Chapter III: Part 3

25th, Daylight, heavy firing at Fort Steadman. 6 A.M., ordered to be packed up. 4 P.M., advanced outside of picket line. Put up slight breast-works. Rebel charge repulsed. Took about 200 prisoners. 26th, 1 A.M., returned to camp and again put up tents.

27th, 10 A.M., on picket. Advanced picket posts to within 150 yards of enemy's line. No firing.

28th, Received orders to be ready to move at 6 A.M., the 29th.

THE LAST MOVE.

On the day that Lee arranged the assault intended to compel Grant to abandon his Petersburg Line, and thus raise the Siege of Petersburg, Grant issued the order for the movement of the 29th. Had Lee met with success on the 25th, Grant's program to end the War at this time would have failed.

29th, 6 A.M., left camp near Humphrey's Station, marched along Vaughan Road 3 miles, and formed line on right of the road. Advanced 2 miles and bivouacked for the night.

30th, 7 A.M., advanced in line of battle 1 mile and put up works.

31st, 1 A.M., moved 1 mile to left, and bivouacked for the night on Battle Field of 27th of November last.

April 1st, 6 P.M., portion of Regiment detailed for picket duty.

EVACUATION OF PETERSBURG.

2d, 9 A.M., passed through main line of rebel works and marched 7 miles, to within a half mile of Petersburg, and formed in line.

70 prisoners captured by the Regiment. 4 men wounded.

PURSUIT OF LEE.

3d, 8 A.M., marched Westward on road to Burk's Station in pursuit of Lee, 20 miles.

4th, 7 A.M., in same direction, 8 miles. 6 P.M., bivouacked.

5th, 1.30 A.M., in same direction. Crossed Richmond and Danville Railroad, and bivouacked 1 mile North of the Road, 12 miles.

6th, 7 A.M., in close pursuit of Lee.

Portion of Regiment on Skirmish Line, continually running into Lee's rear guard skirmishers, capturing prisoners, and toward night took part in the capture of rebel train of 200 wagons hastening on to Lynchburg.

Prisoners captured, 90, and 1 color.

Lieutenant-Colonel Perkins and 15 men wounded.

7th, 7 A.M., continued the pursuit. Passed the Richmond and Danville Railroad at the High Bridge, which had been fired by the rebels and partly burned. Met the enemy in force after marching about 8 miles. 2 men wounded.

8th, passed through Coal Land, marching 17 miles. Took 40 prisoners.

For the last three days broken-down rebel wagons, gun carriages and soldiers were a common sight.

SURRENDER OF LEE'S ARMY.

April 9th, the Last Day.

Still in close pursuit. Went 5 miles, driving the enemy. 12 o'clock, ordered to halt until 2. 2 o'clock, ordered to halt until 4, before which hour Lee had surrendered to Grant the Army of Northern Virginia.

The Regiment was with the advance, and about 4 miles East of Appomattox Court House.

* * * * *

Who would attempt to word the feeling following upon the announcement of the surrender that Sunday afternoon, April 9th, 1865?

* * * * *

April 11th, 10 A.M., journeyed back 12 miles to New Store, away from what had been Lee's Army, and without seeing it.

NO PICKETS OUT.--NO GUARDS ON.

From two things we knew the surrender had been made. The fact of the announcement and the other fact--there had been no pickets out, no guard on, since the 9th. But there had been no parading of a vanquished foe to meet the gaze of a triumphant Army. Grant had saved them that humiliation.

12th, 6 A.M., 15 miles, passed through Curville, and then on to Farmville.

13th, 6 A.M., 17 miles, to near Burks Station, and went into camp.

ASSASSINATION OF THE PRESIDENT.

15th, 10 P.M., received official dispatch of the assassination of President Lincoln on the night of the 14th, and his death at 7.22 o'clock on the morning of the 15th.

He had lived to the last day of a labor which none but himself could know how hard it had been to bear. But now how absolute his rest. The very Heaven his immediate reward for the saving, under God, of a Nation.

16th, Moved one-third of a mile to change camp.

19th, Ordered that all unnecessary work be suspended on the day of the President's funeral.

25th, Regiment paraded to hear orders relative to the assassination. Officers directed to wear crape for six months and Colors to be draped for the same period.

SURRENDER OF JOHNSTON'S ARMY.

28th, dispatch received announcing the surrender of Johnston, and then the most doubtful knew that the War was over.

May 2d, marched at 1 P.M., 11 miles, to Gettyville.

3d, 6 A.M., to and across the Appomattox, passing through Five Forks, Amelia Court House and Scott's Store, 17 miles.

4th, 6 A.M., marched 18 miles.

