MILITARY: One Hundred and Fiftieth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Second Regiment, Bucktail Brigade, Chapter 21 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. 244 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH CHAPTER XXI. THE AFFAIR AT THE NORTH ANNA - TOTOPOTOMOY. FINDING Lee indisposed to come out of his works and take the chances of a general engagement, General Grant resolved upon a further left-flank movement, in which Hancock took the lead on the night of the 10th. On the 21st, Warren's corps marched to Guiney's Station, and on the 22d to Harris's Store, west of Milford, at which latter point Hancock rested that day. On the morning of the 23d, Warren moved in the direction of Jericho Ford, on the North Anna, which he reached early in the afternoon. Griffin's division crossed first, wading the stream and deploying beyond. Cutler's division followed, forming on Griffin's right, the Iron Brigade connecting with the latter, with the Bucktail Brigade (commanded by Colonel Bragg since May 7th) on the extreme right. Crawford's division took position on Griffin's left. Of this movement Adjutant William Wright, of the 150th, says, "We crossed the North Anna in the advance of the Fifth Corps, on the extreme right of the line, so far as I know There was no opposition, but we expected it, and therefore passed over in a great hurry. Having been out on the flank all of the preceding day, as skirmishers, and having made a very hard march that day, the men were bent with fatigue, and some who had never before complained *now declared they could not go any farther. All the same, they went. We crossed at or near a mill, or mills, of some kind, one of which was undoubtedly a saw-mill, for there were piles of slabs and some shedding roofed with slabs, all of which were taken and thrown into the river, one on top of another, until they formed PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS 245 a bridge*, which we quickly crossed. The river was not wide, and comparatively shallow. We then deployed and advanced a short distance, but were halted for a brief interval, when we again moved forward perhaps six or seven hundred yards. Here we were again halted, apparently to go into camp for the night, probably in pursuance of an order originating in the brain of some very tired man, for we had hardly got settled down - some with dry wood on their shoulders for a quick fire, others with live chickens, etc., the spoils of the flanking of the day before (I well remember one fine-looking rooster that the major and I were promised a part of for supper) - when we had an order to deploy and advance to the woods in our front, which we obeyed with much complaining. Before reaching the woods I dismounted and gave my horse to 'Jimmy' Wilson, of Company B, - who was fairly staggering in his efforts to keep up, - to take to the rear, thinking that as soon as we got into the woods we would find the 'rebs,' as we generally did in all the woods we had been in since leaving Culpeper.". Here the adjutant's narrative must be interrupted and supplemented by a few items of information from other sources, as he omits to say exactly what occurred on reaching the timber, which, as he suspected, was alive with rebels. Wilcox's division of four brigades was there, with Heth's division in support, and, having failed to break Griffin's well-posted line, moved to the right and furiously assaulted the Iron Brigade, which was just going into position. Taken unawares, and unable to withstand the shock, the Iron Brigade fell back pell-mell towards the river, and the heavy columns of the enemy were precipitated upon the Bucktail Brigade, a great portion of which also gave way and joined in the disorderly _____________ *Adjutant Wright is doubtless in error in regard to this bridge, the testimony of many others being that it was composed of pontoons. Slabs may possibly have been used for flooring a part of the driveway. 246 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH retreat. Many of these troops never stopped their flight until they had crossed the improvised bridge or floundered through the stream, although Stine states that the Iron Brigade reformed in rear of Captain Mink's battery (H, New York Light Artillery). The 150th did better, and made for itself an enviable name that evening. Although borne back from the woods by the sudden retrograde movement of the rest of Cutler's line, it did not share in the panic, but soon made a determined stand, inflicting severe loss upon the advancing enemy. Then, seeing his little force flanked on either hand, Major Jones gave the command to retreat. Sergeant Beers, of Company G, who had charge of the colors, brought them to the adjutant, saying that he was entirely "played out", and feared he could not take care of them. To resume the adjutant's narrative: "There was no one near enough to give the colors to, and, as no time was to be lost, I took them rapidly to the rear, and had them when I crossed a wide gully which my horse had refused to jump on the way out, but which I had no trouble in clearing easily on the return. I may have given them to some one before Major Jones called for them, a moment later, as we approached Captain Mink's New York battery. The major planted the colors and formed the regiment, and at the same time told Captain Mink to get his battery to work, as we had come to stay. In an instant the regiment and battery were at work, and the rebel advance was checked. At least three or four times they charged, but we drove them