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Full text of "History of the Thirty-Fifth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, 1862-1865. With a roster"

W. H. LOWDERMILK & CO., 
Standard. Choice and Rare Law and 

Miscellaneous Books, 

Government Publications 

Washington, D. C. 








HISTORY 



THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT 

MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS, 

1 862- 1 86 j. 
WITH A ROSTER. 



A COMMITTEE OF THE REGIMENTAL ASSOCIATION. 



BOSTON: 

MILLS, KNIGHT & Co., PRINTERS, 115 CONGRESS STREET. 
1884. 



E 



INTRODUCTION. 



r I ^HIS narrative was prepared by the committee 
whose names are undersigned, to gratify the wish 
of the surviving members for some connected account 
of the services of the regiment, to exhibit to relatives 
and friends, and to provide a book of handy reference 
for their own convenience. 

All the descriptions are by members who were present 
at the scenes described ; imagination has no part in the 
account. 

Criticisms of generalship have been avoided except 
where it was necessary to allude to the matter to explain 
the spirit prevailing among the men. Lists of wounded in 
action have not been given in the body of the narrative ; 
to obtain accurate lists would call for more time than the 
Committee could devote to the work. 

The whole story of Reno s Brigade is told in the 

M198517 



iv INTRODUCTION. 



" History of the Twenty-First Massachusetts Regiment," 
by General Charles F. Walcott, whose book appeared from 
the press while this was in preparation. Upon the issue 
of that work, it seemed, at first, hardly worth while to 
proceed with this ; but, as the Twenty-First was not with 
us in Mississippi, and General Walcott, although admirably 
full in the brigade history, does not, of course, cover the 
internal history of the Thirty-Fifth, it was thought best to 
go on with this, omitting herein most of the general orders, 
etc., given in that book. Of course every member of the 
Thirty-Fifth will wish to possess, if he have not already, a 
copy of the history of the Twenty-First, to fill up the story 
of the old brigade, and a copy of Rev. Augustus Wood- 
bury s " History of the Ninth Army Corps " to explain 
the wider movements. 

In place of maps and illustrations, material for which, of 
merit superior to any we could obtain without great ex 
pense, is within reach of all, we have inserted between the 
chapters blank pages, upon which the owner can attach 
such photographs, etc., as may be in his possession, and 
thus add a personal character to the volume. 

A regimental history must lack the general interest of 
that of an army, while it misses much of the intense 
sympathy called forth by a personal narrative ; on this 
account it may appear, after all, that "the half has not 



INTRODUCTION. 



been told. 7 The committee will feel satisfied if the mem 
bers agree that even a quarter part has found its way into 
the pages of this book.. 



COMMITTEE: 



SUMNER <Z^K9X^^ for the Field and Staff. 

THOMAS E. CUTTER " " " 

EDMUND F. SNOW, of Company A. 

GEORGE W. CREASEV, " " B. 

EDMUND A. CAPEN, " " C. 

JOHN N. MORSE, " " D. 

HENRY A. MONK, " " E. 

SOLOMON D. GRIMES. " " F. 

CHRIS. METZGER, " " F. 

JOSEPH C. HARDY, " " G. 

WALDO TURNER, " " H. 

JOHN D. COBB, " " /. 

L GEORGE H. NASON, " " A". 



BOSTON, January i, 1884. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
LYNNFIELD AND ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, 1862, . i 



CHAPTER II. 
MARYLAND AND BATTLE OF SOUTH MOUNTAIN, 1862, . . 20 

CHAPTER III. 
ANTIETAM, 1862, . . .35 

CHAPTER IV. 

FALL CAMPAIGN IN VIRGINIA SKIRMISH AT FAUQUIER 

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, 1862, 60 

CHAPTER V. 
FREDERICKSBURG, AND WINTER NEAR FALMOUTH, 1862-1863, 79 

CHAPTER VI. 
NEWPORT NEWS, VA., AND SPRING IN KENTUCKY, 1863, . 104 

CHAPTER VII. 
MIDSUMMER IN MISSISSIPPI VICKSBURG AND JACKSON, 1863, 129 



v iii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

WINTER IN EAST TENNESSEE CAMPBELL S STATION AND 
KNOXVILLE, 1863-1864, 

CHAPTER IX. 

VIRGINIA AGAIN WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN, 1864, 217 



CHAPTER X. 

SIEGE OF PETERSBURG THE MINE, 1864, 



CHAPTER XL 
WELDON RAILROAD AND POPLAR SPRING CHURCH, 1864, . 283 

CHAPTER XII. 

WINTER QUARTERS, 1864-1865 " FORT HELL," 3 10 

CHAPTER XIII. 
LIFE IN THE PRISON-PENS, 1864-1865, . . 3 2 9 

CHAPTER XIV. 
THE END OF THE WAR, 1865, . 

ROSTER. 



CHAPTER I. 

LYNNFIELD AND ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, 1862. 

THE famous Seven Days fighting of the Army of the 
Potomac under General McClellan, before Rich 
mond, ended July i, 1862. During the hot days of that 
long summer, the stayers-at-home read with the deepest 
interest of the " Change of Base " to the James River, or 
listened to the living story from the lips of some wounded 
hero. Whether the movement was to be considered a 
success or a defeat, this at least was clear, that the army 
must be heavily reenforced ; and, accordingly, President 
Lincoln called for three hundred thousand volunteers for 
three years. Governor Andrew issued an official address, 
dated July 2, stating the pressing need for more troops and 
the terms of enlistment, and ending with these words : 
"Massachusetts, which has never slumbered nor slept, 
must now arise to still higher efforts, and pledge to all 
the duties of patriotism, with renewed devotion, the indi 
vidual efforts, the united hearts, heads and hands of all 
her people." To many hearts this summons came with a 
solemn power that could not be resisted. 

Among the regiments formed of the men who enlisted 
in answer to this call was the Thirty-Fifth Massachusetts 
Volunteer Infantry. 

The first mention of the regiment which we have found 
is contained in the following advertisement, which appeared 
in the Boston Journal, under date of the fourth of July : 



:!": \ :-*HIS*ifRYtQVTH.E THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

" Attention, Recruits I A few more good men are wanted 
to fill up Captain Andrews Company, Fort Warren Bat 
talion. Under the last urgent call of the President, this 
battalion will probably be increased and make the Thirty- 
Fifth Regiment, so that there will be a chance for actual 
service. The following inducements are offered to all 
wishing to enlist : 

" $25 bounty in advance ; also, 
" $13, one month s pay in advance ; 
" $12 per month State aid ; and 
" $75 bounty at close of war. 

"Men of Massachusetts, citizens, patriots, rally under 
the glorious flag of our country. Let the Old Bay State 
lead the van. Let our people rush forth in their might. 
Let us swell the Union ranks, and maintain our proud 
position, that Massachusetts is ever foremost when duty 
calls. 

"Apply at once to the Recruiting Offices, No. 71 Union 
Street, Boston, or corner of Park and School Streets, 
Chelsea." 

Another notice, dated the fifth, began as follows : " Fall 
in, Recruits I Captain Dolan, Lieutenants Baldwin and 
Hudson are rapidly filling their company with first-class 
recruits for duty at Fort Warren ; " and, after giving the 
terms as above, it adds : " Our country s call must be 
obeyed ; her necessities must be our first and only con 
sideration now ; she needs every one of her sons to defend 
her holy cause, and the sooner you are ready to aid her 
the sooner will her cause be gained. This battalion will 
probably be recruited to the Thirty-Fifth Regiment, and 
go to the seat of war." Thus, by the system of general 
recruiting, was begun the formation of companies A and 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 3 

D of the Thirty-Fifth ; but the organization of the regi 
ment did not begin until a month later. 

The Government apportioned the number of men called 
for among the loyal States according to population, and 
the State divided its quota among the cities and towns 
according to the last annual return of men liable to do 
military duty under the laws of the Commonwealth. As 
soon as the quotas were announced, each municipality 
devoted its energies to finding, enlisting and forwarding 
the men to camp. Every motive was appealed to, and all 
sorts of inducements offered to the able-bodied men of the 
community to enlist. Patriotism was aroused by eloquent 
orators ; emotions were stirred by music, banners, pro 
cessions and grand rallies of the people ; and thus excite 
ment was kept constantly ablaze. In many places bounties 
were offered in addition to those above mentioned, and 
promises of private aid to families were frequent. This 
continued through July, and about the first of August most 
of the three years volunteers were ready for camp. 

In the cities and larger towns full companies were formed 
from the quotas, and fellow citizens were selected for offi 
cers. The companies of the Thirty-Fifth formed in this way 
were : B, from Newburyport ; C, from Chelsea ; G, from 
Haverhill ; H, from Weymouth ; and K from Roxbury. 
The quotas of smaller places united and formed com 
panies under officers of their preference ; thus were made 
up companies : E, from Randolph, Stoughton, etc. ; F, 
from Rockport, Danvers, North Andover, etc. ; and I from 
Dedham, Weston, Needham, etc. The following extract 
from the " Memorial of Major Park " will serve as an ex 
ample of the superior class of men obtained at this time : 

"The permit to recruit the company, K, was accom 
panied with a condition, provided it could be done in six 



4 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

days. In five days they had enrolled one hundred and 
fifty names, from whom to select the one hundred and 
one. Eighty of those who finally composed the company 
were between twenty and thirty-five years of age, and but 
two were over forty. About one-half of the company were 
married men. All signed their names in clear, legible 
handwriting. More than forty of them had been graduates 
of the Washington Public School at Roxbury. Thirteen 
were teachers in a Sunday School." 

The camp for recruits in the eastern part of the State 
was located at Lynnfield, in Essex County, on the north 
side of the railroad, and bordering on Humphrey s Pond, 
now called Suntaug Lake, and was named Camp Stanton 
after the Secretary of War. The steep slope towards the 
water was shaded by a heavy growth of pine trees, and 
the pond offered facilities for bathing and washing. Two 
companies of the Thirty-Second Regiment and the Thirty- 
Third Regiment occupied the east part of the field, and a 
battery the west end. Men enlisted for the Thirty-Fifth 
were at first quartered about the middle, near the cottage, 
used as a surgeon s office, etc., and the barn used for a 
guard-house. They occupied wall tents, "A" tents, or old 
militia tents, and in consideration of their delicacy were 
furnished with straw to lie upon, but no blankets until 
accepted for service. Food was served from cook-houses, 
under direction of Mr. Haines, then of the Thirty-Second 
Regiment, subsequently quartermaster of the Thirty-Fifth ; 
but as the ration, though ample, seemed to most of the men 
coarse and unpalatable, they procured additional eatables 
from home or outside the camp. Squads for companies 
A, D and the combination companies were the first upon 
the ground, towards the end of July. The full companies 
arrived nearly together : Company C on the fourth of 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 5 

August, G and K on the fifth, B and H on the eighth. 
Camp guards around the field were maintained from the 
first, and passes were required to get in or out of the 
rather crowded enclosure. 

The enlisted men before going to Lynnfield passed a 
preliminary examination of their physical qualifications, to 
prevent loss of expenses upon rejected men. Upon arrival 
in camp they were again, and more thoroughly, inspected 
by the surgeons. It was amusing afterwards to recall how 
much the men dreaded rejection and the loss of the chance 
for actual service promised in the advertisement above. 
The recruit was stripped, pounded on the chest, made to 
walk and hop, had his ears pulled, eyes and teeth exam 
ined, and was otherwise tortured, until he had shown his 
paces, and was then accepted or rejected summarily. Few 
were rejected. If accepted, the next thing in order was 
his uniform. He went to the quartermaster s office ; a 
gray, woollen blanket, marked U. S., was spread upon the 
floor, into which were tossed a light-blue overcoat, rubber 
blanket, cap, dress coat, blouse, trousers, shoes, socks, 
drawers, shirts, knapsack, haversack, canteen, tin dipper, 
plate and knife and fork. The four corners of the blanket 
were brought together, and the man was ordered to shoulder 
the bundle and betake himself to his tent, shed his citizen s 
dress, and assume the appearance of a soldier. The mate 
rials of the articles were good, but of a very coarse texture, 
suited to the rough usage of the field. There were four 
sizes of most of the clothing, and he whom none of these 
fitted was obliged to fit himself to the size. Some of the 
companies last to arrive fell short of a full uniform, and 
were not supplied until after their arrival at the front. 

