Confederate lines From Florida's swamps to Virginia's pines. Be our hand-clasp warmest, our welcome best For those who charged upon Wagner's crest. Colonel Olmstead, who with his command was in the fort, relates this inci- dent : "Immediately after the action a singular instance of the ups and downs and uncertainties of warfare was brought to our attention. Among the first troops to enter Fort Pulaski at its capture in the previous year was the Seventh Connecticut regiment, then commanded by Colonel Alfred H. Terry (subsequently Major General). Both officers and men had behaved toward us with great kind- ness during the few days that we remained at the fort after its capture, and we had become personally acquainted with them. Now we were the victors and among the prisoners brought in at our end of the line were many of our old friends of the Seventh Connecticut, who recognized us and called us by name.— "Defense of Charleston," p. 95. Col. Olmstead attended a reunion of the Seventh at Lakeville in 1887, and seemed to enjoy it as much as did the "boys in blue."- Compiler. 80 CHAPTER XII. SECOND CHARGE ON WAGNER. Notwithstanding the failure of the first assault, General Gillmore hoped with the combined fire of land batteries and gunboats, the principal guns in Fort Wagner might be dis- abled, and the enemy be driven away ; or at least the way opened for a successful assault. Accordingly four sand batteries were erected within an average distance of about 1, 600 yards from the fort. These mounted fourteen mortars and twenty-seven rifled guns. Such expedition was used that on the 18th of July they were ready to open fire. It was designed to attack on the 1 6th, but heavy rain storms submerged nearly all of the batteries and destroyed much powder. This compelled a delay of two days, during which only sufficient firing was done to obtain the range of the mortars. In the meantime the Confederates were improving their opportunity to strengthen the fort. The magazine was thickly covered, the embrasures were stopped with sand bags, even covering up many of the lighter guns on the land side so as to preserve them from injury until they should be wanted. Soon after midday all our batteries opened, and the navy, which had been awaiting their completion, closed in opposite the fort and took an active and effective part in the engagement. In a short time the fort was entirely silent on the face fronting the land batteries, and practically so on the sea front, from which, at the commencement of the action a sharp and severe fire had been delivered against the fleet. Some sixty guns or more, from the land and naval forces 81 Second Charge on Wagner. July 18, 1863. were opposed by forty or more Confederate guns from Wagner, Gregg, Sumter, Moultrie and James Island, mak- ing in all about 100 guns of heavy caliber which thundered incessantly for nearly eight hours. A dense cloud of smoke hung over the fort, the batteries and the ships of war, while the deafening roar of heavy ordnance seemed unbroken. The tide serving about 4 P. M., the monitors closed in within about 300 yards of Wagner, dismounting two guns and totally silencing the sea face for the day. Late in the afternoon, General Gillmore signalled to Rear Admiral Dahlgren that the assault would be made at twilight. This signal was read by a Confederate officer, who by a Ruse de Guerre* had managed to get the key of our signals from a Union prisoner. Consequently as the head of the column marched out into open ground from the first parallel, the guns in Wag- ner, Gregg, Sumter, and on James and Sullivan's Island opened upon it rapidly and simultaneously. This fire was severe, and when our troops approached so .near the fort that the fire from our guns and the navy had to be sus- pended, the garrison, which, while our fire was going on, had been safely ensconced in the bomb-proof, ushered and added to the cannonade a destructive musketry fire. The leading regiment, the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts, went forward on the double quick until they reached the moat. There the fire was so hot that they were temporarily checked, but being rallied by Colonel Shaw, made their way up the slope against the opposing bayonets of the enemy to the top of the parapet, driving the enemy from most of their guns. "It was here, on the crest of the parapet, that Colonel Shaw fell ; here fell Captains Russell and Simkins ; here also were many of the officers wounded." The colors of the regiment reached the crest and were there fought ^Stratagem of war. 82 Second Charge on Wagner. July 18, 1863. for by the enemy ; the State flag- was torn from its staff, but the staff remained with the color bearer.* The fight raged here for about an hour. Putnam's bri- gade, which supported the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts also reached the parapet, and made every possible effort to capture it, but finally many officers and about 1,000 men having been killed or wounded, a retreat was ordered. In the meantime, the Sixth Connecticut under command of Colonel Chatfield, advanced on the flank along the beach until in front of the stockade, when it was formed facing Fort Wagner. About 6.30 P. M. it was formed in column of companies, closed in mass, advanced upon the enemy's works in good order, across the moat, and entered the fort at the southeastern angle. Here it held its position in the fort for about three hours, when, as it was found impos- sible to obtain re-enforcements, orders were given to retire as quietly as possible. In this assault ten regiments and two independent bat- talions were engaged, numbering about 6,000 men. Their losses were 246 killed, 880 wounded, 389 prisoners or mis- sing. During this fight the few men of the Seventh Connect- icut who escaped from the first charge, amounting to about seventy, acted as provost guard under the command of Lieut. I. E. Hicks, Provost Marshall. General Strong directed them to act as rear guard and "let no man pass to the rear unless he was dead." During the first hour or two they could obey orders, but when the final order to retreat was given, with General Strong, Colonel Chatfield, Colonel Shaw and many of their other officers killed or seriously wounded and the converg- ing fire of more than forty cannon raking their ranks, an *Colonel Hallowell's report official records, Vol. 28, part 1, page 362. 83 Second Charge on Wagner. July 18, 1863. orderly retreat would have been as unwise as it was impossi- ble. It was every man for himself, and the fleeing columns came on like a whirlwind, not stopping until they reached their camp. There they pulled themselves together and many of the officers commenced drill for the sake of steady- ing their nerves, and making them ready to repel a sally from the fort should one be attempted. The chief loss fell on the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts, colored regiment. It had been recruited from the best colored men of Boston and vicinity. Governor Andrew requested Colonel Shaw to take the command. He had a choice betwen this and an exceedingly desirable commission in a white regiment, but accepted the command of the colored regiment, because of a chivalrous desire to help a despised race lift themselves up to the respect and honor of their fellow men. He had asked that they might lead the charge, but General Strong, knowing the bitterness of the South toward colored soldiers first asked them if they were willing; they replied that they were. The Confederate General Ripley in speaking of them says : "The carnage of the enemy in the confined space in front of battery was extreme. The ditch and glacis were encumbered with the slain of all ranks and colors, for the enemy had put the poor negroes, whom they had forced into an unnatural service, in front, to be, as they were, slaughtered indiscriminately. The white colonel, who com- manded them, fell with many officers of the regiment (the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts) and the colors under which they were sent to butchery by hypocrisy and inhumanity fell, draggled in blood and sand, in the ditch, a mournful memorial of the waste of industry.'' The contempt which the Confederates felt for white 84 Second Charge of Wagner. July 18, 1863. officers commanding colored troops was shown by burying Colonel Shaw in the same trench with his men; as one coldly expressed it, "We buried him with his niggers." Note. So did the North and South misunderstand each other. While Charleston inflicted a harmless indignity upon Colonel Shaw's lifeless body, Boston honored his immortal soul by erecting at the head of Boston Common the finest regimental monument in the country, and placing upon it among others the following inscrip- tions : "O Fair Haired Northern hero with thy guard of dusky hue Up from the field of battle rise to the last review." "Stainless soldier on the walls, knowing this and knows no more, Whoever fights, whoever falls, justice conquers evermore." The north end of Morris Island has been washed away and the site of Fort Wagner is now several feet under water.* As the tide of the ocean has buried the scene of that strife, so the tide of human affairs has buried the animosities which caused it. The race question is still unsettled, but already good men, North and South, are bringing to its settlement not bitterness and hatred, but kindness and love of humanity. ^Vincent's Creek is filled with sand. Cumming's Point has entirely disappeared, and the site of Wagner is covered with water at everv high tide. 85 CHAPTER XIII. Till-: SIEGE OE WAGNER. The formidable strength of Fort Wagner as developed by the second charge induced a change in plans. Arrange- ments were therefore made to press the siege by regular approaches, though the obstacles to be overcome were great. The work was inclosed and occupied the entire breadth of the island, extending from high water mark on the east, to Vincent's Creek and the impassable marshes on the west ; so presenting a front more than three times the width that could be given to our approaches by taking advantage of the solid ground, while as we neared the work this ratio reached as high as ten to one. Its faces were mutually defensive, and were completely and thoroughly flanked. It was constructed of compact sand, upon which the heaviest projectiles produced but little effect, and in which damages could be easily and speedily repaired. It was known to contain a secure and capacious bomb-proof shelter for its entire garrison, and to be armed with between fifteen and twenty guns of various calibers, all bearing upon and completely covering the only approach to it, which was over a shallow and shifting beach of scarcely over half a company front in width in many places, subject to frequent overflow by the tides, and swept by the guns of not only Fort Wagner itself, but of Battery Gregg, Fort Sumter and several heavily armed batteries on James and Sullivan's Islands. Its communication with Charleston being in the hands of the enemy, and entirely practicable to him during the night, its armament and garrison could be easily main- tained at the maximum standard of strength and efficiency. Col. E. W. Serrell of the New York Volunteer 86 Siege of Wagner. July, 1863. Engineers was charged with the construction of wharves in Lighthouse Inlet on Morris and Folly Islands, while to Maj. T. B. Brooks, aide-de-camp, was intrusted the direction of the engineering operations on the right, comprising the approaches to Fort Wagner, and the construction of such batteries, magazines, defensive arrangements, etc., as might be required in that quarter. Between the 18th and 23rd of July, the first position occupied by our right batteries was converted into a strong defensive line, capable of resisting a formidable sortie. From that time this line became the "first parallel."* A row of inclined palisading, reaching entirely across the island, was planted about 200 yards in advance of the line, with a return of fifty yards on the right This return was well flanked by two guns on the right of the parallel. The parapet between the guns was arranged for infantry defense, a bomb-proof magazine was constructed and the armament of the line modified and increased, so that the parallel contained eight siege and field guns, ten siege mortars, and three Requa's rifle batteries. Since a majority of the readers of this narrative are supposed to be unfamiliar with military terms, it seems necessary to explain as briefly as possible the process of siege approaches. A "Requa Battery'' above referred to was a new arm made solely for defense against sorties. It con- sisted of twenty-five rifle barrels each twenty-four inches long, arranged side by side and held in position upon a light field carriage by an iron frame. They were breech-loading, having a sliding bar worked by one lever on each side, by which the cartridges were forced into the rear of the chamber. By another lever the barrels could be diverged so as to scatter the balls 120 yards in a distance of 1,000. *See Gillmore's Report O. R. Vol. 28, part 1, page 17. 87 Siege of Wagner. July, 1863. When served by three men the battery could be readily fired seven volleys or 175 shots per minute. Up to the 23rd of August these batteries constituted the only artillery in advance of the second parallel. On several occasions they were used against the enemy's sharpshooters and work- ing parties, apparently with good effect. Though there was no need to use them in repelling assaults, they would probably have given good account of themselves had such movements been attempted Having thus explained the means of holding all the advance gained, it remains to describe the means by which advances were made. A trench was dug diagonally toward the fort two feet deep and four feet wide, the earth being thrown toward the fort. In order to protect the sappers from the fire of the fort a sap roller was used. This was a roller nine feet long and four feet in diameter, made of coarse wicker work of hoop iron stretched between wooden ends and filled with fagots. It was kept between the sappers and the line of sharpest fire by rolling it along as the work progressed. As the bank of sand was completed it was revetted to its place by laying bags filled with sand upon it. This con- stituted what is called a full sap. A flying sap was made by placing fascines or gabions on the side of the proposed trench toward the enemy and throwing the sand upon them. In this way much more rapid progress could be made than with the full sap. Fascines were bundles of fagots nine inches in diameter and twelve, sixteen or eighteen feet long. Gabions were wicker work baskets of hoop iron without ends, three feet long and two feet in diameter. After a flying sap had been run it afforded sufficient protection from the enemy's fire so that it could be strengthened if necessary.. Before giving a detailed account of the progress of Siege of Wagner. July, 1863. the sap beyond the second parallel other movements demand attention. General Gillmore determined to establish directly in the rear of the second parallel a heavy battery of rifled guns for the purpose of battering down Fort Sumter. For this purpose two eight-inch Parrott rifles and five 100-pounder Parrott rifles were mounted at an average distance of 3,525 yards from Fort Sumter. A ten-inch Parrott rifle arrived from the North, and with a view to From Hist 1st Lt. Batt'v. SWAMP ANGEL. security from the enemy's fire was placed on the left and rear of the Beacon House. There were also placed at that location at an average distance of 4,300 yards (nearly two and a half miles) from Fort Sumter, two eight-inch Parrott rifles and four 100-pounder Parrott rifles. It was thought best also to place a rifled gun at such a point on the island that it would reach the lower end of the city of Charleston so that in an emergency that portion of the city could be made untenable. 89 Siege of Wagner. August, 1863. Colonel Serrell of the New York Volunteer Engineers was charged with this work. The most convenient point was in a marsh on the left. It consisted of a bed of soft black mud, from sixteen to eighteen feet deep, overgrown with weeds and grass, traversed by numerous deep, crooked bayous and subject to daily overflow by the tides. A man walking there would sink in two feet or more, and two men standing on a plank could shake the mud like jelly for several feet around them. Colonel Serrell instructed a lieutenant of his regiment to survey it and make requisition for whatever was needed for constructing a bat- tery and mounting the gun. To him the order seemed a tremendous joke. He made requisition among other things for 1,000 men each eighteen feet high. Colonel Serrell was offended with him for such trifling, and sent him before a court martial. Of course the court had to find him guilty and sentenced him to be reprimanded by his colonel in the presence of his company. Colonel Serrell took up the matter and reported that he thought a gun not weighing over 10,000 pounds could be drawn across the marsh on skids framed together to slip on the mud, similar to those used by Xapoleon for crossing the Alps on the snow. He made a foundation by laying down pine logs with others across them in the form of a hollow square, then forced down piles around the center and filled in the space with plank and sand bags so as to make the gun rest on its own foundation. Three hundred and seven tons of timber were used and 812 tons of sand and sand bags, with the result that on the 7th of August the battery was ready for the gun. We now return to the part taken in the operations by the Seventh Connecticut. When the news of the first assault reached St. Augus- 90 Siege of Wagner. August, 1863. tine, Colonel Hawley wrote requesting- that the six com- panies of his regiment there might be relieved from garrison duty and ordered into active service. The request was granted. The Forty-eighth Xew York was sent to St. Augustine relieving the Seventh Connecticut, which reached Folly Island August 4th, and from there proceeded to Morris Island joining the other four companies. From that time onward the regiment was constantly engaged in digging sand, carrying siege material, or serving artillery. On the night of the 23rd of July the second parallel had been established by the flying sap, and by the 26th its defensive arrangements were practically complete, compris- ing 290 linear yards of parapet arranged for infantry fire and twenty-one pieces of light artillery. By this time Gen- eral Gillmore was convinced that the only hope of the fort depended upon powerful sorties. Anticipating these, a large body of men was called up at three o'clock every morning, and remained under arms until reveille. The following account of the siege of Wagner and bombardment of Sumter is condensed from General Gill- more's official reports. "On the 9th of August Major Brooks was directed to establish the third parallel with riving sap, about 330 yards in advance of the right of the second parallel, and to commence the approaches between the two parallels by the same method. From this period forward the fire from James Island, Wagner, Gregg, and Sumter, and from the enemy's sharp- shooters in Fort Wagner, was severe and almost unceasing. Indeed, on the 10th, our advance was stopped entirely from this cause, and it became a question of grave doubt whether we could push forward our trenches much farther with the 91 Siege of Wagner. August, 1863. advantages so entirely on the side of the enemy. Mean- while the garrison of Fort Sumter was industriously engaged in strengthening its passive means of defense. Sand bags were piled up against the gorge walls from its junction with the northwest face to the sally port so as to protect the magazine near that angle. The sand bag filling of the gorge casemates was greatly added to, and the traverses on the terreplein* were enlarged. At this period of the siege it was not supposed that it would be necessary to sap entirely up to Fort Wagner, in order to insure its capture, for on the presumption that Fort Sumter would be demolished from positions which we then held, it was considered probable that a complete investment of Morris Island at night could be established and main- tained by picket boats. Our batteries stopped the com- munication by day. An attempt to illuminate the waters near Cumming's Point with calcium lights placed in the left batteries, was but partially successful, as the distance (over 3,000 yards) was too great for the apparatus which we had. The idea was to throw a cone of light upon the water approach, and station the guard boats in the obscurity just outside the lateral limits of the cone. The plan, I am convinced, was entirely practicable, and with powerful reflectors and an efficient picket boat organization would have given decisive results. It was decided not to push the sap toward Fort Wagner beyond the third parallel until the fire upon Fort Sumter had been opened. My communication to the general-in-chief, of August 10th, is as follows: *Terreplein — The top of the rampart on which cannon are placed. Q2 Siege of Wagner. August, 1863. Headquarters Department of the South. Morris Island, S. C, August 10, 1863. Mat. Gen. H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief, U. S. Army, Washington, D .C. : Sir : I have to acknowledge receipt of your communication of the 28th ultimo, in answer to my request for re-enforcements. The unexpected reduction of my effective force by sickness was. at the time I wrote, quite alarming. I admit that I had not taken into consideration the probable effect of the resumption of active opera- tions upon men who had been idle for an entire year. It has, in truth, acted like a process of reacclimation. All but two regiments of the forces ordered from Major-General Foster's department are here. If my command continues to improve in health, I shall require no more men than I now have, to accomplish the reduction of Fort Sumter. After that is done, the monitors must take the lead in accordance with the project which was discussed and informally adopted when I left Washington. General Beauregard has, for the defense of Charleston, twice as many men and more than five times as much artillery as I have. I therefore beg the Department not to lose sight of the fact that after the gate is opened to the monitors and ironclads, by the reduction of Fort Sumter, the army here, so long as it remains greatly inferior in numbers to that of the enemy, must remain defensively upon the sea. islands. My operations are progressing satisfactorily. I expect to open a heavy fire on Fort Sumter on the 14th instant. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Q. A. Gillmore, Brigadier-General commanding. On the 1 6th of August, I wrote to the general-in-chief as follows : Headquarters Department of the South. Morris Island, S. C, August 16, 1863. Mat. Gen. H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief, U. S. Army, Washington, D. C. Sir : I have to report a steady progress in our operations here. In consequence of the inferior and irregular quality of the only powder 93 Siege of Wagner. Aug. 17 to Sept. 2, 1863. in this department suitable for heavy guns, a fact which was not suspected by my ordnance officer until developed by our preliminary practice after the magazines had been filled, I was unable to open my batteries on the 14th, agreeably to my expectations, as stated in my letter of the 10th instant. I have borrowed some powder from the navy, which (with some recently arrived from the north) will enable me to open to-morrow, the 17th inst. Two monitors, with one rifled gun each, are expected to co-operate with me against Sumter, at a distance of about 2,000 yards. The others will remain abreast of Fort Wagner, to keep down its fire. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Q. A. GlLLMOREj Brigadier-General commanding. August 1 6th General Gillmore issued an order directing that the breaching batteries should open on Sumter at day- break on the morning of the 17th. The batteries served by the Seventh Connecticut were as follows : Battery Hearncy, First Lieut. S. S. Atwell, Seventh Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Commanding, comprising three thirty-pounder Parrott rifles and three Coehorn mortars. The guns to operate against Battery Gregg with shot and shell unless otherwise directed, and the mortars against Fort Wagner, exploding the shell just over the forts. Battery Ward, Capt. B. F. Skinner, Seventh Connect- icut Volunteers Commanding, comprising five ten-inch siege mortars, to fire against Fort Wagner, exploding the shells just before the striking. Battery Strong, Capt. S. H. Gray, Seventh Connecticut Volunteers commanding, one ten-inch Parrott rifle against the gorge wall of Fort Sumter, firing shot and percussion shell, commencing with the former. Gillmore's order directing the bombardment closed as follows : "The brigadier general commanding takes this occasion 9* Bombardment of Sumter. Aug. 17 to Sept. 2, 1863. to remind the officers and men under his command, and especially those to whom he has this day assigned the posts of honor and of danger, that the eyes of a beneficent country are fixed upon them, with not only the ardent hope, but the confident expectation of success. The nation is indeed waiting to crown you the victors of Sumter. We need not, and must not, fail. Let us fearlessly do our whole duty to our beloved country, and in the language of our late companion in arms, the gallant and lamented Strong, "Put our trust in God." His report of the first bombardment is as follows : "The breaching guns were served from day to day with great care and deliberation. The firing from the batteries in the second parallel was seriously interfered with, and, at times, partially suspended, by the galling fire from Fort Wagner to which the cannoneers were exposed. The com- bined fire of our mortars and light pieces, aided by gun- boats and ironclads, failed to subdue this annoyance entirely, and we were obliged to turn some of our breach- ing guns upon the work. There was imminent danger, indeed, that our most efficient, because most advanced, bat- teries would be hopelessly disabled before the work should be accomplished. Nothng of the kind, however, happened. A heavy northeasterly storm set in on the 18th, and raged for two days, very materially diminishing the accuracy and effect of our fire. Soon after midnight on the night of August 21st, the Marsh Battery opened on the city of Charleston, firing only a few shots. Firing was resumed the second night thereafter, but the piece (an eight-inch Parrott rifle) burst at the thirty-sixth discharge, blowing out the entire breech in rear of the vent. Firing from the breaching batteries ceased, for the time, on the evening of the 23rd. 95 Bombardment of Sumter. Aug. 17 to Sept. 2, 1863. The barbette tier of the work was entirely destroyed. A few unserviceable pieces, still remaining on their car- riages, were dismounted a week later. The casemates of the channel fronts were more or less thoroughly searched bv our fire. We had reliable information that but one serviceable gun remained in them, and that pointed up the harbor toward the city. The fort was reduced to the con- dition of a mere infantry outpost, alike incapable of annoy- ing our approaches to Fort Wagner or of inflicting injury upon the ironclads. The enemy soon after commenced removing the dismounted guns by night, and not many weeks elapsed before several of them were mounted in other parts of the harbor. The period during which the weakness of the enemy's interior defenses was most pal- pably apparent was during the ten days subsequent to the 23rd of August. During this bombardment an incident occurred which shows the value of Yankee ingenuity as an adjunct to military science. The ten-inch Parrott rifle in Battery Strong was disabled soon after opening fire by a premature explosion of a shell near its muzzle, which blew off about eighteen inches of its length. It had already developed such accuracy and strength of fire that it was a great loss. General Gillmore asked Captain Mordecai, Chief of Ord- nance, whether it could be repaired. He replied that it could be by turning off the end of the muzzle down to the lower end of the fracture so as to make its face at a right angle with the base, but as there was but one lathe in the country large enough to swing it, it would be neces- sary to dismount it and send it north. This was out of the question ; it would involve much time, and it had broken down three sling carts and taken men and time equal to 2,500 nights' work to get it to its place. Captain Gray said he thought that with a selected detail of machinists with 96 From Hist. 1st Lt. Batt'y. FORT SUMTER BEFORE BOMBARDMENT. From Hist. 1st Lt, Batt'y. FORT SUMTER AFTER FIRST BOMBARDMENT. *> tl h aJ <u a a «« ~ ,s > ^> » 2 - 2 " o 'O *a Si hO to -o £ '3 O 'Si^ O T3 .2* ® 3 CD >> B em s~ ■♦J o ■°5 0^ H £ o e o » *J 5 ■S <•-> .^ a ° DO s > =5 ^ Et « a £7 « a> » 2 g, 5 S 3 ' "2 * +* £« CO S (j in a s «* ° ° "a S £ - £S i^ s a t3 ra a 2 5 g a M O * : £ * <° ! &^** i w 5 ' CO <o o «« •« s* cc .£* p t3 h id : a ^ ^ c3 P ■=> a >* a> a P h 01 is ^3 a TO +3 •»-« a ® Wg -° * « 3 ° - «* - °» a | & I Bombardment of Sumter. Aug. 17 to Sept. 2, 1863. cold chisels and files it could be repaired within forty-eight hours. General Gillmore instructed him to make the attempt. He set the machinists at work and under his superin- tendence in less than the time set, the rifle was apparently doing as good work as ever. Of it General Gillmore says : "The gun was fired 370 times, after this, without any appreciable difference in the range and accuracy being noticed. * * * * * * * * * * "No one could witness its performance during the bom- bardment of Sumter and notice the terrible crushing effect of its huge projectiles upon the masonry of that place, the ease with which it was worked, and its remarkable accuracy at a distance of two and a half miles without being filled with admiration and wonder." Capt. John Johnson, a Confederate engineer, gives a detailed account of the havoc wrought by this gun thus :* "During these nine days of the second period the demolition of the fort was greatly increased by the firing of the 300-pounder Parrott rifle. In one day it threw fifteen thousand pounds' weight of metal. It was directed against the exterior of the right flank and the interior of the right face of the work. One shot, striking in reverse the upper tier of casemates, cracked a massive pier entirely through and partially destroyed it. The thickness on the line of fire was seven feet; squarely across, five feet. The pier, one-half brick with a filling of concrete, had been built twelve years. Another evidence of this rapid power of destruction occurred later, on the 30th of August, when after eight hours' battering in the same vicinity it destroyed one entire casemate arch, bringing down the terreplein *The performance of this gun gave rise to the witticism, "The American Eagle is a fine bird, but he cannot beat the Ten Inch Parrott." 