Read Ebook: The History of Battery H First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery in the War to Preserve the Union 1861-1865 by Fenner Earl

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Artificers.

SAMUEL T. ALLEN, THOMAS CARTER, LEON ALLISON.

Privates.

On the 23d of October, 1862, the battery received orders to proceed to Washington, D. C. Preparations were immediately made to move from Camp Mauran. Marching to the railroad station in Providence, the battery boarded the cars, and the soldiers, after bidding adieu to the relatives and friends who had assembled there to witness their departure, were soon speeding along on their journey, eager to enter upon the untried scenes awaiting them. On arriving in New York city a number of recruits for the battery were received. Again proceeding on its way, the battery reached Washington on the 26th of October, and, until the 28th, were quartered in the Soldiers' Retreat, when it was ordered to proceed to Camp Barry, situated on the Corcoran farm, on the Bladensburg road, near the toll gate.

This camp was established as an artillery camp of instruction for all volunteer batteries, for drill and discipline preparatory for service in the field. Soon after its arrival the battery exchanged the James rifled pieces with which it left Rhode Island for three-inch ordnance guns.

In November General McClellan was relieved from command of the Army of the Potomac, and General Burnside reluctantly assumed the position. His career while connected with its leadership is so well known to every one interested in the history of that army, that it is deemed inexpedient to dwell upon it here. The delay in sending forward the pontoons with which the army was to cross the Rappahannock and the lack of support that General Burnside received from some of his subordinates is attributed the disaster of the battle of Fredericksburg.

At this time Washington was well protected by a cordon of forts completely encircling the city. We present herewith the accompanying map, which will more fully indicate the positions of the several forts than any description we might be able to give.

CAMP BARRY--ARTILLERY DRILL--MARCH TO FAIRFAX STATION--FIRST DEATH IN THE BATTERY--UNION MILLS.

During the fall and winter of 1862-3 the battery was chiefly occupied in perfecting itself in drill. With other batteries, it frequently went to East Capitol Hill and engaged in battalion drill, and became quite proficient in light artillery movements. While at Camp Barry the battery suffered severely by the desertion of the men who had joined it in New York city. Their only apparent motive in enlisting was to obtain the bounty which was offered them, and then desert on the first opportunity. This was a serious drawback, and greatly impaired the usefulness of the battery.

Jan. 1st, 1863. This was a red-letter day in our history. We moved into new wooden barracks, which had recently been constructed. It was an agreeable change to our men from the cold and cheerless Sibley tents to the warm and comfortable quarters to which we were now assigned. We celebrated the event by a grand house-warming in the evening. The bill of fare was in marked contrast to what soldiers were accustomed to select while serving in the field. It consisted of a roast turkey supper with all the fixings. Not wishing to share our feast and pleasures alone, we invited as our guests the men of the Third New Jersey and Second Maine batteries. That occasion will long be remembered by the participants as a bright epoch in their soldier lives.

While encamped here we often obtained permission to visit Washington, and we made good use of our time while there. The Capitol was a place of special interest to us, and we were accustomed to visit the Senate Chamber and the House of Representatives, and hear the lawgivers of our land expound the momentous questions of the day. We recall the stalwart forms of Sumner and Wilson of Massachusetts, Anthony of our own little Rhody, and a score of others well known to fame, who stood as beacon lights in that stormy period of our nation's history. The White House and Treasury Building were visited by us, likewise the Patent Office, where our First Rhode Island regiment was quartered in the spring of 1861, received our attention. What a contrast the city presented at that time to the Washington of to-day. Then the uncompleted monument of the "Father of his Country" was a disgrace to every patriotic citizen. Now that majestic shaft in full completion towers above all others in this country, while the public and private buildings will vie in splendor and magnitude with many of the capitals of the old world. The unpaved streets through which roamed the swine and fowl in the old war time days excite the wonder and admiration of the visitor at the present time by their well constructed appearance and cleanly condition.

January 5th. A mounted drill took place at nine A. M. to-day of all the batteries encamped here. Lieut.-Col. J. Albert Monroe, of our First Rhode Island Light Artillery regiment, was present in command.

January 19th, we received orders to prepare three days' cooked rations. On the following day we marched into Washington in a terrific rain-storm. When we arrived on Arlington Heights the wheels of the battery sank into the mud nearly to the hubs.

On the 23d we arrived at Fairfax Station about noon, and went into camp. This was a severe and exhausting march, and many of our men became disabled and contracted diseases from the effects of which they never fully recovered.

