Chapter IX: Part 9

"The men, thoroughly exhausted, would lie at length on the cool, fresh earth, some of the timid ones hugging the bottom of the trench, painfully expressing the dread of something to come. And yet these timid ones, at the first rebel yell, would over and 'at them,' or draw bead on some venturesome Johnnie, and shout with derision if he was made to dodge. If they dropped him, a grim look of satisfaction, shaded with pity, passed over their dirty faces. The quiet was almost unbearable, the heat in the trenches intolerable, and rain, which commenced falling, was most welcome. Time dragged. We had not the slightest hint of what was developing. The rebels seemed very far off and trouble ominously near. From the right came an aide, and, quietly passing down the line of works, he dropped a word to this and that colonel; only a ripple, and all was again suspiciously still. 'What was it, Colonel?' asked the adjutant. The Colonel made no reply but simply pointed up the hill. Soon he took out his watch and looked anxiously to the right. Suddenly a commotion ran down the line, followed by the command, 'Attention! Forward, double quick!' On went the Brigade with a yell which was echoed by thousands of throats in front and was thrown back by the double columns in our rear. Down from the rebel right thundered shot and shell, making great gaps in our ranks, while on swept the Brigade, until suddenly loomed up in our front, three lines of works--literally a tier, one above another,--bristling with rifles ready aimed for our reception. There was lead enough to still every heart that was present, and yet, when sheets of flame shot out in our faces, scarcely a dozen of the Regiment were hit. Then men tore wildly at the abatis, and rushed on only to fall back or die. Again and again did the Brigade charge, and as often came those terrible sheets of flame in our faces, while solid shot and shell enfiladed our ranks. The crash which followed the fearful blaze swept away men, as the coming wind would sweep away the leaves from the laurel overhead.... Just as the last charge of ammunition was rammed home, relief came, when the Brigade retired to the works in the rear, to learn that it was not expected of the Brigade to carry the works, only to hold a strong force of the enemy, while Hancock carried the lines in his front, which were more favorably situated for a successful attack."

It was in the trying scenes of this exacting effort that Major Leavitt, of the Sixteenth, so endeared by his manly character, received the wound from which he died on the 30th instant in Washington. His was a nature too broad and brave to be confined to the limits of his own Regiment. "None knew him but to love him."

How the day seemed to a Company C man appears in his diary entry for the day: "Still damp, wet and rainy; the day opened with an advance of the Second Corps under Hancock, who carried the enemy's front line of breastworks and captured a division of the rebels and their General, Johnson. We were soon on the move to support our First Division in a general charge and were soon into it, hot and heavy. The enemy soon had another enfilading fire of grape and canister on us, and we could do nothing. Edward Ireland was killed by a solid shot and Henry Ireland was wounded in the arm. Soon after being withdrawn to the rear, we were sent to the left to support the Sixth Corps, and lay in a line of rifle-pits about two hours, when again we advanced through the woods and joined the Sixth Corps on the right, where we lay all the afternoon. We heard our folks pouring shells into the enemy from mortars. We turned in for the night, resting on our arms, wet through to the skin."

[Sidenote: MAY 13, '64]

The night was uncomfortable enough and during its hours there was an alarm that the enemy was advancing, while the truth was that Johnny Reb was quite as tired as the Yankees. Even soldiers must rest sometime, and early in the morning of the 13th the division was withdrawn to the rear, and for a short time laid aside responsibility, but it was not a long rest, since those rifle-pits must be filled with someone, and all too soon "we were moved up to the right, into works along with the One Hundred and Forty-sixth New York. Nothing here but water and mud. Showery all day, though the men are in good spirits, notwithstanding. About 8 p. m. when we were beginning to arrange to stretch out for the night, orders came to move, and we fell in, following the rest of the corps to the left. The mud was dreadful, the night dark, we forded streams up to our knees, and the mud all the time was over shoes." Grant had not yet found the spot through which he could force his way, so the Fifth Corps once more essays the part of pioneers, and leads the move towards the inevitable left, seeking in vain for some point not bristling with rebel bayonets, or threatening with black throated cannon. Truly our Lieutenant General is finding out, not only how strenuous is the Eastern Union soldier, but his eyes are opening wide as to the resourcefulness of the Eastern Confederate and his eternal vigilance.

It is another flank movement, and the men of Warren's Corps are moving to Burnside's left with orders to assault with that Corps at four o'clock in the morning of the 14th. Very likely the difficulties of this night, with its more than Egyptian darkness, had not been reckoned upon by the Commander and the appointed hour found the would-be assailants a long way from the point of expected advance. The route was past the Landrum House to the Ny River, which had to be waded, and beyond the route did not follow any road, traversing the fields, and a track was cut through the woods. Then came a fog, so dense that not even the fires built to light the way could be seen. Men exhausted by the difficulties of the move and previous exactions fell asleep all along the way. The new locality was quite unknown and by daylight when the expected attack was to take place, only Griffin with his First Division, having only twelve hundred "fagged-out men" had arrived. It was seven o'clock before General Cutler got thirteen hundred of his men together. Naturally the four o'clock charge was not made.