99 i 907931 Siege of Wagner. Aug. i8 to Sept. 6, 1863. with gun, carriage, etc. These arches, built of best gray brick laid in cement, were twenty-two inches thick, while on the line of axis they were twenty-one feet long." "The same work of destruction required three or four days the week before on the part of the one hundred and two hundred-pound rifles. Still more, on the first of Sep- tember the effect of its fire was to culminate in the fall, at the same instant, of four upper casemates, the terreplein. platforms and guns." This gun weighed 26,000 pounds ; its shells weighed generally 250 pounds, required twenty-five pounds of powder and reached the fort in about eighteen seconds after leaving the gun. The further progress of the siege is reported by Gen- eral Gillmore as follows : "Meanwhile, on the night of August 18th, active opera- tions were resumed on the approaches to Fort Wagner, by debouching with the full sap from the left of the third parallel. The spring tides, aided by a powerful northeast storm, had submerged the trenches to a depth of two feet in many places, and washed down the parapets. At the second parallel the Surf Battery had barely escaped entire destruction, about one-third of it having been carried away by the sea. Its armament had been temporarily removed to await the issue of the storm. The progress of the sap was hotly opposed by the enemy. At one point in particular, about 200 yards in front of Wagner, there was a ridge affording good cover, from which we received an unceasing fire of small arms, while the guns and sharpshooters in Wagner opened vigorously at every lull in the fire directed upon it from our batteries and the gunboats. The firing from the distant James Island batteries was steady and accurate. One attempt on the 21st to obtain possession of the 100 Siege of Wagner. Aug. 21 to Sept. 6, 1863. ridge with infantry having failed, it was determined to establish another parallel. On the night of August 21st, the fourth parallel was opened about 100 yards from the ridge above mentioned, partly with the flying and partly with the full sap. At the place selected for it the island is about 160 yards in width above high water. It was now determined to try and dislodge the enemy from the ridge with light mortars and navy howitzers in the fourth parallel and other mortars in rear firing over those in front. The attempt was made on the afternoon of August 25th, but did not succeed. Brigadier General Terry was ordered, on the 26th of August, to carry the ridge at the point of the bayonet, and hold it. This was accomplished, and the fifth parallel established there on the evening of the same day. This brought us to within 240 yards of Fort Wagner. The intervening space comprised the narrowest and shallowest part of Morris Island. It was simply a flat ridge of sand, scarcely twenty-five yards in width, over which the sea, in rough weather, swept entirely across to the marsh on our left. Approaches by the flying sap were at once commenced from the right of the fifth parallel, and certain means of defense in the parallel itself were ordered. It was soon ascertained that we had now reached the point where the really formidable defensive arrangements of the enemy commenced. An elaborate and ingenious system of tor- pedo mines, to be exploded by the tread of persons walking over them, was encountered, and we were informed by the prisoners taken on the ridge that the entire area of firm ground between us and the fort, as well as the glacis of the latter on its south and east fronts, was thickly filled with these torpedoes. This knowledge brought to us a sense of 101 Siege of Wagner. Aug. 25 to Sept. 6, 1863. security from sorties, for the mines were a defense to us as well as to the enemy. By daybreak on the 27th, our sappers had reached with an unfinished trench to within 100 yards of Fort Wagner. The dark and gloomy days of the siege were now upon us. Our daily hopes were on the increase, while our prog- ress became discouragingly slow and even fearfully uncer- tain. The converging fire from Wagner alone almost enveloped the head of our sap, subtending, as it did, an angle of nearly ninety degrees, while the flank fire from ;. ■, ,...■ ... ,.rrrrri 1 1 , m TORPEDO. The lever was often covered with marsh grass, so that great care was necessary to avoid stepping on it and causing an explosion. the James Island batteries increased in power and accuracy. To push forward the sap, in the narrow strip of shallow, shifting sand by day, was impossible, while the brightness of the prevailing harvest moon rendered the operation almost as hazardous by night. Matters, indeed, seemed at a standstill, and a feeling of despondency began to pervade the rank and file of the command. In this emergency it was determined to commence simultaneously and vigorously two distinct methods of attack, viz. : 102 Siege of Wagner. Aug. 25 to Sept. 6, 1863, First. To keep Wagner perfectly silent with an over- powering curved fire, so that our engineers would have only the more distant batteries of the enemy to annoy them ; and. Second. To breach the bomb-proof with rifled guns, and thus deprive the enemy of their shelter in the work. Accordingly all the light mortars were moved to the front, and placed in battery ; the capacity of the fifth parallel and the advanced trenches for sharpshooters was enlarged and improved ; the rifled guns in the left breach- ing batteries were trained upon the fort and prepared for prolonged action, and powerful calcium lights, to aid the night work of our cannoneers and sharpshooters, and blind those of the enemy, were got in readiness. The co-opera- tion of the powerful battery of "New Ironsides," Captain (Stephen C.) Rowan, during the daytime, was secured. These final operations against Fort Wagner were actively inaugurated at break of day on the morning of September 5th. For forty-two consecutive hours the spectacle presented was of surpassing sublimity and grand- eur. Seventeen siege and Coehorn mortars unceasingly dropped their shells into the work over the heads of our sappers and the guards of the advanced trenches ; nine rifled guns, in the left batteries, pounded away at the south- west angle of the bomb-proof, while during the daytime the "New Ironsides," with astonishing regularity and pre- cision, kept a constant stream of shells from her eight-gun broadside ricochetting over the water against the parapet of Wagner, whence, rebounding upward, they dropped nearly vertically, exploding in or over the work and search- ing every part of it. The calcium lights turned night into day, throwing our men into impenetrable obscurity, while they brilliantly illuminated every object in front and brought the minutest detail of the fort in sharp relief. In 103 Siege of Wagner. Aug. 25 to Sept. 6, 1863. a short time the fort became silent, exhibiting but little sign of life. Our sappers rapidly pushed forward their works, suffer- ing from the James Island batteries principally, which, night and day, kept up a galling fire upon the head of the sap, following its progress toward the work, until so near that friends as well as foes would be endangered by it. From this point the men in the advanced trenches enjoyed entire immunity from danger. Indeed, the sense of security was so great that they fearlessly exposed them- selves to view, and the reliefs off duty defiantly mounted the parapets of their works to while away their leisure time, or groping their way forward among the torpedoes with a skill which the most bitter experience only could have conferred, approached the ditch, and took a deliberate survey of the fort and its surroundings. On the night of September 6th, the sappers crowned the crest of the counterscarp on the east front, masking all the guns of the work. The following order, to carry the place by assault at the hour of low tide on the following morning, was issued late in the evening: Headquarters Department of the South. In the Field, Morris Island, September 6, 1863. Special Orders, { Xo. 513. ) Fort Wagner will be assaulted at 9 A. M. to-morrow, the 7th instant, by troops to be designated by Brigadier-General Terry, who will command in person. The artillery fire on the work will be kept up until the troops mount the parapet, and will then cease at a given signal. The assault will be in three columns, as follows : First. A column of two small regiments of picked troops will debouch from the advanced trenches, mount the parapet of the sea front and the bomb-proof and traverses, spike the guns, and seize and hold the sally-port. 104 Wagner Occupied. September 6 to 15, 1863. Second. A column of one brigade drawn up right in front in the trenches, in the rear of the first column, will debouch upon the beach by regiments, pass the sea front of the fort, file sharp to the left, and mount the parapet of the north and west faces, regiment after regiment, as they gain the requisite distances. Third. A column of one brigade, left in front, will follow behind the second column, and deploy across the island in rear of Fort Wagner, facing Cumming's Point, with skirmishers well out in front. The guards of the trenches will be held in reserve at their appropriate stations. The balance of the infantry force of Gen- eral Terry's command will be kept under arms from and after 8 o'clock in the morning near the Beacon House. The batteries of field artillery will be held ready for action near the lookout. By order of Brig. Gen. Q. A. Gillmore. Ed. W. Smith, Assistant Adjutant-General. About midnight on the 6th, it was reported to me that the enemy was evacuating the island, and such was the celerity of his flight, that nearly the whole of his force made its escape. Seventy men were intercepted on the water and taken. Our forces at once occupied the north end of the island. Eighteen pieces of ordnance of various calibers were cap- tured in Fort Wagner and seven in Battery Gregg. Fort Wagner was found to be a work of the most for- midable character ; far more so, indeed, than the most exaggerated statements of prisoners and deserters had led us to expect. Its bomb-proof shelter, capable of contain- ing from 1,500 to 1,600 men, remained practically intact after the most severe bombardment to which any earth- work was ever exposed. The history of sieges furnishes no parallel case. The attempt to form an opening in the bomb-proof by breaching failed for want of time. The heavy projectiles 105 Wagner Occupied. September 15, 1863. were slowly eating their way into it, although their effect was astonishingly slight. Indeed the penetration of rifle projectiles into a sand parapet, standing at the natural slope, or approximately so, is but trifling. They are almost invariably deflected along the line of least resistance, or departing but slightly from it, scooping out in their progress a small hollow, the contents of which are scattered but a short distance. Under such circumstances, the general effect produced by firing a large number of successive shots within a small area of, say, from fifteen to twenty feet square, is by no means commensurate with the expenditure of ammunition involved." At the close of the siege General Gillmore issued the following congratulatory order : Headquarters Department of the South. In the Field, Morris Island, S. C. September 15. 1863. General Orders. It is with no ordinary feeling of gratification and pride that the brigadier-general commanding is enabled to congratulate this army upon the signal success which has crowned the enterprise in which it has been engaged. Fort Sumter is destroyed. The scene where our country's flag suffered its first dishonor you have made the theater of one of its proudest triumphs. The fort has been in the possession of the enemy for more than two years, has been his pride and boast, has been strengthened by every appliance known to military science, and has defied the assaults of the most powerful and gallant fleet the world ever saw. But it has yielded to your courage and patient labor. Its walls are now crumbled to ruins, its formidable batteries are silenced, and though a hostile flag still floats over it. the fort is a harmless and helpless wreck. Forts Wagner and Gregg — works rendered memorable by their protracted resistance, and the sacrifice of life they have cost — have also been wrested from the enemy by your persevering courage and skill, and the graves of your fallen comrades rescued from desecra- tion and contumely. 106 Morris Island. September 15, 1863. You now hold in undisputed possession the whole of Morris [sland, and the city and harbor of Charleston lie at the mercy of your artillery from the very spot where the first shot was fired at your country's flag, and the rebellion itself was inaugurated. To you — the officers and soldiers of this command — and to the gallant navy which has co-operated with you, are due the thanks of your commander and your country. You were called upon to encounter untold privations and dangers ; to undergo unremitting and exhausting labors ; to sustain severe and disheartening reverses. How nobly your patriotism and zeal have responded to the call, the results of the campaign will show and your command- ing general gratefully bears witness. Q. A. Gillmore, Brigadier-General commanding. After the occupation of Wagner and Gregg there was much disagreeable work to do in cleaning up, rebury- ing the dead, disabling torpedoes* and removing other traces of the siege. The stench in and about Wagner was horrible, but by the 15th of September the causes were removed, and life became more endurable. While we were sufTering such things at the rear of our guns what of the poor fellows in front of them ? Major Gilchrist of the Confederate Army gives a graphic report, f "From the 20th of July was a period of simple endurance on Morris Island. Night and day, with scarcely any intermission, the hurtling shell burst over and within it. Each day, often from early dawn, the "New Ironsides" or the monitors, sometimes all together, steamed up and delivered their terrific broadsides, shaking the fort to its center. The noiseless Coehorn shells, falling vertically, searched out the secret recesses, almost invariably claiming victims. The burning sun of a Southern summer, its heat intensified by the reflection of the white sand, scorched and blistered the unprotected *These were disabled by boring holes in the kegs and pouring in water. f Charleston Year Book 1884, from "Defense of Charleston Harbor." 107 Morris Island. September 13 to 23, 1863. garrison, or the more welcome rain and storm wet them to the skin. An intolerable stench from the unearthed dead of the previous conflict, the carcasses of cavalry horses lying where they fell in the roar, and barrels of putrid meat thrown out on the beach, sickened the defenders. A large and brilliantly colored fly. attracted by the feast and unseen before, inflicted wounds more painful, though less dangerous, than the shot of the enemy. Water was scarcer than whiskey. The food, however good when it started for its destina- tion, by exposure, first on the wharf in Charleston, then on the beach at Cumming's Point, being often forty-eight hours in transitu, was unfit to eat. The unventilated bomb-proofs, filled with the smoke of lamps and the smell of blood, were intolerable, so that one endured the risk of shot and shell rather than seek their shelter. "The incessant din of its own artillery, as well as the bursting shells of the foe, prevented sleep. . . . The casualties were not numerous, and yet each day added to the list of killed and wounded. Amputated limbs were brought out from the hospital and buried in the sand. Often bodies followed them. Only as a special favor, or where high rank claimed the privilege, were the dead carried to the city for interment. There were few in the battery who could not tell of some narrow escape where a movement of position only had saved life. Nor can we specify the instances of personal heroism where all were brave ; so often was the flag rescued and remounted that orders were issued by the commanding general forbidding it; flags were many, but men were few. Thus the days lengthened into weeks, the weeks into months, while the brave and patient defenders individually stood face to face with death and endured in many instances what was worse. Xor was the garrison inactive. For the blows received blows were given. Several monitors retired worsted from the encounter, and were not seen again. Explosions in the advancing works of the enemy showed the accuracy of the Confederate fire ; while every night, through the weary hours lengthening into new days, the working parties swarmed over the fort to repair the damage done to bomb-proof, parapet, and traverses. Fighting from early morn to set of sun, and working through the livelong night, com- prised their sum of life and daily experience. It was not possible for human endurance to stand this mental and physical strain long. As each command became exhausted it was relieved, and fresh troops took its place. Six days was the longest period of any command ; the infantry served only three 10S M' ',£:•'•( /-t :W>://\ '■"■m<'/'\>-' **►: (a m s w w 0 Morris Island. September 15 to 23, 1863. days at a time. And no greater proof can be had of their courage and devotion than that, with personal knowledge of the perilous nature of the service, the same commands returned time and again, with full ranks, and even greater esprit de corps as the fierce struggle grew more intense." On the 23rd of September, an attempt was made by the Union forces to fortify Cumming's Point in aid of a con- templated movement. One hundred men were detailed for this purpose. Fifty men took each an empty barrel and fifty took each two shovels. They rushed from the cover of Fort Wagner to the point fixed upon under a terrific fire of shell from Fort Moultrie. The barrel men set their barrels in line on the beach, then each man with a shovel worked literally for dear life, first to fill the barrels with sand, and then to com- plete a practical shelter. It was a brave act and proved successful though at considerable loss. For about three weeks after this the regiment remained in camp, then were ordered to proceed to St. Helena Island to prepare for a mysterious movement to be explained in the next chapter. Meantime from the 2nd of October to the 6th of Decem- ber our batteries fired frequently on Sumter until it became a shapeless mass of ruins. in CHAPTER XIV. THE DINGIE PLAN. On the 1 6th of October the Seventh left Morris Island by steamer and landed the same day on St. Helena Island, where they went into camp, tents floored and bunks built. They were provided with forty little flat boats, each capable of carrying fourteen men and an officer. Twelve men were to use paddles and two to steer, one at each end of the boat. The boys called the boats "Dinkies."* They were made to order in New York at short notice, of inch pine boards, hastily put together and primed over with lead and oil. They seemed so frail that the boys said a blow from the butt of a rifle, or a heavy step would send them to the bottom. A novel drill with these boats was commenced. The first consisted in handling the boats, launching them, then landing them again. Then as the boats lay on the sand the men withdrew to a short distance, and at the word of com- mand approached the boats on a run, launched them, embarked, paddled back and forth in an array which some one called the drill of the "horse marines ;" then at i signal paddled to the shore, landed, hauled up the boats and scrambled up the bank ready to meet a hypothetic enemy. Of course the boys could only guess at the object of the "Dingie Drill," but they easily guessed right. The plan was to make an attack by night on demolished Fort Sumter by means of these boats, hoping to surprise and capture the Confederate garrison which still held the ruins. Colonel Hawley had gone north on "business," which was an attempt to secure breech-loading repeating carbines *The Century Dictionary spells it Dingie. TT2 The DiNCriE Plan. November, 1863. in order to make the boat militia more efficient. Lieuten- ant Colonel Rodman rejoined the regiment October 24th, but on crutches, unable to resume command. Maj. O. S. Sanford. the next in rank, commanded the regiment. The cuisine was attractive, plenty of fruit and vege- tables, fish and oysters, in addition to the ordinary "army grub." After the "Dingie Drill" had continued about two weeks, Colonel Hawley returned from the North. The regiment embarked on the "Ben De Ford," and pro- ceeded to Folly Island, leaving Major Rodman behind. They were supplied with ten days' rations, no tents and a scant supply of cooking utensils. They disembarked at Pawnee Landing on Folly Island, and moving a short distance, secured the partial shelter of an old building, in expectation of being called to attack Sumter. They were directed to make scaling ladders, and Colonel Hawley devoted much time to studying the situa- tion of Cummings' Point and other points of advantage. The regiment was 500 strong, well, hearty and hungry. It was probably never before in so high a state of efficiency. Two years of constant drill and service made its drill and manual of arms perfect, and the "Dingie Drill" had added muscular development. Although the boys did not relish the idea of going to sea in a tub, they were full of fun and all sorts of larks. The commander of Folly Island, a very stout man, was in the habit of sometimes riding along the lines unattended and wearing no sign of his rank. One day a Seventh Connect- icut man being on guard saw him approaching in that unmilitary condition, and willing to have some fun omitted the customary salute. Thereupon the general, checking his horse, began to lecture the sentinel in emphatic terms. 113 The Dingie Plan. November, 1863. "Didn't you know I was General ?" he inquired with much indignation. "No," said the sentinel coolly. "I thought you were some darned old pot-bellied sutler." As the general was violating the military etiquette as much as the sentry, he had his fun with impunity. Though full of fun, the boys realized that their condi- tion was serious. Nearly every evening a prayer meeting was conducted by the men around a great camp fire, which was attended by many officers. One evening Colonel Hawley spoke with much feeling and appropriateness. For a week the regiment bivouacked on Folly Island, the nights spent in preparation for the contemplated move- ment and the days in anxious waiting, both days and nights being exceedingly disagreeable. November 8th they went with their boats to Hilton Head to replenish their empty haversacks. The next day, the 9th, they returned to Folly Island and resumed the same routine of working and waiting which continued until November 18th, when without accomplishing or even attempting anything, they re-embarked, returned to St. Helena Island and the "Dingie Plan" was abandoned. No reason for this abandonment is given in official records ; indeed, so far as I know, history is silent as to the whole scheme.* Now that we know how the Con- federates had prepared to repel such an assault, it seems that if made it would have resulted in great loss of life with extremely doubtful hope of success. ^Incidentally General Gillmore remarks that "an open assault would be necessary to get 'Sumter in our possession,' and we could not expect to hold it if we got it until the navy achieved success inside the harbor." Gillmore supposed that after Sumter was dis- abled the navy would move in as soon as the obstructions could be removed. In a letter September 27th he offered to remove them 114 The Dingie Plan. November, 1863. The fort was worth nothing for offensive purposes ; the only reason for its occupation was a sentimental one, and to have risked many precious lives for such a reason at that time would have been, to say the least, questionable policy. but the admiral declined, saying that that was "his proper work," and that all he desired was to have Sumter rendered incapable of its musketry fire by the fire of Cummings' Point, when he was ready to move in, which might not be for a couple of weeks. Gillmore had fortified Cummings' Point. Six weeks passed after this and the admiral manifested no inclination "to move in." We may reasonably suppose therefore that this was Gillmore's reason for making no attempt to occupy the fort. 115 CHAPTER XV. AT ST. HELENA. We welcomed at St. Helena 112 substitutes and drafted men. The substitutes were a bad lot, mostly young foreigners, many of them ignorant of the names under which they had sold themselves for the bounty. On the 19th of November the new Spencer carbines arrived, good for eight shots as fast as the "handle" could be worked, which, after skill was acquired, proved to be once in three or four seconds. These were obtained through the exertions of Colonel Hawley on his recent visit to the Xorth. Some ladies were at St. Helena on a visit, namely, Airs. Hawley and her sister Miss Kate Foote, Mrs. Wayland, Mrs. Dennis and Airs. Mills. A new manual of arms had to be devised and learned for the carbines, none being laid down in the tactics. November 26th was Thanksgiving day, the third that had occurred since the regiment left home. The day, cold in the morning, was fine toward noon, and was all that could be desired. The public exercises commenced at 10 A. M. and were: 1. Speech by Colonel Hawley. Reading of the President's proclamation. Prayer by Chaplain Wayland. Sermon by Chaplain Wayland. Hymn. 6. Another brief talk by Colonel Hawley. 7. Dinner, which each company partook of in its own street. Company H is said to have had the boss dinner, but all were good enough, a favorable contrast to our first Thanks- giving feast at Hilton Head. There were soups, roast pig, roast beef, boiled salt beef, all sorts of vegetables and fruit, puddings and coffee. Then came games, running, leaping, sack and wheel- 116 At St. Helena. Nov. 26, 1863, to Feb. 5, 1864. barrow races, a boat race for prizes and music by the regi- mental band. December was spent in drilling with the new arms, and general squad drill with the new recruits. We could some- times hear firing at the defenses of Charleston, sixty miles away. Re-enlistments commenced in December and prepara- tions were made for sending those who re-enlisted home on a thirty days' furlough. The number of re-enlistments was 333, three-fourths of the original members. Christmas was celebrated in an agreeable manner, although a part of the day was spent in drilling the new recruits in squads, the old members acting as skirmishers. January 15, 1864, the re-enlisted veterans sailed for home on the "Star of the South ;" eleven officers and 333 enlisted men. Chaplain Way land again resigned and went home. This left the regiment quite forlorn with its depleted ranks and so large a number of substitutes, some of whom afterward proved to be bounty jumpers. Efforts had been made several months before to raise money in the regiment to buy instruments for a regimental band. The sum of $800 was raised, a nice set of German silver instruments procured which arrived about the middle of January, and the band played quite creditably. At drill on the morning of the 22nd all the rank and file were recruits and conscripts, which gave the old regimental pride a fall. All the ladies, except Mrs. Hawley and Airs. Mills returned north. The Seventh New Hampshire was brigaded with the Seventh Connecticut, the right wing of that regiment being also armed with Spencer carbines. Until February 5th the time was occupied in camp and picket duty and drilling the new recruits. 117 CO a to d u <o W W H CO t3 ►3 o © - pq w H - — o H Q o Pm CHAPTER XVI. THE BATTLE OF OLUSTEE. On the 6th of February the Seventh Connecticut and Seventh New Hampshire sailed on the steamer "Ben De Ford" to Jacksonville, Florida. There was much division of allegiance in that state, and the poor Floridians on the coast had been shuffled back and forth from Confederates to Unionists until no one seemed to know where they were at.* It was hoped that a determined attack on the Confede- rate forces would rout them, and protect and develop the loval feeling supposed to almost dominate that state. For this purpose the expedition was organized. The composi- tion of the force is given in the appendix, f The "Ben De Ford" ran aground on St. John's Bar and would not float until the evening tide. We embarked on the river steamer "Hunter," and landed at Jacksonville late in the day. We found the troops who had preceded us ready to march, and joined the advance without waiting for rations. A few miles out we had a skirmish with the enemy. At about ten o'clock in the evening we reached Camp Finne- gan eight miles out. Colonel Henry's mounted men had cleared the way for us, and had followed hard the enemy, whose camp we occupied, bivouacked there and received rations. On the morning of the 8th we advanced eight mile«> to McGirt's creek and eight miles more to Baldwin. On the 9th we marched from Baldwin to Sanderson. Jacksonville had been twice occupied and then abandoned by our forces. f Appendix No. 20. 