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 COLONEL FLOWERS 
 
 
 

 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 

 
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 Ml 
 
 TIIE SOLDIER- AUTHOR. 
 
 <s 
 
 SICj Tj 
 
 I. Soldiers of the Saddle. 
 
 II. Capture, Prison-Pen, and Escape. 
 
 III. Battles for the Union. 
 
 IV. Heroes of Three Wars. 
 
 a 
 
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 every day. Their delineations of military life, constantly vary- 
 ing scene*, and deeply interesting stories, combine to place their 
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 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
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 https://archive.org/details/battlesforunion01glaz 
 
COMPRISING 
 
 Descriptions of many of the most Stubbornly Contested 
 Battles in the War of the Great Rebellion, together 
 •with Incidents and Reminiscences of the Camp, 
 the March, and the Skirmish Bine. 
 
 EMBRACING 
 
 A RECORD OF TIIE PRIVATIONS, IIEROIC DEEDS, 
 AND GLORIOUS TRIUMPHS OF THE 
 SOLDIERS OF TIIE REPUBLIC. 
 
 BT 
 
 CAPTAIN WILLARD GLAZIER, 
 
 Author of “ Soldiers of the Saddle,” “ Capture, Prison-Pin and Escape,” " Heroes of 
 Three Wars,” “Peculiarities of American Cities,” ktc., btc. 
 
 2$l(u0{rale£>. 
 
 HARTFORD, CONN.: 
 
 GILMAN & COMPANY. 
 
 350 and 352 Asylum Street. 
 
 1 8 7 8 . 
 
 
<> <> 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 
 WILLARD GLAZIER, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C. 
 
 V- 
 
Jy-3, 73 
 G 55 3~Bn 
 
 TO 
 
 THE MEMORY OF 
 
 ]\Iy ^i^tef lijlvifh,, 
 
 THE CONSTANT COMPANION OF MY BOYHOOD, 
 
 WHOSE LAMP OF LIFE WENT OUT 
 
 ON THE DAY, AND AT THE HOUR OF MY CAPTURE BY THE ENEMY 
 
 AT NEW BALTIMORE, VIRGINIA, 
 
 In the Autumn of 1803, 
 
 AND WHOSE LAST WORDS WERE OF ME AND THE ARMY, 
 
 ©Itijsi ^fltuuu 
 
 IS AFFECTIONATELY AND TENDERLY INSCRIBED 
 BY HER BROTHER, 
 
 yHE ^Author, 
 

 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 , 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 
 . 
 
 ■ . ■ 
 
 •- ■' ■ Jfi ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
'Pfef h-<5e . 
 
 I F there is anything of interest or importance in the history of 
 war, it must naturally be found in the great battles which 
 decide the issues of the controversy. The soldier turns to battle 
 scenes for a record of his services and sacrifices. He cares but 
 little for details of the camp or march, while he searches with 
 avidity for the chapter which rehearses the story of his struggles, 
 victories, yea, and even his defeats on the field of strife. The 
 citizen and student of history look to grand combats, for the 
 salient points in their chronology of events. I have endeavored 
 in “ Battles foe the Union,” to present in the most concise 
 and simple form the great contests in the war for the preserva- 
 tion of the Republic of the United States. Should my late 
 comrades in arms consider my pictures faithful, I shall feel more 
 than compensated for the effort I have made to commemorate 
 their glorious deeds. 
 
 WILLARD GLAZIER. 
 
 IIabtford, Cosy ., August 22il, 1874. 
 

 
 
 
 * 
 
 “V 
 
 
 
 
 
dor(teT|t$ 
 
 — — • • • — - 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FORT SUMTER. 
 
 First Causes. — United States Property Seized. — Uprising of the North. 
 — The Little Band at the Nation’s Outpost. — From Moultrie to 
 Sumter. — The Landing at Night. — Moultrie in Flames. — Star of 
 the West. — No Help Yet. — Alone to Defend the Old Flag. — Starva- 
 tion Ahead. — Communications Cut Off. — No Surrender. — The Bom- 
 bardment. — Terrific Cannonading. — The Barracks on Fire. — Not a 
 Biscuit Left. — Out of Ammunition. — Wigfall and his White Flag — 
 Sumter Surrenders on its Own Terms. — The Defeat a Glorious 
 Victory 21 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 BIG BETHEL. 
 
 General Butler at Fortress Monroe. — Decides to Attack the Bebels at 
 Big Bethel. — Plan of Major Winthrop. — Crossing the Hampton 
 River at Midnight — Colonel Duryea joined by General Pierce. — 
 Fatal Mistake of Colonel Bendix — The Confederates Retreat from 
 Little Bethel. — Battle of Big Bethel, and fall of Major Winthrop. — 
 Gallantry and Death of Lieutenant Grebble. — Official Report of the 
 Battle 30 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 BULL RUN. 
 
 Date of the Battle — Military Talent Displayed on Both Sides. — Gen- 
 eral Beauregard in Command of the Confederate Forces — Kxpecta 
 tions of the North and South Concerning the Result of the Battle. — 
 The Division Generals Engaged. — Slow Progress of McDowell’s 
 Army.— Heavy Skirmish at Blackburn’s Ford. — Sluggishness of 
 Army Movements — Patterson’s Failure to Engage Johnston — Hos- 
 tilities Commenced. — Attack of Confederate Batteries on Burnside’s 
 Brigade. — Struggle for the Hill beyond Warrenton Turnpike. — 
 Colonel Hunter Severely Wounded. — Successliaf, the Union Arms 
 up to Three o’clock P. M. — Confederate ReeSjbrcements Turn the 
 Scale. — Panic of our Forces. They Break and Fly in Confusion. — 
 The Union Army a Mass of Fugitives. — Disastrous end of the Bat- 
 tle. — Patterson Blamed 37 
 
 (ix) 
 
X 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CIIAP TEE IV. 
 
 WILSON'S CREEK. 
 
 General Fremont in Command of the Western Department. — Rendez- 
 vous at St Louis. — Lyon in a Critical Situation. — The March at 
 Night. — Out of the Streets of Springfield. — The Midnight Halt. — • 
 Camp Fires of the Enemy. — The Rebels at Breakfast. — Sigcl adds 
 an Unexpected Dish to their Morning Repast. — Panic and Flight. — • 
 Battle and Victory, followed hv Confusion. — The Mistaken Troops. — 
 “Our Friends are Firing Upon us.” — Sigel’s Disaster. — General 
 Lvon at the Front. — They cannot Break His Lines. — Heroism and 
 Bravery Conquer Numbers. — Lyon’s Last Charge. — Victory and 
 Death. — The Nation’s Beloved Hero. — Rebel Army Routed and in 
 Full Retreat. — Withdrawal to Springfield 50 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 BALL'S BLUFF. 
 
 Situation of Ball’s Bluff. — The Hostile Annies on Opposite Banks of 
 the River. — Reconnoitre at Drainesville. — Feint of Goman’s Brig- 
 ade at Edward’s Ferry. — Attack of the Enemy from the Woods. — 
 Union Troops Exposed to a Murderous Fire. — Death of Baker. — 
 Ineffectual Means of Transportation. — Attempts to Regain the 
 Maryland Shore. — Troops Shot or Drowned in Crossing. — Defeat 
 of the Union Arms. — Causes of the Disaster 62 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 MILL SPRING. 
 
 Geographical Location of Mill Spring. — Encampment of Zollicoffer. — 
 Occupancy of Logan’s Cross Roads by Union Troops. — The Enemy 
 Hedged in. — Starvation or Battle. — Zollicoffer Leads the Rebel Ad- 
 vance — Colonel Fry Discovers a General’s Uniform under a Rubber 
 Overcoat. — The Fatal Shot. — Zollicoffer Falls. — Consternation and 
 Rout of the Enemy. — A Deserted Camp. — Victory for the “Boys 
 in Blue.” 68 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PEA RIDGE. 
 
 The Boston Mountains Camp. — Red Skin Re enforcements. — Sigel’s 
 Ten-mile Fight. — The Long Battle- Line. — “ War’s Thunders and 
 Flowers of Red Shot.” — Sigel Frustrates McCulloch. — Struggle 
 Between Osterhaus and McCulloch. — Bold Charge of Indiana 
 Troops.— Re-enforcements — Night brings a Suspension of Hostili- 
 ties — Battle at Sunrise. — Terrible Array of Union Batteries. — Two 
 Hours of Iron Hail. — The Enemy Completely Routed. — Precipitous 
 Retreat to the Boston Mountains. — Death of McCulloch. — Fearful 
 Barbarities. — Burial of the Dead. — Elk Horn. ...... 72 
 
COX TEXTS. 
 
 XI 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MERRIMAC AND MONITOR. 
 
 The Projection of the Monitor. — Ericsson’s Visit to Washington. — The 
 Merriinac Launched. — Arrival off Newport News. — Attack on the 
 Cumlierland — Heroism of the Crew. — No Surrender. — Sublime 
 Bravery. — thinking of the ill-fated Frigate — The Burning of the 
 Congress. — Despair of the Fleet. — The Speck of Light on the 
 Waves. — Arrival of the Monitor. — The Merriinac Again Appears. — 
 The Strange Looking Antagonist. — The Fight Opens. — Fierce Con- 
 flict — The Baptism of Fire. — Four Hours of Battle. — The Merri- 
 inac Signals for Help. — The Monitor Victorious. — Our Fleet Saved — 
 Cheers of the Multitude 80 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 NEWBERN. 
 
 The City and its Connections. — Rebel Fortifications — Assemblage of 
 Gunboats at Hatteras. — The Advance Down Pamlico Sound. — 
 Slocum’s Creek Landing. — The Long March. The Forest Camp 
 Fires. — Attack on the Outer Fortifications. — Impetuous Bravery 
 of Union Troops. — Heroic Charge Through an Embrasure. — The 
 Old Flag Floats Over the Captured Fort. — Entrance into New- 
 bem. Ten o’clock and All is Well. Battle of the Fleet. — Brilliant 
 Advance of the Gunboats. — All Difficulties Conquered — Victory 
 and its Spoils. — The Sabbath Bells 94 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 WINCHESTER. 
 
 Topography of the Battle-Ground. — General Banks’ Occupation of 
 Winchester. — Stonewall Jackson’s Attack. — Disposition of Forces. — 
 The Battle. — Unwavering Firmness of Union Troops. — Heroic 
 Defence of the National Colors bv the Fifth Ohio. — “ ’Tis sweet for 
 One’s Country to Die.” — The Enemy put to Rout. — Stonewall 
 Jackson in Retreat — A Night of Sleep After a Day of Battle. — 
 Kernstown. — Sheridan’s Ride 106 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 FALMOUTH HEIGHTS. 
 
 General McDowell in Command of the Armv of Virginia. — Advance 
 to Bristoe and Falmouth. — Harris Light Leading the Advance. — 
 Sudden Fire on the Van-guard. — Furious Charge upon the Rebel 
 Cavalry. — Death of Lieutenant Decker — His Comrades Avenge 
 His Death. — The Enemy Scattered Like Chaff Before the Whirl- 
 wind.— Outposts, Stores and Provisions Captured. — A Loyal 
 Southern Citizen Greets the O'd Flag. — Plan for a Night Attack 
 on Falmouth. — Brilliant Capture of the Place by Kilpatrick. . 119 
 
COX TEN rs. 
 
 xii 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 PITTSBURG LANDING. 
 
 The Log Cabin Church. — Buell’s March from Nashville. — The Union 
 Camp Surprised. — The Rude Awakening. — Sleep Exchanged for 
 Death. — Rally of the Boys in Blue. — Slaughter from the Woods. — 
 Stand on the Corinth Road. — The Brave Resistance — The Wave 
 of Rebellion Hurled Back. — Six Hours of Magnificent Fighting. — 
 A Glorious Record. — Wallace Falls. — The impregnable Line. — 
 Tyler and Lexington Gunboats. — Death of Confederate Johnston. — 
 Buell Reaches the Landing. — Last Day’s Fight — Capture of Field 
 Pieces. — Confederates in Retreat. — Splendid Victory. — Harvest of 
 Death . . . 118 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 WILLIAMSBURG. 
 
 Battle of Williamsburg. — Scene of the Battle. — Historic Monuments. — 
 College of William and Mary. — Washington and Patrick Henry. — 
 Amusing Inscriptions on Tombstones. — The Battle Opens. — At- 
 tack of General Hooker. — Approaches to Fort McGruder. — Bravery 
 of Kearney. — Gallantry of General Heintzelman. —Defe at and Re- 
 treat of the Enemy 129 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SEVEN PINES. 
 
 The Preliminaries of Battle. — Cannonading and Picket-firing. — Vig- 
 orous Attack of the Confederates — Undaunted Bravery of the 
 Unionists. — General Casey Unjustly Censured. — Testimony of the 
 Enemy. — Incidents of the Battle-field. — Sufferings of the Wounded. 
 — The First Night after Battle 136 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 FAIR OAKS. 
 
 Positions Occupied by the Contending Forces. — General Hooker Com- 
 mences the Action. — Advance of Sickles, Grover, and Robinson. — 
 General Kearney and Colonel Hicks Protect the Flan ks. — Both 
 Annies Enveloped in a Cloud of Smoke. — The Engagement Becomes 
 General. — Defeat of the Rebels. — They Fly to Their Entrench- 
 ments. — McClellan Orders a Cessation of Hostilities. — Renewal of 
 the Battle. — Rout and Final Defeat of the Enemy. . . . 143 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 MALVERN niLL. 
 
 Battle of Malvern Hill. — The Final Engagement of the Peninsular 
 Campaign. — Scene of the Battle. — Influence of our Gunboats. — At- 
 tack of the Rebels led by General Magruder. — Destructive Firo 
 
COXTIuXTS. 
 
 xiii 
 
 from Federal Cannon. — The Rebels Repulsed. — They Reform and 
 Charge Again. — Another Tempest of Fire from our Batteries 
 Sweeps them from the Field. — Their Guns are Silenced, the Horses 
 Killed and Regiments Cut Down. — McClellan Orders a Retreat to 
 Harrison’s Landing.— Indignation of the Army. — General Kearney 
 Protests Against ttie Order for Retreat. — General Martindale Sheds 
 Tears of Shame 147 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 CEDAR MOUNTAIN. 
 
 The Battle-ground — Jackson En route for Culpepper. — Occupancy of 
 Cedar Mountain. — Three Miles of Batteries. — Banks Receives the 
 Attack. — A Rain of Fire. — Charge on Enemy’s Battery. — Over- 
 whelmed by Superior Numbers. — Ricketts to the Front. — Enemy 
 Compelled to Fall Back. — Artillery Battle at Night. — Interment of 
 Fallen Braves. — Losses. — The Enemy Retires. — Cedar Mountain 
 Occupied by Union Troops 157 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 BRANDY STATION. 
 
 First Battle. — Lee Resumes Hostilities. — Stuart’s Cavalry Attack — 
 Gallant Repulse by Kilpatrick. — Second Battle. — Skirmish at Kelly’s 
 Ford. — Splendid Charge of the Union Army. — Complete Rout of the 
 Enemy. — Heroic Feats on the Field. — Charge of the First Maine. — 
 Fall of Colonel Davis. — Third Battle. — The Enemy Swept from the 
 Plains. — Prisoners and Materials of War Captured. — Fourth Bat- 
 tle. — Critical Situation of Kilpatrick.— Bravery of Custer and Da- 
 vies. — The Exultant Battle-Cry. — Fresh Laurels for the Union 
 Troops. — Scene on the Battle-field. — The Writer’s Part in the Four 
 Contests 161 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 MANASSAS, OR SECOND BULL RUN. 
 
 The Opening Scene. — Sigel in the Foreground. — Sharp Skirmish on 
 the Twenty-eighth. — Fitz-John Porter’s Delay. — Attack on the 
 Twenty-ninth. — Bayonet Charge of Grover’s Brigade. — Thorough- 
 fare Gap Left Open. — The Enemy Re-enforced. — Victory on the 
 Twenty-ninth. — Where Was Porter? — Pope’s Despatch — Battle of 
 the Thirtieth. — Exhausted Troops. — Out of Rations. — Pope Dis- 
 couraged. — Our Forces at Centreville. — Personal Experience. — A 
 Shell from the Enemy and What it Did — An Unknown Hero. — 
 “ Tear off Your Chevrons.” — Successful Stand. — Charge of the 
 Harris Light Cavalry 180 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CHANTILLY. 
 
 Union Troops on the Defensive. — Historic Chantilly. — Pope at Fair 
 fax Court-House. — Stonewall Jackson’s Attack.— The Battle of the 
 
Sky. — Furious Charges. — The Enemy Repulsed. — Death of Stevens 
 and Kearny. — The March to Washington. — Pope Resigns. — Porter 
 Cashiered. — Tribute to Kearny 193 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 ANT1ETAM. 
 
 The Enemy Concentrating on Antietam Creek. — S'onewall Jackson 
 Jlas the Left. — Battle at Daybreak. — The Contested Cornfield — 
 llobker Wounded. — Furious Struggle. — Fate of the Thirty-Fourth 
 New York. — War’s Fierce Tug. — Franklin and Fresh Troops. — 
 Four Times Lost and Won — Burnside Takes the Bridge. — Union 
 Troops Carry the Hill and are Driven Back. — McClellan Sends 
 Aid. — A Moment when Events Hang in the Balance. — “ r J he 
 Bridge 1 — Always the Bridge !” — McClellan’s Star in the Ascendant. 
 
 197 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 CORINTH. 
 
 Topography of the Battle-ground. — The Enemy Marching upon 
 Corinth. — Price and Van Dorn Unite their Forces. — Three Tiers of 
 Earthworks. — Preliminary Battle of the Third. — Generalship of 
 Rosecrans. — Battle of the Fourth. — Two Hours of Hot Work.— 
 Forts Richardson and Kobinett. — Price Driven Back. — Desperate 
 Charge of Van Dorn. — A Forlorn Hope. — Colonel Rogers. — The 
 Enemy Driven.— Confusion and Flight. — Heaps of Slain. — The 
 Handkerchief Flags. — “■ For God’s Sake Spare us !” — Pursuit of the 
 Foe. — Captured Spoils. — West Tennessee Safe. .... £05 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 FREDERICKSBURG. 
 
 Burnside in Command of the Army of the Potomac. — The Advance 
 to Fredericksburg. — -Surrender of the City Refused. — Confederate 
 and Union Cavalry Raids. — Capture of Rebel Picket-Posts. — lx- 
 odus of ( itizens from Fredericksburg. — Delay in Laying Pontoons. 
 — The Seventh Michigan Crossing the River under a Murderous 
 Fire. — Death of a Massachusetts Chaplain. — General Gibbon Opens 
 the Battle. — Desperate Fighting. — Terrific Charge of Meade’s Di- 
 vision. — The Hillside Strewn with the Dead. — Death of Bayard. — 
 Night after the Battle. — Heart-rending Scenes. — Termination of the 
 Campaign of 1 St> 2 213 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 MURFREESBORO OR STONE RIVER. 
 
 Rosecrans in Command of the Army of the Cumberland. — The 
 Christmas Night War-Council — The Muddv March Southward — 
 The Midnight Cavalcade. — “ Push Them Hard.” — Fog and Hard 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XV 
 
 Marching. — In front of Murfreesboro. — The Rail Tent. — The Calm 
 that Precedes the Battle-Storm — Star S.pangled Banner. — McCook 
 Surprised. — Sheridan Stands Firm. — The Battle nearly Lost — Gen- 
 eral Rosecrans Turns the Tide. — Desperate Valor. — Negley’s Men 
 Cut their Way Through the Confederate Ranks. — The Enemy 
 Driven. — The Last Grand Charge. — Magnificent Victory. — Rose- 
 crans’ Star in the Ascendant 222 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 CHANCELLORSVILLE. 
 
 Successful Strategy of General Hooker. — Crossing the Rappahannock 
 at Sunrise. — I he Chancellorsville House — Lee’s Position Flanked. 
 — The Battle Opened by Sykes. — Loss of Prestige and Position by 
 the Union Troops. — Capture of Prisoners by General Birnev. — 
 Stonewall Jackson Appears Upon the Scene. — Our Divisions Over- 
 whelmed by the Rebel Hordes. — A Frantic Stampede. — Heroism of 
 Major Keenan, and his men. — Death of Stonewall Jackson. — A Fatal 
 Hour. — Beating a Retreat. — Hooker’s Words of Praise. — Lincoln 
 Visits the Camp at Falmouth 234 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 ALDLE. 
 
 Hooker Entraps Lee. — Reconnoissance of Pleasanton. — Aldie in 
 Sight. — The Grand Charge. — Harris Light in the Van. — Fitzhugh 
 Lee’s Desperate Efforts. — The Desired Opportunity. — Battle of the 
 Haystacks. — The Harris Light Wins. — Colonel Cesnola. — The 
 Sword Presentation. — Last Desperate Attempt of the Enemy. — 
 Driven From the Field in Panic. — 1 he Battle Won. . . . 247 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 L'PPERYILLE. 
 
 Union Advance from Middleburg — Rebel Pickets Encountered. — The 
 Fight Commenced. — Stone Fence Barricades. — A Succession of 
 Brilliant Charges — The Harris Light Drives the Enemy. — Splen- 
 did Cavalry Action. — Stand at Upperville. — The Enemy Again 
 Driven. — Union Forces Triumphant. — General Pleasanton’s Re- 
 port ... 253 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 GETTYSBURG. 
 
 Meade in Command of the Army of the Potomac. — The Camp on 
 Marsh Run. — The Advance to Gettysburg. — Charge of Buford’s 
 Cavalry on the Rebel Van-guard. — The Enemy Driven Back. — 
 Fall of General Reynolds. — Capture of General Archer and Eight 
 
XVI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Hundred Prisoners — Victory Followed by Defeat — The Eleventh 
 Corps Break and Fly. — Strengthening the Union Position. — Occu- 
 pancy of Culp’s Hili and Hound Top. — Sickle’s Command Shat- 
 tered. — Activity of Kilpatrick’s Cavalry. — The Enemy Falls Back 
 to Benner’s Hill. — The Last Effort. — Terrible Slaughter of Troops. 
 — The Desperate Final Charge. — The Tempest of Fire. — Death of 
 Farnsworth. — Capture of Prisoners. — Glorious Victory. . . 257 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 VICKSBURG. 
 
 The Impregnable Stronghold. — The Batteries of the Bluff. — The 
 Siege Begun. — A Keign of Terror. — Assault of the Nineteenth.— 
 Distributing Rations. — Assault of the Twenty-second. — Desperate 
 "Work. — Sergeant Griffith and the Brave. Eleven. — Union Colors 
 on Enemy’s Bastion. — McPherson’s Losses. — Failure to Carry the 
 Works. — Six Weeks’ Siege. — The Enemy Starved Out. — The VV’hite 
 Flag. — Surrender. — Grant’s Triumphant Entrance into Vicksburg.. 
 — “Rally Round the Flag.” — Close of the Campaign. — Lincoln’s 
 Letter 278 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 PORT HUDSON. 
 
 The Citadel on the Bluffs. — Four Miles of Batteries. — The Pledge of 
 the Northwest. — First Operations against Port Hudson. — The 
 Stronghold Invested. — General Assault. — Repulse and Loss. — 
 Bravery of Officers and Men. — Colonel Bartlett. — Heroic Conduct 
 of Colored Troops. — The Siege Carried Forward. — Gloomy Out- 
 look. — Another General Assault. — Heavy Losses. — The Enemy 
 Starving. — The Delicacies of a Rat Stew. — Announcement of the 
 Surrender of Vicksburg. — The Council of War in the Camp on the 
 Bluffs. — Unconditional Surrender of Port Hudson. — “ Flag of Union 
 and Freedom Wave!” — The Promise of the Northwest Redeemed. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 289 
 
 FALLING WATERS. 
 
 Kilpatrick’s Advance to Hagerstown. — Lee’s Position. — Efforts to 
 Cross the Swollen Potomac. — Meade Decides to Attack the Con- 
 federates. — The Escape by Night. — Kilpatrick’s Discovery. — The 
 Cavalry in Motion. — The Encounter at Falling Waters.— The 
 Enemy Surprised. — Hard Fighting. — Death of Pettigrew. — Union 
 Victory.— Capture of Battle-Flags and Prisoners. — Kilpatrick’s 
 Letter 300 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 CHICKAMAUGA. 
 
 Under the Shadow of Lookout Mountain. — Evacuation of Chattanoo- 
 ga. — The Long Battle-line. — Bragg Contests the Union Advance. — 
 Disposition of Troops at Chickamauga Creek. — Attack of the Nine- 
 
CONTEXTS. 
 
 XVII 
 
 teenth. — Fierce Struggle for Position. — Bragg’s Attack of the 
 Twentieth — Furious Fighting. — Buckner’s Battery and its Deadly 
 Work. — The Union Army Cut in Two. — Thomas on Missionary 
 Ridge. — The Storm Breaks. — Desperate Assault of Longstreet. — 
 Repulse of the Confederates. — Thomas, Master of the Field. — The 
 Enemy in Retreat. — Occupation of Chattanooga. — Letter of Rose- 
 crans 307 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 BRISTOE. 
 
 Condition of Meade’s Army . — " Goin<j Home to Vote.” — Lee’s Ad- 
 vance. — Cavalry Encounter. — Roast Lamb and Coffee Left Behind. 
 — Order for Retreat. — Fight at James City. — Incidents of the Day. — 
 On to Washington. — Stuart Hemmed in at Catlett’s Station — The 
 Pine Thicket. — The Concealed Force. — Hill Entangled. — Battle of 
 Bristoe. — Sharp Fighting. — The Confederates Beaten. — Lee in Full 
 Retreat. — The Campaign Ended 316 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 NEW BALTIMORE. 
 
 Kilpatrick’s First Defeat. — Stuart Covers the Retreat of Lee . — En 
 Route for Warrenton. — Fitzhugh Lee’s Attack — Charge of Stuart’s 
 Cavalry. — Surrounded on All Sides. — Kilpatrick’s Generalship. — 
 The Desperate Charge — Holocaust of Death. — The Author’s Cap- 
 ture. — In Warrenton Jail. — A Specimen of Southern Chivalry. — 
 Kilpatrick’s Dinner Interrupted. — Case of the Campaign. . 323 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 FORT FISIIER. 
 
 Outer Defences of Wilmington. — Blockade-running. — Admiral Por- 
 ter’s Expedition. — Rough Weather. — The Attack. — The Torpedo 
 Vessel. — The First Day’s Bombardment. — Reconnoissance. — 
 Strength of the Fort. — Return to Hampton Roads. — Renewed 
 Preparations — Attack of the Second Expedition — Bivouac Fires. — 
 Terrible Bombardment. — Desperate Assault of Union Troops. — 
 They Effect a Lodgment. — The Attack goes on. — The Last Trenches 
 Cleared. — Fort Fisher Ours. — Valor of Colored Troops. — Spoils of 
 Victory 329 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 OLUSTEE. 
 
 Expedition to Florida. — Sailing of the Fleet.— John Hay. — Lincoln’s 
 Letter. — Objects of the Expedition. — The Camp at Jacksonville. — 
 Seymonr’s Sudden Move. — Attempt to Checkmate the Enemy at 
 Olustee. — Hemmed in by Swamps. — The Fatal Surprise. — Over- 
 whelmed by Superior Numbers. — Decimated Ranks. — The Battle 
 Lost — Seymour s Bravery. — Patten Anderson. — Who was to blame ? 
 
 338 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 xviii 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 FORT PILLOW. 
 
 One of the Outgrowths of Slavery. — The Negro Soldiery. — Confed 
 erate Law.— The Black Flag. — Location of Fort Pillow. — Forrest 
 Before the Defences. — Severe Fighting. — No Surrender. — Flags of 
 Truce. — Treachery. — Surprise of the Fort. — Overwhelmed by the 
 Enemy. — The Butchery Commenced— Horrible Scenes. — The In- 
 humanity of Man. — Influence of Slavery 345 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 COLD HARBOR. 
 
 Cold Harbor Tavern. — The Historic Cross Roads. — Grant’s Design of 
 Forcing the Chickahominy. — Disposition of Troops. — Preliminary 
 Fighting. — The Battle Inaugurated by a Thunder Storm. — The 
 Grand Attack. — Gallant Dash of the Second Corps. — The Posi- 
 tion Gained and Lost. — Vantage-ground of the Enemy. — Failure of 
 Grant’s coup-de-main. — The Heroic Brigade of Colonel McKean. — 
 The New Thermopylae. — The Enemy’s Last Attack. — The Curtain 
 Falls on Cold Harbor 352 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 FORT WAGNER. 
 
 Site of the Fort. — First Assault. — Bombardment from the Fleet — 
 Heaven’s Artillery. — The Advance at Night. — The 1 'olored Regi- 
 ment. — Furious Assault and Terrible Slaughter. — Bravery of Col- 
 ored Troops. — Death of Colonel Shaw. — Waiting under a Hail- 
 storm of Death. — The Possession of an Hour. — Repulse and Losses. 
 — Wagner Impervious to Assault. — Progress of the Siege. — The 
 “ Swamp Angel ” — Fort Sumter in Ruins. — Calcium Lights. — The 
 Enemy Driven to the Wall. — Wagner Evacuated. — Spoils of Vic- 
 tory 360 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 CEDAR CREEK. 
 
 Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. — Pursuit of Early. — Cedar Creek 
 Encampment. — The Enemy Re-enforced — The Determined Attack. 
 — The Silent March. — The Slumbering Army Surprised. — The Wild 
 Yell through the Fog.— The Union Army a Mass of Fugitives. — The 
 Nineteenth Corps Forced Back by the Wave of Retreat — Efforts of 
 the Brave Sixth — The Fight Near Middletown. — Sheridan at Win- 
 chester. — His Wild Ride. — The Stream of Fugitives Arrested — The 
 Union Battle-line Re-formed — Our Victorious Charge. — The Ene- 
 my Routed in Confusion. — Honor to Sheridan 369 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XIX 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 WAYNESBORO. 
 
 Personal Experiences. — Concealed in a Cypress Swamp. — The Union 
 Guns. — Wheeler at Waynesboro. — The Enemy’s Attack on Atkins. 
 — Repulse. — Kilpatrick Charges the Barricades, Everything Swept 
 before Them. — Valor of Union Soldiers. — Wheeler in Disordered 
 Flight. — Union Pursuit. — Kilpatrick’s Report. — Sherman’s Com- 
 plimentary Letter.-— Incidents in the Author’s Escape. . 381 
 
 CHAPTER XL II. 
 
 BENTONVILLE. 
 
 The Hostile Country of the Carolinas. — Sherman’s Five Hundred Mile 
 March. — The Country Desolated. — A Carnival of fire. — Arrival at 
 Bentonville. — Johnston Encountered. — Battle of Bentonville. — The 
 Enemy Repulsed.— Bravery of Slocum’s Men. — Sherman’s Army 
 Intrenched.— Entrance into Goldsboro. — The Goal Won. — Glorious 
 Success. — Congratulatory Order of General Sherman. . . . 3bt> 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 FIVE FORKS. 
 
 Grant and Sherman in Consultation. — The End Drawing Near. — 
 Grand Combination of Movements. — Sheridan E'i route for Five 
 Forks. — Importance of Holding Five Forks. — The March Through 
 the Rain. — Engagement on the White Oak Road — The Union 
 Ranks Victorious. — The Sunday Fight. — Grant Takes Advantage 
 of His Victory. — Captured Prisoners. — Davis Flying from Rich- 
 mond. — Evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg. — The End Draw- 
 ing Near 392 
 
 CHAPTER XLI V. 
 
 THE SURRENDER. 
 
 The Last Act in the Drama. — The Historic Farm-House. — Events 
 Succeeding the Battle of Five Forks. — Lee’s Army Hemmed in. — 
 Engagement at Barnesville. — The Enemy Hopelessly Surrounded. — 
 Extermination or Surrender. — Triumphant Entrance into Rich- 
 mond. — Lincoln’s Levee in the Confederate Capital. — The Last 
 Act. — Palm Sunday Anniversary. — Universal Rejoicing. . 398 
 

 Page. 
 
 PORTRAIT OF AUTHOR, (Steel) Frontispiece. 
 
 BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUMTER 25 
 
 WILSON’S CREEK 55 
 
 TOE MERRIMAC AND MONITOR 85 
 
 NIGIIT ATTACK ON FALMOUTO HEIGHTS, 115 
 
 MALVERN HILL, 151 
 
 BRANDY STATION, 167 
 
 GETTYSBURG, 273 
 
 ARRIVAL OF SHERIDAN AT THE BATTLE OF CEDAR CREEK, 361 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 IF'OIE^T SUMTER. 
 
 First Causes. — United States Property Seized. — Uprising of the North. 
 — The Little Band at the Nation’s Outpost. — From Moultrie to 
 Snmter. — The Landing at Night. — Moultrie in Flames. — Star of 
 the West. — No Help Yet. — Alone to Defend the Old Flag. — Starva- 
 tion Ahead. — Communications Cut Off. — No Surrender. — The Bom- 
 bardment. — Terrific Cannonading. — The Barracks on Fire. — Not a 
 Biscuit Left. — Out of Ammunition. — Wigfall and his White Flag. — 
 Sumter Surrenders on its Own Terms. — The Defeat a Glorious 
 Victory. 
 
 OR years the irrepressible conflict between slavery 
 
 JJ and freedom had been proclaimed by the wise and 
 disbelieved by the unthinking. For years the storm 
 cloud, which in 1861 broke over the nation’s bead, 
 bad been slowly gathering with ever accumulating 
 wrath. Some near-sighted but well-intentioned peo- 
 ple supposed that the lightning could be extracted 
 from the threatening cloud by sending up the ‘ Com- 
 promise ’ kite, with its hempen string of ‘ Mason and 
 Dixon’s Line,’ but the guns of Sumter undeceived 
 them. Those guns awoke the nation from its fancied 
 repose and echoed, not only over Charleston Harbor, 
 but along the Atlantic coast and through the entire 
 
 North 
 
 With a grand and unanimous uprising not paral- 
 leled in history, the men of the free North flocked 
 
 ( 21 ) 
 
22 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 around the nation’s standard and offered their lives 
 and fortunes in its defence. 
 
 The people, before dormant, awoke suddenly to find 
 that they had been sleeping on the edge of a crater 
 whose boiling lava of injustice and slavery threatened 
 to engulf them. 
 
 At the nation’s outpost, in Charleston Harbor, alone 
 with his little band, Major Robert Anderson awaited, 
 behind the embrasures of Fort Sumter, the first attack 
 of the insurgents. 
 
 “ The property of the General Government south 
 of the Potomac, with the exception of Fortress Mon- 
 roe, Fort Sumter, Fort Pickens, and the Tortugas, had 
 been successively seized by tbe authorities of the 
 states within which they were situated.” 
 
 “ The three forts that then defended Charleston Har- 
 bor were Fort Moultrie,' of Revolutionary fame, on 
 Sullivan’s Island ; Castle Pinckney, near the city ; and 
 Fort Sumter, a new structure on an island in the 
 channel, commanding all the approaches to the city. 
 It had been erected by the Federal Government at 
 considerable cost, and was not yet so far complete as 
 to receive a garrison. The place was calculated for 
 one hundred and forty-six guns and a war garrison 
 of six hundred and fifty men. The only force that 
 the Federal Government had for these three forts was 
 a single company of artillery in Fort Moultrie, under 
 command of Major Anderson.” In December, 1860, 
 his garrison, occupying Fort Moultrie, found it dif- 
 cult to strengthen, and as the authorities at Charles- 
 ton grew hourly more threatening, Major Anderson, on 
 his own responsibility, abandoned the place for Fort 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 23 
 
 Sumter, -where at ten o’clock on the night of the 
 twenty-sixth his force disembarked from row boats. 
 
 “ A few men were left at Moultrie under Captain 
 Foster to cut down the flag-staff, spike the guns, burn 
 the carriages and dismantle the place.” 
 
 As the flames went up from Moultrie, Charleston 
 saw what had happened and great excitement spread 
 to that city and throughout the country. The action 
 of Major Anderson was lauded at the North and 
 denounced at the South. 
 
 But his new position at Fort Sumter was of doubtful 
 advantage. He could not be surprised here as at 
 Moultrie, but his communications were cut off and there 
 -was a prospect ahead of being starved out, unless help 
 arrived. Help was sent by our Government, but the 
 vigilant Charleston authorities, ever on the alert, pre- 
 vented the landing of supplies and reenforcements. 
 
 Fort Moultrie was repaired and garrisoned by the 
 insurgents, and on Sullivan and Morris Islands new 
 batteries were built. 
 
 Troops were tendered to the Governor of South 
 Carolina by three of the slave-holding states, and 
 the palmetto flag waved over the post-office and Cus- 
 tom House at Charleston. The streets of that city 
 were patrolled by the military; the telegraph was 
 under censorship and the efforts of the authorities 
 were directed toward getting possession of Sumter. 
 
 Major Anderson and his hero band worked steadily 
 on, strengthening the Fort as best they could. Around 
 them, battery after battery arose, each one cutting off 
 more surely their hope of succor. 
 
 Their stock of food rapidly lessened, despite its 
 most economic distribution. 
 
24 
 
 BATTLES FUR T1IE UNION . 
 
 Oil January fifth, 1861, the steamship “Star of the 
 West” left New York with supplies and two hundred 
 men for Fort Sumter, and arrived off Charleston bar 
 at one o’clock on the morning of the ninth. The 
 lights of the steamship had been extinguished to 
 insure greater safety, but as the “ Star of the West” 
 passed over the harbor bar, a steamboat lying in wait, 
 recognized her and signalled ashore. At a distance 
 of half a mile from Morris Island, she was fired upon 
 by a shore battery. Raising a large National flag at 
 her mast-head she swept on, the Rebel shot over-reach- 
 ing her, until at last, having got her range, two cannon 
 balls took effect — forward and amidships. As she 
 proceeded on her way, two steamers, having in tow an 
 armed schooner, approached from Fort Moultrie, evi- 
 dently intending to cut her off. The choice was one 
 of capture or destruction, and the supply ship therefore 
 put about and returned to New York. 
 
 Major Anderson and his artillery company had 
 watched the approach of the “Star of the West,” 
 withholding meantime his fire upon the land batteries 
 because he could not believe the act authorized by the 
 state, and not knowing that the ship was coming to 
 their relief. “ He immediately dispatched a message 
 to Governor Pickens denouncing the act as one of war 
 and threatening that unless it was disavowed he would 
 not permit any vessel to pass within range of his 
 guns.” Major Anderson afterwards referred the mat- 
 ter to his Government and requested that Lieutenant 
 Talbot, bearer of despatches, might have facilities 
 extended to him for his departure. 
 
 On April twelfth, 1861, the Rebels demanded the 
 
BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUMTER. 
 

BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 25 
 
 surrender of Port Sumter. Major Anderson replied 
 that “ his sense of honor and his obligations to the 
 Government would prevent his compliance ” with the 
 demand. At half-past four o’clock on the morning of 
 the twelfth, the National flag was fired upon and the 
 war of rebellion inaugurated. The heavy batteries of 
 Mt. Pleasant and Cummings Point, a floating battery 
 in the harbor and Fort Moultrie all poured in their 
 red rain of shot and shell on the devoted heads of the 
 patriot band in Sumter. For two hours this terrific 
 bombardment was received without a reply, while 
 crumbling walls tottered around them and exploding 
 shells fell thick and fast. 
 
 Calmly, at half-past six o’clock, these men number- 
 ing less than a hundred, sat down under this fiery 
 tempest to breakfast on their last biscuit. Afterwards 
 they prepared heroically to resist the attack of an 
 army of ten thousand, aided by an overpowering array 
 of batteries. 
 
 The company was divided into three reliefs, and 
 Captain Doubleday with Lieutenant Snyder in charge 
 of the first relief, opened the return fire. The enthu- 
 siasm of the men was very great, and they remained 
 steadily at the guns until relieved. The Columbiads 
 and sea howitzers on the parapet were disabled, and 
 the firing in that quarter became so intense that the 
 men were withdrawn to the casemates. 
 
 It also became impossible to work the barbette or 
 upper uncovered guns. A sentinel cried out “ shot ” 
 or “ shell ” at every discharge of the enemy’s guns 
 and the men were thus enabled to obtain shelter. 
 
 For thirty-six Hours was this unequal contest waged. 
 
 2 
 
26 
 
 BAT TUX FOR TIIK UN l OX. 
 
 From the dawn of Friday morning until near the 
 close ol Saturday afternoon an incessant storm of 
 fire fell upon the doomed fort. The wooden barracks 
 inside were fired by the hot-shot batteries of the 
 enemy. An eye-witness gives this vivid description 
 of the scene : — 
 
 “ The fire surrounded us on all sides. Fearful that 
 the walls might crack and the shells pierce and pros- 
 trate them, we commenced taking the powder out of 
 the magazine before the fire had fully enveloped it. 
 We took ninety-six barrels of powder out and threw 
 them into the sea, leaving two hundred barrels in it. 
 Owing to a lack of cartridges, we kept five men inside 
 the magazine, sewing, as we wanted them, thus using 
 up our shirts, sheets, blankets, and all the available 
 material in the fort. When w r e were finally obliged 
 to close the magazine and our material for cartridges 
 was exhausted, we were left destitute of any means 
 to continue the contest. We had eaten our last bis- 
 cuit thirty-six hours before. We came very near 
 being stifled with the dense, livid smoke from the 
 burning buildings. Many of the men lay prostrate on 
 the ground, with w r et handkerchiefs over their mouths 
 and eyes, gasping for breath. It was a moment of 
 imminent peril. If an eddy of wind had not ensued, 
 we all, probably, should have been suffocated. 
 
 “ The crashing of the shot, the bursting of the 
 shells, the falling of walls, and the roar of flames 
 made a pandemonium of the fort. We nevertheless 
 kept up a steady fire.” 
 
 The shells and ammunition of the upper service 
 magazine exploded, destroying the tower and sending 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 27 
 
 the upper part of the building flying in all directions. 
 Three times the fort had been on fire, the men being 
 unable to extinguish it the last time. Owing to the 
 proximity of the flames, the powder barrels, though 
 covered with wet blankets, were in danger, and all 
 but four were thrown into the sea. 
 
 The flag-staff had been hit nine times, and at last 
 it was cut down and placed upon the ramparts with 
 the torn flag nailed to it. 
 
 As twilight approached, General Wigfall, formerly 
 a Texas senator, came to the fort in a skiff, bearing 
 a white flag fastened to his sword. Kettell reports 
 the conversation which occured. 
 
 He said he came from General Beauregard, the flag 
 of Sumter being down. 
 
 “ It is up again,” replied Lieutenant Davis. 
 
 General Wigfall then said, 
 
 “ You are on fire, let us stop this: there is a white 
 flag, will any one wave it from the embrasure? ” 
 
 One of the officers replied, 
 
 “ That is for you to do if you wish your batteries to 
 stop.” 
 
 General Wigfall then held out the flag when Cor- 
 poral Bringhurst was directed to hold it for him. 
 The Corporal did so, but the shot continued to strike 
 around him. Lieutenant Davis then said, 
 
 “ If you request that a white flag be shown here 
 while you hold a conference with Major Anderson, it 
 may be done.” 
 
 General Wigfall then addressing Major Anderson, 
 said : 
 
 “ I am from General Beauregard. You have de- 
 
28 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 fended your flag nobly, sir: on what terms will you 
 evacuate the fort ? ” 
 
 Major Anderson replied, “ General Beauregard is 
 already acquainted with my only terms.” 
 
 “ Do I understand that you will evacuate upon the 
 terms proposed the other day? ” 
 
 “ Yes, sir, and on those conditions only,” was the 
 reply. 
 
 “ Then, sir,” said Wigfall, “ I understand Major 
 Anderson that the fort is to be ours.” 
 
 “ On those conditions only, I repeat.” 
 
 “ Very well,” said Wigfall, and he retired. 
 
 The conditions were that the men should take all 
 their company and individual property, their side and 
 other arms, that their torn flag should be saluted and 
 taken with them, and that they should march out in 
 their own way and at their own time. 
 
 The terms were agreed to, and on Sunday morning 
 at about nine o’clock the men were formed in line, 
 and marched out while the cannon boomed over the 
 bay in salutes to the stars and stripes, and the band 
 played “Yankee Doodle” and “ Hail to the Chief.” 
 A cheer went up from the patriotic band as the old 
 flag was lowered, after which they boarded the trans- 
 port Isabel which took them to the United States ship 
 Baltic, in the offing, whence they were carried to New 
 York. 
 
 Thus gloriously fell Fort Sumter. Can history 
 furnish us nobler examples of men, who in the face 
 of starvation worked more manfully at their guns in 
 defence of their country’s flag, nor yielded while there 
 was a cartridge left to fire, or material left to make 
 one ? 
 
BA TTLES FOR THE UNI ON. 
 
 29 
 
 During this terrific bombardment no life was lost 
 on either side, — a fact to be wondered at. 
 
 From statistics gathered from the Charleston Mer- 
 cury of May third, the Rebels during this cannonading, 
 threw into and upon the fort, two thousand three hun- 
 dred and sixty-one solid shot, and nine hundred and 
 eighty shells from fourteen batteries. At the fiftieth 
 discharge of guns in giving the salute of one hundred 
 guns to the National flag, a Union soldier was killed 
 by its accidental explosion, and several others were 
 wounded. 
 
 Major Anderson and his men were received at the 
 North with the honor due to heroes. They had cov- 
 ered their names with a glory which could not fade 
 away, and while country is loved and bravery chroni- 
 cled, these names, clothed in light like the stars of 
 heaven, can never pass from patriotic remembrance. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 IE3 I <3- IE3 E T X3I E Hi. 
 
 General Butler at Fortress Monroe. — Decides to Attack the Rebels at 
 Big Bethel. — Plan of Major Winthrop. — Crossing the Hampton 
 River at Midnight. — Colonel Duryea joined by General Pierce. — 
 Fatal Mistake of Colonel Bendix. — The Confederates Retreat from 
 Little Bethel. — Battle of Big Bethel, and fall of Major Winthrop. — 
 Gallantry and Death of Lieutenant Grebble. — Official Report of the 
 Battle. 
 
 E ARLY in the month of June, 1861, General Ben 
 jamin P. Butler, commanding a Federal force at 
 Fortress Monroe, received intelligence that the Rebels 
 were fortifying themselves at an unimportant village 
 known as Little Bethel, twelve miles from the for. 
 tress, and that five miles beyond this point, at Big 
 Bethel, they were intrenching themselves in a still 
 stronger position. Thus established, with the latter* 
 point as a base, they were continually issuing from 
 their stronghold in marauding parties, making pris-. 
 oners the friends of the Union, and impressing their 
 slaves into the Southern service. General Butler de- 
 cided to break up these Rebel encampments, and at 
 once prepared a secret expedition for the consumma- 
 tion of his purpose. 
 
 The first step in this movement was to ferry his 
 troops across the Hampton River at Hampton, as the 
 enemy had previously burned the bridge. Ten .fiat 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 31 
 
 boats were found, capable of conveying one hundred 
 and fifty-seven men each, including oarsmen. Men 
 from the Naval Brigade were thoroughly instructed in 
 the management of these boats, and at twelve o’clock 
 on the night of the ninth of June, with carefully muffled 
 oars, Colonel Duryea, commanding the troops from 
 Fortress Monroe crossed the river and marched to 
 Newport News — a small town at the mouth of the 
 James River, where lie was joined by Brigadier-Gen- 
 eral Pierce with two regiments of his command which 
 had been encamped at this point. The united forces 
 now moved silently on towards Little Bethel. 
 
 The expedition was well planned in every particu- 
 lar, and is said to have been chiefly the work of Major 
 Theodore Wintlirop, approved by General Butler, and 
 but for an untoward accident not unusual with a citizen 
 soldiery, undisciplined and inexperienced on the field 
 of battle, would have proved eminently successful to 
 the Federal arms. The march of our columns was 
 to be so timed that the commanders could form a 
 junction and make a concentrated attack upon Little 
 Bethel just at the dawn of day. We were then to 
 pursue vigorously the routed and flying Rebels to 
 Big Bethel, and without giving them time to recover 
 from their surprise, charge their batteries at that 
 point. 
 
 In order to be secure against any accident which 
 might naturally be anticipated in the darkness, no 
 regiment was to commence an attack without first 
 giving the watchword, and in order that they might 
 recognize each other easily in the darkness a white 
 badge was worn on the left arm. For a time everything 
 
32 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 went well and all were confident of success, but as 
 ofttimes before 
 
 “ The best laid plans of men and mice 
 Gang aft aglee.” 
 
 At a point described as the Cross Roads by those 
 who participated in the expedition, Colonel Bendix 
 with his regiment and a section of light artillery, had 
 taken position with instructions to guard and hold the 
 crossing at all hazards. The Unionists continued to 
 move silently on towards Little Bethel. The light of 
 day now began to dawn upon the advancing columns. 
 The Third New York Infantry just then came cau- 
 tiously moving along in the dim twilight and fog of 
 the morning, on the road from Hampton. General 
 Pierce and Colonel Townsend with their respective 
 staffs rode together, in advance of the main column- 
 These mounted officers, in the uncertain and flicker- 
 ing light of the morning, presented the aspect of a 
 large body of cavalry. 
 
 It was well known that there was no cavalry with 
 the Union force, hence it was not strange that Colonel 
 Bendix should imagine that Rebel cavalry was about 
 to assail his rear, and immediately opened fire upon 
 them with his artillery, at the distance of five hundred 
 yards. It was well for our men that the road was 
 lower than the level of the land on either side, and 
 was bordered by stone fences. Three men were nev- 
 ertheless killed and eight wounded by the discharge. 
 General Pierce thus unexpectedly assailed, fell back 
 and dispatched couriers to Fortress Monroe for rein- 
 forcements. 
 
 Colonel Duryea, who had stationed Colonel Bendix 
 
BAl'ILES t on THE UNION. 
 
 at the intersection of the roads and who was himself 
 advancing on the road to Little Bethel, alarmed by 
 the cannonading in his rear, also retraced his steps. 
 Daylight soon revealed the sad mistake of Bendix. 
 But the Rebels encamped at Little Bethel heard the 
 tiring, took the alarm, and without having seen the 
 Federals, fled, panic stricken, to their reserves at Big 
 Bethel. General Pierce now pressed vigorously for- 
 ward and quickly destroyed the camp at Little Bethel 
 which had been deserted less than half an hour before 
 he reached it. The Union columns then pushed 
 briskly on, five miles farther to Big Bethel, where the 
 enemy was found to be in position to receive them, 
 posted in full force behind their batteries. It was per 
 haps not wise under the circumstances to order an 
 assault. The Unionists were depressed by the unfor- 
 tunate accident which prevented their surprising the 
 Rebels. It was ten o’clock in the morning; the troops 
 had not slept for thirty hours, had marched nearly 
 twelve miles, and half the distance in a scorching sun. 
 Still, it was thought best to make an attack, as it 
 would have been humiliating indeed to have returned 
 to the fortress without firing a gun at the foe. For 
 upwards of two hours our troops fought with a deter- 
 mination which would have been creditable to veter- 
 ans. Facing a storm of shot and shell from rifled 
 cannon and masked batteries, they drove the Rebels 
 from their first line of intrenclunents, when other and 
 more formidable batteries opened upon them and 
 forced them to retire from the unequal contest. The 
 retreat was conducted in good order, Duryea’s Zou- 
 aves covering the rear of the retiring columns in the 
 
 2 * 
 
34 
 
 BATTLES poll THE UNION. 
 
 most gallant manner, keeping the enemy in check and 
 picking off from the pursuing lines of the exultant 
 Confederates the more reckless and daring who ven- 
 tured in advance of their comrades. 
 
 The Federal officers deported themselves with great 
 coolness and intrepidity. It is generally conceded 
 that the enemy brought into this action between two 
 and three thousand infantry, with from fifteen to 
 twenty pieces of artillery. The Federal loss was 
 about forty killed and wounded. The loss of the 
 enemy is not definitely known, but is supposed to 
 have been somewhat less than ours, from the fact that 
 they were protected by earth works, while we assaulted 
 their works from an open field. Our forces retired in 
 perfect order to Hampton, where they were met by 
 General Butler, and subsequently transported in flat 
 boats to Fortress Monroe. The failure of the expedi- 
 tion was a great disappointment to the administration 
 and country, and its conduct was for this reason criti- 
 cised with much greater severity than it merited. 
 The Rebels were so frightened by our attack that they 
 abandoned their works and hastened the following 
 day to Yorktown. The gallant Major Winthrop who 
 is credited with the original plan of the expedition, 
 fell in this engagement, while leading his men in a 
 charge upon a redoubt. Noticing some hesitancy in 
 the advancing lines, he dashed to the front, shout- 
 ing, “ Come on boys ! one charge and the day is 
 ours !” This was his last command, and noble words 
 were never more fitly spoken. A drummer boy con- 
 nected with a North Carolina regiment seeing so fair 
 a mark, borrowed a comrade’s musket, took deliberate 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 35 
 
 aim and discharged its contents into the breast of the 
 daring Major, who fell mortally wounded, nearer to 
 the enemy’s works than any other man. 
 
 Lieutenant Grebble also distinguished himself in 
 this action, and scaled his devotion to the cause of the 
 Union with his life. Unlimbering his gun he moved 
 towards the enemy, slowly firing as lie advanced un- 
 til lie arrived within two hundred yards of a masked 
 battery. He had but eleven men to work his gun, 
 and yet with this handful of braves, he faced the deadly 
 fire from the rifled cannon of the foe which had scat- 
 tered our infantry and left him without support. This 
 single piece of artillery was so efficiently worked that 
 he silenced all in the Rebel battery except one. The 
 enemy, crippled and suffering from the persistent and 
 unceasing blows of the young artillerist, made a sortie, 
 thinking doubtless that they could entrap or drive him 
 from his position. “ Now Charlie,” said the gallant 
 lieutenant, to Captain Bartlett, “ I have something to 
 fire at. Just see how I can make them skedaddle.” 
 He gave them three or four charges of grape and they 
 fled back to their intrenchments in confusion. After 
 repulsing the sortie he was left with but five men. 
 Addressing Corporal Peoples, he said, “ All I can 
 now do will be of no avail. Limber up the gun and 
 take it away.” At this moment a ball from the ene- 
 my’s intrenchments struck him in the head and his 
 body fell lifeless to the ground. 
 
 General Butler in his official report, commenting 
 on this adventure says, “ 1 think in the unfortunate 
 combination of circumstances and the result which 
 we have experienced, we have gained more than we 
 
36 
 
 BATTLES FUR TIIE UNION. 
 
 have lost. Our troops have learned to have confi- 
 dence in themselves under fire, the enemy have shown 
 that they will not meet us in the open field, and our 
 officers have learned wherein their organization and 
 drill are inefficient.” 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 BULL IFUTTLT. 
 
 Date of the Battle. — Military Talent Displayed on Both Sides. — Gen- 
 eral Beauregard in Command of the Confederate Forces.— Expecta- 
 tions of the North and South Concerning the Result of the Battle. — 
 The Division Generals Engaged. — Slow Progress of McDowell’s 
 Army. — Heavy Skirmish at Blackburn’s Ford. — Sluggishness of 
 Army Movements. — Patterson’s Failure to Engage Johnston. — Hos- 
 tilities Commenced. — Attack of Confederate Batteries on Burnside’s 
 Brigade. — Struggle for the Hill beyond Warrenton Turnpike. — 
 Colonel Hunter Severely Wounded. — Success of the Union Anns 
 up to Three o’clock P. M. — Confederate Reenforcements Turn the 
 Scale. — Panic of our Forces. They Break and Fly in Confusion.— 
 The Union Army a Mass of Fugitives. — Disastrous end of the Bat- 
 tle. — Patterson Blamed. 
 
 
 T HE Field of Bull Run and the Plains of Manassas 
 will never lose their interest for the imaginative 
 young or the patriotic old ; for on this field and over 
 these plains are scattered the bones of more than 
 forty thousand brave men of both North and South, 
 who have met in mortal combat and laid down their 
 lives in defence of their principles. 
 
 On the twenty -first of July, 1861, was fought the 
 battle of Bull Run,, the first of a long series of en- 
 gagements on these historic plains. The battles of 
 Bristoe, Groveton, Manassas, Centreville, and Chan- 
 tilly succeeded in 1862, and in the summer and 
 autumn of 1863 followed the cavalry actions at Aldie, 
 Middleburg, Upperville, and New Baltimore. 
 
38 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNIOX. 
 
 No battle ground on the continent of America can 
 present to the generations yet to come, such a gigan- 
 tic Roll of Honor. Here also was displayed the best 
 military talent, the keenest strategy, and the highest 
 engineering skill of our civil war. Here were assem- 
 bled the great representative leaders of slavery and 
 freedom. Here, Scott, McDowell, Pope, and Meade, 
 on the Federal side, and Beauregard, Johnston, and 
 Lee on the Confederate side, have in turn held the 
 reins of battle and shared both victory and defeat. 
 
 The action which resulted in the fall of Fort 
 Sumter developed extraordinary talent in the Rebel 
 General P. G. T. Beauregard, and brought him con 
 spicuously before the Confederate Government. Called 
 for by the unanimous voice of the Southern people, 
 he was now ordered to take command of the main 
 portion of the Confederate army in Northern Vir 
 ginia. He selected Manassas Junction as his base ot 
 operations, and established his outposts near Fairfax 
 Court House, seventeen miles from Washington. 
 
 General Beau regard’s forces on the line of Bull 
 Run, numbered on the sixteenth of July nearly forty 
 thousand men and sixty-four pieces of artillery, to-, 
 getlier with a considerable body of cavalry. The 
 threatening attitude of this force, almost within sight 
 of the National Capital, led General Scott to concen- 
 trate the Union forces in that quarter with a view to 
 meeting the Rebels in battle, and if possible, giving 
 a death blow to the Rebellion. 
 
 Ludicrous indeed, in the light of subsequent events, 
 was the general conviction of the hostile sections that 
 a single decisive engagement would terminate the war. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UXIOX. 
 
 39 
 
 Little did the Unionists then know of the ambitious 
 designs of the pro slavery leaders, and still less did the 
 uneducated, misguided masses of the South know of 
 the patriotism, resources, and invincible determina- 
 tion of the North. On both sides there was great 
 popular anxiety for a general battle to determine the 
 question of relative manhood: and especially on the 
 side of the South, from an impression that one dis- 
 tinct and large combat, resulting in its favor and 
 showing conspicuously its superior valor, would alarm 
 the North sufficiently to lead it to abandon the war. 
 The New York Tribune, which was supposed at that 
 time to be a faithful representative of the sentiment 
 and temper of the North, said, on the nineteenth of 
 July, 1861, “ We have been most anxious that this 
 struggle should be submitted, at the earliest mo- 
 ment, to the ordeal of a fair decisive battle. Give 
 the Unionists a fair field, equal weapons and equal 
 numbers, and we ask no more. Should the Rebel 
 forces at all justify the vaunts of their journalistic 
 trumpeters, we shall candidly admit the fact. If 
 they can beat double the number of Unionists, they 
 can end the struggle on their own terms.” 
 
 A field for the grand combat was soon found, but 
 its results were destined to disappoint both the victors 
 and the vanquished. The South had looked forward 
 to this field for an acknowledgment of its independ- 
 ence, the North for a downfall of the Rebellion. 
 
 At noon, on the seventeenth of July, the Federal 
 troops, under the immediate command of General 
 Irvin McDowell, struck tents and took up their line 
 of march towards Fairfax, without baggage, and 
 
40 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 carrying three days rations in their haversacks. Qne 
 division, under General Tyler, which had been en- 
 camped at Falls Church, marched to Vienna, while 
 the main column, led by McDowell in person, moved 
 direct from Alexandria to Fairfax Court House. 
 
 The head of General Tyler’s division reached 
 Vienna at sunset. The infantry turned into the fields, 
 while the artillery took position on the hills. Near 
 the railroad was a large woodpile, behind which the 
 artillery took shelter when they fired upon an Ohio 
 regiment passing in the cars. The wood was found 
 convenient for bivouac fires, and the boys helped 
 themselves to it without ceremony. 
 
 The force commanded by McDowell numbered about 
 thirty-five thousand men, all of whom, with the ex- 
 ception of less than one regiment of the old regular 
 army, were raw troops, who not only had never smelt 
 ■ powder, but were scarcely instructed in the simplest 
 rudiments of the manual. Their knowledge of tacti- 
 v cal evolutions amounted to nothing. The best por- 
 
 tion of the troops were militia regiments, whose term 
 of service would expire within four or five days, but 
 who were nevertheless launched into the campaign 
 with the vague idea that they had long enough to 
 serve to accomplish the purpose of the expedition. 
 This undisciplined and unstable mass was divided into 
 five divisions, each consisting of two or more brigades, 
 and was commanded as follows: First Division — 
 Brigadier General D. Tyler, Connecticut Militia; 
 Second Division — Colonel David Hunter, Third U. S. 
 Cavalry ; Third Division — Colonel S. P. Heintzelman, 
 Seventeenth U. S. Infantry ; Fourth Division — Briga 
 
BATTLES FOR THE EX I OX. 
 
 41 
 
 dier General T. Runyon, New Jersey Militia ; Fifth 
 Division — Colonel Dixon S. Niles, Second U. S. In- 
 fantry. 
 
 Accompanying the army were fifty-five pieces of 
 artillery, and an unnecessarily large train. Owing to 
 the inexperience of the troops in marching, and the 
 obstructions placed in the way of the retiring enemy, 
 the progress of McDowell’s army was exceedingly 
 slow, and it was not until eleven o’clock of the 
 eighteenth that General Tyler’s division, forming the 
 advance, entered Centreville, a small village seven 
 miles northeast of Manassas Junction, and separated 
 from it by Bull Run, which is a fordable stream flow- 
 ing in a southeasterly direction into the Potomac. 
 
 From Centreville. two roads diverge towards Bull 
 Run, of which the more easterly and direct strikes 
 the stream at Blackburn’s Ford, not far from the 
 Junction: while the other, known as the Warrenton 
 Turnpike, takes a westerly course and crosses Bull 
 Run at the Stone Bridge, four miles higher up. The 
 village itself lies on the west side of an elevated 
 ridge, and is capable of being strongly fortified. 
 
 Without waiting for the main body to come up, 
 General Tyler immediately pushed forward a recon- 
 noisance to Blackburn’s Ford, where, rather unex- 
 pectedly, the enemy was discovered to be in large force. 
 A heavy skirmish ensued, with considerable artillery 
 firing; but the confederate position sheltered by dense 
 woods, being considered too strong to be carried with- 
 out developing a general engagement, the Federal 
 troops were ordered back to Centreville, having ex- 
 perienced a loss of nearly one hundred men. That 
 
42 
 
 BATTLES FOR TILE UNION. 
 
 of the enemy was somewhat less. During the 
 eighteenth and nineteenth, McDowell concentrated Ids 
 army, with the exception of Runyon’s Division, in 
 and around Centreville, with a view of attacking the 
 Rebels along Bull Run, and between this stream and 
 Manassas Junction on Saturday, the twentieth. Here 
 again, the dilatoriness which seemed to be insepara- 
 ble from the movements of this army, manifested 
 itself. The subsistence which should have been ready 
 on the evening of the eighteenth, did not arrive until 
 twenty-four hours later, so that the forward move- 
 ment was postponed to Sunday, the twenty-first. The 
 intervening time was occupied in reconnoitering Bull 
 Run above and below Stone Bridge. By the evening 
 of the twentieth McDowell had arranged his plan ot 
 battle, which, in general terms, contemplated a flank 
 movement in force against the enemy’s left wing, with 
 feints on his right and center. As it was found im. 
 practicable to cross the stream at Blackburn’s Ford 
 or the Stone Bridge, on account of the steepness of 
 the opposite bank and the obstructions accumulated 
 by the enemy, he decided that the divisions of Hun- 
 ter and Ileintzelman should make the passage at 
 Sudley Spring, two miles above the Stone Bridge, 
 while Tyler demonstrated at the latter place in readi- 
 ness to cross and support the main attacking column 
 when occasion should offer. The division of General 
 Miles was to be stationed as a reserve at Centreville. 
 The Confederate forces were distributed on the twen- 
 tieth along the right bank of Bull Run from Union 
 Hill, two miles below Blackburn’s Ford, to the Stone 
 Bridge, and on that day comprised probably not far 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 43 
 
 from twenty-five thousand men, under the command 
 of General Beauregard. By the culpable, if not 
 criminal negligence of General Patterson, Johnston’s 
 forces had been permitted to slip away from Win- 
 chester in the valley, and a considerable portion of 
 them had already arrived with their- commander. 
 Although Johnston was the senior of Beauregard, he 
 waived his privilege of assuming the chief direction 
 of the Rebel army, upon seeing the dispositions made 
 by his associate. 
 
 Our army being now prepared for an advance, re- 
 ceived orders to move at two o’clock in the morning 
 of the twenty-first. But neither officers nor men 
 seemed to comprehend the fact that an encounter with 
 the enemy would terminate their march, and so much 
 time was consumed in getting ready to move and in 
 the march itself, that the head of the column did not 
 reach Sudley Springs until ten o’clock, a distance of 
 eight miles from the starting point, whereas, accord- 
 ing to McDowell’s calculation, it should have been 
 there three hours sooner. On arriving at Bull Run 
 the men, being over-heated and thirsty, halted to fill 
 their canteens, which was the occasion of more delay; 
 so that when the advance brigade of Hunter’s divi- 
 sion, led by Colonel Burnside, debouched from the 
 woods near Stone Bridge, it was past twelve o’clock. 
 The tardiness of our troops in executing a flank 
 movement, enabled Beauregard to withdraw his forces 
 from Blackburn’s Ford and concentrate them at the 
 Stone Bridge. Beauregard was right in conjecturing 
 that our troops in front of both places were not in- 
 tending to make a serious attack, and the heavy clouds 
 
44 
 
 BATTLES FUR THE UNION. 
 
 of dust arising in the direction of Sudley Springs 
 seemed to indicate to him that beyond doubt the main 
 body of our army was moving in that direction. He 
 even projected a flank movement against Centreville, 
 but through the miscarriage of an order failed to exe- 
 cute it. 
 
 The arrival of installments of Johnston’s troops 
 during the morning, increased Beauregard’s force to 
 nearly forty thousand men, now concentrated at 
 Manassas Junction. 
 
 The action commenced at eleven o’clock a. m., by 
 an attack of the Confederate batteries, well protected 
 by woods, upon General Burnside’s brigade, which for 
 some moments was subjected to a severe fire. Colo- 
 nel Porter attracted by the cannonading came up to 
 the support of Burnside, with Griffin’s battery and a 
 battalion of regulars. 
 
 Burnside thus reinforced, pushed back the enemy 
 beyond the Warrenton Turnpike, thereby enabling the 
 brigades of Sherman and Keys of Tyler’s division, to 
 cross Bull Run a short distance above the Stone 
 Bridge and take part in the engagement. This divis- 
 ion, in accordance with the plan of the battle, had 
 been manceuvering during the morning against the 
 Stone Bridge, and one of its brigades commanded by 
 Colonel Schenck still remained in position on the left 
 bank of the stream. The remaining brigade under 
 Colonel Richardson conducted the feint at Blackburn’s 
 Ford. 
 
 Colonel Heintzelman who crossed at Sudley Springs 
 in the rear of Hunter, now came up with his division, 
 and uniting it with our main force on the right bank 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 45 
 
 of Bull Run, pressed the Confederates up the slopes 
 of a liill beyond the Warrenton Turnpike where we 
 were met by some well posted batteries which played 
 with effect upon our advancing columns. The strug- 
 gle for the possession of this hill was one of great 
 determination, and our undisciplined troops, though 
 fighting on unknown ground and against an enemy 
 protected by woods and earthworks, showed decided 
 pluck and considerable steadiness. Colonel Hunter 
 having been severely wounded while leading the flank- 
 ing column was succeeded by Colonel Heintzelman. 
 
 Inch by inch and step by step the Confederates were 
 pushed back, yielding their ground reluctantly and 
 making repeated attempts to disable or capture our 
 artillery under Griffin and Pickett, which had been 
 advanced to within a few hundred yards of their line 
 of battle. Three determined charges were made upon 
 the former, the horses of which had been killed or dis- 
 abled. Their third assardt was repulsed with great 
 spirit, and they were pushed back behind their rifle 
 pits. General Keys had in the mean time made a 
 detour of the hill with his brigade, for the purpose of 
 attacking the enemy on his right flank, and the sap- 
 pers and miners had been put to work to remove the 
 obstructions in front of the Stone Bridge, so as to 
 allow the remaining brigade of Tyler’s division to cross 
 and co-operate with the main force. 
 
 Success had attended the Union arms up to three 
 o’clock in the afternoon. The Confederates had been 
 driven nearly a mile and a half from their original 
 position, and their final disappearance gave our troops 
 a few moments of much needed rest ; in fact our army 
 
46 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 was so much exhausted by a twelve hours’ march and 
 several hours in line of battle that it was in poor con- 
 dition to reap the fruits of victory. In his official 
 report General McDowell says : “ They had been up 
 since two o’clock in the morning and had made what 
 to those unused to such things, seemed a long march, 
 before coming into action, though the longest distance 
 gone over was not more than nine and a half miles ; 
 and though they had three days’ provisions served out 
 to them the day before, many no doubt either did not 
 eat them or threw them away on the march or during 
 the battle, and were therefore without food. They had 
 done much severe fighting. Some of the regiments 
 which had been driven from the hill in the first two 
 attempts of the enemy to regain possession of it, had 
 become shaken, were unsteady and had many men 
 out of the ranks.” On the other hand the Confeder- 
 ates had marched a comparatively short distance and 
 fought under the advantage of knowing that every 
 succeeding hour would add to their strength and 
 would, as a natural consequence, comparatively weaken 
 their enemy. Every train from the valley brought 
 regiments or brigades from Johnston’s command 
 while no re-inforcements had been sent to the unsup- 
 ported troops of McDowell, nor was it probable that 
 any could be sent. Hence the situation of the Con- 
 federates even after they had been compelled to seek 
 shelter in the woods, was really less critical than ours, 
 for their supports were already upon the field. In 
 fact the Rebel line of battle had barely retired from 
 the open field when dense clouds of dust rising from 
 the direction of the railroad, was an evidence of the 
 
BATTLES EOk 117E UNION. 
 
 47 
 
 arrival of fresh troops, and from their position on the 
 hill our soldiers could perceive long and -well ordered 
 columns of infantry hastening up in the Confederate 
 rear. It was whispered instantly from rank to rank 
 that General Patterson had come to their assistance ; 
 and then the Plains of Manassas were made to ring 
 with the hearty cheers of the Boys in Blue. The sur- 
 prise and consternation may he imagined when our 
 men heard still louder cheers breaking out along the 
 whole Rebel front followed by a sharp lire from the 
 woods on their right which rapidly extended to their 
 rear, Patterson had neither come to their aid nor 
 moved from his position, and the troops whose appear- 
 ance had called forth such an outburst of enthusiasm 
 were Johnston’s remaining brigade under General 
 Kirby Smith which arrived in season to turn the scale 
 in favor of the Confederates. 
 
 The effect of this surprise upon our army was 
 extremely disheartening. The first line recoiled before 
 the fire of the enemy, and conf used by vague appre- 
 hensions of being surrounded by overwhelming num- 
 bers, became panic stricken and fell into disorder. 
 The example was contagious. Regiment after regi- 
 ment broke and fled in confusion down the hill, the 
 panic momentarily increasing, until the greater part 
 of the but recently victorious army, had become a 
 mass of fugitives rushing pell mell across the War- 
 renton Turnpike to the fords at which they had crossed 
 in the morning, completely indifferent to the com- 
 mands of their officers. 
 
 As our retreating columns approached Bull Run the 
 miscellaneous crowd of teamsters and civilians on the 
 
48 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 other side who had not crossed the stream caught the 
 infection and suddenly turned their faces towards 
 Washington, notwithstanding the Confederates were 
 some miles distant and from eight to twelve thousand 
 fresh Union troops who had not as yet been engaged, 
 were in readiness to withstand their attack. But the 
 Rebels, whether too much exhausted, or intimidated by 
 the firmness of our reserves, made no attempt to pur- 
 sue their advantage, and beyond liarrassing our retreat 
 with a few squadrons of cavalry, contented themselves 
 with occupying the field of battle. 
 
 Our losses, according to the official report of General 
 McDowell, were four hundred and eighty-six killed, 
 one thousand and twelve wounded, and thirteen hun- 
 dred and four missing. Considerable artillery was 
 abandoned during the retreat, including the batteries 
 of Griffin and Rickets, which through loss of horses fell 
 into the hands of the enemy at the beginning of the 
 panic. The Confederate loss as reported by General 
 Beauregard was three hundred and seventy-eight 
 killed, fourteen hundred and eighty-nine wounded and 
 thirty-five missing. On the Union side, Colonel Came- 
 ron of the Seventy-ninth New York Volunteers was 
 killed, Colonels Hunter and Heintzelman wounded, 
 and Colonels Wilcox and Corcoran were taken pris- 
 oners. The Confederate Generals Bee and Bartow 
 were killed and General Kirby Smith wounded. 
 
 Thus ended the famous battle of Bull Run, of which 
 more absurd stories have been told than of any engage- 
 ment of modern times, and the result of which filled 
 the Rebels with an inflated idea of their superiority and 
 contempt for their enemy, for which they were shortly 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 49 
 
 compelled to pay dear. Our army, fighting under 
 many disadvantages and against overpowering num- 
 bers, was uniformly successful until their sudden 
 panic ; and the vigor with which they pushed the 
 Confederates may be seen in the official reports of the 
 killed and wounded, and in their utter failure to pur- 
 sue our retreating columns. The chief cause of our 
 defeat may be attributed to the stupidity of General 
 Patterson, who should have engaged Johnston on the 
 Potomac and thereby prevented his forming a junction 
 with Beauregard at Manassas. Had Patterson at- 
 tacked or followed Johnston the battle might have 
 terminated very differently, and the struggle which 
 was protracted through four bloody years have been 
 closed in a single campaign. 
 
 3 
 
CHAPTER IT. 
 
 WILSON’S CREEK. 
 
 Ganeral Fremont in Command of the Western Department.— Rendez- 
 vous at St. Louis.— Lyon in a Critical Situation.— The March at 
 Night.— Out of the Streets of Springfield.— The Midnight Halt.— 
 Camp Fires of the Enemy.— The Rebels at Breakfast.— Sigel adds 
 
 an Unexpected Dish to their Morning Repast. — Panic and Flight. 
 
 Battle and Victory, followed by Confusion. — The Mistaken Troops. — 
 “Our Friends are Firing Upon us.” — Sigel’s Disaster.— General 
 Lyon at the Front. — They cannot Break His Lines. — Heroism and 
 Bravery Conquer Numbers. — Lyon’s Last Charge. — Victory and 
 Death. — The Nation’s Beloved Hero. — Rebel Army Routed and in 
 Full Retreat. — Withdrawal to Springfield. 
 