Wright and the Sixth Corps moved still further to the left, but had to do some fighting to get just the position wanted. All observers, whether of Regiment or Brigade, agree that the day was wet and comparatively quiet, though the enemy's shells passed harmlessly over the heads of the tired men, many of whom slept the sleep of utter exhaustion, the waking ones thankful that the fuses in said shells were long enough to keep up their hissing until a considerable distance beyond us before bursting. In the mutations of fighting and moving about, all the regular contents of knapsacks had disappeared, the most of the men retaining, in addition to canteen and haversack, rubber blankets only; besides, rations were scarce, yet men were content to rest without food, so trying had been the ordeal of the preceding ten days. After all, the average Yankee is ever anxious to know just where he is, and several entries of the 14th are to the effect that the Regiment is near the Fredericksburg turnpike, about eight miles from the city itself and, from a mile and a half to two miles from Spottsylvania Court House. With only the canopy of the sky as a covering, a large part of the Thirty-ninth slept through the night of the 14th-15th.

[Sidenote: MAY 15, '64]

The 15th is Sunday, and just a week away from the sad experience of Alsop's farm. These men of the First Brigade are fast becoming hardened veterans, and they have the privilege of greeting as such the comrades who had been home on re-enlistment furloughs and who, this day, got back again. There are many comparisons between the spic-and-span attire of the just-returned, and the "of-the-earth, earthy" apparel of men who, for ten long days and nights have fought and marched, at intervals hugging muddy mother-earth, till all semblance of cleanliness has disappeared, and dress parades have faded out of the recollections of all concerned. Then too the ravages of the hotly contested field have torn great gaps in the erstwhile well-filled ranks so that only squads of men constitute what have been long company lines. Some boys remark on the quiet of Sunday and think it properly kept; three days' rations are drawn, including fresh beef, and, with returning vitality and spirits, learning that the Eleventh Massachusetts Battery, in the Ninth Corps, is hard by, men of the Thirty-ninth make friendly visits to their acquaintances therein. Colonel Davis comes back to the Regiment to-day, looking much better than when he dropped out. Towards night, six o'clock, the troops are formed in line with expectation of an attack; four lines deep, our right rests on the top of a hill whence, as far as the eye can reach, armed men are seen awaiting the attack which is not made. It is a sight to remember!

Monday, the 16th, is also a quiet day for this campaign. Beginning foggy and damp, with the rising sun the mists clear away and it is very warm. On some sort of an alarm we are deployed, in line with the One Hundred and Seventh Pennsylvania, Colonel McCoy, that has just got back from its home trip on account of re-enlistment. On being recalled to our former station, we are set to work entrenching, introducing heavy timbers into our lines of works, three deep. About 9 p. m., we have to stop work, because the tools are needed elsewhere. Though there are showers in the evening, the moon finally shines through and, under her benign light, the Regiment sleeps. Nor does the record of the 17th differ essentially from that of yesterday. Foggy in the morning, then clearing and warm; picket or skirmish line duty for some and, about 4 p. m., our lines are moved to the right, nearer those of the Ninth Corps where there is more digging to render safe our position in case of attack. It is about this time that General Grant finds the army encumbered with an excess of artillery and, accordingly, sends back to Washington over a hundred guns; how the Johnnies would like to have some of these same weapons! All of them will come back again before the Petersburg siege is over.

Those who remember clearly the events of the 18th will agree that the most important one was the arrival, at 5 p. m., of the first mail since leaving camp at Mitchell's Station. What joy its contents gave those loyal hearts! Yet there were missives, in that coming of the postman, for faithful lovers whose eyes, many hours before, had closed in dreamless sleep, and in this life could never know how fondly they were remembered. The enemy, as if to make amends for continued quiet, began to shell the Ninth Corps just after our early breakfast, which we had soon after four o'clock. For some reason, General Warren wanted our Brigade nearer him, so at seven o'clock we were moved over towards the left and, under a shelling fire, lay till well along in the afternoon. Though there were six regiments in the Brigade it numbered, all told, less than a thousand men. About two o'clock, we returned to the right and, at eleven o'clock, reoccupied the works on which we had labored the night before. General Warren in his report for this day states that General Richard Coulter, commanding our Brigade, is severely wounded. This, too, is the day of the arrival at the Front of the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery from its long service in the defenses of Washington. It is assigned to the Second Brigade, Third Division, Second Corps, though at present it is with the Second Brigade of General Robert O. Tyler's Artillery Division.

For the greater part of the Potomac Army, the 19th is a quiet day, though the men in their breastworks notice some sort of change on their left. Of the day, General Warren says, "All our forces took up position on my left. This brought out General Ewell's Corps, who attempted to turn our right. He was repulsed, etc.... Rained in afternoon." Regimental note-takers remark on the drawing of rations, including fresh beef, and the fierce attack on their right, well along in the afternoon and of the fact that their friends in the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery had a severe experience.