119 To Olustee. February 9 to 20, 1864. At Barber's, midway between Baldwin and Sanderson, Colonel Henry had a brush with the enemy and lost a few men. He preceded us at Sanderson and approached within a few miles of Lake City, where, finding the enemy in force, he retired and joined us at Sanderson. We remained in bivouac at Sanderson during February 10th and nth and then retired to Barber's. The force had captured and destroyed a considerable quantity of stores and war material, including in the captures seven field pieces and two battle flags; and we believed the object of the expedition to have been accomplished. General Gill- more, who had accompanied the expedition as far as Bald- win had returned from that point to Hilton Head, under the impression that our occupancy of East Florida would be practically unopposed, and that the people would willingly resume loyal relations to the United States government. On the 20th re-enforcements having reached us, we advanced at daylight, expecting to meet the enemy in force at or near Lake City. But while we were waiting at Sanderson, General Finnegan, in command of the Confede- rate forces, had brought troops by railroad to a station called Olustee and had taken a strong position there with a force which considerably outnumbered us. Colonel Henry with his mounted men took the lead. We passed unopposed and without halting through Sander- son. When about four miles above that place we encount- ered the enemy's pickets and a running fire was kept up for some time. It was then about noon and it needed no gift of prophecy to foretell "business ahead." The column halted, the Seventh Connecticut under Captain Skinner was deployed as skirmishers, and the enemy fell back before them rapidly for about two miles until they joined their main body. 120 Battle of Olustee. February 20, 1864. It greatly outnumbered our troops, was posted at a right angle to the railroad, the flank resting on swampy ground or lakes, and the front partially protected by logs. Our main force approached in three columns by the flank, left in front, the artillery in the road, and the infantry on each side among the pines. It was now about two P. M. and the situation as it appeared to Hawley's brigade was this : Our skirmish line was checked and rallied on the reserve. Langdon's battery was exposed to the enemy's fire, had lost horses and men and could not be withdrawn. The Seventh promptly formed line on the center of the field about our regimental front from the railroad north side. Some of the other troops coming under fire while marching by the flank left in front, attempted to form in line of battle between our right and the railroad, but the fire was so hot that they fell into confusion and went to pieces in spite of the gallant conduct of their officers and a few men. The Eighth Colored Infantry formed in good style on our left and both regiments at once opened fire, the seven shooters of the Seventh evidently giving the enemy a sur- prise. We were within twenty-five yards of our abandoned guns, but under the fire to which we were opposed, could not advance to sieze them. On that line the battle raged for three and a half hours, our side not giving back an inch and theirs not retreating from their breastworks of logs. The field was covered with large trees, but was free from underbrush and was nearly level. As the smoke lifted at intervals we could see their lone wavering lines, their flags floating :n the breeze and their mounted officers in the rear urging them on. Shouts and yells accompanied every movement of their lines. Our brave little band still stood like a stone wall in the center of the field. 121 Battle of Olustee. February 20, 1864. At last the enemy formed for a charge and came for- ward in solid column by regiments directly in front of the Seventh Connecticut and raised their battle cry, while their artillery redoubled its fire upon our ranks which lay quietly awaiting the word of command. When their column approached near enough to give us a good shot Colonel Hawley said: "Now boys, give them the seven shooters." The little band sprang to their feet and pumped the bullets out of those rifles with astonishing rapidity and constancy. Their aim was good and the fire told. First from the flank the approaching column began to break, then from the center, and before the repeating volleys ceased the entire column had broken in confusion and retreated in disorder to their lines leaving their path strewn with dead and wounded. By this time our ammunition was exhausted and A. A. Adjutant General Moore was sent back to find the wagon and order it forward. His curb rein broke and his horse made for the rear in an undignified manner, but he got there just the same. He found the ammunition wragon in charge of private Bogart of Company G, who on receiving the word drove rapidly forward to the line of battle and served out the ammunition. Colonel Hawley and his staff remained with the line and mounted during the whole fight. The colonel got a bullet in his saddle, one of his aids was wounded, and the horse of one of his orderlies was shot. Night was approaching ; the enemy, tired of pounding at our front was trying to envelop our flank, which was not adequately supported, and General Seymour gave the order to retire, saying to our colonel, "I am going back, Colonel Hawley, you will detach the Seventh Connecticut as rear guard, I cannot trust any other regiment." 122 Battle of Olustee. February 20 to 25, 1864. Tired, hungry and broken as they were, they responded promptly. The withdrawal was by battalion in echelon* and as soon as we were clear of the field the Seventh deployed as rear guard and so marched all the way to Barber's before halting. Our dead were left upon the field, and many of the wounded fell into the enemy's hands. A surgeon was left in charge of those who could be moved to the field hospital. We afterward learned that the enemy did not pursue us that night, and it was not till daylight the next morning that they took possession of the field hospital. The loss of our regiment, which at the beginning of the fight had only about 250 men on duty, was eighty in killed, wounded and missing, the loss of the whole force of about 5,000 was more than 2,100. We reached Barber's on our retreat at about one A. M. and bivouacked there having been twenty-four hours on the march and in the fight without rest or opportunity for cooking or eating. At daylight we continued our retreat to Baldwin, and thence on the 22nd to Six Mile Creek, where in a scrubby pine field, we lay down, hoping for a good rest, but an alarm from the picket line soon warned us to move on, and it was not until the 25th, when we were in the entrenched lines at Jacksonville that we could make up our lost sleep. A grewsome incident occurred in the battle. After it was over it was reported to Captain Skinner that Jerome Dupoy, a substitute of Company D had been killed, shot through the head by John Rowley, another substitute in the same company. Neither of the men could speak much English. Some time before they had a quarrel and Dupoy cut Rowley with a knife, and at the same time Rowley swore vengeance. *Echelon ; like stairs. 123 At Jacksonville. Feb. 25 to April 13, 1864. As on investigation there was no proof that the shooting was intentional. Captain Skinner did not report it. So much was said about it in the company, however, that Rowley was arrested on suspicion and placed in the guardhouse. There he was troublesome, could not sleep, saw ghosts and at last confessed that he shot Dupoy pur- posely in revenge. He was afterward tried, found guilty of murder and hung. On the 6th of March, the re-enlisted veterans returned from their furloughs bringing with them nearly one hundred recruits. Up to October 1st, 1863, the Seventh had received about one hundred and twenty recruits ; since that date, one hundred and thirty-one drafted men and substitutes, and one hundred and ninety-one volunteer recruits, making our entire accessions four hundred and forty-two. Our losses from all causes had been a little more than seven hundred and fifty, so that in March, 1864, we numbered about seven hundred. We bivouacked comfortably outside Jacksonville till April 2nd, when as the weather began to grow warm we moved to a woody bluff near the city and on the bank of the river. The site was rough and full of stumps, but the boys went to work and soon made it inviting. Here the time passed with nothing more exciting than drill, camp guard and picket duty ; a detail from the Seventh performed that duty on the St. John's River in boats. April 13th we embarked on the steamer "S. R. Spauld- ing" for Hilton Head. Arriving there on the 14th we anchored near where the "Illinois" anchored with us on board thirty months before. From this point our opera- tions took a new departure. When Lieutenant General Grant was appointed com- 124 ■::\\- . .^w^'^ v • 3 *,T^;*-V vfr . » •- rQf'rncJ/o Cn. //ic £V Jo/iix From Hi^t. 1st Lt. Batt'y. At Hilton Head. April 13 to 15, 1864. mander of all the armies of the United States March 10, 1864, the country saw for the first time an army under one head, and that head a general moved by one grand purpose. That purpose was to fight out the war to the bitter end and secure a lasting peace. With no thought of compromise, disregarding alike the schemes of politicians and the academic theories of statesmen, even laying aside for the time the dictates of compassion, he bent all his energies to the rigors of war. When General Lee should give up his sword, then would be the time to return it ; when the soldiers of General Lee's army should lay down their arms, then General Grant would be read}- to give them their horses and send them back to rebuild their desolated homes. Until then, even mercy required the employment of the two scourges of war, battle and starvation. For the latter, blockade running should be opposed both by the ships of the navy, and by the armies holding all parts of the coast already occupied, while General Sherman should march into the heart of the most fruitful part of the Confederacy, cut off its communications and paralyze its industries, at the same time giving General Johnston's army in the South so much to do that he could not spare a man from his forces. For war a much larger force than General Lee possessed must hammer at his intrenchments and raid his outlying camps until he should be exhausted and crushed by the force of numbers. For this purpose, General Butler with 30,000 men was to advance toward Petersburg in one direc- tion and Richmond in the other between the James and Rappahannock, while General Grant himself with a much larger force should essay the difficult task of destroying General Lee's army or driving it back within the intrench- ments of Richmond by crossing the Rapidan and giving battle as had been so often unsuccessfully done before by the overland route. General Butler was to establish a 127 At Hilton Head. April 13 to 15, 1864. base where supplies could be readily furnished and also to invest the forts around Petersburg and Richmond at such a point that the whole army could be united if the overland attack should fail. Since the work before Charleston was merely to hold what had been already gained, some troops could be spared from that point. The Tenth Corps had been two and a half years in the Department of the South and the medical director recommended a change of climate. Most of the men of that corps had been successfully operating against forts in the South and were therefore well trained for the work to be done before Richmond. For these reasons General Gillmore and his corps were ordered to report to Fortress Monroe and thence join General Butler's com- mand. 128 CHAPTER XVII. ARMY OF THE JAMES. April 15th we sailed from Hilton Head for Fortress Monroe; on the 17th we reached Hampton Roads where we anchored and remained on board through the night ; April 1 8th we landed at Gloucester Point, went into camp, and were organized as a part of the Army of the James under Maj. Gen. B. F. Butler. From the 19th to the 29th of April our time was given to organization and drill. We were attached to the Tenth Corps commanded by Gen. Q. A. Gillmore, First Division commanded by Gen. Alfred H. Terry, and the Third Brigade, commanded by Col. J. R. Hawley. Our brigade was composed of the Seventh Connecticut, Third New Hampshire and Seventh New Hampshire. We had been associated with these regi- ments before, and the Seventh New Hampshire and Seventh Connecticut looked on each other as brothers. There was held here a grand review of all the troops in the Army of the James. On Sunday, May 1st, a cold northeast storm prevailed. We had only shelter tents, and one baggage wagon only was allowed to each regiment. May 4th a demonstration in the direction of White House was made for the purpose of misleading the enemy, after which we embarked and sailed up the James river convoyed by the navy. Some cavalry raids were made at the same time to distract and annoy the enemy.* May 5th, in the hazy light of a beauti- ful spring morning, we approached City Point, one or two points having been seized and occupied as we came up. *Kautz's Cavalry forced the Blackwater, burned the railroad bridge at Stony Creek below Petersburg, cutting in two Beaure- gard's force at that point. 129 At Virginia. May 5, 1864. A part of the Eighteenth Corps landed at City Point — the rest and the whole of the Tenth Corps at Bermuda Hun- dred. The landing was not opposed by the enemy. A strong skirmish line was at once thrown out, includ- ing Hawley's brigade with the Seventh Connecticut Frum HUt. let Lt. BaU'y. CITY POINT. in the center. We advanced slowly during the day, covering the front as the peninsula widened. A mounted force withdrew before us keeping out of reach of our fire. About sunset the line halted and established a picket line; the reserve (Hawley's brigade), being on the main road toward Richmond, and the picket line crossing the road at right angles. The line being established and no enemy in sight, we began to prepare for supper. 130 At Chester Station. May 6 to 9, 1864. Soon a tremendous cheering in the rear excited our curiosity. As the bands played "Hail to the Chief" we realized that it was a visit from General Butler, the com- mander of the Army of the James. He came at a rapid pace, with a numerous staff in blue and gold, and a strong body guard. We hastily formed on the reserve and gave the proper salute. We hoped that when he reached the center of the brigade he would stop and give us a word of encouragement, but with a bare acknowledgment of our salute the party continued rapidly along the road. A short distance ahead the road turned to the right and our sight of the party was obscured by intervening wroods. We only heard the rattle and clank of their accoutrements and the thunder of their horses' hoofs. A few minutes passed in which we wondered if our general was going to ride into the back door of Richmond without letting us be there to see. Then crack ! crack ! went the rifles of the enemy's mounted videttes and in a moment more the party returned in great haste. Wre stood to our arms, and as the general approached it was evident that "Hail to the Chief who in Triumph Advances" would not fit him as well as before. As he passed us he shouted, "Take care of yourselves, boys, take care of yourselves," so we had a speech from him after all. We afterward learned that the roll call of his mounted escort showed one man missing. The Richmond papers of the next day reported the affair, and told how near they came to getting hold of the one man in the Army of the James whom they most wanted to capture. From May 6th to 9th our time was spent in advancing and strengthening our intrenched line and in bringing up stores and ordnance preparatory to an advance. On the morning of the 9th Hawley's brigade moved through 131 At Chester Station. May 9 to ii, 1864. a very hot morning to Chester Station on the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, where it assisted in destroy- ing the railroad ; thence the same day to Walthall Junction in the direction of Petersburg where it halted for the night, forming the reserve before Swift Creek. On the 10th occurred the action at Chester Station which is thus described by Lieutenant Colonel Rodman : Headquarters Seventh Regiment Connecticut Volunteers. Bermuda Hundred, Vav May 11, 1864. General : I have the honor to report the part taken by my command in the action at Chester Station, Va., on May 10, 1864, as follows : Left camp at Bermuda Hundred at 4 A. M, on the 9th instant, with two field, two staff, one acting adjutant, one acting regimental quartermaster, seventeen line officers, and 720 enlisted men, and moved directly on to the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad at Chester Station, passing up the railroad to Grove Hill Station, and was held in reserve to the Eighteenth Corps, who were engaging the enemy on the left and in front of Pocahontas. At about 9 A. M. was ordered back to a position at the junction of the turnpike and railroad to protect the rear, where we bivouacked in the night. At about seven o'clock in the morning of the 10th the brigade, of which we formed a part, was ordered to move both ways on the railroad, destroying it and the telegraph, the right wing moving upon the turnpike to destroy the telegraph, the left on the railroad to protect the Sixth Connecticut Volunteers while destroying the railroad. The right wing, under my command, had proceeded about one and a half miles destroying the telegraph, when we were ordered forward at a quick pace. Arriving at the top of the hill to the right of and near Chester Station, we were ordered into line of battle on a road leading from the right of the turnpike, and immediately threw out Company D, under command of Captain Townsend, as skirmishers. We were soon joined by the left wing under Major Sanford. Two companies (E and H), under Captain Dennis, were immediately sent to support a battery upon a hill a little in front of our line. I then ordered Major Sanford, with Companies B and K, to proceed to the top of the hill and engage the enemy. 132 At Chester Station. May 12 to 14, 1864. I was ordered to take the remaining companies (A, C, F, G and I), and cross to the left of the turnpike to support the line upon that side, which was being fiercely engaged. I was then ordered to send three companies, tinder Captain Bacon, to the right of the turnpike, where they engaged the enemy's skirmishers and drove them back. I cannot speak too highly of the conduct of both officers and men under my command during the entire engagement. Great credit is due to Surgeons Jarvis and Hine for their efficiency. Appended is a list of casualties. Accompanying this is Major Sanford's report of the detachment under his command. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, D. C. Rodman, Lieut. Col. Seventh Connecticut Vols.. Commanding regiment. Brig. Gen. L. Thomas, Adjt. Gen. U. S. Army, Washington, D. C The actions which occurred on the 12th, 13th and 14th are thus reported by the same officer : Headquarters Seventh Regiment Connecticut Volunteers. Bermuda Hundred, Va., May 17, 1864. Lieutenant : I have the honor to report the part taken by my command in the actions of May 12, 13 and 14: Left camp at 3 P. M. on the 12th with twenty-one commis- sioned officers and 610 enlisted men, having the right of the Second Brigade (First Division, Tenth Army Corps), Colonel Hawley commanding, moved out on the Petersburg and Richmond turnpike in the vicinity of Chester Station, at Perdue's plantation, threw out 150 men as pickets, and bivouacked for the night. Two of the pickets were wounded during the night. Put under arms at about 6 A. M. on the 13th and moved on to the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad and Clover Hill Junction, moving on about eight miles to the right and rear of the enemy's intrenchments, where we supported the Third New Hampshire Volunteers, who were engaging the enemy and driving them out of their works. We bivouacked in their intrenchment for the night, having four companies on picket. On the morning of the 14th, at about daylight, Major Sanford moved forward with five com- panies, supporting the left of Turner's Division, who was advanc- i33 At Chester Station. May 12 to 14, 1864. ing on the enemy. About 7:30 A. M. the other five companies moved forward, joining Major Sanford's command, and formed in line of battle at the foot of the hill in the woods, where the enemy were in strong position at the top of the hill in earthworks. A strong line was thrown out as skirmishers, under command of Captain Dennis, where they fought desperately for two hours, expending all their ammunition and the fresh supplies sent. Several men were badly wounded lying in the line of battle. First Sergeant English and Sergeant Ripley, of Company H, and First Sergeant Keys, Company A. behaved with great gallantry. Sergeant Eng- lish had been hit in the foot, which made him quite lame, but he persisted in moving forward. About 3:30 P. M. the line, Colonel Hawley commanding, was ordered forward on the charge, going up with the Seventh New Hampshire Volunteers on their left, the Third New Flampshire in reserve, to the summit of the slope, where a house had been burned, forcing the enemy to take to their earthworks, about 400 yards in front, leaving us in possession of the top of the hill, where fighting continued at intervals until dark. Just about dark the rebels opened a furious fire and charged from their works with desperation. We opened for about a minute and a half with the full rapidity of the Spencer carbine. The rebel fire was completely subdued and the charge repulsed. The regi- ment being relieved by the Third New Hampshire Volunteers, we retired to their rear and bivouacked for the night. The conduct of the officers and men under my command was, without a single exception, deserving of great praise. They dis- tinguished themselves throughout by their gallantry, I would make special mention of Lieut. Charles A. Wood, who was mortally wounded. Inclosed is a list of casualties : Killed, fourteen ; wounded, seventy-six ; missing, two ; total, ninety-two. I am, lieutenant, very respectfully, your obedient servant, D. C. Rodman, Lieut. Col. Seventh Connecticut Vols., Commanding regiment Lieut. E. Lewis Moore, A. A. A. G., Second Brig., First Div., Tenth Corps. Major Sanford thus reports the action of the five com- panies composing his battalion: 134 At Chester Station. May 12 to 14, 1864. Headquarters Seventh Connecticut Volunteers. Bermuda Hundred, Va., May 11, 1864. Colonel : I have the honor to report the part taken in the late action by the companies under my command, as follows : After leaving the regiment on the morning of the 10th, with the left wing of the command I moved up the railroad toward Chester Station, covering the Sixth Connecticut Volunteers, who were destroying the railroad. I remained there nearly an hour, when I was ordered to the turnpike to join the left of the column. I pushed forward at a rapid pace, arriving just as the right wing had gone in line of battle to the right of the turnpike. I was ordered to send two companies (E and H), under Captain Dennis, forward to support a battery. The three remaining were joined to the regiment. You then ordered me forward with two com- panies (B and K). I proceeded to the top of the hill, where I was joined by Captain Dennis with the two companies under his command. I threw the right of my line a little forward and opened fire upon the left flank of the enemy, stationed in the woods, and drove them back. We engaged the enemy at intervals, who was trying to take a piece of artillery which had been aban- doned by the Fourth New Jersey, and was near their lines. I drove them back at every attempt. The enemy opened fire upon me with two pieces of artillery and I sent a request for a section of battery to silence the enemy. One piece of the Fourth New Jersey was sent to my position, and immediately opened upon them. I then ordered Company K, under command of Lieutenant Barker, to move forward and bring in the abandoned piece, which he succeeded in doing. I placed the piece in position manning it with men from Company K, taking ammunition from a caisson which was also abandoned by the Fourth New Jersey, all the horses having been shot. After firing about ten shots from that piece and as many more from the one already there, we drove the enemy's battery from its position. The enemy having retired from our front, I turned the piece over to the lieutenant in charge of the one sent there, it belonging to that battery. I was then ordered to fall back slowly. After falling back a few hundred yards, I found two com- panies (C and G) on the left of the road, and one (D) on the right. I took command of the whole, seven in all, forming them in column by company, and marched them to the rear. After proceed- ing a few hundred yards, I was ordered across the field to the 135 At Drewrv's Bluff. May 16 and 17, 1864. right of the turnpike, and took position on a crossroad, where I remained about one hour. I was then ordered to take position cm the left of the One hundred and sixty-ninth New York Volun- teers, where I found the other three companies, under command of Captain Bacon, supporting a section of the First Connecticut Battery. We remained there until dark, and were then ordered to camp. Of the conduct of the officers and men under my command, during the engagement, I can but speak in terms of highest praise, particularly of Lieutenant Barker and his company, for their gallant conduct in rescuing the gun, which had been abandoned and was near the enemy's lines. On attempting to work the piece I could find no lanyard, and my thanks are due to Private Clapp, of Com- pany K, for the promptness and ingenuity displayed by forming one from a piece of telegraph wire near at hand. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, O. S. Sanford, Major Seventh Connecticut Vols., Commanding Detachment. Lieut. Col. D. C. Rodman, Commanding Regiment. The Army of the James had now reached a position in front of the enemy's intrenchments at Drewrv's Bluff. Fort Darling being on the right, next the James. Our line was about two and a half miles long. The Twenty-fourth Corps was on the right next the river, and the Tenth Corps on the left, Hawley's brigade having the extreme left. During Sunday, the 15th, the command remained idle, having no orders to intrench. Some of the boys say, however, that the pickets of the Seventh scooped out shal- low covers with their knives and plates. In the early morning of the 1 6th under cover of a dense fog, the enemy came down on the extreme right, so suddenly and in such force as to capture General Hickman with a part of his brigade. The attack ran all along the line, but the Spencer carbines enabled the left of our line to hold its position until the pressure forced the Eighteenth 136 At Drewry's Bluff. May 16 and 17, 1 8^4. Corps back so that our flank was exposed. The sequel is reported by Major Sanford as follows:* Headquarters Seventh Regiment Connecticut Volunteers. Bermuda Hundred, Va., May 17, 1864. Lieutenant : I have the honor to report the part taken by this command, consisting of seventeen commissioned officers and 510 men, in the action of May 16. 