A few of the men had experience as soldiers, in the 
militia or in actual service ; these were the heroes of the 
hour. Most of the recruits were somewhat acquainted 



6 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

with the manual of arms and company drill, acquired in 
the many drill companies which the excitement of the war 
had originated. As soon as sergeants and corporals of 
companies were appointed, these exercises were practised 
as opportunity offered. There were several dress parades 
and guard mountings by portions of the regiment, and one 
battalion drill under Adjutant Wales, on the twentieth, in 
marching in line of battle. 

The commissioned officers had little time to attend to 
these matters. They were fully occupied in filling up their 
companies, settling their private affairs, and making need 
ful preparations; and, in addition, they were burdened 
with an amount of clerical work the red tape system of 
a time of peace sufficient to last a month. A person 
inexperienced in military affairs has little notion of the 
amount of writing to be done in the formation and man 
agement of a regiment. There are reports and rolls of 
all sorts daily, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly and annu 
ally relating to the men, their descriptions, bounties, 
pay, rations, ordnance, clothing, camp and garrison equi 
page, muster-in, muster-out, furloughs, etc., ad infinitum, 
to the Government, State and town authorities: all to be 
studied out and prepared in good style and with unfailing 
accuracy. The school of the army is a school of much 
penmanship, as well as other learning. Their care also 
was that their best men did not become impatient and 
enlist in some other organization, to get sooner to the 
front, or that their worst men did not run the guards to 
secure another bounty. For no sooner was the call for 
three years men nearly filled than another call was issued 
for men for nine months service, and, in addition to the 
shorter term, there was the attraction of a double bounty. 
The mercenary class at once saw the advantage and tried 
to exchange ; the patriot class, especially those having 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 7 

families, grimly endured, while they felt the inequality of 
treatment ; among the survivors it needs but little rubbing 
to find a sore spot there still. The men were generally 
allowed a short furlough, to close up their home affairs 
and take leave of relatives and friends ; so that, upon the 
whole, it is remarkable that so much information concern 
ing the new sphere of life was acquired in so short a time ; 
but all were eager to learn, and worked laboriously day 
and night. 

On the fourteenth of August the Thirty-Third Regiment 
left for the seat of war, and, after the ground had been 
swept, the Thirty-Fifth moved into the Sibley tents thus 
vacated. Companies took their places in regular order 
according to the army regulations and seniority of captains, 
from right to left, as follows : 

Right, A, D, E, F, B, G, C, H, I, K, Left, 

and the regiment assumed an organized appearance. The 
members began to get acquainted with each other and 
their officers, and learned the lettering of the companies. 
It will be noticed that, as far as possible, the letters of the 
companies correspond with the initial letter of the surname 
of the captain commanding, as follows : 

Co. A, Capt. Andrews, Lieuts. Hood and Stickney. 

" B, " Bartlett, " Hodges " Collins. 

" C, " Cheever, " Blanchard " Mirick. 

" D, " Dolan, " Baldwin " Hudson. 

" E, " Niles, " Palmer " Ingell. 

" F, " Oliver, " Preston " Williams. 

" G, " Gibson, " Brooks " Washburn. 

" H, t " Pratt, " Lyon " Burrell. 

" I, " Willard, " Lathrop " Hill. 

" K, " King, " Park " Blake. 



8 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

In this list, and in other cases hereafter, when, to avoid 
repetition, the names of members of the regiment are not 
given in full, they may be found by reference to the roster. 

The field and staff officers were : Colonel, Edward A. 
Wild, of Brookline ; Major, Sumner Carruth, of Chelsea ; 
Adjutant, Nathaniel Wales, of Dorchester ; Surgeon, Fran 
cis M. Lincoln, of Boston ; Assistant Surgeons, George 
N. Munsell, of Harwich, and Albert W. Clark, of Woburn ; 
Chaplain, Henry F. H. Miller, of Norton ; Quartermaster, 
Samuel W. Haines, of Newburyport; Sergeant -Major, 
Augustus Hatch, of Boston ; Quartermaster - Sergeant, 
Albert F. Upton, of Boston ; Commissary-Sergeant, Edwin 
N. Merrill, of Haverhill ; Hospital Steward, George F. 
Wood, of Plymouth ; Principal Musician, Daniel Vining, 
of Weymouth. The regiment never had a band attached, 
although an attempt to recruit one was made at Lynnfield ; 
it depended for music upon brigade bands, its own drum 
corps, or Company K s Glee Club, which furnished excel 
lent vocal music, associated with many scenes both of the 
solemn and of the festive kind. 

Colonel Wild had served as captain of Company A of 
the First Massachusetts Regiment, in Hooker s Division, 
at Blackburn s Ford, Bull Run, in Lower Maryland, and 
on the Peninsula. He had been wounded before Rich 
mond, and was assigned at first to the Thirty-Second Reg 
iment as major, then to the command of Camp Stanton, 
and afterwards to the Thirty-Fifth. He started with us 
for the front carrying his arm in a sling. 

Major Carruth, previously Captain of Company H, First 
Massachusetts, had the same military experience with our 
colonel, and had also returned home wounded (his arm 
shattered at Fair Oakes), to be promoted to our regiment. 
After Colonel Wild s promotion, he continued to be our 
permanent commander to the end of the war. No lieutenant- 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 9 

colonel was appointed at Lynnfield. Adjutant Wales had 
served in the Twenty-Fourth Massachusetts Regiment, 
under Colonel Stevenson. 

Of the line officers, Captain Andrews had seen service 
in the West ; Captain Bartlett had been Captain of Com 
pany A, Eighth Massachusetts, with Lieutenants Hodges 
and Collins among his lieutenants ; Captain Niles had 
held the same rank in Company D, Fourth Massachusetts, 
with Lieutenant Palmer among his corporals ; Captain 
Gibson had been first sergeant of Company A, First 
Massachusetts, and Lieutenant Washburn had been a 
member of the same company ; Captain Oliver had expe 
rience in the Fourteenth Massachusetts, and Lieutenant 
Lyon in Company H of the Twelfth Massachusetts ; Ser 
geant-Major Hatch had. been a sergeant of Company B, 
First Massachusetts, and afterwards a second-lieutenant 
in a New York regiment. Experienced soldiers were few 
in the Thirty-Fifth, and no member had received a West 
Point education. 

The men being assembled and clothed, the next duty 
was the " muster-in " of the companies. This ceremony 
was performed in detail, from the ninth to the nineteenth 
of August, by Lieutenant Elder of the United States Army. 
Standing in line the roll was called, each man responding 
to his name, then the oath was administered : " You do 
solemnly swear that you will bear true allegiance to the 
United States of America, and that you will serve them 
faithfully and honestly against all their enemies or opposers 
whomsoever, and observe and obey the orders of the Pres 
ident of the United States, and the orders of the officers 
appointed over yoft, according to the rules and articles for 
the government of armies of the United States. So help 
you God." 

Few of the officers and men had ever seen the blue 



JO HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

book containing the United States army regulations, and 
most never acquired more than a cursory knowledge of its 
contents ; but they took the oath, trusting to be able to 
comply with the intention, if not the letter of it. The term 
of service was "for three years or during the war" lan 
guage open to misconstruction ; the Government claiming 
the words to include an enlistment for the whole war, the 
men that it was for three years if the war should last so 
long. The war ended during the third year of the regi 
ment s term of service. 

On the twentieth the arms were distributed. These 
were nine hundred and sixty Enfield rifles of English 
make. They were somewhat defective, the cones being 
too much case-hardened and quite brittle, so that a large 
number were turned into the Washington Arsenal within 
three weeks ; nevertheless, so great was the scarcity of 
weapons at the time, the regiment was thought very for 
tunate to get them. The different belts, plates and boxes, 
constituting the accoutrements, were given out at the same 
time, or upon the following day. Some twenty thousand 
rounds of ammunition were drawn in Boston, but none 
were distributed ; nor were any experiments tried to test 
the power of the rifles. 

Being now fully armed and equipped, it was supposed 
that a few days at least of camp duty and drill would be 
allowed before active service ; the demand, however, for 
more troops at Washington was so imperative no delay 
could be permitted, and, much to the disappointment of 
the men and grief of their friends, orders were received to 
proceed immediately to the front, and the regiment started 
accordingly on the twenty-second of August Friday. 

There had been little sleep the previous night ; it was a 
rainy morning, and falling into regimental line in the mud 
was not pleasant. In addition to the burden of clothing, 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. II 

equipments, arms and rations furnished by the Govern 
ment, each man had tried to include in his pack a private 
assortment of writing cases, revolvers, toilet articles, water 
filters, Bibles and other books, and a general assortment 
of such medicines or comforts as he or his friends could 
suggest ; and now, having by the aid of his companions 
slung the mass upon his back, was deliberating upon the 
question how far it would be possible to struggle along un 
der it all. But patience and endurance are the first lessons 
of a soldier ; so, while waiting for the cars, the men, dread 
ing the task of reslinging and hooking their knapsacks, and 
having no dry spot to drop them upon, amused themselves 
chaffing each other s loads, and devising ways of propping 
them up with their rifles to relieve their shoulders. That 
regimental line of one thousand and thirteen men looked 
a mile long ; it was our " Old Thirty-Fifth." 

One o clock came before the long train filled with blue 
coats started for Boston, by way of Salem. Arrived in 
the city, the regiment marched by the right flank through 
Blackstone and North Streets, Merchants Row, State, Court, 
Tremont and Beacon Streets to the State House, cheered 
and cheering as we went another regiment off to the war! 
At the State House all looked for Governor Andrew no 
departure without his consecrating words seemed in due 
form but he was otherwise engaged ; so hurriedly receiv 
ing a blue silk regimental flag and the small, white, State 
flag the march was resumed. The blue flag bore the arms 
of the United States, with the motto E pluribus unum, in 
token that we were to bear it in the cause of the Union, 
one and indivisible. The white flag was emblazoned with 
the State arms, the uplifted sword, and the motto Ense 
petit placidam sub libertate quietetn, signifying that we drew 
the sword to gain enduring peace in a free land. They 
were good words to fight under. A national flag, the stars 



12 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

and stripes, was not received until many months after 
wards. 

Relatives and friends crowded the way for parting words, 
as we hastened on to the Old Colony Railway Station. It 
was an exciting time. Into the cars we jammed, some 
sick, some pale with sorrow, some roaring with laughter, 
others shouting a last farewell to friends a perfect pan 
demonium as the engine fastened on and the heavy 
train moved slowly out of the station. 

" Swift as the summons came they left 
The plow mid-furrow standing still, 
The half ground corn-grist in the mill, 
The spade in earth, the axe in cleft ; 
They went where duty seemed to call, 
.... They only knew they could but die, 
And death was not the worst of all." 

We left Boston about five in the afternoon, and reaching 
Fall River about ten o clock went on board the steamboat 
Bay State. Every carpet had been taken up, all furniture 
removed, and there were no beds in the berths. Men 
turned in on the slats in the main and in the ladies cabin ; 
that is, those who could get there. The officers had state 
rooms, with beds but no blankets, and only one sheet. 
The rest found space upon the decks to spread blankets, 
although some hesitated to unroll the packs put together 
so carefully ; but most were soon drowning their cares in 
sleep. One Walsh, an old marine, with wits enlivened by 
whiskey, gave to the wakeful ones a spirited free exhibition 
of the bayonet drill, dancing about and whirling his rifle, 
bayonet fixed, over the sleepers. The boat arrived at 
Jersey City at ten in the morning, and by noon we were 
on the way across New Jersey to Philadelphia, reaching 
there about six in the evening. 

Our reception in Philadelphia was most cordial ; greater 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 13 

hospitality was never experienced. The regiment was 
entertained at the far-famed Cooper s Shop. All Eastern 
soldiers remember with gratitude this welcome oasis be 
tween their homes and the front ; a little of the accustomed 
properly cooked food, spread upon neatly arranged tables, 
was relished exceedingly; and with the Thirty -Fifth the 
saying, " As nice as the Philadelphia Cooper s Shop," 
long endured as a standard of superlative comparison. 

