MILITARY: One Hundred and Fiftieth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Second Regiment, Bucktail Brigade, Chapter 6 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 An html version of 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 47 CHAPTER VI. DETAILS FOR DUTY - BREAKING UP OF THE CAMP. ON the 22d of October, by order of the provost marshal of Washington (Major W. E. Doster, of the 4th Pennsylvania Cavalry, subsequently brevet brigadier-general), Major Chamberlin was detached, and appointed to the command of the troops in Georgetown, consisting of eight companies of infantry, drawn from the 135th and 149th Pennsylvania and 2d District of Columbia Volunteers. His headquarters were at Forrest Hall, at the corner of Gay and High Streets, - a large building, the greater portion of which was occupied as a depot for deserters arrested in all parts of the country. From this point, after due examination and identification, the prisoners were sent from time to time, under guard, to the regiments to which they belonged. Lieutenant Andrew B. McLain, adjutant of the 135th, acted as adjutant of the post. During the same month Lieutenant-Colonel Huidekoper was detailed as a member of a court-martial, whose presiding officer was Colonel Porter, of the 135th Pennsylvania, and whose sessions continued during a great part of the winter. It was not long until the larger portion of the regiment had been detailed, by companies, to permanent guard duty in different parts of the city, necessitating the breaking up of the camp on Meridian Hill. Companies E and I were sent to Cliffburne Hospital, and later, in turn, to Campbell Hospital and the Baltimore and Ohio Depot. While on duty at the depot they were encamped on North Capitol Street, near the Government Printing House. Company H served also at Cliffburne Hospital and at other points. Company A was 48 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH established at the "Soldiers' Rest" as early as September 26, where it was joined by Company D before the President and his family returned to the White House for the winter. Company K, which had commended itself to the Chief Magistrate by the companionableness of its captain and the admirable behavior of the men, was, at his request, continued as his especial guard. The following note, written by him, was of course accepted by the Military Governor and the War Department as possessing all the force of a positive order EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, November 1, 1862. WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: Captain Derickson, with his Company, has been for some time keeping guard at my residence, now at the Soldiers' Retreat. He and his Company are very agreeable to me, and while it is deemed proper for any guard to remain, none would be more satisfactory to me than Captain D. and his Company. A. LINCOLN. Bates, in his "History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers", states that this note was written in consequence of the wish of the field-officers, as well as of some of the members of Company K, to have this company "ordered to the front to rejoin the regiment, as the strength and efficiency of the command was, in a measure, impaired by its absence", etc. As the regiment did not leave Washington for the front until the middle of February, 1863, and the note bears the date of November 1, 1862, it will be seen that this statement was an error. Captain Derickson's excellent standing with the President sufficiently explains this written expression of the latter's feeling. When, a few, days after the above note was written, the President returned to the White House for the winter, Company K joined in the "flitting", and pitched its camp on the lawn a short distance southeast of the mansion. Here it remained during the war. PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS 49 Companies B and G continued in camp at Meridian Hill until November 10, when they, together with the field and staff, moved to a large vacant lot at Fourteenth and I Streets. On the following morning another change of base took place, and the tents were put up at the corner of L Street and Vermont Avenue. It seems that the other lot was immediately in front of the home of the Secretary of War, who (as the adjutant surmised) had the bad taste to dislike being aroused by reveille at 6:30 A. M. The men were snugly quartered in the new location, and here the formality of guard-mounting was kept up, though the daily duty of a large portion of the command lay at one or another of the numerous military hospitals. The quarter-master established his headquarters and stores at the new camp, and dispensed a generous hospitality to his numerous friends. On the 18th of November, Assistant Surgeon James Fulton was transferred to the 143d Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Assistant Surgeon Henry Strauss, who had been mustered on the loth of September, replacing him in the 150th. The 143d had arrived on the 11th of November, and had been placed under General Casey. Colonels Stone and Wister bent their efforts to have it brigaded with their commands, under Stone, in which they had the hearty co-operation of Colonel Puleston and of the officers of the 143d. When, a few months later, these regiments took the field, their wish was gratified. Colonel Wister and Adjutant Ashhurst, having no mandate for special duty, and finding themselves comparatively without occupation, wisely determined to make themselves as comfortable as possible, and rented a furnished house on M Street, near Twelfth. Lieutenant-Colonel Huidekoper enlisted also in the enterprise and shared the running expenses of the establishment. In this modest military home they were joined by Mrs. Ashhurst, the adjutant's young and accomplished wife, 50 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH together with her infant daughter, Miss Harriet, who was thus adopted, in a manner, as the "Daughter of the Regiment". With a sufficient corps of domestics, Mrs. Ashhurst assumed charge of the housekeeping, and presided over her military family with such grace and ability that the house became a not unimportant social centre, and a delightful rallying-point for friends of the field and staff who visited Washington during the winter. It was here