[Sidenote: MAY 18, '64]

The hot reception accorded the First Heavies is worthy of more than passing mention. Recruited to the maximum of such organizations, the Regiment was a wonder to the men who had been long in the field, for it numbered about 1800 men, as large as two brigades of those who had been in the thickest of the fray. The Confederates of Ewell's command, desirous of ascertaining whether the Union forces were moving and, incidentally, to capture if possible a tempting wagon train, in the afternoon of the 19th, undertook to steal around the Union right, bearing down thus about 5 p. m. along the Fredericksburg Pike on the line of Federal supplies. Whatever the expectations of the enemy, the point of attack was by no means unguarded, and in history, the engagement is known as that of the Heavies, since not only were our First men there, but the First Heavy of Maine was in line, and the Second, Seventh and Eighth of New York as well. Swinton says that the artillerists had not been in battle before, but under fire they displayed an audacity surpassing even that of the experienced troops. "In these murderous wood-fights, the veterans had learned to employ all of the Indian devices that afford shelter to the person; but these green battalions, unused to this kind of shelter-craft, pushed boldly on, firing furiously. Their loss was heavy, but the honor of the enemy's repulse belongs to them." Excellent evidence of the sturdiness and steadiness of the men, with crossed cannon on their caps, is found in the words of an old Confederate, spoken in 1901 at the dedication of the regimental monument on the scene of the fight, known in the annals of the First as Harris Farm:

"I saw your men march on this field, not deployed, but like soldiers on parade, take aim and fire a volley straight from the shoulder. You seemed to me the biggest men I had ever seen. You were so near that I noticed that all wore clean shirts. There was the most perfect discipline and indifference to danger I ever saw. It was the talk of our men."

In Fox's book of Regimental Losses, he puts the killed and mortally wounded of our friends, in this engagement, as one hundred and twenty men.

FOOTNOTES:

[M] James Clay Rice was born in Worthington, Mass., December 27, 1829, and was graduated from Yale in 1854; after a period spent in teaching in Natchez, Miss., he came to New York, studied law, began its practice in 1856, and thus the war found him. He enlisted as a private in the Thirty-ninth (Garabaldi Guards) New York Infantry, was soon commissioned First Lieutenant, and Adjutant, and as a Captain, was present at Bull Run. On the organization of the Forty-fourth New York, or the Ellsworth Avengers, he was made Lieutenant Colonel, later Colonel, and saw all of the active service of that regiment, winning distinction at Gettysburg. At the time of his death he was in command of the Second Brigade, Fourth (Wadsworth's) Division of the Fifth Corps. Like Sedgwick, he was shot by a sharpshooter. His last words were, "Turn me over towards the enemy; let me die with my face to the foe."

NORTH ANNA RIVER

All agree that the 20th was a quiet day, though signalized by the arrival of a mail with so many letters and papers that for a while the general appearance was one of an out-of-door reading expanse, rather than a vast army under fire from a vigilant foe, though the latter also appeared to be quite good natured, and the bands of both armies made the air resound with music. Even the evening following the torrid heat of the day is described as moonlit and beautiful. General Meade says of the 21st, 22nd and 23rd, that they were employed in moving the army from Spottsylvania Court House to the North Anna River, and General Warren states that his artillery began to move at 10 a. m. of the 21st, that the enemy did some artillery firing and that the men stood to arms. His headquarters set out at noon. Local observers chronicle some activity on the part of the foe with certain changes in regimental positions and the actual starting at about noon, leaving pickets on their stations to shift for themselves. They march through a part of the country hitherto untouched by Union soldiers, and the people are seemingly badly scared. The stop for the night is at Guinea Station, covering a distance, someone says, of eleven miles. Though the men turn out at three o'clock in the morning of Sunday, the 22nd, they do not advance until almost noon, and then under a hot sun they marched ten miles to a certain Bull's church (St. Margaret's) where are seen a number of Confederate prisoners, and it is said that Lee passed through in the morning. The worst feature of the march is the fact that it is made on empty stomachs, for the rations have not come up.

[Sidenote: MAY 22, '64]

Of the country through which Grant and his soldiers are making another flank movement, many remarks are made because of its improved appearance over that of the region about Fredericksburg and northward, where war had been raging for three years, and it had become a veritable land of desolation. To the eyes of the soldiers it was a delightful sight, and one writer in the Thirty-ninth pays it the highest compliment possible by saying, "It looks like New England," and the same chronicler says he can't bear to see the men foraging for pigs, hens and everything edible, somewhat forced thereto, on account of the wagons being so far behind, and the tender hearted fellow continues, much to the credit of his bringing up, "Many of the people are poor and they need all they have for their own keeping." In army annals, the 23rd is known as the day of the North Anna River. In his report, General Warren states:

"General Cutler's division leading got off promptly at 5. a. m. Reached forks, where one road goes to the ford and one to the bridge, at 9. a. m. Cavalry skirmishing a little in advance. A deserter says it is Rosser's cavalry; says there is artillery and infantry on the other side. Turned back to give that road to Hancock and got possession of a crossing at a mill at 1 p. m. By 3.10 p. m., General Griffin's division had nearly all forded, and at 3.10 p. m. bridge-train began to arrive. About 4.30, bridge (pontoon) was completed and last of General Cutler's division crossed. About 6 a. m. enemy assaulted us. My right gave way, and the artillery drove back the enemy. We repulsed them everywhere."