1864: We left the bivouac occupied by the Second Brigade, First Division. Tenth Army Corps, about dark on the night of the 15th instant, and proceeded to the front to relieve the Third New Hampshire Volunteers, who were on duty in the rifle-pits about 400 yards in front of the enemy's works on the left of the position occupied by our forces. I immediately sent out two men from each company about 100 yards to the front of our position as picket, with instructions to fire and fall back, if the enemy advanced in force. Everything remained quiet until about four o'clock on the morning of the 16th. when heavy firing and cheering was . heard on the right of our lines, increasing and nearing our position until about five o'clock, when the enemy tried to force the lines on our left and were driven back. In about fifteen minutes the picket in our front fired and fell back, reporting the enemy advancing in force. It being very foggy at the time they could not be seen until within forty or fifty yards of our position. I immediately opened upon them, driving them back with great loss. They rallied and advanced a second and third time, with a determination to carry the position, but were at each attempt repulsed, leaving the dead and wounded in great numbers on our front. I was soon informed that the enemy had forced the line back on my right, and was pouring in an enfilading fire upon my right flank. I ordered a fire to be opened from an angle in the center of my lines in that direction, and from right flank company, which silenced the enemy for a short time. I sent word to the colonel commanding brigade to have my right supported, and I would hold the position against any force. The fog lifting about that time, I could see the enemy about 100 yards on my right flank, secreted behind a fence and trees, *Colonel Rodman's wound prevented further active duty by him. •37 At Drewry's Bluff. May 15 and 17, 1863. picking my men off. I set sharpshooters at work and succeeded in keeping them down. I then sent word that my right was unsup- ported. Colonel Henry, Fortieth Massachusetts Volunteers, came and looked at the position occupied by the enemy, and immediately pushed his command forward and drove them back. I had fifteen men from each company selected to remain under charge of Lieu- tenants Barker, Gilbert, and Young, the whole under command of Captain Dennis, and was about to fall back with the rest of my command, when I received orders to fall back immediately with the whole, and form in the field to the rear of the woods. I then gave orders, but the men who had been selected to stay, not hearing it, remained. We fell back rapidly, the enemy pouring volley after volley into us over the top of their works, and coming out in thousands to sweep the little band (which had been left behind and were pouring a murderous fire into them) from their position. Arriving in the open field. I received orders to fall back to a position in the woods across the field, and form in the rear of the Third New Hampshire Volunteers. My ammunition being nearly expended, I was ordered to take a position in a field about 1,000 yards to the rear and right, where we remained a short time, and being joined by the Third New Hampshire Volunteers, we marched slowly to a position upon a hill to the left of the turnpike, where we remained a short time and were then marched across a ravine to the rear, taking a position on the ground occupied by us on the night of the 12th, remaining about half an hour, and were then moved back and across the ravine to the place previously occupied to form a part of the rear guard, remaining three hours and falling slowly back and bringing up the rear. Arrived in camp at 8 P. M. I will mention the names of Corporals Walker and Braman, Privates Lamphere and Holmes, Company H ; Privates Painter. Minor, Jackson, and Wright, Company C, and Privates D. C. Andrews and Brockett, Company E, who volunteered to recon- noiter in our front after the enemy were driven back, and went forward into the fog upon the ground just vacated by the enemy; and of the fifteen men from each company left back too much praise cannot be given them for their conduct in holding the rifle- pits until the rest of the command had gone safely into the woods. But for them the whole command must have been badly cut up. All, officers and men, behaved with great credit to themselves and 138 At Bermuda Hundred. May 16 to 20, 1864. the regiment, and could the right of our lines been held, we could have held our position against any force brought before it, for with the Spencer carbine, plenty of ammunition, and a determined set of men, nothing can stand before them. Inclosed is a list of casualties. Killed, thirteen; wounded seventeen; missing, seventy- four; total, 104. I am, lieutenant, very respectfully, your obedient servant, O. S. Sanford, Major Seventh Connecticut Vols., Comdg. Regt. Lieut. E. Lewis Moore, A. A. A. G., Second Brig., First Div., Tenth Army Corps. The day was lost. The Eighteenth Cnrps much shat- tered, retired first, the Tenth Corps brought up the rear, Hawley's brigade by General Butler's express orders acting as rear guard. A battery of light twelve-pounder rifled guns was ordered to report to Colonel Hawley for rear guard duty, but not arriving, the colonel sent an emphatic message to General Butler. This brought a battery, but the general's sensitiveness to personal affronts caused him to take offense which he did not soon forget. While these events were occurring a Confederate force from Petersburg made a demonstration against our rear, which was promptly checked by General Ames at Walthall Junction. Early in the evening of the 16th our force was safely encamped within the entrenchments at Bermuda Hundred. The Confederates followed and formed an entrenched line on our near front. Our line was a heavy earthwork, reaching from the James to the Appomattox, a distance of about three miles Our flanks were covered by the gunboats ; our front was mostly wooded. On the 20th of May there was a fierce and prolonged contest for the possession of some rifle pits in front of Ames' division of the Tenth Corps. It was at first taken by the enemy, but finally a brigade of Terry's division under 139 At Bermuda Hundred. May 20 to June 2, 1864. Colonel Howell drove them out, capturing some prisoners, among them a General Walker of Mississippi ; he was seriously wounded and his leg was afterward amputated. Our line of rifle pits was a half mile in advance of our works ; the enemy occupied corresponding positions and frequently tried to force our lines. From the 21st to the 26th of May we were occupied in picket duty and strengthening our works. The opposing pickets were near each other and had some friendly inter- course, exchanging coffee for tobacco and sometimes swap- ping newspapers. The enemy occasionally shelled our camp, doing some damage. On the 29th of May a division of the Eighteenth Corps was sent to join Grant at Cold Harbor. This necessitated spreading out our line to cover our front and increased our duties ; the fire at the pickets' lines grew hot and fatal. Our troops were turned out at 3 A. M. and remained under arms till broad daylight. The shells from the enemy kept us dodging the big ones and even musket balls strayed into our camp. June 2nd a severe and determined attack was made upon our attenuated picket line, resulting in a mortal wound to Captain Mills and the capture of two companies and the major in command. The report of this is given by Captain Bacon : Camp of the Seventh Regiment Connecticut Volunteers. Near Bermuda Hundred, Va., June 3, 1864. Sir: I have the honor to report that this regiment, numbering fifteen officers and 324 enlisted men, Maj. O. S. Sanford commanding, relieved the Third New Hampshire Volunteers, upon the picket- line, at dusk on the evening of Wednesday, June 1. Companies A, F, D, and I were posted across the open ground in front of our works between Batteries 4 and 5, in the shallow and discon- nected rifle-pits occupied by the picket force. The right of these 140 At Bermuda Hundred. June 2, 1864. four companies, of which I was placed in charge, touched the woods, while Companies C and H, under Captain Dennis, were posted upon a line turning abruptly to the front along the edge of the woods, and at a distance of some seventy yards, making another sharp turn into the woods. Major Sanford made his head- quarters with these two companies. On the left of the open field Company I extended a few rods into the woods, and the line was continued by Companies B, G, K, and E, under Captain Mills, over ground heavily wooded and much broken by deep ravines. The whole line was without reserves nearer than the intrenchments, and had become extremely attenuated by the diminishing strength of regiments successively relieving each other. Across the open field the enemy's line of pickets was 150 yards from ours, but in the woods on each side it came at some points to within twenty yards of our own. Up to half an hour after sunrise on the 2nd there was perfect quiet along our entire front, although towards midnight a furious cannonade had been kept up for an hour over our heads by the rebel batteries. At that time an attack was commenced along our line by the enemy's pickets advancing from their posts as a line of skirmishers, strongly re-enforced, and two or three feet apart. In the woods on the left this attack was extremely rapid and sudden. A few steps placed the enemy in our pits, in a position, which, favored by the direction of part of the line, enabled them to cut off and capture a large part of Company B. Such part of Captain Mills' command as was not captured, with the exception stated below, fell back slowly, contesting the ground, to a position nearer the works, which they held until later in the morning they were re-enforced and reoccupied and held their first position. In the open field the advance of the enemy began a few moments after firing and had been heard on the left. The enemy moved toward us in good line, but slowly and hesitatingly. I opened fire along the whole line, and in two minutes they had all dropped to the ground, where they lay firing from such cover as they could get for a few minutes longer, when the entire line rose and ran to the shelter of their rifle-pits at full speed, followed by our cheers and bullets. From this cover they never ventured again, contenting themselves with a dropping fire from it until we abandoned nearly our entire line. On the right the movement of the enemy was by a dash across that part of the line which ran along the edge of the woods, nearly at right angles with the general direction of 141 At Bermuda Hundred. June 2, 1864. the line. This movement, of which at the time I had no informa- tion, cut off nearly the whole of the two companies posted there, together with the major commanding the regiment. Word had already been passed to me repeatedly along the line that "our left was turned," "was cut off," "had fallen back," and at last that the enemy were occupying our rifle-pits on the left. I refused to believe these statements, having great confidence in the strength of that position until I saw our skirmishers falling back across the open held toward the works; but I passed the word to Major Sanford on the right. No communication had yet reached me from that officer. I had seen a body of thirty or forty rebels dash from their pits into the woods in a direction that placed them in the rear of Companies C and H. Groups of our men now began to be led to the rear of the rebel lines under guard ; straggling skirmishers were seen falling back toward the works on our right; the enemy's fire began to enfilade our lines from the woods on our right ; the position was critical. I sent at last the question to the right, "Where is Major Sanford?" The answer came back "He is cut off." Up to this time my duty had been simply to hold my position and await orders. It now became necessary to act. The choice was plainly between capture and a perilous retreat across the open fields to our works. I therefore gave the order, with a reluctance which I never felt before in performing a military duty, to fall back. This order was executed after almost all the rest of the division line of picket had given way, under a severe fire from the enemy, and across an unprotected field, but with little loss; and painful as it always is to order a retreat, I had the satisfaction of knowing that the order saved a hundred men and rifles to the service, and of receiving the unqualified approval of my brigade, division and corps commanders, for the course adopted. On the extreme left a part of Company E, in a favorable position, did not leave their ground at all. The men who fell back to the works were reorganized and at once pushed forward to the picket line for the most part on the left. The entire line, except at the former post of Companies C and H, was gradually re-established and held. The conduct of officers and men throughout the affair was admirable, but I may be permitted to speak especially of the extra- ordinary coolness and courage of Capt. Charles C. Mills, of Com- pany G, who received early in the fight a wound which it is greatly feared may be mortal. The list of casualties inclosed show our 142 At Bermuda Hundred. June 2 to 9, 1864. loss to be in numbers about thirty per centum of those engaged, and seven out of fifteen officers. The actual loss sustained by the regiment in these officers is quite inadequately represented by these figures. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Theodore Bacon, Captain Comdg. Seventh Connecticut Vols. Lieut. E. Lewis Moore, A. A. A. G., Second Brig., First Div., Tenth Army Corps. It became necessary that Colonel Hawley should make some corrections in his report, which he did by the follow- ing indorsement: Headquarters Second Brigade, First Division, Tenth Army Corps. Bermuda Hundred Intrench ments, Va., June 6, 1864. Respectfully returned for correction. In one place it is stated that all of Captain Mills' command fell back, which is not quite correct, and indeed it is afterward stated that E did not fall back. Nor is it correct to say on the third page "that we abandoned our entire line." Captain Perry, with Company I, to say nothing of a few men of neighboring companies, never left the pits on the left of the open field or in the edge of the woods, and on the left it would have been well to have given credit to some of the com- pany of the First Connecticut Artillery and two companies of the Third New Hampshire, the latter sent out by the brigade com- mander for their help in re-establishing the line. The posts occu- pied by C and H were soon after retaken by the Third New Hampshire, the majority of which regiment, under Lieutenant Colonel Plimpton, went out for that purpose, accomplished it, and took thirty-five prisoners. Lieutenant Wildman with his Company (A) in the redan had materially assisted in clearing the way for this, by opening a lively fire on the woods in that direction, to say nothing of the artillery fire from Batteries 3 and 4. By order of Colonel Hawley: E. Lewis Moore, First Lieut. Seventh Connecticut Vols., A. A. A. G. M3 Demonstration at Petersburg. June 9 and 10, 1864. From the 1st to the 8th of June our only occupation was the tedious, dangerous and never ending labor of strengthening our lines. On the 9th of June General Butler directed General Gillmore to get ready 1,800 infantry of his command to move on to Petersburg, stating that 1,200 cavalry under 1 tf s^te i** Fro-n Hist. 1st Lt. Batt'y. PONTOON BRIDGE. General Kautz and 1,200 or 1,300 infantry under General Hinks would co-operate in the movement. They were to cross the Appomattox on a pontoon bridge by midnight. General Gillmore sent Colonel Hawley in command of the Seventh Connecticut, Third Xew Hampshire, Seventh Xew Hampshire, Sixth Connecticut and Sixty-second Ohio 144 Demonstration at Petersburg. June 9 and 10, 1864. Volunteers. Owing to the darkness of the night, some of the regiments lost the road to the pontoon bridge, so that General Kautz and Colonel Hawley did not get their com- mands across the river until 3.40 A. M. Colonel Hawley drove in the enemy's pickets on the City Point road shortly after 6 A. M. and about seven was before the enemy's works. On the Jordan's Point road Hinks drove the enemy into their works and pushed up to within fifty yards of them. As soon as Gillmore learned the nature of the works in our front he was convinced that our assault would probably fail, and ordered the two posi- tions to be maintained, expecting to hear from General Kautz, who was expected to reach the enemy's works at nine o'clock. Generals Hinks and Hawley were about a mile apart. Communication was kept up between them by a road in the rear. About one o'clock in order to keep them together they were ordered to withdraw to a junction of the road in front of Baylor's where they waited until after three o'clock to hear from Kautz. Hearing nothing, thev withdrew to Sawmill, where they remained about an hour and then marched back to the intrenchments. General Gillmore's report of the above movement was endorsed by General Butler as follows : "Report of the expedition of which General Gillmore volun- teered to take command entirely unsatisfactory : it fails to comply in many particulars with the order requiring it ; states times, orders, and occurrences with much inaccuracy. The conduct of the expedition, as disclosed by it. and in fact, was dilatory and ill- judged. The demonstration, too feeble to be called an attack, was in direct disobedience to orders. The whole affair, in view of the forces known to be opposed, was most disgraceful to the Union arms. Ben j. F. Butler, Major-General. Commanding. 145 Demonstration at Petersburg. June 9 and 10, 1864. Much correspondence passed between Generals Butler and Gillmore ; Butler's was petulant and almost abusive ; Gillmore's dignified and gentlemanly. At length Gillmore wrote to General Butler (through his chief of staff) as follows : Headquarters Tenth Army Corps. June 12, 1864, 1 A. M. Colonel J. W. Shaffer, Chief of Staff, etc. : "Your note of last evening is received. As I consider the indorsement, which you say the major-general commanding intends to send to Washington with my report of the demonstration against Petersburg on the 9th, to be not only unmerited and unjust, but not sustained by facts, it only remains for me to deny respectfully, but emphatically, all the charges therein set against me, to request a copy of the orders which I have disobeyed or have failed to obey, and then to demand of the President a court of inquiry to investigate all my official acts and conduct while serving in this department. I court a full investigation into the part I have taken in the campaign here." Thereupon General Butler issued the following special orders : Headquarters Department of Virginia and North Carolina. Special Orders. In the Field, near Point of Rocks, Va., June 14, 1864. I. Maj. Gen. Q. A. Gillmore. having requested a court of inquiry upon his official action in the expedition to Petersburg because of the indorsement of disapproval upon his report of his conduct made by the commanding general thereon, his request is granted, and the court will be convened as soon as the interest of the public service will permit. II. Maj. Gen. Q. A. Gillmore is relieved of his command, and will proceed to Fortress Monroe forthwith, to await the action of the court of inquiry requested by him. III. The staff of Major-General Gillmore, except his aides- de-camp, will report to Brigadier-General Terry, the senior officer, commanding the line of defenses. All acting staff officers upon 146 Demonstration at Petersburg. June 9 and 10, 1864. General Gillmore's staff will report to their several commands for duty. IV. Brigadier-General Foster will report to Brigadier-General Terry, to be assigned to duty. By command of Major-General Butler, R. S. Davis, Major and Assistant Adjutant-General. On receipt of this General Grant wrote to General Butler as follows : Headquarters Armies of the United States. City Point, June 17. 1864. Major-General Butler : If you have no objection to withdrawing your order relieving General Gillmore, I will relieve him at his own request. The way the matter now stands, it is a severe punishment to General Gill- more, even if a court of inquiry should hereafter acquit him. I think the course here suggested advisable, and would be pleased if you agree to it, though I do not order or insist upon it. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General. General Butler replied as follows : Headquarters Department of Virginia and North Carolina. In the Field, June 17. 1864. Lieutenant-General Grant, Commanding Armies of the United States : General : I send you the withdrawal of so much of my special order as relieves Major-General Gillmore, according to your request, to take date as of the day of its issue, upon the supposition that it is to be operative and simultaneous with yours, relieving him at his request. Benj. F. Butler, Major-General. (Inclosure) Headquarters Department of Virginia and North Carolina. In the Field, Va., June 17, 1864. Special Orders.) So much of special orders from these headquarters as relieved Major-General Gillmore of the command of the troops of the Tenth i47 Bermuda Hundred. June 9 to 17, 1864. Army Corps, serving in this department, is withdrawn as of the date of its issue, to wit, June 14, 1864. By command of Major-General Butler. R. S. Davis, Major and Adjutant-General. General Grant then issued the following orders : Headquarters Armies of the United States. City Point, Va., June 17, 1864. Special Orders, } No. 36. ' 2. Maj. Gen. Q. A. Gillmore, U. S. Volunteers, is. at his own request, hereby relieved from command of the Tenth Army Corps, serving in the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to take effect and date from June 14 instant, and will proceed to Washington. D. C. and report to the Adjutant-General of the Army for orders. His personal staff has permission to accompany him. By command of Lieutenant-General Grant. T. S. Bowers, Assistant Adjutant-General. Every officer who went near Petersburg, including Kautz, gave it as his opinion that an assault would have been attended with great loss, with exceedingly doubtful chances of success. As nothing more was heard of a court of inquiry, we may suppose that General Grant thought it entirely unnecessary. From the 10th to the 16th of June we remained quietly in camp. On the 17th the picket line in front of our bri- gade was attacked furiously, and the picket reserve cap- tured to the number of twenty-five. Captain Bacon, who was in command, escaped. As he came into our lines with dejected step, Colonel Hawley cried out, "Captain, are you wounded?" "No," was the reply, "but I almost wish I was." 148 Bermuda Hundred. June 18 to July 4, 1864. On the 1 8th of June, in obedience to orders from Gen- eral Grant, General Terry assumed command of the Tenth Army Corps to the great satisfaction of our regiment. From June 19th to the 30th we remained quietly within our lines at Bermuda Hundred. General Grant, who with the Army of the Potomac, had been fighting for forty-three days in the effort to get into Richmond from the North, had on the 12th of June crossed to the south of the James, uniting both his own and General Butler's forces, with City Point as his base of supplies. He had left north of the James, only force enough to resist an advance of Lee upon Washington. Though General Butler's line of intrenchments between the James and Rappahannock was secure for defense, the enemy was as securely entrenched in his front ; so that as General Grant expressed it, he was "bottled up" so securely that it was as hard for him to get out as for the enemy to get in. While we lay there so near the enemy the boys on both sides often established a temporary truce for friendly dicker between the lines. While these lasted the Johnnies would say: "If we-uns are ordered to fire we'll fire high at first so that you-uns can get to cover." When the higher authorities were about to break the truce, they would say, "Get into your ditches, Yanks, our folks are going to shell your camps." On July 4th in accordance with our usual diversion we were called up at 3 A. AT. and stood under arms until day- light. Light came with no disturbance and we marched back to camp. As a reminder of the day, the band played patriotic airs and the men enjoyed an unusually good dinner, a fair supply of fresh vegetables being supplied by the Sanitary Commission, supplemented by the company "onion fund." 149 Bermuda Hundred. July 4 to August ii, 1864. July 10th considerable numbers of the recently arrived substitutes and drafted men having deserted to the enemy, Colonel Hawley issued the following order to his brigade : "The colonel commanding hopes that all the scoundrels who desire to desert to the enemy after swindling the government out of heavy bounties have already left us ; but if there is still one such left in the brigade, the following paragraph from the "Richmond Examiner" of July 9th is commended to his attention : 'Yesterday about 100 of the Yankee deserters held at the castle were tranferred to the Libby and their status changed from deserters to prisoners of war. It is at last the deliberate conviction of the Confederate Government that deserters can never become of any service to us, either in the army or the workshops, and that it is better to get man for man by an exchange under the cartel.' "From the foregoing the private who meditates desertion will see that neither army considers him fit to be trusted anywhere, or able to earn his living. He may be assured that when he shall be brought back to us by exchange, he will speedily be put where no nation nor any army will be troubled by his villainy again." From the nth to the 16th there was nothing new; con- stant, heavy firing at Petersburg showed that the siege was still going on. The enemy in our front was active and watchful, though but little firing passed between our intrenchments. Many Confederate deserters came into our lines and were "sworn and sent north." From the 17th of July to August 12th picket duty for each tour required two men out of five. Camp guard and work on the lines occupied the remainder of the force. Police service was rigidly enforced, and drills occasionally ordered. Every morning at three o'clock the troops stood under arms till daylight. 150 B si C \\ a p c tl c tl t] ii n v a t v t s s V i 1 € I C I CHAPTER XVIII. THE RICHMOND CAMPAIGN. A new epoch had now been reached in General Grant's campaign. He had not accomplished what he hoped when he entered upon the wilderness battles, but forty-three days' fighting had shown him that General Lee would not take the offensive, and would fight no furious battles save behind intrenchments. The hope of engaging him in the open field and winning by the force of numbers had to be aban- doned. He had crowded General Lee's army back to the strong intrenchments around Richmond ; General Sheridan had put an end to General Early's attempts to invade the Xorth through the Shenandoah valley. General Sherman was evidently able to reach Atlanta. The Union Army was outside a circle 300 miles in diameter, and the Confederate Army had everywhere the inside track. A fall and winter campaign with artillery through Virginia mud was out of the question. Generals Sherman, Schofield, and A. J. Smith must take care of Generals Johnston, Hood and Price, until at length General Sherman could strike through to Savannah and Charleston, then up to Wilmington, coming between Generals Johnston and Lee, so that in the spring Generals Sherman and Grant could combine their forces and crush General Lee, leaving Generals Schofield and Thomas to perform the same oper- ation upon Generals Johnston and Hood. With this condition in mind we can better understand the movements in which the Tenth Corps took part during the remaining months of summer and autumn, 1864. In order to connect the work of the Seventh with that of the whole Second Brigade of which it was a part the 151 Richmond Campaign. August io to 16, 1864. itinerary of the entire brigade is given below as copied from official records. Itinerary of Second Brigade, First Division, Tenth Army Corps, August 10th to November 30th, 1864. August. At the beginning of the month this brigade held and picketed the right of Bermuda Hundred intrench- ments on the James River. August 12. In the evening the brigade received orders to prepare every available man to march at a moment's notice with knapsacks and two days' rations. Six hundred of the Sixteenth New York Heavy Artillery being engaged on the canal at Dutch Gap, the remainder of that battalion relieved the garrison of the Sixth Connecticut in Redoubt Carpenter. August 13. In the evening the brigade, accompanying the First Brigade of this division, marched to Deep Bottom, crossed the James there, and before daylight took position near the picket- line of the Third Brigade, which had been holding Deep Bottom. August 14. At daylight the division, under command of Brig. Gen. A. H. Terry, moved forward, the First and Third Brigades, driving in the enemy's skirmish line, driving them out of their rifle-pits, this brigade supporting. The Sixth Connecticut was detailed to assist the Third Brigade, and. supporting the One Hundreth New York, crossed Bailey's Creek to the right and took a batten- of the enemy containing four 8-inch siege howitzers. A portion of the Seventh Connecticut, in throwing out skirmishers to protect two light batteries, lost five or six killed and wounded. The division remained on Kingsland Road until nine o'clock at night. It then moved by the right flank to the New Market road, and down to Strawberry Plains to a position in the rear of the Second Corps. August 15. It moved to the right of the Second Corps to a position near the mill pond at Deep Run. August 16. Reconnoitering for an advance in the morning, the brigade found in its front an impassable mill pond and ravine. General Foster (Third Brigade), then undertook to advance on our right, executing a gradual left wheel to turn the enemy's left, and drove him from his rifle-pits and picket lines. This brigade followed in reserve and found the Third Brigade near the 152 Richmond Campaign. Aug. 16 to Oct. i, 1864. enemy's breastworks, and the First Brigade massed (column of battalion in line), formed on the right of the Third Brigade line immediately ; charged over breastworks and into fields and woods beyond, partially wheeled to the left and held position for an hour; Seventh New Hampshire was halted at the works and used to protect the right. The Thirty-ninth Illinois was on our right, Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania on our left and Craig's Brigade of the Second Corps came up on our left to help. After losing half the officers and about one-third of the men out on this field, and finding that all our friends had fallen back to the breastworks, we fell back there also, then farther to the rear, finally throwing up breastworks about on the picket-line seized in the morning, and remained through the night. Lost in the fight of the sixteenth (battle of Deep Run), 233. August 18. At night went back to and up on the Long Bridge road to Ruffin's. Held road until night of the 20th, when whole force (Second and Tenth Corps), recrossed the James. August 24. Started with the First Brigade (the Third Brigade and the rest of the Tenth Corps to follow) to relieve the Eighteenth Corps before Petersburg. Took to hold about 700 yards of the line, are left resting on the Suffolk railroad. Here remained through the month, losing some daily. September 1 to 24. The brigade held a portion of the line before Petersburg and participated in the labors of the siege. September 24. It was relieved by the Second Corps and bivouacked near Tenth Corps headquarters, where the corps was massed. September 28. It moved with the rest of the corps and formed part of the column which carried the enemy's works at Deep Bottom. September 29. In the afternoon it inarched with the division (Terry's) to a point near Richmond, in support of General Kautz's cavalry. September 30. The brigade lay bivouacked at Laurel Hill, on the New Market road. October 1. The brigade, commanded by Col. J. C. Abbott, (Brigadier-General Hawley, having gone to Connecticut with dis- charged men of the Sixth and Seventh Regiments Connecticut Volunteers and to get recruits if possible), led a reconnaissance of the Tenth Corps toward Richmond on the Darbytown road. 153 Richmond Campaign. Oct. i to Nov. i, 1864. When within about three miles of the city the entire brigade deployed as skirmishers and advanced under a heavy artillery fire to within two miles of the rebel capital. Loss about — . Returning to its position in reserve on and near the New Market road, in the rear of the right flank of the Tenth Corps (which was on the right of the Eighteenth Corps), the Seventh Connecticut only being deployed in line on the right, it remained until the seventh, when the rebel divisions of Hoke and Field drove back General Kautz's cavalry and attempted to turn the right flank. The First Division, Tenth Corps, was thrown as a refuse line to meet them and the weight of onset fell on this brigade. After a close and hot fight, in coming within fifty yards, the rebels were signally repulsed. The brigade lost 137. This refused line was then strongly fortified with a good breastwork and two redans. October 12. Brigadier-General Hawley returned and resumed command. October 13. The First and Third Divisions reconnoitered on the Darbytown road a mile or two above Johnson's or Timberlake's house. This brigade had its left on that road and pressed the enemy into his works, the Seventh Connecticut as skirmishers, the Sixth Connecticut and Sixteenth New York (Heavy Artillery) in the first line, deployed, the Third and Seventh New Hampshire in the second line reserved. After holding the enemy in his works all day and skirmishing sharply (the Third New Hampshire going to the First Brigade as a reserve for its assault) we returned to our intrenchments with a loss of fifty-one. October 20. The command of the Third Division fell on Bri- gadier-General Hawley and Colonel Abbott took command of the brigade. October 27 and 28. The command took part in a reconnais- sance on the right of the lines on the Darbytown and Charles City roads, the skirmishers of the brigade resting their right on the last named point. It remained during the two days, returning on the evening of the latter date. The fighting was entirely on the skirmish line. Loss in killed, wounded, and missing, twenty-eight. October 29. Brigadier-General Hawley resumed command. And until the end of the month the brigade remained in the intrenchments. November 1 and 2. In camp just on the right of the New Market road. Henrico County, Va., on the precise ground on which the brigade repulsed the enemy on October 7th. 154 