MILITARY: One Hundred and Fiftieth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Second Regiment, Bucktail Brigade, Chapter 11 Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by JRB & JP Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm Table of contents for the book with graphics, may be found at http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/1pa/military/cw/150-bucktails/150-bucktails.htm ________________________________________________ HISTORY OF THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH REGIMENT PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS, SECOND REGIMENT, BUCKTAIL BRIGADE. BY LIEUTENANT-COLONEL THOMAS CHAMBERLIN, HISTORIAN OF THE SURVIVORS ASSOCIATION. REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION, WITH COMPLETE ROSTER. PHILADELPHIA: F. McMANUS, JR. & CO., PRINTERS, 1905. PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS 87 CHAPTER XI. CHANCELLORSVILLE. THE day was warm and the air so charged with humidity that the slightest motion induced copious perspiration. It was evident from the start that the march would be an exhausting one for both officers and men. In quitting their comfortable huts near Belle Plain the latter had crowded into their knapsacks articles of clothing in excess of the' soldier's proper allowance, besides many knickknacks to which they had become attached; so that with a week's supply of hard-tack and the extra forty rounds of ball cartridge superadded, some of the knapsacks assumed the proportions of a pedler's outfit. For an hour or more they bore up bravely under this heavy load, but when the column had passed Falmouth, at every halt, however brief, the contents of their packs were hastily examined, and first one thing and then another discarded, until the road was strewn with shirts, drawers, socks, pieces of blanket, and an endless variety of "plunder". With every passing moment the air seemed to grow hotter, and further measures of relief were studied and practised, until even cherished keepsakes were flung aside with a sigh, in order to accommodate the burden to the capacity of the bearer. A few of the men were caught in the act of removing the metallic eagle from the shoulder-belt which sustained the cartridge-box, but a threat of punishment put a stop to this unwarranted scheme. On moved the column, with faces growing more and more florid and streaming with increased perspiration, weaving in and out among the wagons which encumbered the road in places, and 88 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH jaded by abrupt halts and starts when temporary blockades occurred, until at last, when United States Ford was reached, about six o'clock, many of the men seemed ready to drop from sheer exhaustion. All the afternoon they had listened to the sound of artillery, now weak and fitful, now loud and continuous, away in the direction of Chancellorsville, and wished that they might exchange the fatigues of the march for the excitement of the battlefield, with all its possible dangers. The crowded condition of the pontoon bridge, over which batteries and regiments were streaming in one direction and ambulances laden with wounded in another, necessitated a rest of perhaps half an hour, which was gladly welcomed by the tired men. Then, just as the sun was setting, the brigade crossed the river, and, under orders from a staff-officer, turned to the left, in the shadow of tall forest trees, and prepared to bivouac for the night. It would have been happiness enough for the command to throw off its cumbersome packs, undo its "harness", and roll itself into its blankets, without thought of food or drink, to find in sleep a panacea for the physical trials of the day; but such good fortune was not in store for it. Evidently something was wrong at the front, for the artillery growled more furiously and ominously than ever, and its echoes were multiplied and intensified as they rolled through the thick woods to the banks of the Rappahannock. Again the order was "Fall in!" and "Forward!" and in the fading twilight the column headed through the forest and moved rapidly towards the scene of the firing. Night soon closed in, but the cannonading continued, and before long the crash of volleying small arms could be distinctly heard. At a distance of two or three miles from the ford the narrow road was blocked by a long train of ambulances, conveying the wounded to the rear; and as the brigade picked its way around the obstruction it was whispered that General Devens, after-wards Attorney-General of the United States, was among PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS 89 those more seriously disabled. Soon a battery or two, in a seeming state of confusion, interrupted the march, necessitating a momentary halt, during which the troops were instructed to load. From this point forward the forest presented a weird and impressive spectacle. Here and there dead pines were ablaze to the very top, and in the light of these lofty torches each trunk and limb of the solemn trees was distinctly outlined, while thousands of startled whippoorwills, made doleful music for the advancing re-enforcements. Of this night advance Adjutant Ashhurst says, "Fatigued, and indeed utterly worn out as the regiment was with its hot and prolonged march, yet when the order to load was given, and the men realized that they were at last close to the foe and might be engaged at any moment, all weariness seemed to vanish, and they moved forward with a step as light and eager as in the morning. This night march by the light of the burning pines, to the sound of the cannon, was wonderfully picturesque and exciting, and was diversified by the