5th, 5 A.M., to Manchester, opposite Richmond, arriving at 11 A.M., 10 miles.

THROUGH RICHMOND.

6th, 10.30 A.M., passed through Manchester, crossed the Pontoon Bridge over the James River, marched through Richmond with Colors flying and Bands playing, passing Libby Prison on the way. Crossed the Chickahominy River and bivouacked 4-1/2 miles North of Richmond, on the Fredericksburg Pike, 8 miles.

7th, 6 A.M., through Hanover Court House and across the Pamunky River, 16 miles.

8th, 6 A.M., 16 miles.

9th, 6 A.M., 17 miles, to within one-half mile of Po River.

THROUGH FREDERICKSBURG.

10th, 6 A.M., crossed the Rappahannock, through Fredericksburg, with Colors flying and Bands playing, and bivouacked near our old picket line of '63, and within 2-1/2 miles of the old camp ground at Stoneman's Switch, 17 miles.

11th, 6 A.M., crossed head waters of Acquia Creek, 16 miles.

12th, 6 A.M., 14 miles, to near Wolf Run Shoals and Aquequon River.

13th, 5 A.M., crossed the Aquequon, and then the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, 16 miles.

FINAL FIELD CAMP.

15th, 6 A.M., 6 miles, to Four Mile Run, being that distance from Washington, and went into final Field camp.

REVIEW OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

June 23d, review of the Army of the Potomac in Washington by President Johnson.

REVIEW OF SHERMAN'S ARMY.

24th, Review of Sherman's Army.

The two days as one, and what a turn-out of Veterans; a sight the like of which never had been witnessed, and we think never will be again.

From the Review, back over the Potomac for the last time, and but for a few days, and then the

ORDER FOR MUSTER-OUT.

29th, on which day was read on Dress Parade the Order that made, as other citizens, save in the service they had completed for their Country, the Soldiers who comprised the Field Survivors of the 84th and 57th Regiments Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers.

BACK TO HARRISBURG.

From camp near Washington to Harrisburg, there a closing of accounts with the Government that had, with the loss of 400,000 Loyal Lives and the crippling of 300,000 Union Soldiers, and the agonies of the sorrows which never could be told off, been made altogether free.

* * * * *

Into the hands of each Comrade was placed a printed copy of the following paper: "Parting as a Band of Brothers, let us cling to the memory of those tattered banners, under which we have fought together, and which, without dishonor, we have just now restored to the authorities who placed them in our hands. Till we grow gray-headed and pass away, let us sustain the reputation of this noble Regiment.

"Fortune threw together two organizations, the 84th and 57th, to make the present command. Both Regiments have been in the service since the beginning of the strife, and the records of both will command respect in all coming time. Very many of those who were enrolled with us have fallen, and their graves are scattered here and there throughout the South. We shall not forget them, and the people of this Nation must and will honor their memory. Comrades, Farewell."

Then with certificates of Honorable Muster-Out, all matters of detail faithfully completed, and the 8th day of July, 1865, at hand, the "Old Regimental Home" was gone, and forever.

* * * * *

The War is over! But not so with its splendid achievements, its grand and far reaching results.

Never was conflict waged to a better and surer end. Never a result attained bearing so completely upon true Governmental Economy.

To the Revolution of '75 we are indebted for the rebellion of '61. The Revolution stands out the more grandly because of the resulting text--the rebellion. The rejection of the latter was the upholding of the principles of the former; posterity's emphatic endorsement of a valued ancestry.

Victories may be great, but not always just. Conquerors have vanquished peoples and thereby encompassed countries within their toils, and then regretted there was not more to do on the same line. But their doing was only the accomplishment of personal gain, the satisfaction of selfish purpose. With them war was a thing sought after, not a calamity to be avoided.

Justice was not their polar star, nor did they seek the moral sphere as the place of their habitation. With them war was a vocation ordinary, and life and morals considerations secondary. Public standing and landed interests were made to depend upon military record. Conquered territory was divided as would be now the spoils of the theft, among the participators in the act and in proportion to the extent of the service done. What a mistake, how grievous a wrong, to review on the printed page the tenacity of an Alexander, or the vigor of a Napoleon, for the purpose of comparing the wars of their armies with the deeds of patriotism and of valor that moved the six fighting years of the Revolution, or the four years of the rebellion.

No man this side the Atlantic forced the Revolution. It was the outcome of oppression that ill fitted a people who had crossed from the other shore, not to bear greater burden, but that they might be full free from the crush of wrong. In its beginning not aggressive, but defensive. A year passed by before it was determined that the yoke should be fully thrown off and absolute independence moved for.