Summary justice was dealt out by the colonel s orders 
to the stealthy venders of whiskey. Company K, with 
details from other companies, was ordered to clean out 
rum shops, kept open to soldiers contrary to orders; 
bottles, demijohns, etc., were soon emptied of their con 
tents. The colonel thus describes the affair : 

" In the immediate neighborhood of the Union Volunteer 
Refreshment Saloon, where we were supplied with a meal 
by the hospitality of the citizens, there is a large number 
of drinking shops, which have been a pest to every regi 
ment passing through. I personally ordered the proprietor 
of each establishment to sell no liquor to my men, warning 
him of consequences, and at the same time setting a guard 
at his door. Soon after, detecting them enticing men in 
at back doors to drink and fill canteens, I ordered the 
stock to be cleaned out at two places, a hotel and a saloon. 
The order was summarily and thoroughly carried out by 
my men. No serious personal violence was committed, 
although we had occasion to overawe a large party of 
zouaves and other bullies. The police followed me with 
two writs of arrest, which I declined to accede to, but 
warned them that if they caused us any delay I should be 
obliged to take aldermen and all with me to Washington. 
All this not from any wanton disrespect for municipal law, 
but on the ground that in time of armed rebellion the exi- 



14 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

gencies of the military service .must take precedence of 
all else." 

Marching through the city to take the cars for Baltimore, 
about nine in the evening, Company K brought up the 
rear with fixed bayonets. The people along the route 
turned out to a man, woman and baby. " Good bye ! " 
"God bless you ! " "Come back safe ! " were the constant 
exclamations. Women brought out water, and did all they 
could to make the men comfortable ; in fact, it was quite 
an ovation. Before getting into the cars all canteens were 
examined, and drinks stronger than water were emptied 
into the gutter. 

Packed in the cars the men tried to sleep sitting erect 
amid the racket, but it was a restless effort. The riotous 
reception of the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment in Balti 
more a year before was still fresh in our thoughts, and 
in the excited state of the popular mind we looked for 
some active demonstrations of unfriendly feeling; but, on 
the contrary, the regiment marched quietly through the 
city before the people had fairly awakened from their 
Sunday morning naps. Now and then a small flag would 
be waved ; but generally the people whom we met stared 
with indifference, or, at the worst, with sinister looks only : 
we had had our row with the roughs of Philadelphia. After 
a breakfast at the Soldier s Rest, box cars with rough, pine 
benches were filled inside and upon the roofs, about eleven 
o clock ; and now, as Uncle Sam s cattle, we jolted on 
towards Washington, through hot and dusty Maryland. 
At Baltimore things had first taken a noticeably foreign 
look ; the windows about the station were crowded with 
woolly heads and black faces, with wondering eyes, while 
some of the dark hued, Indian-looking whites who strolled 
among us we deemed to be spies in the enemy s service. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 15 

We reached Washington about two in the afternoon, 
August 24, and went at first to the barracks near the 
Capitol, where another meal was offered a feed this 
time, not a collation, and further proof that we were now 
to be classed as Government live stock the slop-coffee 
in wooden buckets, and old boiled horse, could not be 
stomached ; some, however, worried down a crust of sour 
bread buttered with patriotic words : it went down hard, 
nevertheless. But when at five o clock the regiment formed 
column, platoon front, with full ranks, and marched down 
the grand Pennsylvania Avenue, drums beating and colors 
flying, the soldier s pride in his regiment awakened, and 
we stepped off cheerily, and did our best to keep the lines 
exact and distances correct. Nevertheless, when the avenue 
was passed and the drums stopped it seemed as if our 
legs would stop also. 

The Thirty-Fifth was assigned to the command of Brig 
adier-General Casey, and ordered to camp beyond Arlington 
Heights. We kept on by the White House, and crossed 
the Potomac River above at Georgetown, on the Aqueduct 
Bridge, and came down again on the further bank. As we 
stepped off the bridge upon the "sacred soil " of Old Vir 
ginia, some one struck up the song of "Old John Brown," 
in which the whole column joined ; then, mindful that it 
was Sunday evening, they followed with psalm tunes, and 
the Arlington Hills echoed to the old Puritan music. 
Darkness and dust together swallowed us up, and still the 
column kept on. Some of the officers continued the reg 
ular orders, "Right shoulder shift! Left shoulder 
shift! " but the weary men carried their guns anyhow, and 
darkness concealed the delinquency. The heat and fatigue 
began to tell, and some stragglers appeared ; the column 
began to lose shape. We struck the road from the Long 
Bridge to Hunter s Chapel, and turning sharply to the 



1 6 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

right pushed along, encouraged by the words, " Only half 
a mile more, boys ! " repeated ad nauseam. At Hunter s 
Chapel the regiment turned into a field on the left, and 
got orders to stack arms and rest for the night ; the 
suddenness with which knapsacks were unslung was very 
observable. A few gathered rails for fires and roasted 
green corn, but most, worn out, wrapped themselves in 
blankets and slept with the ashes-like soil of the Old 
Dominion for a bed and a knapsack or cartridge box for 
a pillow. 

Such a looking set as we were on awakening ! stiff and 
sore, daubed with dust, the newness gone from the uni 
forms, a sorry sight indeed. Ah ! pity the sorrows of 
the raw recruit while being broken in yet a dry bed, a 
warm night, and sleep undisturbed are three of the soldier s 
luxuries. We found our bivouac to be nearly opposite 
Hunter s Chapel, in advance of Forts Craig and Rich 
ardson, on the Columbia Turnpike, and upon ground 
occupied the previous winter by Blenker s Division of the 
Army of the Potomac. The men lay about resting and 
cleaning up all the morning of the twenty-fifth, and 
receiving a lot of "A" tents, by the energetic efforts of 
Quartermaster Haines, pitched them in regular camp 
further to the south of the road, calling the spot Camp 
Casey. A few cartridges were distributed and instruction 
given in loading with the minie ball, a new thing then, 
calibre .577, 

Next day the Thirty-Fifth was transferred to the command 
of General Whipple, and by him (on the thirtieth) assigned 
to Van Volkenburg s Brigade ; drill was commenced, and 
an order of camp duty issued. At leisure moments the 
pedlers carts drew swarms, eager to obtain watermelons 
and peaches in exchange for sticky postage-stamps, of 
which every one carried a wad in his pocket, for gold and 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 17 

silver money had disappeared when the greenbacks were 
issued. Others wandered off to see the neighboring forts, 
or bathe in the creek in front, or inspect the corduroy 
roads or mud huts of last winter, now covered with rank 
grass ; and some mused over the white railing of the little 
cemetery, and read the strange German names of those of 
Blenker s men who, thus early in the war, had found rest 
here. 

On the same day (twenty-sixth) we broke camp and 
retired about half a mile to within the line of the forts. 
Tents were again pitched between the Turnpike and Fort 
Craig, the officers tents being among peach trees, and the 
place designated Camp Whipple. There was hardly room 
for dress parade, which we here learned to go through 
decently ; and Colonel Wild gave the regiment an after 
noon of drill in inarching at double-quick in line of battle 
with the bayonet. These last days of August were full of 
great events occurring in front of our camps, so quietly 
occupied, for out at Manassas and Centreville "Stonewall" 
Jackson and his men were for several days between Wash 
ington and the army of General Pope. Fitz Hugh Lee, 
on the twenty-seventh, captured stores at Burke s Station, 
within twelve miles of Alexandria. If Old Stonewall had 
been in sufficient force to turn towards Washington our 
position would have been more lively. It became suffi 
ciently exciting very soon. Sixty rounds of cartridges per 
man were distributed, and night alarms, with beating of 
the long roll, practised. 

Distant cannonade was heard daily, and pickets were 
posted along the turnpike to the front. Company I had a 
tour of duty, August 29, on guard at Fort Runion and the 
Long Bridge, where they saw the cavalrymen who had been 
stampeded at Manassas and the droves of cattle hurried 
over the Potomac to Washington ; evidently " something 



1 8 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

was up " in front, which did not look like victory. The 
regiment was set to work digging intrenchments of regular 
profile, flanking the forts; but the connection with the 
commissary department was not well established, or army 
rations too coarse, consequently our diet was poor, and 
digging came hard ; men declared they had come out to 
fight and not to handle the pick and shovel. 

The liveliest incident was the narrow escape of Lieu 
tenant Hood. He says : " I was lieutenant of the pickets 
around Arlington Heights, and received, August 29, a 
despatch from General McClellan directing me to detail 
twenty-five extra men and march to Hunter s Chapel, and 
await one of his staff. I did so, and we extended the 
picket line to Ball s Cross Roads ; then McClellan made 
his headquarters at Lee s mansion, the Arlington House. 
At midnight the pickets were heard, and * boots to saddle 
sounded ; I went to the Cross Roads, and finding troops 
going into camp I assisted their officer in posting pickets. 
On my return one of my pickets took me for a reb, never 
made me dismount, but kept his gun and bayonet in my 
face as we walked along ; he stumbled and pricked my 
horse, and let me have it in face and eyes ; then ran and 
cocked his gun again without loading, but it wouldn t shoot 
worth a cent ; then the other picket came for me ; I dis 
mounted, sung out that I was their officer and gave the 
countersign. My men promised, if I would let them off, 
to do better next time. I understood better picket duty, 
but they may have meant shoot straighten When I got to 
camp I found my face blackened with powder." 

The lieutenant was afterwards very severely wounded at 
Antietam. 

At Camp Whipple, Major Carruth, now promoted to 
lieutenant-colonel, arrived about the fifth of September, 
bringing commissions for Captain Willard to be major, 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 19 

First-Lieutenant Lathrop to be a captain, and Second- 
Lieutenant Hill to be a first-lieutenant ; also Lieutenant 
Pope joined the regiment about the same time. Six four- 
horse army wagons were issued to Quartermaster Haines 
for transportation of baggage. 

Ambulance trains from the front moved towards Wash 
ington, with the slow motion which betokened wounded 
men within ; and stragglers and portions of the Army of 
the Potomac passed through camp, notably Meagher s 
Brigade, of Sumner s Corps, sun-browned heroes of the 
Peninsula, their clothes weather-stained and worn, flags 
tattered and ranks thin, telling a tale of hard service, and 
presenting an appearance which quite shocked us ; there 
were even some wounded men among them. Soon after 
these came visitors from General Pope s Army of Virginia, 
with tales of narrow escapes and death of friends in the 
battles about Groveton, called Second Bull Run. Surely 
the crisis had now come, all the armies were about us, and 
we were in good position to participate. We gazed over 
to the city upon the half-finished dome of the Capitol, and 
wondered if it would ever be completed it looked doubt 
ful. But our short time for preparation was spent ; ready 
or not ready it was time for the Thirty-Fifth to take the 
field, to keep it until the end. 



CHAPTER II. 

MARYLAND AND THE BATTLE OF SOUTH MOUNTAIN, 1862. 

/^ENERAL LEE, with the Confederate army, bore 
VJT away from Washington in a north-west direction, 
and crossed the Potomac River into Maryland, between 
September 4 and 7, at the fords near Leesburg, and 
encamped in the vicinity of Frederick City. His where 
abouts were to us a subject of conjecture for several days. 
General Pope was relieved from the command of our 
army by General McClellan, who devoted himself to the 
task of reorganizing the force, while moving it towards 
Frederick to meet General Lee and protect Washington 
and Baltimore. The Thirty-Fifth was now transferred to 
the command of General Burnside, already north of the 
Potomac, and orders were received in the morning of the 
sixth of September to be ready to march in light order, 
knapsacks and sick men to be left behind, and tents left 
standing. Between five and six in the evening the regi 
ment fell in and moved down to the Long Bridge, crossed, 
and passed through the streets of Washington. At that 
hour the people were at leisure, and doors and windows 
were crowded with spectators. Expectation of battle was 
vivid, and cheers followed the troops as they hurried 
through the darkening streets, accompanied by the rumble 
of heavy wagons and tramp of many feet. A part of the 
regiment turned off to the arsenal to exchange muskets ; 
the rest marched up Seventh Street, due north, into the 



21 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

dust and pale moonlight of the country roads, the night 
air hot, but excitement cooling as the city was left behind. 
On we pushed until past midnight, tramp, tramp, by quiet 
farms and sleeping countrymen. Men began to express 
fatigue in emphatic words, then straggling began, and 
rebukes were of no avail. The rear had almost mingled 
with the head of the column when, at half-past one o clock, 
the order came to halt for the night; and, footsore and 
weary, the men sought shelter in an oak grove beside the 
road, and, gathering a few dried leaves, rolled themselves 
in such coverings as they had and slept. 