Richmond Campaign. November i to 30, 1864. November 2. At night Brigadier-General Hawley received orders to break camp and report by daylight on the river at Deep Bottom, leaving only the detachment of the Sixteenth New York Heavy Artillery in camp ; reported as ordered. General Hawley being put in command of additional forces — comprising the Pro- visional Division — four other regiments from this division (First Division, Tenth Corps), and five from the Eighteenth Corps. Col- onel Abbott assumed command of one brigade in the temporary organization, and Colonel Rockwell of the other. November 3. Embarked, changing vessels at Fortress Monroe. November 6. Reported as ordered to Major-General Butler at New York. The infantry (this brigade included) disembarked at Fort Richmond ; the artillery at Fort Hamilton. November 7. At night, and eighth, in the morning (election day), all the troops embarked again. Colonel Abbott, with the Seventh New Hampshire and Seventh Connecticut, on the armed transport "Augusta," took post off Catharine Street Ferry, East River. Colonel Rockwell, with the Sixth Connecticut and others on the "John Romer" off the foot of West 26th Street, North River, and Lieutenant Colonel Randlett, with the Third New Hampshire (under Lieutenant Colonel Smith, One hundred and twelfth New York), on the Ferry boat "Westfield," off West 42nd Street, North River. The other troops were similarly disposed about the city, Brigadier-General Hawley commanding the whole. Major-General Butler's headquarters were at the Hoffman House. The troops remained thus until November nth, when they dis- embarked again at Forts Richmond and Hamilton, retaining suffi- cient transports for use in case of an emergency. November 14 and 15. Re-embarked on sea-going transports ; the artillery were later. November 17. The troops of this brigade disembarked at Deep Bottom, and returned to their former and present position as above. General Hawley resumed the command of the brigade. November 30. Was passed in rebuilding their utterly destroyed huts, receiving, equipping, and drilling recruits, road building, and other ordinary picket and fatigue duty. We now take up the movement which occupied us from the 14th to the 20th of August. Much had been expected from it, but the results were trivial. The part taken by 155 Deep Bottom. August 13 to 15, 1864. the Seventh during the first two days is thus reported by Captain Thompson. Camp of the Seventh Regiment Connecticut Volunteers. Bermuda Hundred, Va., August 23, 1864. Lieutenant : I have the honor to submit the following report of the part taken by the Seventh Connecticut Volunteers in the late movement on the north side of the James River. The regiment left camp about eleven o'clock on the night of the 13th of August, under command of Captain Theodore Bacon, and was assigned to position of left center of the four regiments comprising the Second Brigade. Captain Bacon was taken sick on the night of the 15th, thus leaving me in command of the regiment. The following officers were present for duty, viz. : Surg. Geo. C. Jarvis, Asst. Surg. E. C. Hine, Lieut. J. I. Hutchin- son, acting adjutant; Lieut. William H. Auger, acting regimental quartermaster; Captains Bacon, Thompson, and Perry; Lieuten- ants Wildman, Barker, Young, Bradford, Merriam, Lee and Taintor; Lieutenants Hicks and Baldwin remaining in camp sick. I have to report that the regiment proceeded with the rest of the brigade across the James River and to a position about a mile and a half from the river, where we lay concealed in the woods until daylight or after, and about 7 A. M. the regiment was ordered to move forward in close column by company along the road, as the enemy had been driven some distance from our front. In this order the regiment was moved with the rest of the brigade for about a mile, when we formed on the left of the brigade in double column closed en masse in an open field and ordered to lie down. Some of the enemy's sharpshooters opened upon us with some effect, and eight men were selected as sharpshooters and thrown forward and on our left flank to silence the enemy's fire, and Com- panies B and G, under command of Lieutenant Young, were also sent forward soon after for the same purpose. In this position we remained until about 4 P. M., when the regiment deployed in line of battle and marched by the right flank to the rear for nearly a mile on the same road that we had marched on in the morning, when we halted and lay in the woods until about 9 P. M. and were exposed at times to the enemy's shells from a battery in the woods in front of us. Our casualties up to this time amounted to one killed and five wounded. We then had orders to move with the 156 Deep Bottom. August 15 and 16, 1864. brigade by the right flank and marched about three miles, when we were ordered to halt and lie down in line of battle for the night, the brigade being in column of battalion. On the morning of the 15th, after obtaining more ammunition, the march was resumed, and the regiment moved by the right flank with the brigade at a distance of about four miles, when we were ordered to halt and lie down in line of battle in an open field, the brigade being now in column of battalion. Here we were exposed to the fire from the enemy's battery for some time, though but one casualty occurred during the day. and just before dark we were moved by the right flank about 800 yards, and took our position for the night in the edge of a piece of woods or small scattering pines, and apparently about 1.000 yards from the enemy's works. Directly in front of us was a corn field and beyond that a deep ravine and mill pond, which separated us from the enemy's main works. The following officers were present for duty at this time, viz. : Asst. Surg. E. C. Hine, Lieut. J. I. Hutchinson, acting adjutant; Lieutenants Barker. Lee and Taintor. Captain Perry, Lieutenants Wildman, Young and Bradford being sick and unfit for duty and Lieutenant Gill had received a slight wound two days previous, from the effects of which he had not recovered. Surgeon Jarvis was detached from the regiment, being senior medical officer of the brigade. Owing to the excessive heat an unusual number of the enlisted men were compelled to fall out of the ranks while on the march, from sunstroke and excessive fatigue, being burdened with their knapsacks, so that on the morning of the 16th they numbered but 161 men. I am sorry to have to report that some managed to straggle away from the command without any other object than to cowardly shirk their duty, but I think the number of this class is small. About 3 A. M. of the 16th, I received orders from Colonel Hawley, commanding brigade, to throw up some sort of protection in front of our line as the enemy's sharpshooters were annoying us. I collected a quantity of rails and soon had good protection from musketry. About 8 A. M. I was ordered to move by the right flank, which was done in connection with the rest of the brigade, and after marching about half a mile through the woods we were halted. I soon after received orders to move forward with rest of the brigade in line of battle in the direction of the enemy's works, and after moving about 700 yards through dense woods and across a deep ravine, we were ordered again to halt. 157 Deep Bottom. August 15 and 16, 1864. Here our line of battle was changed so as to conform with the enemy's works in front of us, and we were again ordered forward about 400 yards and ordered to lie down in line of battle. Colonel Hawley informed his whole brigade that a brigade in front of us were to charge the enemy's works and cautioned the whole com- mand to remain firm, and in case the leading brigade were repulsed to allow them to pass over us to the rear, and then to hold our posi- tion at all hazards. The brigade in front of us then rose up and rushed forward through the woods toward the enemy's works, when a galling fire of musketry greeted us from the enemy. When they had proceeded about fifty yards I heard Colonel Hawley give the command "Forward, Second Brigade," when my regiment rose up instantly and rushed forward at a double quick cheering loudly, and following the leading brigade in as good a line of battle as the dense woods and the nature of the ground generally would permit. On arriving within fifty yards of the works we came upon a slashing of fallen trees very difficult to pass, but through it we went with a will, and over their works, driving the enemy before us. On crossing the enemy's works, without halting I moved the regiment by the left flank to avoid a dense thicket of trees, in order to reach an open field about 100 yards to the left. We then formed in line of battle and moved forward across an open field about 400 yards and halted in the edge of a piece of woods, in order to guard against the approach of the enemy on our right flank. Other regi- ments coming up for our support, a severe and general engage- ment with the enemy ensued. During the engagement I perceived the enemy coming down through the woods on my right flank. I changed my line of battle, accordingly, so as to front the enemy, and opened upon them vigorously with the Spencer carbines and soon succeeded in driving them from before us. I soon afterward received orders from Colonel Hawley to fall back to the enemy's works which we had passed over; here I formed the regiment in line of battle fronting the enemy. I then received orders from General Terry to march my regiment to the rear, our ammunition being very nearly exhausted. Of the six officers who were engaged in battle, four were either killed or wounded, and myself being very unwell from the effects of sunstroke a few days previous, turned over the com- mand to Lieutenant Taintor, the only remaining officer. Of every officer and enlisted man who participated in this engagement, I can only speak in terms of the most unqualified praise. Every 158 Deep Bottom. August 15 and 16, 1864. order was promptly, cheerfully, and fearlessly obeyed, and I could neither ask nor expect more of them. Lieutenant Hutchinson was wounded and disabled during the assault on the enemy's works while gallantly performing his duty, and compelled to retire. Lieu- tenant Merriam had been wounded in the engagement of the 14th, but had resumed his command, and was again wounded while nobly discharging his duty, and too much praise cannot be awarded him. Lieutenants Barker and Lee. I regret to say, were wounded in the latter part of the engagement (supposed mortally) and of necessity were left on the field to fall into the enemy's hands. They displayed great coolness and courage throughout the entire engagement. Surg. G. C. Jarvis and Asst. Surg. E. C. Hine were deserving of great praise for their efficient and untiring efforts in caring for the wounded of the command. The men displayed unusual zeal and braver)- during the whole engagement, and where all who were with me have done so well it is difficult to mention any particular individuals as worthy of most praise. I will take the liberty, however, to give the names of Sergt. W. W. Plumb, acting sergeant-major; Sergeant Cook. Company E; Sergt. H. H. Smith, Company C; Sergt. B. Starr, Company B ; Sergeant Shailer, Company I ; Sergeant Whaples, Company B ; Sergt. Willard Austin, Company G; Sergeant Cook, Company A; and Corporal Clark. Company F. I append an entire list of casualties from the 14th to the 16th. inclusive: Killed, seven; wounded, thirty-one; missing, seven; total, forty-five. I am, lieutenant, very respectfully, your obedient servant. John Thompson, Capt. Seventh Connecticut Volunteers, Commanding Regiment. Lieut. E. Lewis Moore, Actg. Asst. Adjt. Gen., 2nd Brig. 1st Div., 10th Army Corps. :|:This report ends on the evening of the 16th of August, and leaves the regiment in the intrenchments which had been captured from the enemy near Deep Run. The attempt to break through the enemy's double line of *On this day the One hundredth New York and Sixth Connect- icut of the Tenth Corps captured and drew off a battery of four 8-inch howitzers. 159 Richmond Campaign. August 15 to 17, 1864. intrenchments to Richmond having failed, a withdrawal was ordered, an account of which on the part of the Seventh is given in the following report by Captain Atwell : Headquarters Seventh Regiment Connecticut Volunteers. Bermuda Hundred, Va., August 23, 1864. Lieutenant : I have the honor to report that I relieved Captain Perry of the command of the regiment, then in the intrenchments near Deep Run, Va., on the 17th instant, where we remained until about seven o'clock the evening of the 18th, when in obedience to orders the regiment moved to the right, advancing but a few hundred yards, when the order was given to return to our former position at the works, as the enemy were advancing upon them, which we reached just as our pickets were driven in. Soon after the enemy made their appearance near the right of the regiment and were opened upon quite furiously for a few seconds. The firing soon ceasing, the pickets were again established on our front. About 11 P. M. we again received orders to move, and about two in the morning of the 19th halted on Long Bridge road, where we remained until 8 P. M. the 20th. when the regiment moved to the rear, reaching the bridge over the James about eleven o'clock, which we crossed, and continuing our march, arrived in camp about two in the morning of the 2 1st, greatly fatigued and well tired out by the incessant duties of the week. Only one casualty occurred in the regiment during the time I have been in command, viz. : Private Stephen H. Greene, Com- pany K. wounded the 18th while on the picket-line. I have the honor to be, respectfully, your obedient servant, S. S. Atwell. Captain Seventh Connecticut Volunteers, Commanding Regiment. Lieut. E. Lewis Moore. Some additional particulars of the movements from the 15th to the 17th are found in Acting Assistant Adjutant General Moore's journal as follows : On the night of the 15th Terry's Division was massed in the vicinity of Fussells with some troops of the Second Corps. Early on the morning of the 16th a brigade of 160 Deep Run. August 16, 1864. western troops was in line in the woods near the rifle pits on the enemy's left. Hawley's brigade was in line as sup- port, the men lying flat on their faces close to the front line. In front of the enemy's line was a heavy slashing* and his rifle pits were the same as a light intrenched line. General Terry was with us; he jokingly told the officers who were on their feet to get the best cover they could against the fire of small arms until we should get orders to move. He himself set the example by shielding his slim figure behind a tree about eight inches through. Most of the officers felt rather slim about that time and dutifully followed the general's example. The wood was so dense that we could not see the enemy's line, though the distance was but a few hundred yards. On our left was the first brigade of General Terry's division and they joined the Second Corps. The first line (of western troops) was to attack and carry the rifle pits if it could, and Hawley's brigade, when notified that this was accomplished, was to carry the attack into the enemy's lines. At about ten o'clock in the morning the order was given and the front line went forward. We quickly heard the crack of rifles and a round of cheers. As we eagerly waited for tidings an officer came rushing back, waving his sword and shouting "We've got 'em ! We've got 'em !'' This was our clue and we scrambled through the slashing only to find that the announcement was premature ; the leading brigade was badly cut up without gaining a foot- hold. With our support, however, the rifle pits were car- ried and we secured two or three hundred prisoners. We kept on three or four hundred yards, other regiments join- ing us, and at once found ourselves in the midst of a heavy *Xote. Slashing: Trees cut off high and left lying wherever they fall. 161 Richmond Campaign. August 21 to 24, 1864. engagement. An effort was made to liank us on the right. This was gallantly repulsed by our regiment. Soon after order to withdraw was given and with sad disappointment we gradually retired, recrossed the James, and marched back to our camp at Bermuda Hundred, which we occupied August 20th. Our disappointment was somewhat alleviated when we heard read General Birney's congratulatory order. Headquarters Tenth Army Corps. In the Field, Fusseli/s Mill, Va., August 19, 1864. General Orders, 1 No. 25. \ The major-general commanding congratulates the Tenth Army Corps on its success. It has on each occasion when ordered, broken the enemy's strong line, and has captured during this short campaign four siege guns, protected by the most formidable works, six colors, and many prisoners. It has proved itself worthy of its old Wagner and Sumter renown. Much fatigue, patience, and heroism may still be demanded of it, but the major-general com- manding is confident of the response. By command of Mat. Gen. D. B. Birney. Ed. W. Smith, Assistant Adjutant General. Sunday the 21st, we spent quietly in camp, resting and cleaning up. On the evening of that day we again received marching orders, formed line and remained under arms all night. At daylight of the 22nd we were dismissed to quarters. On the 24th we were again under inarching orders. Soon after dinner the brigade line was formed and we marched toward the Appomattox ; it leaked out that we were to relieve the Eighteenth Corps in the trenches before Petersburg. The enemy saw us leaving and was doubtless glad to be rid of us. Crossing the Appomattox by pontoon bridge just before night and mounting by a toilsome way the hills overlook- 162 Before Petersburg. Aug. 24 to Sept. 28, 1864. ing the "Cockade City" we saw our work before us. By dark we approached the forts and began to hear distinctly the firing of the siege guns. Still on, winding our slow way in the gathering darkness, urging the weary and strag- gling column through ravine, across branch, and again over hill and beyond, we heard the rattle of small arms and saw by such light as there was the signs of the conflict. By this time the rain fell in torrents, the mud was deep and the way difficult. Near midnight we reached the extreme front and took our places in the lines before Petersburg. Colonel Hawley established his headquarters in a bomb-proof, there shelter- ing his horse as well as himself. The brigade was occupied in the heavy and trying duties of the siege. Many casual- ties were noted every day and no life was safe except under cover. The boys dug burrows or splinter proofs, into which they crept while off duty when the fire became hot. Those on duty had to dodge the shells the best way they could. This condition continued until September 4th. On that date private John Rowley of Company D, who as before stated shot his comrade at Olustee, was executed in accord- ance with the finding of a Court Martial. On the 1 2th of September such members of the Seventh as had not re-enlisted were discharged by reason of expira- tion of their term of service. They numbered about 200 and were under command of Colonel Hawley. They pro- ceeded to New Haven, bivouacked in the old state house on the green, where they were paid off and scattered to their homes. From the 13th to the 27th of September our time was spent in the arduous duties in the trenches in front of Petersburg. On the 28th of September we were again put in motion, leaving permanently the intrenchments before Petersburg. The Tenth Corps in co-operation with other 164 Before Petersburg. September 13 to 29, 1864. troops marched across the Appomattox, the Bermuda Hun- dred Peninsula, and the James River at Deep Bottom. Resting for a time in the ashes and soot of newly burned ground near the river, we formed line in the darkness of the early morning of the 29th. General Hawley being still north after recruits, the brigade was commanded by Col. J. C. Abbott, the division by General Terry. The division moved forward slowly for several hours, meeting a sharp fire, though the hardest fighting was done by the troops on the extreme left of the division. There the enemy's line was strongly fortified ; it was carried in gallant style, but at considerable loss. The action and loss of the Seventh is thus given in Captain Atwell's report : Headquarters Seventh Regiment Connecticut Volunteers. In the Field, Laurel Hill, Va., October 8, 1864. Lieutenant : I have the honor to make the following report of the part taken by the Seventh Connecticut Volunteers in the recent engagements of September 29, October 1, and October 7. The regiment left camp before Petersburg on the afternoon of the 28th of September, with the rest of the Second Brigade, and bivouacked at Deep Bottom at about 2 A. M. of the 29th. At day- break the regiment, numbering nine officers and 125 men, resumed the march, in connection with the rest of the brigade, passing through our earthworks and in the direction of the enemy for nearly a mile, when I received orders from Colonel Abbott, com- manding brigade, to deploy my regiment as skirmishers and advance towards the enemy's works. ' After passing an open field and through a deep ravine, through a heavy fire from the enemy's batteries, together with musketry from their sharpshooters, we were ordered to halt, being about 800 yards from the enemy's works, and I ordered the men to lie down in the line so as to conceal them as much as possible from the view of the enemy's sharp- shooters. We lay in this position for about half an hour, and were ordered to advance, the Third New Hampshire Regiment having been ordered up to our support, when I moved forward with my command and entered their works without further resist- ance. Our loss in this skirmish was one commissioned officer and seven enlisted men wounded. After halting for about an hour, 165 Chapin's Farm, Va. Sept. 29 to Oct. 7, 1864. we again resumed the march with the brigade toward Richmond, arriving at the second line of the enemy's works at about noon, and again halted. About two o'clock we marched with the brigade on a reconnaissance toward Richmond, but returned at nightfall, without further fighting, to the enemy's second line of works, and bivouacked for the night. On the afternoon of October 1st, we were marched over the same road toward Richmond and were deployed as skirmishers, with the rest of the brigade, and ordered to advance on the enemy's line of works. In doing so it was necessary to cross an almost impassable ravine in the face of a terrible fire from the enemy's batteries, but notwithstanding the difficulties, the line moved on in good order for a distance of about three-quarters of a mile, when we were halted within about 600 yards of their works, and soon ordered to fall back, when we retreated slowly and in good order, the enemy still firing upon us from their batteries, until we were out of range of their guns. We arrived at the place from whence we started at 10 P. M., and bivouacked for the night. Our loss in this skirmish was one killed, four wounded, and ten missing. On the morning of the 7th, my regiment was ordered out of our intrenched position that we had occupied for four days on the right flank of our works, to move, with the rest of the brigade, to a position farther to the right and rear, in order to check the advance of the enemy, who had made a vigorous attack on the cavalry in front of us, and driven them in. After getting into our position in the brigade, and in line of battle, I was ordered to send fifty men forward as skirmishers, which I placed under command of Captain Thompson. Soon after I was ordered to send twenty-five more, but before they had time to deploy the enemy advanced in force, and I immediately opened fire upon them, directing my line of fire to the front, and to the right and left oblique, as the enemy showed themselves to be in strongest force, and they were soon repulsed. Our loss in this engagement was one killed, thirteen wounded, and one missing. The behavior of both officers and men in this engagement was perfectly satisfactory. All orders were promptly and cheerfully obeyed, and where all have done so nobly, it is difficult to mention any as especially worthy of honorable mention. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, S. S. At well, Capt. Commanding Seventh Conn. Volunteers. Lieut. E. Lewis Moore, Actg. Asst. Adjt. Gen., 2nd Brig., 1st Div., 10th Army Corps. Note. Colonel Hawley, who was still in the North, was Sep- tember 17th promoted to Brigadier-General of Volunteers. 166 Near Richmond. Sept. 29 to Oct. 7, 1864. Captain Moore adds the following particulars to this account : "October 1st another reconnaissance under General Terry. Hawley's brigade advanced to the extreme limit of yesterday's venture. There deploying as a strong skirmish line we charged straight for the city, coming within range of the outer line of defenses of the city proper, to the very foot of one of the hills on which the city has her seat, and within one and a half miles of the Capitol. We were greeted with a terrible fire of artillery, but persisted in our advance until the desired object was attained, then retiring slowly and in the same order in which we advanced we reached the cover of the woods. As we retired, the enemy's cavalry followed us closely and captured some of our men in a muddy cornfield not far from the enemy's line. We were supported by Pond's brigade of Terry's Division, but they took no part in the dash. We passed another miserable night, one division being in reserve. From October 2nd to the 6th all was quiet so far as we were concerned. Early on the morning of the 7th sharp firing was heard on our extreme right flank where Kautz's cavalry was keeping watch. Stragglers from his force came flying by in great disorder and it was evident that Kautz was routed bv a superior force. It was equally evident that our flank was in danger. Terry's division was hurriedly tranferred from its position in reserve to the right, marching down the road as if in retreat. A great crowd of demoralized cavalry, cooks, servants, and shirks impeded our march and gave the impression that all was lost except the bare chance of running for dear life. Hawley's brigade formed in the woods immediately on the right of our intrenched line, the Seventh being on the left of the brigade. We were none too soon to receive the 167 ^ A* >;* Newmarket Road. October 7, 1864. enemy, as his troops came tearing through the woods veiling like demons. They were within fifty yards before they were a fairly good shot. Then up rose the Seventh with its repeating carbines and began to pour in its fire. The crash was the most terrific we had ever heard. The brunt of the attack was on us ; our fire fairly took them off their feet and rendered them utterly incapable of return- ing it. They melted away and such as were able disap- peared into the friendly embrace of the wood. As they retired we gave a parting shot at their legs vanishing among the tree trunks and then set up a shout of victory. At once, right where they stood, our men, expecting a renewal of the attack fell to work "tooth and nail,'' cup and plate, sword and stick, with whatever material was at hand, to improvise breastworks behind which they might find partial cover. The enemy rallied and made a second feeble attack and then retired. We followed them about two miles, returning at nightfall to the position where we fought. Hawley's brigade lost 147 — the other two brigades only forty altogether. During the night we securely intrenched ourselves, and there thenceforth the Seventh made its camp until ordered away for the second attack on Fort Fisher. Before that time, however, we made some short excursions. The pine trees which covered our front gradually dis- appeared as demands for timber or firewood arose, and the very roots were eventually grubbed up for the fatty pine knots they bore. Thus the country within our line was effectually cleared, even the buildings, where any were found, being pulled down and changed into floors and bunks. Even an old church near One Mile Creek disappeared. We had taken breakfast early on the morning of the 7th and the panic attending the engagement of that day so demoralized the cooks and the camp generally that we 16S North of the James. Sept. and Oct., 1864. practically fasted until the morning of the 8th. On that day we began to pull ourselves together, and though worn with the struggle of the day before, began our routine of camp duties ; some at work on the intrenchments, some building huts, some roads, and some policing the camp.