 I MMEDIATELY after our repulse at Bull Run, Gen- 
 eral John Charles Fremont, a brave and accom- 
 plished officer who had distinguished himself in early 
 life in an expedition to California, was assignedto the 
 command of the Western Department, comprising 
 Illinois and the states and territories lying between 
 the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains. General 
 Fremont assumed command on the twenty-sixth of 
 July, 1861, and established his head-quarters at St. 
 Louis, making that point a place of rendezvous for 
 the organization of recruits then arriving as reen- 
 forcements to his army. He also located a camp at 
 Jefferson City for the reception and instruction of 
 volunteers, and placed it under the command of Gen- 
 eral John Pope. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 51 
 
 General Fremont put forth every exertion in his 
 power to raise and equip a force for the rescue of the 
 state from the grasp of the Confederates, who from 
 the first, were determined to possess it. Regiments 
 of undisciplined troops soon began to pour in, but 
 there were neither arms nor equipments sufficient for 
 them, and the situation was indeed critical. Cairo 
 and St. Louis were both threatened by the constantly 
 increasing rebel force near Columbus ; while in south- 
 western Missouri the bold and intrepid Lyon, who had 
 pressed on to Springfield, was in a critical position 
 owing to the greatly superior force of McCulloch and 
 Rains, who were advancing to meet him, — his own 
 little army being in the meantime reduced by the ex- 
 piration of the term of sendee of the Iowa three 
 months regiments. * 
 
 Fremont’s force at St. Louis, undisciplined and but 
 poorly armed, was hardly sufficient to withstand an 
 attack from such a force as the Rebels could bring 
 against it ; and Cairo, a position of considerable im- 
 portance in a military point of view, was defended by 
 a handful of unorganized troops. If any reenforce- 
 ments were sent to General Lyon they could not reach 
 him in time to be of service, while their "withdrawal 
 would seriously endanger St. Louis and Cairo. He 
 was poorly supplied with cavalry, he was one hundred 
 and fifty miles from any railroad, and had no present 
 hope of reenforcements. Had he attempted to retreat 
 with such an army, it is highly probable that the en- 
 tire force would have become disorganized and de- 
 stroyed. Nor could he remain on the defensive at 
 Springfield with an almost certain prospect of capture 
 
52 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 confronting him. Under this discouraging array of 
 circumstances, General Lyon did not wait to be 
 attacked, but determined to bring on the battle him- 
 self. His only hope lay in a bold stroke. He made 
 it at the cost of his life, but his army was saved. 
 
 From the village of Springfield, Missouri, two roads 
 lead outward — one to Fayetteville, Arkansas, south- 
 westward, and one to Mt. Yernon, due westward. 
 Both these roads cross Wilson’s creek, five miles 
 apart. Calling this five miles of Cross Hoad the base 
 of a triangle, running along the stream, Springfield 
 would be the apex, and the ten miles of highway lead- 
 ing from that village to the points of intersection with 
 Wilson’s Creek, would constitute the two remaining 
 sides of the triangle. Looking towards Springfield 
 on this base line at the creek, General Lyon was on 
 the left, Sigel on the right, and the rebel army be- 
 tween. 
 
 It was the night of August ninth. Silently the 
 force under General Lyon marched out of the streets 
 of Springfield, and into the open country to meet the 
 enemy, outnumbering them three to one. At one 
 o’clock on the morning of the tenth they came in 
 sight of the rebel camp fires, and halting cautiously, 
 rested on their arms till day-break. General Lyon 
 hoped by surprising the enemy in front and rear, to 
 put him to rout and gain a victory which would ex- 
 tricate him from the difficulties of his situation. To 
 accomplish this purpose he had divided his command 
 in two columns — his own force taking the Mt. Yer- 
 non road to attack the Rebels in front, and the other 
 column under the intrepid Sigel moving down the 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 53 
 
 Fayetteville road to surprise the enemy in the rear. 
 Sigel had with him six pieces of artillery, two compa- 
 nies of cavalry, and several regiments of infantry. 
 The term of service of the Fifth Missouri volunteers 
 had expired, and Colonel Sigel, by his personal influ- 
 ence had induced them to re-enlist for eight days ; but 
 this re-enlistment had also expired on the day before 
 the battle. Many of the officers had gone home, and 
 a considerable portion of Sigel’ s troops were raw 
 recruits. 
 
 At daybreak on the morning of the tenth, Sigel 
 with his command came within a mile of the rebel 
 camp and captured about forty prisoners — Confeder- 
 ates who were going out for provisions and water. 
 Quietly the Union troops marched up the hills border- 
 ing Wilson’s Creek and beheld below them the rebel 
 encampment. The enemy were breakfasting. A 
 well-directed shot from Sigel’s artillery, sent directly 
 into the encampment, was the first intimation they 
 received of his presence. Surprised into utter disor- 
 der, they retreated panic-stricken down the valley. 
 Our infantry pursued, forming in the camp so recently 
 occupied by the enemy. But, recovering from the 
 first panic the enemy formed in line of battle, oppo- 
 sing Colonel Sigel’s little band with a force three 
 thousand strong. Our artillery and infantry moved 
 into the valley, and after a short engagement the 
 enemy was driven from the field. During this time 
 the sound of battle from the other end of the val- 
 ley road, told Sigel that Lyon was there, and in 
 order to aid him Sigel urged his troops up the valley, 
 obtaining a position where any attempted retreat of 
 
54 
 
 BA1TLES FOR TIIE UNION. 
 
 the enemy might be cut off. He had taken one hun- 
 dred prisoners, and everything looked promising, 
 when by one of those accidents which no one can 
 foresee, his temporary success was turned into disas- 
 ter. The firing at the other end of the Cross Road 
 had ceased, which led Sigel to the impression that 
 Lyon was victorious and his troops in probable pur- 
 suit of the enemy. Large bodies of Confederates ap- 
 pearing to the eastward, and apparently retreating 
 south, confirmed this idea, but owing to the gloom of 
 the morning and the absence of all uniform it was im- 
 possible to distinguish Unionists from Confederates. 
 At this juncture of affairs, Sigel received word that 
 Lyon was advancing victoriously up the road, and the 
 command not to fire upon the advancing troops, was 
 given. Just as the soldiers of Sigel’s command 
 waved their flags in welcome to their supposed com- 
 rades in arms, a destructive fire burst upon them 
 which covered the ground with the dead and the 
 dying, and at the same moment a Rebel battery from 
 the hill sent its scathing shot and shell down upon 
 the bewildered Union ranks. Utter confusion resulted. 
 The cry ran from mouth to mouth, “ Our friends are 
 firing upon us,” — nor could they be persuaded other- 
 wise until the dead fell around them like leaves in 
 autumn time. The horses were shot down at their 
 guns, and death was reaping a terrible harvest. It 
 would not have been strange if a panic had ensued 
 under these circumstances among the best drilled 
 troops, but most of these men were just from peaceful 
 homes and had never before been under fire. 
 
 The disorderly retreat which now commenced can- 
 not, therefore, be wondered at. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 57 
 
 Five cannon were abandoned in the confusion, and 
 the foe, with wild yells, came rushing on. 
 
 Colonel Sigel himself narrowly escaped capture in 
 his efforts to arrest the rout. After this disaster it 
 was impossible for Sigel to join Lyon with the rem- 
 nant of his command, the enemy occupying the only 
 road by which he could do so in time to make the 
 movement of use. There was no alternative for Sigel 
 but to withdraw his shattered ranks from the field as 
 safely as possible. 
 
 Meantime General Lyon on the other road had 
 encountered the enemy’s pickets at day-break, which 
 prevented the surprise from being as great as was 
 that of Sigel. When Lyon reached the north end of 
 the camp he found the enemy prepared to receive him, 
 but he succeeded in gaining a commanding position 
 at the north of the valley in which the camp was sit- 
 uated. Abbott describes this part of the engagement 
 as follows : “ Captain Plummer with four companies 
 of infantry protected his left flank. The battle was 
 now commenced by a fire of shot and shell from Cap- 
 tain Totten’s battery and soon became general. In 
 vain did the Rebel host endeavor to drive Lyon from 
 his well chosen position. On the right, on the left, 
 and in front they assailed him in charge succeeding 
 charge, but in vain. His quick eye detected every 
 movement and successfully met and defeated it. The 
 overwhelming numbers of the Rebels enabled them to 
 replace, after each repulse, their defeated forces with 
 fresh regiments, while Lyon’s little band found no 
 time for rest, no respite from the battle. The Rebel 
 host surged wave after wave upon his heroic lines, as 
 
58 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 billows of the sea dash upon the coast. And as the 
 rocks upon that coast beat back the flood, so did these 
 heroic soldiers of freedom with courage which would 
 have ennobled veterans, and with patriotism which has 
 won a nation’s homage and love, hurl back the tireless 
 surges of rebellion, which threatened to engulf them. 
 It will be enough for any of these patriots to say, ‘ I 
 was at the battle of Wilson’s Creek,’ to secure the 
 warmest grasp of every patriot’s hand. 
 
 “ Wherever the missiles of death flew thickest, and 
 the peril of battle was most imminent, there was Gen- 
 eral Lyon surely to be found. 
 
 “ His young troops needed this encouragement on 
 the part of their adored leader and it inspired them 
 with bravery which nothing else could have conferred. 
 His horse had been shot under him ; three times he 
 had been wounded, and though faint from the loss of 
 blood, he refused to retire even to have his wounds 
 dressed ; in vain did his officers beseech him to avoid 
 so much exposure. It was one of those eventful 
 hours, which General Lyon fully comprehended, in 
 which there was no hope but in despair. 
 
 “Again and again had the enemy been repulsed, only 
 to return again and again, with fresh troops to the 
 charge. Colonels Mitchell, Deitzler, and Andrews 
 were all severely wounded. All the men were ex- 
 hausted with the long unintermitted battle, and it 
 seemed as though one puff of war’s fierce tempest 
 would now sweep away the thin and tremulous line. 
 Just then the Rebels again formed in a fresh and solid 
 column for the charge. With firm and rapid tread 
 and raising unearthly yells they swept up the slope. 
 
BATTLES FOR TUB UNION. 
 
 59 
 
 General Lyon called for the troops standing nearest 
 him to form for an opposing charge. Undaunted, and 
 ready for the battle they inquired ‘ Who will be our 
 leader ?’ ‘ Come on, brave men,’ shouted General- 
 
 Lyon, ‘ I will lead you.’ In a moment he was at 
 their head. At the nest moment they were on the 
 full run : at the next, a deadly storm of bullets swept 
 their ranks, staggering but not checking them in their 
 impetuous advance, — on — on they rushed, for God and 
 Liberty ; and in another moment the foe were dis- 
 persed like dust by the gale. The victory was entire ; 
 this division of the Rebels could rally no more ; the 
 army was saved ; hut Lyon was dead! Two bullets 
 had pierced his bosom. As he fell one of his officers 
 sprang to his side and inquired anxiously, ‘ Are you 
 hurt?’ ‘Not much,’ was his faint reply. They 
 were his last words. He fell asleep to wake no more.” 
 
 After Lyon’s death Major Sturgis assumed com- 
 mand. His forces were exhausted with the long bat- 
 tle ; they had had no water since the evening before, 
 and could, get none nearer than Springfield. A foe 
 confronted them twenty thousand strong, and though 
 one victory had been gained, another battle impended. 
 Sigel’s disaster was unknown to them, and when a 
 heavy column approached from the direction in which 
 Sigel’s guns had been heard, bearing the American 
 flag and wearing uniforms not unlike their own, they 
 naturally supposed the force to be Sigel’s. The ad- 
 vancing troops were allowed to approach unmolested. 
 
 Suddenly the Union banner was hauled down, the 
 Rebel colors went up and at the same time a discharge 
 of artillery from a hill near by, swept our ranks. 
 
 3 * 
 
60 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 The fiercest battle of the day now commenced. But 
 Major Sturgis and his command sustained the unex- 
 pected attack with unwavering firmness. The line 
 remained compact, without a break, and though at 
 times it seemed as though the brave little band would 
 be utterly swept away, yet with muzzle to muzzle and 
 almost hand to hand the unequal contest was waged. 
 Suddenly, by an ingenious manoeuvre, the reserve was 
 brought upon the enemy’s flank and in a short time 
 the whole Rebel army was routed and in full retreat. 
 
 Not having sufficient force to follow up the victory 
 Major Sturgis withdrew to Springfield, reaching that 
 place at about five o’clock in the evening. The dis- 
 comfited foe attempted no molestation. Their plans 
 had been thwarted and their baggage train fired and 
 destroyed. 
 
 Therefore in its results , the battle of Wilson’s Creek 
 may be counted a victory. It is probable that but for 
 the natural mistake into which Sigel’s forces were led, 
 the complete rout of the entire rebel army under 
 Price would have been effected. 
 
 Nor is it probable that an attack conducted in any 
 other way by so small a force upon one so much larger 
 would have been equally successful. 
 
 The results desired were obtained, but at what fear- 
 ful cost ! A nation mourned when Lyon fell. Said 
 the New York Tribune , in an issue of that time. 
 “ Such honors were never before, perhaps, paid to so 
 young a general. 
 
 “Funeral obsequies attended him from the battle- 
 field where he fell, across one half a continent, taken 
 up from state to state, from city to city, from village to 
 
BATTLES FUR THE UNION. 
 
 61 
 
 village and carried forward for near two thousand 
 miles, amid the tearful eyes, the bowed heads and the 
 deepest expressions of personal sorrow of hundreds 
 of thousands of grateful people.” 
 
 Thus was the soil of Missouri again bedewed with 
 patriot gore, and when the young of future genera- 
 tions shall search history for examples of sublime 
 heroism, among those who died for the cause of Union 
 and Liberty, surely no nobler instance can be found 
 than that of Lyon at Wilson’s Creek. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 BAIjIj’S BLUFF. 
 
 Situation of Ball’s Bluff. — The Hostile Armies on Opposite Banks of 
 the River. — Reconnoitre at Drainesville. — Feint of Gorman’s Brig- 
 ade at Edward’s Ferry. — Attack of the Enemy from the Woods. — 
 Union Troops Exposed to a Murderous Fire. — Death of Baker. — 
 Ineffectual Means of Transportation. — Attempts to Regain the 
 Maryland Shore. — Troops Shot or Drowned in Crossing. — Defeat 
 of the Union Arms. — Causes of the Disaster. 
 
 The months of August and September, 1861, passed 
 away without action on the part of General McClellan, 
 who had been elevated to the command of the Army 
 of the Potomac. 
 
 The battle of Ball’s Bluff, which was fought on the 
 twenty first of October, just three months after the en- 
 gagement at Bull Run, was an event that cast a pro- 
 found gloom over the country, not only because of the 
 defeat of the Union arms and the death of a noble and 
 brave officer, but because of the disappointment which 
 it caused to the hopes that had been excited through 
 the growth and development of the army. Ball’s 
 Bluff is the name applied to a part of the bank of the 
 Potomac east of the village of Leesburg. Opposite 
 the Bluff and about one hundred yards away is Harri- 
 son’s Island, a long narrow tract, containing about 
 four hundred acres. Between this island and the 
 Virginia shore the river is about two hundred yards 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 63 
 
 broad, with an exceedingly rapid current. Between 
 the island and the Maryland shore, the stream is nearly 
 three hundred yards wide, but not quite so rapid. A 
 few rods above the upper end of the island is a ferry 
 across the Potomac known as Conrad’s Ferry, and 
 about an equal distance below the island is Edward’s 
 Ferry. The two hostile armies had for many months 
 held the opposite banks of the river at this point. It 
 was here that the Confederates had contemplated an 
 irruption into Maryland to attack Washington. Gen- 
 eral Banks held the Maryland side of the river from 
 Great Falls to Edward’s Ferry ; from that point to 
 Conrad’s Ferry was stationed the division of General 
 Stone, with headquarters at Poolesville. Next in order 
 came the force of Colonel Geary and then that of Col- 
 onel Lander. On the Virginia side the principal Con- 
 federate posts were at Leesburg and Drainesville. 
 As it was important to ascertain the strength of the 
 enemy at the latter place, General McClellan on the 
 nineteenth of October, directed General McCall to 
 make a reconnoisance in that quarter. McCall execu- 
 ted this order the same day and returned to his camp 
 at Poolesville on the twentieth, reporting no enemy in 
 Drainesville nor within four miles of Leesburg. In 
 consequence of this report the following dispatch was 
 sent to General Stone : — 
 
 “To Brigadier-General Stone, 
 
 Poolesville , Md.: 
 
 General McClellan desires me to inform you that Gen- 
 eral McCall occupied Drainesville yesterday, and is still there. 
 Will send out reconnoisances to-day in all directions from that 
 point. The General desires you to keep a good lookout from 
 
64 
 
 BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 Leesburg, to see if tbe movement has the effect to drive them 
 away. Perhaps a slight demonstration on your part would 
 have the effect to move them. 
 
 A. V. Colburn, 
 
 Assistant Adjutant- General." 
 
 As soon as these instructions reached General Stone, 
 he ordered the brigade of General Gorman to Edward’s 
 Ferry ; detachments of the Fifteenth and Twentieth 
 Massachusetts to Harrison’s Island ; and a section of a 
 battery and the California and Tammany Regiments 
 under Colonel Edward D. Baker to Conrad’s Ferry. 
 A feint to cross the river was then made by the force 
 of General Gorman, in full view of the enemy. 
 
 At twenty minutes after one o’clock, on the morn- 
 ing of the twenty-first, Colonel Devens with five com- 
 panies of the Fifteenth Massachusetts, accompanied by 
 Colonel Lee with a portion of the Twentieth Massachu- 
 setts, crossed from Harrison’s Island to the Virginia 
 side and took position on the top of Ball’s Bluff, which 
 at this point rises abruptly some one hundred and 
 fifty feet from the river. In order to draw attention 
 from the movement of Devens, General Stone instruct- 
 ed Colonel Gorman to hurry two companies of the 
 First Minnesota Infantry across the river and to send 
 out a squadron of Cavalry on the Leesburg road. In 
 the meantime General Stone, having received a mes- 
 sage from Colonel Devens stating that he had found 
 no enemy, ordered a battalion of the Fifteenth Massa- 
 chusetts to cross and protect the flank of Devens, and 
 Colonel Baker to be in readiness with his brigade to 
 act as a support if necessary. Colonel Devans con- 
 tinuing to push forward, encountered a large body of 
 
BATTLES FOR TRE UNION. 
 
 65 
 
 Confederate troops near Leesburg a few minutes after 
 sunrise, and immediately fell back in good order to 
 the Bluff. While waiting reinforcements and further 
 orders he was attacked about noon by the enemy who 
 opened fire from a concealed position in the woods. 
 
 The small Union force suffered greatly from this 
 attack, being drawn up in an open field of about six 
 acres and exposed on all sides to the fire of the Con- 
 federate sharpshooters. Detachments of the First Cali- 
 fornia, Twentieth Massachusetts, Tammany Regiment, 
 and four pieces of artillery had now crossed the river, 
 and at twenty minutes after two o’clock in the after- 
 noon, the skirmishing in front became very brisk. 
 
 Colonel Baker, having assumed command of the 
 entire force, formed his line for action at four o’clock 
 * — the Fifteenth and Twentieth Massachusetts on the 
 right, the Californians on the left and the Tammany 
 Regiment and the artillery in the centre. Indications 
 of a large Confederate force now became apparent 
 although none were visible. These troops numbering 
 not far from four thousand men pressing upon the 
 little band of Colonel Baker with increasing vigor and 
 more effective fire, induced a consultation among the 
 Union officers which resulted in a determination to 
 stand. A l'etreat was sure to result in disaster, as such 
 a movement would bring them to the steep brink of 
 the river, where the rapid descent only led to a small 
 boat and a scow as a means of transport over a swift 
 channel. To hold their ground until reinforcements 
 could cross at Edward’s Ferry and come to their aid, 
 was now their only hope. Two companies being 
 pushed forward, to feel the Confederates in the woods 
 
66 
 
 BATTLES FUR THE UNION. 
 
 on the left, were met by a murderous fire which seemed 
 to be the signal for an attack along the whole line of 
 the enemy, who, readily discovering their superiority 
 in numbers, closed in on both sides of the field with 
 overwhelming force. 
 
 The gallant Colonel Baker fell dead while in the act 
 of leading his men in a charge. Colonel Cogswell of 
 the Tammany Regiment now assumed command, and 
 as he found it impossible to hold his position attempt- 
 ed to regain the Maryland shore. Our troops retired 
 in good order closely pursued by the Confederates. 
 On reaching the river but one boat was at hand and 
 that was swamped at the second crossing. After the 
 boat went down no alternative was left but to swim or 
 surrender. The majority chose the former course and 
 throwing their arms into the river, dispersed, some 
 up and some down the bank, and others on logs 
 endeavored to reach Harrison’s Island by swimming. 
 In this attempt many were shot and more were 
 drowned. The artillery was tumbled down the bank 
 but was subsequently taken up by the enemy, together 
 with some cases of shot. 
 
 Not more than nine hundred of our men returned 
 to their camps, about half of the missing having been 
 taken prisoners on the river shore. The Confederates, 
 who were commanded by General Evans, admitted a 
 loss of one hundred and fifty-five. 
 
 During the progress of the battle, General Stone 
 was preparing to cross the river at Edward’s Ferry, 
 but desisted on the receipt of news announcing the 
 death of Colonel Baker and the defeat of his command. 
 Orders were then received from McClellan to hold the 
 
BATTLES FOR TIIE UNIOX. 
 
 67 
 
 Island and Virginia shore at Edward’s Ferry, at all 
 hazards. General Gorman at once proceeded to 
 strengthen his position, and reinforcements came for- 
 ward until there were nearly four thousand Infantry, 
 with Ricketts’ Battery, and a detachment of cavalry, 
 on the Virginia shore, behind five hundred feet of in- 
 trenchments. Further intelligence caused a change 
 of plan and the whole force returned to the Maryland 
 side of the Potomac. 
 
 The principal causes of our repulse at Ball’s Bluff 
 were the selection of a miserable point for crossing 
 the Potomac, insufficient means of transportation and 
 lack of a definite object in venturing into a position 
 where retreat was utterly impossible in the face of 
 greatly superior numbers. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 mill spring-. 
 
 Geographical Location of Mill Spring. — Encampment of Zollicoffer.— 
 Occupancy of Logan’s Cross Roads by Union Troops. — The Enemy 
 Hedged in. — Starvation or Battle. — Zollicoffer Leads the Rebel Ad- 
 vance. — Colonel Fry Discovers a General’s Uniform under a Rubber 
 Overcoat. — The Fatal Shot. — Zollicoffer Falls. — Consternation and 
 Rout of the Enemy. — A Deserted Camp. — Victory for the “Boys 
 in Blue.” 
 
 On the blue waters of the Cumberland, about 
 twenty-five miles southeast of Columbia, and fifteen 
 miles west of Somerset, is situated Mill Spring, Ken- 
 tucky, made famous as one of the battle grounds of 
 the war, and as the spot where fell the popular Con- 
 federate General Zollicoffer, shot dead by the pistol 
 of Colonel Fry of the Fourth Kentucky Volunteers. 
 
 During the late autumn of 1861, and early winter 
 of 1862, General Zollicoffer was encamped at Mill 
 Spring, on the southern bank of the Cumberland. 
 Resolving also to occupy the opposite or northern 
 bank at Camp Beach Grove, he fortified the latter 
 place with earthworks, and placed there five regiments 
 of infantry, twelve guns, and several hundred cavalry, 
 keeping at Mill Spring two regiments of infantry and 
 a few hundred horse. About the first of January, 
 1862, the force was augmented by the brigade of 
 General Carroll, from Knoxville, — General George B. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 59 
 
 Crittenden having arrived and taken command a short 
 time previous. 
 
 On the seventeenth of January, pursuant to orders 
 from General Buell, General Thomas advanced and 
 occupied Logan’s Cross Roads, ten miles north of the 
 Beech Grove Camp. The enemy was in a critical 
 situation. Already on short allowance, their supplies 
 of food promised to be cut off entirely. The sur- 
 rounding country had been exhausted, and the sup- 
 plies which might have come down the Cumberland 
 from Nashville, were prevented by the Union forces 
 stationed at Columbia. In every direction the roads 
 leading outward into the more remote country were 
 impassible. Added to this, General Schoepf held the 
 key to the position fifteen miles to the eastward, at 
 Somerset. Therefore, the only way out of this en- 
 vironment of difficulties which surrounded them, was 
 to make an attack upon the Union forces at Logan's 
 Cross Roads. The design was to attack our troops 
 before the force at Somerset would be able to join 
 them, and also before the reserve at Columbia could 
 be brought up. In pursuance of this plan, on the 
 nineteenth of January, the brigade of Zollicoffer 
 moved in advance, followed by that of Carroll and the 
 reserve, constituting a force of about four thousand 
 infantry. Zollicoffer’s command consisted of four 
 regiments of infantry and four guns. Two Missis- 
 sippi companies were deployed as skirmishers, march- 
 ing one on each side of the road. About two miles 
 from camp the Federal cavalry was encountered and 
 driven in, and Zollicoffer rode confidently on, as he 
 believed, to victory. A rubber overcoat disguised his 
 
70 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 uniform, but his features were too well known to pre- 
 vent him from being a mark for the muskets of the 
 “ boys in blue.” The fatal hour for him crept on 
 apace, and as the Confederate General, surrounded by 
 his staff, ascended a hill, he encountered the main 
 body of the Federal troops. It was at this point that 
 Colonel Fry of the Fourth Kentucky infantry, recog- 
 nizing the Rebel leader, took swift aim with his re- 
 volver, and the fall of Zollicoffer attested the sure 
 work of the pistol ball. 
 
 Consternation and disorder among the Confederate 
 troops followed, and in the resulting confusion the 
 Ninth Ohio charged with the bayonet, turning the 
 enemy’s flank and driving him from the field. Thus 
 the Confederate forces fell ingloriously back to their 
 intrenchments on the Cumberland. 
 
 The cannonade was continued until dark. In the 
 evening the forces under General Sclioepf at Somer- 
 set, came up, and on the following morning the can- 
 nonading was resumed with Parrott guns, the fire 
 being directed in part against the ferry across Fishing 
 Creek — a swollen torrent between Columbia and Som- 
 erset — to keep the enemy from crossing. Upon ap- 
 proaching the intrenchments it was discovered that 
 the enemy had decamped during the night, abandon- 
 ing everything, — twelve guns, with caissons filled, one 
 hundred and fifty wagons, one thousand horses, and 
 many stores. After crossing they had burned the 
 ferry boats, so that pursuit was impossible. As they 
 could not hold the camp they were obliged to abandon 
 everything and retire to the most accessible point of 
 supply. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 71 
 
 The Union loss was thirty-nine killed, and two hun- 
 dred and seven wounded. The Confederates lost one 
 hundred and ninety killed, sixty-two wounded, and 
 eighty-nine prisoners, besides the loss of General Zol- 
 licoffer and Baillie Peyton, and also a large number 
 that were drowned while crossing the Cumberland. 
 
 The battle of Mill Spring was one of a series of 
 engagements which resulted so successfully, that by 
 March 1st, 1862, every Confederate soldier had left 
 the State. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PEA R.IIDG-E. 
 
 The Boston Mountains Camp. — Red Skin Re-enforcements. — Sigel’s 
 Ten-mile Fight. — The Long Battle- Line. — “ War’s Thunders and 
 Flowers of Red Shot.” — Sigel Frustrates McCulloch. — Struggle 
 Between Osterhaus and McCulloch. — Bold Charge of Indiana 
 Troops. — Re-enforcements. — Night brings a Suspension of Hostili- 
 ties. — Battle at Sunrise. — Terrible Array of Union Batteries. — Two 
 Hours of Iron Hail. — The Enemy Completely Routed. — Precipitous 
 Retreat to the Boston Mountains. — Death of McCulloch. — Fearful 
 Barbarities. — Burial of the Dead. — Elk Horn. 
 
 T HE opening scenes in the drama of this battle 
 slowly merged into view during the first days of 
 March, 1862. The wild scenery of Northwestern 
 Arkansas, where the rugged outlines of the Boston 
 Mountains throw their shadows in the sun, constituted 
 its shadowy back-ground. 
 
 Sterling Price and Ben McCulloch were there, hav- 
 ing been driven from Sugar Creek, fifty miles away, 
 by our forces. There, too, Earl Van Dorn’s troops 
 reenforced them, not only with the flower of the South- 
 ern chivalry but also with the dusky ranks of the Lo 
 family — a body of Choctaw, Cherokee, and Chickasaw 
 Indians under the leadership of Confederate Pike. 
 Added to this, came also the division of McIntosh, 
 making the powerful array of nine thousand Missouri 
 State troops under Price, six Arkansas regiments un- 
 der McCulloch, five Texan regiments under Van Dorn, 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 73 
 
 and some three thousand Indians under Pike and 
 McIntosh, aggregating between twenty and twenty- 
 five thousand men. This force carried seventy guns, 
 and Yan Dorn was their chief. The Union General 
 Curtis waited expectantly at Sugar Creek, a short 
 distance south of Pea Ridge, preparing himself for 
 the storm of battle about to break above his head. 
 
 Meantime, on March fifth, Sigel, then at Benton- 
 ville, ten miles away, received orders to join Curtis at 
 Pea Ridge, and on the next day the command was 
 promptly executed. But it was a hazardous and 
 difficult achievement. Four Confederate regiments 
 attacked his rear-guard, which consisted of the Thirty- 
 Sixth Illinois, and Second Missouri. But the attack 
 was useless, for these brave men cut their way through 
 the solid living wall of Rebel soldiery and rejoined 
 their comrades, though with a loss of twenty-eight 
 killed and wounded and a number of prisoners. For 
 the entire distance of ten miles Sigel contested every 
 step of his advance. Supported by the infantry, his 
 guns were halted, and the advancing Rebel ranks, un- 
 able to stand before the discharges of grape and shell 
 from the effective aim of our artillerymen, broke and 
 fled in confusion. Before the scattered ranks of the 
 enemy could re-form, the guns of Sigel were limbered 
 and the troops fell back into position behind another 
 battery planted at the next turn in the road. This 
 programme was continuously enacted for the entire 
 distance of ten miles between Bentonville and Pea 
 Ridge. At last Sigel arrived at the west end of Pea 
 Ridge, where he formed a junction with the divisions 
 of Generals Carr and Davis. 
 
74 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 On the morning of the fifth of March, General Van 
 Dorn moved forward with his command, taking with 
 him four days cooked rations. He had decided to 
 attack our rear and endeavor thus to cut off our base 
 of supplies and reenforcements. 
 
 The Union position was on the main road leading 
 from Springfield to Fayetteville, and General Van 
 Dorn, leaving that road near the latter place and 
 passing through Bentonville, entered the main road 
 again near the state boundary eight miles north of 
 Sugar Creek. A considerable body of Indians took 
 position about two miles away on our right, to divert 
 attention from the main attack in the rear, while a 
 small force was left to make a feint upon our front. 
 The first two divisions of the Union troops were com- 
 manded by Sigel, and the entire force was in four 
 divisions under Colonel Osterhaus, General Asbotli, 
 Colonel Jefferson C. Davis, and Colonel Carr, respeck 
 ively. When the intention of the enemy to attack 
 our right and rear became apparent to General Cur- 
 tis, he changed front so that his right wing which was 
 at Sugar Hollow Creek, became his left wing under 
 Sigel, while Carr at the head of Big Sugar Creek held 
 the new right. The line stretched across Pea Ridge. 
 It was early on the morning of the seventh, and Carr’s 
 division advanced to a point up the road within four 
 miles of the Arkansas and Missouri State line, while 
 the brigade of Colonel Dodge filed off from the main 
 road east of the Elk Horn hotel, and Yandeveer’s 
 brigade passed a half mile beyond the hotel, taking 
 position on tire left of the road. 
 
 The enemy, sheltered by some woods, were posted 
 
BATTLES FOR TIIE UNION. 
 
 75 
 
 on a declivity in front of the Elk Horn house. Col- 
 onel Dodge now inaugurated the battle by opening 
 fire on the enemy at that point, but he met with a 
 prompt response. At the same time also, a battery 
 from our lines sent its well-directed fire into the ranks 
 of the enemy with great effect, hut was sharply replied 
 to, exploding two of the Union caissons. Nine o’clock 
 had arrived and the whole line was engaged in the 
 fury of battle. In a short time after this the enemy 
 captured one of our guns, hut the Ninth Iowa infantry 
 supports coming up at this time discharged them fire 
 with such vigor into the Rebel ranks that they were 
 driven to the shelter of the woods. Repeated charges 
 were made by the enemy, and another gun and caisson 
 were captured, but the steady fire of our troops strewed 
 the ground with their dead. Carr, holding an unten- 
 able position and overpowered by superior numbers, 
 was compelled to retire until about four in the after- 
 noon, when Colonel Asboth supporting him with two 
 regiments and a battery, he was enabled to hold his 
 ground for the night. The enemy were armed with 
 double-barreled shot guns, loaded with ball and buck 
 shot — an effective weapon at short range. 
 
 On the left wing McCulloch endeavored to form a 
 junction with the troops of Yan Dorn and Price, thus 
 surrounding our army on three sides and cutting off 
 our retreat. But the quick eyes of Sigel, detecting the 
 movement, he ordered forward three pieces of flying 
 artillery and a force of cavalry to take a commanding 
 position and delay the movements of the enemy until 
 our infantry could be brought up in position for an 
 attack. But these pieces had hardly obtained their 
 
 4 
 
76 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 position -when an overwhelming force of the enemy’s 
 cavalry swept down upon them, capturing our artillery 
 and driving our horsemen. This movement enabled 
 their infantry to reach in safety the cover of a dense 
 wood where McCulloch encountered Osterhaus and a 
 severe struggle ensued. Davis was now ordered to 
 the support of the Union line, and the Third Iowa was 
 sent forward to clear the timber ; but the enemy were 
 in great numbers, the ranks of our cavalry were 
 broken, in disorder, and pursued, and we suffered the 
 captime of three guns. But at this critical juncture 
 Osterhaus and his Indiana regiments came up on the 
 double-quick and sending a murderous fire into the 
 enemy’s ranks, charged immediately after with the. 
 bayonet. This bold charge put to rout the Indians 
 and Texans, and the three captured field pieces were 
 recovered. The command was then reenforced by 
 General Sigel, and the action re- commenced with 
 greater fury than before. 
 
 The heavy guns of the enemy were brought into 
 position and an artillery battle took place which re- 
 sulted in the retirement of the enemy in confusion, 
 leaving the Union troops masters of this part of the 
 bloody field. Night let fall her intervening curtain of 
 darkness between the contending armies, with Union 
 success on the left, defeat on the right, and the battle 
 yet unfinished. At dark the firing ceased from all 
 quarters and the exhausted soldiers slept upon their 
 arms. Carr’s division now occupied the center with 
 Davis on the right, and Sigel still holding the left. 
 Near the position occupied by our forces a hill rose 
 abruptly to the height of two hundred feet, very pre- 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 77 
 
 cipitous in our front, but sloping gradually to the 
 northward. On this eminence the enemy during the 
 night had planted batteries which commanded our 
 forces, and also at the right base of this hill, batteries 
 and large bodies of infantry were posted. At the 
 edge of some timber to the left, supports of infantry 
 were disposed, while beyond the road, to the extreme 
 left, were posted their cavalry and infantry. 
 
 At sunrise our right and center with their batteries, 
 opened fire upon the enemy, while Sigel, having 
 learned the exact position of the enemy’s batteries, 
 advanced with the left wing to take the hill, forming 
 his line of battle by changing front so as to face the 
 right flank of the enemy. 
 
 Sigel then ordered the Twenty-Fifth Illinois into 
 position along a fence in open view of the Confeder- 
 ate batteries, which immediately opened fire upon 
 them. One of our batteries, consisting of six or 
 seven guns, several of which were rifled twelve-pound- 
 ers was at once thrown into line one hundred paces to 
 the rear of our advanced infantry, on a rise of ground. 
 
 The Twelfth Missouri then wheeled into line with 
 the Twenty-Fifth Illinois on their left, and another 
 battery of guns similarly arranged a short distance 
 behind them. But the crushing array was not yet 
 complete, for still another regiment and another bat- 
 tery wheeled into position, until thirty pieces of 
 artillery, fifteen or twenty paces distant from each 
 other, formed one unbroken line, with the infantry 
 lying down in front. As each piece circled into posi- 
 tion, its fire was discharged at the enemy, and the fire 
 of the entire line was so effective as to silence every 
 
78 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Confederate battery, one by one. “ Such a terrible 
 fire no human courage could stand. The crowded 
 ranks of the enemy were decimated, their horses shot 
 at their guns, and large trees literally demolished ; 
 but the Rebels stood bravely to their posts. For over 
 two hours did the iron hail fall, until one by one the 
 Rebel pieces ceased to play. Onward crept our in- 
 fantry ; onward came Sigel and his terrible guns. 
 Shorter and shorter became the range. No charge of 
 theirs could face that iron hail or dare to venture on 
 that compact line of bayonets. They turned and fled. 
 The center and right were ordered forward, the right 
 turning the left of the enemy and cross-firing on his 
 center. This final position of the enemy was in the 
 arc of a circle. A charge of infantry by the whole 
 line completely routed them, and they retreated 
 through the deep, impassable defiles of Cross Tim- 
 ber, towards the Boston Mountains, closely pursued 
 by the cavalry.” 
 
 The Union loss at this battle was two hundred and 
 twelve killed, nine hundred and seventy-two wounded, 
 one hundred and seventy-six missing. The enemy’s 
 loss was reported at two thousand. General Herbert, 
 Colonel Stone, Adjutant General, and Colonel Price 
 were taken prisoners. Ben. McCulloch, General Mc- 
 Intosh, and General Stark were among the killed. 
 General Price was wounded. 
 
 On the ninth of March, General Van Dorn asked 
 permission to bury the dead of the seventh and eighth. 
 General Curtis granted permission, but in the letter 
 accompanying it complained that in some cases the 
 Union dead had been scalped and mangled. General 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 79 
 
 Yan Dorn replied, expressing a desire to repress the 
 savage horrors of war, and stated that numbers of 
 Confederate prisoners who had surrendered, were re- 
 ported to have been murdered in cold blood by the 
 Germans. General Curtis replied that he had no 
 knowledge of any such atrocities committed by Ger- 
 man soldiers under his command. 
 
 A strange feature of this contest was the employ- 
 ment of the wild hordes of Indian tribes under the 
 leadership of McCulloch and McIntosh. They rushed 
 to the fray with savage war-whoops and hideous 
 yells, and the cleft skulls lying in pools of blood after 
 the battle, showed that their barbarian mode of war- 
 fare had not been forgotten. McCulloch met his fate 
 on the first day of the battle, leading the advance on 
 the left. A minie ball penetrated his left lung, and 
 he died of the wound at about eleven o’clock that 
 night. His career as a soldier was a checkered one. 
 His military glory beginning among the assembled 
 ranks of Texan Rangers on the banks of the Guada- 
 loupe, twenty-six years before, now went down in 
 blood. San Jacinto and Buena Yista had witnessed 
 his bravery, but the field of Pea Ridge witnessed his 
 fall, fighting against country — against liberty. It 
 was a bloody engagement, lasting fifteen hours, — the 
 greater part of two consecutive days being spent in 
 battle. But northern Arkansas was cleared of Con- 
 federate troops, and the forces of Yan Dorn and Price 
 were sent to the support of Beauregard at Memphis. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ZMiZEIERIERIIs^^a -AJSTID MONITOR. 
 
 The Projection of the Monitor. — Ericsson’s Visit' to Washington. — The 
 Merrimac Launched. — Arrival off Newport News. — Attack on the 
 Cumberland. — Heroism of the Crew. — No Surrender. — Sublime 
 Bravery. — Sinking of the ill-fated Frigate. — The Burning of the 
 Congress. — Despair of the Fleet. — The Speck of Light on the 
 Waves. — Arrival of the Monitor. — The Merrimac Again Appears. — 
 The Strange Looking Antagonist. — The Fight Opens. — Fierce Con- 
 flict. — The Baptism of Fire. — Four Hours of Battle. — The Merri- 
 mac Signals for Help. — The Monitor Victorious. — Our Fleet Saved. — 
 Cheers of the Multitude. 
 
 P ERHAPS no single event of our last war decided 
 issues of greater moment to the nation than the 
 naval engagement between the Merrimac and Monitor. 
 
 Had the Merrimac been successful, every other craft 
 on the high seas, at home or abroad, would have been 
 at her mercy. Going about like some wild monster 
 of the deep, with her iron tusk and her coat of mail, 
 impervious to shot or shell, she could have destroyed 
 whole fleets and sent them whirling to the bottom. 
 New York city would have been unsafe, — every city 
 on the coast would have been unsafe, and the proba- 
 ble ravages of this iron Leviathan can hardly be prop- 
 erly estimated. What might have happened but for 
 the Monitor, who can tell ? But the Monitor, Provi- 
 dentially — can we believe otherwise ? — proved to be 
 our David of the seas who slew the iron-clad Goliah 
 and saved to us our navy. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 81 
 
 Instigated and pushed forward by private enter- 
 prise, she was successfully launched in the face of all 
 adverse prediction, and arrived off Newport News 
 barely in time to ai'rest the Merrimac on her errand 
 of wholesale destruction. 
 
 C. S. Bushnell, Esq., a capitalist of New Haven, 
 Connecticut, learning of Captain Ericsson’s plan for 
 an invulnerable sea battery, was the prime mover 
 in the building of the Monitor. That gentleman 
 insisted on taking the model to Washington, in com- 
 pany with Ericsson, and submitting the new and 
 strange diagrams to the Government Naval Board. 
 After persistent efforts he was successful in obtain- 
 ing a guarantee of payment when the Monitor should 
 demonstrate her ability to do all that was promised 
 concerning her. 
 
 The steam frigate Merrimac, scuttled and sunk at 
 the burning of the Norfolk navy yard, was considered 
 one of the finest ships in the American navy. She 
 mounted forty guns and was estimated at four thou- 
 sand tons burden. 
 
 “This magnificent structure was raised by the 
 Rebels and cut down, leaving only the hull, which was 
 exceedingly massive and solid. Over this they con- 
 structed a sloping shield of railroad iron, firmly plated 
 together, and extending two feet under the water. 
 Its appearance was much like the slanting roof of a 
 house, set upon a ship’s hull like an extinguisher, — 
 the ends of the vessel fore and aft, projecting a few 
 feet beyond this roof. The gun-deck was completely 
 inclosed by tliis shield, and nothing appeared above it 
 
82 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 but a short smoke-stack and two flag-staffs. The 
 weight of iron was so immense that the ship nearly 
 broke her back in launching; but the fracture was 
 repaired. The fact that such a formidable mailed 
 battery was in preparation, was well known at the 
 North, and her speedy appearance was daily predicted 
 by the press.” 
 
 On Saturday the eighth of March, 1862 — the same 
 day that Fremont fought the battle of Pea Ridge — the 
 Merrimac steamed into the mouth of the James River 
 from Norfolk, headed towards our blockading fleet off 
 Newport News. The old passenger steamers, the 
 Jamestown and Yorktown, plying formerly between 
 New York and Richmond, and now refitted into Con- 
 federate war vessels, accompanied the Merrimac, and 
 in her train came a retinue of armed tugs and other 
 war craft. The frigates Cumberland and Congress, 
 doing guard duty off Newport News, were anchored 
 half a mile from shore as the Merrimac came in sight. 
 Unmindful of the broadsides which the two frigates 
 hurled against her iron sides, she steered straight for 
 the Cumberland, and rushing upon her, struck her 
 amidships, inflicting a death blow. Then, reversing 
 her engine, she went back and making a second 
 plunge, again struck the Cumberland in the same 
 place, crushing through the whole side of the ship. 
 
 At the same time the guns of the iron-clad demon 
 thundered destruction through the decks of the ill- 
 fated Cumberland, strewing her floors with the dead, 
 wounded, and dying. But her brave crew under com- 
 mand of Lieutenant George M. Morris, with a hero- 
 ism which rose to the pitch of sublimity, still fought 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 83 
 
 on, as long as a gun of the sinking ship remained 
 unsubmerged. “ One sailor with both his legs shot 
 off, hobbled up to his gun on the bleeding stumps and 
 pulling the lanyard, fired it, then fell back dead.” 
 
 The heroic commander and the no less heroic crew 
 proudly refused to lower the beloved stars and stripes 
 to the flag of Rebellion, preferring to sink with the 
 ship rather than surrender. Rapidly the noble Cum- 
 berland went down, her guns thundering as she sank, 
 the last shot being fired from her deck while the gun- 
 ner who pulled the trigger stood knee-deep in water. 
 After the frigate was engulfed, “ a few feet of her top- 
 masts rose above the wave, and there the stars and 
 stripes still floated, victorious in death.” “ The sur- 
 face of the water was now covered with fragments of 
 the wreck, and with hundreds of men swimming 
 towards the shore, while from all directions, boats 
 were pushing out for their rescue. About one hun- 
 dred of the dead and wounded went down with the 
 ship. While this multitude of men were struggling 
 in the water, the steam propeller “ Whillden,” then 
 lying under the guns of Newport News, not half 
 a mile off, Captain William Riggins commanding, in- 
 stantly put off in the face of the resistless enemy and 
 rescued a large number who would otherwise have 
 been drowned. Probably her humane errand saved 
 her from the destruction to whioh she was exposed, 
 since the moment after she had picked up the last 
 man, a shot from the Merrimac passed through her 
 boiler, thus emphatically ordering her away.” 
 
 It had taken only three-quarters of an hour to dis- 
 patch the Cumberland, and the destroying demon in 
 
 4 * 
 
84 
 
 BATTLES FUR THE UNION. 
 
 mailed armor, made the Congress her next object of 
 attention. 
 
 That vessel being only partly manned was grounded 
 while endeavoring to escape from the fatal clutches of 
 the Merrimac, who came on, resistless as doom. 
 
 At a distance of about one hundred yards from the 
 helpless Congress, the Merrimac discharged her ter- 
 rible broadsides into the disabled ship, while the two 
 Confederate gun-boats, the Jamestown and York- 
 town rushed up on either side and added their rain of 
 red-hot shot to that of the Merrimac. The dead and 
 dying on the decks of the Congress were mingled 
 in sickening confusion with dismantled guns and torn 
 rigging. Her dry timbers took fire in three places, 
 and, fanned by the fresh breeze, soon the billows of 
 flame rolled above the billows of water. With her 
 commanding officer killed and her wounded facing 
 the prospect of death by the slow torture of burning, 
 the Congress, at last, surrendered. But with horrible 
 inhumanity, the Merrimac fired another broadside 
 into her while the white flag was flying at her mast- 
 head. 
 
 The Congress burned until midnight when, the fire 
 reaching her magazine, she exploded with a noise 
 which shook the bay and sent the fiery fragments, 
 like a thousand rockets, into the air. 
 
 The two remaining frigates of the fleet, the St. 
 Lawrence and the Minnesota, were next in order of 
 attack, and, strangely enough, they were both aground. 
 But the Minnesota sent a broadside from her heavy 
 guns into the Merrimac, at short range, and it was 
 thought that some of the shot, entering her port-holes, 
 
MERKIMAC AND MONITOR. 
 
 
BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 37 
 
 damaged her machinery, as she did not proceed with 
 the attack. 
 
 Night was coming on and after some hesitation, the 
 Merrimac steamed to her anchorage behind Craney 
 Island. 
 
 The darkness that settled over Hampton Roads 
 that night was nothing to the darkness of despair 
 which wrapped the hearts of the fleet in its pall of 
 gloom. The garrison at Newport News and Fortress 
 Monroe could be dispatched as easily as the Cumber- 
 land had been, and even Washington might not be safe 
 from the devastation which the Merrimac threatened. 
 For no one knew whether she might not be able to 
 ascend the Potomac. In an hour the strength of 
 our navy and coast fortresses had crumbled before 
 this single iron-clad — mistress of the high seas. 
 
 As the disastrous news was flashed over the wires 
 through the North, consternation filled all hearts. 
 No one knew where the ravages thus begun would end. 
 It did not seem improbable that this single vessel 
 might solve the problem of the war in favor of slavery 
 and the South as against Union and liberty. 
 
 At about ten o’clock on that eventful Saturday 
 night the anxious garrison at Fortress Monroe descried 
 a singular looking craft approaching from the sea, 
 towed by two small steamers. It resembled “ nothing 
 in the heavens above or the earth beneath or in the 
 waters under the earth.” 
 
 The raft proved to be the new Ericsson battery, the 
 Monitor, in tow of the gunboats Sachem and Curri- 
 tuck. Only twenty-four inches of hull were visible 
 above the water, and the small, round, revolving tur- 
 
88 
 
 BATTLES FOR TUE UN JON. 
 
 ret nine feet high, in the center of the battery, mounted 
 only two guns. Beside her big adversary, the little 
 Monitor appeared very insignificant, both in size and 
 armament — her two guns being pitted against the ten 
 carried by the Merrimac. 
 
 An eye witness gives the following vivid description 
 of the scenes and emotions of that long-to-be-remem- 
 bered Saturday night : — 
 
 “ That morrow ! How anxiously we waited for it ! 
 how much we feared its results ! How anxious our 
 Saturday eve of preparation ! At sundown there was 
 nothing to dispute the empire of the seas with the 
 Merrimac, and had a land attack been made by Ma- 
 gruder then, God only knows what our fate would 
 have been. The St. Lawrence and the Minnesota 
 aground and helpless, the Roanoke with a broken 
 shaft — these were our defenses by sea ; while on land 
 we were doing all possible to resist a night invasion ; 
 but who could hope that would have much efficiency ? 
 Oh ! what a night that was ; that night I never can 
 forget. There was no fear during its long hours — 
 danger, I find, does not bring that — but there was a 
 longing for some interposition of God and waiting up- 
 on Him from whom we felt our help must come, in 
 earnest, fervent prayer, while not neglecting all the 
 means of martial defence He had placed in our hands. 
 Fugitives from Newport News kept arriving ; ladies 
 and children had walked the long ten miles from 
 Newport News, feeling that their presence only em- 
 barrassed their brave husbands. Sailors from the 
 Congress and Cumberland came, one of them with his 
 ship’s flag bound about his waist, as he had swum with 
 
BATTLES FUR THE VN ION. 
 
 89 
 
 it ashore, determined the enemy should never trail it 
 in dishonor as a trophy. Dusky fugitives, the contra- 
 bands came, mournfully fleeing from a fate worse than 
 death — slavery. These entered my cabin hungry and 
 weary, or passed it in long, sad procession. The 
 heavens were aflame with the burning Congress. The 
 hotel was crowded with fugitives, and private hospi- 
 tality was taxed to the utmost. But there were no 
 soldiers among the flying host ; all in our camps at 
 Newport News and camp Hamilton were at the post 
 of duty, undismayed, and ready to do all and dare all 
 for their country. The sailors came only to seek 
 another chance at the enemy, since the bold Cumber- 
 land had gone down in the deep waters, and the Con- 
 gress had gone upward, as if a chariot of fire, to con- 
 vey the manly souls whose bodies had perished in that 
 conflict, upward to heaven. I had lost several friends 
 there ; yet not lost, for they are saved who do their 
 duty to their country and their God, as these had done. 
 We did not pray in vain. 
 
 “ The heavy night hung dark the hills and waters o’er,” 
 
 but the night was not half so heavy as our hearts, nor 
 so dark as our prospects. All at once a speck of light 
 gleamed on the distant wave ; it moved ; it came 
 nearer and nearer and at ten o’clock at night, the 
 Monitor appeared. 1 When the tale of bricks is doub- 
 led, Moses comes.’ I never more firmly believed in 
 special providences than at that hour. Even skeptics 
 were converted for the moment and said, ‘ God has 
 sent her !’ But how insignificant she looked ; she 
 was but a speck on the dark blue sea at night, almost 
 
90 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 a laughable object by day. The enemy call her a 
 cheese-box on a raft, and the comparison is a good 
 one. Could she meet the Merrimac ? The morrow 
 must determine, for under God, the Monitor is our 
 only hope.” 
 
 Lieutenant J. L. Worden was in command of the 
 Monitor, and reporting to the flag-ship Roanoke on 
 his arrival at Fortress Monroe, received orders to lay 
 by the Minnesota and guard her in case of a night 
 attack. 
 
 Sunday morning, March ninth, dawned brightly 
 over the serene waters of the Chesapeake, and shortly 
 after nine o’clock, the Merrimac with her retinue of 
 the previous day was seen approaching from the direc- 
 tion of Sewall’s Point. 
 
 Instantly the Monitor put herself in fighting trim,, 
 the dead-light covers were put on, the iron hatches 
 closed, and the officers took positions at their several 
 posts. Lieutenant Green was in charge of the gun' 
 ners, and Chief Engineer Stimers controlled the move-- 
 ments of the revolving turret. 
 
 The mammoth Merrimac confidently advanced and 
 opened fire upon the Minnesota ; but before a second 
 broadside could be delivered, the little Monitor steamed 
 out from behind the grounded vessel, and when at a 
 distance of about half a mile, the order to fire was 
 given, “The gun was aimed, the huge, iron pendu- 
 lum swung aside, the men sprang to the gun-ropes, a 
 momentary creaking of pulleys was heard, then a 
 thundering report and a solid ball weighing a hundred 
 and seventy pounds, Tyas hurled against the mailed 
 side of the Merrimac. The Monitor had uttered her 
 
BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. Qp 
 
 maiden speech, and it was a challenge which no an- 
 tagonist could venture to disregard.” 
 
 The Merrimac staggered under this unexpected 
 blow and pausing in her attack on the Minnesota, 
 turned her attention to the little Monitor. Immedi- 
 ately, her ten terrible guns thundered their broadside 
 against her diminutive antagonist, and when the 
 smoke lifted and revealed the turret of the Monitor 
 unharmed, and the stars and stripes still gaily floating 
 aloft, the Merrimac rushed upon her to ride her down 
 as she had done the Cumberland and Congress. But 
 a different sort of craft grappled with her now and she 
 found a foeman worthy of her steel. “ Reserve your 
 fire,” said Lieutenant Worden to the gunners, “aim 
 deliberately and do not lose a shot.” The Merrimac 
 struck the Monitor at full speed, but caused only a 
 slight jar to the staunch little craft, as the iron prow 
 of this mailed monster glided harmlessly over the 
 nearly submerged hull of the Ericsson Battery. The 
 Merrimac, however, received a severe gash as the 
 sharp edge of the Monitor cut her coat of mail, and a 
 bad leak was the result. 
 
 The contest now waxed fierce and heavy as the two 
 vessels, alternately receding and approaching, poured 
 their volleys of shot into each other in rapid succes- 
 sion, while the smoke of the terrible battle wrapped 
 the actors in a dark and impenetrable cloud. With 
 “ muzzle to muzzle they hailed their heavy metal on 
 each others sides.” “ Flash and thunder-roar burst 
 forth incessantly from the tumultuous maelstrom of 
 darkness, and solid balls weighing a hundred and 
 seventy pounds, glancing from the armor, ricochetted 
 over the water in all directions from one to two miles.” 
 
92 
 
 BATTLES FUR THE UNION. 
 
 For four long hours this terrible duel on which the 
 safety of a nation hung, continued, but when the 
 smoke of battle lifted, it revealed the Monitor uninjured 
 and triumphant, and the Merrimac pierced in three 
 places, wounded unto death. Compelled to signal for 
 help, she was taken in tow by two tugs who helped the 
 crippled giant back to Norfolk. 
 
 Just as the Merrimac was firing her last shot Lieu- 
 tenant Worden was struck prostrate by the concussion 
 of a hundred-pound shot, which hit the grating just in 
 front of his eyes, filling them with powder and minute 
 fragments of iron. When he “ revived from the stun- 
 ning blow he had received,” his first question was, 
 “Have I saved the Minnesota?” “Yes,” was the 
 reply, “and whipped the Merrimac.” “Then,” he 
 rejoined, “ I care not what becomes of me.” 
 
 When Lieutenant Wise visited the Monitor after the 
 contest was ended, every thing was as serene on board 
 the victorious craft as though nothing had happened. 
 “ One officer stood by the mirror leisurely combing his 
 hair, another was washing some blood from his hands, 
 while the gallant commander lay on a settee with his 
 eyes bandaged, giving no signs of the pain that racked 
 him.” 
 
 Thousands of anxious spectators lined the shore 
 from Newport News to Fortress Monroe, and from the 
 Confederate fortifications across the James, watching 
 with breathless interest the furious combat. “ No 
 tongue can tell the joy which thrilled the hearts of the 
 National troops at the result. Cheer after cheer rose 
 from the fleet and from the fortress, and rolled like 
 reverberating thunder along the shores and over the 
 bay.” 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 93 
 
 The Merrimac had rendered her last service. She 
 never recovered from the fatal blows dealt her by the 
 guns of the Monitor, and months of repair did not 
 restore her usefulness. But the brave little Monitor 
 came out of this trial of fire unscathed. Of all the 
 twenty-two shot which had struck her in every part, 
 only one had produced a noticeable indentation. 
 
 This one, coming in contact with a huge iron beam, 
 made a deflection in the beam of an inch and a half. 
 A slight dent on the outside of the Monitor was the 
 only evidence that the prow of the Merrimac had 
 struck her in a vain attempt to ride her down. 
 
 The Rebels published no official account of the losses 
 on board the Merrimac in this encounter, but a state- 
 ment was made in the Norfolk Day Book, estimating 
 their loss at nine killed and eleven wounded. The 
 statement, however, was contradicted by some other 
 Southern journals. Two or three million dollars 
 worth of property was lost to the Government with 
 the Cumberland and Congress, to say nothing of the 
 loss of life. 
 
 Considering the fact that the construction of the 
 Merrimac was known for months previous to her ap- 
 pearance, and that an accurate description of her was 
 said to have been sent the War and Navy Departments, 
 by General Wool, three weeks before she left Norfolk, 
 on her mission of destruction, the apathy of the Naval 
 Board is something to be wondered at. But the dis- 
 aster which might have overtaken the nation through 
 their negligence was happily averted by the private 
 enterprise which launched the Monitor. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 3ST 33 "W IB E HFt 3>Cr . 
 
 The City and its Connections. — Rebel Fortifications. — Assemblage of 
 Gunboats at Hatteras. — The Advance Down Pamlico Sound. — 
 Slocum’s Creek Landing. — The Long March. The Forest Camp 
 Fires. — Attack on the Outer Fortifications. — Impetuous Bravery 
 of Union Troops. — Heroic Charge Through an Embrasure. — The 
 Old Flag Floats Over the Captured Fort. — Entrance into New- 
 bem. Ten o’clock and All is Well. Battle of the Fleet. — Brilliant 
 Advance of the Gunboats. — All Difficulties Conquered. — Victory 
 and its Spoils. — The Sabbath Bells. 
 
 N EWBERN is a city of about five thousand inhabit- 
 ants, situated at the confluence of the Neuse and 
 Trent rivers where the Neuse makes a broad estuary 
 before entering Pamlico Sound. It is connected by 
 rail with Goldsboro and Raleigh on the west, via North 
 Carolina Rail Road, with Beaufort on the south, and is 
 an important military post. The Confederates, appre- 
 ciating this fact, had constructed in its defence fortifi- 
 cations of such strength that they imagined the Union 
 troops had but to come within range of their batteries to 
 be doomed to certain destruction. In order to capture 
 this city and to act in concerted movement with the 
 Army of the Potomac, General Burnside on the twelfth 
 of March, 1862, had collected a formidable fleet and 
 army at Hatteras and ordered all to be in readiness 
 to start that night at the appointed signal. He deliv- 
 ered a brief and stirring address to the soldiers, ask- 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 95 
 
 ing their best efforts in this perilous enterprise, and 
 in his order, he said, 
 
 “ The General commanding, takes pleasure in an- 
 nouncing that the Army of the Potomac under General 
 McClellan, is now advancing upon Richmond and was 
 at the latest dates occupying Centreville, the enemy 
 having evacuated all the advanced fortifications before 
 Manassas, and those on the Potomac. He again calls 
 upon his command for an important movement which 
 will greatly demoralize the enemy and contribute much 
 to the success of our brothers of the Potomac Army.” 
 
 From Hatteras the fleet sailed south-westward down 
 Pamlico Sound, entered the mouth of the Neuse and 
 anchored upon the western bank of that river, within 
 a few miles of Newbern. The defences of Newbern 
 unquestionably had been well planned and well built. 
 A line of water batteries commanded the river and, 
 reaching inland, connected with them, were field for- 
 tifications to prevent the enemy from advancing by 
 shore. Sis miles down the river the guns of the lower 
 fort threatened the daring intruder, and from that 
 point back to the city there extended a continuous 
 chain of forts and batteries. Near the city a fort 
 mounting thirteen heavy guns and bomb proof, was so 
 arranged as to command both the water and the only 
 land approaches on that side. In fact, the entire area 
 for several miles before the city, was filled with forts, 
 earthworks, ditches, rifle pits, and all the other me- 
 chanical appliances of warfare. 
 
 On the morning of the thirteenth the troops were 
 landed at a point called Slocum’s Creek, sixteen miles 
 below Newbern. Abbott gives the following descrip- 
 
96 
 
 BATTLES FUR THE UNION. 
 
 tion of the landing: — “ The barges proceeded in reg- 
 ular battle array, regiment by regiment, towards the 
 shore, every man ready to repel an assault, and the 
 gunboats in the meantime shelling every spot in the 
 vicinity where a foe might lurk. The men wading 
 through the water held their muskets and ammunition 
 under their arms to keep them dry. The barges 
 grounded in the shoal water sixty yards from the 
 shore. It was truly a picturesque scene, resembling a 
 frolic rather than the dread realities of war, to see five 
 thousand men with jokes and laughter and cheers, 
 often up to their waists in water, and sometimes 
 stumbling over some obstruction, all eager to see who 
 would be the first to land. The ground was marshy ; 
 it had rained violently through the night ; the path led 
 through a fringe of forest draped in the funereal weeds 
 of the Spanish moss. The wheels of the guns sank in 
 the mire and were dragged along with much difficulty. 
 A cold March wind swept over the drenched and shiv- 
 ering ranks, and notwithstanding all the endeavors to 
 keep up good cheer, the hours were dark and dreary. 
 Much of this suffering might have been and should 
 have been avoided. One of the vessels contained a 
 floating bridge to secure the landing of the soldiers 
 dry shod. But the eagerness to get to shore very un- 
 wisely caused this precaution to be neglected or for- 
 gotten.” 
 
 Until mid-day they marched along the marshy river 
 banks without meeting the foe or any signs of one. 
 At about that time however, they encountered some 
 cavalry barracks, bearing evidence of very hasty leave- 
 taking. Breakfasts, cooked, yet untasted, were left 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 97 
 
 behind, and all the evidences of very recent occupancy 
 were strewn about. But the Federal forces, with a 
 great struggle in anticipation, did not stop to satisfy 
 any idle curiosity regarding the modus operandi of 
 Rebel cookery. Steadily they pushed onward, filling 
 the road in a dense column two and a half miles in 
 length, — the Twenty-fourth Massachusetts leading the 
 van, and the Eleventh Connecticut bringing up the 
 rear. 
 
 Suddenly, the order to halt and form in line of bat- 
 tle brought the column to a stand. Directly in front 
 of them stood a long line of breastworks and batteries. 
 A deep ditch extended along the front, and the flanks 
 were protected by an abattis of felled trees. But, as 
 a reconnoitering party sent forward soon learned, the 
 guns to this extensive fort were not yet mounted, and 
 peacefully our troops entered it and took possession, 
 raising the standard of Liberty upon its ramparts. 
 But with a march of yet eight miles before them, and 
 unknown difficulties to overcome, the Union troops, 
 after halting a few moments, pressed bravely on. 
 Many dropped by the wayside utterly overcome with 
 fatigue, and unable to go one step farther. Others 
 lost their shoes in the mire and went forward with 
 torn and bleeding feet. A drizzling rain set in which 
 kept the men drenched to the skin and added greatly 
 to their discomfort. 
 
 Night was swiftly approaching when a horseman 
 from Newbern was arrested who communicated the 
 news that Manassas was evacuated, and that McClel- 
 lan was probably in hot pursuit after the retreating 
 foe, and perhaps on his way to Richmond. At this 
 
98 
 
 BATTLES FUR THE UNION. 
 
 joyful news, cheer after cheer broke from the lips of 
 the men, and stimulated and alert they resumed their 
 march. At six o’clock of that day the scouts came 
 in, reporting a line of rebel fortifications a mile ahead. 
 It was the beginning of a rainy twilight, and after the 
 weary and toilsome day’s march through the rain, 
 wading oftentimes through mud knee deep, the order 
 to “ halt !” which now sounded through the ranks, was 
 most welcome. They were in the midst of a forest 
 of pine trees, and on either side of the road thousands 
 of soldiers threw themselves on the ground for rest 
 and sleep, with no shelter overhead save the pine trees 
 and the clouds of a gloomy night. Some of them had 
 lighted fires of the resinous pitch, and in every direc- 
 tion the flames leapt gaily up while the red reflection 
 fell athwart the recumbent forms and faces of the 
 sleeping soldiery, lighting up the whole scene with a 
 weird and picturesque beauty. 
 
 Seven o’clock of the next morning found them, 
 after having breakfasted, once more on the march 
 towards Newbern. General Reno with the First Mas- 
 sachusetts had the advance, and marched by the side 
 of the railroad track which connects Newbern and 
 Beaufort. Slowly along the river the gunboats 
 steamed, keeping pace with the marching men on 
 the shore. Says Abbott, in his history of the “ Civil 
 War,” “upon turning a curve in the road, they came 
 in sight of a train of cars which had just come down 
 from Newbern with reinforcements for the Rebels. 
 On a platform car in front of the engine, stood a rifled 
 cannon in position to rake the road. The Massachu- 
 setts men rushed forward at the double-quick at the 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 99 
 
 same time pouring in such a volley of bullets upon the 
 foe that they abandoned everything and ran for the 
 intrenchments. The troops were immediately de- 
 ployed in line of battle through the woods, and im- 
 petuously commenced an attack upon the formidable 
 ramparts. The first cannon shot from the rebel bat- 
 tery passed through the body of Lieut.-Colonel Henry 
 Merritt, of the Massachusetts Twenty-third, and he 
 fell instantly dead. The Tenth Connecticut under 
 General Foster, a very gallant body of men, occupied 
 the extreme left, and under the most discouraging cir- 
 cumstances of position maintained the renown they 
 had acquired at Roanoke. The whole line extended 
 more than a mile. For an hour the battle raged in 
 an uninterrupted storm of bullets and cannon balls 
 from both sides, with no apparent advantage to either.” 
 A.s the battle waxed more and more tierce, our men 
 approached to the very muzzles of the guns of the ene- 
 my’s breastworks, until Lieut.-Colonel Clark of the 
 Twenty-first Massachusetts made a brilliant dash at 
 the head of four companies, and rushed full tilt on the 
 double-quick through one of the embrasures. 
 
 The gunners, astonished at such daring, fled panic- 
 stricken. The National flag was waved for one victo- 
 rious moment over the heroic conquest, but as they 
 were about to take the next gun, two rebel regiments 
 swept down upon them and compelled them to retire. 
 They were held at bay, however, only for a few brief 
 moments, for in that time the Rhode Island Fourth 
 came up and successfully assaulted the same spot, thus 
 opening a door to victory through which their com- 
 rades speedily followed. 
 
100 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 The charge of the Fourth Rhode Island led by 
 Colonel Rodman, was said to be heroic. Directly 
 fronting them a battery of five guns threatened anni- 
 hilation, and in close proximity another battery of nine 
 guns presented itself, protected behind rifle pits. On 
 the double-quick they charged directly upon the deadly 
 muzzles of these five guns, firing as they ran, and 
 rushing through the parapet, immediately formed in 
 battle array and successfully charged upon the remain- 
 ing and most formidable battery. Thus both batteries 
 and two flags were captured. The Eighth and Elev- 
 enth Connecticut and Fifth Rhode Island followed 
 immediately in support, and the ranks of the enemy 
 dissolved before their victorious entrance like banks 
 of fog under sunbeam bayonets. 
 
 Quickly the Union standard went up over the cap- 
 tured works and then came a grand charge upon the 
 enemy’s left wing, by those still outside the breast- 
 works. In utter confusion and headlong panic the 
 Rebel foe was routed. With wild liuzzahs the Union 
 forces rushed over the ramparts discharging their fire- 
 arms at the flying grey-coats, and almost immediately, 
 over every bastion of the captured fort, the “ old flag ” 
 flaunted its starry folds victoriously. Cheer after 
 cheer rent the air from the exultant troops who had 
 so heroically won the hard-fought and bloody field. 
 
 Every regiment and company had behaved valiantly, 
 — every man was a hero. The Fifty-first New York, 
 leading the charge under General Reno, won a proud 
 reputation for bravery and valorous daring. The 
 Fifty-first Pennslyvania came under the heaviest fire 
 without wavering. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 101 
 
 Inside the battery the dead and the dying commin- 
 gled in revolting confusion with mangled corpses, dis- 
 mounted guns, broken muskets, and stores of all sorts, 
 blood-stained and trampled in the mire. It was a 
 sickening spectacle and one in awful contrast to the 
 joyful exultation of the victors. 
 
 But Burnside did not waste a moment of precious 
 time in rejoicing over the spoils of victory but pressed 
 on towards Newbern, taking advantage of the panic of 
 the enemy. 
 
 Our forces pushed rapidly forward, meeting none to 
 contest their advance. By early afternoon they had 
 reached the eastern bank of the Trent only to find the 
 magnificent bridge which spanned the river in one vast 
 sheet of flames, and on the opposite shore the city in 
 seven different localities, broke forth in conflagration. 
 Both the railroad and county road bridge were fired 
 as also a number of cotton batteries. Fortunately, 
 two small steamers were found, abandoned by the 
 enemy, and with these General Foster’s corps was 
 ferried across the river and took possession of the 
 nearly deserted city. The soldiers speedily extin- 
 guished the fires, a provost marshal with a strong 
 guard was appointed, and before nine o’clock at night 
 order was restored, quietness reigned, and at ten 
 o’clock the city and its inhabitants were wrapped in 
 peaceful slumbers. It was a sleep which the exhausted 
 soldiers needed. The colored population thinking 
 their hour of jubilee had come, and freed from the re- 
 straint which forbids a slave to be abroad on the street 
 at night, wandered about the city until a late hour. 
 
 On the fifteenth the following special order was 
 issued : _ 
 
102 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 “ Head-Quarters, Department op North Carolina, 
 Newbern, March loth, 1862. 
 
 Special Orders No. 51. 
 
 ****** 
 
 4th. Brigadier-General J. G. Foster is hereby appointed mili- 
 tary governor of Newbern and its suburbs, and will be obeyed 
 and respected accordingly. 
 
 Brigadier-General J. G. Foster, military governor of Newbern 
 will direct that the churches be opened at a suitable hour to- 
 morrow in order that the chaplains of the different regiments 
 may hold divine services in them. The bells will be rung as 
 usual. 
 
 ***** * 
 
 By command of Brigadier-General 
 
 A. E. BURNSIDE. 
 
 Lewis Richmond, Assistant Adjutant General.” 
 
 General Burnside also, wisely enough, ordered 
 every liquor cask in the city and camp to be staved. 
 
 The part which the gunboats performed in this vic- 
 tory was not small. Commander Rowan in charge of 
 the fleet proved himself most efficient. 
 
 The river was full of obstructions, the shore was 
 bristling with batteries ; but he conquered every diffi- 
 culty. Led by the flag ship Delaware the fleet sailed 
 away to win a golden fame. Fort Dixie, mounting 
 four guns, was the first battery to contest their ad- 
 vance, but it was soon silenced by Union shot and 
 shell, and the triumphant battle-flags were planted 
 upon its ramparts. Here the gunners caught sight of 
 some Rebel cavalry in the woods behind the fort and 
 sent over a warm salute of shells which dispersed 
 them. The next battery encountered was Fort Thomp- 
 son, mounting fifteen guns. This also was effectually 
 silenced by our well-directed shot, its garrison scat- 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 103 
 
 tered, and once more the National standard waved 
 defiantly over the captured redans. The men, wild 
 with enthusiasm, rent the air with their cheers. 
 
 Night came on after this conquest, and hostilities 
 were suspended until the nest day. The morning of 
 Saturday, the fourteenth, dawned murky with a dense 
 fog. Soon, however, it lifted and the battle of the 
 fleet was once more in progress. 
 
 Fort Brown, the next battery encountered, mounted 
 two immense columbiads and protected the obstruc- 
 tions in the channels. In the right hand channel, 
 twenty-four vessels interlacing each other had been 
 sunk, while the left hand channel contained heavy up- 
 right timbers iron-pointed, designed to impale what- 
 ever craft might pass that way, at which point also 
 were placed a number of destructive torpedoes. 
 
 These obstructions, covered by Fort Brown, were 
 next in order, but Commander Rowan, nothing daunt- 
 ed, ordered the boats to follow his lead, and they suc- 
 ceeded in passing the impaling timbers and entangling 
 masts, without serious injury. Singularly enough 
 also, a shot from one of the gun-boats entering the 
 embrasure of the fort, struck one of the columbiads 
 directly upon the muzzle, dashing it from its carriage. 
 The gunners fled in panic and consternation. The 
 fort was immediately captured, the National banner 
 raised, and the whole fleet passed on to the capture of 
 the next battery, Fort Ellis, mounting nine guns. 
 Here the dispersed Rebels had gathered for a last des- 
 perate effort and for a time the carnage went on 
 fiercely enough. But a shell from the gunboats ex- 
 ploded the magazine of the fort, and when the smoke 
 
104 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 lifted, none but the dead and the dying were there. 
 The next battery, Fort Lane, was abandoned without 
 firing a shot, and the brilliant passage was completed 
 triumphantly, the fleet anchoring before the city just 
 as the land troops entered it. 
 
 In this grand advance of the gunboat fleet to New- 
 born, the navy lost not a single man. 
 
 One or two individual instances of the coolness and 
 daring with which our men passed through this mael- 
 strom of war and death may be related. 
 
 Lieutenant Fearing, of Burnside’s staff, seated on 
 his horse, was standing in conversation with a looker- 
 on. A thirty-two pound shot whizzed between his 
 horse’s legs, causing scarcely a halt in the conversa- 
 tion, the Lieutenant merely bending over to see that 
 his horse was all right and making no allusion to the 
 danger. 
 
 At another time during the battle, when a handful 
 of men made a heroic dash through an embrasure 
 and two Rebel regiments charged down upon them, 
 Captain J. D. Frazer from a severe wound in the 
 right arm was compelled to drop his sword. But with 
 his left hand he seized the fallen weapon, continued 
 the fight, and endeavored to extricate himself from 
 the surrounding enemy. Stumbling, he fell and w r as 
 taken prisoner, a guard of three being placed over 
 him. A few moments after, when the Fourth Rhode 
 Island made their brilliant and successful charge, 
 rescued at their hands, Captain Frazer in turn cap. 
 tured the three Rebel guards placed over him and es- 
 corted them to the Union ranks. 
 
 In this victory our loss was eighty killed and two 
 hundred and ninety wounded. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 105 
 
 Six forts, thirty-four heavy guns, six steamboats, 
 and two million dollars worth of public property were 
 captured. The Rebel loss in killed and wounded was 
 about the same as ours. The National sharp-shooters 
 kept up such an accurate fire that the Confederate in- 
 fantry after loading behind the ramparts, raised their 
 guns over their heads and fired almost at random, thus 
 throwing many of their bullets away. The capture of 
 Newbern made the final reduction of Beaufort and 
 Fort Macon -sure, and also made Burnside commander 
 of the Army of the Potomac. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 WINCHESTER. 
 
 Topography of the Battle-Ground. — General Banks’ Occupation of 
 Winchester. — Stonewall Jackson’s Attack. — Disposition of Forces. — 
 The Battle. — Unwavering Firmness of Union Troops. — Heroic 
 Defence of the National Colors by the Fifth Ohio. — “ ’Tis sweet for 
 One’s Country to Die.” — The Enemy put to Rout. — Stonewall 
 Jackson in Retreat. — A Night of Sleep After a Day of Battle. — 
 Kernstown. — Sheridan’s Ride. 
 
 I N one of the most beautiful and fertile portions of 
 Virginia, lying between the Blue Ridge and North 
 Mountains and extending from the head waters of the 
 Shenandoah River near Staunton to its confluence 
 with the blue Potomac, is situated the far-famed 
 Valley of the Shenandoah. From Strasburg a spur 
 of the mountain chain called the Massanutten range 
 divides the valley southward for a distance of fifty 
 miles and abruptly ends near Harrisburg. 
 