meeting of every kind of returning combatant and non-combatant from the field of battle, who filled our ears with tales of the valor of the Third, and the misconduct of the Eleventh, Corps. I remember particularly a gallant Irishman of Sickles's corps, who greeted us as we came by with, 'We were just winning the most glorious victory in the world, boys, when those damned Dutchmen ran. If you'd only been there instead! But we'll be with you in the morning!'" About half a mile from the Chancellorsville pike a dark line of blue, flat on the ground, stretched diagonally across the road into the woods to an unknown distance on either side. To the question, "What troops are those?" came the reply "Regulars!' Unmistakably the Union arms had met with a reverse. Nor were the newcomers long in learning of Jackson's flank attack, which brought disaster to Howard's (Eleventh) corps, on the extreme right of the army, and left the final issue of the 90 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH battle uncertain. In a few minutes more the brigade reached the turnpike, where it was directed to the left, and marched nearly to the Chancellor House. Shells were still flying, and an occasional volley of musketry told that deadly work was still going on. Mingled with the sound of the guns could be heard the shrill rebel yell and the heavier refrain of Union cheers. It was now near midnight, and by order of General Hooker the troops of the First Corps countermarched and, moving some distance to the right, threw themselves into the dense woods, facing the supposed position of the enemy. The exact location of the latter's left wing could only be conjectured, but it was to be expected that before they could complete their line the Union troops would be fired upon. Such was not the case, however, and, after establishing a cordon of pickets about two hundred yards in front, the First Corps slept undisturbed on its arms. The darkness of the night, intensified by the overhanging trees and underbrush, made it desirable that the pickets should have some mark by which they might distinguish one another, and accordingly those of the 150th (who volunteered for this dangerous duty) were instructed to roll up one sleeve of the blouse, displaying the white of the shirt as far as the elbow. In placing the line, Major Chamberlin, who was designated for this purpose, gathered up a score or two of the stampeded men of the Eleventh Corps, who were sleeping in the woods, utterly lost, and, after completing his ticklish task, piloted them back to the pike, where they were turned over to the provost guard. One German, who was evidently a company cook, with a mass of kettles and pans in his keeping, was disposed to make resistance when roused from his leafy couch, imagining, no doubt, that he was being made a prisoner by the enemy; but on being assured in his own tongue that he was in the hands of friends, he shouldered his huge collection of government property and moved off with alacrity. MAJOR-GENERAL JOSEPH HOOKER. [portrait] PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS 91 On the morning of the 3d, an admirable line of breastworks was constructed of fallen trees and of others which were speedily felled for the purpose, along the entire front of the corps, and this was quickly duplicated by the reserves at a short distance in the rear; so that in a few hours the position of Reynolds's command was practically impregnable. The same kind of defences was prepared by the Fifth Corps, which had been advanced before morning and joined the First on the left, Stone's brigade touching elbows with Sykes's division. The underbrush was also cleared away for a space of two hundred yards in front of the lines, so as to obtain an early view of the enemy, should he attack, and give greater effect to a musketry fire. Immediately after daybreak, Lieutenant-Colonel Huidekoper, who had been placed in charge of the pickets of Doubleday's division, advanced the line half a mile or more, the pickets of the divisions to the right and left sharing in the movement. Here the fire of the enemy's sharpshooters began to be felt, but, alert and crafty, the Bucktail marksmen got the better of their antagonists, and during the day Colonel Huidekoper sent back a large number of prisoners, chiefly from Georgia and North Carolina regiments. The Georgians had been freshly uniformed, and in physical condition were far superior to their "tar-heel" comrades, upon whom they seemed to look with some contempt. The North Carolinians, ragged to a degree, were neither "fat" nor "saucy", and in conversation expressed themselves as being tired of the war. Corporal W. H. Hirst, of Company I, was wounded in the knee that day. Lieutenant-Colonel Huidekoper was probably the first to report the serious wounding of "Stonewall" Jackson, having learned the fact from prisoners taken on the picket line May 3. An incident which occurred in the works of the 150th, about noon of the 3d, created no little merriment at the expense of 92 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH one of its subalterns. The ground immediately behind the portion of the defences occupied by his company (of which, through the sickness of his captain, he was in command) rose to such an extent that, thinking if he maintained his proper distance he would, in case of an attack, be exposed to the bullets of the enemy, and believing that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure", this ingenious young officer directed one of his pioneers to dig a hole of sufficient dimensions to shelter his valuable person. When finished, it much resembled a grave, and so contagious was the laughter which it