At sunrise (seventh), after a wash in the horse-trough 
opposite, men scattered around among the neighboring 
houses in search of a breakfast ; we had not yet learned 
to subsist upon army rations. He was a lucky fellow who 
found a cook not already overcrowded with applicants. 
A move of about four miles only was made this day ; it 
was Sunday, and excessively hot. We turned into some 
woods on the left of the road near Leesboro, and waited 
for the stragglers to come up. One of these poor fellows 
having slept under a wayside hedge, striking into the road 
in the morning, came face to face with General Burnside ; 
making his best salute the man boldly inquired whether 
the general had seen the Thirty-Fifth Massachusetts any 
where. " Oh, yes," replied the urbane general dryly, 
" you ll find them all the way from here to Washington ! " 
Such are the effects of a night march upon new troops. 
It should be said, however, that the other regiments upon 
the road straggled as badly as our boys ; but ours were 
more noticeable because we were so full in numbers. 

At this camp Colonel W T ild instructed us in the duties of 
a soldier on the march ; condemning straggling, permitting 
foraging only when the commissary had forgotten us, and 
then only for needful food; forbidding extravagance in 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 22 

burning rail fences, and adding directions in regard to the 
care of the wounded in battle, the enemy to be whipped 
first and the disabled to be cared for afterward, they 
were words of experience and were well heeded. Thence 
forward the rear company marching with fixed bayonets 
made straggling unprofitable. 

On the eighth the regiment moved only a mile and 
joined the brigade, of which we were for the next year 
and a half to form a part. It was the Second Brigade 
Reno s own of the Second Division (General Sturgis s) 
of the Ninth Army Corps (General Burnside s), now com 
manded by our proper brigadier, General Jesse L. Reno. 
General Burnside was in command of the right wing of the 
army, including General Hooker s First Corps with his 
own. Our brigade, now under the leadership of Colonel 
Ferrero, was composed of the Twenty-First Massachusetts, 
Fifty-First New York and Fifty-First Pennsylvania regi 
ments. We were carefully informed by the older members 
that it was called " The Bloody Second Brigade," and it 
was certain death to belong to if. With mouths open with 
amazement we swallowed the startling information; but 
the old veterans were not very far beside the truth after 
all. They had served in North Carolina and in General 
Pope s battles in Virginia, with great distinction and with 
heavy losses. 

The brigade marched about twelve miles on the ninth 
to Brookville, a pretty Maryland village, headquarters of 
General Burnside. From here Major Willard and Chaplain 
Miller were sent back with one of the wagons to Arlington, 
to strike the tents and care for the sick, many of whom 
afterwards found their way into the dismal Convalescent 
Camp at Alexandria. No movement of the brigade was 
made on the tenth, but immense bodies of troops passed 
our camp. 



23 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

The small supply of pork and hard bread, which fastid 
ious appetites had placed in our haversacks at Arlington, 
was now exhausted. Coffee without milk or sugar, so 
bitter at first, had become pleasant ; raw salt pork was a 
luxury, with a fine nutty flavor ; and hard bread took the 
place it never afterwards gave up, as the first essential of 
a soldier s life. The trees along the road were loaded 
with green apples, and many of the men experimented 
with a diet of sour apple sauce. Stray fowls were thrown 
into the pot and devoured almost before they could utter 
their last expiring clack. We began to understand the 
saying, that an army moves upon its stomach. 

After this, for a couple of days, the regiment plodded 
along with the brigade. Hot days, dusty roads and bruised 
feet make the bivouac on the ground at night a welcome 
rest. The discomfort of marching in close ranks, with 
perhaps a train of wagons or artillery in the middle of the 
road, and another column of troops on the other side, all 
hurrying forward, sometimes at double-quick, must be tried 
for a few days to be duly appreciated. Experience was 
gained daily. Lazy fellows found that a pound weight or 
so of water in a canteen was a heavy lug, and learned to 
beg their drink of neighbors and go light themselves. 
The never ended discussion was begun whether, if in light 
marching order, a choice must lie between an overcoat or 
a blanket, which should be carried along. Also the boys 
discovered that, in view of unexpected orders to move, it 
was advisable to heat their pots of water first, then put in 
the precious coffee, and woe to him who mixed his coffee 
in the cold water, hoping for time to boil it ; if he did not 
get an order to march, or detail for picket, some stumbler 
would be sure to kick the burning rails and upset the mag 
nificent array of blackening tin dippers but then was not 
the air blue with maledictions ! 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 24 

The left and centre of the army took the shorter course 
through Rockville and nearer the Potomac. We of the 
right wing struck off north along the Patuxent, through 
Unity, then, on the eleventh, north-westward to Damascus. 
Here Fred. F. Blakely, of Company C, lost the forefinger 
of his right hand, by the accidental discharge of his gun 
while on duty ; our first wounded man. As the infantry 
moved on, sounds of cannon were heard and sometimes 
the cavalry in advance came into view, or we passed a 
field-piece unlimbered by the roadside, ready to open fire ; 
but all conflict seemed to keep just ahead. On the twelfth, 
halting at noon at New Market, to allow another division 
to precede us on the turnpike from Baltimore to Frederick, 
we heard that the enemy s cavalry had left the town that 
morning. Following on, we reached the neighborhood of 
Frederick at night, the last part of the way between the 
hills solemnized by the heavy booming of cannon in front. 
These old turnpikes in Maryland are the best of roads, 
well macadamized with broken limestone ; and the stone 
bridge over the Monocacy River, which the Confederates 
tried to blow up, is striking for its solidity and foreign 
appearance. The regiment turned into the fields north 
of the road, on the west bank of the river, and finding 
abundant straw the men made a comfortable bivouac. 
There had been a skirmish at the bridge that day, and 
several of our cavalry were killed and wounded. 

On the following morning, the thirteenth, while awaiting 
orders, the rise of ground west of us was covered with 
men, perched upon the rail fence, watching the distant 
fight between our cavalry and the retiring enemy. The 
prospect from the hill, including the city and the distant 
Catoctin Hills, was worth viewing, without its exciting 
incidents. By companies, the regiment filed out to the 
river bank and fired the new Enfields for the first time, 



25 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

not much to our satisfaction ; the cones of some snapped 
off at the base, rendering such arms useless, for we had no 
tools to extract the stumps ; and the ammunition seemed 
to fit loosely, so that some were disgusted when their 
bullets dropped into the water a few rods from the muzzle. 
Several men were found who had never fired a gun. 

By the middle of the afternoon the skirmish in front 
had abated, and orders came to move forward. Who that 
was present will ever forget the cheerful welcome received 
as the heavy columns of troops passed through Frederick 
City, flags and handkerchiefs waving, and friendly faces 
greeting the soldiers from all sides ! 

" Over the mountains winding down, 
Horse and foot, into Frederick town." 

At a corner of the streets General McClellan with his 
staff reviewed the troops, and cheer after cheer rent the 
air as the regiments passed. This welcome from patriotic 
Marylanders made the soldiers feel as if they were to fight 
upon their own soil, and greatly inspirited the army unused 
to such moral support. The song of " Maryland, My 
Maryland," was ever after a Union song. Our regiment 
sang together " Marching Along " and " Old John Brown," 
with grand effect, as we swung through the streets ; but 
when we halted for a few moments in the outskirts, some 
of the cynical elders of the brigade suggested : " Save 
your breath, boys ; you ll need it ahead there ! " Too 
true ! for we never sang together on the march afterwards, 
we had no heart for it, it seemed like tempting evil 
fortune. 

Darkness gathered, but the march was continued. The 
road was ascending, passing over the Catoctin range of 
hills, outliers of the Blue Ridge. The scenery from these 
by day-light is described as surpassingly fine ; but, as we 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 26 

stumbled along at a quick pace over the heaps of broken 
stone, dropped there for road mending some of the men 
so tired as to be walking in their sleep we minded little 
of the charm about us. The waning moon rose and was 
reaching the zenith, when, late at night, descending the 
hills we found ourselves in the valley near Middletown. 
Here a halt was called, arms stacked, packs unslung, and 
a few moments found the tired men wrapped in sleep. 
Company D had the ill luck to be detailed for picket on 
this the night before our first battle. 

Waking stiff and sore to a beautiful Sunday morning 
(September 14), the first thought was breakfast. Some 
cattle were driven up and killed in the neighboring field, 
and we tried broiling collops of steaming fresh beef upon 
our ramrods. Some of the men visited the houses in the 
town in search of eatables, but with little success. The 
irrepressible Walsh returned with a tea-kettle and cabbage 
of course he was a tailor as well as a marine and set 
to work boiling the vegetable. While this was passing 
artillery firing commenced, and white puffs of smoke 
began to rise between us and the range of blue hills, 
called the South Mountain, about one thousand feet high, 
bounding our view on the west ; to which, however, we 
gave little attention. Two o clock in the afternoon came, 
and with it the order to "fall-in." The regiment was 
about eight hundred strong, with Colonel Wild in com 
mand. Walsh had not time to cook his cabbage ; so he 
slung it, kettle and all, to his belt, in hopes of a chance 
to finish it. 

We passed through the quiet town, houses and churches 
ominously silent and deserted, and out into the country, 
meeting the Twelfth and Thirteenth Massachusetts Regi 
ments, with other troops, resting by the roadside ; they 
laughed at our announcement that we, such raw troops, 



27 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

were going into battle. The wooden bridge over a small 
stream was destroyed, the timbers still smoking, but we 
found no difficulty in fording. We stopped there a moment 
to load our guns. As we proceeded ambulances met us, 
returning with wounded men. The sound of firing in front 
grew louder, and we could distinguish the rattle of mus 
ketry and see a line of smoke rising half way up the hills. 
" Now, men, forward ! right shoulder shift ! quick 
time ! double quick ! " came the orders. We left the road, 
crossed the fields, jumping brooks, and were soon close 
upon our batteries, which were fuming like furnaces, and 
sending shells into Turner s Pass on the right and up into 
the woods on the left. 

A brief halt was made at the battery ; then the order 
came to hurry up the old Sharpsburg road, at Fox s Gap, 
to the left. Away we went to the foot of the hills ; the 
rear companies with difficulty closing up, so swift the 
advance. It was about half past three o clock. The 
cheering and rattle of musketry were lively above us, and 
evidently our movement meant work. Half way up the 
hill we met a wounded man borne in a stretcher upon the 
shoulders of his friends. He shouted to us, as we breath 
lessly hurried by : " Forward, boys, forward ! We re driving 
them ! Don t let this scare you ; give em hell ! They 
can t stand cold steel ! " We passed a low weather-stained, 
house, and came into line of battle in its little cornfield, 
to the left, facing the woods just below the summit of the 
hill. 

" Throw off your packs ! " Away go our bundles, never 
to be seen again. " Fix bayonets ! " The rattle of the steel 
replies. " Right face ! Forward by file left ! Double 
quick ! Charge ! " And Company A led off gallantly up 
into the thick woods in front, and through them into the 
open field upon the summit, the proper scene of the action. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 28 

Again we came into line, then forward across the field to 
the wall on the west side fronting a log-house and more 
woods, the right of the regiment resting, as it advanced, 
upon a sunken road in which lay many dead and wounded 
Confederates. A few scattering shots from the forest in 
front saluted our appearance in the field. The momentary 
halt gave Walsh an opportunity to deposit his precious 
kettle in the corner of the wall, he now looking for warmer 
work. 

Immediately we started by the right flank and passed 
on the double-quick the cross-roads made by the sunken 
road, passing over the hill, meeting the road following the 
ridge and leading to Rohrersville. Here stood Colonel 
Wild, full of the fire of battle, urging us on with the most 
vehement words. As we passed the colonel we saw several 
dead and wounded of the enemy, lying by a pile of their 
abandoned knapsacks, and either one of these wounded 
men, or some one in the shrubbery behind them, fired a 
shot which took effect in our ranks. Our boys rushed 
fiercely at them with the bayonet ; but at the call of mercy, 
11 Hold, men, don t strike a wounded man ! " they threw up 
the steel. That little scene among the trees, with the 
dead and wounded, their cadaverous faces and pale gray 
clothing, arms thrown up for mercy, and the little cloud of 
smoke dissipating above, left a vivid impression. 