* A large detail was engaged in the mournful task of bury- ing the dead, first those of our own men, and next those of the enemy who lay near our front. On the 9th the Commissary Department came to the front with full sup- plies and the regular routine of camp life was resumed. A resume of the movements from September 29th to October 10th is copied below from a letter sent home by an officer of the Seventh. "We are now exactly on the ground where the enemy swept down upon us on the 7th of this month. I want you and every one else to remember the doings of the Second Brigade, First Division, Tenth Army Corps, during the operations north of the James. Behold our noble Seventh in its place in brigade line charging the rebel rifle pits on Newmarket Heights, on the same day prowling around the defenses of Richmond, peering into the windows of the rebel Capitol itself. Mark them on October 1st pushing through mud and rain toward the "seven hills" the seat of the Confederate govern- ment, extending as a skirmish line a mile long, dashing through field and wood, wading streams and climbing hills, never hesitating or wavering under the concentrated fire of the great guns of the enemy until they made out the grand inner line of the city's defenses. f See the Second Brigade hurriedly occupy a dark pine wood and set itself as a wall *Policing as applied to camp duties means cleaning and putting in sanitary condition. fThis is the line shown on map 3 nearly surrounding Richmond about two miles from the city. 169 Newmarket Road. Oct. 7 to 13, 1864. across the path of the cowering foe. Xo breastworks, no artillery, only stout hearts and Spencer rifles. Forward go the skirmishers, and for some time hold the enemy in check. Our line lies down — the skirmishers are forced in, the but- ternuts following hard after with that well known inhuman yell. Then at the word 'Fire by battalion, fire/ up rose the brave boys and with a rousing union cheer gave them the contents of their rifles. Only a moment it lasted ; no men could stand up and face such fire at a range of fifty or seventy-five yards. The attacking column melted away and was gone, only those killed, wounded, or scared to death remaining on the field. It was a furious, well delivered attack — it was a complete repulse. We had lost some men ; they had lost half as many men as we had on the field. We pursued them after bring- ing in their wounded and attending to our own. The next morning we buried their dead. They were from Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas. The attack was by two full divisions, Field's and Hoke's." On the nth of October General Terry was assigned to the command of the Tenth Corps relieving General Birney, who had previously been in command of the corps while Terry commanded the First Division. On the 12th General Hawley returned from the North and resumed command of the Second Brigade. About this time the Connecticut soldiers in our command were permitted to vote at presi- dential election, commissioners appointed by Governor Buckingham having been sent to the field to receive their votes. On the 13th the First and Third Division of the Tenth Corps made a reconnaissance on the Darbytown road a mile or two above Johnson's house. The Second Brigade pressed the enemy into his works and kept him there all 170 Darbytown Road. October 13 1864. day. The part taken by the Seventh is thus reported by Captain Atwell : Headquarters Seventh Regiment Connecticut Volunteers. Near Richmond, Vav October 14, 1864. Lieutenant : I have the honor to make the following report of the part taken by my command in the action of October 13 : The regiment was formed at 4 A. M., and we took up our line of march through our works, and in the direction of the Darby- town road and toward Richmond, in connection with the rest of the brigade, my position being on the right. After marching about one mile and a half we were halted, and I received orders from General Hawley to deploy my regiment as skirmishers so as to cover the front of the brigade. The regiment numbered thirteen commissioned officers and about 175 enlisted men. Companies A and F were held as the right reserve, under command of Captain Townsend, and Companies D and I as the left reserve, under com- mand of Captain Perry. Shortly after sunrise I received orders to advance, which we did until it was very evident that we .were cautiously on account of the thick undergrowth of trees in the woods through which we passed. After advancing about 500 yards we received a few shots from the enemy's pickets, but they soon retired when our fire was delivered at them, and we were ordered to advance, whch we did until it was very evident that we were very near the enemy's works, as their tones of command could be heard distinctly. I soon received orders to move forward and feel of the enemy and ascertain their force if possible. We were soon met by a most terrific volley of musketry, which showed plainly that the enemy were in line of battle behind their works. The most of our line stood firm, seeking such cover as the trees and ground would afford, but the right fell back a few rods, owing to a misunderstanding of the orders. They were soon rallied, and our line established again. We lay in this position until about noon, when I was ordered to advance my line to the slashing, which was about forty yards in front of us, and to open a vigorous fire upon the enemy, whenever we heard the charge which the First Brigade were preparing to make. I accordingly advanced the line, but as it gave the enemy a good view of us, they opened another terrific fire of musketry and canister, and our line was compelled to fall 171 Charles City Road. October 14 to 27, 1864. back about seventy-five yards, and was very soon after re-estab- lished in our former position, where we lay until near nightfall, when we received orders to fall back and join the brigade, when we were marched back to camp again, arriving in camp at about 6 P. M. My loss in the day's engagement is five killed, twenty-seven wounded, and one missing. I append a list of casualties. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, S. S. Atwell, Captain Seventh Conn. Volunteers, Commanding Regiment. Lieut. E. Lewis Moore, Actg. Asst. Adjt. Gen., 2nd Brig., 1st Div., 10th Army Corps. In this reconnaissance fell the gallant Major Camp of the Tenth Connecticut, whom Chaplain Henry Clay Trum- bull has immortalized in his book "The Knightly Soldier." From the 14th to the 26th no important movement took place on the part of our brigade. On the 27th General Meade with all the troops that could be spared from the intrenchments, made an attempt to extend the Union lines to the South Side Railroad. It was believed that the enemy's line extended only to the crossing of Hatcher's Run by the Boydtown plank road, and that it was not completed even thus far and was weakly manned. The information on which the belief was based was found to be incorrect, so that the attempt failed, but owing principally to the gallantry of Hancock's and Craw- ford's corps some 900 prisoners were captured, and several colors. In order to veil this attempt on the part of Meade, and also to prevent reinforcements being sent against him from the north side of Richmond, the Tenth Corps under General Terry was ordered to make a demonstration on the Darby- town road, the right of the line resting on the Charles City road. The part in this movement taken by us is thus reported by Captain Atwell : 172 Charles City Road. Oct. 27 to 29, 1864. Headquarters Seventh Regiment Connecticut Volunteers. Near Richmond. Va., October 31, 1864. Lieutenant : 1 have the honor to make the following report of the part taken by the Seventh Connecticut Volunteers in the late reconnais- sance of October 27 and 28: The regiment left camp near Spring Hill at 4:30 o'clock on the morning of the 27th instant, with one acting adjutant, two line officers, and 150 men, and proceeded with the brigade of which we form a part to within a short distance of the enemy's works near Darby town road. I was then ordered to deploy my regiment as skirmishers, which was done, the left wing doing the skirmishing, and the right acting as reserve for the same. I established the skirmish line near the enemy's works at 10 A. M. the 27th, when I was ordered to advance upon the enemy and feel of their works. I immediately moved my regiment forward, advancing some 300 yards, when we encountered the enemy's skirmishers and drove them behind their works. Here we remained until 11 A. M. the following day, when I received orders to fall back, which was done to the satisfaction of all concerned. I then marched the regiment off the field in the rear of the brigade, which we joined near the Darbytown road, when we received orders to march to camp, where we arrived at 4 P. M. the 28th instant. Second Lieut. Morton A. Taintor was shot through the bowels, on the 27th while gallantly performing his duty, living only an hour. In his death the government loses a brave defender and his regiment a good soldier. Our loss in killed was one; wounded, four; total, five. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, S. S. At well. Lieut. Ferdinand Davis, Actg. Asst. Adjt. Gen., 2nd Brig., 1st Div., 10th Army Corps. On the 29th of October General Hawley resumed com- mand of the brigade which, until the 2nd of November, remained in camp on the precise ground where it repulsed the enemy October 7th. 173 CHAPTER XIX. THE EXPEDITION TO NEW YORK. On the night of November 2nd General Hawley was put in command of a Provisional Division for duty at New York. This division included his brigade, four other regi- ments from the First Division, Tenth Corps, and five from the Eighteenth Corps. General Hawley commanded the division, Colonel Abbott one brigade and Colonel Rockwell the other. The necessity for this expedition arose from two causes. The time of enlistment of the three years' men had expired or was expiring ; the immense loss in the actions of the summer had depleted the army. Large bounties only brought to us bounty jumpers who deserted the first time they were placed on the picket line, or if we contrived to keep them they were worthless. It became necessary to resort to a draft. This, on the eve of a presidential elec- tion when party spirit ran high, aroused bitter opposition among the rougher elements of New York City. General Dix, who was in command, feared that the opposition to the draft, added to political excitement, might cause a riot before which the civil authorities would be powerless, and in order to avoid this requested that sufficient troops might be stationed near the city to keep order and secure a quiet election. The division embarked November 3rd, changing vessels at Fortress Monroe and reported to General Butler at New York November 6th. The infantry disembarked at Fort Richmond, the artillery at Fort Hamilton. On the 8th in the morning (election day), all the troops re-embarked, Colonel Abbott with the Seventh Connecticut on the armed 174 New York Expedition. November 8 to 25, 1864. transport "Augusta," took post off Catherine Street Ferry, East River. Colonel Rockwell, with the Sixth Connecticut and others on the "Jonn Round," off the foot of West 26th Street, North River, and Lieutenant Colonel Randlett with the Third New Hampshire on the ferryboat "Westfield," off West 42nd Street, North River. General Hawley commanded the whole. General Butler's headquarters were at the Hoffman House. Everything was in readiness, the ferryboats with artillery were in the slips, the horses hitched, and the infantry lay off the piers in marching order. The day passed quietly, no troops were seen in the city except the headquarters' guard. The force remained near the city for about a week, then returned to their camp near Laurel Hill, reaching there about the 17th.* They found to their dismay that their warm huts had been torn down and carried away by some troops occupying adjacent grounds. So they had to resort again to tents, their stay being most uncomfortable. November 25th was Thanks- giving Day. Good things were sent from home in abun- dance, but did not reach camp until the 26th. They were so good when they came that the delay was forgotten in the satisfaction of a real homemade Thanksgiving dinner. After the day was over the men went to work again to make their quarters more comfortable, but did not succeed in making them as snug as before, partly for lack of material, and partly because there seemed to be a feeling in the air that their stay in that place would not be long. The weather was severe, rain and mud being the rule, and snow the exception. A reorganization of corps work took place December 1st. The Tenth and Eighteenth Corps were discontinued. The Twenty-fourth Corps was organ- ized from the white troops and the Twenty-fifth from the *General Hawley resumed charge of the brigade. 175 Laurel Hill, Va. Nov. 27 to Dec. ii, 1864. colored troops. General Hawley was placed in command of our corps, the Twenty-fourth. For about ten days there was quiet in camp, then December 10th on a cold, disagreeable day, with snow on the ground, the enemy began demonstration all along our line. We were ordered under arms and remained in line all day and during the night. General Hawley was in com- mand of the division. On the morning of the nth, the enemy having disappeared from our front, we were remanded to our quarters. About this time the Seventh was notified that a party of 200 substitutes had been assigned to our regiment. Only about half of them reached us. They deserted in squads at every stage of the journey to the front — some at City Point ; a smaller assignment a little earlier had miscarried altogether. Bounty jumping had become a profession and great losses occurred from desertions. From some of the regiments substitutes and drafted men went over in large numbers to the enemy. It became necessary to adopt extreme measures to prevent it. Five men were arrested at the advanced posts while attempting to desert to the enemy. They were tried by a Court Martial for desertion in the face of the enemy, found guilty and sentenced to be shot in the presence of their division. The division was brought up in three sides of a hollow square looking toward an elevated position. Then the mournful procession appeared, marching slowly to the tune of the dead march. Each culprit sat on his coffin in a separate ambulance, guarded by a file of trustworthy soldiers. Arriving at the fatal spot, the men were quickly placed by the open graves, attended by such ministers of religion as they chose. The sentence of the Court and warrant for their execution were read to them. Then their arms were pinioned, their eyes blindfolded, and the guards 176 Laurel Hill, Va. Dec. 21, 1864 to Jan. i, 1865. and chaplains withdrew. Then the line advanced, twenty men with as many in reserve. All the rifles were loaded with hall cartridges except one ; each man hoped that his rifle held the blank cartridge. The men were instructed that mercy required that they should aim directly at the heart. At a signal the party aimed, at a second signal fired, and nineteen bullets sped on their way. All fell heavily forward to the ground, but an examination by the surgeons showed that another volley was needed to com- plete the work. Then the division was marched past the bodies and back to camp. This severe lesson had a power ful effect. The men were doubtless serving under assumed names, and left no sign to mark their nameless graves. Christmas day, December 25th, dawned chilly, but not freezing ; the air thick with smoke from the two hostile camps. The day was set aside so far as the safety of the command would permit, as a holiday. The quarters were trimmed with holly, the boys played at different games the band played patriotic airs and sacred music, and the camp wore an air of Christmas cheer. To each man was served one and a quarter pounds of fresh mutton, varying the usual liberal rations. January 1st General Hawley was in command of the First Division and Colonel Abbott in command of the Second ( Hawley 's) brigade. As preliminary to our next movement it may be well to turn to an expedition planned by General Grant. This was to close to the enemy the post of Wilmington, and if possible to capture Wilmington itself. This was important for two reasons. First, Wilmington was the principal port for blockade runners, and second, General Sherman was near the coast, and after he reached there and had rested and equipped his troops, it was desirable that we should 177 Laurel Hill, Va. January i, 1865. have Wilmington as a base of supplies and a point where his army could, so soon as the weather should permit, co-operate in the destruction of Lee's army. The time was opportune, as it was known that Bragg had left Wil- mington and gone to Georgia. General Grant wrote to Butler December 4, 1864, as follows : ''I feel great anxiety to see the Wilmington expedition off, both on account of the present fine weather, of which we can expect no great continuance, and because Sherman may now be expected to strike the sea coast any day, leaving Bragg free to return. I think it advisable for you to notify Admiral Porter and get off wthout any delay, with or without your powder boat." U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General. Butler's attempt and failure at Fort Fisher are well known. He exploded his powder boat with no effect. Even those in the fort did not know what it was that made the noise. General Weitzel landed 500 men, pushed a skirmish line within about 800 yards of the fort and recon- noitered. On reporting to Butler, both concluded that it would be butchery to order an assault and therefore the troops returned to Fortress Monroe. From Grant's report it appears that he did not expect Butler to attend the expedition, but to transmit the orders to Weitzel who was to have sole command. Butler did not send the orders to Weitzel at all, but assumed the command, and thus the Note. It seems strange that Butler who was ingenious should have counted so much on the powder boat. If Fisher had been a brick, or even a stone fort, the concussion caused by the explosion of 215 tons of powder might have had some effect, but to expect to jar down an earthwork with its parapet twenty-five feet wide, with slopes well revetted with marsh turf and strengthened by traverses, was like expecting a strong wind to blow Bunker Hill into the Charles River. 178 Bermuda Landing. January 3 to 5, 1865. responsibility for success or failure. He delayed the movement several days for the sake of loading the powder boat, and to this largely Grant attributes his failure, as it gave time for 6,000 Confederate troops to return to Wil- mington from Virginia.* We now return to the boys of the Seventh whom we left in camp. They were aroused at three o'clock A. M., Jan- uary 3rd, by the reception of marching orders. It was known that they were once more to embark on sea going steamers, so they broke camp, not expecting to return. Knapsacks were packed, articles not necessary were destroyed, and old letters burned. At eleven-thirty o'clock in the forenoon of the 4th, Hawley's brigade moved, with orders to go directly to Bermuda Landing and bivouac there. The day was stormy and the marching difficult. It took until 5 P. M. to march the ten miles. Xo transports being at hand, the brigade bivouacked in a muddy open field without tents or wood for fire, but after a while marched back about a mile to a sheltered position where wood abounded. There they passed an uncomfortable night, and a part of the next day. Snow fell during the night to the depth of some inches, and it is difficult to imagine a more uncomfortable bivouac. *Official Records, serial No. 87, page 970. For interesting information as to the feasibility of an assault see Official Records No. 87, pages 975-977- In justice to General Butler it should be said that when he proposed the scheme, no one on our side knew that the fort was so formidable. He says in his "Book" published in 1892, that he "believed that possibly * * * the garrison would at least be so far paralyzed as to enable, by a prompt landing of men, a seizure of the fort." Major Casey of the engineers, under whose superintendence the powder boat was prepared, says : "It was hoped that the effects produced would be the great injury, if not destruction of the forti- fication, its armament and garrison." 179 The line of torpedoes shown on the land front was arranged to be exploded hy elec- tricity from the fort. The fire of the navy, however, severed the wires and rendered them harmless. CHAPTER XX. FORT FISHER. Before proceeding with the work of our regiment, let us pause to review the general situation. When Butler abandoned the attempt on Fort Fisher, Admiral Porter with the fleet still remained off Cape Fear River, and expressed it as his opinion that with proper co-operation between the land and naval forces Fort Fisher might be taken. Learn- ins: this, General Grant advised Admiral Porter to hold on and that he would send a force and make another attempt to take the place. As commander he selected General Terry. The orders to General Terry were those previously given to General Butler, and the force the same, except that the Second Brigade of the First Division (formerly Hawley's brigade but then under command of Col. J. C. Abbott) was added,* numbering nearly 1,500 men, and a small siege train from the First Connecticut Heavy Artil- lery. General Terry's written orders were given him on January 3rd. The infantry force was at Bermuda Landing, ready to start on that day, but the transports were delayed and the entire fleet was not collected at Hampton Roads until 9 P. M. of January 5th. We now resume the narrative of the part taken by the Seventh Connecticut. The Sixth and Seventh Connecticut were embarked on board the steamer "McClellan" and the troops sailed under sealed orders to be opened when outside the capes. On reaching that point the orders were opened and read : "The fleet will rendezvous twenty miles off Beaufort, N. C." *It was reported, and probably correctly, that this brigade was added at General Terry's special request. 181 Fort Fisher. January 6 to 13, 1865. As the day wore away the wind became a gale and a miserable night was passed. The decks were cleared of everything moveable by the seas, and at midnight men were called to work the pumps ; the storm continued through the day and part of the night of the 7th. Sunday morning the 8th, the fleet was off Beaufort, Porter's fleet lying at anchor between it and the shore. The day of the 7th was spent at anchor in still water; but on the 10th another storm compelled the vessels to put to sea. On the after- noon of the nth they returned to their anchorage. There they were ordered to sail for Fort Fisher, but soon a des- patch boat came alongside with this message : "You wrill not sail until the 12th." On that day, a beautiful morning, the navy moved out, followed by the transports, a line of more than a hundred ships, a fine sight. At nightfall of the 13th the fleet arrived off Fort Fisher where it lay until morning. The capture of the fort was of so much importance that extracts from General Terry's report are here given : "At 4 A. M. of the 13th, the inshore division of naval vessels stood in close to the beach to cover the landing; the transports followed them and took positions as nearly as possible in a line parallel to and abont 200 yards outside of them. The ironclads moved down to within range of the fort and opened fire upon it ; another division was placed to the northward of the landing place, so as to protect our men from any attack from the direction of Masonborough Inlet. At eight o'clock nearly 200 boats, besides steam tugs, were sent from the navy to the transports, and the disembarkation of men, provisions, tools, and ammunition simul- taneously commenced. At 3 P. M. nearly 8.000 men. with three days' rations in their haversacks and forty rounds of ammunition in their boxes, six days' supply of hard bread in bulk, 300.000 additional rounds of small-arm ammunition, and a sufficient number of intrenching tools, had been safely landed. The surf on the beach was still quite high, notwithstanding that the weather had become very pleasant, 182 Fort Fisher. January 13, 1865. and owing to it sr of the men had their rations and ammunition ruined by water. With this exception, no accident of any kind occurred. As soon as the troops had commenced landing, pickets were thrown out. They immediately encountered outposts of the enemy, and shots were exchanged with them, but no serious engagement occurred. A few prisoners were taken, from whom I learned that Hoke's rebel division, which it was supposed had been sent farther south, was still here, and that it was his outposts which we were meeting. The first object which I had in view after landing was to throw a strong defensive line across the peninsula, from the Cape Fear River to the sea, facing Wilmington, so as to protect our rear from attack while we should be engaged in operating against Fisher. Our maps indicated that a good position for such a line would be found a short distance above the head of Myrtle Sound, which is a long, shallow piece of water separated from the ocean by a sand spit of about 100 yards in width, and communicates with it by Masonborough Inlet. It was supposed that the right flank of a line at that point would be protected by the sound, and being above its head that we should by it control the beach as far up as the inlet, and thus in case of need be able to land supplies in quiet water there. Our landing place was selected with reference to this idea. An examination made after we landed showed that the sound for a long distance above its head was so shallow as to offer no obstacle to the passage of troops at low tide, and as the farther down the peninsula we should go the shorter would be our line across it, it was determined to take up a position where the maps showed a large pond, occupying nearly one-third of the width of the peninsula, about three miles from the fort. Shortly before five o'clock, leaving Abbott's brigade to cover our stores, the troops were put in motion for the last named point. On arriving at it, the "pond" was found to be a sand flat, sometimes covered with water, giving no assistance to the defense of a line established behind it. Nevertheless, it was determined to get a line across at this place, and Paine's division, followed by two of Ames' brigades, made their way through. The night was very dark, much of the ground was a marsh and illy adapted to the construction of works and the distance was found to be too great to be properly defended by the troops which could be spared from the direct attack upon the fort. It was not until 9 P. M. that Paine succeeded in reaching 183 Fort Fisher. January 14 and 15, 1865. the river. The ground still nearer the fort was then reconnoiterecl, and found to be much 1 setter adapted to our purposes. Accordingly, the troops were withdrawn from their last position and established on a line about two miles from the works. They reached this final position at 2 A. M. of the 14th instant. To(»ls were immediately brought up and intrenchments were com- menced ; at eight o'clock a good breastwork, reaching from the river to the sea and partially covered by abatis had been constructed and was in a defensible condition. It was much improved after- ward, but from this time our foothold on the peninsula was secured. Early in the morning of the 14th, the landing of the artillery was commenced, and by sunset all the light guns were gotten on shore. During the following night they were placed on the line, most of them near the river, where the enemy, in case he should attack us, would be least exposed to the fire of the gunboats. Curtis' brigade of Ames' division was moved down towards Fisher during the morning, and at noon his skirmishers, after capturing on their way a small steamer which had come down the river with shells and forage for the garrison of the fort, reached a small unfurnished outwork in front of the west end of the land front of the work. General Curtis, Lieutenant Colonel (now Brevet Brigadier- General) Comstock, the chief engineer of the expedition, and myself, under the protection of the fire of the fleet, made a careful reconnaissance of the work, getting within 600 yards of it. The report of General Comstock, which, with its accompanying map, is appended hereto, gives a full description of it and its condition at that time. As the result of this reconnaissance, and in view of the extreme difficulty which might be expected in landing supplies and the material for a siege on the open and often tempestuous beach, it was decided to attempt an assault the next day, providing that in the meantime the fire of the navy should so far destroy the palisades as to make one practicable. This decision was communi- cated to Admiral Porter, who at once placed a division of his vessels in a position to accomplish this last named object. It was arranged in consultation with him that a heavy bombardment from all the vessels should commence early in the morning and continue up to the moment of the assault, and that even then it should not cease, but should be diverted from the points of attack to other parts of the work. It was decided that the assault should be made 184 Fort Fisher. January 15, 1865. at 3 P. M., that the army should attack on the western half of the land face, and that a column of sailors and marines should assault at the northeast bastion. The fire of the navy continued during the night. At 8 A. M. of the 15th all of the vessels, except a division left to aid in the defense of our northern line, moved into position, and a fire, magnificent alike for its power and accuracy, was opened. Ames' division had been selected for the assault. Paine was placed in command of the defensive line, having with him Abbott's brigade in addition to his own division. Ames' First Brigade (Curtis') was already at the outwork above mentioned, and intrenched close around it. His other two brigades. Penny- packer's and Bell's, were moved at noon to within supporting dis- tance of him. At two o'clock preparations for the assault were commenced. Sixty sharpshooters from the Thirteenth Indiana Volunteers, armed with the Spencer repeating carbine, and forty others, volunteers from Curtis' brigade, the whole under command of Lieutenant Colonel Zent. of the Thirteenth Indiana, were thrown forward at a run to within 175 yards of the work. They were provided with shovels and soon dug pits for shelter and commenced firing at the parapet. As soon as this movement commenced the parapet of the fort was manned, and the enemy's fire, both of musketry and artillery, opened. As soon as the sharpshooters were in position, Curtis' brigade was moved forward by regiment at the double quick into line at about 475 yards from the work; the men there laid down; this was accomplished under a sharp fire of musketry and artillery, from which, however, they soon sheltered themselves by digging shallow trenches. When Curtis moved from the outwork Penny- packer was brought up to it, and Bell was brought into line 200 yards in his rear. Finding that a good cover for Curtis' men could be found on the reserve slope of a crest fifty yards in the rear of the sharpshooters, they were moved forward, one regiment at a time, and again covered themselves in trenches. Pennypacker fol- lowed Curtis and occupied the ground vacated by him, and Bell was brought up to the outwork. It had been proposed to blow up and cut down the palisades. Bags of powder with fuses attached had been prepared and a party of volunteer axmen organized, but the fire of the navy had been so effective during the preceding night and morning that it was thought unnecessary to use the powder. The axmen, however, were sent in with the leading 185 Fort Fisher. January 15, 1865. brigade, and did good service by making openings in portions of the palisading, which the fire of the navy had not been able to reach. At 3 125 P. M. all the preparations were completed, the order to move forward was given to Ames, and a concerted signal was made to Admiral Porter to change the direction of the fire. Curtis' brigade at once sprung from their trenches and dashed forward in line; its left was exposed to a severe enfilading fire and it obliqued to the right so as to envelop the left of the land front. The ground over which it moved was marshy and difficult, but it soon reached the palisades, passed through them, and effected a lodgment on the parapet. At the same time a column of sailors and marines, under Fleet Capt. K. R. Breese, advanced up the beach