 Strasburg commands the head of the western divi- 
 sion which this range creates, and Front Royal the 
 eastern, while Winchester, distant from Strasburg 
 about twenty miles, holds the key, in a military sense, 
 to the entire Valley. This ancient town, known in 
 colonial times as Fort Loudon, is less than thirty 
 miles from the Potomac River, and is a center, out 
 of which well-made turnpikes diverge towards Rom- 
 ney, Shcppardstown, Martinsburg, Charlestown, and 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. JQ7 
 
 Berryville, and also towards Centreville through 
 Battletown. 
 
 On March twelfth, 1862, General Banks occupied 
 Winchester with his advance force, Stonewall Jackson 
 having abandoned the place on the same day. Jack- 
 son marched towards Staunton in order to cover the 
 operations of the Southern foe in that vicinity, and 
 also to protect the road leading from this part of the 
 Valley to Gordonsville, the main force of the Con- 
 federates having retreated to that point. On the 
 seventeenth of March, General Shields left Winchester 
 with his command to pursue the enemy towards Stras- 
 burg, but returned on the twentieth, having been 
 overtaken by the enemy near Middletown, between 
 whom and the Union troops a sharply contested 
 skirmish took place. The division of General Wil- 
 liams — one half of Banks’s command — moved towards 
 Battletown at the same time that the reconnoitering 
 party under Shields returned to Winchester. 
 
 Supposing the whole army of Banks was marching 
 to re-inforce McClellan, Stonewall Jackson determined 
 to attack our forces at Winchester, to prevent if pos- 
 sible the expected movement. Accordingly, by forced 
 marches from Mount Jackson, forty-five miles below 
 Winchester, he reached Strasburg and from thence 
 advanced to the little village of Kernstown, within 
 three miles of Winchester. This was on Saturday the 
 twenty-second, and at half past two on the afternoon 
 of that day the Rebel advance appeared in front of the 
 Union pickets. 
 
 J ackson had with him four regiments of infantry, 
 assisted by Ashby’s cavalry, which was discovered to 
 
108 
 
 BATTLES FOR TUE UNION. 
 
 be steadily advancing in the woods on both sides of 
 the Strasburg turnpike, where the Eleventh Indiana 
 was also picketed. The Union troops then fell back, 
 pursued by the Rebel cavalry, and occasionally facing 
 about to fire upon the enemy. General Shields, in 
 command of the division, ordered four companies of 
 infantry and a battery of artillery to the support of 
 the Fourteenth Indiana until his force could be brought 
 forward and formed in line of battle. While direct- 
 ing the battery, Shields received a wound in the arm 
 from a splinter of a shell, but remained on the field 
 until dark, when the troops began to arrive. Both 
 armies bivouacked for tbe night, the enemy not seem- 
 ing anxious to press the engagement. To General 
 Shields, awaiting the return of Williams’ troops to 
 reenforce him, this suspension of hostilities was not 
 unwelcome. But Williams did not arrive on the battle- 
 field until after the action had commenced, on the 
 next day. 
 
 At eight o’clock on the morning of the twenty- 
 third, the enemy opened the conflict with four guns, 
 receiving a reply of six guns from the Union troops, 
 after which reenforcements for both batteries came 
 up. The fire from the enemy’s guns was so well 
 directed and so effective that the Union general com- 
 manding determined to take the battery by storm ; for 
 which purpose the infantry columns of the First and 
 Second brigades were massed for an attack upon the 
 enemy’s left. The brigade of Kimball was on the 
 right, that of Tyler in the center and Sullivan on the 
 left, with General Kimball in command of the entire 
 force — General Shields being disabled on account of 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 109 
 
 the wound received the day before. The enemy's 
 center was a little to the left of the turnpike at 
 Kernstown village, his left wing extending a mile and 
 three-quarters west of the road, and his right wing 
 one mile to the cast of it. A mud road branches from 
 the turnpike at this point and runs to the right over 
 Cedar creek. Here the enemy’s left center was 
 placed, beyond which was a grove of trees, and farther 
 yet a ridge of hills crowned by a stone wall, breast 
 high. General Tyler moved his column on the mud 
 road until within two hundred yards of the stone wall, 
 when he received a murderous lire. But bravely and 
 without wavering the Union troops rushed forward 
 until within fifteen yards of the stone wall barricade, 
 when the order to fire was obeyed with such vigor 
 that the enemy fell back across the fields in conster- 
 nation, unmasking in their retreat two six-pound 
 guns. The cannister from these guns made great 
 gaps in the Union lines but did not check the brave 
 advance of our heroic men, though death faced them. 
 One gun was captured with its caisson, but almost 
 immediately two more brass pieces were unmasked 
 by. the enemy and were so destructive that our troops, 
 forced to give way, upset the captured gun and left it. 
 At this point in the conflict, the Fifth Ohio and Eighty- 
 fourth Pennsylvania formed in line of battle and 
 charged with the bayonet. It was a terrific encounter, 
 and in its maelstrom of blood and death, the Fifth Ohio 
 Regiment five times within the space of a few minutes 
 lost its color-bearer. When the first standard-bearer 
 sank to the soil, a sacrifice to the enemy’s bullets, 
 another brave soldier rushed forward, caught up the 
 
110 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNI OX. 
 
 starry banner of liberty and unfurled its folds tri- 
 umphantly to the breeze. Scarcely had his hand 
 grasped the staff of the old flag when he, too, fell in 
 the sacred cause. A third and a fourth and a fifth 
 one shared the same fate, heroically rushing to this 
 ill-fated post of death. And thus at such terrible cost 
 of life the old flag was kept floating victoriously. But 
 now, the struggling troops so desperately engaged 
 were to have help from their comrades in arms. The 
 Fourteenth and One Hundred and Tenth Indiana Regi- 
 ments advanced at the quick to support them, and the 
 enemy fell back leaving the captured gun behind. 
 Now, however, at seven o’clock in the afternoon, the 
 firing gradually lessened and the enemy retreated, — 
 our pursuing cavalry capturing about two hundred 
 prisoners. 
 
 That night the Union troops slept upon the field of 
 their victory and in the morning went in pursuit of 
 the enemy. But the routed Rebels would not fight, 
 and retired on being attacked by our troops. The 
 Union forces in consequence, rejoined the command 
 of Banks, who arrived from Harper’s Ferry at nine 
 o’clock on the morning of the twenty-fourth. 
 
 Thus ended the battle of AYinchester, made doubly 
 famous by the defeat of Stonewall Jackson and as the 
 historic ground from which afterwards, in 1804, Phil 
 Sheridan, on his black charger, performed that glori- 
 ous ride to Cedar Creek, afterwards immortalized by 
 T. Buchanan Read, by which he reversed the tide of 
 battle and made ‘dark defeat’ become a ‘glorious 
 victory,’ 
 
 *******“ because 
 
 The sight of the master compelled it to pause.” 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Ill 
 
 The Union loss in this battle, to which Southern 
 chroniclers give the name of Kernstown, was one 
 hundred and thirty-two killed, five hundred and forty 
 wounded, and forty-six missing. The loss of the 
 enemy was estimated to he nine hundred, of whom 
 two hundred and thirty-six were prisoners. Two guns 
 and four caissons were also captured. 
 
 The enemy had been reenforced at ten o’clock Sun- 
 day morning by General Garnett, and claimed a force 
 of six thousand, half of which only was engaged. 
 The command of General Shields numbered eight 
 thousand. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 FALMOUTH HEIGHTS. 
 
 General McDowell in Command of the Army of Virginia. — Advance 
 to Bristoe and Falmouth. — Harris Light Leading the Advance. — 
 Sudden Fire on the Van-guard. — Furious Charge upon the Rebel 
 Cavalry. — Death of Lieutenant Decker. — His Comrades Avenge 
 His Death. — The Enemy Scattered Like Chaff Before the Whirl- 
 wind. — Outposts, Stores and Provisions Captured. — A Loyal 
 Southern Citizen Greets the Old Flag. — Plan for a Night Attack 
 on Falmouth. — Brilliant Capture of the Place by Kilpatrick. 
 
 HEN the Army of the Potomac was transferred 
 
 M to the Peninsula in the Spring of 18G2, the troops 
 left in front of Washington were denominated the 
 Army of Virginia. General McDowell commanding 
 this force advanced to Bristoe in the early part of 
 April, and on the seventeenth of that month, detaching 
 General Auger with a brigade of Infantry and two 
 regiments of Cavalry, directed him to proceed to Fal- 
 mouth, a small village on the Rappahannock, opposite 
 the City of Fredericksburg, with instructions to oc- 
 cupy the latter place if possible. 
 
 The author’s regiment, the Harris Light Cavalry, 
 had the advance and was followed by the Fourteenth 
 Brooklyn. As our Infantry comrades became foot- 
 sore and fatigued, we exchanged positions with them 
 for mutual relief until at last one-half of the two reg- 
 iments were bearing each others’ burdens. This inci- 
 
BATTLES FUR THE CM OX. 
 
 113 
 
 dent paved the way for a strong friendship between 
 the Harris Light and Fourteenth Brooklyn. I cannot 
 call to mind in the course of my military experience, 
 a more novel sight than that of those gallant Brook- 
 lyn boys mounted upon our horses, while we marched 
 by their side carrying their muskets ; they amusing 
 us with their knowledge of horsemanship and we es- 
 saying to show them that we were not wholly ignor- 
 ant of the evolutions of infantry. 
 
 Seventeen miles were quietly traveled when a sud- 
 den fire on our advance-guard brought every cavalry 
 man to his horse and infantry man to his musket. 
 Everything assumed the signs of a fight. Kilpatrick, 
 who was in command of the regiment, ordered his 
 band to the rear. This precaution of the commander 
 was no sooner taken than the van-guard in command 
 of Lieutenant George Decker made a furious charge 
 upon Field's Cavalry which was doing outpost duty ten 
 miles from Falmouth. 
 
 On the very first assult Lieutenant Decker fell from 
 his horse, pierced through the heart with a fatal bul- 
 let. The fall of this gallant young officer was much 
 lamented by his associates of the Harris Light. His 
 death, however, shocking as it was to the command, 
 only seemed to nerve the men for bold revenge. Like 
 chaff before the whirlwind the outpost was quickly 
 scattered, and the whole regiment entered upon its 
 first charge with a will, — a charge which continued 
 for several miles with wild excitement. Picket re- 
 liefs and reserves were swept away like forest trees 
 before the avalanche, and we fell upon their encamp- 
 ment before time had been afforded them for escape. 
 
114 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Here we captured several men and horses with large 
 quantities of stores, and then rested our tired steeds 
 and fed them with Confederate forage. The men en- 
 joyed the captured rations. It was nearly night, and 
 as the sun disappeared the infantry force came up to 
 our newly-possessed territory. 
 
 The cavalry was ordered to “ stand to horse ” and 
 a strong picket was thrown out to prevent any sur- 
 prise attack or flanking movement of the enemy. In 
 the early part of the evening one of our pickets was 
 surprised by the friendly approach of a citizen of 
 Falmouth who had come, as he said, to “ hail once 
 more the ‘ old star-spangled banner ’ and to greet his 
 loyal brethren of the North.” 
 
 Such a patriotic and fearless individual among the 
 white population of that section of country was a 
 great rarity and his protestations of friendship were 
 at first received with some suspicion. He was, how- 
 ever, brought to General Auger’s headquarters, where 
 he gave satisfactory proof of his kind intentions, and 
 then gave the General a full description of the posi- 
 tion and strength of the enemy. 
 
 A plan for a night attack was thereupon laid and 
 committed to Bayard and Kilpatrick. 
 
 Our instructions were conveyed to us in a whisper. 
 A beautiful moonlight fell upon the scene which was 
 as still as death ; and with a proud determination 
 the two young cavalry chieftains moved forward to 
 the night’s fray. Bayard was to attack on the main 
 road in front, but not until Kilpatrick had commenced 
 operations on their right flank by a detour through a 
 neglected and narrow wood-path. As the Heights 
 
FALMOUTH HEIGHTS. 
 
BATTLES FUR THE UNION. 
 
 117 
 
 were considered -well nigh impregnable it was neces- 
 sary to resort to some stratagem, for which Kilpatrick 
 showed a becoming aptness. 
 
 Having approached to within hearing distance of 
 the Rebel pickets, but before we were challenged, Kil- 
 patrick shouted with his clear voice, which sounded 
 like a trumpet on the still night air : 
 
 “ Bring up your artillery in the centre and infantry 
 on the left !” 
 
 “Well, but, Colonel,” replied an honest though 
 rather obtuse captain, “ we haven’t got any inf — 
 
 “ Silence in the ranks !” commanded the leader. 
 “ Artillery in the centre, infantry on the left !” 
 
 The pickets caught and spread the alarm, and thus 
 greatly facilitated our hazardous enterprise. 
 
 “ Charge !” was the order which then thrilled the 
 ranks, and echoed through the dark dismal woods, 
 and the column swept up the rugged Heights in the 
 midst of blazing cannon and rattling musketry. So 
 steep was the ascent that not a few saddles slipped off 
 the horses, precipitating their riders into a creek 
 which flowed lazily at the base of the hill, while oth- 
 ers fell dead and dying struck by the missiles of de- 
 struction which at times filled the air. But our first 
 field was won ; and the enemy driven at the point of 
 the sabre, fled unceremoniously down the Heights, 
 through Falmouth, and over the bridge which spanned 
 the Rappahannock, burning the beautiful structure 
 behind them to prevent pursuit. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PITTSBURG- IjA-Kmilia-. 
 
 The Log Cabin Church. — Buell’s March from Nashville. — The Union 
 Camp Surprised. — The Rude Awakening. — Sleep Exchanged for 
 Death. — Rally of the Boys in Blue. — Slaughter from the Woods. — 
 Stand on the Corinth Road. — The Brave Resistance. — The Wave 
 of Rebellion Hurled Back. — Six Hours of Magnificent Fighting. — 
 A Glorious Record. — Wallace Falls. — The Impregnable Line. — 
 Tyler and Lexington Gunboats. — Death of Confederate Johnston. — 
 Buell Reaches the Landing. — Last Day’s Fight. — Capture of Field 
 Peices. — Confederates in Retreat. — Splendid Victory. — Harvest of 
 Death. 
 
 A small log cabin named Shiloh Church, on the 
 western bank of the Tennessee River, about twenty 
 miles north of Corinth, Mississippi, divides with Pitts- 
 burg Landing the honor of transmitting its name to 
 the bloody engagement fought here, April sixth, 1862. 
 
 Early in March this movement up the Tennessee 
 was projected, and Major-G-eneral C. P. Smith, with 
 his command, occupied Savannah on the eleventh. 
 Savannah is ten miles above Pittsburg Landing and 
 consequently about thirty miles from Corinth. For 
 strategic reasons General Smith removed his troops 
 to Pittsburg Landing — a movement which General 
 Grant approved, on his arrival there the latter 
 part of March. It was designed to make the 
 Tennessee River a base of operations and cut off 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 119 
 
 communication between West Tennessee and tlie 
 Eastern and Southern States. General Buell at 
 Nashville with the Army of the Ohio, was directed to 
 co-operate with Grant in the expected movement. 
 This being suspected by the Rebels, they determined 
 to attack Grant at Pittsburg Landing before he could 
 be re-inforced by Buell. Beauregard held a strong 
 force at Corinth to which were added the two divis- 
 ions under General Polk from Columbus, and the 
 corps of General Bragg from Pensacola. 
 
 General Albert Sidney Johnston, chief in command 
 at Corinth, on April third issued an address to his 
 army, and an order, dividing it into three corps, — the 
 first under General Polk, the second under Bragg and 
 the third under Hardee ; while General Crittenden 
 was assigned to a reserve consisting of two brigades. 
 
 Of this force, numbering about fifty thousand men, 
 General Johnston was chief and Beauregard second 
 in command. On April fifth, the army of West 
 Tennessee, under General Grant at Pittsburg Land- 
 ing, comprised five divisions — Major-General Mc- 
 Clernand, Brigadier-General W. H. L. Wallace, Ma- 
 jor-General Lewis Wallace, Brigadier-General Hurl- 
 but and Brigadier-General W. T. Sherman command- 
 ing respectively. 
 
 The division of General Lew Wallace was six miles 
 below Pittsburg Landing at a place known as Crump’s 
 Landing, while the rest of the Union forces remained 
 in the vicinity of the Shiloh log church. 
 
 Twenty miles away, Buell’s forces were slowly ap- 
 proaching, the condition of the roads greatly impeding 
 their progress. In hourly expectation of their ar- 
 
120 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION . 1 
 
 rival, the army on the west bank of the Tennessee 
 awaited them. Occupying the ground between Owl 
 Creek and Lick Creek — two streams which run at 
 right angles to the Tennessee, three miles apart — the 
 Union command was arranged as follows : Sherman’s 
 division held the extreme right, resting on Owl Creek, 
 about three miles from the Landing, McClernand’s 
 division was next, the sub-division of McClernand’s 
 command under Prentiss, came next on the left, rest- 
 ing on Lick Creek, three miles from the Tennessee, 
 while the division of W. H. L. Wallace acted as a 
 support to Sherman and McClernand, and Hurlbut 
 supported the left wing under Prentiss. In addition 
 to this force, several gun-boats, among which were the 
 Tyler and Lexington, were anchored off the Landing 
 ready to assist with their broadsides of shot and shell, 
 whenever the tide of battle called them into action. 
 
 On the morning of the third, Johnston’s troops 
 were marching from Corinth towards the Tennessee, 
 but did not reach the neighborhood of the Federal posi- 
 tion until the evening of the fifth. The Confederate 
 force was formed in three parallel lines will an interval 
 of eight hundred yards between the first and second 
 line, the corps of Polk forming the third line in col- 
 umns of brigades. Breckenridge held the reserves, 
 and batteries were placed in the rear of each brigade. 
 General Hardee commanded the first line which ex- 
 tended from Owl Creek on the left, to Lick Creek on 
 the right. Bragg was in command of the second line. 
 
 At six o’clock on the morning of the sixth, the 
 Confederate advance suddenly drove in the pickets of 
 Prentiss’ corps. The Union camp, not yet awakened 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 121 
 
 from sleep, was surprised by the enemy who rushed 
 upon them firing as they came and charging with the 
 bayonet. Then ensued a scene of panic and heart- 
 rending confusion. Union soldiers rushed from their 
 tents, weaponless, hatless and coatless, towards the 
 river, and many were shot dead on the way ; others 
 quietly exchanged the rosy sleep of life for the pallid 
 repose of death, pierced with a fatal bullet before their 
 eyes unclosed to behold the dawn. Others, it is said, 
 surrendered only to be shot on the spot. Officers 
 wounded and left for dead in their tents, were found ' 
 two days afterwards, yet alive to tell the sickening 
 tale, though suffering untold agonies. The sub-divi- 
 sion of Prentiss and Hildebrand’s brigade of Sher- 
 man’s division were thus driven by the enemy, but the 
 remainder of Sherman’s division sprang to their arms 
 and formed in line barely in time to receive the ad- 
 vancing legions of the Confederates and partially 
 check their terrible onset. This movement enabled 
 them to retire to a ridge in their rear — the key-point 
 of the Landing — where by their firmness they repelled 
 every attempt of the enemy to turn their flank. By 
 this time the whole army was aroused to the peril of 
 the attack, and McClernand soon formed his right to 
 sustain Sherman. The corps of Prentiss was partially 
 rallied in an open space surrounded by scrub oaks, 
 from which the Confederates concealed there, slaugh- 
 tered them without mercy. General Prentiss with two 
 entire regiments were taken prisoners and the sub- 
 division was disorganized. The division of W. LI. L. 
 Wallace now pressed forward to support Stuart of 
 Sherman’s division, but lost its way and was repulsed. 
 
122 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 McClernand was compelled to withdraw liis brigades 
 in support of Sherman, in order to protect his left 
 against a furious charge by the enemy. Two new 
 regiments, the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Iowa, were 
 brought into action, but the heavy firing proved too 
 much for these raw troops and they gave way in con- 
 fusion. Our batteries were placed in position along 
 the Corinth road, and the division changed front so as 
 to face on that highway. They defended it handsomely 
 until ten o'clock, but at that time the enemy rushed 
 through the gap between the lines of McClernand and 
 Sherman, with the evident intention of turning Mc- 
 Clernand’s right. Dresser’s Battery of rifled guns 
 dealt them terrible slaughter as they passed, but their 
 great numbers and the constant arrival of fresh troops 
 overwhelmed McClernand’s division until at last our 
 forces began to fall slowly back, fighting bravely with 
 well ordered resistance as they retired. An occasional 
 rally and repulse of the enemy varied the order of 
 their retreat. Our batteries were broken and several 
 guns lost, and the disorganized brigades and divisions 
 fell to the rear. In some instances patched-up reg- 
 iments were brought to the front. 
 
 The left and center of our line on the Corinth road 
 had been shattered, and at twelve o’clock none but 
 the forces of Hurlbut, Wallace, and Sherman stood 
 between our army and destruction. 
 
 Major General Lew Wallace was to flank the enemy 
 in case of an attack, by marching across from Crump’s 
 Landing, but, directed by a circuitous route, he did 
 not arrive on the battle-field until the fight for the day 
 was ended. 
 
BATTLES FOR TIIE UNION. 
 
 123 
 
 Tlie commands of ETurlbut and Wallace mean-while 
 sustained with perfect firmness the mad onsets of the 
 enemy. Their overwhelming numbers, like a vast, 
 living wave, swept against the solid columns of our 
 troops only to fall back with repulse and slaughter. 
 It was the sea of Rebellion dashing against the rocks 
 of Union and Liberty. Thrice did the fresh troops of 
 the enemy hurl themselves against our jaded and 
 exhausted boys only to be thrice sent back in dismay 
 and death. 
 
 The wave broke at our feet but did not engulf us. 
 The skill of the enemy was something to be admired. 
 Again and again a rush on our lines failed, but as 
 quickly as the enemy’s forces were hurled back, their 
 broken divisions were taken to the rear and new attack- 
 ing lines formed of fresh troops. For six hours was 
 this unequal contest waged. For six hours did those 
 noble men face the foe with heroic resistance. 
 
 Into those six hours was crowded a record of mag- 
 nificent fighting, than which there could be none 
 braver or more glorious. 
 
 Oh, patriots true ! with brows now crowned with 
 the victor’s laurels, we thank you for revealing to us 
 such sublime heights of human nature ! 
 
 At last, retreat was imperative, and the two divi- 
 sions of W. H. L. Wallace and Hurlbut fell back to 
 within half a mile of the Landing. At this fatal mo- 
 ment the brave Wallace fell, and was borne from this 
 field of glory and of death. It was now four o’clock 
 in the afternoon, and exhausted by ten hours of almost 
 continuous fighting, there was a lull in the storm of 
 battle. 
 
124 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 General Grant made good use of this opportunity. 
 A new line was formed on the right by Sherman, 
 which was prolonged to the left by re-formed brigades 
 and regiments from the remaining divisions of the 
 army, Avliile Colonel Webster, Grant’s Chief of Artil- 
 lery, arranged the remaining batteries in a semicircle 
 on the left, in order to pour a concentrated fire upon 
 the enemy, massing in this direction. The Tyler 
 and Lexington gunboats moved up to the mouth of Lick 
 Creek and brought their guns within range of the 
 enemy, a half mile away. 
 
 The intelligence that Nelson’s division, constituting 
 the advance of Buell, had reached the eastern bank of 
 the Tenncsee and would soon cross to their assistance, 
 greatly cheered our exhausted troops. “ Suddenly, at 
 about five o’clock the enemy burst upon the Union left 
 only to be swept down by steady volleys of musketry 
 and the withering fire of the batteries. To add to 
 their consternation the huge guns of the Tyler and 
 Lexington ploughed into their ranks. 
 
 “Again and again did the Rebels attempt to break 
 through the circle of fire within which the Union army 
 stood at bay. The position seemed impregnable. 
 Disappointed and disheartened they at length retired 
 at nightfall, and the battle for the day was over.” 
 Sometime before this, General Grant had issued orders 
 to his division commanders to prepare to assume the 
 offensive at an early hour in the. morning. 
 
 During the battle of that day, the Confederate Gen- 
 eral Albert Sidney Johnston was killed, his death 
 resulting from a small wound under the knee, which 
 severed an artery. He was in his saddle, when one 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 125 
 
 of his aids, observing his blood- stained uniform in- 
 quired if he was wounded. “ Only a scratch,” the 
 General replied, but the next moment he reeled in his 
 seat and fell dying into the arms of his officers. 
 
 His boot was filled with blood and the life current still 
 ebbed rapidly away from the mortal hurt. Johnston’s 
 exhausted troops slept that night on their arms, and 
 Beauregard, now in command, established his head- 
 quarters at Shiloh church, hoping some delay would pre- 
 vent the arrival of Buell, who, he knew, was on the march 
 for the scene of battle. Our gunboats bombarded the 
 Rebel forces during the night, compelling them to re- 
 tire a short distance from their position. In the midst 
 of a drenching rain-storm -which set in during the 
 night, General Buell arrived. He had reached Savan- 
 nah on the evening of the fifth, General Nelson lead- 
 ing the advance. Firing being heard from the direc- 
 tion of the Landing on the morning of the sixth, Buell 
 ordered the division in the rear to leave their trains 
 and hurry forward. 
 
 Nelson’s command was marched to the Tennessee 
 opposite Pittsburg Landing, their guns were ordered 
 to be carried by steamboat, and late on the sixth, Buell 
 himself arrived on the eastern bank of the Tennessee. 
 
 During that night, through the rain and darkness, 
 Nelson’s division crossed the river and occupied the 
 left of the Union line. The commands of General T. 
 L. Crittenden and McCook quickly followed, and 
 were posted on the left-center and center, the veterans 
 of the sixth occupying the right-center and right. 
 General Lew Wallace having arrived with his com- 
 mand on the night of the sixth, held the extreme right. 
 
126 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 The battle of the seventh was opened by Wallace. 
 Some Rebel batteries directly in his front were shelled, 
 and under cover of this fire the right wing advanced 
 some distance. Wallace at one time was obliged to 
 send to Sherman for aid, but at last the Rebels were 
 pushed back and obliged to retire from the hotly con- 
 tested ground. 
 
 On the left, Nelson’s division advanced so rapidly 
 as to expose its right flank and was forced to retire 
 until Boyle’s Brigade of Crittenden’s division re-in- 
 forced him. With this addition to his force, Nelson 
 once more advanced, driving the enemy, capturing his 
 batteries and taking possession of an eminence in the 
 extreme front. Between eight and nine o’clock, he 
 encountered a well-supported battery of the enemy. 
 Smith’s brigade — between Crittenden’s left and Nel- 
 son’s flank — dashed forward and for a short time the 
 battle was hot and close and the discharge of musketry 
 furious ; but the enemy fled and our boys captured 
 three field pieces — a twelve pound howitzer and two 
 brass six-pounders. Around these guns the roar of 
 battle surged with terrific force. Then came a solid 
 line of Rebel infantry sweeping up to the captured 
 battery. The commands of Nelson and Crittenden 
 caught its full force and partially fell back, but taking 
 a fresh stand, faced the enemy and held their ground. 
 The batteries of Mendenhall and Bartlett now began 
 shelling the Confederate ranks, which obliged the en- 
 emy to fall back. 
 
 “ A gallant charge secured the contested battery 
 wdiile the Rebels retreated towards the left. Smith 
 and Boyle, holding the infantry well in hand, Menden- 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 127 
 
 liall again got their range and poured in shot and shell 
 on the new position. The enemy’s line now commenced 
 a retrograde movement, which both Nelson and Crit- 
 tenden vigorously pushed. The brigade of Wood ar- 
 rived soon after and joined in the pursuit, and the 
 left was safe.” 
 
 The center, meantime, under McCook, had driven 
 the enemy to the woods after a sharp fight. 
 
 About two o’clock in the afternoon, upon the ar- 
 rival of Buell’s fresh troops, the Confederates com- 
 menced a general retreat. A stand was made by 
 them at the distance of eight hundred yards and 
 their artillery was opened upon us ; but Crittenden 
 drove them and captured a battery. On the succeed- 
 ing day General Sherman pursued the retreating col- 
 umns of the enemy, capturing a Rebel cavalry camp 
 and a quantity of ammunition ; but owing to almost 
 impassable roads, our pursuit soon terminated. Cloth- 
 ing, accoutrements and small arms marked the course 
 of the flying Rebels. 
 
 Beauregard placed his loss at one thousand, seven 
 hundred and twenty-eight killed, eight thousand and 
 twelve wounded, and nine hundred and fifty-nine 
 missing. The Union loss was one thousand six hun- 
 dred and fourteen killed, seven thousand seven hun- 
 dred and twenty-one wounded, and three thousand 
 nine hundred and sixty-three missing. 
 
 On the ninth, Beauregard sent a flag to General 
 Grant asking permission to bury their dead, but 
 Grant replied that the dead of both armies were al- 
 ready buried. This Golgotha received the woful num- 
 ber of three thousand three hundred and forty-two. 
 
 6 
 
128 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Two years after the battle, in refutation of hostile 
 criticism, General Sherman published a voluntary 
 statement vindicating Grant’s management of the 
 battle of the sixth. General Grant in turn, speaks in 
 the highest terms of Sherman’s services on that day, 
 stating that it was to his individual efforts he was in- 
 debted for the success of that battle. 
 
 Thus another field of renown was added to the list, 
 so rapidly increased during those years, where valor 
 won deathless laurels, and principle was reckoned 
 weightier than life. 
 
 Peacefully the Tennessee flows between its banks 
 onward to the ocean, nor tells aught of the bloody 
 struggle on its shore. Quietly the golden grain ri- 
 pens in the sun, and the red furrow of war is sup- 
 planted by the plowshares of peace. To the child 
 born within the shadow of this battle-field, who listens 
 wonderingly to a recital of the deeds of this day, the 
 heroes of Shiloh will, mayhap, appear like the dim 
 figures of a dream, shadowy and unreal, but the re- 
 sults they helped to bring about are the tissue of a 
 people’s life, the dust he treads is the sacred soil from 
 which sprang the flowers of freedom, and the institu- 
 tions for which these men died, make his roof safe 
 over his head. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 WIIjIjIA.MSBUR.G. 
 
 Battle of Williamsburg. — Scene of the Battle. — Historic Monuments. — 
 College of William and Mary. — Washington and Patrick Henry. — 
 Amusing Inscriptions on Tombstones. — The Battle Opens. — At- 
 tack of General Hooker. — Approaches to Fort McGruder. — Bravery 
 of Kearney. — Gallantry of General Heintzelman.— Defeat and Re- 
 treat of the Enemy. 
 
 W ILLIAMSBURG, the scene of one of the most 
 sanguinary struggles of the Peninsular campaign, 
 was for many years the seat of government as well as 
 the most important town in the colonial history of 
 Virginia. Captain John Smith laid the foundation 
 of Jamestown in the year 1607 ; and this was for 
 more than eighty years the center of influence and 
 authority in the colony. But in 1697 the principal 
 officers of the government removed to Williamsburg, 
 which is four miles from Jamestown. 
 
 Of Jamestown, once and for ever famous as a land- 
 mark in the early annals of American history, noth- 
 ing now remains but the tower of an ancient church 
 and its broken walls which cast their shadows over 
 the graves of many of the most distinguished pioneers 
 of the Old Dominion. Williamsburg was chosen as 
 the capital of the colony on account of the greater 
 healthfulness of the climate. Some of the most in- 
 
130 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 teresting monuments of the State are to be found 
 here ; among them the College of William and Mary. 
 This institution was founded by King William and 
 his Queen Mary, and endowed by them with a thous- 
 and acres of land, with duties on fur and skins, and 
 one penny per pound on all tobacco exported from 
 Maryland and Virginia. The fame of this college is 
 augmented by the fact that many of the most dis- 
 tinguished of Virginia’s sons, including Washington, 
 Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and Madison, received their 
 educational training within its walls. The college it- 
 self and several antiquated monuments which stand 
 adjacent, together with residences of the olden style 
 give to Williamsburg a decided English aspect. On a 
 beautiful square fronting the college may be seen the 
 statue of Lord Botetourts, one of the colonial gover- 
 nors ; and though considerably mutilated, may still 
 be regarded an excellent specimen of sculpture. He 
 appears in the flowing robe of his time, with the ap- 
 pendage of a short sword hanging at his side. The 
 inscription cut in bold quaint letters on the pedestal 
 of the monument reads : 
 
 “The Eight Honorable Norbome Berkley Baron de Bote- 
 tourts, His Majesty’s late Lieutenant and Governor-General of 
 the Colony and Dominion of Virginia. Deeply impressed with 
 the warmest sense of gratitude for his excellences, prudent and 
 wise administration, and that the remembrance of those many 
 public and social virtues, which so eminently adorned his illus- 
 trious character, might be transmitted to posterity, the General 
 Assembly of Virginia on the twentieth day of July, Anno 
 Domini, 1771, resolved, with one united voice, to erect this 
 statue to his Lordship’s memory. Let wisdom and justice pre- 
 side in any country and the people must and will be happy.” 
 
BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 131 
 
 The old capitol in which Patrick Henry started in 
 his brilliant career as the great and unrivalled orator 
 of Virginia, has crumbled to the dust, and nothing 
 save a few scattered bricks is left to mark the spot 
 whereon it stood. It was in the halls of this same 
 building that Washington was complimented by the 
 speaker of the House of Burgesses after the close of 
 his distinguished career in the French and Indian 
 war. The hero was lauded for his valor and for the 
 honor which he had conferred upon his native State. 
 Stammering and bewildered the young colonel stood 
 in the presence of the venerable aristocracy and was 
 greatly relieved by the timely command of the speaker, 
 “ Sit down Colonel Washington ; your modesty is 
 equal to your valour and that surpasses the power of 
 any language that I possess.” 
 
 In the year 1736 the first newspaper published in 
 Virginia was issued at Williamsburg. It was a sheet 
 twelve inches long by six inches wide, and its dawn 
 was regarded as an important event in the journalism 
 of the day. The publication of this primitive sheet 
 was continued until swallowed up in the Revolution, 
 which it helped to inaugurate by espousing the cause 
 of the patriots. 
 
 I regret to learn from history that public schools 
 and printing presses were looked upon with suspicion 
 and jealously by the early authorities of Virginia. 
 Sir William Berkley, at one time honored with the 
 title and clothed with the dignity of Governor, by 
 His Majesty King George III., thanked God that there 
 were no more free schools or printing presses within 
 the limit s of his rule and hoped that these should not be 
 
132 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE* UNION. 
 
 known for a hundred years to come, and in accordance 
 with his real or pretended fancies, put down the first 
 printing press established in Virginia in 1682. Prom- 
 inent among the interesting monuments of the past, 
 is the old English Church and its adjoining grave- 
 yard where rests the bones of many of the gover- 
 nors, judges and military heroes who are distinguished 
 in the early history of the colony. The inscriptions 
 on most of the tombstones are peculiar to the times 
 in which they had their origin, and to the present 
 generation seem ludicrous and amusing. Rev. J. J. 
 Marks, D.D., who participated in the Peninsular Cam- 
 paign and who visited Williamsburg the day after the 
 battle, transcribes the following inscription from a 
 slab which among others arrested his attention on ac- 
 count of its quaint, eccentric style. 
 
 “ Near this monument lies the body of the Honorable David 
 Parke, of ye county of Essex, Esq., who was of the magistrates 
 of the county eleven years, and sometime Secretary of the do- 
 minion of Virginia. He dyed ye 6th of March, Anno Domini 
 1679. His other felicityes weare crowned by his happy marriage 
 with Rebecca, the daughter of George Evelyn, of the co. of 
 Surry, Esq. She dyed ye 2nd day of January, Anno 1672, at 
 Long Diton, co. Surrey, and left behind her a most hopeful 
 progeny.” 
 
 Thus it may be seen that to the intelligent soldier 
 and the student of history, the field of Williamsburg 
 is one of more than ordinary interest. Having 
 glanced at the scene of conflict which gives name to 
 the battle, let us take a look at the forces which are 
 marshaled for the contest. 
 
 The bloodless and fruitless siege of Yorktown has 
 terminated ; and the Rebels, whether from motives 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 133 
 
 of interest or necessity, have decided to seek a new 
 base of operations nearer their capital. The plains 
 of Williamsburg seem to be the chosen field and Fort 
 McGruder the back-bone of their new line of defense. 
 
 At two o’clock in the afternoon of Monday, May 
 the fifth, General McClellan, commanding the Army 
 of the Potomac, found the enemy in position for battle 
 at Lee’s Mill, two miles east of Williamsburg. After 
 the usual preliminaries of skirmishing, General Joseph 
 Hooker, leading the advance, was instructed to make 
 an attack ; and now opened one of the most sangui- 
 nary battles of the Peninsular Campaign. The advan- 
 tage of position was clearly in favor of the enemy, 
 whose fortifications completely covered the almost 
 impassable approaches to the field. The Federal 
 troops were compelled to march over a narrow strip 
 of land, on either side of which were creeks and 
 swamps, in order to reach the open plains in front of 
 Williamsburg. Fort McGruder, a fortification of 
 considerable magnitude and occupied by the enemy, 
 commanded this road. Nothing but the most invin- 
 cible and undaunted bravery on the part of officers 
 and men, enabled General Hooker with his division 
 of but eight thousand to fight and hold in check an 
 army of twenty thousand, which was hurled against 
 him repeatedly at this point. Column after column 
 was thrown against his right, left and center, but as 
 the crag beats back the blast, so this intrepid soldier 
 reformed his shattered ranks and pressed forward 
 and still forward until dark defeat became a gloi'ious 
 victory. Hooker on this occasion exhibited that nerve 
 and unwavering courage which has since made his 
 
134 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 naine immortal and given him the highest position in 
 the American army. For hours this general fought 
 the combined forces of McGruder, Hill and Longstreet, 
 and held his own until Kearney and Heintzelman were 
 ordered forward to his support. 
 
 A great want of ability and penetration on the part 
 of McClellan seems to have characterized the opening 
 of this engagement ; and the army and country will 
 wonder, until the future has explained, why Hooker 
 was allowed to struggle alone in the early part of the 
 battle. 
 
 Coming to the relief of Hooker, the chivalrous 
 Kearney, never outdone in deeds of bravery, here 
 performed one of those daring feats which made him 
 the idol of his division, and which, under the eye of 
 the great Napoleon, would have been rewarded with 
 the “ Cross of the Legion of Honor.’’ With the pur- 
 pose of disclosing to his command the concealed 
 position of the enemy, he called the officers of his 
 staff together, dashed out into the open field and rode 
 leisurely along the entire line. Five thousand guns 
 belched forth their death-dealing missiles, bullets fell 
 around them like hail, two of his aids and three 
 orderlies fell dead at his side, and before he reached 
 the end of his perilous ride, he found himself almost 
 alone. By this daring exploit he was enabled to 
 accomplish his object of discovering the position and 
 strength of the enemy ; then riding back to his divi- 
 sion, he shouted, “ You see my boys where to fire ! ” 
 Kearney now held his own until General Hancock 
 came up and by a flank movement forced the enemy 
 to retire to his fortifications. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 135 
 
 On the evening of the fifth, the Rebels withdrew 
 from their works and continued their retreat towards 
 Richmond, and on the following morning General 
 McClellan at the head of his victorious army marched 
 triumphantly through Williamsburg in pursuit of the 
 retreating foe. 
 
CHAPTER XI Y. 
 
 SEVEN PINES. 
 
 The Preliminaries of Battle. — Cannonading and Picket-firing. — Vig- 
 orous Attack of the Confederates. — Undaunted Bravery of the 
 Unionists. — General Casey Unjustly Censured. — Testimony of the 
 Enemy. — Incidents of the Battle-field. — Sufferings of the Wounded. 
 — The First Night after Battle. 
 
 T HE battle of Seven Pines opened somewhat disas- 
 trously to the Union Army. Cannonading and 
 picket-firing had been kept up so continuously that it 
 was difficult to know when a battle was in progress. 
 Suddenly, while our troops were at dinner, the enemy 
 made a vigorous attack upon our picket lines, which 
 unfortunately were not more than eighty rods in 
 advance of our camps. 
 
 The retreating pickets were vigorously pursued 
 into camp, and in an instant the artillery and musketry 
 of the Rebels brought our forces to a realization of 
 the fact that no idle thunder or blank cartridges 
 aroused them from their coffee. From every quarter, 
 long lines of the enemy rushed out of the forest into 
 the open field, and with a wild yell peculiar to the 
 Southern soldier, charged the advanced battalions of 
 General Casey’s division. Several regiments jumped 
 into line and stood their ground until half of their 
 number strewed the plain. All the artillery horses 
 were killed and the captured guns were turned upon 
 
BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 137 
 
 them. General Casey now fell back a few hundred 
 yards, and reforming his little division, again defied 
 the onset of the enemy. And here for three hours 
 less than six thousand men fought and held in check 
 a force of twenty thousand ; for the command of Gen- 
 eral Casey at the opening of the engagement did not 
 exceed eight thousand men, and two thousand of their 
 number were placed hors de combat in the first attack ; 
 thus crippled, the division had to sustain for so 
 long a period this unequal contest, which would have 
 defeated and demoralized less brave and determined 
 soldiers. 
 
 It was thought for some time in military circles, 
 that General Casey’s defense was not so resolute as it 
 should have been ; but to his credit be it said, that the 
 enemy, who is not expected to be over generous in 
 the bestowal of praise upon a foe, spoke in the highest 
 terms of his bravery, and said that his troops fought 
 as well as they had ever known fresh and undisciplined 
 regiments to fight, and that they met from them a far 
 more vigorous resistance than they had anticipated. 
 They said that the position of General Casey was one 
 of the greatest peril. Thrown in advance of Hooker 
 and Kearney three miles, if they threw against him 
 a large force it was almost impossible to reinforce him 
 in time to prevent defeat. That they had expected to 
 cut his division to pieces, and before reinforcements 
 could possibly arrive drive back the shattered regi- 
 ments to bear with them consternation and panic. 
 
 But so far from this being realized, the unyielding 
 firmness of tins division prevented their cutting 
 through our left wing, capturing a part and demoral- 
 
138 BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 izing the whole ; for it held out against them until 
 reinforcements came up. It was a gratification to 
 hear this vindication of General Casey, and to see 
 him relieved of those charges which, under the cir- 
 cumstances, were so unjust and painful. 
 
 The first night after a battle is always filled with 
 indescribable horrors. Men in their death struggles 
 begging for a cup of water ; shivering under the knife 
 of the surgeon as he amputates their mangled limbs ; 
 or praying, perhaps, that they may be spared to see 
 their native hills once more, and the loved ones at 
 home. 
 
 Rev. J. J. Marks, from whom we have previously 
 quoted and who was Avith the Union Army at Seven 
 Pines, thus describes the events which follo\red the 
 battle. “ During the entire night the Avounded were 
 brought in until they covered the grounds around the 
 house of Mr. Savage, and filled all the out-houses, 
 barns, and sheds. 
 
 “ Lying alongside of our wounded men, were many 
 Confederate soldiers and officers ; and to the honor of 
 our men be it said, I heard no words of anger or re- 
 proach, but the Rebels were uniformly treated as 
 kindly as the Union soldiers. 
 
 “ All night the surgeons were occupied in amputa- 
 tions, and, under the circumstances, they found it 
 impossible to attend to many whose condition required 
 food and stimulants. 
 
 “ Wounded men suffer greatly from cold and shiver 
 as in winter, or with an ague. It was therefore essen- 
 tial to lift them from the damp ground and cover them 
 as far as possible. 
 
BA TTLF.S FOR TIIE UN: OX. 
 
 139 
 
 “ In the course of the evening twenty or thirty sol- 
 diers from different regiments, who had borne in upon 
 their shoulders their wounded comrades, permitted me 
 to organize them into a corps of nurses. Colonel 
 M’Kelvy, than whom no man was more active for the 
 relief of our men, furnished twenty bales of hay, a 
 thousand blankets, and permitted me to draw on the 
 Commissary Department for coffee, sugar, and crack- 
 ers to an indefinite amount. The nurse-soldiers soon 
 spread down this hay and many a shivering wounded 
 man when lifted from the damp earth and placed upon 
 the soft grass bed with a blanket spread over him, 
 poured out his gratitude in a thousand blessings. 
 When this was done we followed with hot coffee, and 
 found our way to every suffering man. Everywhere 
 we were compelled to place our feet in streams of 
 blood ; one spectacle of anguish and agony only suc- 
 ceeded another. The mind was overwhelmed and 
 benumbed by such scenes of accumulated misery. 
 Where there was so much to be done, and where we 
 could do so little, the temptation was to hurry away 
 from such painful spectacles, and remember them only 
 as the visions of a frightful di’eam. Great must be 
 the cause which demands such a sacrifice. Here and 
 there over the grounds were seen through that night 
 a circle of lanterns moving around the tables of ampu- 
 tators. Every few moments there was a shriek of 
 some poor fellow under the knife, and one after an- 
 other the sufferers were brought forward and laid 
 down before the surgeons on stretchers, each waiting 
 his turn. 
 
 “And then again one with face as white as marble, 
 
140 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 and every line telling that he had passed through a 
 suffering, the utmost which human nature could en- 
 dure, was borne away and laid down for some kind- 
 hearted man to pour into his lips a few drops of brandy, 
 to lift up his head and give him the assurance of life 
 and sympathy. There a brother knelt and wept over a 
 dying brother, and his voice, broken with sobs, begged 
 me to come and pray that his brother might be able 
 to see Jesus and depart in peace. There a father 
 held up in his arms a dying son and was receiving his 
 last message to mother, sister, and brother ; here a 
 group of sympathizing soldiers stood around a dying 
 companion who was loudly bewailing his early death 
 and that he should never see again the loved associ- 
 ates of his youth. There, four or five were holding 
 in their strong arms one whose brain having been 
 pierced with a ball, and deprived of reason, was strong 
 in the frantic energy of madness ; here a beckoning 
 hand urged me to come and at the sufferer’s request 
 sit down by his side and tell him what he must do to 
 be saved. There was whispered a story of disobedi- 
 ence, of crime, that now stung like a serpent and bit 
 like an adder. Another begged me to come early in 
 the morning and write a line to father or wife. Others 
 entreated that they should not be compelled to submit 
 to the knife of the operator, but that their limbs might 
 be spared them for they felt sure that under the sur- 
 geon’s hand they should die. Others begged that 
 some board might bear their names and be placed at 
 the head of their graves. 
 
 “ If I turned from these scenes on the open ground 
 and entered into any of the houses, spots of blood 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 141 
 
 stained the steps and the stairs. In the halls were 
 lying alongside of each other many of the wounded 
 and dead. The rooms were crowded with sufferers 
 broken and shattered in every conceivable way by 
 the enginery of death. 
 
 “ From the mouth of one was running a stream of 
 blood ; another was upheld in the arms of a friend 
 and gasping for breath, and the deep and unnaturally 
 bright eye told that all the energies of life were sum- 
 moned to the struggle. 
 
 “ One lying on the floor, told by his loud snore, of 
 the injury done to the brain, and that he in all proba- 
 bility would never open his eyes ; and another begged 
 for help that he might change his position and relieve 
 the suffering of his shattered thigh. 
 
 ‘ Night of nights ! who can tell thy tales of woe V 
 
 “ At one place where a wounded soldier was panting 
 his last, I was summoned. He begged me to pray for 
 him, and taking from his finger a gold ring, he asked 
 me to send it to his wife who had given it to him on 
 the day of their marriage, and now he wished it to he 
 restored to her. In a few moments the last battle 
 was fought and the soldier was asleep. On examin- 
 ing the ring I found underneath the wrappings of a 
 thread the initials ‘ J. S. to C. B.’ This had been 
 done to preserve the letters, and was the careful act 
 of human love, anxious to preserve a sacred memento. 
 In another group of sufferers I found a little boy, ap- 
 parently not more than twelve years of age ; the long 
 hair thrown back from the beautiful forehead, enabled 
 me to see by the lantern light a very child-like face. 
 
142 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 His right leg had been amputated above his knee, and 
 he was lying motionless and apparently breathless, 
 and as white as snow. I bent over him and put my 
 fingers on his wrist, and discovered to my surprise 
 the faint trembling of a pulse. I immediately said 
 to my attendant : 
 
 “ ‘ Why, the child is alive !’ 
 
 “ ‘Yes, sir,’ said he, opening his eyes, ‘ I am alive ; 
 will you not send me to my mother V 
 
 And where is your mother ?’ said I, ‘ my child?’ 
 
 “ ‘ In Sumpterville, South Carolina,’ he replied. 
 
 “ ‘ Oh ! yes, my son, we will certainly send you to 
 your mother.’ 
 
 “ ‘ Well, well,’ said he, ‘ that is kind ; I will go to 
 sleep now.’” 
 
CHAPTER XT. 
 
 FAIR OA^IKIS. 
 
 Positions Occupied by the Contending Forces. — General Hooker Com- 
 mences the Action. — Advance of Sickles, Grover, and Robinson. — 
 General Kearney and Colonel Hicks Protect the Flanks. — Both 
 Armies Enveloped in a Cloud of Smoke. — The Engagement Becomes 
 General. — Defeat of the Rebels. — They Fly to Their Entrench- 
 ments. — McClellan Orders a Cessation of Hostilities. — Renewal of 
 the Battle. — Rout and Final Defeat of the Enemy. 
 
 fFHE battle of Fair Oaks was the first of a grand 
 1 and never-to-be-forgotten series of engagements 
 known as “ The Seven Days’ Battles.” On the twenty- 
 fifth of June, 1862, McClellan instructed General 
 Heintzelman, then in command of the left wing of 
 his army, to advance his entire front towards the 
 enemy. For many days previous to this movement, 
 the army had anticipated the order to advance, as 
 everything seemed in readiness for a renewed demon- 
 tration against Richmond. 
 
 It was determined as a first step in the programme 
 to attack and drive the enemy from his rifle pits and 
 earthworks and establish our lines where his then were. 
 The accomplishment of this design was committed to 
 General Hooker, a brave and sagacious officer who 
 had already been tried in several of the most sanguin- 
 ary battles of the Peninsular Campaign. 
 
144 
 
 BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 In front of Hooker’s lines was a thick undergrowth 
 of scrub-oaks, vines, and ragged bashes skirting a mul- 
 titude of ponds and marshes. This swampy wilder- 
 ness was from four to six hundred yards wide, and 
 beyond stretched an open field of eighty rods in width. 
 In this clearing were located the rifle-pits, earthworks 
 and redoubts of the enemy. 
 
 The assaulting column was comprised of the brig- 
 ades of Sickles, Grover, and Robinson. 
 
 General Kearney was directed to protect the left 
 flank, and Colonel Hicks with the Nineteenth Massa- 
 chusetts Infantry was commanded to advance to and 
 cover the right. 
 
 All necessary appointments having been made, the 
 three brigades, led by General Hooker, advanced cau- 
 tiously but firmly into the forest, and after having 
 proceeded about two hundred yards, encountered and 
 pushed back the Rebel pickets to their main reserves. 
 This demonstration was quickly followed by a spirited 
 skirmish which soon resulted in rapid and incessant 
 firing along the entire line. In a few moments the 
 forest was a scene of furious contest and the ominous 
 quiet was succeeded by the terrible din and clash of 
 aims and the roar of cannon and musketry. 
 
 Both armies were, for a time, enveloped in a cloud 
 of smoke, which rising up and twisting itself among 
 the trees, hung over the contending forces as a pall of 
 darkness : and then streams of fire like angry light- 
 nings shot athwart the sky ; and anon, a courier would 
 dash out from the gloom, covered with blood and dust, 
 bearing dispatches or hastening for orders. 
 
 In less than half an hour after driving in the pickets, 
 
BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 145 
 
 the divisions of Hooker and Kearney were involved in 
 the liveliest action. The arrival of fresh troops oil 
 both sides was an evidence that a decisive battle was 
 courted by the contestants. 
 
 The Federal troops pushed steadily forward routing 
 the Confederates, and driving them from the forest 
 into the open field beyond, over which they fled and 
 sought protection in their intrenchments. 
 
 Our men now raised a shout of triumph which 
 was caught up by regiment after regiment and borne 
 through the army. 
 
 General Grover was about ordering an assault 
 against the Rebels in their defences when he received 
 an order from General McClellan to halt his brigade. 
 From an erroneous impression concerning the actual 
 condition of the forces engaged he ordered General 
 Hooker to retire from the field of victory, and return 
 to the position occupied before the battle ; but when 
 McClellan subsequently came upon the field, he ordered 
 our troops to advance and re-occupy the woods and 
 fields they had taken, and before night the Confeder- 
 ates were driven out of their rifle-pits and from the 
 fields, and we had gained a victory which cost us 
 nearly a thousand of our best men in killed and 
 wounded. 
 
 The Rebels smarting under the punishment they 
 had received in the afternoon, came out in force at sis 
 o’clock in the evening and re-opened the battle by at- 
 tacking General Robinson’s brigade. 
 
 This last onset was the closing scene in the battle of 
 Fair Oaks, and was a bitter, earnest struggle for the 
 fruits of conflict. The Confederates made a very de- 
 
146 BATTLES FUR THE UNION. 
 
 termined charge led by a very brave regiment of Geor- 
 gians, but they were met by men equally brave and 
 determined, and receiving a check at the points of our 
 bayonets were speedily repulsed and driven back leav- 
 ing four hundred of their number dead on the field. 
 The Federal troops were under arms the entire night 
 following this engagement, with instructions to be 
 prepared to advance at a moment’s notice. Every 
 now and then there was an attack upon some portion 
 of our lines, the Confederates seemingly determined 
 to regain by surprise or strategy what they had lost 
 during the day ; but it was subsequently ascertained 
 that these apparently futile assaults were only feints 
 intended to occupy our attention and to prevent Mc- 
 Clellan sending reinforcements to the right wing of 
 his army. 
 
 When McClellan on the twenty-fifth ordered an ad- 
 vance upon the Confederate works, our army was full 
 of hope, believing that we were then taking the initia- 
 tory step in a series of actions which would in a few 
 days place us in possession of Richmond. We were 
 successful at Fair Oaks and confident that the next day 
 would enable us to overcome half of the obstacles 
 that disputed our march to the Rebel capitol. At an 
 early hour on the morning of Thursday, the twenty- 
 sixth, the roar of battle was heard along the Chicka- 
 hominy. 
 
 This was the hotly contested battle of Mechanics- 
 ville, the second of the Seven Days’ Battles which was 
 successively followed with varying fortune, by Gains’ 
 Mills, Savage Station, White Oak Swamp, Glendale, 
 and Malvern Hill. 
 
CHAPTER X Y I . 
 
 TvT yV T 3HEII_iI_i. 
 
 Battle of Malvern Hill. — The Final Engagement of the Peninsular 
 Campaign. — Scene of the Battle. — Influence of our Gunboats. — At" 
 tack of the Rebels led by General Magruder. — Destructive Fire 
 from Federal Cannon. — The Rebels Repulsed. — They Reform and 
 Charge Again. — Another Tempest of Fire from our Batteries 
 Sweeps them from the Field. — Their Guns are Silenced, the Horses 
 Killed and Regiments Cut Down. — McClellan Orders a Retreat to 
 Harrison’s Landing. — Indignation of the Army. — General Kearney 
 Protests Against the Order for Retreat. — General Martindale Sheds 
 Tears of Shame. 
 
 M ALVERN HILL, the scene of the final engage- 
 ment of the Peninsular campaign, is an eleva- 
 tion of nearly two hundred feet and fronts on J ames 
 river to the south, which flows lazily along at a dis- 
 tance of between two and three miles. To the north 
 it faces an open field of from a half to two-thirds 
 of a mile in length and one-third in width. To the 
 north and east is a gentle, undulating slope, hut to 
 the south and west it is quite rugged and difficult of 
 ascent. 
 
 On this elevated plain stands an old-fashioned but 
 decidedly substantial country-seat, known as the Crew 
 House, surrounded by a large number of out-houses 
 which are embosomed in a multitude of vines and 
 trees. 
 
148 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 A bright, magnificent, enchanting prospect opened 
 to the eyes of the Federal troops as they took position 
 on Malvern Hill. From the darkness and gloom of 
 the Chickaliominy swamps and from fields trodden 
 into barrenness, they were brought to gaze upon a 
 country which had not as yet felt the devastating 
 tread of armies. 
 
 The story of this battle has been so eloquently told 
 by an eye-witness, that I cannot refrain from quoting 
 it here. He says that during the night previous to 
 the battle, rifle pits were dug under the guns, in the 
 slope. The troops in these pits were covered with 
 straw and freshly-reaped grain, and the glasses of the 
 officers of the Confederate army could not see that 
 before they could take these batteries, they would have 
 to encounter ten thousand bayonets. 
 
 The strength of our position was increased by the 
 presence of five gun-boats, ready at a moment’s no- 
 tice to open in action. The moral influence of these 
 on our army was very manifest. 
 
 During the morning the enemy, now under the 
 command of General Magruder, assisted by Jackson, 
 Longstreet, Hill, and Huger, advanced from different 
 points shelling the woods as they slowly felt their 
 way, and at length, about noon, their skirmishers 
 discovered our position. The field in our front was 
 about three-fourths of a mile long and half a mile 
 wide, and beyond it a deep, dark, pine forest. On 
 the edge of this field at different points General Ma- 
 gruder threw out batteries and regiments, for what 
 purpose could not be known ; and no sooner were 
 they disclosed than they brought on them a rain of 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. ^49 
 
 death. In a moment the regiments were swept away 
 like chaff before a storm. 
 
 The horses were killed at the guns, the carriages 
 were tossed into a thousand fragments, the caissons 
 were exploded, and the gunners who still lived, es- 
 caped into the shelter of the woods. 
 
 About four o’clock in the afternoon General Magru- 
 der ordered an advance along the entire left wing of his 
 line ; and there were brought out into the field several 
 divisions and batteries. Prominent among these were 
 the brigades of Toombs, Cobb, Wright, and Armisted, 
 among the finest troops in the Southern army. They 
 were sustained by about twenty pieces of artillery 
 thrown out into the plain. The first column advanced 
 with steady step towards our batteries ; but long be- 
 fore it reached the middle of the open ground, the 
 troops were met by such an iron tempest, that the few 
 who survived fell to the ground, and abandoning their 
 guns commenced crawling back on their faces to- 
 wards the forest. 
 
 A second column with a courage which on the part 
 of their officers was madness, but was at the moment 
 the admiration of our army, ran out into the open 
 field and pressed towards our death-dealing cannon. 
 
 These again were mowed down. They rallied, fee- 
 bly shouted defiance, pressed into the cloud of smoke, 
 and another tempest of fire lighted up the scene for a 
 moment and that column was gone. Here and there 
 a straggler emerged from the smoke and ran across 
 the field to his friends ; he was but one, while the 
 hundreds were lying mangled and dead on the plain. 
 
 A third column was thrown out from the cover of 
 
150 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 the forest ; fresh batteries were brought into play, 
 and when the smoke had slightly lifted up from the 
 field, the terrific conflict was renewed ; again the 
 guns of the Confederates were silenced, the horses 
 killed, the caissons on fire, and the regiments cut 
 down ; re-forming, now prostrate, and then springing 
 forward, until their thinned and ragged lines, as they 
 came within musket range, presented so pitiable a 
 spectacle that our men fired with little purpose to 
 kill. 
 
 About half-past five o’clock in the afternoon, a pow- 
 erful body of troops from General Magruder’s center 
 were advanced into the field ; their orders were to 
 press forward over every obstacle. 
 
 There is every reason to believe that these troops 
 had been rendered insensible to fear by whiskey 
 drugged with gunpowder ; and undeterred by the fate 
 of those who had perished in previous attacks, with 
 shouts and yells they pressed on towards our men. 
 Many pieces of our cannon opened upon them and 
 grape and shell swept through their lines ; treading 
 on the dead, pressing down the living who had fallen 
 to the ground, they with unwavering step still ad- 
 vanced ; emboldened by their example, other regi- 
 ments ran out with wild cheers from the forest ; on 
 and on over the field of carnage they advanced ; 
 every discharge of our guns made great gaps in their 
 lines, but instantly closing up, they pressed forward : 
 another sheet of flame would spread out over the 
 field and the roar and thunder followed, moving the 
 ground as if trembling in the convulsion of an earth- 
 quake. 
 
MALVERN HILL. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 153 
 
 When the smoke cleared away a little, the broken 
 columns were seen still with fiery madness pressing 
 on. Already they had begun to ascend the slope, 
 and had succeeded in coming so near that our artil- 
 lery could no longer so damagingly sweep the ground. 
 
 With all the frenzy of maniacs they still ran to- 
 wards us ; the efforts of the artillery were re-doubled ; 
 the men at our guns turned pale and stood aghast ; 
 another moment and the day might be lost ; — -just 
 then up sprang our concealed men in the rifle-pits, 
 and a long stream of fire darted forth from a thous- 
 and muskets, and springing forward with fixed bayo- 
 net, they met the foe who quailed, wavered and then 
 renewed the conflict, hut it was in vain ; with the in- 
 sanity of men who sought death, they still continued 
 the struggle, and a long line of their dead at the base 
 of this hill, bore witness to the severity and destruc- 
 tiveness of the contest. The whole scene at this time 
 was one of terror and appalling splendor. 
 
 The batteries on the heights continued to pour a 
 constant and withering fire into the forests where the 
 forces of the enemy were concealed, and simulta- 
 neously the thunder of a hundred great guns shook 
 the hill and caused the waters of the river to tremble. 
 The firing of the gunboats added very much to the 
 overpowering grandeur of the hour. The shells dis- 
 charged from the monster guns of these vessels 
 rushed through the air with a frightful shriek that 
 was heard above the roar of battle ; then when they 
 entered the forests, great trees were shivered into a 
 thousand fragments, the branches were torn from 
 others and tossed into the heavens, or thrown far into 
 
 1 
 
154 
 
 BATTLES FOR TIIE UNION. 
 
 the deep shades, and when they burst, it was with an 
 explosion that shook the earth for miles. The terror 
 inspired by these shells was such as to deprive the 
 rebels of all courage and they fled into the deeper re- 
 cesses of the forest. 
 
 The contest in front of the rifle-pits was but short, 
 for, unable to bear up against the impetuous attack of 
 our men, the enemy endeavored to remove their broken 
 columns from the field. As they fled they were pur- 
 sued three-fourths of a mile by the Union troops and 
 the entire Rebel army was struck with a panic ; and 
 if at this moment we could have brought ten thous- 
 and reserves into the field, we might have marched 
 back again and re-taken all we had lost, and without 
 any difficulty reached Richmond ; — this statement will 
 be amply confirmed in subsequent chapters. 
 
 On the fleeing columns of the enemy, our batteries 
 and gun-boats continued to fire until ten o’clock at 
 night, throwing the shells into the forests ; for hours 
 not a gun replied and not even a courier dared to 
 show himself in the open field. 
 
 The battle was over, but the cannonading still con- 
 tinued, and shells and balls of every kind tore through 
 the woods in a ceaseless whirlwind of fury. In the 
 meantime, thousands of the Confederates fled in the 
 wildest disorder from the scene, and hid themselves in 
 swamps and hollows : — soldiers without guns, horse- 
 men without caps and swords came to the hospitals on 
 the battle-field of Glendale and reported that their 
 regiments and brigades were swept away and that they 
 alone were “ escaped to tell the tale”. 
 
 It is one of the strangest things in this week of dis- 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 155 
 
 aster that General McClellan ordered a retreat to 
 Harrison’s Landing, six miles down the James river, 
 after we had gained so decided a victory. When this 
 order was received by the impatient and eager army, 
 consternation and amazement overwhelmed our patri- 
 otic and ardent hosts. Some refused to obey the com- 
 mand. General Martindale shed tears of shame. 
 
 The brave and chivalrous Kearney said in the pres- 
 ence of many officers ; “ I, Philip Kearney, an old 
 soldier, enter my solemn protest against this order for 
 retreat, — we ought, instead of retreating, to follow 
 up the enemy and take Richmond. And in full view 
 of all the responsibility of such a declaration, I say to 
 you all, such an order can only be prompted by cow- 
 ardice or treason.” 
 
 And with all, hopelessness and despair succeeded 
 the flush of triumph. In silence and gloom our victo- 
 rious army commenced retiring from an enemy utterly 
 broken, scattered, and panic-stricken. 
 
 And when there was not a foe within miles of us, 
 we left our wounded behind to perish, and any one 
 witnessing the wild eagerness of our retreat, would 
 have supposed that we were in the greatest peril from 
 9, vigilant and triumphant enemy. During the nights 
 of the first and second of July we were visited by one 
 of the heaviest of rain-storms : this continued for 
 twenty-four hours without intermission, until the en- 
 tire Peninsula was covered with water, and rivers 
 rushed where there had been only little streams. In 
 this storm, on the morning of Wednesday, the army 
 fell down to Berkely or Harrison’s Landing. This 
 was done on account of the superiority of the landing, 
 
156 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 James river at this point being broad and deep. The 
 position was of such a character that the army could 
 be shielded from any force the enemy could bring 
 against us. We could have taken many of his aban- 
 doned guns from the field, but satisfied ourselves with 
 carrying off all our own with incredible difficulty, over 
 worse than Crimean roads. We retired to Harrison’s 
 Landing without the enemy making any demonstration 
 in our rear : and weary and exhausted by struggles 
 and battles which have probably no parallel in human 
 history, our troops found rest. And of the Grand 
 Army of the Potomac, fifty-eight thousand remained, 
 and sixty thousand were in the hospitals, lying wound- 
 ed on the field, or killed in battle. 
 
 Our loss in the battle of Malvern Hill was slight 
 compared with that of other days. But the loss of' 
 the enemy on this single field was fully equal in killed 
 and wounded to our losses in the seven days. 
 
CHAPTER X Y II . 
 
 CEDAR IvIOXJnsrT^-IZST. 
 
 The Battle-ground. — Jackson En route for Culpepper. — Occupancy of 
 Cedar Mountain. — Three Miles of Batteries. — Banks Receives the 
 Attack. — A Rain of Fire. — Charge on Enemy’s Battery. — Over- 
 whelmed by Superior Numbers. — Ricketts to the Front. — Enemy 
 Compelled to Fall Back. — Artillery Battle at Night. — Interment of 
 Fallen Braves. — Losses. — The Enemy Retires. — Cedar Mountain 
 Occupied by Union Troops. 
 
 T HE first stopping-point south of Brandy Station on 
 the Orange and Alexandria railroad in Virginia, is 
 Culpepper Court House. Midway between this point 
 and the banks of the Rapidan, rises Cedar Mountain, 
 a cone-shaped elevation with wooded sides and grassy 
 slopes which gave its name to the engagement fought 
 here, August ninth, 1862. 
 
 For nearly a month the forces of the enemy under 
 Stonewall Jackson had been watching the line of the 
 Rapidan, and when General Pope marched towards 
 Culpepper Court House, the enemy made haste to push 
 his forces in that direction, to cut off, if possible, the 
 Union advance before the main body of the Federal 
 army could come up. The Confederates did not reach 
 Culpepper Court House, but at day-break on the ninth 
 held Cedar Mountain and were intrenched behind its 
 wooded heights. 
 
158 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 They also occupied a range of heights and ravines 
 westward of the mountain. 
 
 One mile away, on an elevated plateau extending to 
 the eastward for the distance of a mile and westward 
 an equal distance, General Banks drew up his army 
 in battle array to receive the attack of the Confeder- 
 ates. At three o’clock in the afternoon, the pickets 
 on our right were driven in and a battery directly in 
 our front opened on us at long range. Then there 
 came pouring in upon our troops a red rain of 
 fire from batteries unmasking on the hill-side and ar- 
 ranged in a semicircle for a distance of three miles. 
 
 For two hours did this storm of destruction sweep 
 our ranks. Cross fires and flank fires were received 
 at every point. The enemy outnumbered us in men 
 and in guns besides having the advantage of position. 
 But up to five o’clock our batteries replied to theirs 
 shot for shot. 
 
 Then it was that the enemy opened an enfilading 
 fire on our right and General Banks gave orders to 
 reserve fire and charge the Confederate guns. 
 
 Crawford’s Brigade of Williams’ Division made the 
 charge and the Forty-sixth Pennsylvania regiment led 
 the van. But a withering fire proceeding from a 
 thicket of scrub oaks just back of the Confederate 
 battery, mowed down the Union ranks with great 
 slaughter. 
 
 The commands of Augur and Williams were brought 
 to the support of the advance, but the overwhelming 
 numbers of the enemy, his advantage of position and 
 the great gaps in our lines compelled General Banks 
 to fall gradually back, meeting as he did so the sup- 
 ports of Pope which were in close proximity. 
 
BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 159 
 
 General Pope at once ordered Ricketts to the front 
 where his battery was used with such effect on the 
 Confederates who attempted to follow up Banks, that 
 they retired in confusion to their old position, sustain- 
 ing considerable loss in the encounter. 
 
 A sharp artillery battle was kept up between the 
 contestants until midnight, the battle-ground of the 
 day previous being occupied by neither army, but 
 swept by the guns of both. Th« hours of the tenth 
 of August — the day after the battle — were occupied 
 by our soldiers in giving burial to their fallen com- 
 rades. Dust was consigned to dust on the field where 
 they fell, and another strike for country was recorded, 
 at what precious cost of life! 
 
 During the night of the eleventh, Stonewall Jack- 
 son re-crossed the Rapidan and retired in the direc- 
 tion of Orange Court-House. The Union loss in this 
 drawn battle was about eighteen hundred in killed, 
 wounded, and missing, besides about one thousand 
 stragglers who went back beyond Culpepper Court 
 House and never entirely rejoined their commands. 
 
 General Prince was taken prisoner, and Generals 
 Augur, Geary, and Carroll were severely wounded. 
 General Banks, colliding with a runaway horse, was 
 thrown from his own and injured. 
 
 The enemy’s loss was nearly the same as ours, 
 and Generals Winder and Trimble were killed. A 
 heavy cavalry force under Buford and Bayard went 
 in pursuit of the enemy and captured many strag- 
 glers. The Union head-quarters were now placed 
 at Cedar Mountain and our forces advanced to the 
 Rapidan. 
 
ICO 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 General Pope, believing that the enemy’s forces in 
 his front were unnecessarily strong for reconnoitering 
 purposes only, called in all his available troops. He 
 was joined on the eleventh by King from Fredericks- 
 burg and on the fourteenth by General Reno with 
 eight thousand men. The programme for the suc- 
 ceeding ten or twelve days was varied by the camp, 
 the march, and the skirmish-line. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 IBIFt^-lXriD'Sr STATION. 
 
 First Battle.— Lee Resumes Hostilities.— Stuart’s Cavalry Attack.— 
 Gallant Repulse by Kilpatrick.— Second Battle.— Skirmish at Kelly’s 
 Ford. — Splendid Charge of the Union Army. — Complete Rout of the 
 Enemy. — Heroic Feats on the Field. — Charge of the First Marne. — 
 Fall of Colonel Davis. — Third Battle. — The Enemy Swept from the 
 Plains. — Prisoners and Materials of War Captured. — Fourth Bat- 
 tle. — Critical Situation of Kilpatrick. — Bravery of Custer and Da- 
 vies. — The Exultant Battle-Cry.— Fresh Laurels for the Union 
 Troops — Scene on the Battle-field. — The Writer’s Part iu the Four 
 Contests. 
 
 rPHE words Brandy Station will ever excite a multi- 
 -L tude of thrilling memories in the minds of all 
 cavalry-men who saw service in Virginia ; for this 
 was the grand cavalry battle-ground of the war. 
 
 On these historic plains our Bayard, Stoneman, and 
 Pleasanton have successively led their gallant troopers 
 against the commands of Stuart, Lee, and Hampton. 
 The twentieth of August, 1862, the ninth of June, 
 twelfth of September, and eleventh of October, 1863, 
 are days which cannot soon be forgotten by the “ Boys 
 in Blue ” who crossed sabres with the Confederates 
 at Brandy Station. 
 
 Converging and diverging roads at this point quite 
 naturally brought the cavalry of the contending 
 armies together whenever we advanced to or retired 
 from the Rapidan. Being both the advance and rear 
 
162 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 guard of the opposing forces, our horsemen always 
 found themselves face to face with the foe on this 
 field ; in fact most of our cavalry men were so confident 
 
 of a fight here that as soon as we discovered that we 
 were approaching the Station we prepared for action 
 by tightening our saddle-girths and inspecting our 
 arms. 
 
 First Brandy Station. 
 
 Upon the withdrawal of the Army of the Potomac 
 from the Peninsula, General Lee, contemplating the 
 invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania, started his 
 army northward with the view, no doubt, of driving 
 Pope from Northern Virginia and carrying the Con- 
 federate standard into the loyal states. The battle of 
 Cedar Mountain temporarily checked his forward move- 
 ment and compelled him to retire to the south bank 
 of the Rapidan. The re-appearance of Rebel skir- 
 mishers at the various fords of this river on the morn- 
 ing of August eighteenth, 1862, was an evidence to 
 our pickets that the enemy was about to resume hos- 
 tilities. 
 
 General Pope at once ordered his artillery and in- 
 fantry to retire beyond the Rappahannock, while Gen- 
 eral Bayard commanding the cavalry was charged 
 with covering the rear of the retiring army. We 
 disputed the advance of the Rebels so stubbornly 
 that they found no opportunity to interfere with the 
 retreat of the main column. The morning of the 
 twentieth found the “Harris Light,” Tenth New York, 
 First Pennsylvania, First Maine, First Rhode Island, 
 and First New Jersey Cavalry bivouacked at Brandy 
 Station. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 163 
 
 The engagement opened at six o’clock by an attack 
 of Stuart’s cavalry upon the Harris Light, acting 
 as rear-guard of Bayard’s Brigade. 
 
 This preliminary onset was speedily repulsed by the 
 Harris Light, which regiment kept the enemy in check 
 until General Bayard had gained sufficient time to 
 enable him to form his command at a more favorable 
 - point, two miles north of the Station on the direct 
 road to the Rappahannock. Here the Harris Light, 
 led by Colonel Kilpatrick and Major Davies, again 
 charged the advance regiments of the Confederate 
 column, thus opening the series of memorable con- 
 flicts at Brandy Station and adding fresh laurels to 
 its already famous record. A deep cut in a hill 
 through which the Orange and Alexandria Railroad 
 passes, checked our pursuit, else we should have cap- 
 tured many prisoners. The First New Jersey and 
 First Pennsylvania coming to our relief enabled us to 
 reform our broken squadrons, and as Pope had in- 
 structed General Bayard not to bring on a general en- 
 gagement the cavalry now crossed the Rappahannock 
 and awaited the orders of the general-in-chief. 
 
 Second Brandy Station. 
 
 The battle of Chancellorsville did not materially 
 change the positions of the contending armies, but 
 General Lee, emboldened by his success in compel- 
 ling his new adversary to retrace his steps across the 
 Rappahannock, began at once to put himself in a con- 
 dition to take the offensive. This activity in the 
 Rebel camp soon determined General Hooker to make 
 a reconnoisance in force, and he accordingly instruct- 
 
164 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 ed General Pleasanton, now in command of the cav- 
 alry corps, to proceed to Culpepper, break up Stuart’s 
 encampment at that point and ascertain, if possible, 
 the whereabouts and probable destination of the Con- 
 federate Chief. 
 
 At eight o’clock in the afternoon of June eighth, 
 the Cavalry Corps moved from its temporary head- 
 quarters at Warrenton Junction towards the Rappa- 
 hannock. We moved in two columns, one taking the 
 road to Beverly and the other to Kelly’s Ford. 
 
 Early on the morning of the ninth we arrived at 
 the river, where it was evident we were not expected 
 in force, for we found nothing but a strong picket 
 guard to contest our advance. 
 