On the 24th our battery was assigned to General Casey's division, and attached to the Vermont brigade commanded by General Stannard. He was a brave and gentlemanly officer, and respected by the entire command. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Second Vermont Infantry in May, 1861, and was in May, 1862, assigned as colonel of the Ninth Vermont Infantry; promoted brigadier-general United States Volunteers, March 12, 1863, and brevetted major-general United States Volunteers, Oct. 28, 1864. General Stannard's prompt movement upon the flank of Pickett's division at Gettysburg won for him the strongest commendation of his superiors. He was four times wounded, the last time losing an arm in the successful assault on Fort Harrison, Sept. 29, 1864. He died in Washington, June 3, 1886.

February 10th. Bugler Thomas J. Goff died to-day. The death of our comrade cast a sadness over us, as it was the first that had occurred since our existence as a battery.

February 12th. The battery was reviewed at two o'clock P. M. to-day, by General Stannard.

February 13th. Private William G. Manter died in camp hospital. He was buried in the little graveyard near our camp.

March 1st. Sergt. George P. Carpenter and Private John Phillips died in company hospital to-day. They were comrades tried and true, and we sorely missed them.

As we lacked a sufficient number of men to fully man our battery, several soldiers were detached from the different regiments of the Vermont brigade and sent to us on the 16th of this month.

March 23d. At seven A. M. the battery received orders to proceed with the Vermont brigade to Union Mills, Va. On arriving there the right section was ordered on picket on the heights overlooking the fording place at Kettle Run Shoals, and a detail of men was also sent to man an iron clad car on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, to act as guard at the same place.

April 9th. A severe snow storm set in which continued through the day and night, and was particularly trying to our men on picket, and a disappointment to the hopes of the government. It was the severest storm that had visited that section of the country for several years.

BATTLES OF CHANCELLORSVILLE AND SALEM HEIGHTS--BATTERY H ORDERED TO CHANTILLY, AND AFTERWARDS TO FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE--RETURN TO CAMP BARRY--PICKET DUTY AT FAIRFAX SEMINARY--MOVED TO VICINITY OF FORT SCOTT.

On the morning of the 1st of May four corps were there prepared for an advanced against the enemy. During the 2d and 3d of May occurred one of the hardest fought battles, of the war. The losses on both sides were severe. On the 3d and 4th of May, Sedgwick's Corps of nearly twenty thousand, fought an almost independent battle at Salem Heights, near Fredericksburg, about fourteen miles from Hooker's position. They fought with determined bravery, but were compelled by the presence of a superior force to fall back, and recrossed the river in good order. The main body of Hooker's army safely recrossed the river on the evening of the 5th. When morning revealed to the enemy the movement, they seemed more content to have it take place, and made no attempt to hasten it. The Union army had fought three days with about one-third of its numbers against the massed forces of the enemy, and though forced to yield some ground had repulsed their desperate assaults, and then returned to its old camps having suffered large losses but not seriously weakened.

May 4th. At the time of the battle of Chancellorsville, General Abercrombie ordered the right section under command of Captain Hazard, in connection with the Twelfth Vermont regiment of our brigade, to Rappahannock Station for the purpose of guarding the river at this point. While stationed here Captain Hazard relates that a number of negroes came across the river one morning, and the next day Hon. John Minor Botts crossed and claimed them as his property. He talked with them quite a while and endeavored to induce them to return with him. This they declined to do. Mr. Botts claimed to be a Union man, and said he would go to President Lincoln for redress. He also threatened to use his influence to have his friend, the Hon. John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky , espouse the cause of the Confederacy unless his property was returned. His "boys," as he called them, were soon scattered and were employed in the army or at the north, and were about as free as they were after the Emancipation Proclamation. As an instance of the financial situation of the Confederacy at that period of the Rebellion, Mr. Botts, who wore a pair of cowhide shoes at this time, said they cost him twenty-five dollars in Confederate money, in Richmond.

While the right section of the battery was with Captain Hazard at Rappahannock Station, First Lieut. George W. Blair remained in command of the camp at Union Mills. On the 17th of the month the centre section, which was on picket guarding the ford at Kettle Run Shoals, was relieved by the left section.

At ten o'clock on the morning of the 20th the battery received marching orders and left Union Mills for Chantilly, near Centreville, arriving there about one P. M., and going into park near the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-seventh Maine regiments of infantry.