in the most gallant manner and attacked the northeastern bastion, but. exposed to a murderous fire, they were unable to get up the parapet. After a severe struggle and a heavy loss of valuable officers and men it became apparent that nothing could be effected at that point, and they were withdrawn. When Curtis moved forward Ames directed Pennypacker to move up to the rear of the sharpshooters, and brought Bell up to Pennypacker's last position, and as soon as Curtis got a foot- hold on the parapet sent Pennypacker in to his support. He advanced, overlapping Curtis' right, and drove the enemy from the heavy palisading which extended from the west of the land face to the river, capturing a considerable number of prisoners ; then pushing forward to their left, the two brigades together drove the enemy from about one-quarter of the land face. Ames then brought up Bell's brigade and moved it between the work and the river. On this side there was no regular parapet, but there was abundance of cover afforded to the enemy by cavities from which sand had been taken for the parapet, the ruins of barracks and storehouses, the large magazine, and by traverses behind which they stubbornly resisted our advance. Hand-to-hand fighting of the most desperate character ensued, the huge traverses of the land face being used successively by the enemy as breastworks, over the tops of which the contending parties fired in each other's faces. Nine of these were carried, one after the other, by our men. When Bell's brigade was ordered into action I foresaw that more troops would probably be needed, and sent an order for Abbott's brigade to move down from the north line, at the same time requesting Captain Breese to replace them with his sailors 186 Fort Fisher. January 15, 1865. and marines. I also directed General Paine to send me one of the strongest regiments of his own division; these troops arrived at dusk and reported to General Ames. At six o'clock Abbott's brigade went into the fort, the regiment from Paine's division, the Twenty-seventh U. S. colored troops, Bvt. Brig. Gen. A. M. Blackmail commanding, was brought up to the rear of the work, where it remained under fire for some time, and was then with- drawn. Until six o'clock the fire of the navy continued upon that portion of the work not occupied by us. After that time it was directed on the beach, to prevent the coming up of re-enforcements which it was thought might possibly be thrown over from the right bank of the river to Battery Buchanan. The fighting for the traverses continued till nearly nine o'clock, two more of them being carried ; then a portion of Abbott's brigade drove the enemy from their last remaining strongholds, and the occupation of the work was completed. The same brigade, with General Blackmail's regi- ment, were immediately pushed down the point to Battery Buch- anan, whither many of the garrison had fled. On reaching the batten- all of the enemy who had not been previously captured were made prisoners; among them were Major-General Whiting, and Colonel Lamb, the commandant of the fort. At about four o'clock in the afternoon Hoke advanced against our north line, apparently with the design of attacking it, but if such was his intention he abandoned it after a skirmish with our pickets. During the day Bvt. Brig. Gen. H. L. Abbott, chief of artillery, was busily engaged in landing artillery and ammunition, so that if the assault failed siege operations might at once be com- menced. Consequent to the fall of Fisher the enemy, during the night of the 16th and 17th, blew up Fort Caswell, and abandoned both it and their very extensive works on Smith's Island, at Smiths ville and Reeves' Point, thus placing in our hands all the works erected to defend the mouth of the Cape Fear River. In all the works were found 169 pieces of artillery, nearly all of which are heavy, over 2.000 stand of small arms, considerable quantities of commissary stores, and full supplies of ammunition. Our prisoners numbered 112 commissioned officers and 1,971 enlisted men. I have no words to do justice to the behavior of both officers and men on this occasion ; all that men could do, they did. Better soldiers never fought. Of General Ames I have already spoken in a letter recommending his promotion. He commanded all the 187 Fort Fisher. January 15, 1865. troops engaged, and was constantly under fire. His great coolness, good judgment, and skill were never more conspicuous than in this assault. Brigadier-General Curtis, and Colonels Pennypacker. Bell, and Abbott, the brigade commanders, led them with the utmost gallantry. Curtis was wounded after fighting in the front rank, rifle in hand ; Pennypacker, while carrying the standard of one of his regiments, the first man in a charge over a traverse; Bell was mortally wounded in the palisades. Brigadier-General Paine deserves high praise for the zeal and energy displayed by him in constructing our defensive line, a work absolutely essential to our success. Brevet Brigadier General Blackman deserves mention for the prompt manner in which he brought his regiment up to the work, and afterward followed up the retreating enemy. To Bvt. Brig. Gen. C. B. Comstock, aide-de-camp on the staff" of the lieutenant-general. I am under the deepest obligations. At every step of our progress I received from him the most valuable assistance. For the final success of our part of the operations the country is more indebted to him than to me. Col. George S. Dodge, chief quartermaster of the Army of the James, accompanied me as chief quartermaster of the force under my command. His able and energetic performance of his multifarious duties was all that could be wished for, and reflects the highest honor upon him. Surg. Xorman S. Barnes, U. S. Volunteers, medical director, and Surg. A. J. H. Buzzell, Third New Hampshire Volunteers, medical inspector of the expedition, discharged their laborious duties on the field and in the hospital in a manner most creditable to their ability and humanity. I desire to express my high appre- ciation of the services of these officers. I shall have the honor to submit a supplemental report in reference to those subordinate officers and enlisted men who dis- distinguished themselves on this occasion. I should signally fail to do my duty were I to omit to speak in terms of the highest admiration of the part borne by the navy in our operations. In all ranks, from Admiral Porter to his sea- men, there was the utmost desire not only to do their proper work, but to facilitate in every possible manner the operations of the land forces. To him and to the untiring efforts of his officers and men we are indebted that our men. stores, tools, and ammuni- tion were safely and expeditiously landed, and that our wounded 188 Fort Fisher. January 15, 1865. and prisoners were embarked for transportation to the North; to the great accuracy and power of their tire it is owing that we had not to confront a formidable artillery in the assault, and that we were able, with but little loss, to push forward the men, preparatory to it, to a point nearly as favorably for it, as the one they would have occupied had siege operations been undertaken and the work systematically approached. The assault of the sailors and marines, although it failed, undoubtedly contributed somewhat to our suc- cess, and certainly nothing could surpass the perfect skill with which the fleet was handled by its commander. Every request which I made to Admiral Porter was most cheerfully complied with, and the utmost harmony had existed between us from the outset to the present time. I forward herewith Ames' report. I have the honor to be, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant. Alfred H. Terry, Major-General. Brig. Gen. John A. Rawlings, Chief of Staff. City Point, Va. As will be seen, the part assigned to Abbott's brigade was to defend the troops from forces sent down from Wil- mington. This was an important part, but did not prove dangerous, General Whiting, who commanded the dis- trict, blames General Bragg for not attacking our north line and driving us away. He even goes so far as to say that permitting Abbott's brigade to intrench and remain caused the loss of the fort. Again and again he sent dis- patches to Bragg, saying that unless he would send down a force strong enough to demolish our north line the tort was lost. General Hoke with 6,000 troops was stationed on the peninsula to watch the Union forces. All that he did was to watch until the 15th. At about 3 P. M. that day he learned that we were forming in line for an assault and formed his command to attack us. Bragg's report is that "he found a heavy line of battle along our whole front in 189 Fort Fisher. January 15, 1865. From Hist, let Art'j-. INTERIOR OF FORT FISHER. The mounds in the distance are at the north end of the fort where the assault was made. Each one was a magazine, and guns were mounted between them. In the foreground is a Whit- worth gun bearing the arrow of England. It was said to have been presented to Jefferson Davis by the British government. rear of the intrenchments which were well manned." He says nothing about attacking us. General Terry says : "At about four o'clock in the afternoon Hoke advanced against our north line apparently with the design of attacking it, but if such was his intention he abandoned it after a skir- mish with our pickets." There is a little story connected with this skirmish, which being overshadowed by the assault on the fort was quite naturally passed over with the above slight mention. 190 Fort Fisher. January 15, 1865. The facts were, that the First Heavy Artillery had just succeeded in getting their guns ashore. This had to be done by lowering them into boats and rowing them as near the shore as possible, then after attaching ropes, dumping them into the sea, when 200 men pulled each of them through the surf to land. While the gunners were swabbing out the sand and salt water, Hoke's Division advanced from some thick woods. The gunboats began firing on them over the men's heads. The sequel is thus related by a sergeant of the First Heavy Artillery r: " While the gunboats wrere firing over us a heavy sea was running and the gunboats were rolling up and down. I could not help thinking what would happen to us if a gunner should pull the lanyard a little too soon or a little too late. The Seventh Connecticut was supporting us ; they fired one volley to test the range I suppose, then waited. The enemy apparently supposing their rifles were empty, set up their well known yell and started on a double quick. Still the Seventh waited until they were sure they had a good shot, then began to pump the bullets into them in a way which stopped their noise and sent their dis- ordered ranks scurrying back to the woods." The bovs of the Seventh can read a o^ood deal between the lines. Hoke's division had charged upon us at New- market road to their great cost ; they had lain opposite us for some weeks in front of Richmond, and frequent skir- mishes had taught them that when the seven shooters began to roar it was time for them to go away back and lie down. General Terry's report has given briefly the work done by Abbott's brigade, of which the Seventh was a part after six o'clock. Ames' brigade had done the hardest part of *This is confirmed by Captain Thompson who was in command of the Seventh. 191 Fort Fisher. January 15, and 16, 1865. the work and the men remaining in the fort surrendered squad after squad as Abbott's fresh troops advanced on them with the Spencers of the Seventh Connecticut and Seventh New Hampshire until about nine o'clock, when the last stand was made and the last step gained. Then went up shouts of victoiw up the beach, along the defensive line, and from the ships of the fleet. Abbott's brigade at once formed line of battle beyond the fort and advanced on the remaining works. The "Mound Battery" was found deserted with its flag still flying. This came down with a run and was passed along to General Terry who was near, a proud and happy man. Battery Buchanan, at Federal Point, the last work, was formally surrendered to Colonel Abbott. We secured the prisoners, paraded them on the beach in companies of fifties and counting them, found 2,000. We turned them over to Ames' division and returned to our bivouac on the north line, where we arrived at 4 A. M. on the 16th and lay down to rest, January 16th General Terry received the following let- ter from the War Department : Steamer S. R. Spaulding. Off Fort Fisher, January 16. 1865. Major-General Terry, Commanding, etc. : The Secretary of War, in the name of the President, congratu- lates you and the gallant officers and soldiers of your command, and tenders you thanks for the valor and skill displayed in your part of the great achievement in the operations against Fort Fisher and in its assault and capture. The combined operations of the squadron under command of Rear-Admiral Porter and your forces deserve and will receive the thanks of the nation, and will be held in admiration throughout the world as a proof of the naval and military prowess of the United States. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. 192 Public ResolulionN? 6. qaiUm"trxj viucL v\\\l\ nu sua 1C A Resolution to |ircv<cut ■ lUc Uxaxxktfiit CTinxifvcns \o vpn-v-cK JUujcv - (Si'UA-val ^VUtepl $. 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Q,e.v ptiayx to zhe oaixyx; Uu cuuxuVt/, iu Hxe tm&^jt c>t Hie q-xeaTe^i &il\.ic\xLlliK& sua dVuqer.a. ■Vv, ^y J^'tti Jh'u KirYlicr y^aWA,^^U*lttu yPrepifLexiX ;o£ i^e ujxutcd .^Itatc;; be ,,aud lieliixclnj i^.x.r queried Ig cjpmmumpj&fcHiip xtv'.olutitJii to (£e«fxat (5errvj, rnid Haronxjlx "Ixiiu totlxe oifkas aud ^LdierjJ uxi & c v In s co va w axi d. . ^eKtttjkt (H.olfax Civ <7p. Y .4 W ^hmxinx wcl jjjfciUcUxvbot: the §&&x&6. ;\>]n-LHYd J.'itiunni 3t,1Su5 a < ^p 1 . UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DKl'AKTMKNT ^°Wy->fcv OK STATK . aui Ij tin officers unci uuu kuJcv hi* cmnuiniul ." \\it pri^fiaBl ot uiLitli vi,olutiou u on FiU iu QaQ *B<purtuic»»C . Ixavt Utrruu>o JulbstriWi my uumr uod c»»*^cA tUc soil of VUe S^arttn.rtt nt Stitt.- tobr attixcd. ^auu.u.r. M). 1873. uuJ of lur Xa^Ju..-, .EH- OU^; *U=9 'esVwcmajL or* ta Fort Fisher. January 15 to 26, 1865. January 26th Congress passed a vote of thanks, which, beautifully engrossed on white satin, hangs in the Terry mansion. A photograph is given on opposite page. Captain Thompson was wounded on reaching the fort at about six o'clock and the command devolved on Capt. W. S. Marble. Although the work of the Seventh has been included in that 01 Abbott's brigade, his report is given below : Headquarters Seventh Regiment Connecticut Volunteers. Near Fort Fisher, N. C, January 17. 1865. Captain : I have the honor to transmit the following report of the part taken by this regiment after I assumed command, which I did immediately upon Captain Thompson being wounded : Reporting to Colonel Abbott, I received orders to march the regiment into a covered way, leading from near the sally-port toward the center of the fort. Here we were supplied with shovels, and ordered to move forward thirty paces and deploy in a line extending from the eighth traverse to the river, and nearly at right angles with the line of traverses. We were deployed in groups of three, with orders to dig pits for our protection from the fire of the enemy, which at this time was quite annoying. Owing to a lack of shovels many of the men were obliged to lie for some time without cover, and before the work was completed we had suffered a loss of one killed and four wounded from the fire of the fleet, which dropped many shells among us. In consequence of a rise of ground in front of the right wing they were unable to fire, but the left wing engaged the enemy vigorously, driving them from two traverses, which advantage we were unable to follow up, as an advance would have necessitated an extension of our line. From this time we continued our fire, under cover of which an advance was made by other portions of the brigade, who drove the enemy into their bomb-proofs, when, seeing the last traverse cleared, we ceased firing. In accordance with instructions received from Captain Caryl, inspector general of the brigade, we remained in this position until 2 A. M., when we were ordered to bring up the rear of a column of prisoners. Upon arriving near the headquarters of the brevet major-general commanding, we were dismissed by the brigade commander and marched to the position occupied by the regiment on the previous day. I am, captain, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Wm. S. Marble, Captain Seventh Regiment Conn. Vols. Capt. E. Lewis Moore, Assistant Adjutant-General, Second Brigade. 195 CHAPTER XXL WILMINGTON. We left the Seventh in the trenches about two miles north of the fort. Here the 17th and 18th were spent in re-organizing and resting. On the 19th Colonel Abbott with the Seventh Connecticut and Seventh New Hampshire made a reconnaissance toward Wilmington, and after a smart skirmish captured fifty-five prisoners. Captain Blackman, the brigade quartermaster, went to Fortress Monroe to get our camp and garrison equipage. From the 23rd to the 31st while waiting for our baggage, we were engaged in rebuilding our works and pushing a new line in front. Xo letters had been received since reach- ing Fort Fisher. The enemy was close upon us, and eternal vigilance was the price of safety. From the 1st to the 10th of February we drilled our men and brushed up ; mails arrived but were slow. On the nth a general advance was made in the direc- tion of Wilmington. We gained about three miles, had severe skirmishing with slight loss ; Abbott's brigade cap- tured a line of Confederate outworks, with sixty prisoners. From the 12th to the 18th bad weather and other things which we did not understand kept us still at Ocean Pond, six miles north of Fort Fisher. On the 19th at 8 A. M. we resumed the advance, and skirmishing all day long, gained six miles, reaching what appeared to be the enemy's main line. Here we intrenched and spent the night. When day dawned we discovered that the enemy had left our immediate front, and also evacuated Fort Anderson on the other side of Cape Fear River ; this was said to be in consequence of the approach of Schofield's troops. We 196 Wilmington February 19 to 22, 1865. pushed on at once, leaving behind everything that would impede our march. At a point about five miles from Wilmington we again found the enemy strongly posted. We halted, and by the use of our shovels made our position secure for the night. The next day, February 21st, was spent in scouting and reconnoitering. At daylight on the 22nd word was passed along the line, ''They have gone." We moved forward at once, our bri- gade in advance, and soon entered the city, the enemy leav- ing at the same time from the opposite side toward North East Ferry along the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad. The people welcomed us, even the whites, with every indication of joy. They filled the streets, some crying aloud, one man waving the United States flag from a window as we passed. How our boys did cheer that flag ! The negroes outdid the whites in their manifestation of joy. The young ones danced to the music of the bands as they ran along at the head of the column, chattering and throwing up their ragged caps. The old ones, with all sorts of affectionate expressions, clapping their hands, bowing their heads, and embracing one another. The scene was indescribable ; to witness it and be a part of it was recom- pense for all the perils and deprivations of the campaign. But we saw another sight which made our blood boil and caused even the most kindly disposed to thirst for ven- geance. In the swamps, in the deserted outbuildings, in the poor huts of the negroes and by the wayside we found numbers of our poor men who had fallen prisoners into their hands and whom our rapid march had compelled them to abandon. We found them singly, by twos and by dozens dying of disease and privation. We found that morning six dead. These we buried decently ; the living we collected, fed and clothed. Then we pushed on after their retreating force, our brigade still in the lead. We i97 Wilmington. February 22, 1865. came upon them at Fisher's Creek, a half mile beyond the town, where they had fired the bridge and attempted to stand behind it. We soon drove them back, extinguished the fires, passed the bridge, and continued our pursuit. Eieht miles of an unmolested march brought us to another creek and bridge which they again sought to burn and so delav us. We crossed in spite of the fire and again set their rear guard in motion. Two miles further on was Northeast Cape Fear River, spanned by a substantial rail- road bridge, and a pontoon bridge. Here they made a determined stand, partially burned the railroad bridge, escaped across the pontoon, and cut it loose on our side of the river. The brigade bivouacked on the river bank, headquarters being established in the old ferry house. During the night they crept down to the bank and opened upon us with small arms, hoping to drive us back so that they could complete the destruction of the bridge, but we held our ground and prevented further damage, while we made and drank our coffee in spite of them. In the morning they had withdrawn from the river bank, but we could see their mounted videttes half a mile up the road, the intervening space being thick undergrowth and a swamp. 198 CHAPTER XXII. EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS. At about 10 A. M. February 23rd, a flag of truce was reported coming down the road. Capt. E. L. Moore of General Hawley's staff was sent with an oarsman and orderly to meet it. Crossing the river in a leaky flat boat, after proceeding some distance up the road he met Captain Geary and Lieutenant Devant with a sealed communication addressed to General Terry. Having been forwarded, it was found to contain a proposition from the Confederate Commissioner of Exchanges to deliver at that point 10,000 Union prisoners of war, then in Confederate hands. An interview with Colonel Hatch, Confederate agent, fol- lowed, and it was arranged that the delivery should be there and to begin on a day in the near future to be agreed upon. Meantime, active operations at that point to cease, and the ground between the lines to be neutral. General Terry for the Union side, appointed General Abbott special agent for exchange, and Capt. E. L. Moore was designated as his assistant; the day set was February 26th. The news of the intended exchange spread through the camps and the men at once began to prepare a generous welcome for the expected guests. Food, drink, clothing and a home awaited the prisoners. The pontoon bridge was repaired, an arch of flags was reared at the landing on the Union side of the river, and the camps were made gay with evergreens and the national colors. Two thousand per day was the number agreed upon to be delivered. On the morning of the 26th, General Abbott, Captain 199 Near Cape Fear River. February 26, 1865. Moore, Captain Marble and Lieutenant Spiene, with a small guard crossed the river under a white flag, and met there Colonel Hatch and his staff, who had arrived by a special train. While waiting, Colonel Hatch entertained the Union officers in his private car and the conversation was general and entertaining. At 2 P. M. two long trains arrived filled with men and at once the work of receiving them commenced. Those who could walk were to be marched across the pontoon bridge to onr lines ; those unable to walk were to be carried on board a steamer and taken to Wilmington. As the stronger ones came to the cars in single file, Mr. Quarles, citizen of Richmond on the Confederate side, and Captain Moore on the Union side, stood at the car steps, one on either side, and counted them, each laying his hand on every man as he passed, calling out the number and passing him from captivity to liberty. For every fifty a tally was made. Sixteen hundred and six marched through the line to freedom that day. Then the train ran out to the river and the sick and weak were brought out. Their condition was horrible. Woe-begone in expres- sion, ragged and filthy, covered with vermin, bowed and shaking like old men, with wild and sunken eyes, long, unkempt hair, shuffling rather than walking along, smiling with pitiable and ghastly smiles, and staring with vacant eyes, they presented a sad contrast to our well fed and active troops. The little food they had in their grimy haversacks was coarse, dry corn meal and raw peas and beans, which some in their hunger were trying to eat. Among those brought out to the boat were six, who in the opinion of the surgeons could not live through the night. Last of all one was brought out who had died on the journey. He could not be named or counted. When the men who could walk saw the old flag and the 200 Near Cape Fear River. Feb. 26 to Mar. i, 1865. boys in blue they were frantic with joy. They tossed their dirty caps in air and waved their tattered blankets. They kicked off their ragged shoes and threw away their mean food. The boys received the returned prisoners on the Union side of the river with cheers and music — with helping hands and hot coffee, and such food as they had. The poor fellows were so hungry that at sight of food and drink they became a mob. They rushed upon the camp kettles so eagerly that many were overturned and it became neces- sary to place a strong guard over the cook tents and to compel them to approach in single file, each to receive only the ration prepared for him. Vigorous measures were also taken to cleanse and clothe them all. By the evening of March 1st we had received 6,518 in all of officers and men. On that day a whole train load (990) officers were received, among them the officers of the Seventh Connecticut who were captured at Fort Wag- ner July 11, 1863, namely, Captains V. B. Chamberlain and Jerome Tourtellotte. Chamberlain had surrendered at Wagner to Captain Chichester who fought the battery under whose guns he had taken shelter. In 1901, after both Captains Chamber- lain and Chichester were dead, the widow of the latter sent Captain Chamberlain's sword to his family who received it with grateful recognition of the kind feeling which prompted the act. It is interesting to know that Captains Chamberlain and Chichester were born the same year and but two months apart, that Captain Chichester's father was born in Connecticut, and that Mrs. Chichester's maiden name was Chamberlain. 201 CHAPTER XXIII. DEPARTMENT OF WILMINGTON. At daylight March 2nd the brigade returned to Wil- mington. General Hawley arrived from the Army of the James and was assigned to the Department of Wilmington, which included all the country in rear of the army operating from the base of Cape Fear River. He was also charged with the duties of Provost Marshall General of the district. General Terry, with the remainder of the force marched toward Weldon. General Schofield, with his army from the West, was assigned to the command of all the forces co-operating with Sherman and moving towards Goldsboro. General Abbott was assigned to the command of the Post of Wilmington. From the 3rd of March onward, the work of the Seventh, though no less arduous than before, was of a very different nature, consisting of fatigue and guard duty, policing the city and nursing the sick. The schools and churches, the post office and customhouse were reopened; hospitals were improvised in the large ware- houses and the great number of sick among the exchanged prisoners were given such attention and care as was possible with the scanty hospital stores at command. Much confusion and distress prevailed among the poor people of the city and surrounding country. The Sanitary Commission appeared with a shipload of supplies, and to restore order, relieve the needy and nurse the sick, kept every one hard at work. On the nth and 12th of March commissioners from Connecticut arrived to receive the ballots of the soldiers for governor of that state. 