 A brief though brisk skirmish took place at Kelly’s 
 Ford between the Harris Light Cavalry, acting as van- 
 guard of the column under Kilpatrick, and the Con- 
 federate pickets. The latter were quickly driven 
 back, and the division began to cross over. On 
 reaching the south bank of the stream, the column 
 was reformed and we advanced several miles at a 
 trot and gallop, the men meantime cutting from their 
 saddles overcoats, blankets, forage, and in short every- 
 thing which was found to be an obstruction to speed. 
 
 The column at Beverly Ford, commanded by Gen- 
 eral Gregg, had been engaged since early in the 
 morning, and the roaring of light arms and the 
 booming of cannon clearly indicated to us that hot 
 work was being done by our comrades below. It had 
 been hoped that the column would be able to strike 
 the enemy in flank at Brandy Station, in the early 
 part of the day, giving us an opportunity to rake 
 
BATTLES FOR TUB UN I OX. 
 
 165 
 
 them furiously in front. Hence we were somewhat 
 retarded in our movements, waiting or expecting the 
 combinations and juxtapositions which had been 
 planned. But failing in this, at length we advanced 
 towards the Station, where at ten o’clock we engaged 
 a regiment of Stuart’s cavalry. As soon as we 
 reached the field which they had evidently selected 
 for the fight, we charged them in a splendid manner, 
 routing them completely, and capturing many prison- 
 ers. Light artillery was used briskly on both sides. 
 By twelve o’clock, Pleasanton’s entire force had 
 effected a union, after much severe fighting on the 
 left, and the engagement became general. 
 
 The infantry fought side by side with the cavalry. 
 There was some grand manoeuvering on that historic 
 field, and feats were performed worthy of heroes. 
 One incident should be particulai’ized. At a critical 
 moment, when the formidable and ever-increasing 
 hosts of the enemy were driving our forces from a 
 desirable position we sought to gain, and when it 
 seemed as though disaster to our arms would be fatal, 
 Kilpatrick’s battle-flag was seen advancing followed 
 by the tried squadrons of the Harris Light, the Tenth 
 New York, and the First Maine. In echelons of 
 squadrons our brigade was quickly formed, and we ad- 
 vanced like a storm-cloud upon the Rebel cavalry 
 which filled the field before us. The Tenth New 
 York received the first shock of the Rebel charge, but 
 was hurled back, though not in confusion. The 
 Harris Light met with no better success ; aud, not- 
 withstanding its prestige and power, we were re- 
 pulsed under the very eye of our chief, whose ex- 
 
166 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 citement at the scene was well-nigh uncontrollable. 
 His flashing eye now turned to the First Maine, a 
 regiment composed mostly of heavy, sturdy men who 
 had not been engaged as yet during the day, and, 
 riding to the head of the column, he shouted, “ Men 
 of Maine, you must save the day ! Follow me ! ” 
 With one simultaneous war-cry these giants of the 
 North moved forward in one solid mass upon the 
 flank of the Rebel columns. The shock was over- 
 whelming; and the opposing lines crumbled like a 
 “bowing wall” before this wild rush of prancing 
 horses, gleaming sabres, and rattling balls. 
 
 On rode Kilpatrick with the men of Maine, and, on 
 meeting flic two regiments of his brigade, which had 
 been repulsed and were returning from the front, the 
 General’s voice rang out like clarion notes above the 
 din of battle, “ Back, the Harris Light ! Back, the 
 Tenth New York! Re-form your squadrons and 
 charge!” With magical alacrity the order was 
 obeyed, and the two regiments which had been so 
 humbled by their first reverse, now rushed into the 
 fight with a spirit and success which redeemed them 
 from censure, and accounted them worthy of their 
 gallant leader. The commanding position was won ; 
 a battery lost in a previous charge was re-captured, 
 and an effectual blow was given to the enemy which 
 greatly facilitated the movements which followed. 
 But the Rebel cavalry was greatly emboldened and 
 strengthened by reenforcements of infantry which 
 were brought in railroad cars from Culpepper. We, 
 however, continued to press them closely until six 
 o’clock in the afternoon, when, by a grand charge of 
 
BRANDY STATION. 
 

BATTLES FOR THE UNION. ygg 
 
 our entire force, we gained an important position, 
 which ended the contest. 
 
 Heavy columns of Rebel infantry could now he 
 distinctly seen advancing over the plains from the 
 direction of Culpepper, to the rescue of their fairly- 
 beaten cavalry. But it was too late for them, for we 
 had won a splendid victory, and had gained all the 
 information of Rebel movements which we desired to 
 obtain. Under cover of the night we re-crossed the 
 Rappahannock in safety. 
 
 The whole command had lost about five hundred- 
 men, and we brought over with us one hundred pris- 
 oners. In the early part of the engagement, fell 
 Colonel Davis, of the Eighth New York Cavalry, who 
 was instantly killed. His loss was a subject of gen- 
 eral lamentation. He had distinguished himself for 
 great sagacity, wonderful powers of endurance, and 
 unsurpassed bravery. He it was who led the cavalry 
 safely from Harper’s Ferry, just before Miles’ surren 
 der of the place, and who, on his way to Pennsylvania, 
 captured Longstreet’s ammunition train. 
 
 Among our wounded was Colonel Percy Wyndham. 
 The enemy’s killed included Colonel Saul Williams, 
 of the Second North Carolina, and Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Frank Hampton, of the South Carolina Cavalry. They 
 acknowledged a loss of sis hundred men. 
 
 Two important ends were reached by this advance ; 
 namely, first, a cavalry raid contemplated by Stuart, 
 who had massed his forces near Culpepper, was utterly 
 frustrated ; and second, General Pleasanton ascer- 
 tained conclusively, that General Lee was marching 
 his army northward, with the evident design of in- 
 
170 BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 vading the Northern States. Indeed, it was a suspi- 
 cion of such a movement that led General Hooker to 
 order the reconnoissance. 
 
 The day following this glorious fight, in which the 
 men of the North had proved themselves to be more 
 than a match for the boasted Southern chivalry, and 
 had gained a name which placed Pleasanton’s com- 
 mand at the head of the world’s cavalry forces, Pleas- 
 anton was made a Major-General, and Kilpatrick a 
 Brigadier. Their stars were well deserved and 
 proudly won. 
 
 Third Brandy Station. 
 
 On the eleventh of September, 1863, General Meade 
 ordered the cavalry to be withdrawn from the various 
 picket posts along the Rappahannock, and instructed 
 to be in readiness to take the advance in a forward 
 movement against the enemy. At an early hour on 
 the following morning the entire cavalry corps, acting 
 as vanguard to the Army of the Potomac, was ad- 
 vancing towards the Rappahannock. 
 
 In order that the enemy might not be prematurely 
 warned of our designs, the several commands were 
 ordered to make as little noise as possible. Conse- 
 quently, the bugle-calls were dispensed with, and the 
 officers conveyed their orders from rank to rank in a 
 whisper. 
 
 The three division commanders, Buford, Gregg, 
 and Kilpatrick, were instructed to cross the river as 
 follows : — Gregg at Sulphur Springs, Buford at Rap- 
 pahannock Bridge, and Kilpatrick at Kelly’s Ford. 
 
 At six o’clock in the morning, the Harris Light 
 plunged into the river at Kelly’s Ford, leading the 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNI OH. 
 
 171 
 
 advance as usual, when an engagement was expected 
 at Brandy Station ; — in fact, the officers and men of 
 the Harris Light had become so familiar with this 
 field by former experiences here that it was unques- 
 tionably policy on the part of the commander to assign 
 to our regiment the work of measuring the ground 
 and testing the strength of the enemy. 
 
 A strong detachment of Stuart’s cavalry, consisting 
 of pickets and reserves, opposed our crossing with 
 dogged pertinacity, but finally, yielding to our supe- 
 rior numbers and to the deadly accuracy of our car- 
 bines, gave way. We then moved in the direction 
 of Brandy Station. The farther we advanced the 
 stronger grew the ever-accumulating force of the 
 enemy, who disputed every inch of ground with 
 great stubbornness. On arriving near the Station we 
 found the enemy in strong force, with artillery posted 
 on the surrounding hills. We saw clearly that a third 
 cavalry fight was destined to be fought on this historic 
 field, and we began to make preparations for the 
 onset. It was the writer’s privilege to command and 
 lead the advance squadron against the Confederates 
 in this fight, and I shall not soon forget the circum- 
 stance of forming my command after the first onset, 
 for but a moment after the formation, and while 
 sitting on my horse in front of the line, a solid shot 
 from the Rebel artillery came crushing through our 
 ranks, killing three men and four horses. The con- 
 cussion of the ball nearly drew me from my horse, 
 and when I turned in my saddle to mark the result, 
 saw that not more than the width of a sabre had 
 saved me from sharing the fate of the poor men who 
 had been struck by the deadly missile. 
 
172 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 We had not been fighting long before the other 
 divisions joined us. At their approach, great enthu- 
 siasm among our boys prevailed. Before our com- 
 bined force the enemy was swept from those plains 
 like chaff before the whirlwind. They fled in the 
 direction of Culpepper, a naturally strong and now 
 fortified position, where we knew we must soon en- 
 counter the Rebel chivalry en masse upon their chosen 
 field. 
 
 From Brandy Station, General Pleasanton directed 
 Kilpatrick to make a detour via Stevensburg, in order 
 to operate as a flanking column upon the enemy at 
 the proper time. With the First and Second Divisions, 
 Pleasanton pushed straight on to Culpepper, driving 
 the enemy before him without much resistance until 
 within about a mile of the town. Here our advance 
 was effectually checked. A fearful duel now took place 
 with varying fortune. For some time the enemy 
 baffled all our efforts to dislodge him from his strong 
 position, and our men began to look wishfully for the 
 flankers, whcnlo! Kilpatrick’s flags were seen ad- 
 vancing from the direction of Stevensburg, and his 
 artillery was soon thundering on the Confederate flank 
 and rear. Under this unexpected and well-directed 
 fire, that portion of the enemy which had kept our 
 main column at bay, fell back in confusion into the 
 town ; and before they had time to re-form their broken 
 lines, the Harris Light, Fifth New York, First Ver- 
 mont, and First Michigan, led by General Custer, 
 dashed upon the “Johnnies” in the streets, throwing 
 the boast of the chivalry into a prefect rout. Many 
 prisoners were captured, more or less material of war, 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 173 
 
 and three Blakely guns. The Rebels retreated hastily 
 in the direction of Pony Mountain and Rapidan Bridge, 
 whither they were closely pursued by our victorious 
 squadrons. The day following this brilliant advance, 
 Pleasanton occupied all the fords of the Rapidan, 
 extending his pickets on our right as far forward as 
 the Robertson and Hazel Rivers. 
 
 Fourth Brandy Station. 
 
 A little after sunrise on the tenth of October, 1863, 
 the Confederates in heavy force came down upon our 
 pickets along the Robertson River, driving us back in 
 haste and occupying the fords. The flank movement 
 of General Lee was fully understood. He had crossed 
 the Rapidan, advanced to Madison Court House, and 
 was lapping around our right wing threatening it with 
 destruction. Quick work on our part was now neces- 
 sary. Swift messengers from officers high in com- 
 mand, brought orders to retire with promptness, but 
 in good order if possible. 
 
 Sharp skirmishing took place at the river, and the 
 successive crack of carbines afforded the music of our 
 march to James City, where the conflict deepened 
 into a battle, which raged with fury and slaughter. 
 The enemy, conscious of having outgeneraled us in 
 this instance, and having at least a temporary advan- 
 tage, was bold and defiant. He was met, however, 
 with corresponding vigor. Those contesting legions, 
 which had so often measured sabres in the fearful 
 charge and hand-to-hand encounter, again appealed to 
 the God of battle, and wrestled with Herculean 
 strength for the mastery. Night came on at length 
 to hush the strife, and the weary men and horses 
 sought repose from the bloody fray. 
 
174 
 
 DA TTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 With the first pencilings of the morning light oi 
 October eleventh, we took np our line of inarch 
 towards the Rappahannock. Skirmishing continued 
 nearly every step of the way. On the Sperryville 
 pike to Culpepper, we were closely pursued and heavily 
 pressed. At Culpepper the corps separated. Gregg ? 
 who had come by way of Cedar Mountain, passed out 
 on the road to Sulphur Springs. Buford moved in the 
 direction of Stevensburg, leaving Kilpatrick alone on 
 the main thoroughfare along the railroad line. Kil- 
 patrick, accompanied by Pleasanton, had scarcely left 
 Culpepper, when Hampton’s legions made a furious 
 attack upon his rear-guard, with the hope of breaking 
 through upon the main column to scatter it, or of so 
 retarding its progress that a flanking column might 
 fall upon him ere he could reach the safe shore of the 
 Rappahannock. 
 
 Our infantry, which yesterday occupied this ground, 
 had retired, leaving the cavalry to struggle out of the 
 toils of the enemy as best it could. 
 
 Gallantly repelling every attack of the enemy, our 
 command moved on, without expending much oi its 
 time and material, until opposite the residence of Hon. 
 John Minor Botts, where a few regiments suddenly 
 wheeled about, and, facing the pursuing foe, charged 
 upon them with pistols and sabres, giving them a se- 
 vere check and an unexpected repulse. 
 
 On arriving at Brandy Station, Kilpatrick found 
 himself in a most critical situation, with an accumula- 
 tion of formidable difficulties on hand, which threat- 
 ened his annihilation. 
 
 Buford, who had been sharply pursued by Fitzhugh 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. ]J5 
 
 Lee’s division over tlie plains of Stevensburg, had re- 
 tired more rapidly than Kilpatrick, and, unaware of 
 his comrade’s danger, had suffered Lee to plant his 
 batteries on the high hills which commanded Kilpat- 
 rick’s right, while the rebel troopers, in three heavy 
 lines of battle, held the only route by which Kilpatrick 
 could retreat. Lee’s sharp shooters also occupied the 
 woods in the immediate vicinity of Kilpatrick’s col- 
 umns, where they were making themselves a source 
 of danger and great annoyance. To increase the dan- 
 ger of the situation, Stuart, by hard marching, had 
 swung around to Kilpatrick’s left, and had taken pos- 
 session of a range of hills, planted batteries, and was 
 preparing to charge down upon the surrounded divi- 
 sion below. 
 
 This was a situation to try the stoutest hearts. 
 Nothing daunted, however, by this terrific array of the 
 enemy, Kilpatrick displayed that decision and daring 
 which have ever characterized him as a great cavalry 
 leader, and proved himself worthy of the brave men 
 who composed his command. His preparation for 
 the grand charge was soon completed. 
 
 Forming his division into three lines of battle, he 
 assigned the right to Davies, the left to Custer,' and 
 placing himself with Pleasanton in the center ad- 
 vanced with unwavering determination to the contest. 
 Having approached to within a few yards of the 
 enemy’s lines in his front, he ordered his band to 
 strike up a national air, to whose spirit-stirring strains 
 was joined the blast of scores of bugles, ringing forth 
 the charge. 
 
 With his usual daring, Davies was foremost in the 
 
176 
 
 BATTLES FOR TIIE UNION. 
 
 fray, leading his command for the fourth time on this 
 memorable held. To his men he addressed these stir- 
 ring words : “ Soldiers of the First Brigade ! I know 
 you have not forgotten the example of your brave com- 
 rades, who, in past engagements here , Avcrc not afraid 
 to die in defence of the ‘ old flag’.” 
 
 Custer, the daring, terrible demon that he was in 
 battle, pulled off his cap and handed it to his orderly, 
 then dashed madly forward in the charge, while his 
 yellow locks floated like pennants on the breeze. Pen- 
 nington and Elder handled their batteries with great 
 agility and success, at times opening huge gaps in the 
 serried ranks of the enemy. 
 
 Fired to an almost divine potency, and with a ma- 
 jestic madness, this band of heroic troopers shook the 
 air witli their battle-cry, and dashed forward to meet 
 the hitherto exultant foe. 
 
 Ambulances, forges, and cannon, Avith pack horses 
 and mules, non-combatants, and others, all joined to 
 swell the mighty tide. Brave hearts greAv braver, and 
 faltering ones Avaxcd Avarmer and stronger, until pride 
 of country had touched this raging sea of thought and 
 emotion, kindling an unconquerable principle, which 
 emphatically affirmed every man a hero unto death. 
 So swiftly SAvept forward this tide of animated poAver 
 that the Rebel lines broke in wild dismay before the 
 uplifted and firmly-grasped sabres of these unflinching 
 veterans, who, feeling that life and country were at 
 stake, risked them both upon the fearful issue. 
 
 Kilpatrick thus escaped disaster, defeated his pur- 
 suers, captured several pieces of the enemy’s artillery, 
 and presented to the beholders one of the grandest 
 scenes ever witnessed in the New World. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. p-jy 
 
 “ By Heaven ! it was a splendid sight to see, for one 
 who had no friend or brother there.” 
 
 No one who looked upon that wonderful panorama, 
 can ever forget it. On the great field were riderless 
 horses and dying men; clouds of dust from solid shot 
 and bursting shell occasionally obscured the sky; 
 broken caissons and upturned ambulances obstructed 
 the way, while long lines of cavalry were pressing for. 
 ward in the charge, with their drawn sabres glistening 
 in the bright sunlight. Far beyond the scene of tu- 
 mult were the quiet dark green forests which skirt the 
 banks of the Rappahannock. The poet Haverd, in 
 his “ Scauderberg ”, has well described the scene ; 
 
 Hark ! the death-denouncing trumpet sounds 
 The fatal charge, and shouts proclaim the onset. 
 Destruction rushes dreadful to the field 
 And bathes itself in blood : havoc let loose 
 Now undistinguished, rages all around : 
 
 While Ruin, seated on her dreary throne, 
 
 Sees the plain strewed with subjects truly hers, 
 Breathless and cold.” 
 
 The Rebel cavalry, undoubtedly ashamed of their 
 own conduct and defeat, reorganized their broken 
 ranks, and again advanced upon Kilpatrick and Bu- 
 ford whose divisions had united to repel the attack. 
 
 For at least two long hours of slaughter these op- 
 posing squadrons dashed upon one another over this 
 historic field. Charges and counter-charges followed 
 in quick succession, and at times the “grey” and the 
 “ blue” were so confusedly commingled together, that 
 it was difficult to conjecture how they could regain 
 their appropriate places. Quite a number of prisoners 
 
178 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 were made on both sides. It was a scene of wild con- 
 motion and blood. This carnival continued until late 
 at night, when the exhausted and beaten foe sank back 
 upon safer grounds to rest, while our victorious braves, 
 crowned with undying laurels, gathered up their 
 wounded and dead companions, and unmolested, 
 crossed the Rappahannock. 
 
 In reflecting upon the successive engagements at 
 Brandy Station, the author feels a natural and, I trust, 
 a commendable pride when he remembers that in each 
 instance he shared the varied fortunes of his regiment 
 on this field. 
 
 In the first action, on the twentieth of August, 1862, 
 I was a corporal in the front rank of the first squad- 
 ron that charged the Confederate cavalry under Stuart 
 My horse was wounded in the neck in this charge and 
 the pommel of my saddle and canteen were struck 
 with bullets. 
 
 On the ninth of June, 1863, being at that time a 
 sergeant, I was chief of the first platoon of the first 
 battalion that crossed the Rappahannock at Kelly’s 
 Fold and with my platoon acted as advance guard to 
 the column. Accompanied by Lieutenant Estes of 
 Kilpatrick’s staff, we pushed the Rebel pickets and 
 skirmishers back to the Station where we joined the 
 regiment in time for the grand charge of Kilpatrick’s 
 brigade. 
 
 The twelfth of September, a Lieutenant command- 
 ing my company, I was again with the first battalion 
 that crossed the Rappahannock and was sitting on my 
 horse in front of the regiment after its formation for 
 a charge when the first shot fired by the Confederate 
 
BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 179 
 
 artillery struck our ranks as described in my account 
 of the Third Brandy Station. 
 
 On the eleventh of October following, my command 
 having been increased to a squadron, I was with the 
 battalion commanded by Captain Grinton, and being 
 cut off from the corps by the sudden junction of the 
 columns of Stuart and Lee, were compelled to cut our 
 way through. My command being broken and scat- 
 tered in this fight, I acted as a volunteer aid to General 
 Davies and in the course of the engagement my horse 
 was shot under me. I received a sabre stroke on the 
 shoulder, two bullets through my hat, and found after 
 the affair was over, that my sabre scabbard had been 
 split by a bullet or fragment of a shell. In the even- 
 ing of this day General Davies sent Captain Pokeepsie 
 of his staff to thank me for the personal services I had 
 rendered him at Brandy Station, and to say that I 
 should have the next promotion in the Harris Light 
 Cavalry. 
 
 8 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 MANASSAS, OR SECOND 
 BULL PIU INT. 
 
 The Opening Scene. — Sigel in the Foreground. — Sharp Skirmish on 
 the Twenty-eighth. — Fitz-John Porter’s Delay. — Attack on the 
 Twenty-ninth. — Bayonet Charge of Grover’s Brigade. — Thorough- 
 fare Gap Left Open. — The Enemy Re-enforced. — Victory on the 
 Twenty-ninth. — Where Was Porter? — Pope’s Despatch. — Battle of 
 the Thirtieth. — Exhausted Troops. — Out of Rations. — Pope Dis- 
 couraged. — Our Forces at Centreville. — Personal Experience. — A 
 Shell from the Enemy and What it Did. — An Unknown Hero. — 
 “ Tear off Your Chevrons.” — Successful Stand. — Charge of the 
 Hams Light Cavalry. 
 
 O N the twenty-ninth of August, 1862, the storm of 
 battle again broke over the Plains of Manassas 
 and surged furiously along the borders of Bull Run 
 Creek and down the Warrenton pike. The figure of 
 General Franz Sigel stands out in bold relief against 
 the background of battle, the first actor appearing on 
 the scene in this drama of war and death. 
 
 The time is daybreak, and the rosy light of early 
 dawn, so peaceful and so pure, flushes the sky in 
 painful contrast to the scene of strife and bloodshed 
 below. 
 
 At noon on the day previous, General Pope had or- 
 dered Reno, Kearny, and Hooker to follow Jackson 
 who, through the miscarriage of well-laid plans, had 
 
BATTLES FOR TEE UN IOFT. 
 
 181 
 
 been allowed to escape in the direction of Centerville. 
 McDowell’s command, then on the way to Manassas, 
 was ordered to march to Centerville, while Porter 
 was directed to come forward to Manassas Junction. 
 The orders were promptly executed by the various 
 commands excepting that of Fitz John Porter, who 
 unaccountably on loyal principles, remained inactive 
 during the ensuing contest. Kearny drove the enemy 
 out of Centreville and in them retreat along the War- 
 renton road they encountered the division of King, 
 McDowell’s advance, marching eastward to intercept 
 them. 
 
 A sharp fight took place, terminating to the ad- 
 vantage of neither, and at night the contestants 
 bivouacked near the battle field. 
 
 On the night of the twenty-eighth, Pope’s forces 
 were so disposed that twenty-five thousand men under 
 McDowell, Sigel, and Reynolds, were ready to attack 
 Jackson from the south and west, and the corps of 
 Reno, Heintzelman, and Porter, consisting of an equal 
 number of troops, were to complete the attack from 
 the east. Lee was pushing forward his forces to sup- 
 port Jackson at Thoroughfare Gap, and it was neces- 
 sary for the Union army to use all possible celerity of 
 movement in order to make the attack before the main 
 body of the Confederate army under Lee, could come 
 up. But this combination failed like many another, 
 and during the night King’s division fell back towards 
 Manassas Junction, at which place Porter’s corps had 
 recently arrived, and the road to Gainsville and Thor- 
 oughfare Gap was thus left open to Jackson. A new 
 arrangement of troops became therefore necessary. 
 
182 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Soon after Sigel’s attack at daylight on the twenty- 
 ninth, Heintzelman’s two divisions came up and Jack- 
 son fell back to the neighborhood of Sudley Springs, 
 with his right just south of the Warrenton turnpike. 
 
 Kettell, in his history of the “ Great Rebellion,” 
 describes this part of the battle as follows : — 
 
 “ Upon arriving on the field at noon, Pope, seeing 
 that Jackson was hard pushed by that portion of the 
 Union army which had come into action, sent urgent 
 orders to McDowell and Porter to advance rapidly on 
 the left, and turn the Confederate right flank. Ac- 
 cording to the calculation of General Pope, they ought 
 to reach their new positions towards the close of 
 the afternoon, and pending their arrival the tired 
 troops of Sigel, Heintzelman, and Reno were allowed 
 a few hours’ rest. Soon after two o’clock p. M., news 
 arrived that McDowell would be on the field in a 
 couple of hours, and at half past four peremptory on 
 ders were sent to Porter to turn the enemy’s rear. 
 Supposing that these orders would be fulfilled, Pope, 
 soon after five P. M., directed Heintzelman and Reno 
 to re-commence the attack. It was made with great 
 energy, Grover’s Brigade of Hooker’s Division distin- 
 guishing itself by a determined bayonet charge which 
 broke through two of J ackson’s lines. The latter again 
 fell back, leaving the battle-field and his dead and 
 wounded in the hands of the Federal troops, and at 
 sunset, McDowell’s troops came into action along the 
 Warrenton turnpike. 
 
 By this time, however, the troops of Lee had begun 
 to arrive on the field, their progress through Thor- 
 oughfare Gap having been ineffectually opposed by 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 183 
 
 Ricket’s Division of McDowell’s Corps, left there for 
 the purpose of delaying their march. The Rebel ad- 
 vance under Longstreet offered such a determined re- 
 sistance to the Union left wing, that the night of the 
 twenty-ninth fell on a drawn battle on that portion of 
 the field — the National arms having been decidedly 
 triumphant on the right.” 
 
 But where, during all this time was Fitz John Por. 
 ter and his command ? "Why did he remain passive 
 within sight and sound of the battle, at Manassas 
 Junction, disregarding the repeated and imperative 
 orders of Pope ? Why did he sit placidly in his tent 
 and look out upon the hurrying troops of Longstreet 
 hastening to aid Jackson, and yet make no move to 
 check their advance, in accordance with his instruc- 
 tions ? He said that the enemy was encountered in 
 flank in the direction of Gainsville, and that he was 
 compelled to fall back towards Manassas. Pope, how 
 ever, disbelieved this excuse. “ I believed then as I 
 am very sure now”, said the General in his official re- 
 port, “ that it was easily practicable for him to have 
 turned the right flank of Jackson, and to have fallen 
 upon his rear ; that if he had done so, we should have 
 gained a decided victory over the army under Jackson, 
 before he could have been joined by any of the forces 
 of Longstreet, and that the army of General Lee 
 would have been so crippled and checked by the de- 
 struction of this large force, as to have been no longer 
 in condition to prosecute further operations of an 
 agressive character.” But despite the lethargy of 
 Porter and the success of Longstreet in effecting a 
 union with Jackson, the advantage of the day’s fight 
 
184 
 
 BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 was so plainly with our forces that after the firing had 
 ceased Pope sent the following despatch to Washing- 
 ton : — 
 
 “Head-Quarters, Field of Battle, 
 Grovetton, near Gainsyille, Aug. 30th, 1862. 
 
 “To Major General Halleck, General in Chief, Washington, D. C. 
 
 “We fought a terrible battle here yesterday with the com- 
 bined forces of the enemy, which lasted with continuous fury 
 from daylight until after dark, by which time the enemy was 
 driven from the field which we now occupy. 
 
 Our troops are too much exhausted to push matters, but 
 shall do so in the course of the morning, as soon as Fitz John 
 Porter’s corps come up from Manassas. 
 
 “The enemy is still in our front, but badly used up. 
 
 “We have lost not less than eight thousand men, killed and 
 wounded, and from the appearance of the field, the enemy have 
 lost at least two to our one. He stood strictly on the defen- 
 sive and every assault was made by ourselves. 
 
 “ The battle was fought on the identical battle field of Bull 
 Run, which greatly increased the enthusiasm of our men. 
 
 “ Our troops have behaved splendidly. 
 
 “ The news just reaches me from the front that the enemy is 
 retreating towards the mountains. I go forward at once to see. 
 
 “ We have made great captures, but I am not able yet to form 
 an idea of their extent. 
 
 “JOHN POPE, 
 
 “ Major-General Commanding.” 
 
 Our losses in this day’s battle were not less than 
 six or eight thousand, and those of the enemy were, 
 no doubt, considerably greater. 
 
 From the night of the twenty-ninth up to ten o’clock 
 of the thirtieth, the movements of the enemy all indi- 
 cated retreat. Their left wing receded towards Gains- 
 ville, from which direction the forces under Lee swept 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 185 
 
 through Thoroughfare Gap in hourly increasing num- 
 bers. Thus the Confederate army was strengthened 
 by large reinforcements, while the Union troops suf- 
 fered proportional depletion from the almost continu- 
 ous labors of the previous ten days. Cavalry and ar- 
 tillery horses had remained saddled and in harness 
 almost without interruption during those ten days, and 
 for two days had been without forage. In addition to 
 this, the troops were actually suffering for rations. Tell 
 egram after telegram had been despatched by General 
 Pope for forage, rations, and ammunition. The availa- 
 ble force in readiness on the eventful morning of the 
 thirtieth were only forty thousand, while the enemy 
 confronted us with an army twice as large. Pope had 
 been assured that the corps of Franklin and Sumner 
 should be hurried forward immediately ; but they did 
 not arrive. Hour after hour passed by and yet no help 
 came for the worn out army of Virginia. 
 
 At last the following dispatch was received on the 
 morning of the thirtieth : — 
 
 August 29th, 1862 — 8 P. M. 
 
 To Commanding Officer at Centremlle : 
 
 I have been instructed by General McClellan to inform 
 you that he will have all the available wagons at Alexandria 
 loaded with rations for your troops, and all of the cars, also, 
 as soon as you will send in a cavalry escort to Alexandria as a 
 guard to the train. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 W. B. FRANKLIN, 
 
 Major-General Commanding Sixth Corps. 
 
 “ Such a letter,” said General Pope, “ when we 
 were fighting the enemy, and Alexandria was swarm- 
 ing with troops, needs no comment. 
 
186 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 “ Bad as was the condition of our cavalry, 1 was in 
 no situation to spare troops from the front, nor could 
 they have gone to Alexandria and returned within the 
 time by which we must have had provisions or fallen 
 hack in the direction of Washington. Nor do I yet 
 see what service cavalry could have rendered, in 
 guarding railroad trains.” 
 
 But if General Pope was discouraged by this com- 
 plication of disaster gradually inclosing him in its 
 meshes, he did not sit down and fold his hands in 
 idleness. 
 
 Resolutely he went about re-arranging the tangled 
 ends of this sad business. He determined to make 
 the best fight possible with his limited means, and en- 
 deavor to cripple Lee before the entire southern army 
 could arrive on the field. 
 
 As rapidly therefore on the thirtieth as he could 
 bring his forces into action he advanced to the attack, 
 and between twelve and two o’clock both wings of the 
 Union army Avcre in line of battle. As fast as the 
 troops of Lee arrived on the field they were massed 
 for an attack on the Union left, and Pope therefore 
 sti’engthened that part of his line. Porter haAung 
 come up at last, in consequence of peremptory orders, 
 the Union left was Held by McDowell, Porter, and 
 Sigel who, despite the swarming masses of the enemy 
 hurled against them, made a determined stand. In 
 front of Heitzelman and Reno on the center and 
 right, the Confederates Avere in such force that it was 
 impossible to re-enforce the Union left until late in 
 the afternoon, Avhen Reno’s command went to their 
 assistance. The left had by this time fallen back a 
 
BATTLES FUR THE UNION. 
 
 187 
 
 half mile and darkness now came between the con- 
 tending armies like a black-robed nun petitioning 
 peace. 
 
 The right wing of the Union army had not lost an 
 inch of ground during the day. Nevertheless this 
 army was worsted in its most unequal contest. 
 
 Before the tide of battle ebbed for the day, General 
 Pope learned that Franklin’s corps was near Ccntre- 
 ville, followed at an interval of four miles by the 
 corps of Sumner. 
 
 But his men were too much exhausted to so soon 
 renew the battle, and he accordingly fell back across 
 Bull Run to the heights of Centreville where an effec- 
 tive stand could be made against the enemy. There- 
 fore, between the hours of eight and twelve, the Union 
 army slowly retired to its new position. 
 
 The Confederates did not attempt pursuit. On the 
 morning of the thirty-first, the Union army was con- 
 centrated about Centreville, with out-lying bodies on 
 the road to Chantilly and Fairfax Court-House. 
 
 That portion of this battle-drama whose scenes oc- 
 curred under my own observation and in which I was 
 an actor, I recall with distinctness. 
 
 Forms forever vanished resume once more their 
 material outlines and the action of that day again 
 comes up with all the vividness of reality. At such 
 times the fire seems yet to glow in the ashes of these 
 long dead events, and shadowy heroes figure with 
 added light on the field of their renown. 
 
 On the eventful thirtieth, our artillery occupied the 
 crest of a hill a short distance beyond Bull Run creek, 
 the cavalry regiments under Bayard being stationed 
 
 8 * 
 
188 
 
 BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 next and the infantry drawn np in a line behind the 
 cavalry. 
 
 A short time before the battle opened, I was sent 
 to a distant part of the field to deliver an order. An 
 ominous stillness pervaded the ranks. The pickets 
 as I passed them were silent, with faces firmly set 
 towards the front, and the shadow of coming battle 
 hovered portentiously, like a cloud with veiled light- 
 nings, over the Union lines. 
 
 It was the calm which precedes a storm, and the 
 thunder-bolts of war fell fast and heavy when the 
 storm at length broke over our heads. I had just 
 taken my place in the cavalry ranks when a shell from 
 the enemy’s guns whizzed over our heads with a long 
 and spiteful shriek. One of the horses attached to a 
 caisson was in the path of the fiery missile and the 
 next instant the animal’s head was severed entirely 
 from his neck. The deathly silence was now broken, 
 and more shot and shell followed in quick succession, 
 ploughing through the startled air and falling with 
 destructive force among the Union troops. This iron 
 hail from the guns of the enemy was composed in 
 part of old pieces of chain and broken iron rails as 
 well as the shot and shell ordinarily used. Our artillery 
 soon replied, but from some unexplained cause the 
 Union troops in this portion of our line broke and 
 fled in panic before a shot had been fired from the 
 muskets of the enemy. This battle, like the first 
 Bull Run, had been well planned, and every effort 
 which good generalship and good judgment could 
 dictate in order to insure success, had been made by 
 Generals Pope and McDowell. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 189 
 
 At this crisis of affairs, the cavalry under Bayard 
 and Kilpatrick were ordered to the rear to stem, if 
 possible, the tide of retreat, hut the effort was well 
 nigh fruitless. Regiment after regiment surged by 
 in one continuous and almost resistless wave. A 
 cheer was heard to go up from the Confederate ranks 
 as Stuart’s cavalry charged us, and though we re- 
 turned the charge it did not stop the panic which had 
 taken possession of our troops. 
 
 One of its causes was undoubtedly the supposition 
 that the enemy was executing a flank movement on 
 our left. In forty-five minutes from the beginning of 
 the battle, this part of our army was in full retreat ; 
 but the determined stand made by Heintzelman and 
 also one or two heroic attempts to stop the backward 
 surging wave, saved our forces from utter rout and 
 possible capture. 
 
 As soon as the Union batteries were captured by 
 the enemy, they were turned upon us, in addition to 
 their own guns, and afterwards, on came Stuart in a 
 headlong charge, with one of those hideous yells pecu- 
 liar to the Southern chivalry. With thousands of 
 others who were rapidly retiring, I had re-crossed 
 Bull Run creek when my attention was arrested by a 
 mounted officer who sprang out from the mass of fly- 
 ing men and waving his sword above his head called 
 on every one, irrespective of regiment, to rally around 
 him and face the foe. He wore no golden leaf, no 
 silver star ; he was appealing to officers higher in 
 command than himself, who, mixed with the crowd ? 
 were hurrying by. His manner, tense with excite- 
 ment, was strung up to the pitch of heroism, and his 
 
190 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 presence was like an inspiration as lie stood outside 
 the mass, a mark for the bullets of the enemy. 
 
 I halted, filled with admiration for so noble an ex- 
 ample of valor, and then rode slowly towards him. 
 Seeing me, lie galloped forward to meet me and asked 
 my aid in making a stand against the enemy. 
 
 “ Sergeant,” said he, “ you are just in time. As 
 you are mounted, you can be of great service in rally- 
 ing these men for a stand on this ground.” 
 
 “Lieutenant,” I replied, “ they will not listen to 
 the wearer of these chevrons.” 
 
 “ Tear off your chevrons,” said this unknown hero, 
 - — “ the infantry will not know you from a field offi- 
 cer — and get as many men to turn their muskets to 
 the front as you can.” 
 
 “ Lieutenant,” I replied, “ I will do all I can to help 
 you,” and the insignia of non-commissioned rank was 
 immediately stripped from my sleeves. 
 
 I put myself under his command and fought with 
 him until he gave the order to retire. While he was 
 talking with me he was at the same time calling on 
 the men to make a stand, telling them they could 
 easily hold the position. He seemed to take in the 
 situation at a glance. 
 
 The enemy having advanced to the first crest of 
 hills, were throwing their infantry forward with full 
 force, and with the three thousand or more men who 
 rallied around this heroic officer, a stand was made 
 on the rising ground north of Bull Run from which 
 the advance of the enemy was opposed. We held 
 this position for half an hour, which gave considerable 
 time for re-organization. 
 
BATTLES FOR TUE UNI OX. 
 
 191 
 
 While riding along the line, helping my unknown 
 superior as best I could, my horse was shot under me, 
 — the first experience of this kind which had befallen 
 me. 
 
 Just as the disaster was occurring which culminated 
 in retreat, General McDowell on his white horse, gal- 
 loped up to the guns behind which Heintzelman was 
 blazing destruction on the Confederates. Alighting 
 from his horse he sighted the guns and gave a per- 
 sonal superintendence to this part of the action. An 
 artillery captain, standing by his battery while his 
 horses were shot down, his pieces in part disabled, 
 and the infantry deserting him, shed tears in conse- 
 quence. 
 
 “ You need not feel badly over this affair,” said 
 the General, “ General McDowell is responsible for 
 this misfortune. Stand by your guns as long as you 
 can. If the General is blamed, your bravery will be 
 praised.” 
 
 Was there a touch of irony in this remark which 
 met in advance the grumblings and questionings 
 of the future ? W as it the sarcasm of a man who, 
 having done his utmost, could not yet prevent dis- 
 aster and who knew that an unthinking public some- 
 times measured loyalty by success ? 
 
 Later in the day our regiment — the “ Harris Light 
 Cavalry ” — lost a squadron. Most of them were 
 killed. 
 
 In the deepening twilight we charged the enemy just 
 as they were forming for a similar attack on us. They 
 were compelled to halt, and Pope was thus enabled 
 to discover their position and arrange for the next 
 day’s defense. 
 
192 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 On the night of the thirtieth, the enemy occupied 
 the battle -field, and buried the dead of both armies. 
 Thus once more, Bull Run ran red with patriot blood 
 and witnessed the retreat of the Union battalions. 
 By what strange fatality General Pope was allowed 
 to struggle on alone against an army twice the size 
 of the Federal force, cannot be satisfactorily explain- 
 ed. One is almost tempted to believe, with astrolo- 
 gists, that baleful stars sometimes preside with malign 
 influence over the destinies of battles, as they are 
 said to do over individuals and nations. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CHANTILLY. 
 
 Union Troops on the Defensive. — Historic Chantilly. — Pope at Fair, 
 fax Court-House. — Stonewall Jackson’s Attack. — The Battle of the 
 Sky. — Furious Charges. — The Enemy Repulsed.— Death of Stevens 
 and Kearny. — The March to Washington. — Pope Resigns. — Porter 
 Cashiered. — Tribute to Kearny. 
 
 T HE Union army under General Pope was allowed 
 little respite from its almost continuous fighting 
 during the late summer and early autumn days of 
 1862. 
 
 After the tide of war had surged back from the 
 field of Bull Run, leaving its course strewn with 
 fallen heroes, and the last days of August had gone 
 out in blood, the battle-line was again formed at 
 Chantilly. Chantilly is northwest from Fairfax Court- 
 House and Centre ville, and is not more than ten miles 
 south of the station of Thornton on the Loudon and 
 Hampshire Railway. On the thirty-first of August, 
 1862, the brave Army of Virginia rested behind its 
 intrenchments at Centreville, while a strong force was 
 stationed at Chantilly under Hooker, Reno, and Mc- 
 Dowell. On September first the united strength of 
 the Armies of the Potomac and Virginia, was reported 
 by the commanding officers at less than sixty thousand. 
 
194 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 General Pope, believing this force too small for offen- 
 sive operations, determined to remain on the defen- 
 sive and await further developments from the enemy. 
 
 As the Confederates were making demonstrations 
 for the purpose of turning the Union right, and were 
 also advancing northward, General Pope fell slowly 
 back to Fairfax Court-House, ordering the force at 
 Chantilly to remain on the defensive at that point. 
 
 Just as the sun was setting on the first of Septem- 
 ber, and while a furious thunder-storm was in progress, 
 Stonewall Jackson, the great flanker, made a sudden 
 descent on the Union forces at Chantilly — the corps 
 of A. P. Hill and Ewell making the attack. The 
 battle of the storm and the battle of the plain raged 
 in concert, and the thunder-crash above drowned the 
 roar of artillery below. 
 
 Gallantly our boys under Reno advanced to the 
 attack and impetuously drove back the foe. At 
 all points the enemy met with repulse. Brigadier 
 General Isaac J. Stevens, while leading a charge with 
 the second division under Reno, was shot dead at the 
 head of his troops. 
 
 His command, thrown into confusion, uncovered 
 the first division of Reno, which was also demoralized 
 and broken. 
 
 At this crisis of affairs General Kearny, leading 
 one of Heintzelman’s divisions, advanced to the res- 
 cue and with a terrific charge drove the Confederates 
 from the field. The defeated ranks of the enemy re- 
 coiled and fled before this onset of the Union troops ; 
 but it cost the country the life of one of its bravest 
 officers ; for when the smoke lifted and the storm 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 195 
 
 ceased raging, victory unfurled her flag over the life- 
 less form of Philip Kearny. His spirit had gone 
 outward, like that of Napoleon at Helena, amid a war 
 of elements ; — and the thunder rolled his requiem. 
 
 It was dark when the battle ended, and on the 
 next morning General Pope’s whole command was 
 massed behind Difficult Creek, between Flint Hill and 
 Alexandria turnpike. At noon of that day, in ac- 
 cordance with orders from General Halleck, they 
 marched to Washington, at which place they arrived 
 in good order on the evening of the third. Here 
 General Pope, at his own request, was relieved of his 
 command and at the same time preferred charges of 
 insubordination and negligence against General Por- 
 ter, on which the latter officer was court-marshaled 
 and cashiered. 
 
 No more intrepid or accomplished officers, no hearts 
 more loyal to our sacred cause, ever died on glory’s 
 field than Major-General Philip Kearny and Briga- 
 dier-General Stevens. 
 
 I cannot forego the insertion here of the following 
 beautiful tribute to the memory of our Kearny. It 
 always excites in me the noblest emotions, and will, I 
 think, afford as much pleasure to my readers as it 
 has to myself : 
 
 “ Our country bleeds 
 
 With blows her own hands strike. He starts, he heeds 
 
 Her cries for succor. In a foreign land 
 
 He dwells ; his bowers with luxury’s pinions fanned, 
 
 His cup with roses crowned. He dashes down 
 The cup, he leaves the bowers ; he flies to aid 
 His native land. Out leaps his patriot blade l 
 Quick to the van he darts. Again the frown 
 
196 
 
 BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 Of strife bends blackening ; once again his ear 
 
 War’s furious trump with stem delight drinks in; 
 Again the Battle-Bolt in red career ! 
 
 Again the flood, the frenzy, and the din ! 
 
 At tottering Williamsburg his granite front 
 Bears without shock the battle’s fiercest brunt. 
 
 So have we seen the crag beat back the blast, 
 
 So has the shore the surges backward cast. 
 
 Behind his rock the shattered ranks reform ; 
 
 Forward, still forward, until dark defeat 
 Burns to bright victory ! 
 
 sf: Sfc sfs sfc % Sfc ♦ 
 
 Fame commands 
 
 The song ; we yield it gladly ; but the glow 
 Fades as we sing. The dire, the fatal blow 
 Fell, fell at last. Full, full in deadliest front 
 Leading his legions, leading as his wont, 
 
 The bullet wafts him to his mortal goal ! 
 
 And not alone War’s thunders saw him die 
 Amid the glare, the rushing, and the roll, 
 
 Glared, crashed, the grand dread battle of the sky; 
 There on two pinions, — War’s and Storm’s, — he soared, 
 Flight how majestic ! up ! His dirge was roared, 
 
 Not warbled, and his pall was smoke and cloud ; 
 
 Flowers of red shot, red lightnings strewed his bier, 
 And night, black night, the mourner. 
 
 % % j}: % ^ % 
 
 Now farewell, 
 
 O hero ! In our Glory’s Pantheon 
 Thy name will shine, a name immortal won 
 By deeds immortal ! In our heart’s deep heart 
 Thy statued fame, that never shall depart, 
 
 Shall tower, the loftier as Time fleets, and show 
 
 How Heaven can sometimes plant its Titans here below.” 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 ANTIBTA UVE. 
 
 The Enemy Concentrating on Antietam Creek. — Stonewall Jackson 
 Has the Left. — Battle at Daybreak. — The Contested Cornfield. — 
 Hooker Wounded. — Furious Struggle. — Fate of the Thirty-Fourth 
 New York. — War’s Fierce Tug. — Franklin and Fresh Troops. — 
 Four Times Lost and Won. — Burnside Takes the Bridge. — Union 
 Troops Carry the Hill and are Driven Back. — McClellan Sends 
 Aid. — A Moment when Events Hang in the Balance. — “ The 
 Bridge ! — Always the Bridge !” — McClellan’s Star in the Ascendant. 
 
 T HE dawn, of September seventeenth, 1862, witnessed 
 the opening scene of one of the bloodiest battles 
 of our civil war. For two days previous to that time 
 the Confederate army, under Lee, had been concen- 
 trating on the low range of hills near Antietam Creek 
 and in the immediate vicinity of the little town of 
 Sharpsburg. 
 
 General Burnside on the fourteenth had carried 
 Turner’s Gap and General Franklin had occupied 
 Crampton’s Gap on the same day, thus obtaining pos- 
 session of the mountain range and its gates into the 
 valley ; the corps of Sumner, Hooker, and Mansfield 
 had been ordered to follow the Confederate army, re- 
 tiring in the direction of Sharpsburg. The forces of 
 the enemy, under cover of a mass of woods, were dis- 
 posed in two lines six miles long, having Antietam 
 creek in their front. Three bridges at short intervals 
 
198 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 crossed the creek in front of the battle line, leading 
 respectively to Hagerstown, Sliepardstown, and Wil- 
 liamsport. 
 
 Stonewall Jackson having arrived from Harper’s 
 Ferry on the sixteenth, held the left of the Confeder- 
 ate line, D. H. Hill’s division had the center and 
 Longstreet’s Corps occupied the right. 
 
 About sixty guns had been placed in position to 
 command the Antietam bridge by which the Union 
 troops advanced. 
 
 Hooker was ordered to cross on the right and if 
 possible flank the enemy’s left, while Sumner, Frank- 
 lin, and Mansfield were to sustain the attack of 
 Hooker. Burnside, on the left, was to carry by storm 
 the lower bridge of Antietam Creek, turn the Rebel 
 flank, and cut off his retreat, while the principal work 
 in the center was left to the batteries. 
 
 At daybreak on the seventeenth the bloody battle 
 commenced. Rickett’s batteries under Hooker opened 
 fire on the enemy and Meade’s infantry made the at- 
 tack. The action very soon became severe and raged 
 furiously, with destructive results. The battle-ground 
 was a field of ploughed land with a cornfield at the 
 rear bordered by a mass of woods. 
 
 At the end of half an hour the fire of the enemy 
 decreased and Meade perceiving that the Confederate 
 line wavered, rushed forward with his Pennsylvanians, 
 the boys cheering as they ran. The enemy was 
 pushed to the shelter of the woods before the over- 
 whelming onslaught of the Pennsylvania troops, leav- 
 ing the field strewn with large numbers of the dead 
 and wounded. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 199 
 
 As the conquering Union line swept up to the wood, 
 a tempest of fire was poured upon their advancing 
 ranks from fresh Confederate troops concealed in the 
 forest. The line wavered a moment and closing up 
 its broken ranks retired. The Rebels now rushed 
 wildly out from their concealed position and with 
 yells like demons re-gained the ground just lost by 
 their comrades. Hooker sent a brigade to stem this 
 adverse wave of war, but it was not enough. The 
 brigade of Hartstuff then advanced at the double- 
 quick and rapidly formed in battle line on a ridge in 
 the cornfield — a position which they held until their 
 General was wounded. 
 
 Rickett’s division and part of Mansfield’s corps 
 had fallen back, the General commanding Mans- 
 field’s corps having been carried from the field mor- 
 tally wounded. But Doubleday’s guns enabled the 
 left to stand firm and hold its ground. Crawford and 
 Gordon, commanding Mansfield’s remaining brigades, 
 were now ordered to advance, and the entire line was 
 concentrated upon a point of woods to the right of 
 the cornfield, which, if taken, would give to the 
 Union forces the key to the position. 
 
 Hooker, leading the advance, received at this crisis, 
 a rifle-shot in his foot. 
 
 For four hours the battle had raged with bloody 
 fury, and now, at nine o’clock, General Sumner ar- 
 rived and took command. Hooker’s right and the 
 two brigades of Mansfield were still fresh, and Sedg- 
 wick’s division moved forward in advance to support 
 Crawford and Gordon. The enemy was also re-in- 
 forced and preparations to renew the struggle with 
 
200 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION.. 
 
 greater intensity, were made. Richardson and French 
 had the left while Sedgwick, moving in columns of di- 
 vision in the rear, deployed and advanced in line over 
 the cornfield. Between his force and the nearest di- 
 vision the space was so broad and the danger of be- 
 ing flanked so imminent that he executed a manoeuvre 
 to prevent it by ordering the Thirty-fourth New York 
 to move by the left flank — thus extending his front 
 to its utmost limits. The movement was performed 
 under a fire so scathing that the regiment gave way, 
 half their officers were killed or wounded, their colors 
 were shot to pieces, the color-sergeant killed and 
 every one of their color-guard wounded. Only thirty- 
 two out of all the brave men of the regiment who en- 
 tered that baptism of fire for the sake of country, 
 could ever afterwards be got together. Into the 
 fierce flame of this conflict went the Fifteenth Massa- 
 chusetts with seventeen officers and six hundred men. 
 It came out with six officers and one hundred and 
 thirty-four men. Sedgwick being wounded, General 
 Howard assumed command and endeavored to restore 
 order, but in vain. “ General Sumner ordered the 
 line to be re-formed under fire ; but the test was too 
 severe for volunteer troops. Sumner himself at- 
 tempted to arrest the disorder but to little purpose. 
 As it seemed impossible to hold the position, Sumner 
 withdrew the division to the rear and once more the 
 cornfield was abandoned to the enemy. At the same 
 moment the enemy perceiving his advantage, came for- 
 ward with fresh troops.” One o’clock had arrived 
 and the outlook was discouraging. The list of officers 
 killed and wounded was positively alarming. Hook- 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 201 
 
 er’s and Mansfield’s troops were exhausted with the 
 trying contest and Richardson was severely wounded 
 while leading his men in the fray. 
 
 General Meagher was in the same plight, the am- 
 munition for some of the guns had entirely given out, 
 though the artillery in our front was yet keeping up 
 its fire with vigor. Doubleday with his guns still 
 held the right firmly. The officers of the various 
 commands were confident of being able to hold their 
 ground, but considered an advance impossible. 
 
 Fortunately the enemy’s batteries seemed too much 
 disabled to take the offensive and their troops too 
 much exhausted for an attack. 
 
 The timely arrival of Franklin with fresh troops 
 changed the complexion of affairs. Slocum advanced 
 along the hill slopes, on the heights of which the 
 enemy was posted, and Smith with his Maine and Ver- 
 mont regiments went forward on the run, re-took the 
 hotly-contested corn-field and charged the woods in 
 gallant style, routing the foe in the space of ten 
 minutes. 
 
 Four times had this ground been lost and won, but 
 at last it remained in possession of the Union forces. 
 
 On the left, Burnside, after a sharp engagement 
 took the stone bridge, and the enemy retiring to some 
 hill-tops beyond, placed their batteries in position to 
 command the Union troops. 
 
 At four o’clock Burnside received orders from Mc- 
 Clellan to carry the batteries in his front at all haz- 
 ards, while Franklin sent forward his artillery to aid 
 Burnside in obtaining a position on the Sharpsburg 
 road, in the rear of the enemy. General Burnside 
 
202 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 had sixteen thousand men to handle, in this move' 
 ment. Rapidly and with determined front they 
 pressed forward directly up the hill in range of the 
 most dangerous batteries of the enemy. The guns 
 of Franklin were placed in the field on the other side, 
 at about the same time, and the battle opened from 
 all sides with increased activity. The guns of Burn- 
 side held the enemy’s batteries in check, and the in- 
 fantry columns swept up the hill to meet the enemy 
 on its crest. A thick cloud of dust enveloped the 
 spot where the Rebel guns were planted and a furious 
 struggle now ensued. 
 
 With a shout the Union troops rush forward and 
 carry the hill. But on the ridge above them an- 
 other Confederate battle-line comes in view. They 
 move rapidly down upon our troops but are met firmly 
 by the brigades of Burnside in heavy column. The 
 enemy halts, intimidated ; but at this critical moment 
 A. P. Hill arrives on the ground from Harper’s Ferry 
 and with his fresh troops reenforces the Confederates. 
 A newspaper correspondent describes this part ol 
 the scene with dramatic power. 
 
 “ The enemy’s left gives way and scatters over the 
 field, the rest stand fast and fire. More infantry 
 comes up. Burnside is outnumbered, flanked, com- 
 pelled to yield the hill he took so bravely. His po- 
 sition is no longer one of attack ; he defends himself 
 with unfaltering firmness, but he sends to McClellan 
 for help. McClellan’s field-glass for the last half hour 
 has seldom been turned away from the left. He sees 
 clearly enough that Burnside is pressed — needs no 
 messenger to tell him that. His face grows darker 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 203 
 
 with anxious thought. Looking down into the valley 
 where fifteen thousand troops are lying he turns a 
 half-questioning look on Fitz-John Porter who stands 
 by his side, gravely scanning the field. They are 
 Porter’s troops below, are fresh, and only impatient 
 to share in this fight. But Porter slowly shakes his 
 head, and one may believe that the same thought is 
 passing through the minds of both Generals. ‘ They 
 are the only reserves of the army ; they cannot be 
 spared.’ McClellan re-mounts his horse, and with 
 Porter and a dozen officers of his staff, rides away to 
 the left in Burnside’s direction. 
 
 “ Sykes meets them on the road — a good soldier 
 whose opinion is worth taking. The three Generals 
 talk briefly together. It is easy to see that the mo- 
 ment has come when everything may turn on one 
 order given or withheld, when the history of the bat- 
 tle is only to be written in the thoughts and purposes 
 and words of the General. Burnside’s messenger rides 
 up. His message is : 4 I want troops and guns ; if you 
 do not send them, I cannot hold my position half an 
 hour.’ McClellan’s only answer for the moment is 
 a glance at the western sky. Then he turns and 
 speaks very slowly ; 4 Tell General Burnside this is 
 the battle of the war. He must hold his ground till 
 dark at any cost. I will send him Miller’s battery. 
 I can do nothing more. I have no infantry.’ Then 
 as the messenger was riding away he called him back. 
 ‘ Tell him if he cannot hold his ground, then the 
 bridge to the last man ! — always the bridge ! If the 
 bridge is lost, all is lost.’ ” 
 
 General Morrell, however, was sent to the aid of 
 9 
 
204 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Burnside with five thousand men. But, at this crisis 
 of affairs the fire of the Confederates died away, the 
 sun went down and darkness brought to a close the 
 tumultous conflict of the day. Burnside held the 
 bridge and Hooker, Sumner, and Franklin occupied 
 all the vantage ground gained during the day. A 
 renewal of the fight was anticipated for the morrow, 
 but McClellan failed to give the expected order. On 
 the eighteenth, the Union army rested. 
 
 On the morning of the nineteenth, when McClellan 
 had determined to renew the attack he discovered that 
 Lee had withdrawn across the Potomac and with his 
 army once more occupied Virginia soil. 
 
 The battle of Antietam freed Maryland from Con- 
 federate troops and was considered a Union victory. 
 It was, perhaps, a questionable victory but in contrast 
 with the almost continuous reverses previous to that 
 time, it looked positively bright. The colors of Mc- 
 Clellan which had trailed in the dust at the disastrous 
 ending of the Peninsular Campaign, were once more 
 flying high in the popular view, and had he pressed 
 home this reaction in his favor by straightforward 
 action instead of wasting the opportunity in tempo- 
 rizing delays, he might have been re-instated as the 
 army’s beloved commander and again surrounded 
 by his old atmosphere of enthusiastic admiration. 
 
 But ihe golden opportunity was allowed to slip by, 
 unimproved. To many a Northern hearth-stone the 
 battle of Antietam brought desolation and death, but 
 on the book of National remembrance are inscribed 
 the names of those who here fought and fell in 
 liberty’s cause, by whose death the Nation garnered 
 a glorious harvest. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 CORINTH. 
 
 Topography of the Battle-ground. — The Enemy Marching upon 
 Corinth. — Price and Van Dorn Unite their Forces. — Three Tiers of 
 Earthworks. — Preliminary Battle of the Third. — Generalship of 
 Rosecrans. — Battle of the Fourth. — Two Hours of Hot Work. — 
 Forts Richardson and Robinett. — Price Driven Back. — Desperate 
 Charge of Van Dorn. — A Forlorn Hope. — Colonel Rogers. — The 
 Enemy Driven — Confusion and Flight. — Heaps of Slain. — The 
 Handkerchief Flags. — “ For God’s Sake Spare us !” — Pursuit of the 
 Foe. — Captured Spoils. — West Tennessee Safe. 
 
 A BOUT seventy miles south-east of Memphis on the 
 Mississippi river, near the Tennessee state line, lies 
 the village of Corinth, renowned as the field where 
 the Confederate Generals Price and Yan Dorn at the 
 head of forty thousand troops, met half that number 
 in battle array and were hurled back in defeat and 
 rout, their colors trailing in the dust. 
 
 Corinth is a strong strategic point, located in a 
 branch of the Appalachian range of mountains, at 
 the Junction of the “ Memphis and Charleston,” and 
 “ Mobile and Ohio ” railroads, which communicate 
 with the Atlantic seaboard on one side and the Gulf 
 shore on the other. 
 
 General Rosecrans, in command of our forces at 
 Corinth, had been advised of the contemplated attack 
 of the Confederates and in anticipation of it began 
 erecting a new line of earthworks. The combined 
 
206 
 
 BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 Rebel forces marching upon Corinth, September 
 thirtieth, 1862, encountered the advance of Ogleby 
 thrown forward by Rosecrans on the Chewalla road 
 with the design of falling back and thus leading the 
 enemy under the heavy guns of Corinth. Ogleby 
 resisted the attack of the enemy’s advance very 
 firmly and McArthur and Davies were ordered for- 
 ward to his support. On the third of October these 
 brigades were pushed back by the increased force of 
 the enemy with the loss of General Hackelman killed 
 and Ogleby wounded. 
 
 General Rosecrans discovered that Price, Lovell, 
 and Van Dorn had united their armies for an attack, 
 with the design of cutting off his communications 
 and crushing his small force before reenforcements 
 could arrive. 
 
 Beauregard, during his occupancy of the place 
 earlier in the war, had built extensive fortifications 
 to resist the Union advance under Halleck, and when 
 Halleck occupied Corinth he also had erected works, 
 not so extensive as the original fortifications. Gene- 
 ral Rosecrans now constructed a third line, the others 
 being too large for his small force. Four redoubts 
 covered the approaches to Corinth, while batteries 
 were placed in position, to sweep with their fire the 
 entire space in front of our lines. General Hamilton 
 held the extreme right of the Union army, and during 
 the night of October third, a new five-gun battery had 
 been placed on his left which commanded the Bolivar 
 road. Davies occupied the center and McKean held 
 the left, while three regiments under Colonel Oliver 
 were sent forward on the Chewalla road from whence 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 207 
 
 the Confederates were advancing. The preliminary 
 battle took place on October third, beginning about 
 seven and a half o’clock in the morning. 
 
 General Rosecrans, in order to develop the strength 
 of the enemy, advanced his troops down the road as 
 the Confederates came up and then retired behind his 
 works, his batteries commanding their approach. 
 
 The Union troops were hotly assailed, and by one 
 o’clock in the afternoon it became evident that the at- 
 tack was no feint, as General Rosecrans had at first 
 supposed, but that no less a prize than Corinth with all 
 its stores, was the object in view. The Union troops 
 were accordingly disposed so as to make the best re- 
 sistance, the afternoon being consumed by these ar- 
 rangements, varied witli more or less fighting. Night 
 compelled a cessation of hostilities, and under cover 
 of the darkness a Rebel battery was placed in front of 
 their line, only two hundred yards distant from Fort 
 Robinett in our center. 
 
 The battle was re-opened at three o’clock on the 
 morning of October fourth, by this battery. But our 
 guns did not reply until day-break. 
 
 The village of Corinth was startled from sleep by 
 exploding shells in streets and dwellings and a sud- 
 den stampede of teamsters, sutlers, and non-combat- 
 ants ensued. Fort Williams on a commanding height 
 with its twenty pound Parrot guns soon silenced the 
 Rebel battery, whose guns were dragged away and 
 captured. Very soon the action of the batteries be- 
 came general, and the air was full of bursting shells. 
 At about half past nine in the morning heavy masses 
 of the enemy under Price, with gleaming bayonets, 
 
208 
 
 BATTLES FOR TUB UNION. 
 
 emerged from the woods east of the railroad and 
 moved up the Bolivar road, towards the Union batte- 
 ries. Steadily and with brave front the host advanced 
 in column of divisions, Price holding the left and Van 
 Dorn the right. As they swept onward in the face of 
 the certain destruction awaiting them, the huge living 
 mass expanded into long lines like two great arms ex- 
 tending to crush the bristling batteries in front. But 
 now they are within range of the Federal guns and a 
 great blaze of shot cuts and tears their ranks. But 
 the gaps instantly close up and with desperate deter- 
 mination they sweep up the crest, returning the Union 
 fire so vigorously that the division of Davies breaks in 
 disorder. Pushing this momentary advantage, the 
 Confederates rush through the opening thus made and 
 capture the house which Rosecrans occupied as head- 
 quarters. Rosecrans, whose eye has never for a mo- 
 ment left the struggling mass below, sees with a start 
 of dismay, the division of Davies break, and galloping 
 headlong to the broken line, he rallies the troops in 
 person. The dead and the dying in the enemy’s ranks 
 fall like leaves in autumn, thickly strewing the ground, 
 but the living never falter. “ Seemingly insensible to 
 fear or infuriated by passion, they marched steadily 
 to death with necks bent downward, and faces averted 
 like men striving to protect themselves against a driv- 
 ing storm of hail.” 
 
 In a moment after Davies’ division gave way, the fire 
 of the enemy was pouring into the public square of 
 Corinth, and Hamilton’s veterans fell back before their 
 impetuous advance. With a wild yell they rushed on 
 Fort Richardson only to be enveloped in a sheet of 
 
BATTLES FUR THE UNION. 
 
 209 
 
 flame from the guns of the battery, and when the cloud 
 of smoke lifted none save the dead and the dying were 
 seen. But with the fury of demons and the madness 
 of men in despair they re-form and charge the fort. 
 Richardson falls at his battery and the Rebels are leap- 
 ing over its ramparts, when suddenly the Fifty-sixth 
 Illinois spring from a ravine near by and delivering a 
 close volley of fire, charge the enemy impetuously and 
 recover the lost ground. Hamilton also gives the 
 order to charge, and his line sweeps forward, complet- 
 ing the Rebel repulse, and sending them in utter dis- 
 order to the woods. It is said that such a shout of 
 victory went up then from the throats of the Union 
 boys, as was never heard in Corinth before. Y an Dorn 
 on the Confederate left heard the shout and to him it 
 sounded like the knell of doom. Van Dorn’s advance 
 had been much slower than that of Price owing to the 
 difficulties encountered on the way — being obliged 
 to march through ravines, thickets, and abattis. 
 Their attack was designed to be simultaneous, but ow- 
 ing to these obstructions, Price breasted the full fury 
 of the storm from our batteries, alone, and his defeat 
 was accomplished before Van Dorn was in line. 
 
 Van Dorn having advanced in front of Fort Robi- 
 nett, realized his difficult situation. A deadly enfilad- 
 ing fire had swept his ranks from Forts Robinett and 
 "Williams, but unmindful of the slaughter, he had 
 pressed on until directly in his path stood Fort Robi- 
 nett. Everything depended on his carrying the works. 
 Van Dorn determined at once to make the attempt 
 though unaided and alone. It was a desperate resolve 
 and was executed with sublime bravery. Colonel Rog- 
 
210 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 ers at the head of his Texan and Mississippi troops 
 moved forward on Fort Robinett. Immediately its 
 Parrot guns flashed their iron anger in destructive 
 discharges of shot which raked the ranks of the en- 
 emy. The guns of Fort Williams also opened fire 
 upon them, and as they advanced to close range the 
 carnage was awful. Their ranks were rent and torn, 
 but instantly closing up they pressed on, urged by the 
 clarion voice of Rogers, at their head, shouting, “ for- 
 ward.” At last the ditch in front of the position 
 was reached, and pausing for one moment on its brink, 
 Rogers waved the Rebel flag in his left hand and 
 holding a revolver in his right while he still shouted 
 ‘ forward ! ’ sprang over the ditch and rushing up the 
 slope planted his banner on the ramparts of the Fort. 
 The next moment he fell headlong into the ditch shot 
 dead, followed by five brave Texans who never left his 
 side and who shared his fate. Just behind the ridge 
 the Ohio troops were lying flat on their faces, reserv- 
 ing their fire until the enemy came within short range, 
 when they sprang up and delivered six sharp volleys 
 with destructive effect. The front line of the enemy 
 now fell back upon their supports who rushed forward 
 with desperate determination into the hottest of the 
 fight. The Sixty-tliird Ohio encountered them at this 
 point and a hand to hand struggle ensued. Bayonets 
 and clubbed muskets were used in the fearful contest, 
 and the yells and curses and demoniac uproar were hid- 
 eous. At length the enemy’s line gave way, and they 
 fled in terror and dismay before our troops, flinging 
 aside their arms as they ran. Many of them tied their 
 handkerchiefs upon sticks, shouting to “ spare them 
 
BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 211 
 
 for God’s sake ! ” The abattis of Fort Robinett was 
 full of them and over two hundred of them were taken 
 within an area of a hundred yards. More than twice 
 that number fell in the frightful assault upon Fort Rob- 
 inett. Fifty-six of their dead were heaped together in 
 front of that redoubt, belonging principally to the Sec- 
 ond Texas and Fourth Mississippi. “ They were bur- 
 ied in one pit : but their brave general sleeps alone : 
 our own noble fellows testifying their respect by round- 
 ing his grave smoothly, and marking his resting place.” 
 
 The Twenty-seventh Ohio and Eleventh Missouri 
 went in pursuit of the flying foe, chasing them back 
 to their cover of woods. 
 
 The battle had lasted two hours — beginning at nine 
 in the morning and the pursuit commencing at eleven 
 o’clock. 
 
 “ A great shout went up all over Corinth. The 
 battle was a shock. * * * The pursuit 
 of the beaten foe was terrible. Sheets of flame 
 blazed through the forest. Huge trunks were shat- 
 tered by crashing shells. You may track the flying 
 conflict for miles by scarified trees, broken branches, 
 twisted gun-barrels and shattered stocks, blood- 
 stained garments and mats of human hair, which lie 
 on the ground where men died ; hillocks which mark 
 ditches where dead Rebels were covered, and smoothly 
 rounded graves where slaughtered patriots were ten- 
 derly buried.” 
 
 Over two thousand of our own soldiers had fallen, 
 while six thousand of the enemy went to their death 
 on that red field. 
 
 Two thousand two hundred and forty-eight priso- 
 9 * 
 
212 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 ners were captured, also two pieces of artillery, four- 
 teen stand of colors and over three thousand small 
 arms. As Rosecrans, after the battle, rode along the 
 line, he was greeted with thundering cheers. He be- 
 gan to be looked upon as invincible. Yictory hovered 
 over his banners wherever he went, and he was affec- 
 tionately nick-named “ Old Rosy.” 
 
 The fields around Corinth were frightful with the 
 debris of battle, and for weeks the place could be 
 scented miles away. 
 
 On the morning after the battle, McPherson, hav- 
 ing arrived at Corinth with a fresh brigade, went in 
 pursuit of the retreating foe ; but though narrowly 
 escaping destruction in the forks of the Hatchie, they 
 succeeded at last in eluding the vigilance of our 
 troops and getting away. The battle of Corinth 
 placed West Tennessee securely in the hands of the 
 Federal Government, and won for General Rosecrans 
 fresh and undying laurels. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 PREDER ICKSBURG. 
 
 Burnside in Command of the Army of the Potomac. —The Advance 
 to Fredericksburg. — Surrender of the City Refused. — Confederate 
 and Union Cavalry Raids. — Capture of Rebel Picket-Posts. — Ex. 
 odus of Citizens from Fredericksburg. — Delay In Laying Pontoons. 
 — The Seventh Michigan Crossing the River under a Murderous 
 Fire. — Death of a Massachusetts Chaplain. — General Gibbon Opens 
 the Battle. — Desperate Fighting. — Terrific Charge of Meade’s Di- 
 vision. — The Hillside Strewn with the Dead. — Death of Bayard. — 
 Night after the Battle. — Heart-rending Scenes. — Termination of the 
 Campaign of 1862. 
 
 ENERAL McCLELLAN’S failure to grasp tlie 
 
 VT fruits of victory after the battle of Antietam, led 
 to his removal and the appointment of General Am 
 brose E. Burnside to the command of the Army of 
 the Potomac. 
 
 General Burnside accepted his new position with 
 great reluctance and unfeigned self-distrust, and only 
 as a matter of obedience to orders. This change of 
 the commanding officer, deleterious and dangerous as 
 it might be upon the morale of the army, was never- 
 theless considered necessary and expedient. 
 
 Having secured by strategy the principal gaps of 
 Blue Ridge, which had been occupied by the enemy 
 since their advance into the Valley, General Burnside 
 began to make preparations to move his army to 
 Fredericksburg, that point being in the direct line 
 
214 
 
 BA TTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 from Washington to Richmond. To mask, as long 
 as possible, his real design, he threatened an attack 
 upon Gordonsville, but General Lee, by the aid of his 
 emissaries and raiders, soon ascertained his plans, 
 and moving his army across the Blue Ridge, through 
 the western passes, he took his position on the south 
 bank of the Rappahannock, to prevent our crossing. 
 
 General Burnside halted at Warrenton, a beautiful 
 village of Fauquier county, and here a few days were 
 consumed in effecting the changes incident upon the 
 advent of a new commander, and on the fourteenth, 
 the Army of the Potomac was constituted into three 
 grand divisions, to be commanded respectively by 
 Generals Sumner, Franklin, and Hooker. The follow- 
 ing day Warrenton was abandoned and the army 
 swept on towards the Rappahannock. 
 
 Two days’ march brought our advance to Falmouth, 
 and on the twenty-first, General Patrick, our Provost- 
 Marshal-General, was directed to repair to Freder- 
 icksburg under a flag of truce, and request the sur- 
 render of the city. The authorities replied that while 
 its buildings and streets would no longer be used by 
 Rebel sharp-shooters to annoy our forces across the 
 river, its occupation by Yankee troops would be re- 
 sisted to the last. Had the means of crossing the 
 river been at hand, General Burnside would have 
 made hostile demonstrations at once ; but through 
 some misunderstanding between himself and General 
 Halleck, at Washington, the pontoons were not in 
 readiness. 
 
 On the twenty-eighth of November a strong force 
 of Rebel cavalry under General Wade Hampton, 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNI OH. 
 
 215 
 
 dashed across the river at some of the upper fords, 
 raided up around Dumfries and the Occoquan, cap- 
 tured several prisoners and wagons and returned to 
 their side of the river without loss. As a sort of off- 
 set to this, on the twenty-ninth General Julius Stahl, 
 who commanded a brigade of cavalry at Fairfax 
 Court House, commenced an expedition of great dar- 
 ing and success, to the Shenandoah Valley. Having 
 advanced to Snicker’s Gap, in the Blue Ridge, a 
 strong Rebel picket-post was captured by our van- 
 guard. Pressing forward on the main thoroughfare, 
 they soon reached the Shenandoah River, and were 
 not a little annoyed by Rebel carbineers, hidden be- 
 hind old buildings across the stream. Captain Abram 
 H. Krom, commanding a detachment of the Fifth 
 New York Cavalry, and leading the advance, dashed 
 across the river, though deep and the current swift, 
 closely followed by his men. On reaching the oppo- 
 site bank a charge was ordered, and executed in so 
 gallant a manner that several Rebels were made 
 prisoners, and the remainder of the squad was driven 
 away at a break-neck speed. Our men pursued them 
 in a scrambling race for nearly three miles, when they 
 came upon a Rebel camp, which was attacked in a 
 furious manner. Our boys made music enough for a 
 brigade, though only a squadron was at hand. 
 
 The enemy attempted a defence but utterly failed. 
 Re-inforcements coming to our aid, the Rebels were 
 thoroughly beaten and driven away, leaving in our 
 hands one captain, two lieutenants, thirty-two privates, 
 one stand of colors, and several wagons and ambu- 
 lances. Most of these were laden with booty taken 
 
216 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 by White’s guerrillas, in a recent raid into Poolesville, 
 Maryland. Sixty horses and fifty heads of cattle were 
 also captured in this gallant charge. 
 
 With all their spoils the expedition returned, via 
 Leesburg, arriving at their camps in safety. But all 
 eyes were turned expectantly towards Fredericksburg, 
 with its two vast armies preparing for a grand en- 
 counter. 
 
 Nearly all the citizens of the city had left their 
 homes and fled southward. 
 
 While General Burnside waited for his pontoons, Gen- 
 eral Lee was fortifying the Heights in rear of the city, 
 and concentrating his forces for the anticipated onset. 
 This state of things was greatly regretted. The lay- 
 ing of pontoons was commenced on the night of the 
 eleventh of December, but the work progressed so 
 slowly that the task was not half completed when day- 
 light made the sappers and miners a fair mark for the 
 sharpshooters, who were hidden among the buildings 
 which lined the opposite shore, and Avhose numbers 
 had largely increased within a few days. Battery after 
 battery was opened on Falmouth Heights, until not 
 less than one hundred and fifty guns at good range, 
 were belching fire and destruction upon the nearly ten- 
 antless city, and still the sharpshooters prevented the 
 completion of the pontoons, and disputed our cross- 
 ing. At this critical moment the Seventh Michigan 
 regiment of infantry, immortalized its name. Fail- 
 ing, after some entreaty, to secure the assistance of the 
 engineer corps to row them across, they undertook the 
 perilous labor themselves, and amid the rattling of bul- 
 lets, and the cheers and shouts of our own men, they 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 217 
 
 reached the opposite shore with five of their number 
 killed, and sixteen wounded, including Lieutenant Col- 
 onel Baxter. They immediately dashed through the 
 streets of the city, and being quickly reenforced by 
 other regiments, they soon cleared the rifle-pits and 
 buildings adjacent to the stream, of all annoyance. 
 Foremost among the noble men who performed this 
 heroic work was the Rev. Arthur B. Fuller, chaplain 
 of the Sixteenth Massachusetts infantry, who was killed 
 by a rifle-shot. 
 