From internal sources, we learn that the Thirty-ninth was started out before 5 a. m., and marched rapidly towards the North Anna. Getting on the wrong road a halt was had for an hour, and certain portions of the Second Corps passed by, including the Tenth Massachusetts Battery, the old friends of Poolesville, and later we got the right road and reached Jericho Ford, though it was pretty deep for men of ordinary stature. However, the crossing had been effected by others and the pontoon bridge laid so that we went over dry shod. An attack was made upon us soon after reaching the south side, the fight continuing until after dark. The enemy had expected to drive us back to the steep banks of the river, and possibly into it, but they made the error of letting over too many of us, and our artillery was quite too effectual for them. The high banks of the North Anna, would have made matters very bad for us had not the rebel calculations miscarried. While there was some loss, one killed in Company H, and several wounded, the loss of the Confederates was considerable. We lay very quietly on our arms throughout the night, no lights being tolerated lest we might reveal our location to the foe.

While the Second Corps is doing considerable fighting on the Union left and though the Thirty-ninth shifts its position, relatively the 24th is a quiet day. The enemy has fallen back a mile or so and he is followed up, advantage being taken of the opportunity to tear up some long stretches of the railroad and to bend the rails around trees, thus rendering them quite useless for the future. The wagon train having crossed the river, rations for four days are distributed and, as one man states, "They are badly needed." Large numbers of the enemy keep coming in, and they appear, for the most part, very glad to reach a point where food is possible, even if the wagons are sometimes slow in reaching us. As a variant on the unusual quiet of the day, a heavy thunder storm imparts noise and moisture to the scene. It is on this day that the Ninth Corps is formally incorporated with the Army of the Potomac, General Burnside generously waiving any rights possessed by the priority of his commission over that of General Meade. General Warren speaks of spending all of the 25th in getting into position in front of the enemy's line and driving in his (the enemy's) light troops to his main force. "Found Hill's Corps intrenched between the North Anna and the Little River. Lost about one hundred and fifty men and officers during the day." During this day, some of the men had severe experience on the skirmish line, fully nine hours of tedious duty, with incessant firing along the line. A severe thunder shower marked this day also, and it was a wet earth upon which the men undertook at last to sleep.

[Sidenote: MAY 25, '64]

Again the flank movement had failed to discover an assailable point in the confederate lines. They had been thoroughly reconnoitered and "so great was the natural strength of the ground, so well were the intrenchments traversed, so tenacious was the Southern infantry, that it seemed impossible to produce any serious impression upon them. To have attacked the army of Northern Virginia across intrenchment of the kind found here, would have involved a useless slaughter." The Corps Commander reports for the 26th, "Hard rain in morning at seven o'clock. Remained in position all day. Rained in afternoon. At dark, began to recross the North Anna River at Quarles' Mills. Roads heavy and slippery with mud and approaches to stream bad. All not over till near daylight." The day proves to be more than usually wet and disagreeable, but in the forenoon many are surprised and pleased at the return of the men, captured on the 8th at Alsop's farm, and retaken by Custer the next day at Beaver Dam Station, who now rejoin the Regiment ready for duty.

Skirmishing continues all day and the pickets are active, yet there is no set engagement, the head officers having decided on still another movement towards the inevitable left. At nine o'clock in the evening, we move out of our works, under orders to not speak above a whisper, so that our departure may not be suspected and the end of the 26th of the month beholds us approaching the recrossing of the North Anna.

Early in the morning of the 27th, we recross the river and at 2.30 a. m., some distance beyond the stream must halt and draw three days' rations, which we are told must last us six. An hour later we are on the march and struggle on through characteristic Virginia mud, so thick and adhesive that many a footgear is left in its tenacious clutches. There is very little halting for us, since we are trying to interpose ourselves between Lee and Richmond, and we must move more rapidly than the latter since he, being on the arc of an inner circle, has a less distance to overcome than we. At eight o'clock comes a welcome halt for breakfast, the pause being protracted for rest until nearly noon, when we are up and off again, with very little cessation till seven in the evening, having marched almost continuously twenty-two hours and covering twenty-five miles. We had not had our clothes off in twenty-four days; not a man thought of washing his face, much less of taking a bath; nor is the strain over yet. In what condition men, gently reared, found themselves may be imagined. Camp is pitched near Mangohick Church. The 28th begins as early as four o'clock, and following breakfast the march is resumed at six, and the Pamunkey River is crossed at Newcastle. Halting some three miles beyond the river, breastworks are built, the men proclaiming the digging easy, and here we halt for the night, being about fifteen miles from Richmond, the nearest point to the confederate capital as yet reached by the Thirty-ninth.