back every time. It was hot work on a hot day, and some of the battery men gave out and were replaced by some of our men, or perhaps it was the ruts produced by the recoil of the guns that made the pieces so hard to handle that the cannoneers required assistance. With the exception of a single color-bearer of the Iron Brigade, carrying an Indiana, Wisconsin, or Michigan State flag (it was not the stars and stripes), and about fifteen or twenty men of the 121st PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS 247 Pennsylvania, no troops were there but the 150th. I looked anxiously for assistance in the shape of re-enforcements, but saw none except a battery of artillery, which took position on the other side of the river, some distance to our right, and may have fired a round or two during the enemy's last charge. After the battle was over a large regiment - I think, heavy artillery - formed and lay down in our immediate rear. During the fight there was absolutely no one other than Mink's battery and ourselves, except those already mentioned, who took any part; not even a staff-officer of either division or brigade. "Just after the heavy artillery regiment moved in behind us, General Cutler, with a part of his staff, rode up to us and complimented us highly, extending the compliment, however, to the brigade." The conduct of the regiment on this occasion won Captain Mink's undying gratitude, and availed to settle a brigadier-general's stars upon Colonel Bragg's deserving shoulders. A special order warmly commending the brigade (although the repulse of the enemy was due to the almost unaided exertions of the 150th) was issued 'by either General Warren or General Cutler - the recollections of Colonel Jones and Adjutant Wright differing as to its source. At all events such an order came down to the regiment from corps or division headquarters; and it is to be regretted that no copy of it was preserved, as by some fatality it does not appear to have been included in the "War of the Rebellion Records". Of the advance and battle of May 23d, Sergeant Fowler says: "We took up our line of march at daylight and moved very fast all morning. We were again thrown out as flankers. It was very hard marching through the woods and underbrush. We made about ten miles, and are now (at noon) resting near the South Anna River. There has been some artillery firing and very heavy skirmishing by the cavalry for over an hour. The Second Corps is now passing, and we have orders to move. 248 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH (Five-thirty o'clock). We have been marching very hard all afternoon, and have just crossed the South Anna. The skirmish-line is keeping up a great racket. The rebs are in a dense wood about three hundred yards in our front, but I do not think in very large force. General Grant keeps very close on their heels. (Dark). At six o'clock our division made a charge in the woods, where we had a very hot time, but they flanked us on the right, and such running you never saw. We made a stand on a hill near the river, and fought superior numbers until dark, when they fell back to the woods. Our regiment lost one man killed and seven or eight wounded". Sergeant Frey's account of the engagement differs in unimportant particulars from those already given, but is so circumstantial as to be well worth introducing: "About four o'clock we struck the North Anna River at Jericho Mills and crossed on a pontoon bridge. Once over, we stacked arms and proceeded to make ourselves comfortable for the night. Fires were built, water was being heated to make coffee, and everybody appeared to be in good spirits, as we generally were when we went into camp in some pleasant place after a hard day's march. But before our coffee came to the boiling point, skirmish firing began. Several hundred yards from the position which we occupied was a large wood, extending in every direction as far as we could see. It was in this wood that the firing was going on. "The Iron Brigade formed in line of battle and advanced straight towards the timber. Our brigade, which lay in its rear, moved in column of regiments by the right flank, and as soon as the first regiment cleared the rear of the Iron Brigade, it faced to the front, and advancing, connected with it. The others kept on, each regiment in turn facing, as soon as the line of its predecessor was passed, and moving forward extended the general line. Firing now becomes quite brisk. We move a short distance into the wood and are halted. The right PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS 249 of our brigade rests in an open field, and is 'in the air', the troops who were to continue the formation being rather slow in getting up. On the west side of the field, or right of our line, the woods extended towards the river. Out of this wood now comes a column of Confederate infantry, pouring a volley into the exposed flank of our brigade, and at the same moment fire is opened on our front. Our right is doubled up, and we are ordered to fall back. Batteries had been planted along the bluff, a short distance from the river; also on the north bank of the stream, where the bluff was very high; and as soon as we were out of the woods, our guns opened from both sides of the river, sending their shells over our heads into the timber. Our brigade fell back to the high ground on which the batteries were located. As soon as we reached the summit, the one on the extreme right began to limber up, thinking we would not stop there, but continue our retreat, thus allowing