202 Dept. of Wilmington. March 13 to 21, 1865. More than 1,000 sick were in the hospitals. Epidemic prison fever had appeared, and began to spread among the attendants. On the 13th of March a communication was received from General Sherman. He had reached Fayetteville, 100 miles up the river. He reported his army "in splendid fighting condition, afraid of no one." On the same day General Hawley met at the residence of a former prominent secessionist eighteen leading men of the city, embracing men from all the professions. They renounced their allegiance to the Southern Confederacy and swore to sup- port the Government of the United States. The work of cleaning the city, regulating trade, supply- ing the necessities of the poor and sick, the collecting of abandoned property filled every day with work. The citi- zens talked loyally, though their children sometimes spoke unadvisedly. A Union officer calling on a family said to a bright little boy, "Sonny, where is your papa?" "The d d Yankees have got him," was the reply. A little girl whose mother was apparently friendly said, ''Jeff Davis is a better man than Lincoln, for Jeff Davis prays." "So does Lincoln" said her mother. "Yes," was the reply, "but I 'spose God thinks he is joking." On the 2 1st between six and seven thousand refugees from Sherman arrived at Wilmington. Our means were taxed to the uttermost to support them. The negroes were most exacting. Every one wanted "a big house, rations and a mule." At this time we saw our darkest hours. The chaplains and surgeons who had devoted themselves unremittingly to the sick prisoners began to break down. Chaplain Eaton of the Seventh Connecticut took the fever and died. Doctor Palmer also died ; Chaplain Tiffany of the Sixth Connecticut, Surgeons Buzzell and Kimball of the New 203 Dept. of Wilmington. Mar. 21 to April 19, 1865. Hampshire regiments and Surgeon Robinson of the Sixth Connecticut were very ill. A large number of the detailed nurses were prostrated and many died. Mrs. Hawley. whose heart went out to the boys when suffering, arrived on that date, and soon commenced her angelic ministrations. We were then in communication with Sherman, Schofield and Terry from the neighborhood of Bentonville and Goldsboro, and the lines were gathering for the final attack on Lee's army. Of the surgeons who treated the exchanged prisoners, only one, Doctor Jarvis of the Seventh Connecticut was fit for duty on the 1st of April. The health of the city began to improve. On the 2nd of April we were in full communication with Golds- boro. On the 6th came the news that General Grant had started a successful movement against Petersburg, which filled us with joy and made us think of home. On the 16th we received Xew York papers to the 13th with news of Lee's surrender and the progress of Sherman. Our joy at this was chilled a day later by the news of Lincoln's assassina- tion. At first the news came by wire and was only known to a few. In the afternoon of the 14th a vessel arriving from Fortress Monroe confirmed the sad tidings and then a wail went up from the whole city and from the camps. The comrades looked in each other's faces, clasped hands, but could scarcely speak. Each one closed his lips with determination, while grief and a desire for revenge strug- gled for the mastery. On the 19th an article appeared in the "Wilmington Herald of the Union' signed by J. R. H. In the following extracts the boys will recognize General Hawley's style. After relating the circumstances of the assassination he said in part : "And so this new villainy, legitimate spawn of slavery and rebellion has striken the nation in a sore place. Words 204 Dept. of Wilmington. April 19 to 27, 1865. are feeble when we think of the deep sorrow that falls upon the people. It will soon prove that never has a ruler so entrenched himself in the affections of a nation. He was clear in his moral and political truth, steady and calm in his purposes, sagacious, patient, long-suffering and rilled with love for us all. North and South. None but fanatics as wild and few in number as those who did this most senseless, foul and cowardly murder have ever attacked his purity of motive. "The slowly gathered, deliberate verdict of history will give equal praise to his wisdom. We shall all do well to mourn. The loyal of all sections will weep ; honorable men of all classes will lament that such a stain for the first time fell upon American Republicanism. Let those who see this wicked labor of rebellion coming to a fruitless end join the saddest mourners, for the South has lost her best friend. Let them mourn long, for no other man could so persuade the people to offer almost universal pardon and love. "Liberty may droop her head to shed a tear, but she is not discouraged or faltering. With new solemnity and a still more unconquerable purpose, we all now cry out with one voice that this continent must be free. Before God we say, if it takes a hundred years; if it takes another ocean of blood ; if the red hot iron must be touched to every acre, there shall be an end to slavery and treason." Abraham Lincoln goes to his grave in noble company. With the great multitudes of his boys who have cheerfully given their lives under the old flag for the good of their fellow men, the weary man lies down to rest. And when they all come together before the Great Ruler, whom would they choose but him to speak for them ? And who of them all could better say, "I have done what I could, Lord, accept the sacrifice." 205 L)i-:i*t. of Wilmington. Apr. 27 to May 17, 1865. ( >n the 27th of April came news of the surrender of Johnston, and that Sherman's army was about to start for Washington. It was said that the Tenth and Twenty-third Corps, Terry's and Schofield's, were to remain a while on the Atlantic seaboard. On the morning of the 30th ( ren- eral Sherman reached Wilmington by special train from Goldsboro on his way to Charleston. He was escorted to General Hawley's residence where a lunch was served. Afterward, in an informal way many citizens and soldiers were presented to him. Embarking at noon for Federal Point, General and Mrs. Hawley, General and Mrs. Abbott and others accompanied him by invitation. The steamer ran aground, and while waiting for the tide, Sherman entertained the company with stories of his great campaigns and gave his views of the present and hopes for the future. He gave each member of the party his autograph. He said that while in the field he was constantly importuned by letter for his autograph and a lock of his hair. He turned over the letters to a red-headed orderly of his and directed him to enclose a lock of his own hair and write simply W. T. Sherman. For about six weeks the Seventh remained at Wilming- ton engaged in pleasing duties of reconstruction. The responsibility of course rested on General Hawley's broad shoulders and those of his staff officers. All that the men had to do was to attend to provost and escort duties faith- fully and politely, and though official records make no mention of how these duties were performed, that very fact is significant. We all knowr that if a private soldier does his duty faithfully, records are silent. If he is neglectful or disobedient he is known at regimental headquarters. Under the beneficent rule of the department com- mander, the white schools were soon running on half time; the colored schools flourished as they had never done 206 Dept. of Wilmington. May 17 to June 4, 1865. before. The officers had much to interest them. Visits were paid to them by Secretary Chase, accompanied by his daughter Kate, Rev. Doctor Fuller of Baltimore and others. They were of course entertained and shown the sights and Mr. Chase made a speech to the Wilmington people. On the 17th of May news came of the capture of Jeff Davis and this emphasized the fact that the war was over. The people of North Carolina generally seemed to accept the result without murmuring, and were glad of an oppor- tunity to collect their scattered families and restore their decayed fortunes. General Schofield issued orders directing each corps and district commander to send to each county under his juris- diction a discreet officer with a sufficient force to organize a small company of responsible, loyal citizens to serve as a local police force. They were to be furnished with cap- tured arms and ammunition. They were obliged to take the oath of allegiance to the United States Government, and an oath to preserve the peace, prevent crime and arrest criminals as far as practicable within their counties, and to obey all lawful orders of the military authorities of the United States. Each person arrested by them was to be sent to the nearest Post, with a full statement of his crime and names of witnesses, for trial before a military com- mission. General Hawley, Captain Marble and Lieutenant Augur, escorted by twenty men of the Seventh Connecticut, visited Whiteville, the county seat of Columbus County, met some of the prominent citizens and organized a home guard. On the way back they spent the night with a Mr. Richardson. He was a Yankee, who before the war bought 275,000 acres of timber land and employed free labor in the lumber and naval store trade. During the war he was per- secuted, imprisoned, and narrowly escaped lynching. He offered each one of the officers 100 acres of timber land 207 GOLDSBORO, N. C. J^'N'E 4 TO 23, 1865. and lumber for houses if they would come there and settle. The railroad ran for ten miles through his land. On the 4th of June it was telegraphed that Secretary of War Welles, Postmaster General Dennison and a party of ladies and gentlemen were at Fort Fisher. General Hawley and staff with the Seventh Regiment band went down and serenaded them and afterward invited them to Wilmington where they were entertained. On the 7th of June General Schofield ordered General Hawley to send the Seventh Connecticut and Third and Seventh New Hampshire to Goldsboro. On the 10th of June General Terry was assigned to the command of the Department of Virginia with head- quarters at Richmond. He asked General Hawley to act as his Chief of Staff, to which on permission of General Schofield, General Hawley assented. On the 20th of June orders were received from the Wrar Department relieving Gen. Joseph R. Hawley and Capt. E. Lewis Moore from duty in the Department of the South, and directing them to report to Maj. Gen. A. H. Terry at Richmond, Virginia, for orders and assignment to duty. They proceeded to Richmond and General Hawley entered upon his duty as Chief of Staff to Major General Terry, Department Com- mander. Captain Moore was assigned to duty as assistant adjutant general to Maj. Gen. J. H. Turner, commanding the District of Henrico, including the City and County of Richmond. Thus the Seventh parted from the commander under whom they had served so long and with so great satisfaction. On the 23rd of June, 1865, the term of enlistment of the original members of the Fifteenth Connecticut expired and they were mustered out. Two hundred and forty-six recruits whose time had not yet expired were transferred to the Seventh Connecticut. 208 GOLDSBORO, N.C. AND HOME. JUXE 23 TO JULY 29, 1 865. The stay of the Seventh at Goldsboro from June 7th to July 20th was uneventful. At last on the 20th of July they were mustered out of the service of the United States and returned by rail to City Point and thence by steamer to Xew Haven. When Generals Terry and Hawley, Maj. Adrian Terry and Capt. E. Lewis Moore learned that the old regiment was on its way home they took a steamer and went to City Point to meet them. There learning that they had gone to Petersburg, they procured a carriage and joined them there, spending the night of the 25th in jovial companionship. On the morning of the 26th the regiment took cars to City Point, and on reaching there at once embarked and steamed for home. General Hawley and Captain Moore accompanied them a few miles on the "Blackbird" and took their final leave. The regiment proceeded to Xew Haven under the com- mand of Col. S. S. Atwell where it arrived on the evening of July 29th, and was received by a committee at the wharf, and escorted with the usual triumphal display through illuminated streets to a supper at the State House. Mayor Scranton welcomed the soldiers to the hospitalities of home and Colonel Atwell briefly responded. They then went into camp at Grapevine Point. The work of making out muster and pay rolls and final statements occupied them until August nth, when they were formally discharged and made their way speedily to their homes. This history cannot be more appropriately closed than by copying the first and last words of General Grant's final report to the Secretary of War : Headquarters Armies of the United States. Washington, D. C. July 22, 1865. Sir : I have the honor to submit the following report of the opera- tions of the armies of the United States from the date of my appointment to command the same : 209 Home, Sweet Home. Jui-y, 1865. From an early period in the rebellion 1 had been impressed with the idea that active and continuous operations of all the troops that could be brought into the field, regardless of season and weather, were necessary to a speedy termination of the war. The resources of the enemy and his numerical strength were far inferior to ours, but as an offset to this we had a vast territory, with a population hostile to the government, to garrison, and long lines of river and railroad communications to protect, to enable us to supply the operating armies. The armies in the East and West acted independently and with- out concert like a balky team, no two ever pulling together, enabling the enemy to use to great advantage his interior lines of communi- cation for transporting troops from east to west, re-enforcing the army most vigorously pressed, and to furlough large numbers, during seasons of inactivity on our part, to go to their homes and do the work of producing for the support of their armies. It was a question whether our numerical strength and resources were not more than balanced by these disadvantages and the enemy's superior position. From the first I was firm in the conviction that no peace could be had that would be stable and conducive to the happiness of the people, both North and South, until the military power of the rebellion was entirely broken. I therefore determined, first, to use the greatest number of troops practicable against the armed force of the enemy, preventing him from using the same force at different seasons against first one and then another of our armies, and the possibility of repose for refitting and producing necessary supplies for carrying on resistance ; second, to hammer continuously against the armed force of the enemy and his resources until, by mere attrition, if in no other way, there should be nothing left to him but an equal submission with the loyal section of our common country to the constitution and laws of the land. These views have been kept constantly in mind, and orders given and campaigns made to carry them out. Whether they might have been better in conception and execution is for the people, who mourn the loss of friends fallen, and who have to pay the pecuniary cost, to say. All I can say is. that what I have done has been done conscien- tiously, to the best of my ability, and in what I conceived to be for the best interests of the whole country. It has been my fortune to see the armies of both the West and the East fight battles, and from what I have seen I know there 210 Home, Sweet Home. J^'ly, i S65. is no difference in their righting qualities. All that it was possible for men to do in battle they have done. The Western armies commenced their battles in the Mississippi Valley, and received the final surrender of the remnant of the principal army opposed to them in North Carolina. The armies of the East commenced their battles on the river from which the Army of the Potomac derived its name, and received the final surrender of their old antagonist at Appomattox Courthouse, Va. The splendid achieve- ments of each have nationalized our victories, removed all sectional jealousies (of which we have unfortunately experienced too much), and the cause of crimination and recrimination that might have followed had either section failed in its duty. All have a proud record, and all sections can well congratulate themselves and each other for having done their full share in restoring the supremacy of law over every foot of territory belonging to the United States. Let them hope for perpetual peace and harmony with that enemy whose manhood, however mistaken the cause, drew forth such herculean deeds of valor. I have the honor to be. very respectfully, your obedient servant, U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General. 211 CHAPTER XXIV. MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS. TERRY AND HAWLEY. Generals Terry and Hawley were both remarkable men. Doubtless both will one day be commemorated by suitable biographies, but this volume would be incomplete without an attempt to sketch briefly some of their important char- acteristics. Physically there was little resemblance between them. Terry was tall and slim and his eye bespoke patient thought ; Hawley was of medium height and stocky, and the prominent quality of his eye was earnestness. Their psychic natures were in some points strikingly alike ; in others markedly unlike. Both of their minds were cast in heroic mould. Petty things possessed slight interest, but great thoughts aroused ready enthusiasm. In the early days of the secession movement the integrity of the nation seemed to both the one thing worth living for, or dying for. After the nation was secure, both alike were interested to make the Union worth saving. Civil liberty and civil equality — that every man should obey the law, and that the law should be worthy of every man's obedience, were results both sought after. Purity of administration and loyalty of purpose wherever they were found aroused in each a hearty sympathy ; any form of injustice, self seeking or meanness excited in each a tower- ing indignation. The difference was, that Terry possessed the most self control and power to discern the difference between ignorant or thoughtless misdemeanor and willful turpitude. Terry's thoughts tended toward comprehensiveness ; Hawley's toward concentration. In action Terry was 212 Terry and Hawley. deliberate and careful ; Hawley prompt and impulsive. These likenesses and differences made them close friends, kept them together during the war, and when it was over, and to Terry was committed an important command in the reconstruction period, he chose Hawley as his chief of staff. Indeed, their differences seemed to complement each other ; with Terry to plan and Hawley to execute, a strong combination was secured. Soon after the war closed their paths separated. Hawley was elected Governor of Connecticut in the spring of 1866, and thenceforth won his triumphs in political and civil life. As president of the Republican National Convention in 1868, president of the United States Centennial Commis- sion 1 872- 1 875, member of Congress 1872- 1875 and 1879- 188 1, as United States Senator from 1881-1905 he served the country with distinguished ability and universal accept- ance. Terry remained in military life and could have been illy spared from the army ; yet he was more interested in peace than war. When the time for reconstruction came he was assigned to the command of the Department of Vir- ginia. His work, as Morris has said, was "to bring peace out of hostility, and construct a broad base on which might be upreared a genuine democracy in place of the false and effete aristocracy that had met its doom." Frankly and firmly he met the race question in a general order.* After referring to the existing laws of Virginia in reference to the blacks, he said : "Slavery has been abolished in Virginia ; and therefore, upon the principle that where the reason of the law ceases, the law itself ceases, those laws and ordinances have become obsolete. People of color will henceforth enjoy *General order No. 77 Department of Virginia. June 23. 1865. 213 Terry and Hawley. the same personal liberty that other citizens and inhabitants enjoy; they will be subject to the same restraints and the same punishment for crime that are imposed on whites, and to no others. ********* Until the civil tribunals are re-established, the administra- tion of criminal justice must, of necessity, be by military courts ; before such courts, the evidence of colored persons will be received in all cases." Having thus clearly announced the principle, he carried it out with singular courtesy, firmness and justice. A graduate of New Haven Law School, and having been clerk of the Superior Court of New Haven County and of the Supreme Court of Connecticut he was as familiar with civil as with military law, and so combined civil right and military power that every one, white or black, was assured of his rights, but every attempt to obtain anything by bluster was at once suppressed. As Morris says again, "An administration so combining humanity with power, so rigorous and yet so beneficent had never before been given to the people of Virginia." The general himself felt that his work in that department was the best work of his life. When he resigned on account of ill health in 1888, he ranked next to Schofield and outranked Miles. One can hardly help wishing that his age and health had permitted him to remain in the army until the Spanish war. McKinley as President, Roosevelt as Secretary of War, and Terry as General in Chief would have made a trio of rare harmony and efficiency. Both generals felt toward their old regiment much as Napoleon felt toward the "Old Guard." In any position of peculiar difficulty or danger they did not hesitate to put the Seventh, confident that it would do its full duty. This very confidence aroused an "esprit de corps" which fully justified their expectations. 214 THE LADIES. From Hist 1st Lt. Batt'y. MRS. JOSEPH ROSWELL HAWLEY. To portray the heroism of the mothers, sisters, sweet- hearts and wives who gave their loved ones for their country would require a volume, but no mention of this would be a serious omis- sion. A hard place for a soldier is to stand at reserve while a severe battle is going on, ever}- moment expecting to be ordered into the thick of the fight. The girls we left behind us were always in reserve. They watched papers with fear and trembling when a fight was expected, and when it came sought them again with agonizing fear and hope. Their work for the Sani- tary Commission after it was organized gave them some- thing to do ; a few of them enlisted as nurses ; a very few of the officers' wives were permitted now and then brief visits to their husbands on the rare occasions when they garrisoned forts, but as a rule they were condemned to the hard work of just waiting. Yet how bravely most of them cheered their dear ones on, how much their spirit inspired deeds of bravery, how the thought of a reunion when the war should be over was at once a solace and inspiration, all of us well remember. Among them all the wife of our colonel was queen, Harriet Ward Foot Hawley, or as she usually signed her- self Harriet W. Hawley. How much her spirit did to inspire her husband to be what he was is too sacred a subject 215 The Ladies. to dwell upon fully, but we may be permitted one or two extracts from letters published by her surviving sisters. When he was ordered to the encampment in New Haven she wrote : "I can never be sorry you have taken the step you have. Terrible as it is, I am glad I can do something. If I could only go too I should be happy." Afterward, when her husband wrote that some of the officers' wives were to visit their husbands at Port Royal in 1 86 1, she wrote : "If the generals do not want the women around, as I should think might be very likely, I can give it up entirely ; I won't come merelyto please myself; it won't be half as hard to give it up as to let you go at first — nor half as hard as to feel that I had coaxed you against your better judg- ment, and that I am a care to you there instead of a com- fort." April 15, 1862, after a winter of illness she wrote: "I am making up my mind pretty decidedly that you won't be killed in this war, but will come home to a bigger fight here. There will be a thousand times more need of you here a year hence than there has been anywhere yet. I believe the Lord means to keep you in the world and get a good deal of solid work out of you. Thank God that you are an honest man. I'd starve in rags or keep an Irish boarding house sooner than that you should buy place or power by giving up one iota of principle. What folly it seems to care for anything but the right. This life seems such a short time to do even our duty in." Though she would not go south for her own pleasure, at length, in November, 1862, circumstances permitted her to join her husband at Beaufort, S. C. Between that time and the spring of 1863 several of the ladies visited the army. Miss Harriet W. Terry, the general's sister, Mrs. Wayland, 216 The Ladies. Mrs. Gardiner, Mrs. Dennis, Mrs. Mills and Mrs. Hawley's sister Miss Foote made a social circle which formed an oasis in military life which was remembered with great pleasure in the continuous battles from July, 1863 to the close of the war. An interesting romance may be mentioned in this con- nection. While the regiment was at Fernandina notice came through the pickets that a lady wished to come into our lines to go north. The provost marshall Captain San- ford and Major Rodman went down to see the party which had come under a flag of truce. The young lady was a Miss Buddington of Xew London, who had been shut into southern lines while spending the winter with an uncle and had never been able to return home. She was received politely by the officers, who endeavored to converse with her on the way back to town "in spite" as she laughingly said afterward "of the fact that I was horribly dressed, for I had been in the Confederation for two years, and my shoes were homemade cobblings." Major Rodman found to his dismay, that she was quite deaf, and he said to Captain Sanford "you must talk to her, provost marshall, I cannot." Yet in one day less than three weeks from that time the major and Miss Buddington were married.* Airs. Hawley's principal interest centered about the hospitals which she visited wherever she was. Her heart went out toward "our boys" as she called them. As she passed through the wards her eyes said volumes, and the boys all worshipped her. When news was brought to Fernandina of the first assault on Wagner, and that the rest of the regiment was ordered there, Mrs. Hawlev and her *The ladies at the Post took great pleasure in contributing from their trunks toward her trousseau, and gave wedding lunches of sardines and canned salmon. 217 The Ladies. sister Miss Foote said the nags must be mended. So although it was Sunday they took scraps from the only silk dresses they had brought, got contributions from the other ladies and patched the eagle and the stripes. One comrade still preserves a scrap of that flag about two inches long and an inch wide, on which is a scrap of blue silk sewed on by Mrs. Hawley's hands. When Airs. Hawley was ordered north the hardest thing next to leaving her husband was leaving the sick soldiers. She wrote to her husband, "I can't bear to leave the men, I want to be where I can go to the hospital and see some of their faces every day. It seems like home to me if I can only see a soldier with a 7 in his cap." Again after she reached New York she wrote, "I was pleased as any school girl to watch the elegant carriages and fine horses and superb dresses of the ladies as I drove up Broadway Monday afternoon, but suddenly I seemed to see far more plainly the bare rooms with long rows of narrow cots ; in each one a worn, patient, manly face, and before I knew it I was sobbing. I must go back and do what I can for my poor boys." She tried to get Miss Dix to appoint her to some place in a hospital, and was finally assigned to the hospital at Army Square in Washington. There she remained until about September 8, 1864, when she went away for needed rest, returning November 26th of the same year, and remained until April, 1865. Then she went to Wilmington. The horrors of the care of the sick and starving prisoners moved her greatly and what made it worse was that they lacked clothing, beds and bedding. She got possession of 1,200 yards of cotton cloth from the Sanitary Commission, called a meeting of the benevolent ladies of Wilmington and in a week's time they made up 138 pillow cases, 153 pillows, eighty-four bed sacks and as many sheets. 218 The Ladies. After the war her ministrations did not close. When the boys began to apply for pensions there were difficulties about obtaining proofs. Of course they wrote to General Hawlev ; lie turned the letters over to Mrs. Hawlev and she constituted herself a pension bureau for the Seventh, sparing no pains to obtain the proof asked for. ( )n follow- ing page is a fac-simile of a letter written to the Secretary of the Regimental Association. She must have written hundreds like it. On her death in March, 1886, the Seventh Regiment Association erected a tablet to her memory in Asylum Hill Church in Hartford. It is of brass with a border of rare red marble. 219 X^r.&.z? £k*t— t/%-' - js- *£_ THE UILLMORE MEDAL L^lndmcs. Co.^.'/i'icy. Z /'names. <') V General Gillmore was so much pleased with the conduct of the troops who took part in the operations on Morris Island, that at his own expense he had bronze medals struck in commemoration of their services. He issued a general order requesting regimental and battery commanders to designate enlisted men worthy to receive medals of honor for gallant and meritorious conduct during the siege. From the Seventh Connecticut he permitted the selection of one member of the non-commissioned staff, two men from each of the companies engaged in both the first assault on Wag- ner and the subsequent siege, and one from each of the companies engaged only in the siege. The members of the regiment who received medals were : Sergt. Maj. Raphael Gilbert. Company A — Privates Levi Andrews, William Bond. Company B — Corporal Chauncey A. Bacon, Private Edgar H. Parsons. 221 The Gillmore Medal. Company C — Corporal Dennis O'Brien. Company D — Corporal Frederic A. Felch. Company E — Private John Biderman. Company F — Corporal Henry A. Allen. Company G — Private Leander Parmelee. Company H — Private John M. Millikin. Company I — Corporal John J. Cochran, Private Rufus Aggett. Company K — Privates James A. Howard, Elisha F. Soule. 222 A PARTING WORD TO MY BROTHERS IN ARMS. Dear Comrades : After a lapse of forty years a record of your labors and sufferings in defense of the Union is before you. Written as it has been in scraps of time snatched from the cares of a busy life, no one is better aware than I of its many imperfections. For these it is needless to apologize. Among many good things which might have been done in this connection I early decided on four which must be done; these were : i. To make a continuous narrative, accounting for the presence and occupations of the main body of the regi- ment every day, from muster in to muster out. This I believe has been accomplished. 2. To see to it that everything set down was true. I fear this has not been perfectly done, for accounts differ ; even official reports do not always agree. In such cases I have chosen that which seemed to me to bear the strongest weight of evidence in its favor.* 3. To record enough of the work of co-operating forces to give an idea of the general movements in which we took part. 4. To keep the cost of the work down to such a point that, without greater pecuniary sacrifice than would be just to my family, the price of the book would bring it within the reach of every survivor of the regiment. How nearly this has been secured, onlv time will show. ^Nothing is more confusing to the historian than varying accounts given of the same occurrence by different eye witnesses. Psychologists account for it thus : When we are strongly impressed our minds are concentrated on that which makes the most vivid impression and we see nothing else. We are right in believing what we saw. hut wrong in supposing that we saw it all. 223 A Parting Word to My Brothers in Arms. Whatever its defects, I think this volume will recall to your minds many things which you had forgotten, for we can forget a great deal in forty years. I hope also that it will tell you some things which you never knew, for the private soldier who does his duty well, especially in the hour of battle, knows only what passes in his immediate presence. I believe the events here narrated will be like hooks on which you have hung past memories, which, when brought to light, will enable you to live over again the stir- ring years from 1861 to 1865, so that when your little grandchild climbs upon your knee and says. "Grandpa, tell me a story," you will have a story to tell. In this utilitarian age we like to know what good we have accomplished — what we have to