[Sidenote: MAY 31, '64]

The record for the 29th is one of marching, waiting and digging. Though ordered out at four o'clock in the morning with the further direction to be ready to start at five, we wait till nearly noon, in the meantime seeing the arrival of the Ninth Corps, after an all night's march. On starting we find great masses of troops assembled in every direction, our Regiment halting near the Fifth Corps' headquarters, where we remain till near seven o'clock, when we proceed to the left, some two and a half miles, where the Brigade throws up breastworks; the Thirty-ninth going on picket later, the night proving a quiet one. It would have been enjoyable if our haversacks had not been empty, the injunction to make our last rations hold out six days not having been found practicable. Though we find roses in full bloom considerably earlier than at home, this does not offset hungry stomachs. About 7 a. m., we retire from the picket line and join the other troops of our Corps, and after a short march of about one mile, we draw rations of fresh beef, which help out somewhat, and later still came the rations we so much needed. The wagons could not come up so one hundred men were detailed to go back to the train and bring the food with them, this being after a day given to efforts to repel attacks that did not seriously affect our Regiment. Beck of "E" Company records that this day the old Second Division got together again under the command of Brigadier General Henry H. Lockwood, though the fact is stated elsewhere as provisional.

COLD HARBOR

The sun of May 31st rose red and torrid and the day proved to be terribly hot. Fortunately the exegencies of the campaign did not require any considerable activity, and the men had the privilege of "sweltering" in the breastworks or of "lolling" under their shelter tents, just back of the trenches. General Warren records of the day that the skirmishers were pushed forward about one mile, without opposition, beyond Bethesda Church. While there is the sound of cannonading on both the right and left, the last day of May, so far as our Regiment is concerned, is the safest seen since crossing the Rapidan. The day is the prelude to the opening of the Cold Harbor fight, one which will cover June 1-12, and it closes with the Union forces extending nearly North and South. White House on the Pamunkey has become the new base of supplies and here the Eighteenth Corps, under General W. F. Smith, landed on the 30th, and by forced marches will be able to take position between the Fifth and Sixth Corps on the 1st of June. The section now harried by the opposing armies was the scene of active warfare two years ago, for Fair Oaks began on the 31st of May and to-morrow's Cold Harbor will begin to repeat the horrors of the Seven Days' Fight.

The efforts of Generals Grant and Meade to find an unguarded point through which the Union Army might interpose itself between Richmond and the Confederate Army have thus far proved unavailing. Whether active at the head of his forces or weak and ailing, borne along his line in a carriage, General Lee is still untiring in his watchfulness and, loyally supported by such lieutenants as Ewell, Hill, Early, Anderson and others, there is always a firm gray wall confronting the determined line in blue. Attempts to force it had been unsuccessful at the North Anna and Totopotomy and now, on McClellan's old battle fields, another fierce assault is to be made on the enemy's works, though the brunt of the charge will not come on the Fifth Corps this day; rather will the story be told by those who fought in the ranks of the Sixth and Eighteenth Corps, which had gained their places, some portions thereof, late in the afternoon, and after desperate fighting carried certain of the Confederate defences. Turning again to the words of General Warren, we learn that there was a movement against the rebel position which was intrenched with a large space of clear ground in front, swept by artillery. The Corps suffers a loss of two hundred killed and wounded and the line is extended four to five miles; the Corps is attacked in several places, quite severely on the right just before dark.

Lieutenant Dusseault of Company H has the following account of the night of the 31st of May and the 1st of June, showing very well what a portion of the Thirty-ninth was doing:--

[Sidenote: MAY 31, '64]

"On the skirmish line, last night, I became completely exhausted. We were a mile and a half in advance of our main line; the sergeant with me was of the One Hundred and Fourth New York; I left him in charge and went to sleep. About midnight, when it was pitch dark, he roused me, with the words, 'They are coming! They are coming!' It seems that the enemy were marching in one, long, steady column towards our right. They were so near that we could hear their voices, and their tramping shook the earth where we lay. In the morning we found their earthworks empty, and we so reported at headquarters. June 1st was pleasant but hot, our skirmish line, a mile and a half from our main line, was in the woods and close up to the enemy. At daybreak when we found their works vacated, I reported to division officer of the picket, Major Pierce, of the Thirteenth Massachusetts, who ordered me to advance my line. But just as I was about to do so, we found the enemy were moving back to our left. They passed within three hundred feet of our picket line, thus putting us in a precarious position. Their flankers were within two hundred feet of us, and we did not dare to move in the hour or more that it took them to pass. There must have been five or six thousand of them. They finally halted and slipped into their old works. Just then, the New York Ninth Infantry, deployed as skirmishers advanced to relieve us, making so much noise that they drew the enemy's fire and several of the New York boys were killed. The rebels must have thought the whole Yankee line was advancing, for they shelled the entire woods severely. We lay as closely as possible, and when there was a lull in the firing, we would fall back and thus gradually regained the Regiment, and went to work at building breastworks. About 7 p. m., we moved to our left, into an open field, where we threw up a new line of works, making the eighteenth that we had started in this campaign. There was a terrible battle in progress at our left, lasting till 9 p. m., the Sixth and Eighteenth Corps losing heavily."