 Our pontoons were now laid in quietness to the city ; 
 and about three miles below, General Franklin laid 
 his pontoons without opposition. Several bridges were 
 thus constructed, and before night the main body of 
 infantry and cavalry filed across the river, preparatory 
 to a grand engagement. The morning of the thir- 
 teenth of December was dimmed by a heavy fog which 
 covered friend and foe. But orders for an attack upon 
 the formidable works of the enemy had been given, and 
 even before the mist arose, General Gibbon opened fire 
 with his heavy artillery, which was responded to, but 
 without much effect owing to the fog, which however 
 disappeared about eleven o’clock. The engagement 
 now became general, and the fighting was of a charac- 
 ter more desperate and determined than ever known 
 before. 
 
 The line of Rebel fortifications was so far back 
 from the river, that our artillery, posted on Falmouth 
 Heights, was out of range, and made more havoc in 
 our advancing ranks than in the ranks of the enemy, 
 until the fire was silenced by order of General Burn- 
 side. About one o’clock, one of the most brilliant 
 
218 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 movements of the day was performed by General 
 George G. Meade’s division, which by a terrific charge 
 gained the crest of the hill, near the key of the posi- 
 tion. But not being sufficiently supported, they were 
 compelled to retire, bringing away several hundred 
 prisoners with them. 
 
 Another masterpiece of gallantry was presented 
 nearer the town, at Marye’s Heights, where General 
 Meagher’s Irish Brigade repeatedly charged the Rebel 
 works, until at least two-thirds of his stalwart men 
 strewed the ground, killed and wounded. Brigade 
 after brigade was ordered to take these Heights, and 
 though their ranks were mown down like grass before 
 the scythe, in the very mouth of Rebel guns the 
 effort was again and again made. Midway up the 
 Heights was a stone wall, behind which lay the hosts 
 of the enemy, who delivered their fire with scarcely 
 any exposure, sweeping down our columns as they 
 approached. This hillside was completely strewn with 
 our dead and disabled, and at length our assailing 
 ranks retired, compelled to abandon their futile and 
 murderous attempts. But in the language of General 
 Sumner, “ they did all that men could do.” This 
 could be applied to all the troops engaged. 
 
 Night at length threw her sable mantle over the 
 bloody field, covering in her somber folds the stif- 
 fened corpses and mangled forms of not less than fif- 
 teen thousand dead and wounded, including the casu- 
 alties of both armies. 
 
 Not one of all our dead fell more lamented than 
 Major General George D. Bayard, who was struck by 
 a shell in the early part of the engagement while stand 
 
BATTLES FOR THE US I ON. 
 
 219 
 
 ing in front of his cavalry brigade awaiting orders. 
 He was hut twenty-eight years of age, of prepossess- 
 ing appearance and manners, with as brave a spirit as 
 ever defended the flag of the Union, and a capacity 
 of mind for military usefulness equal to any man in 
 the service. Gradually he had arisen from one posi- 
 tion of honor and responsibility to another, proving 
 himself tried and true in each promotion, while his 
 cavalry comrades especially were watching the devel- 
 opments of his growing power, with unabating enthu- 
 siasm. But “ death loves a shining mark and our 
 hero, with his own blood, baptized the day which had 
 been appointed for his nuptials. The recital of his 
 early death brought tears to many eyes, and caused 
 many a loving heart to bleed. 
 
 “ Death lies on him like an tmtimely frost 
 
 Upon the sweetest flower of all the field.” 
 
 The night following this bloody conflict was horrible 
 in the extreme. Every available spot or building in 
 the city was sought for a hospital, to which the 
 tvounded were brought on stretchers by their compan- 
 ions. Now and then there came a poor fellow who was 
 able to walk, supporting with one hand its bloody 
 mangled mate. At times two men might be seen ap- 
 proaching through the darkness, supporting between 
 them their less fortunate comrade, whose bloody gar- 
 ments told that he had faced the foe. But many of 
 our hospitals proved to be very unsafe refuges, into 
 which Minie balls and broken shells would come rat- 
 tling, and in some instances destroying the precious 
 lives that had escaped — though not without suffering 
 — the terrible and deadly shock of battle. Many of 
 
220 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 the wounded were taken across the river, and made 
 perfectly safe and as comfortable as circumstances 
 would permit. The Sanitary and Christian Commis- 
 sions rendered very effective service, enshrining them- 
 selves in the memory of a grateful people. Their 
 deeds of charity and mercy can never be forgotten. 
 By their timely supplies and personal labors, many 
 lives were saved, and thousands of the wounded were 
 comforted. 
 
 The dawn of December fourteenth was hailed with 
 gladness by many a gallant soldier who had suffered 
 from the chill of the night, wounded and alone upon 
 the bloody field. A little firing occurred during the 
 day but no general engagement resulted. This was 
 greatly feared, for had General Lee advanced upon us, 
 it is difficult to see how our men, though somewhat 
 covered by the fire of our batteries from Falmouth 
 Heights, could have recrossed the stream without fear- 
 ful loss. But both armies spent most of the holy day 
 in the sacred task of caring for the wounded and bury- 
 ing their dead. Monday was also spent principally in 
 the same employment, and in the night, so skillfully as 
 to be unknown even to the Rebel pickets, our whole 
 army was withdrawn to the north side of the river in 
 perfect order and without loss. Our pontoons were 
 then taken up. 
 
 General Burnside was not willing to remain totally 
 idle, and after some time had elapsed he planned 
 another grand movement, which with more or less oppo- 
 sition from his subordinates who did not confide in his 
 judgment, he endeavored to execute. But he had just 
 taken the first step in the programme when he was sig- 
 
BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 221 
 
 naled to desist, by a telegram from the President, who 
 had been informed that the temper of the army was not 
 favorable to a general move under its present com- 
 mander. 
 
 With the battle of Fredericksburg terminated the 
 campaign of 1862, and the two great armies established 
 their winter quarters facing each other along the line 
 of the Rappahannock. Our camps extended several 
 miles along the northern shore above and below Fal- 
 mouth, and the enemy occupied the south bank above 
 and below the Heights of Fredericksburg. Indeed, 
 nearly the whole territory between the Rappahannock 
 and the defences of Washington, a dark, forsaken 
 wilderness region, with only here and there a planta- 
 tion or a village, was soon converted into a vast camp- 
 ing ground, and became, for a time, the most populous 
 section of Virginia. 
 
CHAPTER X X I Y . 
 
 MURFREESBORO OR STONE 
 RIVER. 
 
 Rosecrans in Command of the Army of the Cumberland. — The 
 Christmas Night War-Council. — The Muddy March Southward. — 
 The Midnight Cavalcade. — “ Push Them Hard.” — Fog and Hard 
 Marching. — In front of Murfreesboro. — The Rail Tent. — The Calm 
 that Precedes the Battle-Storm. — Star Spangled Banner. — McCook 
 Surprised. — Sheridan Stands Firm. — The Battle nearly Lost. — Gen- 
 eral Eosecrans Turns the Tide. —Desperate Valor. — Negley’s Men 
 Cut their Way Through the Confederate Ranks. — The Enemy 
 Driven. — The Last Grand Charge. — Magnificent Victory. — Rose- 
 crans’ Star in the Ascendant. 
 
 ENERAL ROSECRANS, having succeeded Gen- 
 
 ii eral Buell in the command of the Army of the 
 Cumberland, established his headquarters at Nash- 
 ville, and for two months previous to January, 1863, 
 had been occupied in re-organizing and recruiting his 
 army, securing his communications and accumulating 
 supplies. 
 
 On Christmas night, 1862, a council of war was 
 held at General Rosecrans’ headquarters, which did 
 not break up until midnight. McCook was there, and 
 Crittenden and Thomas. It was decided to commence 
 the march to Murfreesboro in the morning. There 
 Bragg’s army was concentrated and there Rosecrans 
 proposed to give him battle. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 223 
 
 When at the middle of night, the corps comman- 
 ders left their general’s door, he grasped each one by 
 the hand saying as he did so, “ Spread out your skir- 
 mishers far and wide ! Expose their nests ! Keep 
 fighting !” 
 
 At daylight on the morning of the twenty-sixth the 
 advance was commenced. The army of Rosecrans, 
 nearly fifty thousand strong, took up their line of 
 march along the muddy roads and drenched fields, 
 while the rain poured down in torrents and the val- 
 leys were thick with mist. But after two months of 
 comparative inactivity, the army was full of excite- 
 ment at the prospect of renewing the contest, and 
 with brave hearts they marched on, seemingly un- 
 mindful of the rain. 
 
 McCook commanded the right, Crittenden the left, 
 and Thomas held the center — the three grand divis- 
 ions filling every road leading south or southwest from 
 Nashville. It was not until some hours afterwards 
 that Rosecrans and staff rode out from the city to 
 join his command. The fog was so dense on the right 
 that McCook was obliged to halt. The country as 
 they advanced increased in roughness and was heav- 
 ily wooded with thickets of oak and cedar. 
 
 Two miles beyond the picket lines our advance en- 
 countered large bodies of Confederate cavalry, sup- 
 ported by infantry and artillery. Sharp skirmishing 
 ensued and the progress of the Union troops was ren- 
 dered difficult and bloody. After the day’s toilsome 
 march through the mud and rain and over the broken 
 country, the army, at night, bivouacked in the wet 
 fields. “ Through the darkness and storm, Rosecrans 
 
224 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 with his escort went dashing over the country, in 
 search of McCook’s headquarters. Their horses’ 
 hoofs struck fire among the rocks, and they swung 
 along at such a slashing pace that one of his escort 
 finally exclaimed : “ General, this way of going like 
 li — 1 over the rocks will knock up the horses.” 
 “ That’s true,” he replied, “ walk.” Moving on more 
 slowly through the impenetrable blackness, he called 
 an orderly and said, “ Go back and tell that young 
 man he must not be profane.” Reaching McCook’s 
 headquarters in the woods the two entered a wagon 
 and sitting down on the bottom, with a candle be- 
 tween them stuck in the socket of a bayonet, the 
 point of which was driven into the floor, they con- 
 sulted together of the movements for the morrow. 
 “ Push them hard” were his last words as he arose to 
 his feet. Emerging from the wagon between ten and 
 eleven o’clock, he exclaimed, “We mount, now, gen- 
 tlemen.” The blast of a bugle suddenly rung through 
 the forest, rousing up the staff, some of whom, tired 
 with being ten hours in the saddle, were dozing in 
 their blankets upon the rocks around. To the “ Good 
 night,” of McCook, Rosecrans added, “ God bless 
 you !” and striking the spurs into his horse, dashed 
 down the road, splashing the mud over himself and 
 those who pressed hard after him. L'osing his way 
 on his return, he “ charged impatiently ” through 
 the woods, in the vain effort to find the right road. 
 Amid bugle calls and shouts, the escort got separated 
 and confused, and lost their leader, who, with a part 
 of his staff, wandered off alone, and at length, at one 
 o’clock in the morning, reached his camp — having 
 
BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 225 
 
 been in the saddle eighteen hours. The others did 
 not arrive there till two hours later.” On the next 
 morning the landscape continued to be enveloped in 
 mist and the marching columns pressed slowly on ; 
 but in the early afternoon the fog lifted and their pro- 
 gress was more sure. As they advanced, they drove 
 the Confederate skirmishers before them. The next 
 day being Sunday, the army rested, but before sunrise 
 on Monday morning, the Union columns were again 
 in motion, sweeping southward. Crittenden, with 
 Palmer’s division in the van, went forward on the 
 main Murfreesboro road to Stone River. At about 
 three o’clock in the afternoon, General Palmer sig- 
 naled Rosecrans that Murfreesboro was in sight and 
 that the enemy were retreating. Rosecrans at once 
 ordered a division into the town. The brigade of 
 Barker was sent across the river and drove a regi- 
 ment of the enemy back upon their main supports, 
 but some captured prisoners, reporting that the entire 
 corps of Breckenridge occupied Murfreesboro, Crit- 
 tenden withdrew Harker across the river without 
 serious disaster. The Confederates were driven in so 
 sharply on the Jefferson and Murfreesboro pikes that 
 they had no time to destroy the bridges behind them, 
 on which they crossed Stone River. The next day — 
 December thirtieth — Rosecrans was up at three 
 o’clock in the morning, and the Union columns were 
 pushed through the cedar thickets towards the point 
 where the enemy were drawn up in line of battle. At 
 about seven o’clock Crittenden’s advance received a 
 sharp fire from the enemy. 
 
 It becoming apparent that some of the Confederate 
 
226 
 
 BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 cannoneers were making a target of Rosecrans’ head- 
 quarters, the general changed his position to the 
 crest of a slope a short distance away, and halting 
 under some road-side trees, remained there, directing 
 the disposition of his troops, for the rest of the day. 
 A shed was constructed by placing a pole in a couple 
 of crotched sticks and covering one side with rails 
 and rubber blankets. Sheltered from the rain under 
 this improvised roof, the staff here wrote their orders 
 before a blazing camp fire. The boom of cannon from 
 the front, the Union columns wheeling into position, 
 the roll of musketry, and the galloping cavalry and 
 flying orderlies all indicated with unerring certainty, 
 a great battle at hand. Just at this time, in the 
 gloom and rain, the band of the Fourth Cavalry 
 struck up the “ Star Spangled Banner ” and the 
 patriot strains awoke an answering chord in every 
 heart that beat under the army blue. 
 
 By night the army was nearly all in position, 
 stretching along an irregular north and south line for 
 the distance of three miles and facing the enemy. 
 Our left rested on Stone River, the extreme right un- 
 der Willich, brigade commander, being placed at right 
 angles to the main line in order to meet, if necessary, 
 any flank movement of the enemy. The right wing, 
 which had suffered to some degree from the deter- 
 mined efforts of the Confederates to repel their ad- 
 vance, was placed along an elevation of ground, cov- 
 ered with woods and fronting an open field. A valley 
 of cedar and oak thickets occupied the space between 
 the front of this ridge and the lines of the enemy. 
 
 The center was slightly in advance of the main 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 227 
 
 line, while the left, with its two extremities placed in 
 opposite tracts of woods, had its center across a broad 
 cotton-field. Thickets, fields, patches of forest-growth 
 and half-burned clearings stretched behind. 
 
 Half a mile away lay the Confederate army, ar- 
 ranged in a line parallel to our own. 
 
 The right wing of our army was in three divisions, 
 Johnson holding the right, Davis the center and Sher- 
 idan the left, which joined the center of Rosecrans’ 
 army. 
 
 The peaceful dawn of the thirty-first was broken by 
 the roll of the drum and the bugle-call, ringing down 
 the line. Very soon, Van Cleve’s division was in mo- 
 tion. In the tent of General Rosecrans, the solemn 
 ceremony of High Mass was being celebrated, after 
 which the officers with their overcoats on, gathered 
 around the fires in the wintry morning. Suddenly, 
 Rosecrans heard the sound of distant firing from the 
 direction of McCook’s position. But in nowise dis- 
 turbed he went on talking, supposing that all was go- 
 ing on as he expected. But there had been a serious 
 mistake somewhere in calculations. 
 
 “ Before seven o’clock in the morning, Hardee’s 
 corps burst from the thickets in McCook’s front and 
 on his right ; Cleburne’s four brigades charging ve- 
 hemently its extreme right, Cheatham’s and McCown’s 
 divisions striking it more directly in front, hurling 
 back our skirmishers at once on our lines, and crumb- 
 ling these into a fleeing mob within a few minutes. 
 Of the two brigade commanders in Johnson’s divis- 
 ion, holding our extreme right, General Kirk was se- 
 verely wounded at the first fire ; while General Wil- 
 
 10 
 
228 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 lich had his horse killed and was himself captured. 
 So sudden and unexpected was the attack, that a por- 
 tion of our battery horses had been unhitched from 
 the guns and sent off to drink, a few minutes before. 
 The guns, of course, were lost.” McCook’s attempt 
 to re-form his broken ranks behind his first position 
 was a failure. His right was utterly routed and 
 chased back towards our center. If Sheridan’s di- 
 vision had given way before the sudden onset of the 
 enemy like the other two divisions under Johnson, 
 Rosecrans’ battle would have been a lost cause. But 
 Sheridan stood fast. Every man was at his post and 
 every artillery-man at his gun, awaiting the shock. 
 
 The hostile columns massed before the batteries, 
 several regiments deep, and marched firmly upon our 
 guns, though the cannon-shot tore open their ranks 
 with fearful havoc. But the gaps closed up as quickly 
 as made, and they marched up to within pistol-shot 
 of Sill’s brigade. At this point, another terrible vol- 
 ley of fire blazed in their very faces, and the entire 
 line broke and fled. Sill, with his brigade, charged 
 after them in pursuit, chasing them to the woods. 
 But the enemy rallied again with fresh forces and 
 moved against Sheridan’s flank. Sheridan then 
 moved up to Negley and joining that part of the cen- 
 ter, placed his troops in such a position that they 
 presented two slender fronts to the enemy. His ar- 
 tillery was located at the angle thus formed and in 
 this manner they awaited the attack. Three times 
 a desperate advance was made by the Confederates 
 and three times did Sheridan send them back re- 
 pulsed. The enemy’s artillery was pushed forward 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 229 
 
 until the guns of the opposing batteries played on 
 each other at rifle-shot range. The slaughter was 
 deadly. At last the ammunition gave out, and owing 
 to the capture of supply trains no more could be ob- 
 tained. In this desperate strait and with the Con- 
 federates swarming on all sides, Sheridan was com- 
 pelled to fall back, leaving nine guns on the field. 
 There was no panic — no disorder ; but slowly, with 
 unbroken ranks and flying colors, did those brave men 
 retire. 
 
 The center was now exposed by Sheridan’s retreat, 
 and the combined forces of the Rebels concentrated 
 their attack upon that portion of our line. Rosecrans 
 arrived on the field just as Sheridan was retiring. An 
 aide dashed up to him with the news that the right 
 had given way and the center was fighting alone. 
 
 “ Tell General McCook I will help him,” exclaimed 
 Rosecrans, and almost immediately his troops were 
 marching, on the double-quick, across the field. 
 
 An aide was dispatched to Van Cleve to send a brig- 
 ade to the right, and the artillery and troops were 
 hurried to the scene of battle. 
 
 Rosecrans dashed forward with his staff at a break- 
 neck pace, and galloping through the thickest of the 
 fight, down Harker’s front, he gained an eminence 
 near by, from which the position of his troops could 
 be seen. Observing a hostile battery playing with 
 deadly effect on Harker’s brigade, he shouted to the 
 Chief of Artillery, “ Silence that battery !” and plant- 
 ing the guns himself, again galloped off through a 
 whirlwind of shot. He met Sheridan with his retreat- 
 ing troops when that General said to him, “ We have 
 
230 
 
 BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 no cartridges and our guns are empty. Rosecrans 
 directed where ammunition could he found, and very 
 soon, Sheridan, with his decimated ranks, was once 
 more facing the foe. 
 
 The right of the center under Negley, uncovered 
 by Sheridan’s retreat, was flanked, and the brave men 
 were obliged to cut their way through to the rear. 
 The left still occupied its position on the river, hold- 
 ing it with determination, and Hazen, commanding the 
 left of Negley’ s division, stood like a rock, holding 
 the key of the position, while the enemy charged his 
 line furiously, but in vain. 
 
 Meantime Rosecrans rapidly formed a new line of 
 battle. He dashed from one point to another on the 
 field, giving orders and imbuing the men with his 
 own enthusiasm. Six batteries were massed on an 
 eminence which commanded the approach of the 
 enemy. Their advancing columns came on with 
 steady front and bristling steel. 
 
 The shot from our guns tore through their lines 
 with awful havoc, and when they drew nearer, a wild 
 and resistless charge was made on their reeling ranks. 
 The staff officers, in imitation of their brave general, 
 threw themselves enthusiastically into the thickest of 
 the fight, waving their caps and leading the men for- 
 ward. 
 
 The Confederate line halted and then gave way be- 
 fore the terrible onset of our troops, leaving the 
 ground thick with their dead. But though driven 
 hack, their broken lines were re-formed with their re- 
 serves and again they advanced to the attack only to 
 be again hurled back. 
 
BATTLES FUR TEE UNION. 
 
 231 
 
 About four o’clock Bragg made his last attempt, 
 and at this time it was chiefly directed against Pal- 
 mer’s division on the river. But Hazen with his im- 
 mortal thirteen hundred, still held the ground to 
 which they had clung with such marvelous tenacity 
 during the day. Says Hazen in his report : * * * 
 
 “ About four o’clock the enemy again [advanced upon 
 my front, in two lines. The battle had hushed, and 
 the dreadful splendor of this advance can only be 
 conceived, as all description must fall vastly short. 
 His right was even with my left, and his left was lost 
 in the distance. 
 
 “ But this proud array had lost its strength ; the 
 confidence of victory was wanting, and at the first 
 Volley it wheeled and disappeared.” . 
 
 At sunset the battle for the day was over and that 
 night there was a meeting of generals at head-quar- 
 ters. Despite the desperate fighting of the past 
 twenty-four hours and the advantages gained, they 
 knew that the enemy was not beaten and that the 
 battle would probably be renewed on the morrow. 
 The anxious question in debate was whether the fight 
 should be continued next day. Rosecrans, mounting 
 his horse, rode over the battle-ground, ascertained 
 that there was ammunition enough on hand, examined 
 the country and returning, said, “ Gentlemen, we con- 
 quer or die right here.” 
 
 The die was cast, and Rosecrans, making a few 
 changes in the disposition of his troops, awaited with 
 anxious heart the morning. 
 
 In the forenoon of the next day, Beattie was sent 
 across the river with two brigades of Van Cleve’s 
 
232 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 division, and occupied a lull commanding the upper 
 ford. 
 
 At about three o’clock in the afternoon, the enemy 
 advanced from the thickets in front of Breckenridge’s 
 position, and moved forward to the attack. They 
 crossed the open cotton-fields in three heavy battle- 
 lines, supported by three batteries. White puffs of 
 smoke soon shot out from the hill-side ; our single 
 battery responded, and the roar of guns shook the 
 shores of the stream. At first they came on with 
 steady step and even front, and then, like a swollen 
 torrent, flung themselves forward on that portion of 
 Van Cleve’s division which was across the river, and 
 bore it back and over the stream to the main body. 
 But Rosecrans was prepared for this movement — in 
 fact, when it occurred, was about to execute his origi- 
 nal plan and swing his left against Breckenridge. He 
 hastily massed fifty-eight cannon on an eminence, 
 where they could completely enfilade the successive 
 columns as they advanced. Their opening roar was 
 terrific, and the crash of the iron storm through the 
 thick-set ranks was overwhelming. It was madness 
 to face it, yet the Rebel columns closed up and pressed 
 on ; but as they came within close range of our mus- 
 ketry, the line suddenly seemed to shrivel up like a 
 piece of parchment, in the fire that met it, yet, pushed 
 on and cheered by the rear lines, the ranks endeav- 
 ored to bear up against it and advance, but again 
 halted ; while officers, with waving caps and flashing 
 swords, galloped along the lines and still urged them 
 on. They had now got so near that the men could 
 be seen to topple over separately, before the volleys. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 233 
 
 A third and last time they staggered forward, the fore- 
 most ranks reaching even to the water’s edge. But 
 here they stopped — it was like charging down the red 
 mouth of a volcano. Balancing a moment on the 
 edge of battle, they broke and fled. With a wild and 
 thrilling shout, our troops sprung to their feet, and 
 charged with the bayonet — dashing like madmen 
 through the stream. They chased the flying foe for a 
 half mile, cheering as they charged, their cheers caught 
 up by those on the other side of the river, and sent 
 back with increased volume and power. Darkness 
 ended the fight, and Crittenden’s entire corps passed 
 over, and with Davies occupied the ground so gal- 
 lantly won. 
 
 The next night Bragg evacuated Murfreesboro, and 
 the following morning Rosecrans celebrated High 
 Mass in praise of the victory. 
 
 The Union loss in killed and wounded reached the 
 startling estimate of nearly nine thousand men, or 
 twenty per cent, of the force engaged. Fifty pieces of 
 artillery were also lost ; but though the cost was ter- 
 rible, the battle was tvon ; thanks to the grand gener- 
 alship of Rosecrans, the desperate valor of Sheridan, 
 the firmness of Hazen, the bravery of Thomas, Critten- 
 den, and others, and the unflinching support rendered 
 by the soldiers of the Army of the Cumberland. 
 There is little doubt that at one time the battle was 
 nearly lost to us, and but for the decisive action of 
 Rosecrans, our arms would have met with reverse in- 
 stead of being crowned with victory. That General 
 rose at once to a dizzy height in the popular esteem, 
 and his name became a talisman of victory. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 cxa:^.zsrcE!iLji_iOi : ^s'vii_iijE. 
 
 Successful Strategy of General Hooker. — Crossing the Rappahannock 
 at Sunrise. — The Chancellorsville House. — Lee’s Position Flanked. 
 — The Battle Opened by Sykes. — Loss of Prestige and Position by 
 the Union Troops. — Capture of Prisoners by General Birncy. — 
 Stonewall Jackson Appears Upon the Scene. — Our Divisions Over- 
 whelmed by the Rebel Hordes. — A Frantic Stampede. — Heroism of 
 Major Keenan, and his men. — Death of Stonewall Jackson. — A Fatal 
 Hour. — Beating a Retreat. — Hooker’s Words of Praise. — Lincoln 
 Visits the Camp at Falmouth. 
 
 T HE last days of April 1863, witnessed the stratagem 
 and skill of General Hooker, in li is advance upon the 
 Confederate position on the south hank of the Rappa- 
 hannock. A feint of crossing the river below Freder- 
 icksburg with his entire army completely deceived the 
 enemy who immediately withdrew his forces from the 
 upper fords and concentrated them opposite the feigned 
 point of attack. 
 
 Three corps commanded respectively by Generals 
 Howard, Slocum, and Meade, had been sent up the 
 river but marched at a sufficent distance from the hos- 
 tile southern banks to avoid all observation. Arriv- 
 ing at Kelly’s Ford they began to cross though it was 
 night, and the men were compelled to wade in water 
 up to their armpits. The moon which shone brightly 
 assisted them several hours, but went down before 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 235 
 
 the last corps had crossed, when fording had to be 
 suspended until morning. Pontoons were brought up 
 and laid at sunrise, and then the remainder of the in- 
 fantry and cavalry corps crossed briskly. 
 
 The columns advanced towards the Rapidan, and the 
 commands of Howard and Slocum crossed this river 
 at Germania Mills, while Meade’s Corps crossed below 
 at Ely’s Ford, and then all marched on roads which 
 converge at the Chancellorsville House, a large brick 
 edifice, which was used as a mansion and tavern, situ- 
 ated in a small clearing of a few acres and which with 
 its few appendages of out-buildings constituted the vil- 
 lage known by that name. 
 
 Other forces, including General Pleasanton with 
 nearly a brigade of cavalry who guarded the flanks of 
 the advancing columns had crossed the river, and taken 
 position near Chancellorsville. 
 
 By this wily movent General Lee’s position on the 
 Rappahannock had been entirely flanked ; and, flushed 
 with incipient success, General Hooker followed his 
 great captains, and in the evening, thirtieth of April, 
 lie established his headquarters in the historic brick 
 mansion above described. So completely absorbed 
 was our General with the brilliancy of his advance, 
 that, in the moment of exultation, he forgot the dan- 
 ger of his situation and issued the following congrat- 
 ulatory order : 
 
 Head-Quarters, Army of the Potomac, 
 
 Camp near Falmooth, Virginia, April 30th, 1863. 
 
 It is with heartfelt satisfaction that the commanding General 
 announces to the army that the operations of the last three days 
 have determined that our enemy must either ingloriously fly, or 
 
 10 * 
 
236 
 
 BATTLES FUR THE UNION. 
 
 come out from behind his defences and give us battle on our 
 own ground, where certain destruction awaits him. The ope- 
 rations of the Fifth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Corps have been a 
 succession of splendid achievements. 
 
 By command of Major-General HOOKER. 
 
 S. Williams, Assistant Adjutant General. 
 
 It would seem as if the General had overlooked the 
 fact that his army had but eight days supplies at hand ; 
 that a treacherous river flowed between him and his 
 depots ; that he was surrounded by a labyrinth of for- 
 ests, traversed in every direction by narrow roads and 
 paths, all well known to the enemy, but unknown even 
 to most of his guides ; and that many of his guns of 
 heaviest calibre, and most needed in a deadly strife, 
 were on the other side the river. 
 
 General Lee had undoubtedly been outgeneraled by 
 Hooker in this movement, but he appeared not to have 
 been disconcerted. Leaving the Heights of Freder- 
 icksburg with a small force, he advanced towards 
 Chancellorsville. 
 
 The first collision between the contending forces 
 took place on the first of May. General Sickles with 
 a division of regulars was despatched at nine o’clock 
 in the morning on the Old Pike to Fredericksburg. 
 He was followed by a part of the Second Corps. Sykes 
 had not proceeded far before he encountered Lee ad- 
 vancing, and a sharp contest ensued, with heavy losses 
 on both sides. The Rebels having the best ground, 
 and being superior in numbers, compelled our men to 
 fall back, which they did in tolerable order, bringing 
 away everything but their dead and badly wounded. 
 But the enemy followed our retreating column, though 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UN TON. 
 
 237 
 
 cautiously, and filled the woods with sharpshooters. 
 They also planted their heavy batteries on hills which 
 partially commanded the clearing around the Chancel- 
 lorsville House. This gave them great advantage. 
 They were also greatly elated with the success which 
 had crowned the first onset. This was Hooker’s first 
 misfortune or mistake. The first blow in such an en- 
 gagement is quite as important as the last. This first 
 movement ought to have been more powerful, and 
 ought to have given to our men a foretaste of victory. 
 Butwe liadlost prestige and position which undoubtedly 
 weakened us not a little. The night' following passed 
 quietly away, except that the leaders were laying their 
 plans for future operations. 
 
 About eight o’clock on the morning of the second, 
 it was reported that a heavy column of the enemy was 
 passing rapidly towards our right, whither the Eleventh 
 Corps had been stationed. This movement was hid- 
 den by the forests, though the road over which the 
 column passed was not far from our front. A rifled 
 battery was opened upon this moving column, which, 
 though out of sight, was thrown into disorder, at which 
 time General Birney made a charge upon them with 
 such force as to capture and bring away five hundred 
 prisoners. By successive and successful advances, by 
 sunset our men had broken this column and held the 
 road upon which they had been marching to some 
 scene of mischief. But the evil was not cured, as 
 other roads more distant and better screened were fol- 
 lowed by the wily foe. 
 
 J ust before dark Stonewall J ackson, with about twen- 
 ty-five thousand veterans, fell like a whirlwind upon 
 
238 
 
 BATTLES FOB THE UNION. 
 
 the Eleventh Corps, which he had flanked so cautiously 
 and yet so rapidly that our German comrades were 
 taken by surprise while preparing their suppers, with 
 arms stacked, and no time to recover. It is not at all 
 wonderful that men surprised under these circumstan- 
 ces should become panic stricken and flee. Let not the 
 censure rest upon the rout, but upon the carelessness 
 that led to the surprise. 
 
 Whole divisions were now overwhelmed by the Rebel 
 hordes, that swept forward amid blazing musketry and 
 battle-shouts, which made the wilderness resound; 
 and a frantic stampede commenced which not all the 
 courage and effort of commanding generals, or the 
 intrepidity of some regiments could check, and which 
 threatened to rout the entire army. This unforeseen 
 disaster changed the whole programme of the battle, 
 and greatly disheartened our men. 
 
 However, the ground was not to be abandoned so 
 ingloriously, and though our lines were broken, and 
 the enemy had gained a great advantage, heroism 
 was yet to manifest its grand spirit, and to achieve 
 undying laurels. The sun had gone down refusing 
 to look upon this Union defeat and slaughter, but the 
 pale-faced moon gazed with her weird light upon the 
 bloody scene, while the carnage still continued. 
 
 With the disaster of the Eleventh Corps, General 
 Sickles, who was stationed in the front and center of 
 our lines, and had been preparing to deal a heavy 
 blow upon the enemy, was left in a critical position. 
 His expectation of assistance from General Howard 
 was not only cut off, but he was left with only two di- 
 visions and his artillery to meet the shock of the ad- 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 239 
 
 vancing hosts. General Pleasanton, with his small 
 force of cavalry, being under Sickles’ command, was 
 ordered to charge the proud columns of the enemy, 
 with the hope of checking them until our batteries 
 could be suitably planted. 
 
 Pleasanton, addressing Major Keenan of the Eighth 
 Pennsylvania Cavalry, said, “ You must charge into 
 those woods with your regiment, and hold the Rebels 
 until I can get some of these guns into position. You 
 must do it at whatever cost.” 
 
 “ I will,” was the noble response of the true sol- 
 dier, who, with only about five hundred men, was to 
 encounter columns at least twenty-five thousand 
 strong, led by Stonewall Jackson ! The forlorn charge 
 was made, but the martyr-leader, with the majority of 
 his dauntless troopers, soon baptized the earth upon 
 which he fell, with his life blood. But. the precious 
 sacrifice was not in vain. The Rebel advance was 
 greatly checked, as when a trembling lamb is thrown 
 into the jaws of a pursuing pack of ravenous wolves. 
 
 The two determined generals improved these dearly 
 bought moments in planting their own batteries, and 
 getting in readiness also several guns which had been 
 abandoned by the Eleventh Corps in its flight. All 
 these guns were double-shotted, and all due prepara- 
 tion was made for the expected stroke. It was a mo- 
 ment of trembling suspense. Our heroes waited not 
 long, when the woods just in front of them began to 
 swarm with the advancing legions of the foe, who 
 opened a vigorous musketry fire, and charged towards 
 our guns. Darkness was falling ; but the field where 
 the batteries were planted was so level that the gun- 
 
240 
 
 BATTLES FOR 1HE UNION. 
 
 ners could do wonderful execution. And this they 
 did. The Rebel charge had just commenced when 
 our guns simultaneously opened with a withering fire, 
 which cut down whole ranks of living flesh like grass. 
 As one line of embattled hosts melted away, another 
 rushed forward in its place to meet the same sad fate. 
 Three successive and desperate charges were made, 
 one of them to within a few yards ot the guns, but 
 each was repulsed with terrible slaughter. In many 
 places the dead were literally in heaps. Our resist- 
 ance proved successful. 
 
 A little later in the night, and right in front of 
 these batteries, fell Stonewall Jackson, mortallj 
 wounded by our scathing fire, as was at first sup 
 posed, but more likely by the fire of his own infantry 
 as one of their writers alleges. Speaking of Jackson 
 he says, “ Such was his ardor, at this critical moment 
 and his anxiety to penetrate the movements of thb 
 enemy, doubly screened as they were by the dense, 
 forest and gathering darkness, that he rode ahead of 
 his skirmishers, and exposed himself to a close ana 
 dangerous fire from the enemy’s sharpshooters, posted 
 in the timber. 
 
 “ So great was the danger which he thus ran, that 
 one of his staff said : ‘ General, don’t you think this 
 is the wrong place for you ?’ He replied quickly : 
 ‘ The danger is all over ; the enemy is routed. Go 
 back, and tell A. P. Hill to press right on.’ Soon 
 after giving this order General Jackson turned, and, 
 accompanied by his staff and escort, rode back at a 
 trot, on his well-known 4 Old Sorrel.’ toward his own 
 men. Unhappily, in the darkness — it was now nine 
 
BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 241 
 
 or ten o’clock at night — the little body of horsemen 
 was mistaken for Federal cavalry charging, and the 
 regiments on the right and left of the road fired a 
 sudden volley into them with the most lamentable 
 results. Captain Boswell, of General Jackson’s staff, 
 chief of artillery, was wounded ; and two couriers 
 were killed. General Jackson received one ball in 
 his left arm, two inches below the shoulder joint, 
 shattering the bone and severing the chief artery ; a 
 second passed through the same arm, between the 
 elbow and wrist, making its exit through the palm of 
 the hand ; a third ball entered the palm of his right 
 hand, about the middle, and, passing through, broke 
 two of the bones. 
 
 “ He fell from his horse, and was caught by Cap- 
 tain Wormly, to whom he said, ‘All my wounds are 
 by my own men.’ ” 
 
 The loss of this heroic chieftain, this swift flanker 
 and intrepid leader, was undoubtedly the greatest yet 
 felt by either army in the fall of a single man. Some 
 report that, on hearing of the sad fall of his chief 
 captain, General Lee exclaimed, “ I would rather 
 have lost twenty thousand men !” 
 
 Admitting that the Rebels gained in this battle a 
 great victory, its advantages were dearly purchased 
 by the loss of Thomas Jonathan Jackson. About 
 midnight a fierce charge was made by General Sickles’ 
 forces, which proved successful, enabling our boys to 
 recover much of the ground formerly occupied by the 
 unfortunate Eleventh Corps, and they brought back 
 with them some abandoned guns and other valuable 
 articles from the debris , which the Rebels had not 
 time or disposition to disturb. 
 
242 
 
 BATTLES FOB THE UNION. 
 
 General Hooker then ordered this exposed position 
 to be abandoned, and by daylight our lines were fall- 
 ing back in good order towards Chancellorsville, but 
 were closely pursued by the enemy, who tilled the 
 woods. Several determined charges were made upon 
 our retreating columns, which, however, were repelled 
 mostly by the tire of our artillery, which mowed down 
 hundreds as they rushed recklessly almost to the can- 
 non’s mouth. But these batteries had been played 
 and worked so incessantly for the last twelve hours, 
 that ammunition began to fail, and General Sickles 
 sent a message to Hooker that assistance must be 
 granted him, or he would be compelled to yield his 
 ground. The officer who brought the despatch, found 
 General Hooker, in a senseless state, surrounded by 
 his hopeless attendants, while general confusion had 
 possession of the head-quarters. A few minutes pre- 
 vious to this a cannon-ball had struck the wall of the 
 mansion upon which the general was incidentally 
 leaning, the concussion felling him to the floor. For 
 some time he was supposed to be dead, but soon giv- 
 ing signs of returning consciousness, General Couch, 
 who was next in rank, refused to assume command, 
 and hence about an hour of precious time was lost. 
 This was a fatal hour. Had General Hooker been 
 able to receive Sickles’ message, and ordered a heavy 
 lorce to his assistance, it is thought that a great dis- 
 aster could have been prevented, and probably a vic- 
 tory might have been gained. 
 
 But the golden opportunity, which is seldom dupli- 
 cated in a given crisis or a life-time, was lost ; and the 
 enemy, though somewhat disorganized and badly dis- 
 
BATTLES FOR T11E UNION. ' £43 
 
 heartened by our well-managed batteries, had time, 
 during this lull, to recover strength. They then ad- 
 vanced again with such power as to compel our men 
 to retire from Chancellorsville toward the Rappahan- 
 nock, leaving the brick mansion a mass of ruins, made 
 such by the fire of the enemy. 
 
 By noon General Hooker had recovered his con- 
 sciousness sufficiently to order the movements of his 
 troops. The fighting on his front was now nearly 
 over, but his position was critical. General Sedgwick, 
 who had been directed to cross the Rappahannock 
 below Fredericksburg, with orders to advance thence 
 against all obstacles until he could fall upon General 
 Lee’s rear, while the grand army engaged him in 
 front, found it impossible to proceed as rapidly as was 
 expected of him, and was finally repulsed with such 
 slaughter and pursued with such vigor as to be 
 compelled to recross the river, leaving at least five 
 thousand of his men killed, wounded, and captured in 
 the hands of the enemy. 
 
 No alternative seemed now left to the Army of the 
 Potomac but to beat a retreat and recross the river. 
 On the evening of the fifth, General Hooker held a 
 council of war with his commanders, at which, how- 
 ever, nothing was decided upon ; but in the night he 
 took the responsibility of ordering all his forces to re- 
 cross the Rappahannock, which they did in good order 
 and without molestation ; and thus ended the disas- 
 trous battle of Chancellorsville, with a loss of about 
 eighteen thousand men on each side, and our remain- 
 ing troops returned to bivouac on their old camping- 
 ground on the north bank of the river near Falmouth. 
 
Battles for tije union. 
 
 241 
 
 This retrograde movement was undoubtedly con- 
 sidered to be necessary in consequence of the impend- 
 ing storm, which set in about four o’clock of the 
 afternoon of the fifth, and rendered the march and 
 night exceedingly disagreeable. The river was swol- 
 len so rapidly as to set adrift several of our pontoons, 
 and the act of recrossing, though orderly, was by no 
 means pleasant. The storm was cold and violent, and 
 the roads soon became so bad as to remind the boys 
 of Burnside’s unfortunate advance in January. It is 
 supposed by some that the rain explains satisfactorily 
 the conduct of the enemy, who seemed to make no at- 
 tempt whatever to follow our returning troops. 
 
 While yet the rain was drenching our weary boys 
 on the sixth, General Hooker issued a congratulatory 
 order to them and the country, in which are to be 
 found the following characteristic passages : 
 
 “ The Major-General commanding tenders to this 
 army his congratulations on its achievements of the 
 last seven days. If it has not accomplished all that 
 was expected, the reasons are well known to the army. 
 It is sufficient to say they were of a character not to 
 be foreseen nor prevented by human sagacity or re- 
 sources. 
 
 “ In withdrawing from the south bank of the Rap- 
 pahannock before delivering a general battle to our 
 adversaries, the army has given renewed evidence of 
 its confidence in itself and its fidelity to the princi- 
 ples it represents. In fighting at a disadvantage, we 
 would have been recreant to our trust, to our.selves, 
 our cause, and our country. Profoundly loyal, and 
 conscious of its strength, the Army of the Potomac 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 245 
 
 will give or decline battle whenever its interest or 
 honor may demand. It will also he the guardian of 
 its own history and its own honor. 
 
 “ By our celerity and secrecy of movement, our 
 advance and passage of the rivers was undisputed, 
 and, on our withdrawal, not a Rebel ventured to 
 follow. 
 
 “ The events of the last week may swell with pride 
 the heart of every officer and soldier of this army. 
 We have added new luster to its former renown. We 
 have made long marches, crossed rivers, surprised the 
 enemy in his intrenchments, and, wherever we have 
 fought, have inflicted heavier blows than we have re^ 
 ceived. We have taken from the enemy five thousand 
 prisoners and fifteen colors ; captured and brought off 
 seven pieces of artillery ; placed hors de combat eight- 
 een thousand of his chosen troops, destroyed his 
 depots filled with a vast amount of stores ; deranged 
 his communications ; captured prisoners within the 
 fortifications of his capital, and filled his country with 
 fear and consternation. We have no other regret 
 than that caused by the loss of our brave companions ; 
 and in this we are consoled by the conviction that they 
 have fallen in the holiest cause ever submitted to the 
 arbitrament of battle.” 
 
 This order, if not perfectly satisfactory to the coun- 
 try and to the authorities, was generally hailed with 
 applause by the army, which recognized in its saga- 
 cious rendering of our difficulties and humiliations 
 the meed of praise awarded where it was due. 
 
 The two great armies once more confronted each 
 other from either bank of the river, as they had done 
 
246 
 
 BATTLES FOR TUB UNION. 
 
 during all the winter and spring months. On the 
 seventh of May, President Lincoln visited the camp 
 near Falmouth, conferred with his generalissimo on 
 movements past and future, appeared pleased with the 
 spirit and morale of the troops, and returned to Wash- 
 ington to continue his earnest toil for the nation’s life 
 and well-being. 
 
 During the month of May, quite a depletion of the 
 rank and file of the army took place, by the muster- 
 ing out of large numbers of three months’ and two 
 years’ men. And such had been the depressing in- 
 fluence of Chancellorsville upon the country, that the 
 places of these men were not very easily filled. To 
 the sagacious leaders in political and military circles 
 this state of things was not a little alarming. But to 
 the Confederate leaders the times were affording op- 
 portunities for grand schemes, and for the execution 
 of movements most startling. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 ALiDIE. 
 
 Hooker Entraos Lee — Reconnoissance of Pleasanton. — Aldie in 
 Sight. — The Grand Charge. — Harris Light in the Van. — Fitzhugh 
 Lee’s Desperate Efforts. — The Desired Opportunity. — Battle of the 
 Haystacks. — The Harris Light Wins. — Colonel Cesnola. — The 
 Sword Presentation. — Last Desperate Attempt of the Enemy. — • 
 Driven From the Field in Panic. — The Battle Won. 
 
 T HE second cavalry battle at Brandy Station, fought 
 June ninth, 1863, exposed the real movements 
 of Lee and convinced Hooker beyond question that 
 it was the intention of his opponent to cross the Po- 
 tomac at some point near Harper’s Ferry and again 
 lead his army into Maryland and Pennsylvania. No 
 effort was made to prevent or check this advance. Gen- 
 eral Hooker contented himself with moving slowly on 
 and carefully watching the development of the Con- 
 federate plans, until his various corps reached Fairfax 
 Court House. Here he made his head-quarters for 
 several days, pushing his columns well out towards 
 Aldie and Thoroughfare Gap. 
 
 This delay was purposely made, in order that Lee 
 might have ample time to reach a point from which he 
 could not retreat without a battle. The tardiness of 
 the Confederate general in reaching the banks of the 
 Potomac caused considerable uneasiness in the mind 
 of Hooker. To solve this mystery, General Pleasan- 
 
248 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 tort was instructed to make a reconnoisance in force. 
 At six o’clock on the morning of June seventeenth, 
 1868, the Cavalry corps, with Kilpatrick’s division in 
 the advance, moved from its temporary encampment 
 near Centreville. 
 
 Taking the Warrenton Turnpike we soon crossed 
 the memorable field of Bull Run, passed the famous 
 Plains of Manassas, and at mid-day came in sight of 
 the mountain heights surrounding the little village of 
 Aldie. This place is situated in a gap of the Bull 
 Run Mountains, and Kilpatrick had orders to pass 
 southward through this gate, thence through the Blue 
 Ridge at Ashby’s Gap, and track the movements of 
 Lee. 
 
 The force under Kilpatrick consisted of the Harris 
 Light, Colonel Davies ; Fourth New York, Colonel 
 Cesnola : The First Massachusetts, First Rhode Isl- 
 and, Sixth Ohio Cavalry, Colonel Duffie ; and a sec- 
 tion of artillery under Lieutenant Randall. The Har- 
 ris Light led the division. We marched in column of 
 fours, and on that day my squadron was the advance 
 guard. As I was at that time chief of the first platoon, 
 my place was at the head of the long column which 
 wound down the road. 
 
 As we came upon Aldie, the advance guard of the 
 enemy under W. H. F. Lee was unexpectedly encoun- 
 tered. But Kilpatrick proved himself equal to the oc- 
 casion and met the surprise gallantly. Dashing to the 
 front, he made a rapid survey of the situation, and 
 then came the command, in his clear, ringing tones, 
 “ Form platoons ! Trot ! March !” Down through the 
 streets of the town we charged, and along the Middle- 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 249 
 
 burg Road leading over the low bill beyond. This fine 
 position was gained so quickly and so successfully, that 
 Fitzhugh Lee, taken by surprise, made no opposition 
 to our brilliant advance ; though immediately after- 
 wards he rallied and fought desperately for two hours 
 to gain the lost position, while the guns of his bat- 
 tery blazed destruction upon our lines. But Randall’,^ 
 guns blazed in return, tearing open the Confederate 
 ranks with their shot and shell, and our boys hand- 
 somely repulsed their attack. 
 
 On the crest of the hill up which our platoons 
 charged, there was a field of hay-stacks, not yet gar- 
 nered, inclosed in a barricade of rails. Behind these 
 the enemy occupied a strong position, and their sharp- 
 shooters had annoyed our lines to such an extent that 
 they prevented our advance on the left. 
 
 It was well known to the officers of the Harris 
 Light, that our regiment had not met Kilpatrick’s 
 expectations, on the field of Brandy Station, and on the 
 morning of this battle we had asked our General 
 ‘ for an opportunity to retrieve our reputation.” 
 This chance came soon enough. Kilpatrick, ordering 
 forward a battalion of the Harris Light, and giving 
 the men a few words of encouragement, turned to 
 Major Mclrvin and pointing to the field of hay-stacks, 
 said, “ Major there is the opportunity you have asked 
 for. Go take that position ! ” Away dashed this offi- 
 cer and his men. In a moment the enemy was reached, 
 and the struggle began. The horses could not leap 
 the barricade, but the men dismounted, scaled those 
 formidable barriers, and with drawn sabres, rushed 
 ■upon the hidden foe, who quickly asked for quarter. 
 
250 
 
 BA TTLES FOB TEE UNION. 
 
 “ Another incident occurred worth mentioning. 
 Colonel Cesnola, of the Fourth New York Cavalry, 
 had that morning, through mistake, been placed under 
 arrest, and his sword being taken from him was with- 
 out arms. But in one of these wild charges, made 
 early in the contest, his regiment hesitated. Forget- 
 ing that he was under arrest, and without command, 
 he flew to the head of his regiment, reassured his men, 
 and, without a weapon to give or ward a blow, led them 
 to the charge. This gallant act was seen by his gen- 
 eral, who, meeting him on his return, said : ‘Colonel, 
 you are a brave man ; you are released from arrest ; ’ 
 and, taking his own sword from his side, handed it to 
 the colonel, saying : Here is my sword ; wear it in 
 honor of this day ! ’ In the next charge Colonel Ces- 
 nola fell, desperately wounded and was taken prisoner.” 
 
 But the enemy, though repulsed and driven on every 
 side, again rallied for a last desperate attempt. Mass- 
 ing a heavy force on our right, General Rosser led 
 them in a wild charge upon our lines. The First 
 Massachusetts, on the extreme right, received the 
 shock of this terrible onset, and though compelled 
 to fall back, they fought steadily and bravely until 
 the rest of the right gave way. Then ensued a scene 
 of confusion and flight that sickened the heart 
 of their brave General. But Kilpatrick quickly 
 rushed to the rescue and prevented the threatened dis- 
 aster. Randall was ordered to double-shot the guns 
 of his battery ; the center and left were told to hold 
 their ground, and placing himself at the head of the 
 First Maine, he waited until the Confederate columns 
 were within fifty yards of Randall’s battery. “ For- 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNIOX. 
 
 251 
 
 ward !” was the order that then rung along the lines, 
 aad with resistless fury they swept down on the advanc- 
 ing Rebel ranks, causing them to reel and break in con- 
 fused and disordered flight. Kilpatrick’s horse was 
 killed under him, but determined to complete the vic- 
 tory, he mounted a fresh one and led his whole line in 
 a last charge against the flying foe. For a short time 
 Lee endeavored to withstand this fierce attack, but 
 finding his effort useless, sounded a retreat which 
 quickly became a rout. His troops were driven in 
 confusion as far as Middleburg, and night alone saved 
 the remnant of his command. 
 
 “ This was by far the most bloody cavalry battle of the 
 war. The Rebel chivalry had again been beaten, and 
 Kilpatrick, who was the only general on the field, at 
 once took a proud stand among the most famous of our 
 Union cavalry generals. The fame of our cavalry was 
 now much enhanced, and caused the greatest joy to the 
 Nation.” 
 
 Many a brave soul suffered death’s sad eclipse at 
 Aldie, whose hopes brimmed high on the morning of 
 that eventful day ; and many a one escaped the storm 
 of bullets unscathed when to escape was marvelous. 
 In looking back upon that desperate day, I have often 
 wondered by what strange fatality I passed through 
 its rain of fire unhurt, but the field which brought a 
 harvest of death to so many others, marked an era in 
 my own humble, military history which I recall with 
 pride and pleasure ; for. from the battle of Aldie I 
 date my first commission. The mantle of rank which 
 fell from one whom death made a shining mark, on 
 that ground, dropped upon my shoulders, and I was 
 
 11 
 
252 
 
 BA TTLES FUR THE UX1UX. 
 
 proud and grateful to wear it in my country’s service. 
 I feel a just pride also in having been a participant in 
 the “battle of the haystacks”, where the glorious 
 squadrons of the Harris Light, swept into the mad 
 conflict with the same resistless bravery that distin- 
 guished them on the field of Brandy Station. 
 
 Every soldier of the saddle who there fought under 
 the grand leadership of Kilpatrick, may justly glory 
 in the laurels won at Aldie. 
 
CHAPTER XX Y II . 
 
 UFPEFLVIIjIjE. 
 
 Union Advance from Middleburg — Rebel Pickets Encountered. — The 
 Fight Commenced. — Stone Fence Barricades. — A Succession of 
 Brilliant Charges. — The Harris Light Drives the Enemy. — Splen- 
 did Cavalry Action. — Stand at Upperville. — The Enemy Again 
 Driven. — Union Forces Triumphant. — General Pleasanton’s Re- 
 port. 
 
 T HE running cavalry fight -which began at Middle- 
 burg and ended at Upperville, on a hot day in 
 June, 1863, was a marvel of splendid action, and is 
 of especial interest to me as a participant in its suc- 
 cession of brilliant charges. 
 
 At eight o’clock on the morning of the twenty first 
 of June, General Pleasanton, at the head of the 
 Cavalry Corps, moved out of Middleburg towards 
 Ashby’s Gap in the Blue Ridge. We had not pro- 
 ceeded far before the Rebel outposts were encoun- 
 tered, and driving them before us, we came upon a 
 large cavalry force under the leadership of Fitzhugh 
 Lee. A running engagement then commenced which 
 was kept up for a distance of six miles. 
 
 The country between Middleburg and Upperville is 
 a succession of ridges and hollows, and our artillery 
 was rushed forward and planted on one eminence 
 after another as we advanced, from which positions 
 we shelled the opposing guns of the enemy. 
 
254 
 
 BA TILES FUR THE UNION. 
 
 Along this uneven ground, stone fences occurred 
 ■with unpleasant frequency, the Confederates taking 
 shelter behind them and firing to great advantage 
 upon our advancing troops. But our brave boys of 
 the saddle galloped forward, charging the Rebels 
 behind their stone barricades and sending them fiy- 
 ing before the Union sabres. 
 
 In the vicinity of Rector’s Cross Roads the surface 
 of the country is very rough and the roads are 
 narrow and rocky. Near this point the enemy had 
 planted a section of artillery on a hill in advance of 
 us, and Kilpatrick sent the Fourth New York to take 
 the position ; but that regiment halting in a ravine out 
 of range of the enemy’s fire, Kilpatrick rode down the 
 line calling for the Harris Light to come forward. 
 Our regiment was ordered to charge the battery on 
 the flank and clear the road of obstruction. The 
 Harris Light galloped forward in column of fours 
 down the ravine and up the hill beyond, in the very 
 face of the enemy’s guns, forming in platoon under 
 fire and charging the foe in splendid style. Utterly 
 routed, they wheeled with their batteries and fled. At 
 Upperville our advance was met with great despera- 
 tion, the enemy charging us handsomely, but with no 
 great damage. When our forces had been properly 
 arranged and the right time had come, Kilpatrick 
 was ordered to charge the town. With drawn sabres 
 — weapons in which the General always had great 
 confidence, and generally won success — and with 
 yells which made the mountains and plains resound, 
 we rushed upon the foe. The fray was terrible. 
 Several times did the Rebels break, but being reen- 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 255 
 
 forced, or falling back upon some better position, 
 again endeavored to baffle our efforts. But they were 
 not equal to the task, and we drove them through the 
 village of Paris, and finally through Ashby’s Gap, 
 upon their infantry columns in the Shenandoah Val- 
 ley. In these charges and chase we captured two 
 pieces of artillery, four caissons, several stand of 
 small arms, and a large number of prisoners. 
 
 At Rector's Cross Roads, when Kilpatrick ordered 
 the Harris Light to charge the enemy’s battery on 
 a hill in advance of us, as we galloped down the 
 intervening gully where the Fourth New York had 
 halted, sheltered by the rise of ground, and while 
 we were forming in column of platoons under the 
 enemy’s fire, a fatal bullet pierced my horse and he 
 fell dead under me. Fortunately I was not dragged 
 down in his fall, and as I struck the ground, a rider- 
 less horse in an Indiana company near by came up. 
 One of the sergeants of this company had been shot 
 dead at the same time that my animal had fallen, and 
 mounting his horse I rode forward with the regiment 
 as they charged the enemy’s position. 
 
 Our scouts, during this engagement, had managed 
 to gain an entrance into the Valley, wdiere they ascer- 
 tained that the Rebel army, in heavy columns, was 
 advancing towards the Upper Potomac. 
 
 This fight was of sufficient importance to call forth 
 from the commanding general the following official 
 document. 
 
 Headquarters Cavalry Corps, \ 
 Camp near Upperville, June 21, 1863. } 
 
 Brigadier -General S. Williams: 
 
 General : I moved with my command this morning to 
 Middleburg, and attacked the cavalry force of the Rebels 
 
256 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 under Stuart, and steadily drove him all day, inflicting a 
 heavy loss at every step. 
 
 I drove him through Upperville into Ashby’s Gap. 
 
 We took two pieces of artillery, one being a Blakely gun, 
 and three caissons, besides blowing up one ; also, upwards of 
 sixty prisoners, and more are coming ; a lieutenant-colonel and 
 major, and five other officers, besides a wounded colonel and 
 a large number of wounded Rebels left in the town of Upper- 
 ville. 
 
 They left their dead and wounded upon the field ; of the 
 former, I saw upward of twenty. 
 
 We also took a large number of carbines, pistols, and sabres. 
 In fact, it was a most disastrous day to the Rebel cavalry. 
 
 Our loss has been very small both in men and horses. 
 
 I never saw the troops behave better, or under more difficult 
 circumstances. 
 
 Very heavy charges were made, and the sabre used freely 
 but always with great advantage to us. 
 
 A. Pleasanton, 
 
 Brigadier - General. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 GETTYSBURG-. 
 
 Meade in Command of the Army of the Potomac. — The Camp on 
 Marsh Run. — The Advance to Gettysburg. — Charge of Buford’s 
 Cavalry on the Rebel Van-guard. — The Enemy Driven Back. — 
 Fall of General Reynolds. — Capture of General Archer and Eight 
 Hundred Prisoners. — Victory Followed by Defeat. — The Eleventh 
 Corps Break and Fly. — Strengthening the Union Position. — Occu- 
 pancy of Culp’s Hill and Round Top. — Sickle’s Command Shat- 
 tered. — Activity of Kilpatrick’s Cavalry. — The Enemy Falls Back 
 to Benner’s Hill. — The Last Effort. — Terrible Slaughter of Troops. 
 — The Desperate Final Charge. — The Tempest of Fire. — Death of 
 Farnsworth. — Capture of Prisoners. — Glorious Victory. 
 
 O N Tuesday evening, June thirtieth, 1863, General 
 Reynolds commanding the First, Third, and 
 Eleventh Corps of the Army of the Potomac, was en- 
 camped on Marsh Run near the village of Emmits- 
 burg, Maryland. By direction of General Meade, 
 General Reynolds with his First and Third Corps 
 moved early in the morning to Gettysburg, and soon 
 after sent orders to General Howard to follow with 
 the Eleventh. Howard received the order of Reynolds 
 at eight o’clock and immediately directed General Bar- 
 low’s division to follow the First Corps by the most 
 direct route, while the divisions of General Steinwehr 
 and Shurz were instructed to proceed by the road lead- 
 ing through Horner’s Mills. Having thus disposed of 
 
BATTLES TOR TUT UNION. 
 
 -258 
 
 his command, General Howard pushed on in advance 
 of the troops, accompanied by his staff. 
 
 General John Buford, commanding the Third Cav- 
 alry Division, had moved directly from Meade’s head- 
 quarters at Frederick City to Gettysburg on the pre- 
 vious day, and went into camp on the Chambcrsburg 
 Pike, about two miles west of the village. At half 
 past nine o’clock on Wednesday morning the van- 
 guard of the Rebel army under General Ileth of A. 
 P. Hill's Corps, appeared in front of Buford’s Cav- 
 alry. The dauntless troopers charged vigorously the 
 advancing columns of the enemy and drove them back 
 upon their reserves where we were checked and in turn 
 driven back before overwhelming numbers. General 
 Wadsworth coming up from Emmitsburg, hearing the 
 familiar sound of battle, went into a double-quick and 
 hastening through Gettysburg, struck the Confederate 
 advance just in time to seize and occupy the range of 
 hills that overlook the place from the northwest, in the 
 direction of Chambcrsburg. 
 
 While Wadsworth was placing his division in posi- 
 tion, General Reynolds rode forward, unattended, to 
 reconnoitre, when he discovered a heavy force of the 
 enemy in a grove not far distant. Raising his field- 
 glass to his eyes, he sought to survey the force and its 
 position, when a whistling ball from a sharpshooter’s 
 musket struck him in the neck. He fell on his face 
 and baptized with his life-blood the soil which had 
 given him birth. His untimely fall, especially at this 
 crisis and almost in sight of his childhood’s home, 
 was generally lamented. His lifeless form was borne 
 away to the rear just as the Rebels in heavy force ad- 
 vanced upon not more than one-third their number. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UXfOX. 
 
 2»9 
 
 General Abner Doubleday had to assume command 
 of our forces under this galling fire, having arrived 
 with a portion of the First Corps, the remainder of 
 which and the Eleventh Corps, not being able to join 
 them until two hours of fearful destniction had gone 
 on. Our feeble advance was compelled to fall quickly 
 back upon Seminary Hill, just west of the village, and 
 were pursued very closely, so that one portion of our 
 line, seeing its opportunity, swung around rapidly, en- 
 veloping the Rebel advance and capturing General 
 Archer the leader, and about eight hundred prisoners. 
 
 General* Howard heard the cannonading, and riding 
 rapidly up the Emmitsburg road, sent messengers in 
 search of General Reynolds, for instructions, not 
 knowing that he had been killed. While waiting the 
 return of his aids, he went to the top of the college 
 to take a survey of the surrounding country. His aid, 
 Major Biddle, soon came back with the sad intelligence 
 that General Reynolds had fallen, and that the com- 
 mand devolved on himself. 
 
 General Howard now assumed command of all the 
 troops engaged, giving the command of his own corps 
 to General Carl Shurz. Our men, now emboldened 
 by the arrival of fresh supports, and having secured a 
 fine, commanding position, renewed the fight with 
 spirit and wonderful success. Victory continued to 
 perch upon the banners of the Union at every point 
 along the lines, until one o’clock in the afternoon, 
 when our right wing was furiously assailed by Gen- 
 eral Ewell’s Corps which had been marching from 
 York, directed by the thunder of battle. 
 
 Thus flanked and outnumbered by the gathering 
 
260 
 
 LA I TEES FOR THE UNI OX. 
 
 hosts, the Eleventh Corps, which was most exposed to 
 the enfilading fire of the newly arrived columns, be- 
 gan to waver, then to break, and soon fled in perfect 
 rout. The First Corps was thus compelled to follow, 
 or be annihilated. The two retreating columns met and 
 mingled in more or less confusion in the streets of the 
 town, where they greatly obstructed each other, though 
 the First Corps retained its organization quite unbro- 
 ken. In passing through the town the Eleventh Corps 
 was especially exposed to the fire of the enemy, who 
 pressed his advantage and captured thousands of pris- 
 oners. Our wounded, who up to this time had been 
 quartered in Gettysburg, fell into the enemy’s hands, 
 and scarcely one half of our brave boys, who had so 
 recently and proudly passed through the streets to the 
 battle lines, had the privilege of returning, but either 
 lay dead or dying on the hard-fought field, or were 
 captives with a cruel foe. The number of killed and 
 wounded showed how desperately they had fought, and 
 the large number captured was evidence of the over- 
 whelming numbers with which they had contended. 
 
 General Buford with his troopers, covered our re- 
 treat, showing as bold a front as possible to the enemy, 
 who, it was supposed, would follow fiercely, as they 
 were in strong force and several hours of daylight yet 
 remained. But doubtless fearing that a trap might 
 be laid for them if they advanced too far, they content- 
 ed themselves with only a portion of the borough, 
 their main force occupying the hills which form a 
 grand amphitheatre on the north and west. 
 
 Our decimated forces repulsed by overwhelming 
 odds took possession of Cemetery Hill, south of the 
 
BATTLES FOR Till' UNIOX. 
 
 2G1 
 
 town, and being reenforced by General Sickles’ Corps, 
 they began to intrench themselves with earthworks 
 and rifle pits, to extend their lines to right and left, 
 and to select the best positions for our batteries. This 
 work was continued quite late into the evening, the 
 broad moonlight greatly facilitating the operations. 
 
 General Meade, who had selected his ground for the 
 impending battle along the banks of Pipe Creek, and 
 who at one o’clock p. M. was at Taneytown when the 
 news of the fight, and the death of the brave Reynolds 
 at Gettysburg, reached him, despatched General Han- 
 cock to the scene of conflict to take command, and to 
 ascertain whether Gettysburg afforded better ground 
 than that which had been selected. Hancock arrived 
 at Cemetery Hill just as our broken lines were hastily 
 and confusedly retreating from the village ; our ad- 
 vance, however, had already taken this commanding 
 position and was making some preparation for resist- 
 ance. The newly arrived general began at once to 
 order the forces which had been engaged and others 
 which were occasionally arriving. He ordered the 
 occupancy of Culp’s Hill on our extreme right, and 
 extended the lines to our left well up the high ground 
 in the vicinity of Round Top, a rocky eminence about 
 two miles from Gettysburg, and nearly equidistant 
 from the Emmitsburg and Taneytown roads. The 
 line having been made as secure as possible, Hancock 
 wrote to Meade that the position was excellent. His 
 despatch had scarcely gone, when he was relieved by 
 General Slocum, a ranking officer, and so, leaving the 
 field, Hancock hastened to report in person to his 
 chief the condition of things at Gettysburg. On 
 
202 
 
 BATTLES l'Oli THE UNION. 
 
 arriving, Meade informed him that he had decided to 
 fight at Gettysburg, and had sent orders to the various 
 commands to that effect ; then together they rode to 
 Gettysburg, arriving about eleven o'clock at night. 
 
 All night long our forces were concentrating before 
 this historic village, where they were all found on the 
 morning of the second of July, except the Sixth Corps, 
 General Sedgwick’s, which did not arrive until two 
 o’clock in the afternoon, after marching nearly all 
 the previous night. 
 
 Second Day. 
 
 Until three o’clock all was quiet along the battle 
 lines, except an occasional shot from a picket or 
 sharpshooter. There had been considerable manoeu- 
 vering however. On our left General Sickles, in his 
 eagerness for a fight, had advanced his corps across 
 the Emmitsburg road, and on a wood-crowned ridge 
 in the immediate vicinity of the main portion of the 
 Rebel army. General Meade, in his inspection of the 
 lines, remonstrated against the perilous position which 
 Sickles had taken the liberty to gain. Sickles, how- 
 ever, intimated that, if desired, he would withdraw to 
 the ridge which Meade had justly indicated as the 
 proper place where our forces would be better pro- 
 tected, and would be able to cover Round Top, a point 
 which it was considered essential to retain. General 
 Meade thereupon expressed his fear to Sickles that the 
 enemy would not permit him quietly to retire from the 
 trap in which he had placed his foot ; and the last 
 words had scarcely fallen from his lips, when the 
 Rebel batteries were opened witli fearful accuracy 
 
BATTLES FUR THE UXIOX. 
 
 ~0o 
 
 and at a short range, and the infantry came on with 
 their fierce charging yell. General Longstreet was in 
 command. 
 
 With such long and strong lines of infantry in his 
 front, which lapped over his flanks on either side, and 
 a fearful enfilading fire from the heavy batteries on 
 Seminary Hill, Sickles and his brave men were torn, 
 shattered, overwhelmed, and with terrible loss and in 
 great confusion fell back to the ridge from which he 
 ought not to have advanced. In the struggle, the 
 Rebels made a desperate attempt to reach and possess 
 Round Top, which they came near doing, before Gen- 
 eral Sykes, who had been ordered to advance and hold 
 it, had gained the elevation. But their failure to pos- 
 sess this coveted prize proved a great disaster ; for 
 before they could withdraw their charging columns 
 across the plain between Round Top and the ridge 
 where Sickles stood at the beginning of the fray, they 
 were attacked by General Hancock with a heavy force, 
 and driven almost like chaff before the wind. Their 
 loss was terrible. At the close of this encounter our 
 lines stood precisely where General Meade desired 
 they should be before the fight commenced, with 
 Round Top fully in our possession and now strongly 
 fortified with heavy artillery and good infantry sup- 
 port. 
 
 On our right General Ewell had succeeded in push- 
 ing back some portions of our lines under Slocum, 
 who occupied Culp’s Hill, and some of our fortified 
 lines and rifle-pits were occupied by the Rebels. 
 Night came on to close the dreadful day. Thus far 
 the battle had been mostly in the advantage of the 
 
264 
 
 BATTLES, FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Rebels. They held the ground where Reynolds had 
 fallen, also Seminary Ridge, and the elevation whence 
 the Eleventh Corps had been driven. They also 
 occupied the ridge on which Sickles had commenced 
 to fight. Sickles himself was hors de combat . , with a 
 shattered leg which had to he amputated, and not far 
 from twenty thousand of our men had been killed, 
 wounded, and captured ! The Rebels had also lost 
 heavily in killed and wounded : but having gained 
 several important positions were deluded with the 
 idea that they had gained a victory. 
 
 General Lee, in his official report, says : “ After 
 
 a severe struggle, Longstreet succeeded in getting 
 possession of and holding the desired ground. Ewell 
 also carried some of the strong positions which lie as- 
 sailed ; and the result was such as to lead to the be- 
 lief that he would ultimately he able to dislodge the 
 enemy. The battle ceased at dark. These partial 
 successes determined me to continue the assault next 
 day.” 
 
 During these days of deadly strife and of unprece- 
 dented slaughter, our cavalry was- by no means idle. 
 On the morning of the first, Kilpatrick advanced his 
 victorious squadrons to the vicinity of Abbottstown, 
 where they struck a force of Rebel cavalry, which 
 they scattered, capturing several prisoners, and then 
 rested. To the ears of the alert cavalry chieftain 
 came the sound of battle at Gettysburg, accompanied 
 with the intelligence, from prisoners mostly, that 
 Stuart’s main force was bent on doing mischief on 
 the right of our infantry lines, which were not far 
 from the night’s bivouac. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 265 
 
 He appeared instinctively to know where he was 
 most needed ; so in the absence of orders, early the 
 next morning he advanced to Hunterstown. At this 
 point were the extreme wings of the infantry lines, 
 and as Kilpatrick expected, he encountered the Rebel 
 cavalry, commanded by his old antagonists, Stuart, 
 Lee, and Hampton. The early part of the day was 
 spent mostly in reconnoitering ; but all the latter part 
 of the day was occupied in hard, bold, and bloody 
 work. Charges and counter-charges were made ; the 
 cai'bine, pistol, and saber were used by turns, and the 
 artillery thundered long after the infantry around 
 Gettysburg had sunk to rest, well-nigh exhausted with 
 the bloody carnage of the weary day. But Stuart, 
 who had hoped to break in upon our flank and rear, 
 and to pounce upon our trains, was not only foiled in 
 his endeavor by the gallant Kilpatrick, but also 
 driven back upon his infantry supports, and badly 
 beaten. 
 
 In the night, Kilpatrick, after leaving a sufficient 
 force to prevent Stuart from doing any special dam- 
 age on our right, swung around with the remainder 
 of his division to the left of our line, near Round 
 Top, and was there prepared for any work which 
 might be assigned him. 
 
 Third Day. 
 
 Friday, July third, the sun rose bright and warm 
 upon the blackened forms of the dead, which were 
 strewn over the bloody earth ; upon the wounded who 
 had not been cared for, and upon long glistening lines 
 of armed men ready to renew the conflict. Each an- 
 
266 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 tagonist, rousing every slumbering element of power, 
 seemed to be resolved upon victory or death. 
 
 The fight commenced early, by an attack of Gen- 
 eral Slocum’s men, who, determined to re-gain the 
 rifle-pits they had lost the evening before, descended 
 like an avalanche upon the foe. The attack met with 
 a prompt response from General Ewell. But after 
 several hours of desperate fighting, victory perched 
 upon the Union banners, and with great loss and 
 slaughter the Rebels were driven out of the breast- 
 works, and fell back upon their main lines near Bern 
 tier’s Hill. 
 
 This successful move on the part of our boys in 
 blue was followed by an ominous lull, or quiet, which 
 continued about three hours. Meanwhile the silence 
 was fitfully broken by an occasional spit of fire, while 
 every preparation was being made for a last, supreme 
 effort, which, it w r as expected, would decide the 
 mighty contest. The scales were being poised for the 
 last time, and upon the one side or the other was 
 soon to be recorded a glorious victory or a disastrous 
 defeat. Hearts either trembled or waxed strong in 
 the awful presence of this responsibility. 
 
 At length one o’clock arrived ; a signal-gun was 
 fired, and then at least one hundred and twenty-five 
 guns from Hill and Longstreet concentrated and 
 crossed their fires upon Cemetery Hill, the centre and 
 key of our position. Just behind this crest, though 
 much exposed, were General Meade’s headquarters. 
 For nearly two hours this Hill was ploughed and torn 
 by solid shot and bursting shell, while about one hun- 
 dred guns on our side, mainly from this crest and 
 
BATTLES FOR TI1E UNION. 
 
 267 
 
 Round Top, made sharp response. The earth and the 
 air shook for miles around with the terrific concussion, 
 which came no longer in volleys, but in a continual 
 roar. So long and fearful a cannonade was never be- 
 fore witnessed on this continent. As the range was 
 short and the aim accurate, the destruction was ter- 
 rible. But the advantage was decidedly in favor of the 
 Rebels, whose guns were superior in number to ours, 
 and of heavier caliber, and had been concentrated for 
 the attack. A spectator of the Union army thus de- 
 scribes the scene : 
 
 “ The storm broke upon us so suddenly, that soldiers 
 and officers — who leaped, as it began, from their 
 tents, or from lazy siestas on the grass — were stricken 
 in their rising with mortal wounds, and died, some 
 with cigars between their teeth, some with pieces of 
 food in their fingers, and one at least — a pale young 
 German, from Pennsylvania — with a miniature of his 
 sister in his hands. Horses fell, shrieking such awful 
 cries as Cooper told of, and writhing themselves about 
 in hopeless agony. The boards of fences scattered 
 by explosion, flew in splinters through the air. The 
 earth, torn up in clouds, blinded the eyes of hurrying 
 men ; and through the branches of trees and among 
 the grave-stones of the cemetery a shower of destruc- 
 tion crashed ceaselessly. As, with hundreds of oth- 
 ers, I groped through this tempest of death for the 
 shelter of the bluff, an old man, a private in a com- 
 pany belonging to the Twenty-fourth Michigan, was 
 struck, scarcely ten feet away, by a cannon-ball, 
 which tore through him, extorting such a low, intense 
 cry of mortal pain as I pray God I may never again 
 
268 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UN I OX. 
 
 hear. The hill, -which seemed alone devoted to this 
 rain of death, was clear in nearly all its unsheltered 
 places, within live minutes after the fire began.” 
 
 A correspondent from the Confederate army who 
 witnessed the battle, says : “ I have never yet heard 
 
 such tremendous artillery-firing. The enemy must 
 have had over one hundred guns, which, in addition 
 to our one hundred and fifteen, made the air hideous 
 with most discordant noise. The very earth shook 
 beneath our feet, and the hills and rocks seemed to 
 reel like a drunken man. For one hour and a half 
 this most terrific fire was continued, during which 
 time the shrieking of shell, the crash of falling tim- 
 bers, the fragments of rocks flying through the air, 
 shattered from the cliffs by solid shot, the heavy mut- 
 terings from the valley between the opposing armies, 
 the splash of bursting shrapncll, and the fierce neigh- 
 ing of wounded artillery-horses, made a picture terri- 
 bly grand and sublime, but which my pen utterly fails 
 to describe.” 
 