occasioned that Colonel Wister's attention was speedily directed to the unsightly excavation. The rebuke which he administered to the offending lieutenant was of a kind to send cold chills down his back, and when the latter was ordered to close the trench with his own hands, the cup of his abasement was full. Early in the afternoon, Colonel Stone requested Colonel Wister to designate a man in his command who would venture outside of the lines, and try to ascertain the position, probable numbers and movements of the enemy in our front. Colonel Wister called for Sergeant Frank E. Northrup, of Company F, who promptly accepted the mission, and was permitted to take with him Corporals Wm. R. Ramsey and Levi Munshower, and David Ashhalter and James Stevenson, of the same company, who volunteered for the purpose, to afford him protection while in the tree-tops making his observations. With Colonel Stone's field-glasses, and accompanied by his squad with their firearms, Sergeant Northrup crossed the breastworks to the right of the regimental position, the woods appearing to be more open in that direction, and, after passing some distance beyond the skirmish-line, climbed tree after tree in the hope of getting a view of the enemy. Owing to the density of the forest he was unable to discover anything of importance; and after being fired at repeatedly by PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS 93 the rebel skirmishers, he and his squad returned to the works, bringing with them a Georgian whom they had captured. During the day there was heavy firing, both artillery and musketry, some distance to the left and front, in which the First Corps had no part. On account of the dense woods which intervened it was impossible to see what was going on, nor could anything be learned of the progress of the battle, except from the indications given by the swell and lull of the fire of the contending forces. The roar of the cannon and the crash of small arms were at times so loud and continuous as to raise keen apprehensions of another disaster to some portion of the Union line. It was the Third Corps, assisted by Williams's division of the Second, under the active and able generalship of Sickles, meeting the repeated onsets of Jack-son's troops, who the evening before had swept Howard's command from the field. General Hooker had ordered a contraction of his lines, but the enemy attacked in the early morning, and a withdrawal could not be effected without a fight, which lasted for hours, with varying fortune, and proved to be the most sanguinary of the series of encounters in the Chancellorsville campaign. While at its height, the forest took fire, exposing the helpless wounded to a cruel death and enveloping the entire battle-ground in dense volumes of smoke, through which charge and countercharge continued until Sickles could withdraw to the new line without danger of being overwhelmed in the movement. Some time during the day, a rumor spread among the troops that Hooker had been seriously hurt by a shell, at the Chancellor House, intensifying the feeling of depression which prevailed in some of the commands on account of the misfortune of the previous evening. When, therefore, about four o'clock, he rode along a considerable portion of the line, looking the very ideal of a soldier, and exhibiting no sign of the suffering he was even then enduring, great was the rebound in the feel- 94 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ings of the men, who greeted him everywhere with a tempest of cheers. The evening and night passed without any extraordinary alarm, and the rest must have been most grateful to the troops who had borne the brunt of the day's fighting. On the morning of the 4th quiet still prevailed, except that guns were heard in the direction of Banks's Ford, where Sedgwick was known to be in position, but not frequent enough to indicate a serious encounter. At Chancellorsville, such was the disposition of the Union forces and such the strength of their defences that an attack was ardently desired, but the enemy seemed indisposed to deliver battle. During the day there was no movement on either side, except trifling reconnoissances to ascertain each other's whereabouts. In the afternoon, between four and five o'clock, Stone's brigade was sent out in a southerly direction, and by a narrow forest road, in places overgrown by young pines, penetrated nearly to the plank road and within a few rods of the enemy's lines. The voices of the teamsters in conversation and the rattling of the trace-chains of the horses could be distinctly heard. The 150th led, with skirmishers in front and on either side, and so dense was the growth of straight pine saplings that the flankers could make their way only with the greatest difficulty. A number of prisoners were gathered up during the movement, but, as Stone had been cautioned not to bring on an engagement, not a shot was fired, save one which was the result of an accident, and which, fortunately or unfortunately, produced no alarm. Having detected the presence of the enemy in more or less force, the expedition returned to its breastworks soon after nightfall, and, as these had been occupied by other troops, messengers were sent back in advance to warn the latter not to fire on the brigade when it approached the lines. The precaution was a wise one, for many of the regiments were in a state of nervous tension which brooked no alarms of any PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS 95 kind; and, indeed, just as Stone's men were crossing their breastworks, for some unaccountable reason several regimental commands farther to the right poured volley after