Though no part of the experience of the Fifth Corps, it is quite in place to state that the battle which was heard at the Union left was that of the Sixth and Eighteenth Corps in the beginning of the sanguinary contest which was to rage along the lines of blue and gray for almost two weeks and which, in these, the opening hours, marked the attempt of the above named bodies to dislodge the Confederate divisions of Hoke, Kershaw, Pickett and Field, reading from rebel right to left, resulting in partial success but at the cost of between two and three thousand men on our side. During the night of the 1st Hancock and his Second Corps were withdrawn from the Union right, and by dint of a very trying march were found at the extreme Union left in the morning of the 2d of June, yet not in time for the early charge which had been ordered for that day. The several corps are now in order from left to right, Second, Sixth, Eighteenth, Fifth and Ninth, with a considerable gap between the Eighteenth and Fifth, covered by a picket line only. Captain Porter of the Thirty-ninth, in a paper read in 1881 before the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, refers to this hiatus as an "interval over a most desolate piece of country, woody, rocky, and quite hilly." The great 3rd of June charge, that to which Grant in his Memoirs refers, saying, "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made," this bloody scene, also, was at the Union left, the brunt being borne by the Second Corps, and in less degree only by the men of the Sixth and Eighteenth Corps. Of the Fifth Corps, Porter says, "Warren, who occupied a front of nearly four miles, was altogether too much extended to allow of his having any available force to assault with, and he was content with carrying the enemy's skirmish line on his front." The Ninth Corps attacked the foe with some success, pushing its lines well to the right of the enemy's left.

[Sidenote: JUNE 3, '64]

At noon of the 3rd, owing to the opinion of the several corps commanders that further assaults would prove futile, General Grant issued an order to the effect that there should be a suspension of assaults until further notice. Then followed many days of digging, applied to parallels and approaches and the making of reconnoisances, thus keeping the enemy in a state of apprehension, lest he should detach a portion of his forces to assist in the effort to head off General Hunter in the Shenandoah Valley. General Warren's account of the period gives very little of interest save that on the 4th, owing to the withdrawal of the enemy from the front of the Ninth Corps, the latter was moved around the Fifth to the space between the Fifth and the Eighteenth Corps. On the 5th Warren made a reconnoisance on Shady Grove road, and in the night withdrew to the rear, and was on the road all night. The 6th he devoted to "putting things in order"; the 7th, he sent Griffin's and Cutler's divisions to picket the Chickahominy, and held Ayers and Crawford to support Burnside; 8th, 9th and 10th, remained in camp; 11th, with all his corps, except Griffin and Cutler, to Moody's, south of railroad, preparatory to further movement; 12th, Generals Grant and Meade reached his headquarters at 5.30 p. m. Corps started at 6 p. m. Reached vicinity of Long Bridge before midnight.

The notes made at the time by men of the Thirty-ninth consist largely of statements of moving to the right or left and of coming back to positions formerly occupied; of picketing and of sundry incidents, some of which are appended, though, in the fighting for which the period has such a bloody record, the Thirty-ninth bore a very small part, yet it played its assigned rôle well, at no time failing to do with alacrity whatever duty came in its way. While not actively engaged in the assault of the 3rd, as stated above, the men were all on the alert and anxiously expectant. On the 2nd General Lockwood, who had commanded the reorganized Second Division a few days, was relieved and ordered to Baltimore, there to await further orders. His methods were not to the liking of General Warren. The general trend of the army was towards the left, and in two installments the Corps marched on the 5th several miles, fetching up at midnight at Cold Harbor, near the fighting points of the 1st and 3rd days of the month, camping in the rear of the Second Corps. Here follow three days of relative peace and quiet, in which rations are drawn, cooked and consumed with relish and dispatch. "The quietest time since the 3rd of May" is the record of one observer, and another says, "It seems nice to be free from firing all the while, though the bugles keep us in touch with camp life." Baggage wagons get up on the 6th and officers, after picking out their valises are able to enjoy a change of linen and, on this day, is promulgated the order that our old brigade relations are changed and the whole organization is transferred to the Second Brigade of the Third Division, the latter being under the command of General S. W. Crawford while Colonel Lyle remains at the head of the Brigade. The day also marks a slicking up time, the camp being policed and the quartermaster deals out much needed wearing apparel. Our camp is not far from the headquarters of General Warren. Our change to the Third Division also changes the hue of our corps badge, the maltese cross, from white to blue.