 Gradually the fire on our side began to slacken, 
 and General Meade, learning that our guns were be. 
 coming hot, gave orders to cease firing and to let the 
 guns cool, though the Rebel balls Avere making fear- 
 ful havoc among our gunners, Avhile our infantry 
 sought poor shelter behind every projection, anxiously 
 awaiting the expected charge. At length the enemy, 
 supposing that our guns Avere silenced, deemed that 
 the moment for an irresistible attack had come. Ac- 
 cordingly, as a lion emerges from his lair, he sallied 
 forth, when strong lines of infantry, nearly three 
 miles in length, Avith double lines of skirmishers in 
 
BATTLES, FOR THE UNI OX. 
 
 269 
 
 front, and heavy reserves in rear, advanced with des- 
 peration to the final effort. They moved with steady, 
 measured tread over the plain below, and began the 
 ascent of the hills occupied by our forces, concentrat- 
 ing somewhat upon General Hancock, though stretch- 
 ing across our entire front. 
 
 Says a correspondent of the Richmond Enquirer : 
 “ Just as Pickett was getting well under the enemy’s 
 fire, our batteries ceased firing. This was a fearful 
 moment for Pickett and his brave command. Why 
 do not our guns re-open their fire ? is the inquiry that 
 rises upon every lip. Still, our batteries are silent as 
 death !” And this undoubtedly decided the issue — 
 was God's handwriting on the wall. The Rebel guns 
 had been thundering so long and ceaselessly that they 
 were now unfit for use, and ceased firing from very 
 necessity. 
 
 “ Agate,” the correspondent of The Cincinnati Ga- 
 zette, gives the following graphic description of the 
 struggle : 
 
 “ The great, desperate, final charge came at four. 
 The Rebels seemed to have gathered up all their 
 strength and desperation for one fierce, convulsive ef- 
 fort, that should sweep over and wash out our obsti- 
 nate resistance. They swept up as before ; the flower 
 of their army to the front, victory staked upon the is- 
 sue. In some places they literally lifted up and pushed 
 back our lines ; but, that terrible position of ours ! — 
 wherever they entered it, enfilading fires from half a 
 score of crests swept away their columns like merest 
 chaff. Broken and hurled back, they easily fell into 
 our hands ; and, on the center and left, the last half 
 hour brought more prisoners than all the rest. 
 
270 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 “ So it was along the whole line ; but it was on the 
 Second Corps that the flower of the Rebel army was 
 concentrated ; it was there that the heaviest shock 
 beat upon, and shook, and even sometimes crumbled, 
 our lines. 
 
 “ We had some shallow rifle-pits, with barricades 
 of rails from the fences. The Rebel line, stretching 
 away miles to the left, in magnificent array, but 
 strongest here — Pickett’s splendid division of Long- 
 street’s corps in front, the best of A. P. Hill’s veter- 
 ans in support — came steadily, and as it seemed re- 
 sistlessly, sweeping up. Our skirmishers retired 
 slowly from the Emmitsburg road, holding their 
 ground tenaciously to the last. The rebels reserved 
 their fire till they reached this same Emmitsburg 
 road, then opened with a terrific crash. From a hun- 
 dred iron throats, meantime, their artillery had been 
 thundering on our barricades. 
 
 “ Hancock was wounded ; Gibbon succeeded to the 
 command — an approved soldier, and ready for the 
 crisis. As the tempest of fire approached its height, 
 he walked along the line, and renewed his orders to 
 the men to reserve their fire. The Rebels — three 
 lines deep — came steadily up. They were in point- 
 blank range. 
 
 “ At last the order came ! From thrice six thous- 
 and guns there came a sheet of smoky flame, a crash, 
 a rush of leaden death. The line literally melted 
 away ; but there came the second, resistless still. It 
 had been our supreme effort ; on the moment we were 
 not equal to another. 
 
 “ Up to the rifle-pits, across them, over the barri- 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UXIOX. 
 
 271 
 
 cades — the momentum of their charge, the mere ma- 
 chine-strength cf their combined action, swept them 
 on. Our thin line could light, hut it had not weight 
 enough to oppose to this momentum. It was pushed 
 behind the guns. Right on came the Rebels. They 
 were upon our guns — were bayoneting the gunners — 
 were waving their flags over our pieces. 
 
 “ But they had penetrated to the fatal point. A 
 storm of grape and canister tore its way from man to 
 man, and marked its track with dead bodies straight 
 down their line! They had exposed themselves to 
 the enfilading fire of the guns on the western slope of 
 Cemetery Hill ; that exposure sealed their fate. 
 
 “ The line reeled back — disjointed already — in an 
 instant in fragments. Our men were just behind the 
 guns. They leaped forward upon the disordered 
 mass ; but there was little need of fighting now. A 
 regiment threw down its arms, and, with colors at 
 its head, rushed over and surrendered. All along 
 the field smaller detachments did the same. Webb’s 
 brigade brought in eight hundred ; taken in as little 
 time as it requires to write the simple sentence that 
 tells it. Gibbon’s old division took fifteen stand of 
 colors. 
 
 “ Over the fields the escaped fragments of the 
 charging line fell back— the battle there was over. 
 A single brigade, of which the Seventh Michigan is 
 part, came out with fifty-four less officers, and seven 
 hundred and ninety-three less men, than it took 
 in ! So the whole corps fought ; so, too, they fought 
 farther down the line. 
 
 “ It was fruitless sacrifice. They gathered up their 
 
BATTLES FUR THE UXION. 
 
 broken fragments, formed their lines, and slowly 
 marched away. It was not a rout ; it was a bitter, 
 crushing defeat. For once the Army of the Potomac 
 had won a clean, honest, acknowledged A'ictory.” 
 
 General Pickett’s division was nearly annihilated. 
 One of his officers recounted that, as they were 
 charging over the grassy plain, lie threw himself 
 down before a murderous discharge of grape and 
 canister, which mowed the grass and men all around 
 him, as though a scythe had been swung just above 
 his prostrate form. 
 
 During the terrific cannonade and subsequent 
 charges, our ammunition and other trains had been 
 parked in rear of Pound Top, which gave them 
 splendid shelter. Partly to possess this train, but 
 mainly to secure this commanding position, General 
 Longstreet sent two strong divisions of infantry, with 
 heavy artillery, to turn our flank, and to drive us 
 from this ground. Kilpatrick, with his division, 
 which had been strengthened by Merritt’s Regular 
 brigade, was watching this point and waiting for 
 an opportunity to strike the foe. It came at last. 
 Emerging from the Avoods in front of him came a 
 strong battle-line, folloAved by others. 
 
 DEATH OF GENERAL FARNSAVORTH. 
 
 To the young Farnsworth was committed the task 
 of meeting infantry with cavalry in an open field. 
 Flacing the Fifth New York in support of Elder’s 
 battery, which avus exposed to a galling fire, but 
 made reply with characteristic rapidity, precision, 
 and slaughter, Farnsworth quickly ordered the First 
 
GETTYSBURG. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 275 
 
 Virginia, the First Vermont, and Eighteenth Penn- 
 sylvania in line of battle, and galloped away and 
 charged upon the flank of the advancing columns. 
 The attack was sharp, brief, and successful, though 
 attended with great slaughter. But the Rebels were 
 driven upon their main lines and the flank movement 
 was prevented. Thus the cavalry added another 
 dearly earned laurel to its chaplet of honor — dearly 
 earned , because many of their bravest champions fell 
 upon that bloody field. 
 
 Kilpatrick, in his official report of this sanguinary 
 contest, says : “ In this charge fell the brave Farns- 
 
 worth. Short and brilliant was his career. On the 
 twenty-ninth of June a general ; on the first of July 
 he baptized his star in blood ; and on the third, for 
 the honor of his young brigade and the glory of his 
 Corps, he yielded up his noble life.” 
 
 Thus ended the battle of Gettysburg — the bloody 
 turning-point of the Rebellion — the bloody baptism 
 of the redeemed Republic. Nearly twenty thousand 
 men from the Union ranks had been killed and 
 wmunded, and a larger number of the Rebels, making 
 the enormous aggregate of at least forty thousand, 
 whose blood was shed to fertilize the Tree of Liberty. 
 
 In the evening twilight of that eventful day, Gen- 
 eral Meade penned the following interesting despatch 
 to the Government : 
 
 Headquarters Army of the Potomac, 
 Near Gettysburg, July 3, 8.30 p. M. 
 
 To Major - General Ualleck , General-in- Chief : 
 
 The enemy opened at one o’clock, p. m., from about one 
 hundred and fifty guns. They concentrated upon my left cen- 
 
276 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE L'FWF. 
 
 ter, continuing without intermission for about three hours, at 
 the expiration of which time he assaulted my left center twice, 
 being, upon both occasions, handsomely repulsed with severe 
 loss to them, leaving in our hands nearly three thousand pris- 
 oners. Among the prisoners are Major-General Armistead, and 
 many colonels and officers of lesser note. The enemy left 
 many dead upon the field, and a large number of wounded in 
 our hands. The loss upon our side has been considerable 
 Major-General Hancock and Brigadier-General Gibbon wer. 
 wounded. 
 
 After the repelling of the assault, indications leading to 
 the belief that the enemy might be withdrawing, an armed 
 reconnoissance was pushed forward from the left, and the 
 enemy found to be in force. At the present hour all is quiet. 
 
 The New York cavalry have been engaged all day on both 
 flanks of the enemy, harassing and vigorously attacking him 
 with great success, notwithstanding they encountered superior 
 numbers, both of cavalry and artillery. The army is in fine 
 spirits. 
 
 Geokge G. Meade, 
 
 Mg jor - General Commanding. 
 
 On the morning of the Fourth of July, General 
 Meade issued an address to the army : 
 
 Headquarters Army oe the Potomac, 
 Near Gettysburg, July 4. 
 
 The commanding general, in behalf of the country, thanks 
 the Army of the Potomac for the glorious result of the recent 
 operations. Our enemy, superior in numbers and flushed with 
 the pride of a successful invasion, attempted to overcome or 
 destroy this army. Utterly baffled and defeated, he has now 
 withdrawn from the contest. 
 
 The privations and fatigues the army has endured, and the 
 heroic courage and gallantry it has displayed, will be matters 
 of history to be ever remembered. 
 
 Our task is not yet accomplished, and the commanding 
 general looks to the army for greater efforts to drive from our 
 soil every vestige of the presence of the invader. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 277 
 
 It. is right and proper that we should, on suitable occasions, 
 return our grateful thanks to the Almighty Disposer of events, 
 that, in the goodness of His providence, He has thought fit to 
 give victory to the cause of the just. 
 
 By command of Major-General Meade. 
 
 S. Williams, A. A. -General. 
 
 It is fitting that we should close this chapter 
 with President Lincoln’s brief yet comprehensive 
 announcement to the country : 
 
 Washington, D. C., July 4, 1863, 10 a.m. 
 
 The President of the United States announces to the coun- 
 try that the news from the Army of the Potomac, up to ten 
 o’clock f. m., of the third, is such as to cover the army with 
 the highest honor — to promise great success to the cause of 
 the Union — and to claim the condolence of all for the many 
 gallant fallen ; and that for this he especially desires that on 
 this day, “ He whose will, not ours, should ever be done,” be 
 everywhere remembered and reverenced with the profoundest 
 gratitude. Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 12 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 ■\^iok:sbtji=lc3-. 
 
 The Impregnable Stronghold. — The Batteries of the Bluff. — The 
 Siege Begun. — A Reign of Terror. — Assault of the Nineteenth. — 
 Distributing Rations. — Assault of the Twenty-second. — Desperate 
 Work. — Sergeant Griffith and the Brave Eleven. — Union Colors 
 on Enemy’s Bastion. — McPherson’s Losses. — Failure to Carry the 
 Works. — Six Weeks’ Siege. — The Enemy Starved Out. — The White 
 Flag. — Surrender. — Grant’s Triumphant Entrance into Vicksburg. 
 — “Rally Round the Flag.” — Close of the Campaign. — Lincoln’s 
 Letter. 
 
 A T a distance of three hundred and ninety-five 
 miles above the month of the Mississippi River, 
 on a high bluff, facing westward, and rising nearly a 
 hundred feet above the level of the water, lies the 
 city of Vicksburg — a stronghold which for the first 
 two years of the war defied all assault. Its formid- 
 able defences united to its natural strength of posi- 
 tion, rendered its reduction a work of difficulty and 
 danger. But on our National Anniversary of 1863, 
 this mighty citadel, so long secure on its embattled 
 bluff, surrendered to superior strategy and skill, 
 and the celebration of that “ Glorious Fourth ” by 
 the soldiers of Vicksburg contained an element of 
 patriotic fervor which only a fresh victory in the 
 cause of freedom could give. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 279 
 
 The rise of the river bank at that point is gradual 
 for about two miles back, and on this inclined slope 
 lies the town — cradled in a hollow of the bluff. On 
 the bluff below the city, a fort mounting eight guns 
 guarded the approach from beneath, while on the 
 height above, a formidable, three-banked battery 
 bristled with tiers of guns, rising one above the 
 other, from a point half way down the slope to the 
 summit. Each tier contained four heavy guns, and 
 ditches and rifle-pits helped to make up the defences. 
 
 The combined forces of Pemberton and Price, esti- 
 mated at fifty thousand men, were in possession of 
 the city. Their guns were estimated at one hundred 
 and sixty. 
 
 For six weeks previous to July fourth, 1863, 
 General Grant had been occupied with the siege of 
 Vicksburg, which he pressed energetically. 
 
 Every day further progress was made in digging 
 and mining, and at length he reached a point where 
 his batteries could send their screaming shells directly 
 to the heart of the city. A reign of terror then took 
 possession of the town, and its inhabitants dug for 
 themselves caves in the earth, seeking protection 
 against the missiles of destruction which daily and 
 nightly dropped in their midst. Meantime, rumors 
 were current that Johnston, with heavy reenforce- 
 ments, was to attack our forces in the rear and if 
 possible raise the seige. This, in connection with 
 other reasons, determined Grant to try an assault at 
 once. Accordingly, at two o’clock in the afternoon 
 of May nineteenth, a general attack was ordered on 
 the land-ward fortifications of Vicksburg. 
 
280 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 General Grant, in lus report of that attempt, gives 
 his reasons for the movement. He says : — “ I be- 
 lieved an assault from the position gained by tins 
 time could be made successfully. It was known that 
 Johnston was at Canton with the force taken by him 
 from Jackson, reenforced by other troops from the 
 east, and that more were daily reaching him. With 
 the force I had, a short time must have enabled him 
 to attack me in the rear, and possibly to succeed in 
 raising the siege. Possession of Yicksburg at that 
 time would have enabled me to have turned upon 
 Johnston and driven him from the State, and possess 
 myself of all the railroads and practical military 
 highways, thus effectually securing to ourselves all 
 territory west of the Tombigbee — and this before the 
 season was too far advanced for campaigning in this 
 latitude. It would have saved Government sending 
 large reenforcements much needed elsewhere ; and 
 finally, the troops themselves were impatient to pos- 
 sess Vicksburg, and would not have worked in the 
 trenches with the same zeal , believing it unnecessary , 
 that they did after their failure to carry the enemy's 
 works." 
 
 But the attack of the nineteenth only resulted in a 
 slight advance of our besieging army towards the 
 Confederate fortifications. Blair’s division of Sher- 
 man’s Corps succeeded in placing their colors on the 
 enemy’s ramparts, — the Thirteenth Regulars of 
 Smith’s brigade paying the terrible price of seventy- 
 seven men out of two hundred and fifty, for the bloody 
 attempt. The outer line of Confederate defences were 
 also carried by the Eiglity-tliird Indiana, Colonel 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UX ION. 
 
 281 
 
 Spooner, and the One-lmndred and Twenty-seventh 
 Illinois, Colonel Eldridge. Though they were unable 
 to enter the works they yet succeeded in holding their 
 ground till night. The remaining regiments were 
 only successful in gaining a closer position to the 
 almost impregnable fortifications. General Sherman 
 seeing his troops slaughtered to no purpose, ordered 
 them to retire a short distance and take shelter be- 
 hind the broken ground. 
 
 The two days succeeding this abortive attempt were 
 occupied in artillery firing and in distributing an ad- 
 vance supply of rations ; and on May twenty-second, 
 at ten o’clock in the morning, a simultaneous assault 
 by the entire besieging force, was made at all points. 
 Five batteries poured their deadly fire on the Rebel 
 bastion commanding our approach. The sharpshoot- 
 ers were in the advance, and a storming party carry- 
 ing poles and boards to bridge the ditch, followed 
 them. 
 
 Frank Blair’s division led Sherman’s attack — the 
 brigade of General Hugh S. Ewing, Thirtieth Ohio, 
 having the advance, followed by the regiments of Giles 
 Smith and T. Kilby Smith. 
 
 The storming party of this corps pressed forward 
 to the angle of the bastion in their front without 
 attack and “ passed towards the sally-port, when there 
 shot up behind the parapet, a double rank of the ene- 
 my, who poured on the head of the column a fire that 
 swept it down in an instant. No troops could or 
 should persist in braving such utter, useless destruc- 
 tion. The rear of the column attempted to rush on ; 
 but it was madness ; and soon, all had sought cover 
 
BATTLES FOR TIIE UNION. 
 
 from that deadly fire.” But notwithstanding this 
 murderous work, the men of Ewing’s command 
 crossed the ditch on the. left of the bastion, and clam- 
 bering up its outer wall, planted their flag near the 
 top. 
 
 Holes dug in the hill-side sheltered them from fire 
 in their flank. The brigade of Giles Smith, further 
 on the left, under cover of a ravine, re-formed in line 
 of battle, ready to again make an assault, while Kilby 
 Smith deployed his men on an eminence near by and 
 kept up a fire on the parapet. 
 
 An attempt by the brigades of Giles Smith and 
 Ransome, to take the parapet by assault resulted only 
 in defeat and loss. Half a mile away on the right, 
 the division of Steele was fighting splendidly, but 
 without result. On our left, the efforts of McClcr- 
 nand were, for a time, at least, more successful. 
 Within fifteen minutes after his assault, the ditch in 
 front of the fort they attacked, was crossed and the 
 slope and bastion carried. Sergeant Griffith of the 
 Twenty-second Iowa, with eleven privates succeeded 
 in effecting an entrance. But their desperate bravery 
 was at the cost of their lives — every one falling within 
 the fort except the sergeant, who brought thirteen 
 prisoners. “ The colors of the Forty-eighth Ohio and 
 Seventy-seventh Illinois were planted on the bastion ; 
 and within the next quarter of an hour, the brigades of 
 Benton and Burbridge, fired by this example, had car- 
 ried the ditch and slope of another strong earthwork, 
 planting their colors on the slope ; while Captain 
 White of the Chicago Mercantile Battery, carried for- 
 ward one of his guns by hand to the ditch, double- 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 283 
 
 shotted it and fired it into an embrasure, disabling a 
 Rebel gun ready to be fired, and doubtless doing exe- 
 cution among its gunners. McClernand supposed liis 
 assault successful, and reported to Grant that he had 
 carried two of the Rebel forts ; and again, “ We 
 have gained the enemy’s intrencliments at several 
 points, but are brought to a stand at the same time 
 asking for reenforcements. Grant, when he received 
 the first despatch, immediately ordered the assault 
 on Sherman’s front (where he then was) to be re- 
 newed, while he started back to his original position 
 with McPherson in the center, which he had not 
 reached when he received from McClernand the fur- 
 ther message above cited ; whereupon, though dis- 
 trusting its accuracy, he ordered Quinby’s division of 
 McPherson’s corps to report to McClernand.” 
 
 Mower’s brigade having been sent up to carry the 
 fort where Ewing’s force had met with repulse, suc- 
 ceeded in planting the colors of the Eleventh Missouri 
 regiment beside those of Blair’s command, and until 
 dark the National colors floated on the breeze under 
 the guns of the beleaguered city. The command of 
 Steele failed to carry the bastioned fort in their front, 
 but gained possession of the hill-side below, remaining 
 there until night, when they were withdrawn with the 
 rest. The heavy losses in McPherson’s command in 
 the center, told the story of his daring bravery ; but 
 every effort was fruitless, save in carnage. The 
 divisions of Osterhaus and Hovey had been driven 
 behind the shelter of a ridge by the enfilading fire of 
 the enemy. 
 
 McArthur’s division, ordered to reinforce McCler- 
 
284 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 nand’s, did not reach Vicksburg until next morning, 
 and Quinby’s two brigades did not come up until 
 nearly dark. Colonel Boomer, commanding one of 
 the brigades was killed while leading his men into 
 action. 
 
 At eight o’clock in the evening our forces were re- 
 called from their advanced positions after having- 
 suffered a loss of three thousand men. 
 
 General Grant in his report of the campaign speaks 
 in the following language of the attack of the twenty- 
 second : — “ The assault of this day proved the quality 
 of the soldiers of this army. Without entire success 
 and with a heavy loss, there was no murmuring or 
 complaining, no falling back, nor other evidence of 
 demoralization. After the failure of the twenty- 
 second, I determined upon a regular siege. The 
 troops now being fully awake to the necessity of this, 
 worked diligently and cheerfully. The work pro- 
 gressed rapidly and satisfactorily until the third of 
 July, when all was about ready for a final assault.” 
 
 To the citizens of the beleaguered city the scene as 
 described by one of its inmates, was ‘ awfully sub- 
 lime and terrific.’ There had been no lull in the 
 shelling all night; and as daylight approached, it grew 
 more rapid and furious. Early in the morning too, the 
 battle began to rage in the rear. A terrible onslaught 
 was made on the center first, and then extended far- 
 ther to the left, where a terrific struggle took place, 
 resulting in the repulse of the attacking party. Four 
 gunboats also came up to engage the batteries. * * 
 
 Three points were attacked at once ; to wit, the rifle- 
 pits by the enemy in the rear ; the city by the mortars 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 285 
 
 opposite ; and the batteries by the gun-boats. Such 
 cannonading and shelling, has perhaps scarcely ever 
 been equaled ; and the city was entirely untenable 
 though women and children were on the streets. It 
 was not safe from behind or before, and every part of 
 the city was alike within range of the Federal guns. 
 The gun-boats withdrew after a short engagement ; 
 but the mortars kept up the shelling and the armies 
 continued lighting all day. * * * * The in- 
 
 cessant booming of camion and the banging of small 
 arms, intermingled with the howling of shells, and the 
 whistling of Minie-balls, made the day truly most hid- 
 eous.” 
 
 Vicksburg was now surrounded and its downfall was 
 only a question of time. Day by day the siege was 
 pushed vigorously forward — the digging and mining 
 going steadily on. 
 
 Porter’s gunboats, with thirteen-inch mortars and 
 one-hundred-pound Parrot guns, safely anchored un- 
 der the high bank below Vicksburg, sentineled the river 
 above and below. A three-gun battery on the penin- 
 sula opposite, played havoc with the Confederate gar- 
 rison, burning up their shot and shell foundery. While 
 the enemy’s forts were being mined, counter mines 
 were dug by them and the sound of their picks could 
 be heard through the thin wall of earth which separa- 
 ted the hostile armies. For six weeks our batteries 
 never ceased dropping their shot and shell on the 
 doomed city. Food became scarce and the “inhabi- 
 tants grew wan and thin in their narrow dens.” At 
 last the enemy’s ammunition gave out, and Pemberton, 
 despairing of Johnston’s aid in raising the siege and 
 
 12 * 
 
286 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 believing that Grant was ready for another assault on 
 bis works, hung out a white flag in front of General 
 A. J. Smith’s division. This was on the third of July. 
 On sending forward to learn the meaning of the white 
 flag, they were informed that General Bowen and Col- 
 onel Montgomery of Pemberton’s staff, were bearers 
 of a communication to General Grant. The officers 
 were then conducted blindfolded to the tent of Gen- 
 eral Burbridge and their message was delivered to 
 General Grant. It proved to be an application for an 
 armistice with a view to arranging terms of capitula- 
 tion. But General Grant was prompt and decided in 
 his response. He would have nothing but uncondi- 
 tional surrender. However, a meeting was arranged 
 to take place between Grant and Pemberton at three 
 o’clock in the afternoon of that day. They met “ mid- 
 way between the lines under a gigantic oak, while the 
 two armies left their places of concealment and 
 swarmed upon the ramparts to witness this extraordi- 
 nary scene. Pemberton was the first to speak and 
 asked Grant what tentis he proposed. “ Uncondi- 
 tional surrender,” was tire prompt reply. “ Never,” 
 rejoined the haughty Rebel, “ so long as I have a man 
 left me.” 
 
 “ Then,” said Grant, “ you can continue the defence : 
 my army was never in a better condition to continue 
 the siege.” 
 
 After some further conversation the interview termi- 
 nated without coming to definite result, Grant saying 
 he would confer with his officers. He did so, and sent 
 a note saying that the entire surrender of the place 
 and garrison would be required, but that the troops 
 
BATTLES FOR TUE UNION. 
 
 287 
 
 would be paroled and allowed to march out of the 
 lines — the officers taking with them their regimental 
 clothing, and the staff, and field, and cavalry officers a 
 horse each. The proposal was accepted, and, on the 
 morning of the Fourth of July, General McPherson 
 met Pemberton half a mile within the lines to receive 
 the surrender. General Grant soon rode up and the 
 trio went together into the town where General Logan 
 established a provost-guard. The enemy’s flag was 
 hauled down and the stars and stripes went up over 
 the captured works amid the enthusiastic cheers of the 
 boys in blue. At half past eleven o’clock of that 
 eventful morning our National banner shook out its 
 folds to the breeze from the top of the Court House, 
 while the soldiers, standing beneath its emblematic 
 colors, sang “ Rally round the Flag,” with a fervor 
 which only a fresh victory for that banner of freedom 
 could lend. 
 
 By three o’clock in the afternoon our forces had 
 entire possession of the city and bluff, and the Con- 
 federate soldiers, after being paroled, and supplied 
 with three day’s rations, were escorted out of the town 
 and across the Big Black, on their way to Jackson. 
 The number of prisoners on parole from the capture 
 of Vicksburg was estimated at twenty-seven thousand, 
 — only fifteen thoirsand being fit for duty. 
 
 The surrender of Vicksburg ended one of the most 
 brilliant and successful campaigns of the war, and the 
 name of Grant, surrounded with a halo which had 
 scarcely reached its zenith of brightness at the close 
 of the rebellion, was already beloved of the nation. 
 This chapter cannot more appropriately close than 
 
288 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 with the letter which President Lincoln wrote to the 
 General of our armies after this campaign. It is 
 dated at the 
 
 “Executive Mansion, Washington, 
 
 July 13th, 18G3. 
 
 “ Major General Grant : 
 
 “ My dear General : — I do not remember that you and I ever 
 met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledg- 
 ment for the almost inestimable service you have done the 
 country. I wish to say a word further. When you first reached 
 the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you should do what you 
 finally did — march the troops across the neck, run the batteries 
 with the transports and thus go below : and I never had any 
 faith except a general hope that you knew better than I, that 
 the Yazoo Pass expedition and the like could succeed. When 
 you got below, and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf and vicinity 
 I thought you should go down the river and join General 
 Banks, and when you turned northward, east of the Big Black, 
 I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make the personal 
 acknowledgment that you were right and I was wrong. 
 
 A. LINCOLN.” 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 H>0:E=LT HUDSON 
 
 The Citadel on the Bluffs. — Four Miles of Batteries. — The Pledge of 
 the Northwest. — First Operations against Port Hudson. — The 
 Stronghold Invested. — General Assault. — Repulse and Loss. — 
 Bravery of Officers and Men. — Colonel Bartlett — Heroic Conduct 
 of Colored Troops. — The Siege Carried Forward. — Gloomy Out- 
 look. — Another General Assault. — Heavy Losses. — The Enemy 
 Starving. — The Delicacies of a Rat Stew. — Announcement of the 
 Surrender of Vicksburg. — The Council of War in the Camp on the 
 Bluffs. — Unconditional Surrender of Port Hudson . — “ Flag of Union 
 and Freedom Wave !” — The Promise of the Northwest Redeemed. 
 
 D URING the stormy days of the civil war, when Re- 
 bellion flaunted its red flag over our fair land, Port 
 Hudson, on the Lower Mississippi, was one of its fast- 
 nesses. Situated at a point twenty-five miles north 
 of Baton Rouge in Louisiana, and nearly a hundred 
 and sixty miles by water above New Orleans, Port 
 Hudson, secure behind its strong earthworks, grimly 
 guarded all hostile approach — a very Gibralter of de- 
 fence. 
 
 Along its bluffs, commanding four miles of river 
 distance, a line of death-dealing batteries sentineled 
 the shore. The approach to the little village from the 
 landward side, back of the town, was like ascending 
 the hill Difficulty. Ravines and swamps and other 
 obstructions stubbornly contested every step of the 
 way, while an army of thirteen thousand men gar- 
 
290 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 risoned its strongly fortified heights. Before the capit- 
 ulation of Vicksburg, the Confederates had exclusive 
 control of the Mississippi River between that point 
 and Port Hudson — a stretch of two hundred and 
 fifty miles. Across this country, various essential ar- 
 ticles of supply w r ere transmitted from Texas, for the 
 benefit of the Rebel armies, and by its occupation the 
 great Northwest was robbed of one of its main ave- 
 nues of outlet. Port Hudson, with threatening guns, 
 barred the ascent of the river as Vicksburg barred its 
 descent, and it was of the greatest importance to the 
 country at large and to our armies, that this arterial 
 channel should be opened from its source in the far 
 north to its mouth at the gulf ; and to this end the 
 patriotic men of the northwest had pledged them- 
 selves. 
 
 As early as the month of March, 1863, operations 
 against Port Hudson were in progress, and on the 
 thirteenth, General Banks marched his command from 
 Baton Rouge, Louisiana, towards that stronghold, his 
 object being a diversion in favor of Farra gut’s fleet, 
 then endeavoring to force a passage up the river. 
 Three divisions under Generals Augur, Grover, and 
 Emory bivouacked on the night of the thirteenth 
 within sound of the guns on the bluff. A detach- 
 ment under Colonel Molineaux, diverging on the 
 Clinton road, encountered a Confederate force at Cy- 
 press Bayou Bridge, and a skirmish ensued which re- 
 sulted in the retirement of the enemy with a loss of 
 eleven killed and wounded. On the fourteenth the 
 boats Hartford and Albatross of the fleet, passed up 
 the river and General Banks ordered a return to Baton 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNIOX. 291 
 
 Rouge, having accomplished the object of his move- 
 ment. 
 
 On May twentieth — the day after Vicksburg was 
 invested by Grant’s besieging army, the troops under 
 General Banks again marched on Port Hudson and 
 two days afterwards drew their lines closely about 
 it in regular seige. 
 
 On the twenty-fifth, Banks sent the Seventh Illi- 
 nois Cavalry under Colonel Price, to destroy the 
 boats Red Chief and Starlight, which were anchored 
 just above Port Hudson in Big Sandy Creek, near its 
 confluence with the Mississippi. 
 
 The object of this order was to cut off the water 
 communication and encircle the place by land forces. 
 
 The troops of General Banks took position around 
 this stronghold, beginning at the extreme north- 
 western end of the town and continuing in a south- 
 easterly direction. General Augur had the center, 
 General Grover the right, and General T. IV. Sher- 
 man the left wing. 
 
 As the first red rays of morning shot athwart the 
 sky on May twenty-seventh, the booming of cannon 
 in a simultaneous burst from the batteries of the en- 
 tire line, woke the echoes of the river bluffs and an- 
 nounced the assault of Port Hudson begun. The fire 
 did not slacken until one o’clock in the afternoon, at 
 which time an assault on the enemy's left was or- 
 dered, in which General Sherman was to co-operate, 
 making an attack at the same time on the Union left. 
 The field through which they were obliged to pass in 
 order to make the attack was thickly strewn with 
 trees recently felled, through whose obstructing 
 
292 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 branches our troops advanced in the face of shot and 
 shell from the batteries of the enemy across the field. 
 Mounted officers got down from their horses and led 
 them through this difficult passage, for they could go 
 forward in no other way ; while over them rained a 
 furious storm of shot and shell. For two hours this 
 deadly fire was braved by the heroic men struggling 
 over the dangerous ground ; after which with repulse 
 and loss they were withdrawn. “ Colonel Bartlett of 
 the Forty-ninth Massachusetts, having lost his leg, 
 was compelled to go on horseback, or not at all. The 
 enemy was so struck with his bravery that orders were 
 issued not to shoot him.” A little later in the day > 
 Sherman’s attack on the left was equally disastrous, 
 the General losing a leg in the engagement and his 
 command suffering heavy losses. 
 
 The attacking column on the right included the col- 
 ored regiments raised by Banks. Of their bravery on 
 that day their commanding general bears this testi- 
 mony : “ In many respects,” said he, “ their conduct 
 
 was heroic ; no troops could be more determined or 
 daring.” “There had been so much incredulity 
 avowed as to negro courage, so much wit lavished on 
 the idea of negroes fighting to any purpose, that Gen- 
 eral Banks was justified in according especial com- 
 mendation to these.” 
 
 The Union loss in this assault was reported at one 
 thousand and the enemy’s loss at six hundred. 
 Among the killed was Colonel Clarke of the Sixth 
 Michigan, and Colonel D. S. Cowles of the One Hun- 
 dred and Twenty-eighth New York — transfixed by a 
 bayonet : — Colonel Payne, Second Louisiana and Col- 
 
BATTLES FCR THE UNION. 
 
 293 
 
 onel Chapin, Thirtieth Massachusetts. General T. 
 W. Sherman was severely wounded and General Neal 
 Dow slightly. On the twenty-eighth there was a ces- 
 sation of hostilities for the purpose of burying the 
 dead. 
 
 After this the work of digging their way to victory 
 went earnestly forward. Zig-zag trenches were pushed 
 up to the Rebel fortifications by the toilers in army 
 blue, working under the relentless rays of a June 
 sun ; while our siege guns, co-operating with the artil- 
 lery of the fleet, sent their thunders echoing along the 
 shore. For two weeks this work went on ; but the 
 chances of bringing the siege to a successful conclu- 
 sion were full of doubt. The outlook was gloomy. 
 The small army of Banks — now dwindled down to 
 twelve thousand — was isolated in a hostile country. 
 A. force of twenty-five hundred Rebel cavalry occu- 
 pied a position in close proximity to the Union rear, 
 and the well-garrisoned fortress of the bluff, nearly 
 impregnable by assault, faced them with threatening 
 batteries, in front. The concentration of forces for 
 this siege had left most of the territory of Louisiana, 
 from whence Dick Taylor had been lately driven, an 
 open problem for him to solve, retracing his steps 
 across the state if he liked, conscripting and raiding 
 as he went, with the added possibility of capturing 
 New Orleans as the sum of the problem. 
 
 Georgia and Alabama might supply force enough to 
 raise the siege, while Joe Johnston was liable to come 
 down from Jackson at any time with a command of 
 sufficient strength to quench any hope of success. 
 The Confederate line of defence extended for a dis- 
 
294 
 
 BA TTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 tance of four miles around Port Hudson, while llic 
 Union lines, encircling theirs, were still longer, and a 
 strategic concentration of their forces at any one 
 point of the garrison must necessarily make it stronger 
 at such a point than all the force that could be rallied 
 against it. The Mississippi had fallen to the unusual 
 depression of twenty-eight feet, which interfered with 
 the “ efficiency of the gun-boats and the means of ob- 
 taining supply.” The capture of the garrison of 
 Brasliear City on the morning of June twenty-third, 
 by a large Confederate force which had come up in 
 rear of the Union army during the previous night, 
 cut off the Federal occupation of Louisiana west of 
 the Mississippi. The enemy, meantime, harrassing 
 the communication between New Orleans and Port 
 Hudson, had captured a quantity of supplies, fifty 
 miles above the gulf, destined for the besieging army. 
 Surrounded with such a combination of adverse prob- 
 abilities — with Lee triumphant at Chancellorsville and 
 Grant defied at Vicksburg, the prospect of continuing 
 the siege at Port Hudson, looked exceedingly uncer- 
 tain. Still, the besiegers worked steadily and earn- 
 estly on. After two weeks of digging and firing “ a 
 fresh attempt was made, under a heavy fire of artil- 
 lery, to establish our lines within attacking distance 
 of the enemy’s works, so as to avoid the heavy losses 
 incurred in moving over the ground in their front. 
 Our men advanced at three o’clock in the morning, 
 working their way through the difficult abattis ; but 
 the movement was promptly detected by the enemy, 
 and defeated, with the loss on our side of some scores 
 as prisoners.” On June fourteenth — four days later — 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNI OX. 
 
 295 
 
 another united assault was ordered. General Grover 
 was to make the attack in front, while Dwight and 
 Augur were ordered to make feints on the extreme 
 left. The attacks were made, with a loss of three 
 hundred men, and were successful only in advancing 
 our position to an average distance of from fifty to 
 two hundred yards nearer the Confederate batteries. 
 At this point new intrenclnnents were dug and new 
 batteries erected. On our left, a high position known 
 as the “ Citadel” was carried, by which Dwight was 
 enabled to occupy the ground on the same ridge^ 
 within ten yards of the enemy’s lines. An exploding 
 shell was dropped into the mill of the garrison, and 
 the building, with its two hundred bushels of corn 
 burned to the ground. 
 
 The field over which the attacking column was 
 obliged to pass, was “ obstructed by an abattis of felled 
 trees to which succeeded a ditch forty feet wide with 
 six feet of water in it ; and beyond that, a glacis 
 about twenty feet high, sloping gradually to the para- 
 pet on which was a protection for the sharpshooters : 
 behind this, one hundred yards distant, was another 
 line of works, on which field and heavy artillery was 
 mounted.” 
 
 The attack commenced at daylight. Our skirmish- 
 ers first went forward and deployed on both sides of 
 the objective point, while the rest of the command 
 followed. The Union troops suffered severely as they 
 advanced from the sharp fire of the enemy, but un- 
 daunted and brave, they pushed on, in order to gain 
 the ditch. The Seventy-Fifth New York reaching the 
 ditch encountered a terrible enfilading fire which felled 
 
296 
 
 BATTLES FOR TIIE UNION. 
 
 them like blades of grass under a hail storm. Nearly 
 all were killed or wounded. The Ninety-first New- 
 York, under Colonel Yan Zandt, nest came up, carry- 
 ing their five-pound hand grenades which they threw 
 over the Rebel breastworks. Meantime, General 
 Weitzel’s command moving up, assaulted the works of 
 the enemy with desperate valor. But every attack 
 was met with repulse. “ Brigade after brigade fol- 
 lowed in rapid succession, storming the works, until 
 compelled to fall back under the terrible fire of the 
 enemy.” 
 
 At eleven o’clock in the morning the firing ceased, 
 the most perceptible result of the battle being its 
 dreadful carnage. 
 
 The soldiers of the respective commands dropped 
 down behind the shelter of gullies, trees, and every- 
 thing that could give them protection from the deadly 
 storm of shot from the bluffs, and “waited for the day 
 to pass and the darkness to come on. At nightfall, 
 our troops commenced the burial of tlieir dead and 
 succeeded before morning in carrying most of their 
 wounded from the battle-ground. Among the Union 
 losses were General Paine and five colonels. The loss 
 in killed and wounded was over two thousand.” On 
 the next day General Banks issued an order calling 
 on a volunteer storming party for a last assault. He 
 wanted a thousand men to lead in this column of vic- 
 tory. The Fourth Wisconsin and Sixth Michigan re- 
 sponded to the call and made the attack which resulted 
 in their repulse and the capture of most of their number- 
 And thus the tedious siege went on — the Union force 
 daily losing some men, in addition to the bloody work 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 297 
 
 of tlie assaults, by the accurate aim of the enemy’s ar- 
 tillerists and sharpshooters. But slowly and surely, 
 step by step, our troops pushed their works up to the 
 very line of the enemy’s defences, and on our left a 
 mine calculated for thirty barrels of powder had been 
 placed in a position to explode and destroy the “ Cita- 
 del.” The Confederate garrison had exhausted their 
 stores to such an extent that rations of mule meat 
 were served to the men, and rats were considered deli- 
 cate eating. Their ammunition also began to fail and 
 their guns had been disabled by the sure aim of our 
 artillerists, until only fifteen out of fifty were fit for 
 use. It was impossible that the garrison could hold 
 out many days longer except by attacks which would 
 raise the siege — and there was no hope of that. 
 
 “ Suddenly, on July sixth, our batteries and gun- 
 boats shook the heavens with one tremendous salute, 
 while cheer upon cheer rose from behind our works, 
 rolling from the gun-boats above, to those below the 
 defenses, and back again, in billows of unmistakable 
 exultation. It was not the ‘ glorious Fourth,’ but two 
 days after it : and the sinking hearts of the besieged 
 anticipated the tidings before our men shouted across 
 to them, “Vicksburg has surrendered!” No one 
 needed to be told that, if such was the truth, further 
 resistance was folly — that re-enforcements would soon 
 be steaming down the river which would render hold- 
 ing out impossible.” 
 
 That evening a council of war was held in the Con- 
 federate camp in which Gardner was chief, and the 
 decision reached was that Port Hudson must be sur- 
 rendered. Communication was opened with Banks, 
 
293 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNIOX. 
 
 asking if the news shouted across the lines was true : 
 whereupon, General Banks sent to General Gardner 
 the letter of Grant announcing the surrender of Vicks- 
 burg. Application was then made by Gardner for a 
 cessation of hostilities in order to arrange terms of 
 capitulation ; but this, Banks declined. Gardner then 
 asserted his willingness to surrender, and an agree- 
 ment was entered into, whereby the garrison became 
 prisoners of war. On the next day — July ninth — at 
 seven o’clock in the morning, formal possession was 
 taken of the place by the army of Banks. The troops 
 marched in, to the music of the “ Star spangled Ban- 
 ner,” and found the Confederate soldiers drawn up in 
 line of battle with their arms stacked in front of them. 
 The conquerors and conquered now met on fraternal 
 ground, who had confronted each other in mortal com- 
 bat before ; and the Union General fed the hungry 
 soldiers of the rebellious Confederacy. On the high- 
 est bluff of the battle-ground the old flag of freedom 
 went up amid the thundered salute of the guns and the 
 cheers of our brave soldiers. The loss on our side 
 during the entire siege of forty-five days was estima- 
 ted at three thousand men ; while General Banks cal- 
 culated the Rebel loss at eight hundred or one thou- 
 sand. The number of prisoners captured was over six 
 thousand, of whom four hundred and fifty-five were 
 officers. Fifty guns and nearly forty thousand small 
 arms were also captured. 
 
 The following dispatch was received at Washing- 
 ton : — 
 
 Vicksburg, Miss., July 11th, 1863. 
 “ Major General Hallecle, General-in-Chief : — 
 
 “The following dispatch has been received from General 
 Banks : — 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNI OX. 
 
 299 
 
 Before Port Hudson, July 8th, 1863. 
 
 “ General : — 
 
 The Mississippi is now opened. I have the honor to inform 
 you that the garrison at Port Hudson surrendered uncondition- 
 ally this afternoon. We shall take formal possession at seven 
 o'clock in the morning. 
 
 (Signed.) “ N. P. BANKS, Major-General. 
 
 “U. S. GRANT, Major-General .” 
 
 Thus once more the noble Mississippi was opened 
 for the free passage of vessels from the land of the 
 Northwest down to the sea-board ; the guns of Vicks- 
 burg and Port Hudson no longer frowned threateningly 
 on the National flag ; the Confederate occupation of the 
 river ceased for ever and the promise of the men of the 
 Northwest was redeemed. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 FALLIMG- -W^TBI=LS. 
 
 Kilpatrick’s Advance to Hagerstown. — Lee’s Position. — Efforts to 
 Cross the Swollen Potomac. — Meade Decides to Attack the Con- 
 federates. — The Escape by Night. — Kilpatrick’s Discovery. — The 
 Cavalry in Motion. — The Encounter at Falling Waters. — The 
 Enemy Surprised. — Hard Fighting. — Death of Pettigrew. — Union 
 Victory. — Capture of Battle-Flags and Prisoners. — Kilpatrick’s 
 Letter. 
 
 I N the early part of July, 1863, soon after the bril- 
 liant engagement at Boonsboro, in which our cav- 
 alry under Buford and Kilpatrick distinguished them- 
 selves by their splendid action, the cavalry force under 
 Buford moved to Sharpsburg. This point was then 
 the left wing of the Union line of battle. General 
 Kilpatrick occupying the extreme right of this line, 
 his position commanded the road from Hagerstown to 
 Gettysburg. On the twelfth of July, Kilpatrick sup- 
 ported by an infantry force from Howard’s Corps, 
 under General Ames, advanced to Hagerstown, and 
 sweeping down on the Confederates at that place, 
 drove them from the town and established himself in 
 their quarters. This movement shortened our lines 
 by a distance of some miles. 
 
 Lee, after being driven from the soil of Pennsyl- 
 vania at Gettysburg, occupied a strong natural position 
 on the Maryland shore of the Potomac, near Palling 
 
BATTLES FOR TI1E UNI OF. gQl 
 
 Waters. Here he fortified himself behind formidable 
 earthworks, and for some days previous to the battle 
 had been making strenuous efforts to bridge the swol- 
 len waters of the Potomac and cross over to the Vir- 
 ginia shore. 
 
 On the thirteenth, General Meade finally decided to 
 assault the Rebel position. Orders to the various 
 commands had been issued, the necessary dispositions 
 completed, and the attack was to have been made on 
 the fourteenth of July. 
 
 During the night of the thirteenth, General Kil- 
 patrick, while examining his picket line, became con- 
 vinced from certain well-known indications, that the 
 enemy was leaving his front. 
 
 At once a courier was sent flying to Meade’s head- 
 quarters, with the intelligence ; but Kilpatrick, without 
 waiting for orders, organized his command, and at 
 three o’clock on the dark dawn of the fourteenth, the 
 cavalry were in motion. At Williamsport, at seven 
 o’clock, they encountered a portion of the rear-guard 
 of the enemy and drove them into the Potomac. From 
 this point they moved rapidly forward and came upon 
 the remainder of the Confederate rear-guard one mile 
 from Falling Waters. 
 
 The enemy’s force consisted of an infantry division 
 under Major-general Pettigrew. Like a whirlwind 
 Kilpatrick swept down upon the Confederates, taking 
 them utterly by surprise and capturing their artillery 
 before it could be placed in position. General Petti- 
 grew was killed in a sabre charge led by Major Web- 
 ber, of the Sixth Michigan. Long and bravely did 
 the enemy’s infantry struggle to resist and hurl back 
 
 13 
 
302 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 the wild charges of our cavalry: — but in vain. Over- 
 powered by the repeated and furious attacks of Kil- 
 patrick they at last broke and fled in confused disor- 
 der, and the battle was ours. Pennington’s artillery 
 was very effective in cooperating with the cavalry in 
 this engagement. Fifteen hundred prisoners, two 
 guns, and three battle-flags were captured, and the 
 dead and wounded of the enemy strewed the ground. 
 The fight at Falling Waters gave the parting blow to 
 Lee’s invading army and sent them in rapid retreat 
 through Virginia. 
 
 The following dispatch was sent to Washington by 
 General Meade : — 
 
 Headquarters Army of the Potomac. 
 
 July 14, 3 p. m. 
 
 JET. W. HallecTc , General-in- Chief : 
 
 My cavalry now occupy Falling Waters, having overtaken 
 and captured a brigade of infantry, fifteen hundred strong, two 
 guns, two caissons, two battle-flags, and a large number of 
 small-arms. The enemy are all across the Potomac. 
 
 George G. Meade, Major-General. 
 
 Later in the day he sent the following : 
 
 Headquarters Army of the Potomac, 
 July 14, 8.30 p. m. 
 
 Major-General HallecTc , General-in-Chief : 
 
 My cavalry have captured five hundred prisoners, in addition 
 to those previously reported. General Pettigrew, of the Con- 
 federate army, was killed this morning in the attack on the 
 enemy’s rearguard. His body is in our hands. 
 
 G. G. Meade, Major-General. 
 
 These dispatches were afterwards denied by Gene- 
 ral Lee in a letter to his authorities, as follows : 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 303 
 
 Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia. 
 
 July , 1863. 
 
 General S. Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector- General C. S. A : 
 
 General: I have seen in the Northern papers what pur- 
 ports to be an official dispatch from General Meade, stating 
 that he had captured a brigade of infantry, two pieces of 
 artillery, two caissons, and a large number of small arms, as 
 this army retired to the south bank of the Potomac on the 
 thirteenth and fourteenth instant. This dispatch has been 
 copied into the Richmond papers ; and, as its official character 
 may cause it to be believed, I desire to state that it is incorrect. 
 The enemy did not capture any organized body of men on that 
 occasion, but only stragglers, and such as were left asleep on 
 the road, exhausted by the fatigue and exposure of one of the 
 most inclement nights I have ever known at this season of the 
 year. It rained without cessation, rendering the road by which 
 our troops marched toward the bridge at Falling Waters very 
 difficult to pass, and causing so much delay that the last of the 
 troops did not cross the river at the bridge until one a. m. on 
 the morning of the fourteenth. 
 
 While the column was thus detained on the road a number 
 of men, worn down with fatigue, laid down in bams and by 
 the roadside, and though officers were sent back to arouse them 
 as the troops moved on, the darkness and rain prevented them 
 from finding all, and many were in this way left behind. Two 
 guns were left on the road ; the horses that drew them became 
 exhausted, and the officers went back to procure others. When 
 they returned, the rear of the column had passed the guns so 
 far that it was deemed unsafe to send back for them, and they 
 were thus lost. No arms, cannon, or prisoners were taken by 
 the enemy in battle, but only such as were left behind, as I have 
 described, under the circumstances. The number of stragglers 
 thus lost I am unable to state with accuracy, but it is greatly 
 exaggerated in the dispatch referred to. 
 
 I am with great respect your obedient servant. 
 
 R. E. Lee, General. 
 
304 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 This was evidently an attempt, on the part of the 
 Rebel leader, to disparage our victories and to wipe 
 out of his record, with a sort of legerdemain, the dis- 
 graceful and disastrous denoument of his invasion. In 
 the following important statement General Meade con- 
 firms his position by incontestable facts, and shows 
 how the matter stood : 
 
 Headquarters Army op the Potomac. 
 
 Aug , 1863. 
 
 Major- General Halleclc , General-in-Chief : 
 
 My attention has been called to what purports to be an 
 official dispatch of General R. E. Lee, commanding the Rebel 
 army, to General S. Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector-General, 
 denying the accuracy of my telegram to you, of July four- 
 teenth, announcing the result of the cavalry affair at Falling 
 Waters. 
 
 1 have delayed taking any notice of Lee’s report until the 
 return of Brigadier-General Kilpatrick, absent on leave, who 
 commanded the cavalry on the occasion referred to, and on 
 whose report from the field my telegram was based. I now en- 
 close the official report of Brigadier-General Kilpatrick, made 
 after his attention had been called to Lee’s report. You will 
 see that he reiterates and confirms all that my dispatch averred, 
 and proves most conclusively that General Lee has been de- 
 ceived by his subordinates, or he would never, in the face of the 
 facts now alleged, have made the assertion his report claims. 
 
 It appears that I was in error in stating that the body of 
 General Pettigrew was left in our hands, although I did not 
 communicate that fact until an officer from the field reported 
 to me he had seen the body. It is now ascertained from the 
 Richmond papers, that General Pettigrew, though mortally 
 wounded in the affair, was taken to Winchester, where he sub- 
 sequently died. The three battle-flags captured on this occa- 
 sion, and sent to Washington, belonged to the Fortieth, Forty- 
 seventh, and Fifty-fifth Virginia regiments of infantry. 
 
 General Lee will surely acknowledge these were not left in 
 the hands of stragglers asleep in barns. 
 
 George G. Meade, Major-General Commanding. 
 
BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 305 
 
 Kilpatrick, in his letter of explanation, referred to 
 in the above despatch, gives the following graphic 
 account of this last scene in the great drama of the 
 invasion : 
 
 Headquarters Third Division Cavalry Corps, 
 
 Warrenton Junction, Va.,Aug. . 
 
 To Colonel A. J. Alexander , Chief of Staff of Cavalry Corps : 
 
 Colonel : In compliance with a letter just received from the 
 headquarters of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac, 
 directing me to give the facts connected with the fight at Fall- 
 ing Waters, I have the honor to state that, at three a. m. of the 
 fourteenth ultimo, I learned that the enemy’s pickets were re- 
 tiring in my front. Having been previously ordered to attack 
 at seven a. m., I was ready to move at once. 
 
 At daylight I had reached the crest of hills occupied by the 
 enemy an hour before, and, a few minutes before six, General 
 Custer drove the rear-guard of the enemy into the river at Wil- 
 liamsport. Learning from citizens that a portion of the enemy 
 had retreated in the direction of Falling Waters, I at once 
 moved rapidly for that point, and came upwith the rear-guard 
 of the enemy at seven thirty a. m., at a point two miles distant 
 from Falling Waters. We pressed on, driving them before us, 
 capturing many prisoners and one gun. When within a mile 
 and a half of Falling Waters, the enemy was found in large 
 force, drawn up in line of battle on the crest of a hill, command- 
 ing the road on which I was advancing. His left was protected 
 by earthworks, and his right extended to the woods on our left. 
 
 The enemy was, when first seen, in two lines of battle, with 
 arms stacked within less than one thousand yards of the large 
 force. A second piece of artillery, with its support, consisting 
 of infantry, was captured while attempting to get into position. 
 The gun was taken to the rear. A portion of the Sixth Michi- 
 gan Cavalry, seeing only that portion of the enemy behind the 
 earthworks charged. This charge was led by Major Webber, 
 and was the most gallant ever made. At a trot he passed up 
 the hill, received the fire from the whole line, and the next mo- 
 ment rode through and over the earthworks, and passed to the 
 
306 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 right, sabring the Rebels along the entire line, and returned 
 with a loss of thirty killed, wounded, and missing, including 
 the gallant Major Webber, killed. 
 
 I directed General Custer to send forward one regiment as 
 skirmishers. They were repulsed before support could be sent 
 them, and driven back, closely followed by the Rebels, until 
 checked by the First Michigan and a squadron of the Eighth 
 New York. The Second brigade having come up, it was 
 quickly thrown into position, and, after a light of two hours 
 and thirty minutes, routed the enemy at all points and drove 
 him toward the river. 
 
 When within a short distance of the bridge, General Buford’s 
 command came up and took the advance. We lost twenty- 
 nine killed, thirty-six wounded, and forty missing. We found 
 upon the field one hundred and twenty-five dead Rebels, ancl 
 brought away upward of fifty wounded. A large number of 
 the enemy’s wounded were left upon the field in charge of their 
 own surgeons. We captured two guns, three battle-flags, and 
 upward of fifteen hundred prisoners. 
 
 To General Custer and his brigade, Lieutenant Pennington 
 and his battery, and one squadron of the Eighth New York 
 Cavalry, of General Buford’s command, all praise is due. 
 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 J. Kilpatrick, Brigadier- General. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 CHICKAMAUG-A. 
 
 Under the Shadow of Lookout Mountain. — Evacuation of Chattanoo- 
 ga. — The Long Battle-line. — Bragg Contests the Union Advance, — 
 Disposition of Troops at Chickamauga Creek. — Attack of the Nine- 
 teenth. — Fierce Struggle for Position. — Bragg’s Attack of the 
 Twentieth. — Furious Fighting. — Buckner’s Battery and its Deadly 
 Work. — The Union Army Cut in Two. — Thomas on Missionary 
 Ridge. — The Storm Breaks. — Desperate Assault of Longstreet. — 
 Repulse of the Confederates. — Thomas, Master of the Field. — The 
 Enemy in Retreat. — Occupation of Chattanooga. — Letter of Rose- 
 crans. 
 
 T HE battle fought under the shadow of Lookout 
 Mountain on West Chickamauga Creek, Septem- 
 ber nineteenth and twentieth, 1863, secured to the 
 Federal Government the possession of Chattanooga — 
 a strong strategic point on the Tennessee River, and 
 one of the three difficult passes in a mountain range 
 of forty miles. The occupation of this point and of 
 Cumberland Gap furnished a base which commanded 
 the States of Tennessee and Kentucky, and also sup- 
 plied a key for operations against Alabama, Georgia, 
 and South Carolina. 
 
 Bragg had evacuated Chattanooga as a matter of 
 necessity, in order to prevent the army of Rosecrans 
 from coming between him and his expected reinforce- 
 ments. It was an attempt to regain possession of the 
 roads leading to Chattanooga, after being reinforced, 
 
308 
 
 BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 and also of the town itself, that brought on the battle 
 of Chickamauga. 
 
 Crittenden’s Corps occupied a position on the 
 Creek, near Gordon’s Mill, with the entire Confeder- 
 ate army in his front. The corps of Thomas was at 
 the eastern foot of Lookout Mountain, and McCook 
 held Winston’s Gap, forty miles away. The army of 
 Rosecrans thus occupied all the passes of Lookout 
 Mountain from Gordon’s Mill to Alpine. 
 
 On the fourteenth of September Bragg had concen- 
 trated his forces at Lafayette, Georgia, to contest the 
 Union advance, — his army having been reinforced by 
 troops from Mississippi, and by the captured garrison 
 of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, released on parole 
 and declared exchanged by the Confederate authori- 
 ties. The Union headquarters, meantime, had been 
 established at a place called Crawfish Springs, the 
 army being concentrated on West Chickamauga 
 Creek. 
 
 When our troops attempted to advance southward 
 through the passes of Pigeon Mountain, the enemy 
 were discovered to be in force in our immediate front 
 beyond the creek. 
 
 Rosecrans and his army occupied the rising ground 
 west of the stream, while the enemy held a position 
 east of it. On the seventeenth and eighteenth, re- 
 connoissances were made which showed that Bragg 
 was massing his troops in front of Rosecrans’ left and 
 center, with the evident purpose of placing himself 
 between Chattanooga and the Union army. To coun- 
 teract this movement, Rosecrans wheeled his whole 
 army back down the creek. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 309 
 
 On Saturday morning, the nineteenth, the Union 
 line of battle stretched along the Lafayette and Ross- 
 vill'e road, due north and south — the right resting at 
 Gordon’s Mills and the left at Kelly’s House. “ On 
 the extreme left was Brannan, next Baird and Rey- 
 nolds, with Johnston in reserve in the center, Palmer 
 on the right of Reynolds, Yan Cleve on his, and Wood 
 at Gordon’s Mills. The line completed by the divis- 
 ions of Davis and Sheridan, faced a little south of 
 east. Negley formed a defensive crotchet at Owen’s 
 Ford, higher up the valley. Detached from this line, 
 covering the Ringgold approach to Rossville, the re- 
 serve corps under General Gordon Granger, was sta- 
 tioned, but not operating with the main column, can 
 hardly be said to have formed part of the line of bat- 
 tle.” The Confederate army reached Chickamauga 
 Creek on the eighteenth, after a dusty march of four 
 days, having increased their strength by three brig- 
 ades under General Hood — Longstreet and his troops 
 not having yet arrived. At ten o’clock on the morn- 
 ing of the nineteenth our left attacked the Confeder- 
 ates with the intention of driving them across the 
 stream. The battle was a struggle for position, and 
 though it lasted until nightfall neither army were suc- 
 cessful in gaining the contested ground. The troops 
 of Crittenden’s corps on the Union side received the 
 brunt of the attack, and on the Confederate side, the 
 forces under the Irish Major Cleburn — once a private 
 in the English army, and at that time risen to the 
 rank of Major-General in the Confederate army — 
 were the chief contestants. 
 
 “ During the night of Saturday, General Rosccrans 
 13 * 
 
310 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 made some changes in the disposition of his forces, by 
 which the line was so far withdrawn that it rested 
 along a crossroad running northeast and southwest, 
 and connecting the Rossville with the Lafayette road. 
 By this change the line was shortened one mile, and 
 the right wing caused to rest on a strong position at 
 Mission Ridge. Thomas held the left, Crittenden the 
 center, and McCook the right. Upon the right of 
 General Thomas’ line, as held by Reynolds and Bran- 
 nan, was a slight rise in the plain, and from the top 
 of this the whole field could be commanded. It was 
 the key to the position. During the night, the troops 
 of Thomas had built a rude breastwork of logs and 
 rails for their protection. General Lytle held Gor- 
 don’s Mills. 
 
 General Longstreet joined the Confederate force 
 on Chickamauga Creek late on the night of the 
 nineteenth, and was placed in command of the Con- 
 federate left wing. At nine o’clock on the morning 
 of the twentieth, the fighting was renewed. 
 
 An attack had been ordered at daybreak, but 
 unforeseen obstacles delayed the movement until a 
 later hour. Bragg pursued his usual plan of battle at 
 Chickamauga, which was to make a successive attack 
 along the whole line from right to left. Accord- 
 ingly, a furious battle was soon raging around the 
 Union left between the veteran troops of Thomas and 
 the attacking lines of the enemy. Again and again 
 the Confederates charged the Union ranks, behind 
 their breastworks of logs and rails, with impetuous 
 fury ; but each time they met with repulse. A storm 
 of fire and shot from our batteries mowed down the 
 
BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 311 
 
 Confederate ranks with bloody havoc and sent them 
 reeling back upon their supports. At eleven o’clock, 
 Longstreet had commenced his attack. “ Steadily 
 advancing, he swept away the head of every forma- 
 tion ; though often checked and, for the moment, 
 repulsed, again and again he rode to the head of his 
 troops, and, hat in hand, rising in his stirrups, with 
 voice and gesture animated his men. The Western 
 troops were brave and hardy men, the material of as 
 fine an army as ever shouldered musket, but could 
 not check the attack of Longstreet, who was pressing 
 right on for the possession of Chattanooga.” Rose- 
 crans saw the danger and quickly took measures to 
 meet it. Wood was instantly ordered to the support 
 of Reynolds, while Davis and Sheridan moved over 
 to the left, and thus closed up the line. Wood, 
 though fiercely assaulted, succeeded in reaching his 
 destination. The Confederate General Walker dis- 
 patched a courier to Longstreet with intelligence 
 of this movement, and Buckner’s battery of twelve 
 pieces was immediately ordered forward. 
 
 Davis, who was coming up to fill Wood’s place, 
 received the full force of this encounter and was 
 driven to the right in disorder by the sudden fury of 
 the attack. His command lost heavily in killed and 
 wounded. On the right, the onset of the foe was 
 equally severe, and the divisions of Van Cleve and 
 Palmer were forced to give way in confusion. “ The 
 rout of the right and center was now complete, and 
 after that fatal break the line of battle was not again 
 re-formed during the day.” The Union army was 
 now cut in. two, the disaster being largely due to the 
 
312 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 terrible work of Buckner’s battery. McCook was 
 hurled back to the right and, with the exception 
 of one brigade of Wood’s, Crittenden’s corps was 
 broken in pieces. Thomas had formed his line of 
 battle in a semi-circular position, with the right at 
 the Gap, as the arc of the circle, and a hill near its 
 center forming the key to the position. His left 
 rested on the Lafayette road. At this point the 
 troops which had hurled back the Rebel right in 
 the morning were rallied, together with poi'tions of 
 Sheriden’s and other divisions. 
 
 Longstreet, sweeping onward with a career un- 
 checked during .the day, now hurled his battalions 
 against this position. But Thomas, intrenched be- 
 hind his earthworks, held the Ridge securely against 
 every assault of the enemy and sent him back with 
 terrible repulse. About mid-afternoon, the Confeder- 
 ate columns began pouring through a break in the 
 Union right flank, but Granger with his reserves 
 reaching the field at this time, succeeded in pushing 
 them back. 
 
 The storm of battle now broke over Thomas and 
 his stalwart men on Missionary Ridge with greater 
 fury than before. His troops, formed in two battle- 
 lines, advanced to the crest of the Ridge and delivered 
 their volleys in rotation. As the deadly rifle-blast of 
 one line blazed out on the air with terrible accuracy, 
 the men, falling back a little, dropped on the ground 
 to re-load, while the second line marched to the 
 crest and discharged their fire into the ranks of the 
 enemy. With desperate valor the Confederates came 
 forward again and again to take by assault this 
 
BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 313 
 
 strong position ; but their efforts 'were in vain. The 
 division of Preston succeeded in partly ascending the 
 hill, hut was swept back as the previous attacking 
 divisions had been, with repulse and loss. 
 
 At last, as twilight darkened the bloody field, the 
 enemy retired beyond the range of our artillery, and 
 Thomas was master of the situation. The troops of 
 McCook and Crittenden had by this time retired 
 within the defences of Chattanooga, and during the 
 night Thomas fell back to Rossville, “ where, on the 
 twenty-first, he offered battle to the enemy, who, 
 however, declined to renew the contest. Accord- 
 ingly, on the night of the twenty-first he withdrew 
 his troops into Chattanooga.” The total Union loss 
 in this battle of Chickamauga, in killed, wounded, 
 and missing, was fifteen thousand eight hundred and 
 fifty-one men. Thirty-six guns, twenty caissons, and 
 several thousand small arms and infantry accoutre- 
 ments were also lost, besides two thousand prisoners 
 captured. The Rebel loss, as stated by themselves, 
 was over eighteen thousand. 
 
 In this bloody battle of Chickamauga, it was 
 afterwards well known that the enemy largely out- 
 numbered us. General Rosecrans, in a letter written 
 concerning the battle, says: — “we fought against 
 terrible odds,” and estimates the number opposed to 
 him in battle at ninety-three thousand. He also says 
 that a “ Union merchant of Chattanooga who was at 
 Marietta when the foe were advancing on us, tried to 
 send me word, and subsequently saw and told me 
 that the enemy had reenforced Bragg with thirty 
 thousand under Longstreet and twenty-five thousand 
 
314 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 under Joe Johnston, in addition to which Governor 
 Brown had fifteen thousand Georgia militia ; and so 
 confident were they of overwhelming us that the 
 Kentucky and Tennessee Rebel refugees at Marietta 
 had hired conveyances and loaded their household 
 goods, expecting to follow their victorious hosts back 
 into Tennessee and Kentucky. 
 
 “ I could add much more corroborative evidence 
 to show that the brave and devoted Army of the 
 Cumberland sustained and successfully resisted the 
 utmost power of a veteran Rebel army, filled with 
 the spirit of emulation and hope, and more than 
 one-half larger than itself — inflicted on it much 
 more damage than we received, and held the coveted 
 objective point, Chattanooga. 
 
 “ What we attempted, we accomplished. We took 
 Chattanooga from a force nearly as large as our own, 
 and held it after our enemy had been reenforced by 
 as many men as we had in our whole command.” 
 
 After the occupation of this point by the Union 
 army, the passes of Lookout Mountain were taken 
 possession of by the Confederates, which, together 
 with the capture of McMinnville, almost completely 
 cut off Rosecrans from his base. 
 
 Why Bragg left so many public buildings stand- 
 ing in Chattanooga — so many depots of supply, and 
 all his hospitals, besides two steamboats, was cause 
 for much speculation and wonder among the Union 
 troops when they entered that city ; but these things 
 made it evident that his evacuation of Chattanooga 
 was only a temporary movement. 
 
 Owing to faulty dispositions of troops, the battle 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 315 
 
 of Chickamauga lost to Rosecrans the confidence of 
 his Government. He was shorn also of his former 
 prestige, and the public dissatisfaction brought about 
 a change of commanders. It is a difficult question to 
 answer, whether he could have avoided a battle : or, 
 having changed the scene of conflict to Chattanooga, 
 whether a battle fought there would have brought 
 about more favorable results. 
 
 Unlooked for contingencies sometimes arise in the 
 best laid plans of men and mice which overturn 
 their most reasonable calculations. To ask whether 
 certain events, had they happened, would be more 
 fruitful in good results than certain other events 
 which did transpire, is like propounding the riddle of 
 the Sphinx. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 IB IEFL I S T O E . 
 
 Condition of Meade’s Army. — “ Going Home to Vote.” — Lee’s Ad- 
 vance. — Cavalry Encounter. — Roast Lamb and Coffee Left Behind. 
 — Order for Retreat. — Fight at James City. — Incidents of the Day. — 
 On to Washington. — Stuart Hemmed in at Catlett’s Station — The 
 Pine Thicket. — The Concealed Force. — Hill Entangled. — Battle of 
 Bristoe. — Sharp Fighting. — The Confederates Beaten. — Lee in Full 
 Retreat. — The Campaign Ended. 
 
 A FTER the memorable battle of Gettysburg, Lee 
 retired to the south bank of the Rapidan, where, 
 from the first days of July until October tenth, he re- 
 mained comparatively inactive save in strengthening 
 his resources and recruiting his army. About a month 
 previous to this date, some new dispositions of troops 
 in the Army of the Potomac were supposed to indi- 
 cate a forward movement on the part of General 
 Meade ; but all was quiet along the Potomac until the 
 middle of the month of October. 
 
 Meantime, on account of important military move- 
 ments in Tennessee, reenforcements from Meade’s 
 army had been sent to help Rosecrans in his South- 
 western battles, and the autumn elections of Ohio and 
 Pennsylvania caused a large number of troops to be 
 furloughed in the interest of the freeman’s right of 
 elective franchise. Lee, taking advantage of this 
 state of affairs, and despite the fact that Longstreet 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 31T 
 
 had been sent to reenforce Bragg in the West, deter- 
 mined on another attempt to accomplish the invasion 
 of Maryland and Pennsylvania. Accordingly, on the 
 ninth of October, 1863, the army of Lee was in mo- 
 tion and crossed the Rapidan with the design of 
 bringing on an engagement with Meade, whose troops 
 were encamped around Culpepper Court House and 
 from that point to the Rapidan. 
 
 The cavalry of Fitzhugh Lee was ordered to remain 
 and hold their lines south of the Rapidan, while Gen- 
 eral Imboden advanced by way of the Shenandoah 
 valley to guard the passes of the mountain. Hamp- 
 ton’s division of Stuart’s cavalry, moving on the right 
 of the column, encountered our cavalry under Kil- 
 patrick near James City on October tenth. 
 
 It was early in the morning, and steaming break- 
 fasts of roast lamb, sweet potatoes, bread, milk, and 
 honey were left untasted as our pickets were driven in 
 with the intelligence that an attack in force was being 
 made in our front. A prompt retreat was ordered 
 Which was executed in good style, with columns un- 
 broken and regiments closed up. . At the river sharp 
 skirmishing occurred, which deepened into a furious 
 battle when we reached a point nearer James City. 
 Here the enemy charged us with wild impetuosity, but 
 our boys returned the attack with an equally vehe- 
 ment counter-charge, repelling their advancing legions 
 with the same determined front that had won the day 
 on many a previous battle-field. Nightfall at length 
 put an end to the conflict which had raged ceaselessly 
 since morning with alternate charges, counter-charges, 
 and skirmishes. On that eventful day I was in com- 
 
318 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 mand of a line of skirmishers deployed on one of the 
 flanks, in front of some woods, near by. A second 
 line was posted about forty rods behind us just inside 
 the woods, and we had orders to hold the position at 
 all hazards. From mid-day until sunset our boys 
 gallantly obeyed the command, firmly maintaining 
 their ground against all assaults. 
 
 At one time during this sharp cavalry engagement 
 a solid shot came flying down the road just where 
 Davies and his staff had halted — their position being 
 directly in range of a section of the enemy’s artil- 
 lery. The concussion of the ball nearly threw the 
 general’s horse off his feet, but Davies maintained 
 an exterior as calm and undisturbed as though can- 
 non balls whizzing by were the most natural occur- 
 rences of life. 
 
 The fight at James City was the inaugural engage- 
 ment, as Bristoe was the closing scene in the retreat 
 of Meade and the advance of Lee towards Washing- 
 ton. On the morning of the eleventh, the retreat of 
 the Army of the Potomac towards the Rappahannock 
 was continued, the enemy following in close pursuit 
 and keeping up constant skirmishing. At Culpepper 
 the corps separated, Gregg taking the road to Sul- 
 phur Springs and Buford moving in the direction of 
 Stevensburg, while Kilpatrick marched on the main 
 thoroughfare, along the railroad. After leaving Cul- 
 pepper, Hampton’s cavalry made a fierce attack on 
 the rear-guard of Kilpatrick, but were repelled by 
 our forces without interrupting the order of retreat, 
 until opposite the residence of John Miner Botts, 
 when a few regiments wheeling about, dashed upon 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION'. 
 
 319 
 
 the Confederates in a handsome saber-charge, giving 
 them an unexpected repulse. Arrived at Brandy 
 Station, Kilpatrick found himself environed by combi- 
 nations which threatened his destruction, but with 
 the genius of a master, he cut the gordian knot ol 
 difficulties and increased his already glorious fame by 
 the brilliant generalship displayed on this famous 
 battle-ground. 
 
 On the evening of the thirteenth while bivouacking 
 near Bealeton Station, an ammunition wagon took 
 fire and caused a wide-spread alarm within the camp, 
 sending its exploding shells and flying shot in every 
 direction. Supposing the enemy to be upon us in 
 force, every man rushed to his post ready for duty, 
 but was relieved to find the supposed attack a false 
 alarm. 
 
 During this retreat, Stuart, closely following the 
 Union rear, was actively engaged in harrassing our 
 troops and committing all the depredations in his 
 power. When near Catlett’s Station, by a flank 
 movement, he inadvertently got ahead of our Second 
 Corps under General Warren, and was completely 
 hemmed in between the Union troops. 
 
 Long lines of infantry, cavalry, and artillery swept 
 by on both sides of him and his only resource was to 
 conceal his force in the pine thickets near by and 
 await in silence the passage of the Union army. Ac- 
 cordingly, under cover of night he entered the thicket 
 and orders were issued that “ no sound should be ut- 
 tered throughout the command.” 
 
 The heavy tramp of the Union infantry and the 
 rumble of our artillery sounded plainly in the ears of 
 
320 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 the concealed soldiers. The accidental report of a 
 fire-arm would have disclosed their position and in 
 view of the overwhelming force of the enemy, noth- 
 ing awaited them but destruction or surrender. * * 
 
 * Three scouts were disguised in the Federal uni- 
 form and instructed to cross the enemy’s line of 
 march, report the situation to General Lee, and re- 
 quest him to attack the enemy’s left flank at the next 
 daybreak, when Stuart, breaking cover, would attack 
 in the opposite direction and complete the confusion. 
 The adventure succeeded. At dawn Rodes opened on 
 the enemy as suggested ; and Stuart, hurling the thun- 
 ders of his artillery from an opposite direction, in the 
 very pitch of the confusion, limbered up his guns and 
 dashed with cavalry and artillery through the hostile 
 ranks, giving them a complete surprise and inflicting 
 upon them a loss of several hundred in killed and 
 wounded.” 
 
 Early on the morning of the fourteenth, A. P. 
 Hill’s corps left Warrenton, with orders to strike our 
 rear at Bristoe Station where the Second Corps under 
 General Warren was encamped behind the railroad 
 embankment. 
 
 The enemy advanced to Broad Run Church, on the 
 Alexandria Turnpike, and deflecting on the Green- 
 wich road, soon after struck our trail just behind the 
 Third Corps. Preparations for an attack occupied 
 them until about noon, when General Warren’s Sec- 
 ond Corps, bringing up the Union rear, appeared 
 upon the scene. 
 