On the 24th many of the members of the battery availed themselves of the privilege of visiting the old Chantilly battlefield.

May 26th. The sound of artillery firing was heard in the direction of Drownsville, causing our battery to be held in readiness to move at a moment's notice.

May 29th. The long roll awakened us from our slumbers, and "boots and saddles" call was sounded. The battery was hitched up and ready to move in eight minutes. We anticipated an attack of the rebels on our picket line. If they had come upon us then they would have found confronting them the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-seventh Maine regiments , and, with the Eleventh Massachusetts Battery and our own battery, they would have met with a warm reception, as the night was very dark and we had the advantage of a good position.

June 7th. Reviewed at ten A. M. by Gen. Alfred Pleasonton.

June 12th. While the battery was drilling in rapid movements, this forenoon, one of our attached men, Private John D. White, of Company D, Sixteenth Vermont Infantry, met with a painful accident. In mounting, and while throwing his right leg over the back of his horse his left foot slipped from the stirrup, throwing him on the pummel of his saddle and causing a severe rupture. He remained in camp a week or more, and was then sent to the post hospital, at Camp Barry, and remained there until the muster out of his regiment.

It being the plan of the rebel General Lee to attempt an invasion of the northern States, he at once set his troops in motion and did not meet with any serious obstacle to his progress until Gettysburg was reached, which we will notice further on.

On June 15th the battery witnessed the passage by its camp of the Eleventh, Twelfth, Second and Third Corps of the Army of the Potomac, on their way to intercept the rebel army, which was moving on Gettysburg. On this date Private Earl Fenner was ordered on special duty to carry dispatches to the commanding general of the Army of the Potomac. On his return he narrowly escaped capture by Mosby's guerillas.

June 17th. We can hear distant cannonading in the direction of Aldie Gap. We learn that our forces are having quite a brush with the enemy. A large body of our troops are concentrating at Fairfax Court House, awaiting orders to move toward Gettysburg. A number of rebel prisoners passed our camp to-day under guard. Their brown butternut uniforms and slouch hats indicated that they hailed from North Carolina.

June 25th. The battery received orders to leave camp at Chantilly this morning at eight A. M., and proceed to Fairfax Court House, and report to Brig.-Gen. Henry J. Hunt, who had command of the Reserve Artillery of the Army of the Potomac. On our arrival there, Captain Hazard reported to General Hunt that the term of service of the attached men assigned from the Vermont brigade to our battery would expire on or about July 10th. The general, having more artillery than he needed, and noting the deficiency in the number of men in our battery, ordered Captain Hazard to report to Gen. William F. Barry, Chief of Artillery in the vicinity of Washington. Thus, owing to the depleted condition of the battery, we were not permitted to share with our sister batteries from our State in the honor of participating in the mighty struggle at Gettysburg a few days later, which shed so bright a lustre on the fame of the light artillery that Rhode Island furnished to the armies of the Union.

In accordance with the instructions from General Hunt our battery marched to Arlington Heights, camping outside of the intrenchments near Annandale Court House. About midnight an officer on General Barry's staff directed Captain Hazard to withdraw his battery inside of the intrenchments, as there were no infantry troops to support us should the enemy appear in force. Accordingly we hitched up and shortly afterward moved within the intrenchments.

At eight o'clock on the morning of the 26th we left Arlington Heights and marched to Camp Barry.

June 28th. Our battery was again ordered to march, and, at eight P. M., left Camp Barry for Fairfax Seminary, passing through Washington, going over Long Bridge to Alexandria, Va., and from thence to Fairfax Seminary. On arriving in the vicinity of the Seminary a soldier on picket, from a New York regiment, fired upon our battery, mistaking us for the enemy. We then took position near Fort Ward, coming into action front, running our guns out of the embrasures and in line with the breastworks. As an attack was expected there our cannoneers remained at their posts till reveille the next morning. Captain Hazard reported with his command to Col. H. L. Abbott, of the First Connecticut Heavy Artillery, commanding the Third Brigade, Defenses South of the Potomac.