On the 7th, B. H. Dow, the only man wounded at Mine Run, returns to his "C" Company. That an unusual degree of quiet prevailed in these days appears when, on the 9th, the wagons brought up a desk for the adjutant, the bands begin to play again, drilling is resumed and the Second Brigade has a dress parade, but the event of all which pleased the Thirty-ninth most was the return of Lieutenant Colonel Peirson, who had been absent after his wounding at Laurel Hill. One of the boys thus entered the incident in his diary: "We cheered him heartily; a brave man commands the respect of all; his patriotism cannot be questioned, when he has the privilege of a furlough of thirty days, but instead of taking it comes back to his Regiment."

In Charles E. Davis's history of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Infantry, we may read an excellent statement of the soldiers' feelings toward General Grant:--

"No matter what happened, we moved forward. No backward steps were taken--an experience to which the Army of the Potomac, hitherto, had been unused. The consequence was that the "Old Man," as General Grant was called, was always greeted with genuine enthusiasm, though he didn't seem to care very much for it. In his old blouse and hat he appeared like the rest of us,--ragged and dirty. Once when we passed him, he sat on a platform car, gnawing away on an old ham bone. As the boys cheered him, he gave the bone a flourish for a second, and then went on gnawing it as though we were miles away. It was wonderful how thoroughly this retiring, undemonstrative man had gained the confidence of the army. In spite of the hard work we had been having, the men were in good spirits, pleased that at last we were accomplishing something."

[Sidenote: JUNE 7, '64]

The 7th marks the departure from the corps of the Eighty-third New York, Ninth Militia of the Second Brigade, its terms of enlistment having expired, and it is to offset the going home of regiments, through reaching their end of service, that great numbers of recruits are coming in constantly. In the case of the Eighty-third, so severe has been its losses, it takes away only one hundred and fifty men. The ninth day gives the men a new exhibition, that of a correspondent of the Philadelphia Inquirer being escorted through the army by a Provost Marshal's guard, bearing on his back, a board labelled, "Libeller of the Press," on account of certain libellous letters he had written to his paper. However sad the man may have been, through his punishment, his plight affords the observers a deal of amusement. During these days mails arrive and depart and, after the complete rest of a few days, to the survivors of the May experience, life really seems to be worth living. With the 11th is associated the memory of reveillé at four o'clock, breakfast at six, and then a march which takes us across the York and Richmond Railroad at about 11 a. m. and a mile or so south of it we halt for dinner. The march ends near Bottom's Bridge on the Chickahominy River, camps being pitched on the very ground occupied by McClellan's troops two years before. The 12th is Sunday and so long has been the interval since religious services were held, some men are glad of the chance to hear a Christian Commission man preach; and the Thirty-ninth is inspected by Colonel Lyle, brigade commander. At 7 p. m. the line of march is once more taken up and we proceed some miles towards the east, halting at eleven o'clock for a rest and supper.

TOWARDS THE JAMES RIVER

The veteran soldiers who are participating in this southward movement, though they may not know the details that are in the minds of Grant and Meade, are well aware that the grand purpose announced in the Wilderness is still being developed and, that the "summer-long line" is that which they are following. The Lieutenant General, having found the way too effectually blocked via Cold Harbor as early as the 5th of June, when Warren's men were withdrawn and sent towards the left of the Union line, had determined to change his base of operations and, after crossing the James, to lay siege to Petersburg, and thus to capture the Capital of the Confederacy. The pause of the Fifth Corps for several days had given the men the necessary rest and recuperation for the lead they were to take in the new flank movement and now, just before midnight of the 12th of June, they are awaiting the completion of a pontoon bridge over which they may pass to the south side and so hold the way open for the other troops to follow. General Warren refers to the locality as Long Bridge, but the map which accompanies Humphreys' "Campaign of '64 and '65" has it as "Long's Bridge," but in either case, whether called for its length or some family resident near, the structure had disappeared through the ravages of war, and a temporary bridge becomes a necessity.

The Journal of the Fifth Corps Commander for this 13th of June has the following entry:--

"Our cavalry drove back the enemy's to New Market Cross Roads. Crawford's (Third) Division went to White Oak Swamp bridge to cover passage of trains and Second Corps. At 8 a. m. began to withdraw, bothered by McIntosh's (union) cavalry brigade, and only got as far as St. Mary's Church, though traveling nearly all night. Enemy did not follow."

Lieut. John H. Dusseault says:--

[Sidenote: JUNE 13, '64]