 Hill then discovered the mistake into which his own 
 indiscretion had led him. Sandwitclied between the 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 321 
 
 retreating Third Corps and the advancing Second, he 
 turned upon the force under General Warren, hoping 
 to fight his way out of the difficulty and drive back 
 our opposing troops. But Warren, though surprised 
 to find the enemy in his front, quickly comprehended 
 the situation and instantly wheeled his batteries into 
 position where they were soon blazing havoc into the 
 ranks of the enemy. The telling musketry fire of 
 their comrades in arms, was also very effective. The 
 fighting was sharp and bloody, and the Confederates 
 fell back terribly repulsed, leaving multitudes of their 
 dead, wounded, and prisoners in our hands. Six guns 
 were captured, five of which, still serviceable, were 
 turned against the enemy with great effect. “ Our 
 loss in killed and wounded was about two hundred, 
 including Colonel James E. Mallon, Forty-second New 
 York, killed, and General Tile, of Pennsylvania, 
 wounded ; that of the enemy was probably four hun- 
 dred (besides prisoners), including General Posey 
 (mortally), Kirtland, and Cooke, wounded, and Col- 
 onels Ruffin, First North Carolina, and Thompson, 
 Fifth North Carolina Cavalry, killed.” 
 
 The battle ofrBristoe was the last and only general 
 engagement that grew out of Lee’s last advance north- 
 ward, and probably decided the issue of the campaign ; 
 for the severe check here given to the Confederate 
 pursuit, prevented, it may be, a raid into Maryland 
 and Pennsylvania. Immediately afterwards, Lee took 
 up his retreat, his campaign of manoeuvres having 
 ended disastrously to the Confederate cause. His at- 
 tempt to flank our army and get between Meade and 
 Washington was anticipated, and the recoil in the for- 
 
322 
 
 BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 tunes of the South which began at Gettysburg rolled 
 steadily on. Bristoe virtually ended the campaign of 
 1863, but another battle known sometimes as the 
 “ Buckland Races ” occurred soon after, which was 
 the closing action of the year and which vitally af- 
 fected my career as a soldier. The strange vicissi- 
 tudes of that day and the dark chapter it opened in 
 my life, affecting all my future, are events which will 
 be recounted in another chapter. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIT. 
 
 2STE“Vv r BALTIMORE. 
 
 Kilpatrick’s First Defeat. — Stuart Covers the Retreat of Lee . — En 
 Route for Warren ton. — Fitzhugh Lee’s Attack. — Charge of Stuart’s 
 Cavalry. — Surrounded on All Sides. — Kilpatrick’s Generalship. — 
 The Desperate Charge. — Holocaust of Death. — The Author’s Cap- 
 ture. — In Warrenton Jail. — A Specimen of Southern Chivalry. — 
 Kilpatrick’s Dinner Interrupted. — Case of the Campaign. 
 
 I N the closing engagement of the campaign of 1863, 
 near New Baltimore, General Kilpatrick suffered 
 It is first defeat. 
 
 Overwhelmed by superior numbers, after a sharp 
 struggle he was obliged to retire to Haymarket, leav- 
 ing the attacking cavalry of Stuarc in undisputed pos- 
 session of the field. 
 
 After the Confederate defeat at Bristoe, where the 
 confident advance of Lee’s army had been suddenly 
 checked and his legions hurled backward in retreat, 
 the rear of the retiring army was covered by Stuart’s 
 cavalry, which fell slowly back towards Warrenton. 
 The Union force followed in that direction in pursuit 
 and thus gave Lee an opportunity for a flank attack 
 at Buckland. On the night of the eighteenth of Oc- 
 tober, Kilpatrick’s division, consisting of the brigades 
 of Custer and Davies, bivouacked near Gainesville, 
 posting their pickets along Cedar Run. 
 
224 BATTLES FOR TIIE UNION. 
 
 We reached Gainesville at about dark, having skir- 
 mished all day with the enemy’s cavalry, who had 
 sharply disputed our advance, from the time we left 
 Sudley Church in the morning until we bivouacked 
 at nightfall. The firing was kept up until a late hour, 
 — the crack of carbines and pistols breaking the still- 
 ness of the night air along Warrenton turnpike, and 
 lighting the darkness with fitful flashes. During the 
 night, our regiment was drawn up in column of squad- 
 rons, ready for action at a moment’s notice, and we 
 were ordered to “ Stand to horse.” 
 
 A little after dawn the next morning the order to 
 advance was given, and breaking camp, we were soon 
 en route for Warrenton. Stuart’s cavalry, in our im- 
 mediate front, retired slowly before us, skirmishing as 
 they fell back. The Harris Light, marching in col- 
 umn of platoons, led the van. Just after we had 
 passed New Baltimore, on the Warrenton pike, we 
 were startled by a sudden thunder of artillery which 
 shook the air, and to our dismay we discovered that 
 Fitzhugh Lee was making a furious attack on our rear- 
 guard at Buckland Mills. A storm of shot and shell 
 from the enemy’s batteries swept our ranks, and at the 
 same instant Stuart, in our front, wheeled about and 
 charged the small brigades of Kilpatrick with wild fury. 
 The onset was terrible and we were taken completely 
 by surprise. Lee and his cavalry had been sent by a 
 circuitous route with the design of falling upon our 
 rear, and having come upon a small detachment of 
 Union infantry at Thoroughfare Gap, he had cut his 
 Avay through their lines and advanced by an unpick- 
 eted road upon our troops. Here by a preconcerted 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 325 
 
 movement with Stuart, he begun the attack. Almost 
 at the same moment, General Gordon, in command of 
 a third division of cavalry, emerged from the woods 
 on our left, and made an attack on the Union flank 
 with determined fury. A less skillful commander than 
 Kilpatrick, would have been overwhelmed by a crisis 
 so unlooked-for and portentious. Surrounded on all 
 sides by the swarming hordes of the enemy, and as- 
 saulted in front, flank and rear, by a force greatly out- 
 numbering our own, certain destruction seemed to 
 await us. It was a moment in which decisive action 
 was imperative to save the command from utter annihi- 
 lation. But Kilpatrick, with the genius of a master 
 mind, rose to the exigencies of the hour, and led his 
 men out of the trap about to spring upon them and 
 seal their fate. Though unable to turn defeat into 
 victory in the face of such terrible odds, he yet man- 
 aged to extricate himself and them from the difficult 
 environments of his situation. Quickly his plans were 
 formed, and the order “ Platoons right about wheel ! ’ 
 rung down the column. It was followed in an instant 
 afterwards by the command, “ gallop ! march ! ” and 
 at the head of his small brigades, he made a desper- 
 ate charge upon the cavalry and artillery of Fitzhugh 
 Lee, arrayed in line of battle along the banks of Ce- 
 dar Run. Our boys obeyed the voice of their chief, 
 with unflinching determination, as their desperate on- 
 ^et proved : but the three hundred slain left on the 
 field, showed at what a cost the charge was made. It 
 was a bloody alternative, but the command was saved 
 and their road to escape made clear. 
 
 When we were in pursuit of the retreating foe, the 
 14 
 
326 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Harris Light Cavalry, had the advance, but by a sud- 
 den evolution of the regiment during the fight, we 
 were thrown in the rear and compelled to defend our- 
 selves as best we could from an attack on the flank . 
 Reaching a slight elevation in the road, we made a 
 stand and succeeded in holding the enemy in check 
 for some time, by the deadly volleys from our carbines 
 and pistols. Stuart, who was commanding the Con- 
 federate force in person, ordered an assault on our 
 position and charged upon us amid wild yells with an 
 entire division. A furious hand-to-hand conflict en- 
 sued which made the battle field a scene of confusion 
 and distress. Numbers, it is said, were drowned in 
 Cedar Run while endeavoring to effect their escape. 
 At this crisis of affairs, a fatal bullet pierced my horse 
 and we fell to the ground, trampled by the charging 
 squadrons of the foe. For some time I lay in the 
 mud, lost to all consciousness, while the roar of battle 
 surged around me unheeded. Meantime, our brave 
 troops, overpowered in the unequal contest, were forced 
 to fall back, leaving their wounded and dead on the 
 field. How long I lay insensible under the feet of 
 the trampling horsemen, I do not know, but when I 
 awoke to consciousness, I found myself in the hands of 
 a Rebel guard who were hastily carrying me from the 
 scene of action. Thus began the first chapter in the 
 record of my long captivity. On the night of that 
 fatal day of October nineteenth, we slept in Warren- 
 ton Jail and at daybreak the next morning started for 
 Culpepper. During our first night’s incarceration, 
 most of the prisoners were robbed of their clothing 
 and valuables by the guard — everything of the slight- 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 327 
 
 est value being taken. One of these specimens of 
 Southern chivalry preferred the modest request for my 
 entire wardrobe. His language Avas a trifle short of 
 classic elegance as he told me to “ come out of thatar 
 
 hat and overcoat, and them ar boots too, you d d 
 
 blue jacket ! ” 
 
 In looking over my career as a soldier, I can see 
 how vitally this day of capture affected my whole after 
 life. Like the springs on high mountain ranges where 
 a slight change of conformation decides whether their 
 clear waters shall flow to the east or the west, so there 
 are hours in the history of most men whose events, 
 however slight, decide the direction of all their after 
 lives. Out of the experience of which this day was 
 the opening page, grew my first book, “ Beyond the 
 Lines,” and “ Soldiers of the Saddle,” — a record of 
 three years of cavalry life in the Union service — fol- 
 lowed in natural sequence. 
 
 Just before the cavalry action of New Baltimore 
 began, Kilpatrick had stopped at the house of a citi- 
 zen near Gainesville to whom he declared that “Stuart 
 had been boasting of driving him from Culpepper, but 
 now he was going to drive Stuart.” General Kilpat- 
 rick, on that day, is described as having been as “ fu- 
 rious as a wild boar.” He was about to sit doAvn to 
 a well-cooked dinner when the sound of artillery from 
 the direction of Buckland Mills, announced the tumult 
 of coming battle. Kilpatrick sprang to his feet, threw 
 himself into the saddle and almost immediately was 
 galloping away like the wind, to lead his command. 
 But the disastrous denouement of the battle dispersed 
 his division and sent his men flying for dear life. The 
 
328 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 General’s race-horse ‘ Lively,’ a thorough-bred mare, 
 flew the track on this occasion, and fell into the 
 hands of Moseby. 
 
 After the action of New Baltimore, Lee and his 
 army resumed their march southward, and General 
 Meade commenced a forward movement from the line 
 of Cedar Bun to the line of the Rappahannock. In 
 November, the Army of the Potomac was located 
 along the Upper Rappahannock, and the enemy occu- 
 pied the south side of the Rapidan. Here both armies 
 fortified their respective positions and active opera- 
 tions were suspended for the remainder of the year. 
 
CHAPTER X XX Y. 
 
 PORT IF 1 I S ZE3I El UR- - 
 
 Outer Defences of Wilmington. — Blockade-running. — Admiral Por- 
 ter’s Expedition. — Rough Weather. — The Attack. — The 'lorpedo 
 Vessel. — The First Day’s Bombardment. — Beconnoissance. — 
 Strength of the Fort. — Return to Hampton Roads. — Renewed 
 Preparations. — Attack of the Second Expedition. — Bivouac Fires. — 
 Terrible Bombardment. — Desperate Assault of Union Troops. — 
 They Effect a Lodgment. — The Attack goes on. — The Last Trenches 
 Cleared. — Fort Fisher Ours. — Valor of Colored Troops. — Spoils of 
 Victory. 
 
 A T the southernmost extremity of a narrow neck 
 of land branching out from the North Carolina 
 coast, and separating Cape Fear river from the tu- 
 multuous waters of the wide Atlantic, stands Fort 
 Fisher, grimly guarding the approach to Wilmington 
 twenty miles to the northward, up the river. 
 
 During the year of 1863, Wilmington was the 
 great center of blockade-running, and owing to the 
 vast difficulties of enforcing the blockade, the port 
 had defied all effort to abridge its privileges, and in 
 consequence an extensive trade was carried on be- 
 tween Wilmington and foreign ports. 
 
 Early in August, 1863, a joint naval and military 
 expedition under Admiral Porter was organized with 
 the avowed purpose of closing this port by capturing 
 its outer defences. The squadron, however, did not 
 
330 
 
 BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 start on its hazardous enterprise until December 
 twelfth, owing to the difficulties of obtaining a suffi- 
 ciently large co-operating land force to insure success. 
 Leaving Hampton Roads, where they had remained 
 since August, the squadron, numbering seventy-five 
 vessels all told, sailed for their destination, having on 
 board a land force of six and a half thousand men 
 under General Butler. The fleet arrived off Wil- 
 mington on December fifteenth, but owing to rough 
 weather, the vessels were unable to get into position 
 to land the troops or to make an attack until noon of 
 the twenty-fourth, when a furious fire was opened 
 upon Fort Fisher. The storm of shot dropped at the 
 rate of thirty per minute and continued until night. 
 
 On the day previous to the attack, a torpedo vessel, 
 disguised as a blockade-runner, was towed to a point 
 within four hundred yards of Fort Fisher, and two 
 hundred yards of the beach, where she was securely 
 anchored while preparations were made to blow her 
 up. 
 
 She had on board an amount of powder supposed 
 to be sufficient to explode the magazine of the fort. 
 The enemy were completely deceived as to the char- 
 acter of the vessel, believing her to be a blockade- 
 runner, and in consequence giving the signals custo- 
 mary with "that class of craft. The party under Com- 
 mander Rhind in charge of the torpedo vessel, set 
 her on fire under the cabin and then getting into 
 their boats, made good their escape to the Wilder- 
 ness, — one of the boats belonging to the fleet. As 
 soon as the torpedo party were on board, the Wilder- 
 ness put out towards sea, to avoid the explosion. 
 
BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 33p 
 
 “ At forty-five minutes past one o’clock on the 
 morning of the twenty-fourth, the explosion took 
 plaee, but the shock was nothing like so severe as 
 was expected. It shook the vessel somewhat and 
 broke one or two glasses, but nothing more.” 
 
 As the morning of the twenty-fourth dawned, the 
 fleet got under way and was soon arrayed in battle 
 line ready to make a grand attack on the almost im- 
 pregnable walls of Fort Fisher. 
 
 At half-past eleven o’clock, the ship Ironsides be- 
 gun the assault, the rest of the fleet following in suc- 
 cession and opening fire as soon as their guns were 
 brought within range of the fort. The enemy 
 were driven to their casemates by the iron hail, 
 and for five long hours the terrible storm continued 
 without intermission. But it was without result. The 
 transports did not arrive off Wilmington until the 
 twenty-fifth, having been delayed on the way by a 
 storm which obliged them to put into Beaufort. A 
 fresh attack was then ordered, under cover of which 
 a force of three thousand men, General Weitzel com- 
 manding, was landed at a point five miles east of the 
 fleet. General Weitzel made a reconnoissance and 
 reported that an assault at that time would be butch- 
 ery. As General Butler was of the same opinion, 
 the troops were ordered to re-embark and the trans- 
 ports returned to Hampton Roads. General Butler, 
 in a letter to Admiral Porter, written on the twenty- 
 fifth, says that the strip of land up which the attack- 
 ing party would be obliged to pass in order to assault 
 the fort, was not wide enough for more than a thous- 
 and men in line of battle. Flag Pond Hill Battery 
 
332 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 and its garrison of sixty-five men and two commis- 
 sioned officers were captured, as was also Half Moon 
 Battery, including its force of seven officers and two 
 hundred and eighteen men of the Third North Carolina 
 Junior Reserves. General Butler in the letter men- 
 tioned, says : — “ General Weitzel advanced his skir- 
 mish line within fifty yards of the fort, while tire gar- 
 rison was kept in their bomb-proof by the fire of the 
 navy, and so closely that three or four men of the 
 picket line ventured upon the parapet and through 
 the sally-port of the work, capturing a horse which 
 they brought off, killing the orderly who was the 
 bearer of a dispatch from the chief of artillery of 
 General Whiting, to bring a light battery within the 
 fort, and also brought away from the parapet the flag 
 of the fort. 
 
 “ This was done while the shells of the navy were 
 falling about the heads of the daring men who entered 
 the work, and it was evident as soon as the fire of 
 the navy ceased because of the darkness, that the fort 
 was fully manned again, and opened with grape and 
 canister upon our picket line. 
 
 “ Finding that nothing but the operations of a reg- 
 ular siege, which did not come within my instructions, 
 would reduce the fort, and in view of the threatening 
 aspect of the weather, wind arising from the south- 
 east, rendering it impossible to make further landing 
 through the surf, I caused the troops with their pris- 
 oners to re-embark, and see nothing further that can 
 be done by tlie land forces.” 
 
 Some idea of the strength of the fort may be ob- 
 tained from the fact that during one of the most ter- 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 333 
 
 rific bombardments of modern warfare, the fort re- 
 mained uninjured. 
 
 A Richmond paper in an issue of the time says : — 
 “ General Bragg has issued a congratulatory order on 
 the defeat of the enemy’s grand armada before Wil- 
 mington, paying a merited compliment to Generals 
 Whiting and Kirkland, Colonel Lamb, and the offi- 
 cers and men engaged. The enemy’s attack on the 
 first day lasted five hours ; on the second day, seven 
 hours, — firing altogether over twenty thousand shots 
 from fifty kinds of vessels. The Confederates re- 
 sponded with six hundred and sixty-two shots on the 
 first day and six hundred on the second. Our loss is 
 three killed and fifty-five wounded. The ground in 
 front and rear of the fort is covered with shells and 
 is torn in deep pits. Two guns in the fort burst, two 
 were dismounted by ourselves and two by the enemy’s 
 fire, yet the fort is unhurt.” 
 
 But the effort to take Fort Fisher was not allowed 
 to remain a failure. The returning troops were 
 reenforced at Fortress Monroe, and immediate prepa- 
 rations were made for a renewed attack. General 
 Terry succeeded General Butler in command of this 
 second expedition, which comprised a land force of 
 over eight thousand men, including a division of 
 colored corps — the Twenty-fifth — and the batteries of 
 Lee and Myrick. The troops embarked on board 
 government transports and left Fortress Monroe on 
 the sixth of January, 1864, to cooperate with Por- 
 ter's fleet off Beaufort. Owing to wind and weather, 
 the combined movement was delayed and the fleet did 
 not reach the Wilmington coast until the thirteenth. 
 
 14 * 
 
334 
 
 BA TTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 On that day, this formidable armada, arranged in 
 five divisions, moved upon the grim and threatening 
 works of Fort Fisher. 
 
 At seven and a half o’clock in the morning, a line 
 of ironclads, headed by a vessel named the New 
 Ironsides, moved up directly in front of Fort Fisher, 
 taking a position one thousand yards distant. The 
 guns of the fort opened on them as they approached, 
 but the iron fleet did not return the enemy’s fire until 
 an hour afterwards. At nine o’clock the troops were 
 landed — some of the men in their eagerness jumping 
 into the water, waist deep. A skirmish line was 
 immediately pushed out and the entire attacking 
 force was ashore by three o’clock in the afternoon, 
 at which time they took possession of Half Moon 
 Battery. Very soon, the force advanced along the 
 beach towards Fort Fisher, pausing at dusk out of 
 range of the enemy’s guns to wait until they could 
 go forward under cover of the darkness. At ten 
 o’clock, the bivouac fires of the attacking force shone 
 through the darkness, two miles distant from the 
 fort, where our troops were encamped, covered by a 
 kind of lagoon extending between their right flank 
 and the woods beyond. The gunboats of the enemy 
 shelled our lines at this point from Cape Fear river. 
 During the night of the thirteenth, the fort was 
 strengthened and the enemy reenforced. The next 
 day our troops constructed a line of breastworks 
 between Cape Fear river and the sea, and on the 
 fifteenth, at daybreak, the attack commenced. The 
 Brooklyn and the eleven-inch gunboats — all of them 
 iron clads — opened the bombardment with a terrible 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 335 
 
 fire. Under cover of this cannonading, the division 
 of Ames, drawn np to assault the west end of the 
 fort, were marched up to within one hundred and 
 fifty yards of the point of attack. Abbott’s brigade 
 occupied the intrenchments facing Wilmington in 
 opposition to a force five thousand strong, under 
 Hoke, which threatened our troops in that direction. 
 “ A column of fourteen hundred sailors and marines, 
 under Captain Bresse, was detailed from the fleet to 
 assault the sea front, which had been so terribly 
 demolished by the bombardment that it was thought 
 a lodgment might be effected there more easily.” 
 At ten o’clock a terrific cannonade from the entire 
 fleet was opened on the fort, which lasted until three 
 o’clock in the afternoon almost without intermission. 
 At that time the ships changed the direction of their 
 fire from the path of the charging columns to other 
 works, and a half hour later a desperate assault was 
 made on the sea front. The brave besiegers gained 
 the parapet, but were subsequently repulsed and 
 driven back in disorder. 
 
 When the column was re-formed it was sent to 
 the intrenchments facing Wilmington, and Abbott’s 
 brigade joined the forces of Ames. This attack, 
 though unsuccessful, diverted the enemy’s attention 
 from the main storming party and aided in the 
 results of the day. 
 
 The men of the old Tenth Corps, three or four 
 thousand strong, constituted principally the attacking 
 party, and at the word of command they gallantly 
 charged the enemy’s works. A force of twenty-two 
 hundred garrisoned the fort. 
 
336 
 
 BATTLES FUR TEE UNION. 
 
 Colonel Curtis led our troops in a headlong charge 
 and succeeded in effecting a lodgment on the west 
 end of the land front. The brigades of Pennypacker 
 and Bell immediately followed, and at five o’clock in 
 the afternoon, after contesting every inch of ground 
 with the most desperate fighting and the severest 
 loss, our troops gained possession of about one-half 
 of the land front ; after which Abbott came up from 
 the defensive line, and the attack went on. At ten 
 o’clock the last trenches of the enemy were cleared, 
 and Port Fisher was ours. The fighting lasted six 
 and a half hours, and a more splendid record of valor 
 or brilliant action than was displayed in this assault 
 can rarely be found. Curtis was severely wounded 
 while leading his men in the attack, Bell received a 
 mortal hurt, fighting at the head of his troops, and 
 Pennypacker was dangerously injured. At midnight 
 the fort was surrendered without condition into our 
 hands — the force inside numbering about eighteen 
 hundred, under command of General Whitney and 
 Colonel Lamb. These Confederate officers were both 
 wounded. The chain ol earthworks surrounding 
 Fort Fisher and all their contents fell into our hands. 
 Seventy-two guns, including an Armstrong, the camp 
 and garrison equipage, and sixteen days’ rations, 
 were of the spoil. Besides the loss of the garrison, 
 of whom four hundred were killed and wounded, the 
 enemy also suffered the loss of Cape Fear river and 
 its facilities for blockade running. “ On our side, 
 not a ship nor a transport was lost, and but little 
 damage was done to the fleet.” Nine hundred in 
 killed and wounded of the land force, and two 
 
BATTLES FOR TUE UNION. 
 
 337 
 
 hundred on the fleet, comprised our loss in the 
 engagement of men and officers. By some misman- 
 agement, the magazine of the fort exploded, killing 
 three hundred of the garrison. 
 
 The capture of Fort Fisher was a splendid achieve- 
 ment, and its importance as a strategic point of 
 operations could hardly be over-estimated. During a 
 period of nearly two years, the trade carried on from 
 Wilmington with foreign ports, despite the block- 
 ade, amounted in the aggregate to sixty-six millions 
 of dollars, — an item which contributed largely to 
 the resources of the Confederates. In the desperate 
 assault which, after long continued fighting, con- 
 quered the works of Fort Fisher, the colored troops 
 distinguished themselves by their unflinching bravery. 
 
 Thus, another stronghold of Rebellion tottered to 
 its fall, and the port of Wilmington was once more 
 in possession of the Federal Government. 
 
CHAPTER XIXYI. 
 
 OLUSTEE. 
 
 Expedition to Florida. — Sailing of the Fleet. — John Hay. — Lincoln's 
 Letter. — Objects of the Expedition. — The Camp at Jacksonville. — 
 Seymonr’s Sudden Move. — Attempt to Checkmate the Enemy at 
 Olustee. — Hemmed in by Swamps. — The Fatal Surprise. — Over- 
 whelmed by Superior Numbers. — Decimated Banks. — The Battle 
 Lost. — Seymour’s Bravery. — Patten Anderson. — Who was to blame ? 
 
 T OWARDS the latter part of the year 1863, an expe- 
 dition to the coast of Florida was determined upon 
 by the Federal Government, for which purpose a portion 
 of Gilmore’s fleet in Charleston Harbor was assigned, 
 and in January, 1864, the flotilla was under way. 
 Twenty steamers and eight schooners, having on board 
 a force of six thousand men under the immediate com- 
 mand of General Truman Seymour, sailed from Hil- 
 ton head for Jacksonville, on the St. John’s river. 
 
 President Lincoln, having good reason to suppose 
 that Florida was ready to return to her allegiance to 
 the Federal Government, sent his private secretary 
 John Hay, commissioned as Major, with the expedi- 
 tion, bearing despatches to Gilmore with instructions 
 to inaugurate measures looking towards a speedy res- 
 toration of Florida to the Union. In his letter, he 
 said that “ understanding that certain persons were 
 endeavoring to construct a legal government in Florida 
 and that Gilmore might possibly be there in person, 
 
BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. §39 
 
 he had dispatched Mr. Hay, one of his private secre- 
 taries, to aid in the proposed construction. “ It is 
 desirable,” he said, “for all to co-operate; but if ir- 
 reconcilable differences of opinion shall arise, you are 
 master. I wish the thing done in the most speedy 
 way possible, so that when done it will be within the 
 range of the late proclamation on the subject. The 
 detail labor will of course have to be done by others, 
 but I shall be greatly obliged if you will give it. such 
 general supervision as you can find consistent with 
 your more strictly military duties.” The other 
 avowed objects of the expedition were to procure an 
 outlet for cotton, lumber, timber, Ac., second, to cut 
 off the enemy’s sources of commissary supplies, Ac., and 
 third, to obtain recruits for colored regiments. 
 
 The troops embarked on February sixth, and on the 
 seventh reached Jacksonville, where they went into 
 camp. 
 
 It was designed to make Jacksonville a base of sup- 
 plies from whence to advance into the interior. Ac- 
 cordingly, on the night of the eighth, the Union cav- 
 alry under Colonel Guy Y. Henry, pushed forward 
 towards Baldwin, reaching that place at daybreak on 
 the ninth. During the night they had passed a Con- 
 federate camp and captured a battery three miles in 
 its rear. 
 
 At Baldwin, one hundred prisoners, eight pieces of 
 artillery and other valuable property fell into our hands. 
 Gilmore, after going to Baldwin and superintending 
 the preliminaries of this movement, returned to Jack- 
 sonville and Hilton Head, leaving Seymour in charge 
 of the expedition. Meantime, Colonel Henry pushed 
 
340 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 on to Sanderson, a point forty miles distant, seizing 
 and destroying considerable property at that place. 
 Near Lake City the enemy was discovered to be in too 
 great force to hazard an attack by the command of 
 Colonel Henry, and consequently our cavalry “ fell 
 back five miles, bivouacked in a drenching rain-storm 
 and telegraphed to Seymour for orders and food.” A 
 report that the enemy, under General Finnegan, had 
 fallen back from Lake City that night, probably induced 
 Seymour to make the sudden move which resulted so 
 disastrously to our arms at Olustee. On the fifteenth, 
 Gilmore was startled on receiving a letter from Sey- 
 mour saying that he proposed to make an advance to 
 theSuwanee river — Lake City being the objective point. 
 Gilmore at once dispatched General Turner to Jack- 
 sonville with orders countermanding this mad attempt : 
 but when Turner reached his destination, the Olustee 
 blunder was already being enacted. Seymour had 
 marched his force of five thousand men out of Jack- 
 sonville on the eighteenth, and the next day he reached 
 Barber’s Station, on the Florida Central Railroad, 
 about thirty miles from his point of starting. Receiv- 
 ing information at this place which led him to believe 
 that he would be able to defeat the enemy’s plans and 
 that great strategic advantages could be secured by a 
 rapid advance to Lake City, he resumed his advance 
 on the morning of the twentieth. His troops passed 
 through Sanderson without halting and pushed forward 
 towards Olustee, nine miles beyond, believing the en- 
 emy to be at that station. But upon arriving within 
 three miles of Olustee, the head of the Union column 
 unexpectedly stumbled into the trap set for them, just 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 341 
 
 as the enemy anticipated. It was two o’clock in the 
 afternoon, and our men, after a march of sixteen miles 
 over difficult roads, were faint with hunger and fatigue. 
 At the point of attack a long cypress swamp confront- 
 ed them, through which the railroad passed, “ while 
 the wagon road, making a square turn to the right 
 crossed the railroad in order to avoid and flank the 
 swamp.” The troops of the enemy, commanded by 
 General Finnigan, were so disposed under cover of 
 this swamp and the neighboring pine forest, that our 
 men stumbled into the ambuscade before they were 
 aware of its existence. The attack was sudden and 
 furious, and our infantry, hastily forming in line of 
 battle, returned the enemy’s fire at great disadvantage. 
 The Seventh Connecticut Infantry under Colonel J. R. 
 Hawley, and the Fortieth Massachusetts under Col. 
 Henry had the advance and received the first fire of 
 the concealed foe. We had sixteen pieces of artillery, 
 but its position was in such close proximity to the woods 
 within which the Confederates were concealed, that 
 their sharpshooters, with unerring aim, made targets 
 of our gunners and horses with terrible results. In 
 twenty minutes after the action began, Hamilton’s 
 battery had lost forty out of fifty horses, and forty-five 
 out of eighty-two men. The Seventh New Hampshire 
 was ordered up in support, but was soon demoralized. 
 The Eighth United States colored regiment was then 
 advanced, and for an hour and a half they bravely 
 held their position, though at a loss of three hundred 
 and fifty of its men. At this juncture “ Colonel Bar- 
 ton led his brigade consisting of the Forty-eighth, 
 Forty-ninth, and One-hundred-and-fifteenth New York 
 
342 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 into the hottest front of the battle. Colonel Sam- 
 mons of the One-hundred-and-fifteenth, was among 
 the first of his regiment disabled ; seven of its cap- 
 tains or lieutenants were killed or wounded ; one of 
 its companies lost thirty-two out of fifty-nine men. 
 Six captains or lieutenants of the Forty-seventh were 
 killed or disabled and its colonel was also wounded.” 
 The column on our left, headed by the Fifty-fourth 
 Massachusetts and First North Carolina, both colored, 
 entered the arena of conflict “ just in time to stop a 
 Rebel charge.” They were overpowered by the greatly 
 superior numbers of the foe, but “ it was admitted that 
 these two regiments saved our little army from being 
 “ routed.” Their charge enabled Seymour to re-form 
 his batteries farther to the rear, and a retreat was or- 
 dered, which was covered by the Seventh Connecticut 
 and executed in good order. The enemy did not effect 
 tively pursue us. One thousand of our wounded were 
 brought off the field, but a large number were unavoid- 
 ably left to the consideration of the enemy. The loss 
 on the Confederate side was stated at eighty killed and 
 six hundred and fifty wounded. Seymour went back 
 to Jacksonville the next morning and thus the death 
 blow to the restoration of Florida was given, for that 
 time at least. During the battle, Seymour, who was 
 everywhere present, was described as being recklessly 
 brave, dashing into the thickest of the fight and doing 
 what he could, after the ambuscade had been brought 
 on, to avert its disastrous consequences. But bravery 
 alone was impotent against such fearful odds and 
 disadvantages of position. 
 
 Too late the affair at Olustee was discovered to be 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 343 
 
 a mistake. The country was greatly excited over it, 
 and Gilmore, Seymour, John Hay, and the President 
 were alternately blamed for the needless slaughter. 
 The Seventh New Hampshire and a colored regiment 
 were also accused of being responsible for the loss of 
 the battle. 
 
 An act which reflects credit on the Confederate 
 General Patten Anderson, in connection with Olustee, 
 should not go unnoticed. Soon after the engagement 
 he sent in a complete list of our prisoners and wounded, 
 in his hands, with a description of the nature of the 
 wounds received, of both black and white. 
 
 After the dark chapters of Fort Wagner and Fort 
 Pillow, it is pleasant to chronicle an incident like this. 
 
 Olustee was the central and only action of import- 
 ance which occurred in Florida during the year 1864, 
 or from thenceforward until the close of the war of 
 Rebellion. 
 
 I enjoyed a personal acquaintance with General 
 Seymour, and do not agree with those who believe that 
 he was incapable of directing the movements of an 
 independent force. All concede to him a bravery 
 verging on rashness, but I am unable to see that the 
 surprise at Olustee proves him devoid of generalship. 
 How far he may have been to blame in taking upon 
 himself the responsibility of an advance, I do not 
 know, as some writers claim that the presence of 
 John Hay may have had something to do with the 
 movement and with running counter to Gilmore’s 
 orders. But I am unwilling to play the part of de- 
 tractor to a noble officer who fearlessly faced death 
 for country’s sake, inciting his men to brave endeavor, 
 
344 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 and displaying every quality which could win the ad- 
 miration of a soldier. 
 
 Let the laurel wreath of glory which the heart ever 
 accords to valor and patriotism, rest undisturbed upon 
 the name of one whose daring, at least, remains un- 
 assailed. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 IF 1 O 3FL T PILiLOW. 
 
 One of the Outgrowths of Slavery. — The Negro Soldiery. — Con- 
 federate Law. — The Black Flag. — Location of Fort Pillow. — 
 Forrest Before the Defences. — Severe Fighting. — No Surren- 
 der. — Flags of Truce. — Treachery. — Surprise of the Fort. — 
 Overwhelmed by the Enemy. — The Butchery Commenced. — 
 Horrible Scenes. — The Inhumanity of Man. — Influence of 
 Slavery. 
 
 T HE massacre of Fort Pillow was one of the legiti- 
 mate outgrowths of the institution of negro slave- 
 ry, and the savage butcheries there perpetrated under 
 the folds of the “ black flag/’ disgrace the records of 
 human civilization and stain the page of history. 
 The soldiers who fought in defence of liberty at Fort 
 Pillow were black soldiers, and that was their offence. 
 The Confederacy, with strange inconsistency, while 
 employing slaves for its own belligerent purposes, 
 passed a law that if they were so employed by Union 
 officers, no quarter might be expected, and that noth- 
 ing less than extermination would be the fate meted 
 out to them. The law referred to, found a place on 
 their statute books in the early part of the year 1863, 
 and contained the following clause : — “ Every white 
 person, being a commissioned officer, or acting as such, 
 who, during the present war, shall command negroes 
 or mulattoes in arms against the Confederate States, 
 
346 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 shall, if captured, be put to death , or otherwise pun- 
 ished, at the discretion of the court.” But there was 
 not found in. the Confederacy an officer of any note, 
 with qualities sufficiently fiendish to permit the “ black 
 flag” dispensation to be carried into effect, until For- 
 rest appeared before Fort Pillow, and there, by his 
 cold-blooded atrocities, covered his name with eternal 
 infamy. Overlooking the surrounding country from 
 a high and nearly inaccessible bluff on the Mississippi 
 river, at a distance of about forty miles above Mem- 
 phis, in Tennessee, stood the historic fort, — a work of 
 moderate size, and mounting only six guns. In the 
 early part of the last year of the war, the place was 
 gan’isoned by a force under Major L. F. Booth, num- 
 bering five hundred and fifty-seven men, two hundred 
 and sixty-two of whom were colored troops belonging 
 to the Sixth United States Heavy Artillery. The 
 other battalion under Major Bradford, of the Thir- 
 teenth Tennessee Cavalry, was white. 
 
 On April twelfth, 1864, this fortress was wrested 
 from the United States forces there garrisoned, by an 
 act of treachery, under the leadership of Forrest, un- 
 paralleled during all the four years of fighting to which 
 the Rebellion gave birth. The battle commenced at 
 daybreak, when a furious assault on our troops was 
 made by the enemy. 
 
 The Union forces fought at first in the outer de- 
 fences, and for hours the contest raged with sharp 
 severity. At nine o’clock in the morning, in the 
 thickest of the fight, Major Booth was killed, after 
 which Major Bradford withdrew his men to the inner 
 fort, where from that time until three o’clock in the 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION 
 
 347 
 
 afternoon they bravely defied every attempt of the 
 enemy to dislodge them. Their gallant defence was 
 aided by the gunboat New Era, which sent a vigorous 
 storm of shells into the ranks of the enemy. 
 
 At about mid-afternoon, under a flag of truce, For- 
 rest sent a demand for the unconditional surrender of 
 the fort, to which Bradford replied, asking one hour’s 
 time to consider the proposal. Very soon, Forrest, 
 under a second flag of truce, sent the message that if 
 the Union troops were not moved from the fort in 
 twenty minutes, he would order an assault. Major 
 Bradford replied that he would not surrender. While 
 \ the flag of truce was flying, the Confederates, with 
 unworthy treachery, gradually crept up to a position 
 under the fort, from which they could overwhelm the 
 garrison by a sudden attack. 
 
 Captain Marshall of the gun-boat, refrained from 
 firing in order not to give an excuse for subsequent 
 atrocities in case the fort should be captured by the 
 enemy. Immediately after the second flag of truce 
 retired, the rebels made a rush from the positions 
 they had so treacherously gained, and obtained pos- 
 session of the fort, raising the cry of “ no quarter.” 
 But little opportunity was allowed for resistance. 
 Our troops, black and white, threw down their arms 
 and sought to escape by running down the steep bluff 
 near the fort, and secreting themselves behind trees 
 and logs in the bushes and under the brush ; some 
 even jumping into the river and leaving only their 
 heads above the water as they crouched down under 
 the bank. Then followed a scene of cruelty and mur- 
 der without parallel in civilized warfare, which needed 
 
348 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 but the tomahawk and scalping-knife to exceed the 
 worst atrocities ever committed by savages. 
 
 The Rebels commenced an indiscriminate slaughter, 
 sparing neither age nor sex, white nor black, soldier 
 nor civilian. The officers and men seemed to vie 
 with each other in the devilish work. Men, women, 
 and children wherever found, were deliberately shot 
 down, beaten, and hacked with sabers. Some of the 
 children, not more than ten years old, were forced to 
 stand up and face their murderers while being shot. 
 The sick and wounded were butchered without mercy, 
 the rebels even entering the hospital buildings and 
 dragging them out to be shot, or killing them as they 
 lay there unable to offer the least resistance. All over 
 the hillside the work of murder was going on. Num- 
 bers of our men were collected together in lines or 
 groups and deliberately shot. Some were shot while 
 in the river, while others on the bank were shot and 
 their bodies kicked into the water ; many of them still 
 living, but unable to make exertions to save them- 
 selves from drowning. * * * * All around were 
 
 heard the cries of “ No quarter ! No quarter !” “ Kill 
 the damned niggers!” “Shoot them down!” All 
 who asked for mercy were answered by the most cruel 
 taunts and sneers. Some were spared for a time only 
 to be murdered under circumstances of greater cruelty. 
 No cruelty which the most fiendish malignity could 
 devise, was omitted by these murderers. One white 
 soldier who was wounded in the leg so as to be unable 
 to walk, was made to stand up while his tormentors 
 shot him. One negro, who had been ordered by a 
 Rebel officer to hold his horse, was killed by him when 
 
BATTLES FOB THE UNION. 349 
 
 lie remonstrated. Another, a mere child, whom an 
 officer had taken up behind him on his horse, was seen 
 by Chalmers, who at once ordered him to put the 
 child down and shoot him, which was done. The 
 huts and tents in which many of the wounded had 
 sought shelter, were set on fire, both that night and 
 the next morning while the wounded were still in 
 them, those only escaping who were able to get them- 
 selves out, or who could prevail on others less injured 
 to help them out, and even some of these thus seeking 
 to escape the flames, were met by these ruffians, and 
 shot down, or had their brains beaten out. One man 
 was deliberately fastened down to the floor of a tent, 
 face upward, by means of nails driven through his 
 clothing and into the boards under him, so that he 
 could not possibly escape, and then the tent was set 
 on fire. Another was nailed to the side of a building 
 outside of the fort and then the building was set on 
 fire and burned. * * * * These deeds of mur- 
 
 der and cruelty closed when night came on, only to 
 be renewed the next morning, when the demons care- 
 fully sought among the dead lying about in all direc- 
 tions, for any other wounded yet alive, and those they 
 found were deliberately shot. * * * The Rebels 
 
 had made a pretence of burying a great number of 
 their victims, but they had merely thrown them, with- 
 out the least regard to care or decency, into the 
 trenches and ditches about the fort, or the little hol- 
 lows and ravines on the hillside, covering them but 
 partially with earth. Portions of heads and faces, 
 hands and feet were found protruding through the 
 
 earth in every direction.” And so the sickening re- 
 
 15 
 
350 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 cital goes on. A committee of investigation who vis- 
 ited the spot two weeks afterwards, reported that the 
 ground at the foot of the bluff where most of the mur- 
 ders had been committed, was still stained with the 
 blood of the slaughtered soldiers, although heavy rains 
 had fallen in the meantime. Major Bradford, in com- 
 mand of the fort, who up to the moment of capture, 
 was uninjured, was brutally murdered the day after 
 he was taken prisoner. Only eternity will reveal how 
 many of our troops there engaged, fell victims to the 
 fiendish inhumanity of Forrest, in like manner. “ The 
 motive for the murder of Major Bradford seems to 
 have been the simple fact that, although a native of 
 the South, he remained loyal to his Government.” 
 
 Both Forrest and his superior, Lieutenant-General 
 S. D. Lee, attempted palliation and even denial of the 
 dark deeds of this day ; but they were too well au- 
 thenticated by scores of unimpeachcd witnesses, some 
 of whom were shot and left for dead long after the 
 fighting had ceased, and who testified to the cold- 
 blooded murders committed. The murderers declared 
 that they shot the colored troops because they were 
 “ niggers,” and the whites because they were “fight- 
 ing with the niggers.” 
 
 Forrest, giving his loss at twenty killed and sixty 
 wounded, and stating that he buried two hundred and 
 twenty-eight of our men on the night of the battle, not 
 reckoning numbers that were buried next day, yet had 
 the assurance to claim that this number was killed in 
 fair fight. 
 
 Lee, in writing a defence of the case, asserts, in the 
 face of all contradictory evidence, that their officers 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 351 
 
 “ endeavored to prevent the effusion of blood.” Only 
 three weeks before this, Forrest had summoned Pa- 
 ducah in unmistakable terms, closing with these 
 words, — “If you surrender, you shall be treated as 
 prisoners of war ; but if I have to storm your works 
 you may expect no quarter. 
 
 After the capture of Fort Pillow, Forrest made a 
 rapid retreat into Mississippi unmolested, — the Union 
 cavalry force at hand not being sufficiently strong to 
 make an effective pursuit. 
 
 The news of the butchery of Fort Pillow sent a 
 thrill of horror through the loyal North, and the out- 
 raged sense of the people, finding vent in bitter de- 
 nunciation, produced a reactionary effect on the South. 
 
 It was not exactly pleasant for a section which 
 boasted so much chivalry and refinement, to be cata- 
 logued with barbarians or held up to the view of the 
 civilized world with the knife in one hand and the black 
 flag in the other. It perhaps augured a returning 
 sense of justice that even an attempt at palliation for 
 the wholesale crime should be made, and it was well 
 for the reputation of our country that this terrible 
 precedent found no subsequent parallel in the history 
 ■of our civil war. 
 
 Little by little the gigantic crime of American 
 slavery, to whose brutalizing influence the dark deeds 
 of Fort Pillow may be traced, was undermined until 
 at last its doom was sealed and our country was able 
 to make her claims of freedom consistent with her 
 acts. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 OOLD ZE3I _A_ IFL 23 O 3FL . 
 
 Cold Harbor Tavern. — The Historic Cross Roads. — Grant’s Design of 
 Forcing the Chickahominy. — Disposition of Troops. — Preliminary 
 Fighting. — The Battle Inaugurated by a Thunder Storm. — The 
 Grand Attack. — Gallant Dash of the Second Corps. — The Posi- 
 tion Gained and Lost. — Vantage-ground of the Enemy. — Failure of 
 Grant’s coup-de-main . — The Heroic Brigade of Colonel McKean. — 
 The New Thermopylae. — The Enemy’s Last Attack. — The Curtain 
 Falls on Cold Harbor. 
 
 T HE neighborhood of the Chickahominy river, first 
 made historic by McClellan in 1862, was again 
 baptized with the blood of contending armies two 
 years later, when Grant fought the battle of Cold 
 Harbor at such fearful cost of life. 
 
 An old inn, known as Cold Harbor, standing at a 
 junction of cross roads leading out of Richmond, gave 
 its name to the contest here waged. From this point 
 the traveler may go to Dispatch Station and Bottom 
 Bridge on the south, White House on the east, Han- 
 overtown and Newcastle on the north, and Richmond, 
 via Gaines’ Mills on the west. At this point in the 
 first days of June, 1864, Grant determined to force 
 the Chickahominy, which constituted the outer line 
 of defence for Richmond. It was nearly the same 
 spot which McClellan had occupied two years before, 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 353 
 
 when the renowned swamps south of the river were 
 traversed by his army. 
 
 The right of the enemy’s line covered the Chicka- 
 hominy river and his left stretched along the Virginia 
 Central Railroad, holding also the Cold Harbor road 
 from Atlee’s Station on the Fredericksburg Railroad 
 to Gaines’ Mill. 
 
 The cavalry of the enemy extended to Hanover on 
 the left and Bottom Bridge on the south. This was 
 the disposition of troops on Tuesday, May thirty- 
 first, three days previous to the battle. Skirmishing 
 between the two armies was kept up from the begin- 
 ning of the week until Friday when the engagement 
 became general. 
 
 On Tuesday, Lee, suspecting Grant’s intention of 
 concentrating his troops on the left, instituted a series 
 <of manceuvers for position which brought on some 
 Lively skirmishing. 
 
 Torbert’s cavalry was sent to the right, to Cold 
 Harbor, to take possession of the eminences in that 
 direction, and succeeded in holding the ground after 
 a sharp fight. 
 
 On Tuesday night the Sixth Corps marched to Cold 
 Harbor where the Eighteenth Corps, after losing its 
 way, joined it at three o’clock in the afternoon of 
 June first, taking position on the right of the Sixtli 
 in four lines. A field of ploughed land fronted the 
 two corps, beyond which, tlie enemy were intrenched, 
 covered by a pine forest. The two center divisions of 
 our line charged across the ploughed land at the 
 double-quick, cheering as they went. A murderous 
 fire met them as they advanced, but undeterred tlicy 
 
354 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 pushed forward and gallantly carried the first Confed- 
 erate line, taking six hundred prisoners. But the 
 captured line was in a position where it could be en- 
 filaded by the enemy’s fire, and being also commanded 
 by a redoubt the position was relinquished. 
 
 During the night the enemy endeavored in vain to 
 regain their lost line. This day’s action cost us two 
 thousand men, but Cold Harbor remained in our pos- 
 session. The left extremity of the Union line was lo- 
 cated at this point while the right was at Bethesda 
 Church, eight miles distant on the Hanovertown road. 
 Late in the afternoon there was an attack along the 
 whole line, but it was without noticeable results on 
 either side. By Thursday noon, June second, a new 
 disposition of troops for the attack had been com- 
 pleted, the Second Corps was shifted to the Union 
 left and the advance was ordered. But just before 
 the appointed hour, a heavy thunder storm obscured 
 the heavens, and the battle of the elements inaugur- 
 ated the contest below. The play of lightning was 
 incessant, the rain fell in torrents and the waters of 
 the Chickahominy foamed turbulently with the sud- 
 den flood. The attack which was to have been made 
 at five o’clock that afternoon was postponed until four 
 and a half o’clock the next morning, Friday, June 
 third. Burnside held the extreme right, next to him 
 came Warren, next Warren was the Eighteenth Corps 
 under Smith, Wright’s Corps came next and Hancock 
 held the extreme left. 
 
 The two armies confronted each other from oppo- 
 site sides of a low, swampy piece of ground which was 
 destined to go down to history as the battle-field of 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 355 
 
 Cold Harbor. Behind the enemy’s lines, which were 
 drawn up for battle two deep, the turbulent Chicka- 
 hominy raged, before them lay the swamp drenched 
 with water from the rain of the previous night, and 
 beyond that gleamed the bayonets of the Union 
 front, ready for action. In the gloom of the early 
 morning the skirmish lines of the two armies ad- 
 vanced, and soon irregular volleys of musketry an- 
 nounced their encounter. 
 
 The artillery then opened, and down the battle lines 
 which stretched along the Chickahominy, the thun- 
 der of the guns resounded, scarcely less terrible than 
 the thunder of the heavens on the preceding night. 
 
 Hancock, on the left, first came up to the Confeder- 
 ate works, and his extreme left under Barlow, fol- 
 lowed by the division of Gibbon, dashed forward in 
 the face of a galling fire straight up to the guns of 
 the enemy. Then with a rush they scaled the para- 
 pets of the Rebel fortifications, capturing their guns 
 and colors at that point, besides several hundred pris- 
 oners. 
 
 This position had been the key point of the battle 
 of Gaines’ Mills two years before and commanded the 
 whole field from the bald top of a ridge named Watt’s 
 Hill. 
 
 It also covered the angle of the Dispatch road, and 
 had the brilliant charge which captured this position 
 received proper support, the battle of Cold Harbor 
 would have had a different sequel. Lee, doubtless, 
 would have been forced to retreat across the Chicka- 
 hominy, and thus one of the gates to Richmond would 
 have been seized. But Lee, in guarding against the 
 
356 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 possible catastrophes of battle, had not overlooked 
 this one, and a heavy force under Hill -was quickly 
 dispatched to regain the lost eminence. Our brave 
 boys under Barlow had rushed onward so far in ad- 
 vance that the enemy’s artillery raked their ranks 
 with a terrible enfilading fire, while Hill fell upon 
 them with overwhelming numbers. It was impossi- 
 ble to withstand an onset with such fearful odds, and 
 the shattered ranks were compelled to fall back, 
 though still keeping in charge part of their prisoners. 
 The desperate efforts of the Second Corps to carry 
 the Confederate works were without success. The 
 Sixth Corps carried the first line of rifle pits in its 
 front, gaining a point within two hundred and fifty 
 yards of the enemy, but all the fury of its five batter- 
 ies did not noticeably damage their main works. 
 
 The action of the right of our line under Warren 
 and Burnside was confined principally to heavy ar- 
 tillery firing. 
 
 The Second corps bore the brunt of the battle, and 
 the advantage which their valor gained was only 
 temporary. Again and again did Grant, massing a 
 heavy force, hurl it against a single point of the 
 enemy’s line : but the position lost and gained by 
 the Confederates during the first ten minutes of 
 fighting secured such strength of vantage ground 
 that all our efforts to dislodge them were rendered 
 of no avail. Although the battle lasted for five 
 long hours, this first ten minutes decided its issue. 
 Seven times did the valiant Sixth corps sweep down 
 upon the right-center of the enemy, and as many 
 times did the enemy defy its assaults. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 357 
 
 Our entire line was drawn up in close proximity 
 to the Confederate position, and at one point on the 
 extreme left the contending forces were reported to 
 he only fifteen yards distant ! During a lull in the 
 fury of conflict, the two central figures in the Union 
 army, Grant and Meade, were seen on an eminence 
 in anxious consultation, and the question, “ Will 
 the assault be renewed ?” was asked along the lines. 
 A writer for the New York Times speaks as follows 
 concerning the relative positions of the fighting 
 hosts : 
 
 “ One portion of our line retained all day a posi- 
 tion within fifteen yards of the Rebel works. This 
 heroic band was the brigade of Colonel McKean, a 
 brigade of Gibbon’s division of Hancock’s corps, and 
 numbering about eight hundred men. The conduct 
 •of these eight hundred is as splendid a stroke of 
 heroism as ever lit up the story of the ‘ glory we call 
 Greece, and the grandeur we call Rome.’ Through 
 the livelong day, these men held their line, within 
 fifteen yards of the enemy, and all his forces could 
 not dislodge them. Repeatedly during the day the 
 Rebels formed double columns of attack to come 
 over the work and assail them, and the officers could 
 be heard encouraging their troops, saying to them, 
 ‘ There are only four or five hundred of them — • 
 come on ! ’ But the moment the Rebels showed them- 
 selves above their parapet, a line of fire flashed out 
 from behind the earthen mound, where those eight 
 hundred heroes stood in a new Thermopylae, and 
 many a Rebel threw up his arms and fell prone under 
 their swift avenging bullets. 
 
358 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 “ The sequel of this bit of history is as curious 
 as the deed itself — for while the Rebels dared not 
 venture out to assail McKean’s men, neither could 
 he nor his command recede from the perilous posi- 
 tion. He could not get back to us — we could not 
 go forward to him. In this dilemma, the ingenious 
 device was hit upon of running a ‘ sap,’ or zigzag 
 trench, up from our line to his. In this way a 
 working party were able to dig up to where they lay, 
 begrimed with powder and worn down with fatigue, 
 and a few hours ago they were brought safely away, 
 — ‘all that was left of them, left of six hundred!’ 
 But McKean, their gallant leader, he came not away 
 alive. Since eleven in the morning, he had lain 
 behind the bulwark his valor defended, a corpse, 
 While preparing to resist a Rebel assault, lie fell, 
 pierced by the bullet of a sharpshooter, and after 
 living for an hour or two in an agonizing death-in-life, 
 begging his staff officers to put an end to his misery, 
 his heroic soul forsook the turmoil of this weary, 
 warring world.” 
 
 All day this position was retained, neither army 
 making any decided demonstrations of attack. Just 
 after dark, however, a fierce charge was made by the 
 enemy on Hancock’s Corps ; but the brave boys of 
 the Second dealt them such deadly volleys from mus- 
 ketry and artillery that the charge, though desperate, 
 resulted only in terrible loss of life. The enemy 
 evinced a bravery in this charge which could not fail 
 to call forth the admiration of those who witnessed it. 
 Their ranks, torn open at every discharge from our 
 guns, closed steadily up and pressed forward to our 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 359 
 
 very breastworks, some even scaling the parapets, 
 though only to fall dead in the act. But their most 
 desperate efforts to carry the intrenchments were in 
 vain, and their broken ranks fell back through the 
 gloom of the night to their old position. 
 
 Thus the curtain fell on the last act in the battle 
 of Cold Harbor — a fight neither lost nor won : for 
 Cold Harbor remained ours in defiance of every 
 endeavor of the enemy to take it; but the Chicka- 
 hominy, at that point, remained their’s, defying in 
 turn all our valor and skill. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 PORT "W A G-ItsT IEH HR. . 
 
 Site of the Fort. — First Assault. — Bombardment from the Fleet. — 
 Heaven’s Artillery. — The Advance at Night. — The Colored Regi- 
 ment. — Furious Assault and Terrible Slaughter. — Bravery of Col- 
 ored Troops. — Death of Colonel Shaw. — Waiting under a Hail- 
 storm of Death. — The Possession of an Hour. — Repulse and Losses. 
 — Wagner Impervious to Assault. — Progress of the Siege. — The 
 “ Swamp Angel.” — Fort Sumter in Ruins. — Calcium Lights. — The 
 Enemy Driven to the Wall. — Wagner Evacuated. — Spoils of Vic- 
 tory. 
 
 T HE story of Fort Wagner possesses for me a peculiar 
 and personal interest, on account of having first lis- 
 tened to its recital in detail from the lips of one of the 
 colored participants, while I was held a prisoner in 
 Charleston jail yard. Sergeant Johnson was a full- 
 blooded and intelligent negro, and gave -me an inter- 
 esting history of the captivity of himself and com- 
 rades after the final bloody assault of the eighteenth. 
 They were free negroes living in the state of Massa- 
 chusetts, but were tried on a charge of leaving their 
 masters and joining the Union army. Happily, the 
 abolition of slavery renders such mockeries in the 
 name of justice no longer possible, and gradually the 
 long-suffering and down-trodden race is being placed on 
 the merit of character instead of color. 
 
 On the south side of the entrance to Charleston 
 Harbor lies Morris Island — a sand formation washed 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 361 
 
 up by long accumulations of debris swept outward 
 from the beach, and inward from the wide ocean. 
 Cumming’s Point is at the northern extremity of this 
 island, and southward, down the beach, on a narrow 
 peninsula of sand, Fort Wagner faces the sea. Early 
 in July, 1863, a combined military and naval expedi- 
 tion was organized by the Federal Government for the 
 purpose of taking possession of Morris Island, and 
 reducing Fort Wagner. 
 
 On July tenth, a lodgment on Morris Island was 
 effected, and the infantry of the attacking force was 
 pushed forward to within six hundred yards of Fort 
 Wagner. In a dispatch to General Halleck, from 
 Morris Island, dated July twelfth, General Gilmore 
 says — “ We now hold all the Island except about one 
 mile on the north end, which includes Fort Wagner, 
 and a battery on Cumming’s Point. * * * * 
 
 On the morning of the eleventh instant, at daybreak, 
 an effort was made to carry Fort Wagner by assault. 
 The parapet was gained, but the supports recoiled un- 
 der the fire to which they were exposed, and could not 
 be got up. Our loss in both actions will not vary 
 much from one hundred and fifty in killed, wounded, 
 and prisoners.” 
 
 But the effort to reduce Fort Wagner by assault was 
 not thus easily relinquished, and another attack was 
 determined upon, which took place on the eighteenth 
 of July. A bombardment from the fleet was to have 
 opened at dawn on that day, but a terrible storm 
 which burst over land and sea, dampened our powder 
 and caused a delay of six hours. At half past twelve 
 o’clock the attack began, and a rain of fire fell upon 
 
362 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Fort Wagner from six iron-clad gunboats, stationed 
 at short range from Morris Island, and also from a 
 semi-circular line of batteries ranged across the island 
 a mile distant, to the southward. Several wooden gun- 
 boats farther away, also sent their shells into the ram- 
 parts of the fort. The bombardment, though raging 
 severely, from noon until nightfall, was without appar- 
 ent effect. As the sun went down, the boom of can- 
 non died away over the bay, and from the depths of a 
 black thunder cloud which now unrolled itself over the 
 sky, the jagged lightnings leaped in angry flashes. The 
 roar of the artillery of the sky, mingling with the fierce 
 tempest which now broke over Charleston Harbor, suc- 
 ceeded the thunder of the fleet. In the midst of the 
 storm, arrangements were perfected to carry the fort 
 by assault — an impression having been received that 
 the works were evacuated. Our iron-clads, with the 
 exception of the Montauk, returned to their anchorage. 
 General Strong, Colonel Putnam, and General Steven- 
 son, led three brigades respectively in this perilous 
 undertaking, the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts (colored) 
 having the advance. The troops, forming in line, 
 moved forward over the hard beach, from which the 
 tide had retired, towards the fort. The hour of low 
 tide had been chosen on account of the narrowness of 
 the strip of land along which the attacking force were 
 obliged to pass in order to reach the fort. The Fifty- 
 fourth Massachusetts regiment was commanded by 
 Colonel Robert G. Shaw, and was the first colored 
 force organized in a free State. Anxious to prove 
 their bravery, the regiment, in order to be on the bat- 
 tle-ground in season, marched for two days “ through 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 363 
 
 heavy sands, working its way across creeks and inlets, 
 unsheltered through the pelting rains of the interven- 
 ing nights ; only reaching at six in the afternoon 
 General Strong’s headquarters, about midway of the 
 island, where it was halted five minutes : but there 
 was now no time for rest and food, and it went for- 
 ward hungry and weary to take its place in the front 
 line of the assaulting columns. * * * Advanc- 
 
 ing a few hundred yards under a random fire from 
 two or three great guns, halted half an hour during 
 which the Fifty-fourth was addressedby General Strong 
 and by its colonel : and then, as the dusk was deep- 
 ening rapidly into darkness, the order to advance was 
 given, and under a storm of shot and shell from Wag- 
 ner, Sumter, and Cumming’s Point, our soldiers moved 
 swiftly on.” Silently they advanced until when 
 within two hundred yards of the fort the silence was 
 broken by a great shout and with a wild rush the troops 
 swept forward up the glacis, the other regiments fol- 
 lowing closely. The furious storm of grape and can- 
 ister which greeted then from the fort, decimated their 
 ranks with terrible havoc ; but the colored troops 
 plunged boldly on, numbers of them crossing the ditch, 
 though the water in it was four feet deep, and gaining 
 the parapet. But they were driven back by hand gre- 
 nades, though not until half their number were left 
 dead on the field. Their brave young colonel was 
 among the number whose lives paid the forfeit of this 
 terrible charge. “ The Sixth Connecticut Regiment, 
 under Lieutenant Colonel Rodman, was next in sup- 
 port of the Fifty-fourth and they also suffered terribly, 
 being compelled to retire after a stubborn contest. 
 
364 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 The Ninth Maine, which was next in line, was broken 
 up by the passage of the remnant of the repulsed col- 
 ored regiment through its lines, and retired in confu- 
 sion, excepting three companies, which stood their 
 ground.” The Third New Hampshire now rushed into 
 the contest and three companies waded the water of 
 the ditch and found shelter under the embankment. 
 
 The Second Brigade being unaccountably delayed 
 in coming up, General Strong ordered the men to fall 
 back and lie down on the glacis. Here, while wait- 
 ing for their supports and while exposed to a galling 
 fire, General Strong was wounded. The Second Brig- 
 ade not yet arriving, the order to retire was given 
 and the men left the field in perfect order. The other 
 regiments soon afterwards coming up, rushed with 
 impetuous valor up the glacis, undeterred by the 
 steady fire of the enemy, and climbing over the para- 
 pet descended into the fort, where a desperate hand- 
 to-hand encounter took place. For over an hour our 
 gallant troops held possession of the fort, obliging the 
 garrison to seek the shelter of the traverses at one 
 side of the works. But re-enforcements arriving for 
 them, our gallant boys were at last driven from the 
 fort, overpowered by superior numbers. 
 
 The Forty-eighth New York regiment under Colonel 
 Barton, having been among the first to reach the fort, 
 was fired upon by mistake, by a regiment that gained 
 the parapet a few moments later, supposing it to be- 
 long to the Confederate garrison. 
 
 The brave Forty-eighth came out of the fight with 
 decimated ranks. 
 
 At midnight the order to retire was given and the 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 365 
 
 troops fell back to the rifle pits outside their own 
 works. 
 
 As the Union force retired, a “Rebel yell of triumph 
 from Wagner rose above the thunder of their guns 
 from Sumter and Cumming’s Point.” The Union 
 loss in this desperate assault was fifteen hundred, 
 while the Rebel loss in killed and wounded was not 
 much over one hundred. Only the severely wounded 
 on our side, were taken prisoners, but six hundred 
 Union dead, according to Confederate authority, were 
 buried on this woeful battle-field. 
 
 “ Among these was Colonel Shaw — a hereditary 
 Abolitionist — on whom they vainly thought to heap 
 indignity by ‘ burying him in the same pit with his 
 niggers.’ His relatives and friends gratefully accepted 
 the fitting tribute.” General Strong received a mor- 
 tal wound near the spot where the young Colonel met 
 his death, and the lives of many other brave officers 
 were here laid down, a noble sacrifice for the cause 
 they loved. 
 
 Port Wagner having thus been proven impregna- 
 ble to assault, General Gilmore began the reduction 
 of the place by regular siege. The cross fires from 
 Fort Sumter, Battery Gregg and several other batter- 
 ies on James Island, rendered this work one of diffi- 
 culty, and the narrow land approach to the fort, com- 
 plicated it still further. 
 
 But steadily, night after night, under cover of the 
 darkness, and in the face of all obstacles, the be- 
 seigers worked on. 
 
 Trenches were dug, batteries erected and mortars 
 and siege guns placed in position to do their deadly 
 
366 
 
 BATTLES FOR TILE UNION. 
 
 work. Row after row of inclined palisading was 
 pushed forward towards the doomed fort, until there 
 was no longer room to advance parallels, on account 
 of the proximity of fort and beach. But the ap- 
 proach was now continued by zig-zag trenches at acute 
 angles with each other. Torpedo mines also filled 
 the ground from this point forward. Meantime, while 
 the work of the seige went on, the guns of our fleet 
 continued to belch their thunders over the bay, bom- 
 barding the defences of the harbor, with little inter- 
 mission. 
 
 In the soft, black mud westward of Morris Island, on 
 a platform of logs supported by piles driven down to 
 the hard sand-bed below, the ‘ Marsh Battery ’ was 
 erected, mounting a single eight-inch rifled Parrott, 
 protected by a sand-bag parapet. This was the cele- 
 brated “ Swamp Angel” of soldier nomenclature, 
 and its design was to shell Charleston unless Morris 
 Island surrendered. It carried a projectile of one 
 hundred and fifty pounds weight, but at its thirty-sixth 
 discharge it burst, and its work was thus brought sud- 
 denly to an end. 
 
 The steady storm of shot and shell which was contin- 
 uously poured upon Fort Sumter from our batteries and 
 iron-clads, began to take effect, dismounting its guns, 
 and crumbling its walls, until at length, it was reduced 
 to a mass of shapeless ruins, and on the twenty-third 
 of the month, General Gilmore ceased firing in that 
 direction, and reported to Halleck that “Fort Sumter 
 as an offensive work was now practically demolished.” 
 
 And thus the siege went on, from the time of the 
 final assault on the eighteenth of J uly, through all the 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 367 
 
 month of August and the opening days of autumn. 
 Towards the last of the siege, all our light mortars 
 had been brought to the front and placed in battery, 
 and powerful calcium lights were used by night to 
 blind the enemy and “ assist the operations of our can- 
 noneers and sharpshooters.” 
 
 On September fifth, at daybreak, our batteries, after 
 a temporary check, re-opened on the enemy’s works, 
 aided by the “New Ironsides,” which dropped its ex- 
 ploding shells into the fort, from a broadside of eight 
 guns. The calcium lights “ turned night into day, 
 blinding the garrison, and rendering visible to the be- 
 siegers everything connected with the fort.” Under 
 this terrible attack, the enemy were compelled to 
 remain under the shelter of their bomb-proofs, thus 
 leaving our sappers free to push forward their work 
 under the very wall of the fort. On the evening of 
 September sixth, everything was ready for another 
 grand assault, and General Terry was ordered to lead 
 the attack in three columns, at nine o’clock on the 
 morning of the seventh. But at midnight on the sixth 
 the garrison were discovered to be escaping, and so 
 quickly did they move, that only seventy-five prisoners 
 were captured. Eighteen guns were left in Fort Wag- 
 ner and seven in Battery Gregg. The bomb-proof 
 shelter of Fort Wagner was found to be not seriously 
 injured, thus proving that sand — of which it was con- 
 structed — is possessed of far greater power of resist- 
 ance than stone or brick. 
 
 In a dispatch from Gilmore to Halleck, dated Sep- 
 tember seventh, he says : — “ About ten o’clock last 
 night the enemy commenced evacuating the island and 
 
868 
 
 BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 all but seventy-five of them made their escape from 
 Cumming’s Point, in small boats. 
 
 “ Captured dispatches show that Fort Wagner was 
 commanded by Colonel Keitt of South Carolina, and 
 garrisoned by one thousand four hundred effective 
 men, and Battery Gregg by between one hundred and 
 two hundred men. 
 
 “Fort Wagner is a work of the most formidable 
 kind. Its bomb-proof shelter, capable of containing 
 one thousand eight hundred men, remains intact af- 
 ter the most terrific bombardment to which any work 
 was ever subjected. 
 
 “ We have captured nineteen pieces of artillery, 
 and a large supply of excellent ammunition.” 
 
 New batteries were erected upon Morris Island after 
 its capture, with the design of commanding Foi't Sum- 
 ter and aiding any naval attack which might storm 
 Charleston. The city which recklessly, and without 
 counting the cost, had sown the seeds of disunion, was 
 yet doomed to reap the fruits thereof in war’s merci- 
 less desolation. Her ocean defences were now forced 
 and the guns of Liberty thundered at her gates. 
 Soon, the shriek of exploding shells resounded through 
 her streets and her people abandoned their dwellings, 
 seeking places of safety. The “ cradle of secession ” 
 was violently rocked, and the progeny which, fathered 
 by injustice, had been nursed therein, was soon to 
 struggle in death’s fatal throes. ^ 
 
CHAPTEK XL. 
 
 CEDAR CREEK. 
 
 Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. — Pursuit of Early. — Cedar Creek 
 Encampment. — The Enemy Re-enforced. — The Determined Attack. 
 — The Silent March. — The Slumbering Army Surprised. — The Wild 
 Yell through the Fog. — The Union Army a Mass of Fugitives. — The 
 Nineteenth Corps Forced Back by the Wave of Retreat. —Efforts of 
 the Brave Sixth. — The Fight Near Middletown. — Sheridan at Win- 
 chester. — His Wild Ride. — The Stream of Fugitives Arrested. The 
 Union Battle-line Re-formed. — Our Victorious Charge. — The Ene- 
 my Routed in Confusion. — Honor to Sheridan. 
 
 T HE renown with which the battle of Cedar Creek 
 covered the name of Sheridan, will live while his- 
 tory is written or has power to survive the wreck of 
 time. No more eloquent theme could be furnished the 
 pen of the historian or the inspiration of the poet 
 than the battle of Cedar Creek, with Sheridan’s ride, 
 from Winchester and its glorious sequel. No single 
 event of the late war presents stronger claims for our 
 hero-worship than this. None more clearly evidences 
 the wonderful power of a magnetic will force, to con- 
 trol circumstances and subdue even the reverses of 
 battle. 
 
 After the complete surprise that Early had given 
 our army at Cedar Creek, and its consequent terrible 
 rout and defeat, it seems little less than a miracle 
 that the presence of one man should stem the retreat, 
 
370 
 
 BATTLES FOR TI1E UNION. 
 
 turn the tide of battle, and lead a shattered army 
 back to conquest and glory. 
 
 When Sheridan had returned from his pursuit of 
 Early up the Shenandoah Yalley in the autumn of 
 1864, he retired to the north bank of Cedar Creek, 
 near Strasburg. Supposing the enemy too severely 
 crippled by defeat and by the wholesale destruction of 
 property in the valley, to attempt an attack at that 
 time, Sheridan left his army and went up to Washing- 
 ton for a little visit. 
 
 General Early, having been re-enforced by twelve 
 thousand men, and hearing that Sheridan had gone to 
 Washington, determined to attack the Army of the 
 Shenandoah, before its general could have a chance 
 to return. 
 
 His own army was short of supplies, and the rich 
 spoils which he knew were in possession of the Union 
 troops was too tempting a prize to be lightly passed 
 by. “ Our force at this time, was posted on three 
 moderate hills extending for three miles across the 
 country, each one a little back of the other.” 
 
 The Army of West Virginia, under Crook, held 
 the first hill ; the second was occupied by the Nine- 
 teenth Corps under Emory, and the Sixth Corps, with 
 Torbct’s cavalry covering its right flank, held the 
 third eminence. Early crossed the mountains between 
 the two forks of the Shenandoah River on the night of 
 October eighteenth, 1864, and forded the north branch, 
 — marching in five columns. His design was to sur- 
 prise the Union camp, and that the march might be 
 noiseless, he ordered the canteens of the soldiers to be 
 left behind, to prevent any alarm from being given to 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 371 
 
 the Union pickets, by their clanking against the bay- 
 onets. His march was towards our left, and notwith- 
 standing the fact that at about two o’clock in the morn- 
 ing, the heavy muffled tramp of Early’s army of be- 
 tween twenty and thirty thousand was heard by some 
 of our pickets, few precautions were taken and no re- 
 connoisance was sent out. Not dreaming of the con- 
 templated attack, on the eve of a great surprise, our 
 army, unconscious of its danger, slumbered peacefully 
 on. Meantime, the enemy pushing on through the 
 gray gloom of the early morning and marching on the 
 borders of our position for miles, halted at last when 
 they were within six hundred yards of our camps. 
 
 A reconnoitering force from Crook’s army was just 
 preparing to go out, when suddenly a wild yell burst 
 through the fog which hid from their view the Confed- 
 erate army, which was quickly followed by a withering 
 musketry fire and the clash of arms. Before our sur- 
 prised and panic-stricken troops could be formed in 
 battle array, the enemy were upon them, and after a 
 short and sharp encounter, the Army of Western Vir- 
 ginia was thrown in utter rout — a mass of fugitives 
 flying before the pursuing foe back towards the second 
 hill where the Nineteenth Corps was encamped. 
 
 The few regiments of Crook’s force which endeav- 
 ored to make a stand, were swept back before the swell- 
 ing tide of fugitives in full and disordered retreat. 
 
 The Nineteenth Corps attempted to arrest the Con- 
 federate advance, but the enemy getting in our rear 
 and enfilading us with our captured batteries, the troops 
 broke rank and fell back in confusion towards the 
 encampment of the Sixth Corps on the third hill in 
 the rear. 
 
372 
 
 BATTLES FOR TIIE UNION. 
 
 A new line of battle was formed by Wright, who was 
 making desperate attempts to stay the onward tide of 
 fugitives which steadily poured to the rear. Early’s 
 hungry troops now began to leave their ranks in large 
 numbers to plunder the two deserted camps of their 
 rich booty. Had Wright been aware of this fact, per- 
 haps lie could have successfully resisted the Confeder- 
 ate advance. As it was, after having hurled back a 
 fierce onset of the enemy and covered the retreat of 
 the disordered crowd in his rear, he began to fear that 
 liis communications might be endangered and there- 
 fore fell back towards Middletown. Wright had thus 
 heroically interposed himself and his command be- 
 tween our army and its threatened destruction. 
 
 Merritt and Custer with two divisions of cavalry 
 were ordered to our left to check the murderous fire 
 assailing it, and a severe fight ensued in the fields 
 near Middletown. The enemy endeavored to gain 
 possession of the turnpike, in order to seize our trains 
 and get between our forces and Winchester. A con- 
 centrated fire from Middletown Heights where Early 
 had planted his batteries, was poured upon the left, 
 and unable to withstand its force, they were compelled 
 to retreat in the direction of Newtown, five miles dis- 
 tant. As they slowly retired, their ranks were exposed 
 to the cannonade of the enemy from the heights. 
 
 While the brave Sixth Corps was firmly covering the 
 retreat of the routed army, General Rickets com- 
 manding received a severe wound in the breast. 
 
 But while his army was struggling for four anxious 
 hours on the brink of destruction, where in the mean- 
 time, was Sheridan ? He had arrived at Winchester, 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 873 
 
 twenty miles from his camp, on the night of the 
 eighteenth, intending to go on to Cedar Creek the 
 next morning. He sipped his coffee leisurely at Win- 
 chester on the morning of the nineteenth, never dream- 
 ing of the maelstrom of rout into which his army 
 had been thrown, and with which they were at that 
 moment contending. It was about eight o’clock, when 
 with his escort, he rode out of Winchester towards 
 camp. As he went onward, the vibrations of the 
 ground, trembling under the heavy discharges of ar- 
 tillery in the unseen distance, gave him his first inti- 
 mation of the battle that raged in his front. Nothing 
 alarmed, however, he proceeded on his way though at 
 a quickened pace, thinking that if Early had dared 
 to attack our strong position at Cedar Creek, he could 
 not fail to meet with terrible punishment for his 
 temerity. But as the thunder of the cannon grew 
 louder until at last it deepened into one continuous 
 roar, the terrible conviction was forced upon him that 
 his army was retreating northward. 
 
 Startled from his composure as the truth flashed 
 over him, he dashed the spurs into his horse and was 
 soon far ahead of his escort, tearing madly along the 
 road. 
 
 “And there through the flush of the morning light 
 A steed as black as the steeds of night 
 Was seen to pass on with eagle flight ; 
 
 As if he knew the terrible need 
 He stretched away with his utmost speed. 
 
 Hills rose and fell ; but his heart was gay 
 With Sheridan fifteen miles away.” 
 
 Wildly, with distended nostrils and fiery eye-balls 
 16 
 
374 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 and foam-flecked sides, the black horse of Sheridan gal- 
 loped onward like the -wind, yet all too slow for the 
 anxious heart of the leader, impatient to be on the 
 battle-field. 
 