We kept along the ridge road to the north a little way, 
then faced the forest, and, with bayonets at a charge, tried 
to push through the tangled mass of vines and brambles, 
in line of battle, on down the west side of the mountain. 
The thicket was so close that only here and there could a 
passage be forced through, and, as a consequence, the regi 
ment, instead of advancing in line, broke into sections or 
smaller parties, which moved forward by flank, dressing 
on any point was impracticable. With bayonets forward, 



29 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

watching the front, anticipating momentarily a crossing of 
steel with the foe, but meeting no one, down we went. 
Some ways down we halted ; the movement had been so- 
quick most were glad to rest a moment and recover breath. 
The sun in the west shone brightly among the trees, the 
bee hummed among the grasses, all sounds of battle near 
us had ceased. We had penetrated far within the original 
Confederate line, and the foe in this front had fled down 
the road to the left. If any remained in position we were 
well within their left flank. Knowing nothing of positions, 
however, and in doubt what to do, the sections, coming 
more together, marched back up the hill into the ridge 
road again. 

Here was a scene of unavoidable confusion, as the dif 
ferent parties came out of the woods and sought to recover 
their positions in the line. Such a shouting of company 
letters, " Company A ! " " Company B ! " " Company C ! " 
etc., was never heard before nor since. Soon, having 
settled into something like a line, so as to be under com 
mand, the column, consisting of about half the regiment, 
the rest going back by another route, moved back by flank 
to and across the sunken road,, and then south upon the 
field on the summit. There the rest of our brigade 
appeared, drawn up in two lines, Fifty-First New York 
and Fifty-First Pennsylvania in front, Twenty-First Massa 
chusetts in rear, and our left companies commenced 
forming in rear of the line of the Twenty-First, and extend 
ing to the right, about twenty feet in front of the easterly 
boundary of the field. The sun was just down. 

While this position was being taken, suddenly a sharp 
fire of musketry burst upon us from the wood to our front 
and right, out of which we had just come. The surprise 
was complete. The darkening forest was lined with flashes 
of the hostile guns, and their bullets cut the earth about 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 30 

our feet ; the ground descending towards the enemy. In 
stantly some of the men threw forward their rifles and 
returned the fire, aiming over the heads of the line in 
front. Orders were confused, some shouting, " Fire ! 
fire ! " Others, more calm, " Cease firing ! " The latter 
quickly prevailed, although, after a momentary interval, 
while they were reloading or a new line coining up, the 
enemy s musketry was continued, and men of our regiment 
were being hit; and our line was drawn back into the edge 
of the forest, east of the field, so as to be less exposed. 
It was in this sudden attack that General Reno received a 
mortal wound, and our colonel lost his arm. 

When word spread that Colonel Wild was hit, there was 
some hesitation as to who should succeed him, the lieu 
tenant-colonel not being found at first. Captain Andrews 
took command and led the regiment still further back into 
the woods, so as to be protected while lying down by the 
crest of the hill. It was quite dark ; the rest of the brigade 
in our front and left kept up a steady, rattling fire of mus 
ketry ; and so did the Confederates in our front, but they 
did not advance, being content to expend their ammunition 
on the trees over our heads ; so we lay and listened to the 
steady whizzing of the bullets above us. 

Had the enemy come out into the open field on our 
right in force they would have flanked our position, and 
recovered the ground they had lost in the afternoon ; but 
they hesitated to advance in the darkness, and kept blazing 
away without effecting anything until, having used up their 
powder, their fire slackened and they retired. Meanwhile 
our leader, fearing such a movement upon our right, drew 
out the regiment from the woods into the sunken road, 
which we found encumbered with dead and wounded Con 
federates. Here, while the enemy s musketry was dying 
away, we lay with bayonets fixed, peering into the darkness 



31 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

over the stone wall, which bounded the road on the north 
side, awaiting the flank attack which did not come. Some 
of the poor fellows in the road had strength enough to 
speak, arid beg for water or a change of position, which 
was willingly rendered them. When the contest-had ceased 
General Sturgis sent up a section of artillery ; and, to let 
the guns pass, our men moved the wounded and dead from 
the road upon the bank, sometimes in the darkness placing 
several bodies together, which lead observers in the morning 
to report to the newspapers that " the rebels were piled in 
heaps as high as the wall." We then marched into the field 
north of the sunken road and stacked arms, with orders to 
rest behind the stacks, but be ready for action at any mo 
ment ; videttes were sent forward to the rail fence fronting 
the western wood. It was about nine o clock in the evening, 
and quite cold upon the hill top. The men were bathed 
in perspiration from the exertion and excitement of battle, 
but a renewal of the attack being feared few were per 
mitted to return down the hill to the cornfield in search of 
the blankets and coats thrown off before the first charge ; 
some returned and reported nothing there friends in the 
rear had made way with the goods. No fires were allowed, 
so we tried to keep warm walking about, and by turns 
endeavoring to catch a little sleep, lying four across four, 
until the welcome sun arose. The fatigues of the day and 
of the previous night s march made even these naps a 
precious relief. 

In the morning some made a breakfast upon the small 
round biscuit with which the haversacks of the dead Con 
federates about us were filled ; others preferred to go 
hungry rather than do anything which seemed like robbing 
the dead. Whether Walsh recovered his kettle of cabbage 
was never reported. Down the east side of the hill, in our 
rear, where the Confederate line of battle had lain the 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 32 

day before, along a stone wall, the ground was gray with 
the knapsacks and blankets they had thrown off in the 
fight and left behind in their hasty departure. From these, 
with a good deal of fastidious examination for those little 
creatures which love to lodge in the clothing of veteran 
armies, we selected blankets to supply those we had lost. 
The dead lay with faces upturned, already black with dis 
solution, and objected not to the necessary appropriation. 
Those who went over the field said that the Confederate 
dead lay thicker to the left in the woods, but the horrors 
beside us sufficed. 

We noticed here and there a tall fellow in blue, with the 
regulation Kossuth hat, betokening Western troops, for the 
soldiers of the Army of the Potomac always wore the cloth 
cap. They were the dead of the Seventeenth Michigan, 
who, with the Seventy-Ninth New York (Highlanders), had 
preceded us in the charge the afternoon before and had 
broken the line of the enemy at the sunken road, thus 
accounting for our so undisputed advance over the field. 
The wounded man we had met on the hill-side was one 
of theirs, and his words of cheer were a true statement of 
the condition of the action at the moment. General Cox s 
Kanawha Division had secured and held a place of vantage, 
from which these two regiments had made their gallant 
and successful charge. 

General McClellan and staff passed up over the field, 
and were received with cheers and every demonstration of 
victory. Then our satisfaction was chilled by news that 
our noble General Reno was dead, an irreparable loss 
to the Ninth Corps, an officer whose name cannot be 
repeated without a pang of sorrow ! 

Colonel Wild s arm was amputated at the shoulder, and 
the loss unfitted him for severe field service, though he 
afterwards won additional honor as general in command 



33 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

of the well-known Wild s African Brigade. The Thirty- 
Fifth was fated to lose its commanding officer in successive 
actions ; he was the first to fall. The other officers wounded 
were Captain B. F. Pratt, Second-Lieutenant Charles F. 
Williams, Jr. (mortally), and First-Lieutenant William Hill. 
Of the enlisted men, there were five killed or who died 
of their wounds soon after : Addison Tarr, of Company A 
(the first man killed in battle in the Thirty-Fifth) ; Andrew 
J. Nash, of B ; George S. Sloan, of E ; George F. Whiting, 
of I ; and Joseph W. Cobb, of K. There were some dozen 
to twenty others wounded. 

The men of the regiment who fired at the time of the 
sudden attack were rightly blamed for doing so without 
the colonel s orders, but such occurrences are not easily 
avoided ; even veteran troops, when unexpectedly assaulted 
in a wooded country, will, if they think they see an opening 
for a shot, return the fire without orders, for the noise of 
the attack drowns the commander s voice, it can never be 
known how far the enemy will advance, and the ball or the 
bayonet is the only thing to stop them. The marvel was 
not that our raw men blazed away, but that they could be 
stopped, and remain steady while the enemy s fire con 
tinued. 

The troops of Generals Hooker and Meacle had fought 
the enemy bravely and successfully on the hills north of 
Turner s Pass, and General Gibbon in the Pass itself. 
Lieutenant-Colonel Hayes, of the Twenty-Third Ohio, late 
President Hayes, was wounded somewhere on the ridge 
south of our point of attack. The Confederates had now 
retired from the whole front to behind Antietam Creek. 

Colonel Taylor, in his book, " Four Years with General 
Lee," gives the forces engaged on the Confederate side at 
South Mountain as follows : D. H. Hill had the brigades 
of Rhodes, Garland, Colquitt, Anderson and Ripley, num- 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 34 

bering in all less than five thousand. About 3 P. M. he was 
reenforced by the brigades of Drayton and Anderson, num 
bering nineteen hundred, and late in the day was joined 
by Longstreet, with the brigades of Evans, Pickett, Kem- 
per, Jenkins, Hood and Whiting ; only four of these, how 
ever, numbering three thousand, became seriously engaged, 
and they not until dark. The troops of Garland, G. B. 
Anderson, Ripley, Drayton and G. T. Anderson are else 
where stated to have been engaged at Fox s Gap, and of 
these the Twenty-Third North Carolina claimed to have 
killed General Reno. The brigades of G. T. Anderson 
and Drayton appear to have been the ones which left their 
dead and wounded in the sunken road and their knapsacks 
behind the walls, and Longstreet s men to have made the 
attack at dark. 

Captain Phisterer, in his " Statistical Record," gives the 
total losses at South Mountain : Union, 2,325 ; Confederate, 

4,343- 

The importance to the National cause of this victory at 
South Mountain, won by clash and courage from an enemy 
strongly posted and elated with recent successes, can with 
difficulty be estimated now. It was our first important 
advantage after a series of disastrous battles. The effect 
in restoring to the army confidence in its powers, and in 
encouraging a disappointed people, was visible at once in 
the spirit and disposition of the men and in the tone of the 
newspapers and letters from home. 



CHAPTER III. 

ANTIETAM. 

ON the fifteenth of September the Confederate army 
was divided: General Lee with Longstreet s and 
other divisions, including the troops of D. H. Hill just 
driven from South Mountain, had withdrawn into the angle 
formed by the Potomac River and the Antietam Creek, 
and lay upon the gently swelling hills in front of the 
village of Sharpsburg, waiting to concentrate his army and 
for his trains to cross the river into Virginia ; General 
Jackson was distant from Lee about seventeen miles, at 
Harper s Ferry, gathering in his prisoners and spoils ; for, 
at eight o clock this morning, the garrison of Harpers 
Ferry, some ten thousand men, with abundant stores, had 
surrendered to Old Stonewall, who, by a masterly surround 
and occupation of the commanding heights, had compelled 
a surrender sooner than was thought possible. The officer 
who succeeded General Miles, who was killed at the mo 
ment of capitulation, was our afterwards friend and division 
commander, General Julius White, of Indiana. The news 
of this loss reached us next day, and caused almost as 
much depression as our victory had given elation. 

The weather was fine and favorable for the movements 
of the armies ; but the men of our regiment, after the two 
nights of broken rest and fatigues of battle, were happy to 
lie upon the field during the morning and let the warm sun 
thaw out limbs stiffened by the frosts of the previous night. 



36 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

General J. D. Cox, of the Kanawha Division, took com 
mand of the Ninth Corps. Lieutenant Hudson had been 
detailed upon the staff of Colonel Ferrero before the battle. 
He says he had forty minutes chase after the Thirty-Fifth 
the afternoon before, and was unable to catch up with it; 
which shows the swiftness of our march from Middletown. 

Having gathered up the stragglers, and looked after the 
dead and wounded, the regiment formed, about two in the 
afternoon, and took the road down the west slope of the 
mountain. The sun seemed to brighten as we left that 
scene of horror. It is said by those now living upon the 
spot that a portion of the dead were buried by throwing 
them into the well near the log-house at the cross roads. 
The valley we entered was green and fertile, and dotted 
with comfortable houses, many having a Dutch look, like 
their owners names. One of our men, Greenleaf F. Jel- 
lison, of Company C, accidentally shot himself in the foot 
soon after we started. In a field by the road-side two young 
bulls, a black and a red, seized with a desire to ape the 
folly of their betters, or taking advantage of broken fences 
to clear off old scores, were having a pitched battle. Our 
boys named one " Mac," the other " Bob Lee," and de 
clared that the former got the better of the contest. So 
the auspices were propitious. 