"On June 13, we resumed our march at 1 a. m., and crossed the Chickahominy near Long Bridge, on pontoons, just before daylight. There was some slight skirmishing. At 6 a. m., we marched for two hours, covering about two miles only, and formed in line of battle. We were now in White Oak Swamp, between the James River and the Chickahominy, and the skirmishing was lively. We were marching on a straight road and we could see a fort nearly a mile in front of us. They opened upon us from the fort, and the first shell struck the road before it reached our column. The men opened to the right and left, and the shell ricocheted down between them. We then left the road and went into the fields and woods. If I remember correctly we went to the left of the road. Our Brigade advanced some ways in the direction of Richmond, which was perhaps seven or eight miles away, the balance of the division remaining in the rear as a support. We did some light skirmishing during the afternoon, and the enemy charged some dismounted cavalry, who were located upon our right, and drove them back some distance. Shortly after dark, somewhere between 8 and 9 p. m., all of the officers of the brigade were ordered up to Colonel Lyle's (the Brigade's) headquarters. The Colonel told us of the position which we were in, stating that we were nearly surrounded, and that an attempt would be made at about midnight to get out. He also told us to tell our men of our position, also that no orders above a whisper should be given, and, that if we heard so much as a tin dipper jingling upon a man's haversack, to cut it off. We were told to get what rest we could between then and midnight. At about midnight the line fell in, seemingly without orders, faced to the left, and marched through a field where some tall grain was growing, and the men, knowing our position and being anxious to get out, kept increasing their pace and rattling the grain, so that it was necessary to halt them and to start them again from time to time until we had cleared the grain field. The night was very dark and the darkness favored our escape. We started again at Charles City Court House, not far from the James. At this time the Second Corps was crossing the James. We then found that while we were making this demonstration toward the enemy and occupying their attention, Grant had been moving the chief part of the army across the peninsular, toward the James River, and Petersburg. In fact, when we arrived, the Ninth Corps had crossed and the Second Corps was crossing the James. We crossed the James on the 16th, on the transport General Howard and were landed upon the Petersburg side at 9 a. m. I was told by another officer that it was understood that it was necessary that some small portion of the army should make this demonstration and occupy the attention of the enemy while the chief part of it should be crossing to the Petersburg side of the James and it was thought to be our turn to take the risk which attended it. General Warren is said to have remarked that he never expected to see us again."

After dark, we were withdrawn and started on a march which involved the taking of a wrong road and the consequent loss of valuable time, passing St. Mary's Church and just before daybreak of the 14th halted on the road to Charles City Court House. Starting again at six, by ten o'clock we were near the place named for that unfortunate British King who lost both crown and head, the place showing plainly the effect of McClellan's presence two years before. Were it not for the Court House itself, a one-storied edifice with a porch, and a blacksmith shop the place would be scarcely more than a name, but some one remarks, "We must be getting somewhere for I can hear the steamers whistle on the James River." Had we been supplied with rations our pleasure at the prospect and the rest would have been greater, but our haversacks were quite empty. However, we could go to sleep, which we proceeded to do at the early hour of eight o'clock.

[Sidenote: JUNE 16, '64]

The 15th was not eventful save as it brought the long expected wagon train and rations galore. There was a complete filling of all receptacles with the necessities of army life, and after stuffing ourselves with hardtack and the other good things that those wagons carried we were in a mood to enjoy ourselves, though we couldn't help wishing that the mail would come, bringing news from the far-away homes in the North. With a sort of forewarning that exactions would be made upon our vigor and strength on the morrow, again we turned in early. Sure enough we were turned out at two o'clock in the morning of the 16th for a march of three miles to Wilcox's Wharf on the banks of the James and the sight of the glorious river and the banks, in many cases, crowned with the mansions of aristocratic Virginians. The entire country, robed in the brightest of green, was one to make an indelible impression on the memory. The Thirty-ninth crossed the river on the transports, "General Howard," "George Weems" and possibly others, and by 9 a. m. we were all on the southern side. Here we found the Seventh Massachusetts, an Old Colony regiment, just taking boat for home. A splendid fighting body of men, they had earned the long rest that was coming to them. The pause, when over the river, afforded an opportunity for a plunge into the waters of the classic James, a chance that thousands of the men embraced, the very first one since crossing the Rapidan, and many declared that in all their army experience they had found no place equal to it, certainly none that they enjoyed more.

Concerning this movement to the south of the James, a dispatch was sent from army headquarters to Washington as follows:--

"Our forces withdrew from within fifty yards of the enemy's entrenchments at Cold Harbor, made a flank movement of about fifty-five miles march, crossing the Chickahominy and James Rivers, the latter two thousand feet wide and eighty-four feet deep at the point of crossing, and surprised the enemy's rear at Petersburg."

PETERSBURG

The long-continued battle of Petersburg had already begun before we were in battle line. General Butler, on the other side of the Appomattox, on this Thursday morning through General Terry, had assaulted Port Walthall with the intention of interrupting the coming of rebel re-inforcements on the Richmond & Petersburg Railroad and, the night before, troops of the Eighteenth Corps, which had been with us at Cold Harbor, had attacked south of the river, and had there been a supporting force at hand, the second as well as the first line of works might have been carried. As troops of the Second Corps came up they were sent against the works and, during the night and the following day, the 16th, the contest continued along the line composed of the Eighteenth Corps on the right, the Second in the centre and the Ninth on the left. All this while we of the Fifth Corps were sporting in the waters of the James. Meanwhile other portions of the Fifth Corps had gone forward, and at four o'clock in the afternoon the Thirty-ninth with its neighbors started on the road to Petersburg. After covering some ten miles of the way, we halted at 10.30 p. m. for food and rest, the route having been over hills and through swamps, difficult at the best, all the more so at night.