that Colonel Wister gave a reception on New Year's Day, 1863, which was largely attended by his military friends as well as by many from civil life, and proved an immense success. The memory of the eggnog which graced the occasion still lingers fragrantly with those of the participants who were fortunate enough to survive the perils of the war, and, fondly recalling the pleasant conviviality of the evening, the few remaining officers of the 150th are entitled to indulgence if, now and then, they murmur to themselves, in the plaintive language of Hans Breitmann, "Vere is dot barty now?" While thus enjoying the comforts and pleasure of a home, the colonel and adjutant were not unmindful of the scattered command, but kept themselves thoroughly informed of its condition, and so far as possible endeavored to see that proper discipline was everywhere maintained. With this end in view they visited the several points at which the companies were stationed, to inspect the arms, clothing, quarters, and conduct of the men, and spur the officers to a careful and conscientious discharge of their duties. This was the more necessary on account of the many allurements which the capital held out for indulgence in idleness and dissipation. On one occasion, while visiting the camp of Companies B and G, Colonel Wister found Captain Jones, of Company B, acting as officer of the day, and accompanied him on a tour of the camp-guard to observe the bearing of the men on post and PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS 51 ascertain whether they were fully instructed in the ceremonial part of their duties. All went satisfactorily until they reached one of the sentinels belonging to Company G, who, seeing the officers approach, brought his piece to a shoulder and, facing outward, threw his left hand across his breast to the gun-stock, the usual salute for a line-officer. "Why don't you present arms?" asked the colonel. "Don't you know the proper salute for a field-officer?" "I wasn't salutin' you", retorted the man; "I was salutin' 'Cap' Jones". The colonel's stern look dissolved in a smile which brought in evidence his superb teeth, and he moved on without a word of censure; but "Cap" Jones was admonished to use especial pains to enlighten the guards on all matters of military etiquette. Company B was soon after ordered to join F for duty at Harewood Hospital, and G being likewise detailed for similar service in another part of the city, the 150th as an organized body was temporarily in eclipse. The scattering of the regiment and the breaking up of the camp at Meridian Hill were doubtless beneficial to the health of the command, which had suffered frightfully from the unwholesome conditions prevailing in that locality. Between the height and the city proper, at no great distance from the position occupied by the 150th, was a wide belt of vacant ground, marshy in places, but at other points sufficiently firm to form a dumping-place for refuse of every description from the outlying portions of the capital. Various forms of malaria speedily developed among the men, its ravages being especially noticeable in the country companies, nearly one-third of whose numerical strength was presently in the hospitals. One or two officers and many soldiers died during the autumn, while many others were permanently incapacitated for service. First Lieutenant Cincinnatus Topham, of Company B, a young 52 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH officer of much promise and greatly esteemed in the regiment, died at Washington on the 8th of November. Among the sufferers from the unwholesome surroundings of the camp were Lieutenants Tryon, Chancellor, and Taylor, of whom the last named laid the foundation of permanent ill health, and was compelled to retire from the service on the first of February following. Even after a change of location, the disastrous effects of their few weeks' exposure to the malarial atmosphere of Meridian Hill were plainly visible in some of the companies, whose dutiable strength was seriously reduced. During the latter part of October and beginning of November the regiment was several times on the point of being sent to the field, - once through the efforts of Brigadier-General Thomas L. Kane, who coveted the "Bucktail Brigade", and once as a part of General Foster's command in Burnside's coast expedition. On the 30th of October, Adjutant Ashhurst writes, "Colonel Huidekoper saw Colonel Puleston yesterday. The colonel told him that a general of Foster's command had applied to him that day for assistance in getting new regiments to join them at Newbern. He had strongly recommended that General Foster should apply for us and the 149th, which he (Puleston) thought would be done, and with success. He added that he thought about three weeks would bring us orders for North Carolina". A day or two later the adjutant wrote "Kane nearly had us. He got the regiment separated, bringing Colonel Wister under him and destroying Colonel Stone's hope of a brigade; but, thanks to Colonel Puleston's friendship and energy, and to our having a commander-in-chief here who outranked the general under whose orders we were to move, we escaped the fate impending for us". General Kane seems to have succeeded in obtaining an order embodying the 150th in his command, but by the active PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS 53 exertions of Colonel Stone and others in interest the order was speedily undone. "It was on this occasion, I think", says the adjutant, "that the letter of President Lincoln, requesting the retention of Company K as his guard, was written. Many of the regiment were so weary of the prolonged inaction, and the wasting of its strength at the capital by disease, that they chafed very much at the countermanding of these orders." Learning that his regiment was under marching orders, Major Chamberlin at once asked to be relieved from his important post at Georgetown, and returned to his proper command, with which he remained from the 2d until the 18th of November. He was then instructed to resume his position as commandant at Georgetown, relieving Lieutenant-Colonel Drew, of the 2d District of Columbia Volunteers. From this date until the middle of February, 1863, the peaceful monotony of winter quarters in Washington was undisturbed.