And so it was, when along in the after years came the overt acts of treason that were to force States into rebellion, against the will of their people, every effort, reasonable and unreasonable, was made to conciliate the men whose only desire was not Union, but disintegration. So far did some of the most prominently active, and, I may add, patriotic men of our Country, go in their determination to avoid a resort to arms, that the very amendment to the Constitution of these United States that forever forbids the institution of slavery, would have been, in number, the amendment that would have fastened slavery upon the Country forever, had it not been that just then treason grasped for too much and thereby lost all. Now, when all is safe, it moves us to a condition of agony to recall that in the Winter of '60 and '61, so weighty was the power of the then South, that among the men of our Country, those of best repute, were found so many, who, to avert war, were ready to surrender everything, save the theory of a Central Government for all the States, and the bare privilege to _look_ at the Old Flag.

Our Country is great, our Government is powerful, but no thanks are owing to compromisers for the greatness of the one or the power of the other.

Treason's eagerness for the capture of _all_ saved one generation from the commission of a wrong that the good deeds of all the coming generations could not have atoned for.

_It is well to be on guard always._

And what of the present?

The once soldiers of the confederacy are entitled, as individuals, to every manly consideration at our hands; as individuals they are as we are, men walking the journey of life, reaching out to one common goal. But their organized bodies have no claim upon us for recognition. The Government should have taken the life from every "camp" at the birth, and its strong arm should have swept from its soil the first monument to rebellion, with the warning that the placing of the second would be known as treason.

They have been asking that the War be forgotten, and yet they would keep us daily reminded by the flaunting of the confederate bars.

No monument to treason should have been permitted a place on this or other Field, and being here should be returned to the donors, not to be erected elsewhere.

_No Government is strong enough to glorify treason against itself, nor to encourage it anywhere._

The individual I would take most heartily by the hand, the organization I discard.

There can be no true call for a union of the blue and the gray. Let all don the blue. In place of waiting for the chasm to be closed, flank it and locate upon our side. The chasm itself can do no harm. It will be a thing well to look upon at times, and take warning from as the divider of great depth and impassable width.

As in Heaven, so in Earth, to dwell together as brothers, all must be of one mind, patriots upholding the one Flag, standing fast by the Red, White and Blue.

When true history of our day comes to be written, all things will be made plain. With the faithful historian, it is not the question of the doing, but of the thing done. Just as when we look upon the completed work of the sculptor, or the finished touch of the painter, it is not of the marble, or the canvas and the material laid upon it that we think, but of the figure before us, as we note perfection in every line, and see life in the seeming light of the eye, and apparent movement of muscle.

History gives little heed to men, save to designate the moral character of the age.

And now, Comrades, for the part taken by the 84th Regiment Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers in the setting of the page which will commemorate the work of our time, a grateful Commonwealth has placed upon this spot this weight of granite.

To the living it is, and to the people yet to come it will be, the visible proof of the deeds of heroism which located a part of the life of the men who bore the names that make up the Roll of a Command, whose record among the Archives of the Nation is without the semblance of a blur or particle of a stain. Clear, positive, clean cut all the way through. Do we advance _sentiment_ only, when we say that such a body did not, could not have died in '65? Is there nothing of substance, nothing real, to come out of the thought, that as our Country lives, so we as a Regiment go on, living in the freedom of a land and the stability of a Government, neither of which would now be, without sentiment, the spring of human life?

The Memorial which is here placed speaks from all along the line, from Bath to Appomattox.

For the moment it moves aside, and where it was, and within the lengthening of its shadow, we see them all, and as we glance from right to left, from front to rear, one is taken from here, another from there, one by one, from the highest in rank to the lowest, from the oldest in years to the youngest, the man and the boy; first the 230 in the time of the War, then the many who have left us in the days that have intervened; and then comes the Shaft into the space which was made for it. We look upon it now, and know that it stands for _them_. The time is coming when it will stand for _all_ whose names made up a Regimental Roll.

_Then_, and not till then, shall we know that our work here is _fully_ done.

* * * * *

Two years ago, at the Reunion held at Huntingdon, a Committee was appointed to secure for our Regiment the benefit of the Act of Assembly appropriating money for the purchase of Monuments for Pennsylvania Commands and their erection on the Field of Gettysburg. I will not enter upon a recital of the details of that Committee's work, but simply report that it is completed.

In so far as it may be the part of the Committee so to do, I now on its behalf turn over to you, Captain Johnson, as the Vice-President of the Regimental Association and its acting President, and as such the Representative of the Survivors of the 84th, this Memorial of its Service in the War of the Rebellion.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE

-Obvious print and punctuation errors fixed.