the enemy to advance and capture the guns. Glancing down along the line a spectacle was presented sufficient to appall the stoutest heart. Our whole force seemed a disorganized mass, pouring back towards the river; and it looked as if there might be another Ball's Bluff, only on a larger scale than the first. But our brigade is promptly faced about. Privates join with officers in pleading with the battery men not to leave us, telling them that we will stand by them at all hazards. They finally consent, unlimber and begin throwing double charges of grape and canister, while our brigade stands like a stone wall, loading and firing as fast as we can. From that time until dark the hill is wrapped in a cloud of smoke, the battery as well as the brigade losing a good many men; but only the wounded go to the rear. We held our ground and saved the day. The enemy could not cross that open space, which was swept by a constant fire. They tried to plant a battery in front of the wood, but did not fire a shot, as we made it too hot for them. I claim that the determined 250 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH stand made by our brigade, at the last position where a successful defense could be made, saved the Fifth Corps from being driven into the river. Our tenacious resistance gave General Warren time to rally the troops from the disorder into which they had been thrown, and establish a new line of battle * * "As night settled over the land the firing ceased, and then, in the darkness, officers kept riding back and forth hunting for their men. Coming down the line to where our brigade lay - just as the men had flung themselves upon the ground in utter exhaustion - they would ask: 'What troops are these?' 'Bucktail Brigade' would be the answer. Then would come the words: 'You are all right! You behaved like men! Stay where you are.' "That was a proud night for us, but after our hard day's march and hard fight we went to sleep without supper". The pleasant features of the engagement at the North Anna are marred by the recollection of the death of Sergeant Cyrus W. Baldwin, of Company G, a most intelligent, conscientious and exemplary soldier, who was already "gazetted" for a lieutenancy; the mortal wounding of Private William Gray, of Company B, who died two days later; and the more or less serious disablement of several valuable men, including Sergeant Joseph Walden, of Company E, Private Jonathan Taylor, of the same company, and Private Garrett C. Kean, of Company F. By the return of convalescents from the hospitals and the restoration to duty of the slightly wounded in the Wilderness battles the strength of the command had been increased from ninety-three, on May 14th, to one hundred and forty-eight, on May 21st. A week later the number had been reduced to one hundred and twenty-two, chiefly by the losses at the North Anna. Major Jones relates that before advancing to the woods, expecting to bivouac where they were, the men busied themselves PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS 251 with preparations for supper. His own man, "Rody", who has so frequently appeared in these pages, had boiled a pot of coffee, which he gathered up and carried with him when the order to advance was executed, thinking, as no enemy had yet appeared, that the troops would soon stop for the night, and the major would then have his coffee. When the enemy opened fire, one of the first bullets penetrated the coffee-pot in "Rody's" hands, and the fluid, which was still at the boiling point, spurting against one of his legs, he was convinced that he was wounded, and, dropping the disabled vessel, struck madly for the rear. After fording the stream and discovering that not only was the enemy not in pursuit, but that his limbs were still in good, serviceable condition, he found his way back to the regiment. In narrating his experience to the major, he was honest enough to state that he had splashed through the river. "But why did you wade when you might have gone across on the bridge?" asked the major. "You see, the bridge was too darned full of officers and doctors", was his prompt and amusing reply. On the 24th, Wright's corps crossed at Jericho and took position on the right of Warren. Hancock crossed the same morning, a little west of the Fredericksburg Railroad; while Burnside remained on the north side of the river, being confronted by Lee, in force, at Ox Ford. Lee's army formed an angle whose point rested on the stream opposite Burnside, with its sides sloping southeast and southwest. Hancock, with his own corps and Potter's division of the Ninth, faced the enemy's southeastern line; while Wright and Warren, with Crittenden's division of the Ninth Corps added, faced the line extending to the southwest. This left Burnside, with a single division, north of the stream. This was probably the most ticklish position ever occupied by the Army of the Potomac, and the wonder is that Lee- 252 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH seeing that his antagonist could not strengthen either flank without entailing on the re-enforcing column a march of many miles, in which the river would have to be twice crossed - did not attack one or the other wing and sweep it from the field. General Grant, recognizing the perilous situation of his forces, and the doubtful issue of any attack which he might order, after straddling the North Anna for two days like a pair of tongs, concluded to withdraw to the north side, and again endeavor to interpose his army between Richmond and Lee by a rapid