 “ Under his spuming feet, the road 
 Like an arrowy Alpine river flowed, 
 
 And the landscape sped away behind, 
 
 Like an ocean flying before the wind ; 
 
 And the steed like a bark fed with furnace ire, 
 
 Swept on with his wild eye full of fire. 
 
 But lo ! he is nearing his heart’s desire, 
 
 He is snuffing the smoke of the roaring fray 
 With Sheridan only five miles away.” 
 
 Soon he encountered the stream of fugitives surg- 
 ing northward, but they paused and turned about as 
 they saw their brave leader flying towards the front, 
 and even the wounded men lying by the roadside 
 cheered him. Swinging his cap above his head, he 
 shouted as he dashed onward, “ Face the other way 
 boys, face the other way ; we are going back to 
 our camps ; we are going to lick them out of their 
 boots !” 
 
 It was about ten o’clock when he galloped up to the 
 front, with his horse covered with foam, and by his 
 voice and magnetic presence, stopped the retreat and 
 infused new life and energy into the panic-stricken 
 army. 
 
 Every effort was now directed to re-forming his 
 men, which a pause in the pursuit favored — the army 
 taking a position out of range of the enemy’s fire. 
 A new line of battle was arranged with the Sixth 
 Corps in the center, Crook’s command on the left, and 
 
AKRIVAL OF SHERIDAN AT TIIE BATTLE OF CEDAR CREEK. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 377 
 
 tlie Nineteenth on the right, with Custer’s cavalry on 
 the extreme right, and Merritt’s cavalry on the ex- 
 treme left. 
 
 While the line was forming, Sheridan seemed to be 
 everywhere at once, attending to the work of re-organ- 
 ization, dashing up and down the front and imbuing 
 the men with his own wonderful enthusiasm and 
 courage. 
 
 “ Boys,” said he, “ If I had been here this never 
 should have happened. I tell you it never should 
 have happened. And now we are going back to our 
 camps. We are going to get a twist on them. We 
 are going to lick them out of their boots.” 
 
 Shouts and cheers followed him, and though they 
 had eaten nothing since the night before, and had been 
 fighting for five hours, the excited soldiers felt a new 
 strength given them by the confidant bearing and lan- 
 guage of their heroic commander. 
 
 The Confederates, meantime, had placed their ar- 
 tillery in range of our new position and then a grand 
 charge was made across the fields, directly on the 
 Nineteenth Corps. 
 
 Emory had orders to stop the enemy’s advance at 
 all hazards, and the terrible repulse which hurled 
 back Early’s men showed how well the order was 
 obeyed. 
 
 When the news of the repulse was despatched to 
 Sheridan, “ Thank God for that,” said he, “ Now then 
 tell General Emory if they attack him again, to go 
 after them and follow them up, and to sock it into them, 
 and to give them the devil !” And with almost every 
 word, bringing his right hand down into the palm of 
 
378 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 his left, with a sharp blow, he added, “We’!! get the 
 tightest twist on them yet, you ever saw, — we’ll have 
 all those camps and cannon back again.” 
 
 And Sheridan kept his word. 
 
 Early, compelled to relinquish the offensive, retired 
 a short distance and began throwing up breast-works. 
 Their wagon-trains were brought across Cedar Run, 
 with the evident intention of retaining their position 
 during the night. But Sheridan did not propose to 
 stop short of putting the enemy to rout and regaining 
 the lost camps on Cedar Creek. At half-past three 
 o’clock, therefore, the re-organized troops dashed for- 
 ward in a bold charge, Getty’s Second Division having 
 the advance. 
 
 A murderous fire from artillery and musketry 
 greeted them as they rushed towards the foe, and 
 under its withering blaze the lines broke and fell back. 
 
 “ The sight roused Sheridan almost to frenzy, and 
 galloping amid the broken ranks, he, by his thrilling 
 appeals and almost superhuman efforts, restored order, 
 and although his few remaining cannon could make 
 but a feeble response to the overwhelming batteries of 
 the enemy, he ordered the advance to be resumed. 
 
 “ The next moment came a prolonged roar of mus- 
 ketry, mingled with the long-drawn yell of our charge 
 — then the artillery ceased — the musketry died into 
 spattering bursts, and over all the yell triumphant. 
 
 “ Everything on the first line, the stone walls, the 
 advanced crest, the tangled wood, and the half-finished 
 breast-works had been carried.” 
 
 Where shot and shell crashed thickest, there rode 
 Sheridan, heedless of the storm, dashing along the 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 379 
 
 front and giving liis orders in person to the various 
 division and corps commanders. It was a fearful 
 crisis, but Sheridan, with the grandeur of a hero, rose 
 master of the situation, and as our brave boys re- 
 sponded to his appeals, they swept everything before 
 them with resistless valor and sent the panic-stricken 
 enemy flying in utter confusion and rout. 
 
 On through Middletown and beyond it, the pursu- 
 ing army of the Shenandoah chased the flying foe. 
 The squadrons of Custer and Merritt charged the 
 flanks of the enemy right and left, “ taking prisoners, 
 slashing, killing, driving as they went.” 
 
 The road was strewn with knapsacks, muskets, 
 clothing, and everything that could retard the flight 
 of the panic-stricken foe, the guns they had captured 
 from us and their own artillery falling into our hands. 
 
 The pursuit did not cease until the Confederates 
 had been driven through Strasburg to Fisher’s Hill 
 and beyond to Woodstock, sixteen miles distant. 
 
 The victorious army that night bivouacked in their 
 old camps along Cedar Creek, and though they had 
 not yet tasted food and though the dead and wounded 
 lay all around them, nothing could repress their en- 
 thusiasm over the great victory ; as the news of the 
 capture of prisoners and guns from the pursuing cav- 
 alry in the advance, came to them, the air was rent 
 with their cheers. 
 
 Thus ends the record of one of the most wonderful 
 contests of the war, of which Sheridan was pre-eminent- 
 ly the savior. It is a battle scene which stands out like 
 a picture on the page of history, and over the central 
 figure of Sheridan and his black charger, there hovers 
 
380 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 a cloud of glory whose light outlines the splendid 
 spectacle of the hero on his “ eagle flight ” and before 
 which all hearts yield willing homage. 
 
 “ Hurrah ! hurrah for Sheridan ! 
 
 Hurrah ! hurrah for horse and man ! 
 
 And when their statues are placed on high, 
 
 Under the dome of the Union sky, 
 
 The American soldier’s Temple of Fame, 
 
 There, with the glorious General’s name, 
 
 Be it said in letters both bold and bright ; 
 
 ‘Here is the steed that saved the day 
 By carrying Sheridan into the fight 
 From Winchester — twenty miles away. ’ n 
 
CHAPTER X L I . 
 
 "W" ATNESBORO. 
 
 Personal Experiences. — Concealed in a Cypress Swamp. — The Union 
 Guns. — Wheeler at Waynesboro. — The Enemy’s Attack on Atkins. 
 Repulse. — Kilpatrick Charges the Barricades, Everything Swept 
 before Them. — Valor of Union Soldiers. — Wheeler in Disordered 
 Flight. — Union Pursuit. — Kilpatrick’s Report. — Sherman’s Com- 
 plimentary Letter. — Incidents in the Author’s Escape. 
 
 T HE name of Waynesboro summons back to remem- 
 brance, with all the vivid power attributed to 
 Aladdin’s wonderful lamp, the perilous days of my 
 escape from southern prisons. 
 
 Skirting the Savannah River, within hearing of the 
 railroad trains which rolled heavily by with their loads 
 of yelling Confederate soldiers, we heard, with a thrill 
 of joy, the heavy boom of cannon which told us our 
 friends were near. 
 
 No voice of welcome, greeting the return of the 
 wanderer from foreign lands, ever sounded sweeter to 
 home-sick hearts than did the roar of Union guns to 
 my companion and myself on that December day. 
 But the Savannah River flowed between us and liberty, 
 and had we ventured from our place of concealment 
 in the daytime, certain capture would have awaited 
 us. 
 
 "We did not then know that Sherman was making 
 his grand march to the sea, and that our own Kilpat- 
 
382 
 
 BATTLES FUR THE UNION. 
 
 rick was contributing liis brilliant generalship to the 
 movement. 
 
 The enemy had been steadily driven before our ad- 
 vancing army, and on the second of December, 1864, 
 the Union cavalry, in order to cover the movements 
 of the infantry, advanced on the Waynesboro Road. 
 Waynesboro is a station about thirty miles south of 
 Augusta, Georgia, on the railway connecting that 
 place with Milieu, where a junction is made with the 
 Macon and Savannah line. 
 
 On the evening of the second, Wheeler moved to- 
 wards Waynesboro, making a furious attack on Colo- 
 nel Atkins’ regiment, three miles south of the station. 
 The attack was bravely repulsed, and Kilpatrick re- 
 ceiving orders to make a reconnoisance in force towards 
 Waynesboro, and to fight Wheeler’s cavalry wherever 
 found, began the advance the next morning. Colonel 
 Atkins, Second Brigade, led the column, and Whee- 
 ler’s skirmishers were soon encountered and driven 
 in. Our boys then advanced to take a long line of 
 barricades, behind which the dismounted cavalry of 
 the enemy were posted. But the attack, though bold 
 and brave, failed of success, owing to a greater num- 
 ber being massed behind the defence than was at first 
 supposed. 
 
 The second attack was made with the Tenth Ohio 
 and Ninth Michigan Cavalry in column of fours on 
 the right, and the Ninth Ohio on the left. The Ninety- 
 second Illinois Mounted Infantry went into the fight 
 dismounted. Captain Beebe’s Battery, Tenth Wiscon- 
 sin, opened fire on the barricades at a distance of six 
 hundred yards and compelled the enemy’s artillery to 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UN IOET. 
 
 383 
 
 ■withdraw. At this opportune moment, the order, to 
 charge was given, and in splendid battle array the line 
 moved forward upon the enemy’s works. The contest 
 was short and sharp, but the Union arms were vic- 
 torious and the enemy fled from their defences. 
 
 The Confederates fell back for a hundred yards or 
 so and endeavored to check our progress by counter 
 charges. At one time during the fight there seemed 
 to be a prospect of their success, but Colonel Heath 
 with the Fifth Ohio Cavalry made a spirited attack on 
 the Confederate flank which forced them to give away. 
 They then fell back to Waynesboro and intrenched 
 themselves in a new and strong position behind double 
 lines of barricades. 
 
 General Kilpatrick then determined to break the 
 Confederate center, and ordered Colonel Murray, com- 
 manding the advance, to “ make his disposition of 
 troops accordingly, which was immediately done. The 
 Eighth Indiana Cavalry, commanded by Colonel Jones, 
 was at once dismounted and sent forward as skirmish- 
 ers ; the Ninth Pennsylvania Cavalry, commanded by 
 Colonel Jordan, held the left in columns of four by 
 battalion ; the Third Kentucky Cavalry, commanded 
 by Lieutenant-Colonel King, had the’ center, while 
 Colonel Baldwin, with the Fifth Kentucky Cavalry, 
 and Captain Foreman with the Second Kentucky Cav- 
 alry held the right. ” The notes of the bugle pealed 
 forth the well-known charge, and Kilpatrick’s trusty 
 squadrons dashed forward with resistless valor, driving 
 the Confederates from their position and taking posses- 
 sion of the town. Through Waynesboro and beyond it 
 to Brier Creek, eight miles away, the panic-stricken foe 
 
 16 * 
 
384 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 fled, and tlie hot pursuit was kept up. The railroad 
 bridge was burned and the track destroyed, after which 
 the Union forces moved to Alexander, where they 
 bivouacked for the night. The enemy was completely 
 routed, and Wheeler, never afterwards able to rally 
 his demoralized troops, no longer molested our Cavalry, 
 which continued its glorious march to the sea. In his 
 official report of this action, Kilpatrick says : 
 
 “ The men of my command fought most bravely 
 throughout this day, and it is impossible to single out 
 from among the officers, individual cases of gallantry 
 where all did so well. * * * Judging from 
 
 the enemy’s killed and wounded, left on the field, his 
 loss must have been severe, as upwards of two hund- 
 red, left in our hands, were wounded by the sabre 
 alone.” 
 
 In a letter from General Sherman which Kilpatrick 
 received on New Year’s Day, 1865, the following com- 
 plimentary allusions occur : 
 
 “ But the fact that to you, in a great measure, we 
 owe the march of four strong infantry columns, with 
 heavy trains and wagons, over three hundred miles, 
 through an enemy’s country, without the loss of a 
 single wagon, and without the annoyance of cavalry 
 dashes on our flanks, is honor enough for any cavalry 
 commander.” 
 
 Had my comrade and myself been on the other side 
 of the Savannah River at that time, we should have 
 made our way to the Union lines and thenceforward 
 shared the fortunes and glory of Kilpatrick’s com- 
 mand, in its march to the sea. But instead of fight- 
 ing for country, we were doomed to days of frightful 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 385 
 
 silence in Cypress swamps, and to nights of weary 
 travel, with bruised and bleeding feet, guided only by 
 the stars above and urged on by the very desperation 
 of hope, despite the dangers confronting us at almost 
 every step. 
 
 When on the fourth night after the battle of Waynes- 
 boro, we succeeded in crossing the Savannah, and 
 landed on the Georgia shore, our conquering armies 
 had swept onward towards the coast, beyond the hope 
 of our joining them. But we soon struck the Union 
 trail and followed it until at last we reached our lines 
 at Savannah. Not unfrequently, we breakfasted or 
 dined on the remains of rations thrown aside in their 
 vacated camps, and the country was full of evidences 
 that Sherman’s army had passed that way. 
 
 The battle of Waynesboro baptized with new light 
 the silver star of Kilpatrick, blazing always “ in the 
 front of war,” and the soldiers of his command must 
 ever feel a just pride in the glory accorded to their 
 beloved commander. 
 
CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 BENTONVUjLiE. 
 
 The Hostile Country of the Carolinas. — Sherman’s Five Hundred Mile 
 March. — The Country Desolated. — A Carnival of fire. — Arrival at 
 Bentonville. — Johnston Encountered. — Battle of Bentonville. — The 
 Enemy Repulsed. — Bravery of Slocum’s Men. — Sherman’s Army 
 Intrenched. — Entrance into Goldsboro. — The Goal Won. — Glorious 
 Success. — Congratulatory Order of General Sherman. 
 
 W HEN Sherman made his famous march through 
 the hostile Carolinas, the most important battle 
 of the campaign was fought near Bentonville. 
 
 Sherman’s army, numbering about sixty-five thou- 
 sand men, was divided into four corps with a wagon 
 train of forty-five hundred vehicles, all told. 
 
 This immense train, if placed in a single line, 
 would have been forty-five miles long. 
 
 After resting and recuperating at Savannah from 
 the fatigue of the march through Georgia, Sherman 
 began the vast enterprise of moving his army through 
 the heart of two hostile states — Goldsboro, on the 
 Neuse river, in North Carolina, being the objective 
 point of the contemplated campaign. Goldsboro was 
 five hundred miles to the northward from Savannah, 
 but in order to take possession of it and its two rail- 
 roads leading to Wilmington and Beaufort, a march 
 unprecedented in military history was undertaken by the 
 intrepid General who had just accomplished a journey 
 
BATTLES FOR TUE UNION. 
 
 387 
 
 of scarcely less magnitude across the state of Georgia. 
 “ One Rebel army lay at Charleston on his right, 
 another at Augusta, on his left — North Carolina 
 swarmed with troops, while every step he advanced 
 took him nearer to Lee’s gathered forces at Richmond. 
 Large rivers were to be crossed, swamps traversed and 
 battles fought, before he could reach the goal of his 
 wishes.” A tract of country forty miles wide and 
 reaching from the sea-board at Savannah, to the cen- 
 ter of North Carolina, -was swept by the desolating 
 tread of armies, harboring a special bitterness for the 
 state where Rebellion was cradled and nursed. “ In 
 Georgia, few houses were burned ; here, few escaped ; 
 the country was converted into one vast bonfire. The 
 pine forests were fired, the resin factories were fired, 
 the public buildings and private dwellings were fired. 
 The middle of the finest day looked black and gloomy, 
 for a dense smoke arose on all sides, clouding the very 
 heavens. At night, the tall pine trees seemed so many 
 huge pillars of fire. The flames hissed and screeched 
 as they fed on the fat resin and dry branches, imparting 
 to the forests a most fearful appearance.” 
 
 Let it be said to the credit of our generals that this 
 kind of work was not encouraged by them. 
 
 On the eighteenth of March, 1865, the two wings of 
 Sherman’s army under Howard and Slocum, had ar- 
 rived within a short distance of Goldsboro where their 
 long march was to end. Sherman supposing that after 
 the repulse of the enemy near Ayresboro, a few days 
 previous, no further opposition would be encountered, 
 struck across the country from Slocum’s command, to 
 visit the other wing of his army, ten miles distant, 
 
388 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 under Howard, who was marching towards Goldsboro 
 by way of Bentonville. Not many miles had been trav- 
 ersed, however, before he heard the thunder of guns 
 behind him, in the direction of Slocum’s camp, and 
 couriers soon came riding up with the intelligence that 
 the Confederate forces under Johnston were in Slocum’s 
 front near Bentonville. General Sherman immedi- 
 ately sent word to Slocum to act on the defensive 
 until reenforcements could arrive, and aids were dis- 
 patched across the country to Blair and Howard. 
 Blair, who was at that time near Olive Station, was 
 ordered to come up in the enemy’s rear, by way of 
 Cox’s Bridge on the Neuse, while Howard was directed 
 to march on Bentonville, leaving his wagon train be- 
 hind him. 
 
 Slocum, nothing alarmed by the sudden appearance 
 of the enemy in his front, had his forces well posted, 
 his artillery commanding the entire front. A second 
 line of battle, established half a mile in advance, by 
 the division of Morgan, received the first onset of the 
 foe. The Confederate cavalry was first encountered, 
 but their infantry and artillery soon blocked the way 
 — Johnston having come up from Smithfield in the 
 night, with the intention of overwhelming Sherman’s 
 left wing before the other columns of his army could 
 come to its assistance. 
 
 The first dash of the enemy on our advance line ? 
 sent it back with the loss of three guns and caissons. 
 Two divisions of the Fourteenth Corps were promptly 
 deployed, and the same number of divisions of the 
 Twentieth Corps were brought up in support on their 
 left. A line of barricades was also hastily con- 
 structed. 
 
BATTLES FOR TUE UNION. 
 
 389 
 
 The thunder of artillery, in the meantime, had 
 summoned the dashing squadrons of Kilpatrick to the 
 rescue and his troopers were massed on the left. 
 
 At four o’clock in the afternoon, the enemy in three 
 columns, rushed forward on our line in a wild charge. 
 But the fire from our artillery and the steady blaze of 
 musketry which Sherman’s men poured into the 
 enemy’s ranks sent their first column reeling back. 
 Unmindful of the repulse of their comrades, the 
 second column of the enemy rushed forward charging 
 us with a yell. But the corps of Davis stood like a 
 rock in the path of this living wave and sent it dis- 
 comfited hack. Six times in the space of an hour did 
 the gallant left wing withstand the assaults of the foe 
 led by Johnston in person. Not an inch of ground 
 was yielded. The last charge broke Slocum’s line, 
 hut quickly re-forming, a brilliant counter charge was 
 executed, which drove the enemy back. “ So close 
 and desperate was the combat that many of the Rebel 
 dead lay within our lines and even around the head- 
 quarters of the Generals.” 
 
 Orders were sent Slocum that night to call up the 
 two divisions guarding his wagon trains and Hazen’s 
 Divison of the Fifteenth Corps — these reenforcements 
 enabling him to hold his ground, as he thought, in 
 spite of the greatly outnumbering force of the Con- 
 federates. Dispatches from Schofield and Terry an- 
 nounced the former in possession of Kinston and able 
 to reach Goldsboro on the twenty-first, the latter being 
 near Faison’s Depot. 
 
 Schofield was ordered to push for Goldsboro, and 
 Terry to lay a pontoon bridge over the Neuse River at 
 Cox’s Bridge. 
 
390 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 “ At daybreak, on the morning of the twentieth, 
 Hazen’s division of the Fifteenth Corps, Geary’s of 
 the Twentieth and Baird’s of the Fourteenth, reported 
 on the field, having marched all night from the new 
 Goldsboro road where the trains were moving.” 
 
 Howard succeeded in effecting a junction with 
 Slocum, on his left, and by four o’clock in the after- 
 noon a strong line of battle faced the enemy. John- 
 ston, therefore, did not find his coveted opportunity 
 of fighting Sherman’s army in detail, and his well- 
 formed plans were thus rendered abortive. 
 
 On the rainy day of the twenty-first, Schofield 
 entered Goldsboro with little opposition, and at the 
 same time Terry was effecting a passage of the Neuse, 
 ten miles above at Cox’s Bridge. Mower’s division 
 of the Seventeenth Corps, on the extreme right, 
 nearly succeeded in cutting off the enemy’s only line 
 of retreat at Mill Creek. 
 
 At this juncture of affairs, Sherman ordered the 
 skirmish line forward in a general attack and the con- 
 cluding engagement of the campaign took place. 
 Johnston retreated to Smithfield that night and the 
 Union army went into camp around Goldsboro — the 
 goal of its desires. Here ended the wonderful march 
 begun two months before at the southermost limit of 
 the Carolinas. The losses of the left wing at Benton- 
 ville were one thousand two hundred and forty-seven 
 in killed and wounded, one hundred and forty-five of 
 this number being killed, exclusive of nine officers 
 who met their death on that heroic field. 
 
 The right wing under Howard lost three hundred 
 and ninety-nine men, thirty-seven of whom were 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 391 
 
 killed. Slocum took three hundred and thirty-eight 
 prisoners. Kilpatrick’s cavalry, being held in reserve, 
 experienced few if any losses. The object of the great 
 march having been accomplished, Sherman turned his 
 army over to Schofield and went to City Point, ready 
 for the next move on the chess-board of military ope- 
 rations. Before leaving he issued the following con- 
 gratulatory order to his army : — 
 
 “ Head-Quarters Military Division of the Mississippi, 
 
 “ In the Field, near Bentonville, N. C., 
 
 “ March 22, 1865. 
 
 “ special field orders — No. 35. 
 
 “ The General Commanding announces to the army that yes- 
 terday it beat, on its chosen ground, the concentrated armies of 
 our enemy, who has fled in disorder, leaving his dead, wounded, 
 and prisoners in our hands, and burning his bridges on his 
 retreat. 
 
 “ On the same day, Major-General Schofield, from Newbern, 
 entered and occupied Goldsboro’, and Major-General Terry, 
 from Wilmington, secured Cox’s Bridge crossing, and laid a 
 pontoon bridge across Neuse River, so that our campaign has 
 resulted in a glorious success. After a march of the most ex- 
 traordinary character, nearly five hundred miles, over swamps 
 and rivers deemed impassable to others, at the most inclement 
 season of the year, and drawing our chief supplies from a poor 
 and wasted country, we reach our destination in good health 
 and condition. 
 
 “ i thank the army, and assure it that our Government and 
 people honor them for this new display of the physical and 
 moral qualities which reflect honor upon the whole nation. 
 
 “ You shall now have rest, and all the supplies that can be 
 brought from the rich granaries and store-houses of our mag- 
 nificent country, before again embarking on new and untried 
 dangers. 
 
 “ W. T. Sherman, Major- General Commanding .” 
 
CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 FIVE PORKS. 
 
 Grant and Sherman in Consultation. — The End Drawing Near. — 
 Grand Combination of Movements. — Sheridan Et route for Five 
 Forks. — Importance of Holding Five Forks. — The March Through 
 the Rain. — Engagement on the White Oak Road. — The Union 
 Ranks Victorious. — The Sunday Fight. — Grant Takes Advantage 
 of His Victory. — Captured Prisoners. — Davis Flying from Rich’ 
 mond. — Evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg. — The End Draw’ 
 ing Near. 
 
 W HEN Sherman left Goldsboro for City Point after 
 the conquering sweep of his armies through 
 the Carolinas, it was ou no less a mission than to con- 
 sult with Grant concerning the next great move on 
 the chess-board of war. 
 
 At City Point the two generals met and held anx- 
 ious consultation. President Lincoln was there, also, 
 and cordially welcomed the hero of the “ Great March.” 
 On the deliberations of these men hung the fate of 
 a nation ; but when their council was ended, the last 
 battle of the war had. been planned. Every sign in 
 the military heavens indicated a speedy termination 
 of the war, but a false move at this crisis might 
 overthrow the good results already obtained and pro- 
 long the contest indefinitely. Well might the great 
 Chiefs of the nation be full of anxiety. But though 
 the emergency was vast their genius mastered it. 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 393 
 
 While Sherman was destroying railroads and crip- 
 pling military resources in South Carolina, General 
 Stoneman was doipg the same work in the direction 
 of Lynchburg, Virginia, and Thomas was marching a 
 cavalry force of ten thousand men into the heart of 
 Alabama. At the same time, Sheridan, after having 
 driven Early out of Waynesboro and making large 
 captures of prisoners and munitions of war, was 
 sweeping forward toward Richmond, “sending con- 
 sternation into the Rebel Capital.” Demolished rail- 
 roads, broken canal-locks and burned bridges marked 
 the path of his army. 
 
 With this grand combination of movements, Grant 
 thought that the “ Rebellion would have nothing left 
 to stand on,” but he did not know that the battle he 
 was preparing, would end our four years of fighting. 
 
 On March twenty-seventh, 1865, Sheridan joined 
 the army of the Potomac and was immediately sent 
 around the Confederate left, to take possession of the 
 Soutliside and Danville railroads, thus holding Lee’s 
 line of retreat in case of the evacuation of Richmond. 
 But Grant wished to strike the enemy before he could 
 have a chance to retreat. 
 
 Two days before the commencement of Sheridan’s 
 movement, the enemy made a sudden dash on Fort 
 Stedman in front of the Ninth Corps, and carried it 
 by assault. It was a bold and unexpected stroke, and 
 the enemy seizing our guns, turned them upon us. 
 
 But the Union artillery blazed upon the victors from 
 all quarters with such persistent energy, that they 
 were obliged to abandon their newly-captured prize. 
 In this assault, our loss was nine hundred and nine- 
 
394 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 teen, and we took nineteen hundred prisoners. The 
 other Corps were ordered to advance, which they did, 
 capturing the Rebel picket-line in. front of the Second 
 and Sixth Corps, and taking eight hundred and thirty- 
 four prisoners. 
 
 After the consultation between Grant and Sherman, 
 it was decided that “ Sherman should return to his 
 army, and, making a feint as if to move up the Reuse 
 to Raleigh, march rapidly north to the line of the 
 Roanoke. This would be closing the last door on Lee, 
 and Grant knew that the moment Sherman approach- 
 ed the river, the former would evacute Richmond.” 
 
 It is a matter of wonder that Lee remained so long 
 in the Confederate Capital. Perhaps he feared that 
 his army might melt away through its large proportion 
 of desertions, should he leave his defences at Rich- 
 mond. Or perhaps he thought Johnston quite able to 
 cope with Sherman and arrest his progress in the north. 
 But Grant was full of anxiety lest the enemy should 
 slip from his grasp, by effecting a junction with John- 
 ston, thus compelling new plans and a new campaign. 
 
 On the morning of March twenty-ninth, Sheridan 
 commenced his advance, and reached Dinwiddie Court 
 House the same night. Sheridan held our extreme 
 left, Parke the Union right, whilfe Wright, Ord, Hum- 
 phreys, and Warren occupied the intermediate posi- 
 tions. On the thirtieth, Sheridan pushed forward 
 towards Five Forks, in a drenching rain which made 
 the roads impassible for wagon-trains and artillery. 
 
 Five Forks is a point in the woods where live roads 
 meet, three of which lead back to the Southside rail- 
 road. The possession of the junction would give our 
 
BATTLES FOR TEE UNION. 
 
 395 
 
 forces a choice of advance, and the point was there- 
 fore a strong strategic one. The White Oak road was 
 filled with defences,, constructed of logs and earth, and 
 the approaches to it were blocked by felled trees, be- 
 hind which sharpshooters were stationed. 
 
 On the morning of the thirty-first, Sheridan took 
 possession of Five Forks, and Warren advanced on 
 the enemy’s fortifications down the White Oak Road. 
 Ayres’ division had the advance, and drove the Con- 
 federates back upon their main works a mile and a half 
 below the White Oak Road. At this point the enemy 
 made a grand rally and rushed with such impetuous 
 force on the Union advance, that Ayres’ division, 
 though making stubborn resistance, was compelled to 
 give way. The commands of Crawford and Griffin, 
 which came next, were also driven back. But now, 
 Warren being re-enforced by a division of the Second 
 Corps, rallied his broken lines and charging the enemy, 
 gained possession of the White Oak Road. At this 
 juncture, however, the enemy, advancing in heavy force 
 against Sheridan, drove him from his position back to 
 Dinwiddie Court-House. 
 
 Here, Sheridan, instead of falling back on the main 
 army, “ deployed his cavalry on foot, leaving only 
 mounted men enough to take charge of the horses. 
 This compelled the enemy to deploy over a vast extent 
 of woods and broken country, and made his progress 
 slow.” Sheridan sent word to Grant how affairs stood, 
 and the Fifth Corps with General McKenzie’s cavalry 
 was at once ordered to his aid. The re-enforcements 
 reached him at midnight on the thirty-first, and in the 
 morning he again marched on Five Forks. After driv- 
 
396 BATTLES FOB THE UNION. " 
 
 ing the Confederates into their intrenchments, a gen- 
 eral attack was ordered. “ The Fifth Corps on reach- 
 ing the White Oak Road, made a left wheel, and burst 
 on the enemy’s left flank and rear like a tornado, and 
 pushed rapidly on — orders having been given that if 
 the enemy was routed, there should be no halt to re- 
 form broken lines. As stated before, the firing of the 
 Fifth Corps was the signal to General Merritt to as- 
 sault, which was promptly responded to, and the works 
 of the enemy were soon carried at several points by our 
 brave infantrymen. The Confederates were driven from 
 their strong line of works and completely routed ; the 
 Fifth Corps doubling up their left flank in confusion, 
 and the cavalry of General Merritt dashing on to the 
 White Oak Road, capturing and turning their artillery 
 upon them, and riding into their broken ranks, so 
 demoralized them, that they made no serious stand 
 after their line was carried, but took to flight in disor- 
 der. Between five and six thousand prisoners fell 
 into our hands, and the fugitives were driven westward 
 and were pursued until long after dark by Merritt’s 
 and McKenzie’s cavalry, for a distance of six miles.” 
 
 General Grant received the report of this victorious 
 assault just after dark and in order to retain the posi- 
 tion, immediately orderedMiles’division of Humphrey’s 
 Corps to re-enforce Sheridan at Five Forks. A “ heavy 
 bombardment of the enemy’s lines ” was ordered to 
 be kept up during the night. 
 
 As the first hint of dawn began to streak the sky 
 on the next morning, our army swept forward in a gen- 
 eral attack, and the battle of the previous day was re- 
 newed. Wright carried his whole corps through the 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 397 
 
 enemy’s lines in liis front, capturing thousands of 
 prisoners and a large number of guns. Pushing for- 
 ward, he met the corps of Ord, and making a junction 
 with him, hemmed the enemy in Petersburg on that 
 side of them, while Humphreys joined Wright on the 
 left, and Gibbon's Corps captured the works south of 
 Petersburg. 
 
 The battle now raged furiously along the entire line, 
 the Confederates fighting with great desperation. But 
 at this juncture, Sheridan charged down upon the en- 
 emy’s flank and rear with such force as to drive them 
 from their defences panic-striken. Large numbers of 
 prisoners and guns fell into our hands. 
 
 While the battle was raging, President Lincoln and 
 the President of the Confederacy were both awaiting 
 the result of the contest within a few miles of each 
 other. Lincoln was at Grant’s headquarters before 
 Petersburg, thoughtful and anxious. Davis was attend- 
 ing church in Richmond. “ In the midst of the ser- 
 vices, an orderly splashed with mud strode up the aisle 
 and handed him a paper. Glancing at its contents, 
 he saw that all was over, and a few hours afterwards, 
 he had left behind him his Capital forever, and was 
 fleeing towards Danville.” That night the Confed- 
 erate army withdrew from Richmond and Petersburg 
 and commenced the retreat which ended in Lee’s sur- 
 render. 
 
CHAPTER XLIY. 
 
 T EE 33 SURRENDER.. 
 
 The Last Act in the Drama. — The Historic Farm-House. — Events 
 Succeeding the Battle of Five Forks. — Lee’s Army Hemmed in. — 
 Engagement at Barnesville. — The Enemy Hopelessly Surrounded. — 
 Extermination or Surrender. — Triumphant Entrance into Rich- 
 mond. — Lincoln’s Levee in the Confederate Capital. — The Last 
 Act. — Palm Sunday Anniversary. — Universal Rejoicing. 
 
 T HE last act in the great drama of the war took 
 place without dramatic accessory. There was no 
 startling tableau, with the chief actors grouped in 
 effective attitudes, surrounded by their attendants. 
 No spreading tree lent its romance to the occasion, as 
 some artists have fondly supposed. 
 
 A plain farm house between the lines was selected 
 by General Lee for the surrender, and the ceremony 
 of that act was short and simple. The noble victor 
 did not complete the humiliation of the brave van- 
 quished by any triumphal display or blare of trumpets. 
 In his magnanimity he even omitted the customary 
 usage of allowing the victorious troops to pass through 
 the enemy’s lines and witness their surrender. The 
 two great commanders met with courteous salutation. 
 General Lee being attended only by one of his aides. 
 General Grant sat down at a table in the barely fur- 
 nished room and wrote in lead pencil the terms of 
 capitulation to which Lee dictated an agreement in 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 399 
 
 writing. His secretary, Colonel Marshall, and Colonel 
 Badeau, the secretary of General Grant, made copies 
 of the agreement from the same bottle of ink. 
 
 “ The exchange of these notes terminated the inter- 
 view. It was singularly simple ; utterly bald of all 
 rhetorical flourishes and ceremonies ; but its very 
 simplicity gives it an interest and dignity that the 
 most excessive formalities might fail to furnish. * 
 * * * The manners of both commanders 
 
 were easy, self-possessed, those of plain gentlemen in 
 ordinary intercourse, and it is remarkable that no two 
 men of important station could be found within the 
 limits of America who so equally abliored the theatri- 
 cal as General Ulysses S. Grant and General Robert 
 E. Lee.” 
 
 The final situation of the Confederate army before 
 its surrender, was indeed desperate — its environment 
 hopeless. Hemmed in at Appomattox Court House, 
 on a strip of land between the Appomattox and James 
 Rivers, the Union army nearly surrounded it on all 
 sides. Sheridan was in front, Meade in the rear, and 
 Ord south of the Court House. Lee had no alterna- 
 tive other than the wholesale slaughter of his reduced 
 army or its surrender to Federal authority. He wisely 
 chose the latter. 
 
 The decisive battle of Five Forks had put his army 
 to rout and sent it in rapid retreat towards the junc- 
 tion of the Southside and Danville railroads at Burkes- 
 ville. The Union troops pressed forward in pursuit, 
 and it became a vital question which would reach the 
 Junction first. Between Petersburg, their point of 
 starting, and their destination at Burkesville the dis- 
 
 17 
 
400 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 tance was fifty-three miles. The roads were bad and 
 the troops tired with two days fighting ; but they pushed 
 on with determination in this race which was destined 
 to decide the fate of two armies. 
 
 On the fourth, Lee was at Amelia Court House, 
 while Sheridan, pushing towards the Danville railroad 
 struck it at Jettersville on the fifth, whither Meade 
 with the Second and Sixth Corps followed him. Two 
 divisions of the Ninth Corps, moving on the Cox Road, 
 reached Wellesville, twenty-one miles from Burkesville, 
 on the same day. “ On the night of the fifth, the 
 army lay in line of battle, stretched across three or 
 four miles of country, and facing substantially north- 
 ward. Custer’s division of cavalry lay on the right 
 flank, and McKenzie’s on the left. The infantry line 
 was formed with the Sixth Corps on the right, the 
 Fifth in the center and the Second on the left. On 
 the next day the Sixth Corps was transferred from the 
 right to the left, and the whole army had, before noon, 
 marched about five miles in the direction of Amelia 
 Court House.” At this point, learning that the enemy 
 was moving in the direction of Farmville, the course 
 of the Second and Fifth Corps was immediately 
 changed to a northwesterly direction. At about four 
 o’clock in the afternoon of April sixth, the Second 
 and Sixth Corps engaged the enemy, putting him to 
 rout and capturing many prisoners. Generals Ewell 
 and Custis were among the number. On the seventh, 
 the Second Corps encountered Lee at Barnesville six- 
 teen miles west of Burkesville, where a sharp contest 
 took place and Lee was again forced to retire. He 
 retreated in the direction of Lynchburg but Hancock’s, 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 401 
 
 column had marched from Winchester on the fourth 
 and stood ready to meet the enemy at Lynchburg, 
 should occasion require. The remnant of Lee’s once 
 proud army was now hopelessly environed. In a few 
 days it had been reduced from a force of fifty thousand 
 to one of twenty, through its large numbers of deser- 
 tions and the losses inflicted in battle. It took no 
 prophet to foretell now the fate of Lee’s army. Every- 
 one could see that its doom was sealed. 
 
 Meantime, on the night of that eventful Sunday 
 when Davis left his church services to take refuge in 
 flight, Petersburg and the boasted Capital of the Con- 
 federacy were both evacuated. At daybreak on Mon- 
 day morning General Weitzel marched the Army of 
 the James into the streets of Richmond, and “ was 
 greeted with hearty welcome from the mass of the 
 people.” The Mayor went out to meet him in order 
 to surrender the city, but missed him on the road. 
 The city had been fired and the principal part of Main 
 street was in ruins. The bridges also were destroyed. 
 One thousand prisoners were taken besides five thou- 
 sand wounded lying in hospitals. With a kind of 
 poetic justice, Libby Prison and Castle Thunder were 
 immediately filled with Confederate prisoners of war. 
 
 Two days after Davis fled from Richmond, President 
 Lincoln made a triumphal entry into the city and held 
 a levee in the Confederate Presidential mansion. 
 When Grant had reached Farmville, on the seventh, 
 in his pursuit of Lee, lie addressed him the following 
 note : 
 
402 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 "April 7. 
 
 “ General E. E. Lee, Commanding S. C. A : 
 
 “ General : — The result of the last week must convince you 
 of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army 
 of Northern Virginia in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and 
 regard it as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of 
 any further effusion of blood, by asking of you the surrender 
 of that portion of the C. S. army known as the Army of North- 
 ern Virginia. 
 
 “ Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 “ U. S. Grant, 
 
 “Lieutenant-General Commanding Armies of the United States.” 
 
 Early on the morning of the eighth, before leaving 
 Fannville, Grant received the accompanying response 
 to which he immediately replied : 
 
 “ April 7. 
 
 “ General : — I have received your note of this date. Though 
 not entertaining the opinion you express of the hopelessness of 
 further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia, 
 I reciprocate your desire to avoid useless effusion of blood, and 
 therefore, before considering your proposition, ask the terms 
 you will offer, on condition of its surrender. 
 
 “R. E. Lee, General. 
 
 “ To Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant, Commanding Armies 
 of the United States.” 
 
 “ April 8. 
 
 “To Genwal E. E. Lee , Commanding Confederate States Army : 
 
 “General: — Your note of last evening, in reply to mine of 
 the same date, asking the conditions on which I will accept the 
 surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, is just received. 
 
 “ In reply, I would say that peace being my first desire, there 
 is but one condition that I insist upon, viz: 
 
 “ That the men surrendered shall be disqualified for taking 
 up arms against the Government of the United States until pro- 
 perly exchanged. 
 
 “ I will meet you, or designate officers to meet any officers 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNIOX. 
 
 403 
 
 you may name for the same purpose, at any point agreeable to 
 you, for the purpose of arranging definitely the terms upon 
 which the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia will be 
 received. 
 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 II. S. Grant. 
 
 “Lieutenant-General Commanding the Armies of the United 
 States.” 
 
 The pursuit was resumed on the eighth, and about 
 midnight of that date General Grant, who was with 
 Meade’s column, received the following communication 
 from General Lee : 
 
 “ April 8. 
 
 General : — I received at a late hour your note of to-day in 
 answer to mine of yesterday. 
 
 “I did not intend to propose the surrender of the Army of 
 Northern Virginia, but to ask the terms of your proposition. 
 To be frank, I do not think the emergency has arisen to call 
 for the surrender. But as the restoration of peace should be the 
 sole object of all, I desire to know whether your proposals 
 Would tend to that end. 
 
 “I cannot, therefore, meet you with a view to surrender the 
 Army of Northern Virginia, but so far as your proposition may 
 affect the Confederate States forces under my command, and 
 lead to the restoration of peace, I should be pleased to meet 
 you at ten a. m., to-morrow, on the old stage-road to Richmond, 
 between the picket lines of the two armies. Very respectfully, 
 your obedient servant, 
 
 “R. E. LEE, 
 
 “ General Confederate States Armies. 
 “To Lieutenant-General Grant, 
 
 Commanding Armies of the United States .'' 1 
 
 In Grant’s official report he says, — “ Early on the 
 morning of the ninth I returned him an answer as fol- 
 lows, and immediately started to join the column south 
 of the Appomattox : — 
 
 17 * 
 
404 
 
 BATTLES FOR THE UNIOK. 
 
 “April 9. 
 
 “ General R. E. Lee , Commanding C. S. A : 
 
 “ General Your note of yesterday is received. As I have 
 no authority to treat on the subject of peace, the meeting pro- 
 posed at ten a. m., to-day, could lead to no good. I will state 
 however, General, that I am equally anxious for peace with your- 
 self ; and the whole North entertain the same feeling. The terms 
 upon which peace can be had are well understood. By the 
 South laying down their arms they will hasten that most desir- 
 able event, save thousands of human lives, and hundreds of 
 millions of property not yet destroyed. 
 
 “ Sincerely hoping that all our difficulties may be settled 
 without the loss of another life, I subscribe myself, very respect- 
 fully, your obedient servant, 
 
 “ TJ. S. GRANT, 
 
 “ Lieutenant- General U. S. A .” 
 
 “ On the morning of the ninth, General Ord’s com- 
 mand and the Fifth Corps, reached Appomattox Sta- 
 tion, just as the enemy was making a desperate effort 
 to break through our cavalry. The infantry was at 
 once thrown in. Soon after, a white flag was received 
 requesting a suspension of hostilities pending negotia- 
 tions for a surrender. 
 
 “ Before reaching General Sheridan’s head-quarters, 
 I received the following from General Lee : — 
 
 “ April 9 , 1865 . 
 
 “ General : — I received your note of this morning on the 
 picket line, whither I had come to meet you and ascertain defi- 
 nitely what terms were embraced in your proposition of yester- 
 day with reference to the surrender of this army. 
 
 “ I now request an interview in accordance with the offer 
 contained in your letter of yesterday for that purpose. Very 
 respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 “ R. E. LEE, General. 
 
 “ To Lieutenant-General Grant, 
 
 Commanding United States Armies .” 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 4Q5 
 
 To which communication this answer was returned: 
 
 “ April 9. 
 
 “ General R. E. Lee , Commanding Confederate States Armies : 
 
 “Your note of this date is but this moment (11.50 A. M.,) re- 
 ceived. 
 
 “ In consequence of my having passed from the Richmond 
 and Lynchburg road to the Farmville and Lynchburg road, I am 
 at this writing, about four miles west of Walter’s Church, and 
 will push forward to the front for the purpose of meeting you. 
 
 “ Notice sent to me on this road where you wish the inter- 
 view to take place will meet me. Very respectfully your obe- 
 dient servant, 
 
 U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant General." 
 
 “ The interview was held at Appomattox Court 
 House, the result of which is set forth in the follow- 
 ing correspondence : — 
 
 “Appomattox Court House, Va., April 9. 
 
 “ General R. E. Lee , Commanding C. S. A. : 
 
 “ In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 
 8th instant, I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of 
 Northern Virginia, on the following terms, to wit : 
 
 “ Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate, 
 one copy to be given to an officer designated by me, the other 
 to be detained by such officers as you may designate. 
 
 “ The officers to give their individual paroles not to take arms 
 against the United States until properly exchanged, and each 
 company or regimental commander sign a like parole for the 
 men of their commands. 
 
 “The arms, artillery, and public property to be packed and 
 stacked, and turned over to the officers appointed by me to re- 
 ceive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, 
 nor their private horses or baggage. 
 
 “ This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to 
 their homes, not to be disturbed by United States authority so 
 long as they observe their parole and the laws in force where 
 they may reside. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 “ U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant- General .” 
 
406 
 
 BA TTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 “ Head-Quarters, Army op Northern Virginia, 
 
 April 9,1865. 
 
 General : — I received your letter of this date, containing the 
 terms of the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, as pro- 
 posed by you. As they are substantially the same as those ex- 
 pressed in your letter of the 8th instant, they are accepted. I 
 will proceed to designate the proper officers to carry the stipu- 
 lations into effect. 
 
 ‘‘R E. LEE, General. 
 
 “ Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant.” 
 
 When the last letter was received, “Grant hastened 
 to the front where Lee was awaiting him,” and the 
 concluding scene in the drama of Rebellion was then 
 rehearsed. From the beginning of the last forward 
 movement until the surrender, about ten thousand of 
 the enemy’s force had been killed and wounded in 
 battle, over twenty thousand prisoners had been taken 
 or had deserted, and one hundred and seventy pieces 
 of artillery were captured. 
 
 It was Palm Sunday, April ninth, 1865, when the 
 capitulation was signed, in the plain, frame dwelling 
 near Appomattox Court House. 
 
 One is often struck with the curious coincidences — 
 the apparent sympathy between nature and important 
 human events. The dying hours of Cromwell and 
 Napoleon were marked by violent storms. Omens in 
 earth and sky were the precursors of the death of 
 Julius Caesar and King Duncan. A great comet her- 
 alded the opening of the war, and Palm Sunday — the 
 day which commemorates the victorious entry of Christ 
 into Jerusalem, ushered in the welcome reign of peace. 
 The time was auspicious ; the elements were rocked 
 to sleep in a kind of Sunday repose. The two armies 
 so long in deadly hostility, were now facing each other 
 
BATTLES FOR THE UNION. 
 
 407 
 
 with guns strangely hushed. An expectant silence 
 pervaded the air. Every heart was anxiously await- 
 ing the result of the conference in the historic farm 
 house. 
 
 When at last, the news of the surrender flashed 
 along the lines, deafening cheers rose and fell for more 
 than half an hour, over the victorious Union army. 
 Other than this, there was no undue, triumphal dis- 
 play of the victors over the conquered foe. “ There 
 was a Federal column waving the white flag, and lines 
 of troops fringing a distant hill. There was nothing 
 visible in front but these; no crash of music disturbed 
 the evening air. * * * On the Confederate 
 
 side, the disbanded lines of attack moved across the 
 field with the slow step of mourners.” 
 
 The shout of joy which was sent up that day from 
 Appomattox Court House, echoed through the entire 
 North. Cannon boomed forth their iron pcans of vic- 
 tory ; the glad clash of bells was heard ringing “peace 
 and freedom in, ” and bonfires flamed high their at- 
 testation of the unbounded delight everywhere exhib- 
 ited. The day of jubilee seemed to have come and 
 rejoicing was the order of the hour. The storm of 
 war which had rocked the country for four long years, 
 was now rolling away, and the sunlight of peace fell 
 athwart the National horizon. The country for which 
 Washington fought and Warren fell, was once more 
 safe from Treason’s hands, and Liberty was again the 
 heritage of the people. 
 
TESTIMONIALS, 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM NOTICES OF THE PRESS 
 
 Hartford Post. 
 
 There is not an old soldier in the country who will not find this one of the 
 most companionable and delightful of books. The narrative is nowhere 
 wearisome, every page being vivid with exciting incidents and deeds of daring 
 and heroism. A brilliant career is certainly open to this newest of the stories 
 of the war. 
 
 Albany Journal. 
 
 The soldier and the citizen alike turn to the battles as concentrating the 
 issues and the glories. This story of the great combats and the lesser skir- 
 mishes is told in simple, direct, and intelligent terms, with sufficient detail to 
 bring out the points of interest, but not so minute as to be wearisome, or blur 
 the leading features. 
 
 Boston Traveler. 
 
 In 11 Battles for the Union,” Captain Willard Glazier has added to the reputa- 
 tion he has already won as an entertaining writer on subjects connected with 
 the rebellion. The present volume, devoting especial space to each battle of 
 the trying times of the civil war, will be found especially interesting to those 
 who were participants in these battles, or who were friends of these partici- 
 pants. 
 
 Boston Globe. 
 
 Captain Glazier of “Prison Pen” fame, the author of “Three Years in the 
 Federal Cavalry,” has in his new book, “Battles for the Union,” in concise, 
 simple, and yet interesting style, told the story of the struggles, suffering, suc- 
 cesses, and reverses of the Union armies during the rebellion. TheTraok will 
 constitute a most valuable addition to the literature of the times, and will be 
 read with interest by all. 
 
 Hartford Covrant. 
 
 Captain Glazier has attained immense popularity in the field of war litera- 
 ture. His “Capture, Prison Pen, and Escape” has sold to the extent of more 
 than 400,000 copies, while his “Three Years in the Federal Cavalry” is still in 
 brisk demand, with 160,000 copies already from the press. His new work— 
 “ Battles for the Union ” — is profusely illustrated, and will be assured of a sale 
 fully as large as any of his books have attained. 
 
 Albany Argus. 
 
 The writer of this work will be remembered as one of the most promising 
 students in the State Normal School in this city, at the outbreak of the rebel- 
 lion. He immediately left school, enlisted for the war, and fought bravely for 
 his imperiled country during the struggle. He is a graphic narrator, recount- 
 ing the stirring scenes with the vigor and freshness of intense sympathy, aided 
 by freedom and vivacity of expression. A more desirable history of the 
 nation’s battles has not been published— indeed, none of the narratives include 
 them all in so compact, convenient, readable, and reasonable a form. 
 
Testimonials , 
 
 409 
 
 Chicago Journal. 
 
 Captain Glazier wields a graphic pen. His descriptions are vivid. In the 
 statement of facts he is painstaking, and conscientious. Forty-four battles are 
 described. It constitutes a very readable history of the war. The writer has 
 the vivacity which is so essential in the composition of 6uch a book as this. 
 One is often thrilled as the panorama of war passes before the mind. 
 
 Boston Transcript. 
 
 This book is like a kaleidoscope, with the prominent battles for the Union 
 constituting its shifting scenes. You have only to turn the wheel and Antie- 
 tam’s field is again red with patriot blood, or the rivulet of Bull Run swells to 
 a crimson river. The object of painting a battle scene with pen and ink is to 
 make it like a picture, and that object has been accomplished in this work. 
 Sheridan's steed, “as black aB the steeds of night,” again dashes against the 
 retreating wave at Cedar Creek and hurls it back to victory, and Kilpatrick, 
 Custer, and Bayard renew the brilliant actions which covered their names with 
 glory. The style of the book is lucid, and the narrative full of interest to the 
 end. If the remarkable sale of the “Prison-Pen” establishes a precedent in 
 this young author’s experience of book-making, we predict for “Battles for 
 the Union” an unparalleled success. 
 
 Syracuse Standard. 
 
 The Soldier- Author wields the pen with surpassing facility, and his descrip- 
 tions, abounding in life and interest, are not extended or tedious, but give 
 just about what one wants to know of those terribly grand scenes. To those 
 who fought for the Union, whether they were immediately connected with 
 any of the scenes described in the book or not, there must be a peculiar 
 Interest; for the incidents of those bloody contests are fast fading from the 
 memory of most of ns who lived in their midst. And were it not for such 
 works as this of Willard Glazier to revivificate our memory of them, they 
 would soon be gone from us for ever. The work is not a ponderous history, 
 heavy with details of minor events, but full of the momentous incidents of a 
 struggle, the memory of which our brave soldiers love to dwell upon. 
 
 Scranton Republican. 
 
 An attractive volume entitled “Battles for the Union” has just been issued 
 from the pen of the soldier author, Captain Willard Glazier, whose “Three 
 Years in the Federal Cavalry” met with such a favorable reception a short 
 lime ago. Captain Glazier's latest work is decidedly his best. It tells the 
 story of the Nation's struggle in a graphic, thrilling style that makes the heart 
 throb and the blood tingle, as though the scenes which he depicts were passing 
 before the eye of the reader. The author aims more at a vigorous than a 
 polished style, and infuses into every battle-scene which he depicts his own 
 soldier spirit. The work treats essentially, as its name indicates, of the battles 
 for the Union, the author being evidently at his best in describing a bristling 
 cavalry charge, or telling of the fiery, furious rain of bomb-shells. Notwith- 
 standing its vigorous warlike character, there is a thread of romance running 
 throughout the work that elevates it above the coarse level of scenes of car- 
 nage, as depicted by some writers, and wins the attention of the reader from 
 the opening to the closing chapter. 
 
410 
 
 Testimonials, 
 
 Dunkirk Advertiser. 
 
 Captain Glazier’s works are growing more and more popular every day. 
 Their delineations of military life, constantly varying scenes, and deeply in- 
 teresting stories combine to place their writer in the front rank of American 
 authors. 
 
 St. Catharines (Ontario) News. 
 
 Several works have already been published having reference to the history 
 of the war, but they are unlike the present publication in many respects, and 
 the citizen as well as soldier have decided in favor of “Battles for the Union.” 
 
 Detroit Tnbune. 
 
 The book will be found not only entertaining in the highest degree, but very 
 instructive, especially in this day of discussion and criticism ol some of the 
 Nation’s great actors in her terrible but glorious drama of carnage. No work 
 on the rebellion has yet been written that affords so much valuable information 
 in so few pages, and certainly none of deeper interest. 
 
 Lansing Republican. 
 
 Willard Glazier was himself a soldier, and held the rank of captain in the 
 great army of the Union, was captured by the enemy at New Baltimore, Va., 
 iu the autumn of 1803, and evidently knows whereof he writes. His style is 
 clear and forcible, his descriptions vivid and picturesque, and altogether the 
 book is one which will interest all classes of readers. 
 
 Lockport Journal. 
 
 We referred a day or two since to “Battles for the Union,” but not to that 
 extent which its merits demanded. An intimate acquaintance with its pages 
 develops a merit and fund of genuine information relative to the more stirring 
 scenes of the late war not discovered by a casual look. As its name indicates, 
 the book has to do with the battles of the war. The task evidently was un- 
 dertaken conscientiously ; it is certainly carried through faithfully and enter- 
 tainingly. From Sumter to the surrender, its pages are bright, sparkling, and 
 full of the deepest interest. Much is told about the war that cannot be found 
 elsewhere. The writer has the tact to deal with the little details of the con- 
 flict, which in the aggregate made up the glorious results. The author, Willard 
 Glazier, was a good soldier; he moreover wields a graceful pen. 
 
 South Bend Tribune. 
 
 Dear as are the details of camp life and marching to the veteran, he is often 
 surprised to mark how their little incidents pale when compared with the in- 
 terest which invests the battles in which he fought, perhaps bled, for the sacred 
 cause of freedom. However interesting soldier life may have been at the time, 
 after the lapse of years it appears hut a dull routine, a dark background, against 
 which the encounters stand out in bold colors, presenting a grand record of 
 the soldier’s services and sacrifices. And not the soldier alone feels this ; his 
 friends and descendants share this interest in the battles of the great war. It 
 therefore becomes necessary that a well written account of the principal strug- 
 gles be in every household. We have never seen a book that so completely 
 supplies this universal need as Captain Glazier’s “Battles for the Union.” 
 
Testimonials, 
 
 411 
 
 Detroit Free Press. 
 
 This is pre-eminently a popular history of the war, or, in other words, a his- 
 tory which presents the more important phases of the rebellion to the reader 
 in a way that saves him the trouble of winnowing the wheat from the chaff. 
 It consists virtually of a series of pictures,— each picture representing one 
 well-defined battle. In forty-four chapters we have an account of nearly every 
 battle of the war, written in a graphic style and liberally sprinkled with ex- 
 citing anecdote, and illustrated by numerous engravings. 
 
 Buffalo Express. 
 
 The graphic story which Captain Glazier told of his own personal experience 
 in ‘•Capture, Prison-Pen, and Escape” undoubtedly secured for him a large 
 circle of readers, who will cheerfully take ‘‘on trust” whatever he may write, 
 and accept his “Battles for the Union” as a valuable addition to the history of 
 the late rebellion. It is written in an attractive style, and contains an inter- 
 esting and vivid description of some of the stubbornly contested battles of 
 the war, besides a great many entertaining incidents and reminiscences of the 
 camp, the march, and the skirmish line. The descriptions of Winchester, 
 Chickamauga, and Cedar Creek will be found peculiarly thrilling. 
 
 Cleveland Plaindealer. 
 
 Willard Glazier was among the first who, at the commencement of the war 
 for the Union, enlisted from Troy. He bore himself with true gallantry, and 
 was captured in the engagement at New Baltimore, in the autumn of 1863. He 
 remained in Libby for several months. After his escape he was promoted to a 
 captaincy, and served till the war ended. Of late years he has published 
 several works of army experiences, which are written with vividness and with 
 a dramatic power worthy of the best writers. He has just completed a new 
 work, which will probably have a larger sale than any of its predecessors. It 
 is entitled “ Battles for the Union,” and gives in vigorous language and graphic 
 an account of every engagement from Fort Sumter to and including the sur- 
 render of the last rebel army. The personal part which the author bore in 
 many of the battles, and his facilities for observation and retentive powers, 
 enabled him to make the work reliable and interesting. 
 
 Chicago Inter- Ocean. 
 
 The voice of war is still ; no more across our streets hang flaunting banners ; 
 the march of armed troops that spoke of death and woke the slumbers of the 
 night is heard no more, save in the holiday pomp of untried youth or the yearly 
 muster of a veteran soldiery. Now smile the fields where armies bled and 
 evening drums were wont to beat their last tattoo to dying ears. The fight is 
 done, and away in the far horizon the glorious days are waxing dim. Even 
 now it is the bearded men who speak of Gettysburg, and children clasp the 
 knees that marched to Chancellorsville. Year after year our soldiers meet to 
 talk of glory, and year by year their ranks grow thinner, older, grayer; and 
 by and by, when the hand of Time has imperceptibly brought the inevitable 
 shadow of forgetfulness, a few old men will answer to their names, and the 
 deeds of the heroes who fought for the Union will sleep with those of their 
 brothers who fell at Bunker Hill. In the busy world men have little time to 
 
412 
 
 Testimonials. 
 
 fight their battle6 o'er again. Life is earnest ; living, an ever present and stem 
 reality. Histories of the war and the various battles are generally either too 
 long or beyond the reach of the average reader. We therefore accept the 
 admirably condensed little work of the gallant soldier whose portrait adorns 
 this volume, — a handsome portrait it is, too, — with pride and pleasure. It is 
 such a history as every soldier and every man who has a pride in his country 
 should wish to possess. Captain Glazier was no carpet knight. He shared 
 the glories of the Harris Light Cavalry in camp and field, earning his promo- 
 tion from the non-oommissioned ranks to the command for which he was so 
 admirably fitted. There is the scent of powder in what he writes, the vivid 
 reality of sight and understanding. We are particularly charmed with his 
 style, which is plain, blunt, direct, and free from strain or affectation. He 
 describes the fights as they were fought ; individual deeds of bravery as they 
 were performed ; the march and its trials ; the defeat and its causes ; the vic- 
 tory and its effects. With the ardor of a young patriot, and the generous 
 admiration of a good soldier, he feels as great a pride in the successes of a 
 rival corps as in his own. Nor is this an unworthy feature of his work, because 
 the army was full of little, and sometimes not particularly friendly, rivalries — 
 corps of corps, brigade of brigade, regiment of regiment, man of man. Cavalry 
 men have a traditional contempt for infantry men ; and although our cavalry, 
 through the very nature of the battle grounds, were scarcely permitted the 
 honor of that constant meeting with the enemy which fell to the lot of the 
 infantry, they were not at all times willing to admit that any difference existed 
 as regards the record of killed and wounded, or the greater frequency of ex- 
 posure to danger. Willard Glazier’s letters, in which every battle may be 
 regarded as a separate picture, are quite as good as the boasted descriptions 
 by the London Times and Daily News correspondents of the Prussian war. 
 They read like a grand panoramic picture of gallant deeds and warlike pag- 
 eantries. If the author occasioually covers up a clear defeat, excusing it with 
 graceful art ; if he feels disposed to overestimate a slight advantage, and to 
 claim a victory where the battle was evidently drawn, he errs upon the side of 
 love for the boys in blue and pride in the flag under which he fought. The 
 work is divided into forty-four chapters, each containing a different battle, 
 commencing with Fort Sumter and ending with the surrender. We confi- 
 dently recommend these graphic and life-like pictures to the notice of our 
 readers. They are thrilling as the sound of the trumpet, and soul-inspiring as 
 the songs of Ossian. 
 
 Chicago Times. 
 
 The great charm which this book possesses, in all probability, arises out of 
 the author’s keen appreciation and understanding of human nature. He 
 realizes that after the lapse of the years which have intervened between the war 
 of the rebellion and the present time, the true soldier considers quiet camp 
 life, and the monotonous march of but little importance in comparison to his 
 services upon the battle field, and consequently, eagerly turns to any recount 
 of struggles and victories on the field of carnage in which he participated. 
 Humorous, spicy, and even pathetic incidents of the camp and march are 
 always interesting, calling forth laughter and tears by turns, whiling away 
 many an hour, recalling the old times and old comrades, and lingering on in the 
 
Testimonials. 
 
 413 
 
 memories of old soldiers to the end of their lives. But what are they in com- 
 parison to the incidents of the battle-field? Camp life fades from the recollec- 
 tion of the warrior at the remembrance of the hour when he stood among sheets 
 of flame, shattered forests, crashing shells, bristling bayonets, and thundering 
 artillery, dead to fear, and fighting like a demon to stem the tide of battle. 
 Our soldier-author knows this, and although his work comprises many very 
 entertaining incidents and reminiscences of the camp, the march, and the skir- 
 mish line, and embraces a glowing record of the privations, heroic deeds, 
 and glorious triumphs of the soldiers of the Republic, still it is in reality a 
 description of many of the most stubbornly contested battles in the war of 
 the great rebellion. Willard Glazier's power as a descriptive writer is well 
 known from his previous works, which met with a universal welcome, and 
 yet that he had much literary strength in reserve is apparent in his last publi- 
 cation, “ Battles for the Union.” In it his delineations of scenes of strife 
 bespeak an enthusiasm and an ability for portrayal almost incomprehensible. 
 Indeed, so vivid, so thrilling, so heartfelt are his descriptions that the reader 
 is brought into the conflict, and cheers with the triumphant or bows with the 
 vanquished. Not only into every battle scene which he depicts does the 
 writer infuse his own soldier spirit, but into the hearts of all who are so fortu- 
 nate as to peruse his work. In every conflict described, one sees the two great 
 armies facing each other in their streagth, and ready for one fierce convulsive 
 contest ; one hears the deafening shouts as they sweep down upon each other, 
 and the tremendous salute from the terrific artillery which causes the earth to 
 shake and the waters to tremble, and the hissing and crashing of the fiery, 
 murderous shells ; one can see the thousands of men surging and seething and 
 falling beneath the rain of bullets, one can hear the maddening yell of triumph 
 of the victorious army when the enemy breaks and flies with demoniac curses 
 and cries. The portrayal too of the first night after a battle is also very vigor- 
 ous and fine. Very feelingly depicted are the men in their death struggles 
 begging for a cup of water; shivering under the knife of the surgeon as he 
 amputates their mangled limbs ; or praying, perhaps, that they may see their 
 native hills once more. An unusually exciting and interesting account is that 
 of the naval conflict between the Merrimac and Monitor. In “ Battles for the 
 Union ” every man who participated in the rebellion can live over again the 
 days of his soldier life ; can fight side by side with his old comrades ; can 
 charge again at the command of his old commander. And here it may be 
 stated that the way in which the old familiar names ring out throughout the 
 book is truly inspiring. Without doubt the work will be warmly greeted by 
 one and all,, hut more especially will it be welcomed by the thousands of 
 isolated farm-houses scattered all over the land, from whence went out a son to 
 fight for his country. It will make delightful reading for the long winter even- 
 ings so soon to be here. Moreover, it is a hook that will not grow old. It will 
 not change like the majority of books, with the fashion. Its subject is one 
 that cannot be encroached upon. 
 
 Our Fireside Friend, Chicago. 
 
 The tempest of civil war is now long past. The tumult of the tented field is 
 already almost forgotten, and the bitterness of sectional feeling which caused 
 the open strife between the two divisions of our country, and which excited 
 
414 
 
 Testimonials, 
 
 passions kept alive long after the clamor of actual war had ceased, is now 
 rapidly dying away. The fearful time of bloodshed, of wounds and death, 
 of desolated homes, of heartbroken mothers and wives, is now in the minds 
 of men only a painful dream, but dimly remembered ; on the pages of books 
 and newspapers it is but a chapter of history. Now, the literature called out 
 by the war, which, a few years ago, awakened such intense sectional and party 
 enthusiasm, is interesting only as history, is criticised as history, and valued 
 only as it contributes to the tale of the life of a nation, a life full of blunders, 
 of errors may be, but tending ever outward and upward from them. The book 
 before us is, we think, a worthy contribution to this history. Its scope as 
 given on its title-page is the “ Description of many of the most stubbornly 
 contested battles in the late war, together with incidents and reminiscences of 
 the camp, the march, and the skirmish line, embracing also a record of the 
 privations, heroic deeds, and glorious triumphs of the soldiers of the Repub- 
 lic.” This scope is a wide one, and if it be somewhat imperfectly filled out, 
 this is really no more than might have been expected of the attempt to com- 
 pass so much in a volume of 407 pages. But the purpose of the volume is a 
 praiseworthy one, and this is, even in the limited space alloted it, very fairly 
 carried out. In the history of any war the great battles stand forth as impor- 
 tant and salient points. On their issue the story of the war and the history of 
 all the nations involved will turn. The fault of most war histories is that they 
 are two voluminous, and dwell too much upon incidental details of camp and 
 march, or upon matters of strategy that really lie outside of the tale of actual 
 strife. The author of this book has therefore taken forty-four of what have 
 seemed to him the most important of the conflicts in the late war, and by 
 giving full and accurate details of their strategic plan, and the success of its 
 working, has endeavored, and with good success we think, to make a book 
 which shall have a peculiar value as a book of reference with regard to these 
 battles. This task has been accomplished, too, with most commendable skill 
 in the working. The style in which it is written is excellent, being clear and 
 graphic. The author, himself a soldier, writes of the exciting contests and the 
 perils of the brave men who took part in them, with the ardor of a genuine 
 participant. The scenes of the bloody field are each so vividly described, that 
 we seem in reading to see the whole contest of the four years of strife as in a 
 panorama, and there is not a chapter which is not intensely interesting from 
 its opening to its close. The matter we also judge to be thoroughly accurate 
 and reliable, being fully in harmony with the best authorities that have written 
 about the war. There is much matter that has the air of newness to us, in the 
 line of incident. This we are disposed to accept as also accurate upon the 
 worthy reputation of the author, and feel inclined, because of the pleasure its 
 perusal has given us, to recommend the book very warmly to others. 
 
 Chicago Tribune, 
 
 The author of this volume wore the blue uniform during the late war of the 
 rebellion, and had an experience both on the battle-field and as a prisoner in 
 the hands of the enemy. Since the restoration of peace, he has occupied him- 
 self with the relation, in a series of volumes, of the history of the war in its 
 various phases. This latest of his hooks contains a description of some forty, 
 four of the sternest battles fought for the integrity of the Union. 
 
Testimonials, 
 
 415 
 
 New York Tribune. 
 
 Willard Glazier is an easy and graceful writer, and holds the attention of the 
 reader throughout the entire work, depicting scenes on the battle-field with 
 such earnestness and force as to lead one in imagination into the midst of the 
 fiercest conflicts, where such deeds of patriotism and bravery were enacted as 
 to thrill the very soul. 
 
 Wilkes Barre Record of the Times. 
 
 Captain Glazier’s preceding works have gained him a wide fame, and in the 
 present volume he has certainly lost none of the vigor, strength, and power 
 which characterizes his former writings. His style is easy and natural, and 
 yet thrilling and graphic in the extreme. As he writes he witnesses again the 
 scenes through which he passed during the rebellion, and his facile pen at once, 
 and with peculiar fidelity, transfers the mental picture to the page before him. 
 It is a wonderful power, and one which few men possess, to be able to carry 
 with them through life the scenes of former years, and reproduce them at will 
 for the pleasure of their readers. Captain Glazier demonstrates this fine gift 
 with admirable force, and the fascinating pages before us are a moving, breath- 
 ing panorama of the battles for the Union. 
 
 Philadelphia Times. 
 
 It is meet that every loyal citizen should preserve green in his memory the 
 battles by which onr place among the nations was maintained, and we know 
 of no work more admirably adapted for this, or more deeply interesting in its 
 contents, than “Battles for the Union.” It contains lively and graphic sketches 
 of all the great battles of the late civil conflict, and in this respect fills a place 
 tn American history occupied by Professor Creasy’s “Fifteen Battles of the 
 World,” in general history. In addition to this is other most interesting mat- 
 ter, incidents and reminiscences of the camp, march, and skirmish line, and a 
 very full record of the privations, heroic deeds, and glorious triumphs of the 
 soldiers of the Republic. It is fully illustrated, handsomely bound, and is, all 
 in all, a volume that would be read with the deepest interest in every house- 
 hold throughout the Union. 
 
 Pittsburg Gazette. 
 
 Often as the story of the battles in defense of the Union may be told it will 
 never grow stale and tiresome so long as those who took part in the straggle, 
 or the relatives of those who fought and died in it, still survive. Even when 
 these have passed away the tale will not grow old, for the next generation will 
 be interested in the details of a contest that has no parallel in modern times. 
 Such books as Captain Glazier’s “ Battles for the Union,” therefore, will be 
 eagerly sought after, for there can be read the story of the great contest in its 
 heroic features, apart from the less attractive, though perhaps not less impor- 
 tant, account of the political and cabinet movements that influenced to a great 
 extent the movements in the field. “Battles for the Union ” gives in its forty- 
 four chapters graphic descriptions of as many separate actions, beginning with 
 the bombardment of Fort Sumter and ending with the surrender at Appo- 
 mattox Court-IRiuse, and the entry into Richmond. The story of each battle 
 is so clearly and succinctly told as to attract the attention of the reader and 
 impress the incidents on his memory. 
 
416 
 
 Testimonials, 
 
 Baltimore American. 
 
 This is a soldier’s account of battles in which the author participated, and 
 will be found of special interest to all survivors of those memorable conflicts. 
 Captain Glazier's descriptive power is very graphic, and his works are growing 
 more and more popular every day. Their delineation of military life, con- 
 stantly varying scenes, and deeply interesting incidents, have given the Soldier- 
 Author a front rank among those who have undertaken to describe the great 
 conflict. 
 
 Beading Eagle. 
 
 Captain Glazier has given his attention, in forty-four chapters, to that num- 
 ber of the most important and exciting conflicts of the war, including many 
 that are memorable, and will always remain so, for their magnitude,— Antie- 
 tam, Chickamauga, Malvern Hill, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, etc., and others that 
 are notable for some of the accompanying circumstances, such as Olustee, 
 where the colored boys poured out their blood ; Bull Run, whose disasters gave 
 an awakening shock to the nation ; Big Bethel, Ball’s Bluff, Wilson’s Creek, 
 and Chantilly, on whose sad fields successively fell the brilliant Winthrop, the 
 heroic Baker, the intrepid Lyon, and the chivalrous Kearney. The encounter 
 between the Merrimac and Monitor forms an exciting chapter, as the recital 
 of that historic event must always do, and in general, the descriptions through- 
 out the volume are spirited and interesting. 
 
 Troy Times. 
 
 A history of early struggle when it is crowned with success, is always one of 
 the most interesting chapters in human experience. The life of Willard Glaz- 
 ier, the soldier-author, illustrates this sentiment. It is a record of difficulties 
 surmounted, of obstacles overcome, of early struggle and present success. 
 He is now extensively known to the country as a writer of war-books, and 
 “ Battles for the Union ” is one of the series. He began life as a boy-trapper 
 along the banks of the wild Oswegatchie river in St. Lawrence County. In 
 this way he obtained his first money, and was enabled to pay his tujtion at a 
 select school. An education so hardly earned was put to good use. and he 
 was afterwards a popular school-master at Schodack Center and Scott’s Corn- 
 ers, in Rensselaer county. He attended the State Normal School in Albany, 
 and one day ran away from school to look at the body of the dead Ellsworth 
 lying in state at the capitol. His patriotism was not of the boisterous kind, 
 but it flowed still and deep and was none the less true. He enlisted from 
 Troy, under Colonel Clarence Buell in the “ Harris Light Cavalry,” and served 
 three years when he was taken prisoner. Then follows a sickening history 
 of southern prison life, interspersed with such brutalities as befitted a Turner 
 within the walls of Libby. The story of his escape is thrilling in the extreme, 
 and partakes largely of the dramatic. He reached the Union lines at last more 
 dead than alive, after twenty-eight nights of weary travel through the cypress 
 swamps of South Carolina and Georgia. 
 
 Albany Evening Journal. 
 
 As Captain Glazier began his literary career in Albany, a glance at some 
 of the stirring incidents of his varied life cannot be otherwise than of gen- 
 eral interest. He seems to have been forced by stress of circumstances 
 
Testimonials. 
 
 417 
 
 from boyhood up, to push against the tide. When about fourteen years old, in 
 order to obtain means to pay his way at school, he became a trapper along the 
 wilds of the Oswegatchie in St. Lawrence County — the net proceeds of his 
 labor bringing him enough to accomplish his purpose. Later, he managed to 
 secure sufficient means by teaching to carry him through a term of the Normal 
 School here in Albany. In partnership with another boy — both very poor 
 — he emulated the example of Ben. Franklin by boarding himself in the 
 most frugal manner. He was a member of the Normal School at the breaking 
 out of the rebellion, and, as with thousands of others, the war changed the whole 
 course of his life. He belonged to the company of Ellsworth Avengers 
 organized here, and in August, 1861, left school and enlisted with Col. Clarence 
 Buell at Troy, as a member of the Harris Light Cavalry. His term of service 
 lasted until 1863, when he was taken prisoner, and for over a year suffered the 
 untold horrors of Southern Prison life. His escape was well-nigh miraculous. 
 For twenty-eight days he traveled with bleeding feet through the woods and 
 broken country by night, sleeping in some negro hut or place of concealment 
 during the day. He succeeded at last in reaching sur lines, and it was such a 
 day as he never forgot. He afterwards embodied his experiences in the 
 “ Prison- Pen,” the first edition of which was published by Joel Munsell, of 
 this city. Here, also, he received the name of the “ Soldier-Author,” which 
 has clung to him through all his literary experience. The “ Prison-Pen ” had 
 the almost unprecedented sale of 400,000 copies, and “Three Years in the 
 Federal Cavalry” was its immediate successor. We understand he has 
 accumulated a good sized fortune in the sale of his various works, and 
 assuredly such untiring industry and perseverance deserves to be crowned 
 with the most bountiful success. 
 
 AGENTS WANTED! 
 
 Tbis Book Is sold principally by Subscription ! 
 
 And we want an Agent in every town and county in the United States and 
 British Provinces. Our terms are liberal, and the profit of the business sure. 
 
 Teachers, ladies, energetic young men, and especially returned and disabled 
 officers and soldiers, in want of profitable employment, will find this work 
 particularly adapted to their condition. 
 
 For full particulars, terms, etc., address 
 
 GILMAN & CO., 
 
 Hartford, Chicago, or Cincinnati. 
 
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