Approaching the banks of the Antietam at dark, a line 
of batteries appeared, posted along the ridge in front ; 
they were warmly engaged, sending shot and shell across 
the stream at the enemy, whom the rise of ground con 
cealed from us. The regiment, at first, turned in on the 
right of the road and stacked arms ; then resumed them 
and, moving further along the road, turned into a cornfield 
on the left, where, with other troops massed there, we re 
mained in bivouac all night and the following day. The 
sixteenth was a beautiful day, and sitting upon a bundle, 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 37 

leaning one s back against a stack of arms and reading old 
papers, would have been quite comfortable had it not been 
for the shells and solid shot which our friends on the fur 
ther side of the creek kept dropping into the field, generally 
without effect other than noise and dust, but occasionally 
maiming some poor fellow, causing a pause in the reading- 
During the day Generals McClellan and Burnside passed 
with numerous staffs, reconnoitring the front and drawing 
the enemy s fire effectually. 

At sundown we moved forward to the south and over 
the ridge. The brigade formed en masse, and with the 
straw from a large stack near by the men made a luxurious 
bivouac. The scene from this position was very fine. In 
front was the valley through which the Antietam ran to 
join the Potomac somewhere to our south-east. Beyond 
the creek the hills rose to a considerable elevation, crowned 
with hay-stacks and the houses of Sharpsburg, among which 
rested the Confederate army, with its batteries frowning 
along the front. The country upon our right was hidden 
from view by hills on our side of the creek. Behind us 
were the batteries of Benjamin, Durell, and others on the 
ridge. It was a clear evening ; all seemed to breathe 
awhile and rest for the dread contest of the morrow. 
Artillery was fired for some time from the enemy s line, 
a few shots towards us, but most of them to the south 
east, where the trains of light and bursting shells looked 
like signals towards Harper s Ferry. We had a peaceful 
night s rest. At midnight much needed rations were 
brought up from the trains by the exertions of our after 
wards quartermaster, Cutter. 

Before the men had turned out on the morning of the 
seventeenth the roar of battle came swelling down from 
the right, and men exclaimed : " Boys, listen to the music ! 
They have gone in on the right ! " Beyond the Antietam, 



33 

above us, the corps of Generals Hooker, Mansfield, Sum- 
ner and Franklin successively assailed the Confederate 
left wing about Dunker Church, suffering and inflicting 
losses in killed and wounded unprecedented at that period 
of the war. The localities, times of entering the action 
by different divisions, and work done by each are much 
disputed ; and it does not belong to this story to try to 
explain them. The high ground between shut of! the 
scene from our view ; we heard only the thunder of the 
mingled artillery and small arms as the tide of contest 
rose and fell. Let it suffice here to say that the fight in 
that direction lasted from daylight to noon, that the field 
was a sea of blood, and the results indecisive. 

In our front there was quiet in the early morning, except 
an occasional picket shot down in the misty bed of the 
creek. Directions were issued to have all canteens filled, 
as the day was likely to be warm ; and men scattered with 
back loads of canteens in search of wells. The crowding 
about these and constant plying of the buckets muddied 
the water, and yet he was fortunate who filled up with that 
mixture. Firing began near us, and the word spread that 
the regiment was falling in ; there was a rush from all 
directions to the ranks. When formed, about ten o clock, 
we marched by the left flank through the fields and clumps 
of wood to the southward, Lieutenant-Colonel Carruth at 
the head, Lieutenant Hudson, an aide of Colonel Ferrero, 
acting as guide, coming out on the wooded bluff imme 
diately overlooking the valley of the Antietam. Here one 
of our batteries was engaged in a duel with a Confederate 
battery upon the opposite hills. The enemy s shell flew 
about us, at our feet and among the trees, but harmlessly ; 
our experience of yesterday had familiarized us somewhat 
with this long bowling. When, however, one of our shot 
struck and exploded a caisson on the other side our cheers 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 39 

were loud and long, and were replied to by a rather feeble 
yell from our antagonists. 

It was near eleven o clock, and a brisk contest had been 
going on for some time upon the creek below us ; but the 
trees and smoke concealed all from view. We could hear 
our men shouting and their foes yelling, amid the rattle of 
small arms ; it seemed hot work down there. These were 
the unsuccessful movements to secure the bridge-crossing, 
first by General Crook s brigade of the Kanawha Division, 
afterwards by the Sixth New Hampshire and Second Mary 
land of the First Brigade (General Nagle s) of our division. 
At length the order came for us to move forward. We 
descended the hill by the left flank, and passed between 
the stalks of tall corn on the level, meeting several men 
holding an arm or some member from which the red blood 
was dripping. The air was close and stifling. While this 
was being done, the following interesting conversation took 
place between General Sturgis and Lieutenant Hudson, 
aide : " Colonel Ferrero wishes to know what to do with 
the regiments." Sturgis replied : " Have him move those 
regiments (the three older ones) clown to the stream imme 
diately, and take the bridge ! " " And what with this new 
Thirty-Fifth Massachusetts ? " " Tell him to move it across 
the bridge and up the hill in line of battle. There must 
be no delay ; General Burnsicle is waiting for this to be 
done now ! " ""Isn t that artillery aimed at the position ? " 
"Yes ; but that shall be stopped." 

. We reached the bank of the stream near a large spread 
ing tree, where the water flowed dark and cool under the 
overhanging foliage. At this point the creek ran nearly 
from west to east. The opposite bank was high with an 
abrupt rocky ascent, studded with trees, and completely 
commanding the side upon which we were. Here the reg 
iment halted awhile ; bundles were thrown off and piled, 



40 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

and a guard set over them ; and bayonets were fixed. Not 
a shot was fired at us from the other bank, the enemy s 
attention being drawn to the fight above us, where the 
sounds of battle still continued, seeming to increase as we 
came nearer. 

The country road ran up stream, close to the north bank 
of the creek, and was bounded on the northerly side by a 
fence and ploughed field, in which stood an old barn. 
Beyond the field and a fence, which formed its west 
boundary, was a wooded knoll, or two little knolls, facing 
the opening of the bridge, and behind these Nagle s men 
were posted. Colonel Ferrero ordered the Fifty-First 
Pennsylvania to move forward by the right flank to Nagle s 
position, then down with a yell and rush over the bridge. 
The Twenty-First Massachusetts was placed in the ploughed 
field along the fence bounding the road, and ordered to 
open fire at the enemy across the creek ; which they did 
warmly. Company A of our regiment was detailed to 
take position on the left of the Twenty-First, and com 
mence firing in the same manner. The Fifty-First New 
York was posted on the right of the Twenty-First, but at 
right angles to it, facing up stream towards the bridge. 
The Fifty-First Pennsylvania proceeded as ordered, made 
a dash from the knoll to the opening of the bridge, stopped 
there and commenced firing. Our artillery was aimed at 
the further end of the bridge, and had to be quieted before 
the Fifty-First could proceed. 

Colonel Ferrero moved diagonally across the ploughed 
field to behind the knolls, and the Thirty-Fifth followed. 
Colonel Ferrero sent Lieutenant Hudson from the knolls 
to Colonel Hartranft, commanding the Fifty-First Penn 
sylvania, to ask why he did not cross the bridge at once. 
Colonel Hartranft was found at the right parapet with his 
colors. When the order was communicated to him, he 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 41 

said: "Does he wish it?" " Yes, sir." "Very well." 
The Fifty-First Pennsylvania then started, the men firing 
upwards and setting up a yell as a signal for our artillery 
to cease firing on the bridge. Lieutenant Hudson then 
asked Lieutenant-Colonel Potter, commanding the Fifty- 
First New York, to follow. He assented, and his regiment 
hurried after the Pennsylvanians. Most of our regiment, 
Company D being now the head of the column, had passed 
the fence near the knolls, when the shouting and din of 
the conflict, now close at hand to our left, was redoubled. 
It was the charge of the two regiments in accordance Math 
the above orders. Colonel Ferrero said to Lieutenant 
Hudson : " Hudson, tell your colonel to cross the bridge 
immediately, move along the road to the right, form in 
line and advance up the hill ! " The lieutenant did so. 

" Forward ! " came the order to us. " Double quick ! " 
And we rushed around between the little knolls and out of 
the little grove, Lieutenant-Colonel Carruth leading, into 
an open space facing the entrance to a stone bridge, with 
parapets, crossing the creek. Here was a startling scene 
of battle ; clouds of smoke overhung ; along the creek, 
below the bridge, the Twenty-First Massachusetts and our 
Company A were actively engaged with the enemy posted 
behind trees, rails and stones, upon the rocky acclivity 
across the stream ; dead and wounded men in blue lay 
.about, some still tossing and writhing in their agony ; the 
bridge was filled with men of the Fifty-First Pennsylvania 
and Fifty-First New York, who had preceded us, some 
kneeling behind the parapets of the bridge and firing up 
at the gray coats, others crowding forward to the further 
end of the bridge and also firing upward. 

Our regiment came partly into line, as if to open fire 
along the bank at the bridge ; then, by the colonel s com 
mands, swung by the right again and joined the throng 



42 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

hurrying on to the further bank, the third regiment to 
cross. Confederate sharpshooters dropped or slid from 
the overhanging trees in which they had been hidden 
one clinging to a branch the moment before he fell. It is 
said that Colonel Ferrero seized a musket and fired among 
them. In a shorter time than it takes to tell it we had 
crowded across the bridge and filed into the road to the 
right, where the two regiments which had preceded us were 
halted. The line of the regiment was formed quickly 
and steadily, facing the hill, which here rose more gently 
than below the bridge. Men in gray came down the hill, 
holding up both hands, or waving a dirty white rag, and 
were sent to the rear as prisoners. They belonged to 
Georgia regiments, of Toombs s Brigade, of General D. 
R. Jones s Division. 

The halt here was but for a few moments; then the 
Thirty-Fifth was ordered forward up the hill, with a 
promise that other regiments should follow in support. 
Accordingly we advanced up the steep, climbing with 
difficulty the high rail fences, at first in line of battle, then 
swinging into column and moving by the right flank as we 
neared the top. The regiment reached the bare brow of 
the hill the first to appear there and moved some 
distance by the right flank to the higher part of the rise. 
Before us, towards Sharpsburg, the enemy were scattering 
back to their artillery upon the hills on the hither side of 
the town. The hostile battery, which we had been watch 
ing an hour before, now, close at hand, opened upon us at 
once, and sent the iron whizzing around us, shells taking 
effect in Companies D and H, cutting Luther F. Read in 
two, killing David W. Gushing, and severely wounding 
Lieutenant Baldwin.* 

*The commander of that battery, Moody, was subsequently a prisoner under 
charge of Lieut. Baldwin, at Fort Warren. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 43 

It was but high noon. If supports had been up, as 
promised, the whole could have gone forward, kept the 
already started enemy upon the go, and, as the zouaves 
did at a later hour, driven the exposed gunners from their 
artillery with less loss than afterwards befel, for we, at 
least, were green enough to go anywhere without hes 
itation ; and the subsequent Confederate reinforcements 
from Harper s Ferry might have come too late. But we 
knew nothing of the importance of prompt action at. that 
hour; to stand still upon the exposed hill-top would be 
murder ; moreover, General Sturgis had orders to hold 
back his division most of the regiments being out of 
ammunition and let the rear pass in front of him. 
Accordingly our colonel, seeing no supports behind him, 
ordered the regiment to retire under the brow of the hill 
and -lie down. The shells hurtled around us as we climbed 
the fence in retreat ; yet many, indignant at the notion of 
falling back, and fearing more the bayonets of their com 
patriots while getting over the fence than the missiles of 
the enemy, waited a bit, until the line had crossed, before 
following. The Confederate General D. H. Hill says he 
caused his guns to open upon an " imposing force of Yan 
kees " at twelve hundred yards distance, and routed them 
by artillery fire alone, unaided by musketry. It is possible 
that this imposing force was the Thirty-Fifth going up and 
retiring as above. But they were neither routed nor flur 
ried, and would have gone forward as readily then, when 
they saw the enemy running, as afterwards when our men 
fell back. As we thus came back over the fence our bat 
teries, mistaking us for the enemy, commenced firing into 
us. Colonel Carruth waved his hat, without effect j then 
his voice rang out, " Unfurl those colors and wave them ! 
Steady not too high ! " We had only the blue and the 
white flags, no stars and stripes. No more shots came 



44 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

from the rear. Just under the crest of the hill we halted 
and lay down upon the dried grass of the field. 