volley into the empty woods in front of them. Fearing that the reconnoitring brigade had been fired on, General Reynolds sent one of his staff-officers, Captain Riddle, to ascertain the cause and result of the firing, and with him Major Chamberlin returned to corps headquarters, where he found General Reynolds and General Doubleday for the moment occupying the same tent, the latter sitting on a camp-stool, while the former reclined on his blankets. Questioned as to the incidents of the reconnoissance, the major briefly recited the story of the movement, closing with the remark that it would have been the easiest thing in the world for Stone to have brought on an engagement. "I wish to God he had!" was the curt and only comment from the lips of General Reynolds. On the following day, May 5, the opposing armies continued their attitude of mutual observation and defiance at a comparatively safe remove, recalling forcibly the episode of the belligerent school-boys who burned to knock the chip from each other's shoulder, but "one was afeard and t'other dassent". In the afternoon Quartermaster Voorhis sent up a train of pack-mules from United States Ford with a fresh supply of ammunition for the regiment,-which was not needed, - but, fortunately, also with fresh store of provisions, which found most grateful acceptance. About four o'clock a heavy rainfall set in, in the midst of which, a few hours later, the First Corps began to withdraw from its defences and move back towards the ford, preceded by other troops which had made an earlier start. In the intense darkness, under a pelting storm, on a rough and narrow road choked repeatedly by halting columns, it was a most dismal march, stretching through weary hours and disheartening alike to officers and men. At daybreak the river was reached, and the pontoons, half submerged 96 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH in its swollen torrent, seemed in danger of being swept away under the heavy burden of batteries and regiments which moved in unbroken succession to the northern shore. In the open space on the southern bank were massed brigade upon brigade and division upon division, to the number of perhaps thirty thousand troops, impatiently awaiting their turn to cross. It was a magnificent and impressive spectacle, but the mind of the looker-on could not help thinking how a sudden onset of the enemy, - if he chose to pursue, - or the dropping of some scores of shells from well-directed guns, might create a panic in this armed host and fairly choke the stream with drowning men. To avert the possibility of disaster by surprise, the pickets had been left at their posts and their officers instructed to have the last cartridge expended, if necessary, to veil the retreat of the army. It was expected that portions of the line would be gobbled up when the enemy discovered the real situation; and Captain Jones, who commanded the pickets of the 150th, stated afterwards that it was whispered to him, when he went on duty, that he must face the prospect of capture, together with his company, for the general good. Happily, on the morning of the 6th the enemy was not in an enterprising mood, and the Union troops went on their way undisturbed. By about eight o'clock the last of the regiments had passed and the pontoons were ready to be taken up. Sufficient time having elapsed to insure the safety of the army, Captain Jones quietly withdrew his men, barely escaping capture, and by a hurried march succeeded in reaching the ford before the last bridge was completely dismantled. He rejoined the regiment a few days later at White Oak Church. Others of the picket force were made prisoners and sent south to endure untold privations. Thus ended the Chancellorsville campaign. It is not the purpose of this modest history to give the details of battles, except in so far as the 150th was concerned in them, nor to criticise the plans of any commanding general or PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS 97 his management of his army, since abler pens in more ambitious works have exhausted the incidents of each campaign, and shown (to the entire satisfaction of the writers) how every engagement of any consequence might have been so conducted as to insure a decisive victory. Of Chancellorsville, however, it may be permitted to say that, while it is generally conceded that defeat resulted from Howard's over-confidence, Sedgwick's tardiness, and the insignificant results of the cavalry expeditions which were expected to achieve so much, greater celerity of movement on the part of the several corps which formed the van of the army, and a more earnest determination to "push things", would doubtless have placed Hooker in a position beyond the "Wilderness", where, as voiced in his congratulatory order of the evening of April 30, "Our enemy must either ingloriously fly or come out from behind his defences and give us battle on our own ground, where certain destruction awaits him". Nor can too much stress be laid upon the injury received by the commanding general on the morning of May 3, which practically incapacitated him for the further conduct of the battle, and probably prevented him from hurling the First and a part of the Fifth Corps - in numbers upwards of twenty thousand fresh troops - on the depleted left flank of the enemy, to roll it together like a scroll and avenge the disaster of the previous day. Certainly the First Corps was eager to go forward, and as a mass would have devoutly echoed the sentiment of its stern commander when told how readily Stone, with his little brigade, could have precipitated an engagement on the afternoon of the 4th, "I wish to God he had!"