General Hooker ascertained that Lee's army instead of threatening to attack him in front of Washington, had crossed the Potomac into Maryland. He accordingly made a similar movement, crossing between Harper's Ferry and the capital. The 27th of June found the greater portion of his forces in the vicinity of Frederick. When nearing this place an order was received relieving him of the command of the Army of the Potomac, and appointing in his place Maj.-Gen. George G. Meade. Considerable astonishment was manifested among the army and the people at this unexpected change. It was subsequently stated that General Hooker was relieved at his own request, some of his plans not meeting with the approval of those in authority. He declared in his orders he felt that his usefulness was impaired, and he relinquished the command with regret at parting from his brave comrades, especially at this time when they were moving to drive the invaders from the loyal States. General Meade, upon whom this unsolicited and unexpected honor and responsibility was conferred, had been identified with the army from its organization, and had proved himself an able and competent officer. On the same day that he assumed command he issued orders for the movement of the army, rendered necessary in order to checkmate the operations of the Confederates.

On the 29th the position of our battery is thus defined by Colonel Abbott, commanding our brigade, in his report of affairs on Little River Turnpike, where our pickets were established. He says:

"I have the honor to report that the enemy have been reconnoitering on the Little River Turnpike, just in front of our pickets, both last night and to-day. On the first occasion three men put to flight a whole company of the One Hundred and Seventy-eighth New York , although the only demonstration made was to retreat on being challenged by the pickets. On the second two armed men shot a civilian and drove two others into our lines in sight of our pickets.

"Fort Worth is too high to command this road by night by artillery fire, and my infantry is too bad to be trusted to protect even a section of the light artillery there, where there is no retreat for it from cavalry.

"I have ridden over the position this morning, and would respectfully suggest that the Twenty-fifth Maine regiment, now near my right, be placed where this company now is, to hold the road, and cover a section of my battery to-night.

"After due examination I have decided, unless more force is available, to put the whole battery in position in the rifle-pits, between Forts Worth and Ward, covered by three companies of the One Hundred and Seventy-eighth New York infantry, with orders to hold the Leesburg Turnpike, and await further developments in case of an attack to-night.

"I cannot hold the Little River Turnpike without more infantry. If the rebels pass Fort Worth on it, they ought to be stopped by the forces near Alexandria; if they then turn up on the Seminary plateau the light battery is ready to prevent their attacking our line in rear in that vicinity, and the convalescent men ought to hold their own camp. Their raid will thus do little good to them.

"If I try to block the Little River pike, I fear I shall lose my guns to no purpose."

Let us pause for awhile to observe the movements of the Union and Confederate armies now approaching Gettysburg, the county seat of Adams County, Pennsylvania, and eight or ten miles north of the Maryland line, and about forty miles north of Frederick, from which place the Federal army moved. On the evening of June 30th the Federal cavalry advance reached Gettysburg, passed through the village and encamped on the northerly side. On the following morning a deadly encounter took place between the Union and Confederate forces, which resulted in the success of the troops of the enemy and in the withdrawal of the Union forces to Cemetery Hill, which lies nearly south of Gettysburg, and derives its name from a cemetery which crowns its summit. Here our troops encamped for the night, throwing up breastworks along the whole front, the artillery well posted, and the positions on Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill were made exceedingly strong.

On the morning of July 2d, General Meade arrived on the field, and determined to fight a defensive battle. The Federal line was an irregular semi-circle, the centre of which was Cemetery Hill, fronting the village, and thence running on the left southwest along the ridge fronting the Emmitsburg road, to the hill called Round Top; and on the right running nearly south over Culp's Hill, and along the ridge fronting Rock Creek to the Baltimore Turnpike. The rebels furiously attacked our lines, and the result of the second day's battle was the gain of some half a mile of ground where the Third Corps had been forced back, and the occupation of the extreme right of the Federal works. The gain of the Confederates on the left was at a heavy cost, the Union lines being in a stronger position than the day before.

The next day, the 3d, preparations were made to dislodge the enemy on our right. Our troops advanced at that point, and drove the entire force of the enemy out, and the Federal line was re-established as on the previous day, the rebels also returning to their former positions. While this engagement was transpiring on the right, it was comparatively quiet along the other parts of the line except the usual desultory picket firing.

At one o'clock a desperate charge on the Union lines at Cemetery Hill was made by the rebels, composed of a division of Longstreet's corps under Pickett, which led the attack supported by other troops from Longstreet's and Hill's corps. Says Longstreet: "The signal gun broke the prevailing stillness, and immediately 150 Confederate cannon burst into a deafening roar, which was answered by a thunder almost as great from the Federal side." The attack was gallantly made and the struggle fierce, but the picked troops of the rebel army were finally routed, and thus ended one of the greatest battles of modern times, which resulted in a glorious victory to the Union arms and turned the tide of rebel invasion, hurling Lee's army back into Virginia, discomfited and disheartened.

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