Behind us was the deep valley of the bed of the creek r 
into which the Confederate shells, passing over us, went 
crashing among the trees about the bridge, almost making; 
the crossing there impracticable. On our left regiments 
were soon seen coming up, the Twenty-First Massachusetts 
among the first, followed by our Company A, which now 
rejoined the regiment ; its position in rear of the Twenty- 
First having given the men of that regiment grounds for 
their subsequent belief that they crossed before the Thirty- 
Fifth. In front we, except the few videttes thrown forward, 
could see nothing, the hill concealing all in that direction ; 
but to our right the view was quite unobstructed, the land 
being lower for some distance, then rising gently to the 
haystacks and houses of the town. This space was un 
occupied at first ; it was the interval in the centre of the 
battle-field which separated the right and left wings of the 
army. The sounds of battle had subsided in the direction 
of the right wing. We learned afterwards that their fight 
was for the most part over, thus early in the day. A shell, 
skimming the crest of the hill, stole a haversack from a 
man s back as he lay upon the ground, and sent it flying 
towards the stream below, exciting merriment in spite of 
the gravity of the situation. The whirring of the shells 
above us had a drowsing effect, and some of our men 
dozed ; others munched hard bread and conversed in low 
tones ; some went for water by detail, filling canteens 
from the warm, soft water of the creek. At such a time 
men s characters reveal themselves : the religiously dis 
posed bends his thoughts on Heaven; the less devout 
watches the ants busy as usual at their never-ending 
labors, and wishes he could be as small as they for a few 
hours; while the more thoughtless cuts his tobacco and 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 45 

enjoys its soothing influence. We lay thus several hours 
while the troops were coming over. It was slow work 
passing Wilcox s Division and Hawkins s Brigade through 
the narrow defile of the stone bridge, only twelve feet 
wide, and under cross fire of artillery. No fords were 
used near the bridge, if any practicable ones existed 
there ; even the name of the stream was unknown at 
first. Colonel Ferrero had offered to try to ford below 
the bridge in the morning, but the attempt was dis 
couraged. 

Regiments moved over the hill to the left, and some 
from behind passed steadily over us through our ranks, 
some of the men seeming to prefer to join us for awhile, 
but their officers preventing. On the right we saw for the 
first time a line of skirmishers go forward in good style, 
firing and loading. It was a pretty sight. They reached 
the haystacks, and presently these burst into flame ; cheer 
ing was heard in front, and it began to look like victory. 
A Confederate battery was captured by the Ninth New 
York (Hawkins s Zouaves) and held a short time. It 
was the crisis of the battle ; at this hour the Confederate 
line was badly broken as we learn from writers who 
were present on that side their men had scattered 
into the town and could not be rallied. Orders had 
been issued for our brigade to be relieved, and sent 
down to the road by the bridge. Lieutenant Hudson, 
aide, was on the way to transmit them to Colonel Carruth- 
but the order from General Cox, corps commander, 
mentioned below, arrived first, to quite a contrary pur 
port. For now came a turn in affairs. It was between 
four and five o clock. The light troops of A. P. Hill, 
Confederate general, which had left Harper s Ferry in the 
morning, marching in haste, had arrived at the nick of 
time for them ; and, catching our left, General Rodman s 



46 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

Division, somewhat disorganized by its successful advance, 
took them upon the flank and pressed them back irresist 
ibly. Back came our line as swiftly as it had advanced, 
but more scattered, the Zouaves badly cut up. There 
was danger that the enemy would follow and overtake the 
whole in a mass at the bridge head ; they must be stopped 
at any cost. Colonel Ferrero had ordered our colonel to 
form a line across the ravine, below and on our right, and 
stop all stragglers, which had been obeyed. 

One of our batteries had come over the bridge and 
opened fire in front of us. Now, out of ammunition, one 
section of it limbered up hurriedly, and prepared to fall 
back. General Cox, seeing the danger of panic, gave the 
order, " Send that big regiment over the hill ! " Lieutenant 
Hudson told the general of Colonel Ferrero s order. Gen 
eral Cox replied : " Yes, I know that, but the regiment 
must move at once ; you see the need of haste." A line 
of skirmishers along the brow of the next hill were shoot 
ing minies uncomfortably our way. As soon as the order 
was passed, Colonel Carruth started up : " Attention ! 
Thirty-Fifth." We rose up at once and faced the front, 
forming forward a little, the companies moving to their 
positions. " Left face ! Forward march ! " Hardly 
had the regiment faced and moved a little distance when 
the battery came dashing full speed into us, breaking our 
line for a moment, but the men undismayed closed up 
immediately. A little way to the left, then facing to the 
front, with a hurrah, the regiment went at a double quick, 
in line of battle, over the hill and down the slope into 
the valley towards Sharpsburg. 

We passed the remnants of the first line and kept on 
to a rail fence, partly broken down, enclosing a lane, into 
which some of the men climbed. Here we halted, and, 
laying our rifles upon the rails, opened fire at will upon 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 47 

the enemy coming on to follow up their success. On our 
left the other regiments of our brigade said, to be almost 
out of ammunition were also engaged or lying down 
waiting to repel the foe with the bayonet ; but the line in 
that direction bent back exposing our flank. Behind us 
was the slope of the hill down which we had come ; in 
front was a ploughed field, sloping up to a wall of the 
most solid construction, about two hundred yards off; 
on the left front, cornfields with the high stalks and 
waving blades uncut. Beyond these the hill rose more 
steeply to the summit, upon which were the enemy s bat 
teries. Behind the wall and in the cornfield was the Con 
federate infantry ; their right overlapping our left, making 
a cross fire upon our left companies. 

Our first fire was a rattling volley ; then came the mo 
mentary interval occupied in loading. The rifles were, of 
course, muzzle loaders, with iron ramrods ; the cartridges 
were new and the brown paper of the toughest description, 
so that strong fingers were required to tear out the conical 
ball and the little paper cup of gunpowder. Emptying 
these into the muzzle and ramming home and capping the 
piece took time seemingly a long time in the hurry of 
action and to discharge sixty rounds in this way occupies 
an hour or more of intense exertion. The men finding 
this difficulty settled down to the work steadily, loading 
and firing, aiming now to the wall, then to the cornfield, 
and then elevating the sight pieces and trying for the can 
noneers about the hostile guns. It was a steady roll of 
musketry. The officers directed the aim of the men, 
Captain Cheever s quaint phrase being, " Pop away ! boys, 
Pop away ! " the file closers refraining from firing at first, 
but watching their men as Colonel Wild in his instructions 
had directed. 

The enemy had not been idle, our men being hit behind 



48 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

our battery where N. I. Sweeney, of Company C, fell 
and while we were advancing, and now at the fence. The 
force of a minie ball or piece of shell striking any solid por 
tion of the person is astonishing ; it comes like a blow from 
a sledge hammer, and the recipient finds himself sprawling 
on the ground before he is conscious of being hit ; then 
he feels about for the wound, the benumbing blow dead 
ening sensation for a few moments. Unless struck in the 
head or about the heart men mortally wounded live some 
time, often in great pain, and toss about upon the ground. 
So now, while we were firing, men began to fall headlong, 
or drop their guns and seize some portion of their bodies ; 
arms dripping with blood were held up to be stanched, 
and ghastly faces were turned to a friend for a last word. 
The dropping shot and pieces of shell from the enemy 
raised the dust in little puffs in the ploughed land before 
and on the slope behind us. Now and then our men or 
the Confederates raised a shout or yell at some well-aimed 
missile, a flag was waved or the enemy s field pieces 
changed position. It was work in dead earnest and 
intensely exciting. The rising white smoke was quickly 
wafted away. One spoke to his comrade, turned aside 
and, looking back, saw him weltering upon the ground ; 
but there was no time for thought then load and fire! 
load and fire ! 

Our regiment being so large and so steadily engaged 
drew special attention from the Confederate batteries and 
line. The bullets, zip ! zip ! close to the ear, shells burst 
with sulphurous smoke, and pieces flew in every direction. 
Our wounded accumulated rapidly, and the motionless 
bodies of the dead, upon the back or face, with pallid 
faces and arms thrown out. Some men repeated as they 
fired a set phrase or oath, expressive of their feelings. 
The color guard especially suffered. Color-Sergeant Moses 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 49 

C. Bartlett was wounded and sent to the rear. Lieutenant- 
Colonel Carruth was disabled by a wound in the side of 
the neck, near the jugular vein, and obliged to leave the 
field. Captain King, acting major, walked along the line 
directing the aim of the men to the cornfield, in which the 
enemy were apparently forming for a charge, their flags 
waving in the setting sun, he even took a gun and fired 
it. Cheers were raised, but all were too busy to waste 
much breath. The rifles with repeated discharges began 
to get too hot to hold. Many of them became clogged by 
the dirt from the powder, and the ball could not be forced 
home ; but there were serviceable ones left upon the 
ground, dropped by the dead and wounded. Thus a 
man used two or three guns before his ammunition was 
expended. 

While this was going on Colonel Ferrero s aides, Lieu 
tenants Walcott and Hudson, were with General Sturgis 
at the bridge. Lieutenant Walcott said : " General, our 
regiments can t hold that position any longer ; to my 
certain knowledge they are mostly out of ammunition, 
and some have been quite so for nearly an hour." To 
which the general replied : "By - , they must hold it ; 
we ve nothing else to hold it with ! " About the same time 
General Burnside was calling upon General McClellan for 
reinforcements, but without success. 

As the sun went down the weight of fire of the Con 
federate infantry increased rather than slackened, showing 
additional troops for them; but none came for us. Word 
was passed that we were to be relieved by some Con 
necticut regiments, and glances were cast behind to see 
if they were advancing. Ammunition was failing us, and 
Captains Andrews (acting lieutenant-colonel), King and 
Lathrop passed along the line, opening the boxes of the 
fallen and distributing the cartridges found. A steady, 



50 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

but much weaker fire was continued, for our line had 
grown wofully thin, and the disabled seemed as numerous 
as the fighting men. It grew dark apace, and the flashes 
of the guns of the Confederate line twinkled like a display 
of fireworks. 

No relief came. Our line had dwindled to a skirmish 
line. Captain King, struck in seven places, was helped 
off the field with the colors. The last cartridge was 
expended. No communication from the rear had been 
received for some time we seemed to be facing the 
enemy alone it could be endured no longer. Word 
was passed in an undertone, " Fall back to the hill ! " 
and the relics of the regiment, amid a perfect storm of 
bullets, retreated to the hill. Officers and men had done 
all that could be asked of them. 

The enemy did not follow. The object of the advance 
of our brigade had been secured, his forward movement 
stopped, and the position gained on the west bank saved. 
General McClellan had sent word to Burnside, " Hold 
the bridge at all hazards ; if that is lost all is lost." The 
bridge was held. It was twilight. Behind the hill regi 
ments were drawn up in solid lines the relief that did 
not come to us. Seeing their steady appearance, our men 
stopped and came together. Most of them went down to 
the creek to drink and wash the powder and blood stains 
from their hands and faces, which were a sight to behold ; 
then formed in remnants of companies and marched up 
the road, ascending the precipitous cliff to the left. At a 
bend in the road some thoughtful commissary blessed 
be his name had placed a barrel partly filled with 
chunks of boiled fresh beef. Each man as he passed 
dipped into this and moved on, munching a huge piece 
for his late dinner. Arrived at the top of the hill, an 
ammunition wagon was found and cartridge boxes replen- 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 51 

ishetl. It was too dark for further contest, and the conflict 
had died away ; the enemy also had got all of fighting they 
wanted for the day. Arms were stacked, and the men 
rested. Captain Cheever lay here upon a blanket, injured 
by some missile at the time the regiment retired behind 
the brow of the hill, when first we ascended it after cross 
ing; but he had, nevertheless, continued in command of 
his company until now. Inquiries for friends passed 
around ; hands were shaken when chums met, as if after 
a long absence ; and low talk was busy about the events of 
the day. It had been an afternoon in the valley of death. 
In the evening Captain Lathrop and Lieutenant Hudson, 
receiving information of wounded men within reach from 
Corporal Whitman* (for he and several of Company G 
appear to have been the last fighting men to leave the 
rail fence), tried, with a squad of men, to make their way 
in the intense darkness down to the fence to care for the 
wounded ; but the party was stopped by a line of pickets 
from the Fifty-First Pennsylvania, who had orders to per 
mit no movement to be made which could possibly renew 
the action. The officers were permitted to go beyond the 
pickets, but were cautioned not to go far, and they did not 
reach the fence. However, several of the wounded were 
found who had crawled up to the pickets, and these were 
placed in blankets, men holding the corners, and slowly 
and painfully carried down the hill and across the bridge 
to the temporary hospitals in the barns thereabouts. Re 
turning to the regiment, so overcome with fatigue as 
scarcely to be able to drag one foot after the other, they 
found the men asleep behind their stacks of arms ; and, 
rolling such covers as could be found about them, they 

* Corporal Frank M. Whitman received, February 21, 1874, from the Secretary of 
War, one of the bronze "Medals of Honor" conferred upon enlisted men only in 
cases of distinguished gallantry, in accordance with an Act of Congress. 