movement by the left flank. Beginning with the extreme right, he retired the corps of Warren and Wright, masking the withdrawal by a brilliant diversion at that end of the line by Wilson's division of cavalry, which gave the rebel commander the impression that a serious effort was about to be made to turn his left. This was on the 26th. On that day, Sergeant Henry Laut and Privates John Hausman, Frank H. Elvidge and Israel H. Thomas, of Company A, together with others of the regiment who had been captured at Gettysburg and had passed a long term of imprisonment on Bell Island, returned to the command, having come through by way of Fredericksburg as part of a provisional battalion composed of exchanged prisoners, convalescents and re-enlisted veterans. It is whispered as a part of the secret history of the campaign of 1864, by officers who were on Meade's staff or at his headquarters, that General Grant was solely responsible for the movement on the North Anna, which might easily have resulted in disaster to the national arms. The story goes that the general, in an interview with Meade soon after the events of Spottsylvania, expressed dissatisfaction at the failure of his troops to break Lee's lines, and made invidious comparisons between the Eastern army and his Western command, which latter seldom failed to execute his plans successfully in spite of every obstacle. Meade, piqued by his superior's words and PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS 253 manner, replied, "Well, general, in the next movement I would like you to take the command and control the disposition and assaults of the troops." General Grant took him at his word, and during the first operations at the North Anna, Meade and his staff enjoyed a holiday, broken on the second day by an urgent request from Grant to his subordinate to resume his usual functions. The tale is given for what it is worth, with the single comment that it is based on the statements of officers still living, who were a part of Meade's staff at the time, and whose word in other matters is unquestioned. Frank H. Elvidge, of Company A, had the commendable habit of noting in a pocket diary, from day to day, the movements of the regiment, and occasionally his individual views of things. On May 26th he wrote, "Reached our regiment after a very fatiguing march. Found seven men in the company, with a corporal in command. Now there are ten, with Laut in charge. Started out just after dark and marched until about half-past two o'clock, when we reached Hanover Junction. Drew rations for three days. It is very hard marching, being so muddy. . . Army in good spirits and everything going on right. "May 27. - Pulled out at daybreak. Recrossed the North Anna (going south) and came around the 'rebs" right flank, making a very large circuit. The Sixth Corps started yesterday. Foraging plenty, but it has been a very hard march, with no rest. Made about twenty-seven miles. The rebels have fallen back from Hanover Junction. "May 28. - Crossed the Pamunkey River about noon to-day (Saturday) and entered the 'Peninsula'. Marched a few miles from the river, threw up rifle-pits, and put up for the rest of the day. "May 29. - Moved out about a mile and a half, and took up another position. Grant is moving on slowly, intrenching as he goes. Ran out of rations altogether, and had to go back a 254 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH mile and a half for beef, which is all we got. Our regiment and the 142d went out on picket. Heavy firing all along the line. All of Lee's army is in front of us now. Within about sixteen miles of Richmond. "May 30. - Relieved by the First division, Ninth Corps, and moved our line out about a mile. The rebels, in heavy force, charged the works of the Pennsylvania Reserve, but were cut up terribly and ran back a mile and a half. The artillery did the worst work, scattering them in every direction. We were kept moving up and down the road half a dozen times, when we took position and threw up intrenchments. Drew three days' rations. Grantz came back yesterday, making eleven men (in Company A)." The engagement referred to as having taken place on the 30th was that of Bethesda Church, being a part of the battle of Totopotomoy, in which Hancock's and Warren's troops were chiefly concerned. Hancock struck the enemy at Totopotomoy Creek, and Warren, who was on the Shady Grove Church road, near Huntley Corners, was attacked by Early, with the result that one brigade of the Pennsylvania Reserve was temporarily thrown into confusion. To relieve the pressure on Warren, Hancock assaulted and carried the rebel breastworks, and, Warren pushing forward at the same time, Early was driven back a mile or more with heavy loss. This was the last fight in which the Pennsylvania Reserve participated, its term of enlistment expiring that day. On the following day the division started for home. Without special orders or previous understanding, the other troops of the corps fell into line and presented arms as these veterans of many campaigns, full of scars and honors, marched past; and as the notes of "Home Again", from the band of the Reserve, rang in their ears, the cheeks of hundreds of veterans who remained were moistened by tears of which they had no reason to be ashamed. PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS 255 On the 31st, Elvidge pencilled in his diary, "One rebel major-general and one colonel commanding brigade were killed. Buried all the dead, - that is, the pieces, for they were all blown to atoms by canister".