52 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

also dropped at once into the sleep of utter exhaustion 
only the guards, and those kept awake by the pain of 
wounds, noticed the showers during the night. 

The next morning was quiet for some time. We had 
now in the daylight an opportunity to note the losses of 
the regiment : Companies B, G and K were each repre 
sented only by a small group of men, their three or four 
stacks of arms seeming incredibly small. No field or 
staff officer appeared except Adjutant Wales, who had 
been struck by a ball but not wounded. He had left the 
hospital to join the regiment, with an Enfield rifle in hand, 
"to get a lick at the rebs," as he told Lieutenant Hudson. 
Assistant Surgeon Munsell had been wounded at the field 
hospital by a piece of shell. Of the line officers, Captains 
Bartlett and Niles were killed or mortally wounded at the 
rail fence ; Captains King, Cheever and Oliver were dis 
abled by wounds ; Lieutenant Palmer was killed, and 
Lieutenants Hood, Hodges, Baldwin, Ingell, Brooks, Park 
and Blake were in the list of wounded. We had lost Cap 
tain Pratt and Lieutenants Williams and Hill at South 
Mountain. Only Captains Andrews and Lathrop and 
some half dozen lieutenants remained for duty with the 
regiment that morning. 

Of the enlisted men the following were killed outright, 
or died of their wounds soon afterwards : . 

Company A Sergeant Edward Peggren ; Corporal 
Robert L. Lincoln. 

Company B Corporal William C. Colby; musician, 
Benjamin H. Rogers ; privates, Joseph Cossar, David 
R. Hinckley, George W. Hodgdon, Jeremiah Long, Jr., 
Caleb C. Pike and Alphonso P. Reed. 

Company C Sergeant Henry Bowen; privates, George 
W. Alden, Joseph M. Goulding, John A. Lane, Joseph T. 
Pratt, Nathaniel I. Sweeney and Charles E. Dam. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 53 

Company D Luther F. Read. 

Company E Privates, George Henry, Loren R. Brack- 
ett, Levi A. Brandage, Richard H. Cox, Philip Donnehoe, 
Joseph V. Sloan and James T. F. Smith. 

Company F Corporal Thomas Clay; privates, Am 
brose Hinds, Charles E. M. Welch and Joseph Wood. 

Company G Privates, Stephen C. Adams, Herbert M. 
Drew, George W. Ellis, Henry O. George, Andrew J. Gile, 
William Hackett, Henry A. Hoyt, Harrison W. Sargent, 
Charles H. Tarbox, Watson S. Williams, Clarence H. 
Woodman, George A. Young and Augustus W. Dresser. 

Company H Privates, David W. Gushing, William 
Pike, Charles H. Robbins, William W. Smith and Nathan 
F. Winslow. 

Company I Corporal Edmund E. Hatton ; privates, 
Ralph A. Jones, Charles Sulkoski, Nathan C. Treadwell, 
Patrick Walsh and Joseph P. White. 

Company K Sergeant Alfred C. Earle ; Corporal 
Roscoe Bradley; privates, Dearborn S. Blake, Francis D. 
Brown, Henry H. Cleveland, Tappan S. Eaton, Leander 
W. Faunce, Horace Goodwin, Horatio B. Hackett, Charles 
Inhof, Joseph Lambert, James Rust, Ivori R. Stillings, 
Charles T. Wenborn, Ai B. Smith and Byley Lyford. 

These were the sixty-nine heroes who laid down their 
lives for that terrible day s work. Company B was the 
color company. Companies G and K were subjected to a 
cross fire, which accounts for their great loss. There were 
also some one hundred and fifty men wounded, and some 
missing ; making in all, at South Mountain and Antietam, 
of the officers and men seventy-eight dead and about one 
hundred and seventy-five wounded. Between two hundred 
and fifty and three hundred men only were for duty behind 
the stacks of arms on the eighteenth of September. 

At first the regiment seemed wiped out, but many re- 



54 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

joined in course of the day who had gone off with the 
wounded or on detail duty. Men found their clothing 
and equipments bored by bullets in every conceivable 
way. He was the exception who had not some curiosity 
of the kind to exhibit. One man found a bullet hole 
through the flesh of his thigh, which he was not aware of 
in the excitement until he went to the creek to wash. 
Thrilling accounts were given of the deaths of the fallen, 
or of adventures in the fight. Walsh, the man with the 
tea kettle, lay dead by the rail fence with the other noble 
fellows. 

The troops were withdrawn a little under the crest of 
the hill, after the Confederates had observed us and sent 
several shells about our ears, without harm, as a morning 
greeting. It was showery, and the soil became slippery 
mud at once. The order of last night was continued, to 
do nothing likely to renew the action. If our generals 
had all they wanted of fighting we were content, we also 
had a sufficiency ; and, although the regiment would have 
done its duty, the men had no present hunger for battle. 
There was little movement upon either side ; both parties 
were repairing damages. 

The losses to the armies had been, according to Captain 
Phisterer, Union: killed, 2.010; wounded, 9,416; miss 
ing, 1,043; total, 12,469. Confederate total, 25,899. 

At evening our brigade was at length relieved by fresh 
troops, and we marched back over the bridge to get rations 
and our packs, which had been left on the east side, as 
above mentioned, before the bridge was taken. That 
night we slept in an apple orchard near the crossing. 

Next day it was found that General Lee had withdrawn 
his army to the south side of the Potomac. Our brigade 
was formed, and marched over the bridge again and across 
the battle-field. On the field Colonel Ferrero read his 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 55 

commission as a brigadier-general, just received. It was 
accepted as a recognition of the services of the brigade 
in the battle, and the announcement was greeted by loud 
cheering and congratulations, especially among the older 
regiments. We then passed the rail fence, where the 
dead still lay, the stone wall and the cornfield, where 
the enemy had been, and the station of their batteries 
on the hill, marked by the bodies of the horses killed 
in the action. We then turned to the left, away from 
Sharpsburg, and, after a few miles, came out upon the 
high land overlooking the Antietam, near the Iron-works, 
and here made our bivouac. We staid upon these hills 
until the twenty-sixth, looking out upon the beautiful 
amphitheatre of hills through which ran the placid 
Antietam. 

On Sunday, the twenty-first, by direction of General 
Burnside, special services were held in memory of the 
dead, with prayers, addresses and sacred hymns, which 
were very impressive and affecting. 

The regiment was for a day or two under command of 
Captain J. G. Wright, Acting Major of the Fifty-First New 
York ; afterwards, for several days, Captain Andrews com 
manded. Chaplain Miller arrived on the twenty-second ; 
and, on the following day, Major Willard returned from 
Washington, quite troubled in mind because he had no 
share in our first battles. The first mail of letters for two 
weeks, except a few on the twenty-first, was opened, and 
late newspapers reached camp. We learned of the great 
slaughter done and suffered by our right wing, the death 
of General Mansfield, wound of General Hooker, and the 
other losses. Also some of the Fifth Corps came into 
camp and told of the disastrous reconnoissance by a 
division of that corps across the Potomac, a short dis 
tance from our station. 



56 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

We now began to think seriously and estimate the task 
in hand. We numbered eight or nine officers and three 
hundred and forty-eight men with the regiment. It was 
but one month since we had left Lynnfield, and two-thirds 
of our number were gone ; at this rate how many would 
be left at the end of the three years? The patriotic fervor 
which had sustained us did not effervesce so noticeably, 
but began to weaken somewhat in the presence of such 
stern realities. As one man expressed it, " patriotism was 
played out," meaning that the hurrah-boys spirit had evap 
orated. We had seen the slain of the Confederates on 
South Mountain and our own dead at Antietam, and the 
grave fact that we had engaged to be, and had become, 
slayers of our fellowmen stared us in the face, without the 
glamour of flash oratory and colored lights about it. The 
thoughtful ones compared this fact with the religious 
teachings of New England, and found it hard to reconcile 
their duty with the gospel of the peaceful Jesus. Truly, 
one should not be nurtured among the doves if he is fated 
to contend with the eagles. The depression which usually 
affects the mind for a time after the excitement of severe 
battle was upon us. 

The less easily impressed found amusement in bathing 
in the creek, hunting for paw-paws, and even horse-racing 
was tried, until the quartermaster objected to it as dele 
terious to Government property. Some found relief by visit 
ing the hospitals and caring for friends. Our hearts were 
not yet hardened to the battle, nor had we learned to sub 
mit patiently to the long delays in camp. We were cheered 
by the calls of visitors from home. In this camp Mayor Fay, 
of Chelsea, and Miss Gilson were introduced to the regi 
ment. They were ministering angels to our wounded on 
this and many subsequent occasions. Rev. J. G. Barthol 
omew and Messrs. A. Josselyn and William Barton, of 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 57 

Roxbury, visited camp about the first of October and 
tasted life in the bivouac. Mrs. N. A. Moulton and 
Eben Manson, of Newburyport, left home immediately 
after the battle of Antietam, taking with them two trunks 
filled with lint, bandages, and delicacies for the sick and 
wounded. They visited all the hospitals where men of 
the Thirty-Fifth could be found ; and, while they were 
searching^ for wounded men from Company B, they did 
not overlook those from other companies. They visited 
the field hospitals at Antietam, and came to the regiment 
when we were at the Iron-works. 

The Kanawha Division and General J. D. Cox, our 
corps commander, left the Ninth Corps to return to their 
department west of the mountains. They were of good 
fighting material, and are entitled to the first honors of 
South Mountain. It was General Cox and his men who, 
early in the day, turning a reconnoissance into a battle, 
gained and held the south side of the pass until support 
arrived to secure the victory. 

On the twenty-sixth we moved by way of the Iron-works 
to the more level ground on the east side of the Antietam, 
and went, into regular camp near a brick house, making 
shelters of rails and corn stalks. Camp duty, with all the 
formalities, sick call, orderlie s call, morning company drill, 
and afternoon battalion movements and dress parade, was 
undertaken in earnest under Major Willard. Our first 
grand review of the Ninth Army Corps was held October 
3, in the fields north of our camp ground, the President, 
Lincoln himself, riding past, accompanied by Generals 
McClellan, Burnside and others all smiling and appar 
ently on the best of terms with each other. 

The nights were growing cold and frosty, and the thin 
Confederate blankets, which many had not been able to 
exchange, were a poor protection from the weather. We 



58 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

were pleased, therefore, to receive, on the fifth, wall tents 
for the officers and shelter tents for the men, the latter 
being the first of the kind we had possessed. They were 
pieces of stout drilling or light duck cloth, about five feet 
and a half square, with buttons and holes along three of 
the edges. By joining two, four, or six of these, and laying 
them over a ridge pole supported by two crotched stakes, 
a low tent was made, much more comfortable aa an abode 
than one would imagine. Each man carried his piece 
upon his pack on the inarch, and every night the little 
shelters sprang up like mushrooms, almost as soon as the 
halt was ordered. These were the only roofs over our 
heads until the end of our service, with brief exceptions ; 
and many a soldier will remember, almost with affection, 
his little square of weather-stained, scorched or patched 
shelter tent, which protected him from the cold rains and 
snows of winter and the burning suns of summer. 

On the seventh of October the regiment again broke 
camp and climbed the mountains, eastward, over roads 
rough and full of obstacles, descending into Pleasant 
Valley a spot fittingly named and camped near the 
opening of the valley, under Maryland Heights, three or 
four miles from Harper s Ferry. The rough life in our 
rude huts of rails had the natural effect upon the personal 
appearance of our men, and at the inspection held imme 
diately after our arrival we were honored with the infor 
mation that ours was the dirtiest regiment in the brigade. 
To think that we could have so soon rivalled, even sur 
passed the veterans in their most noticeable characteristic ! 
The major felt hurt, and worked incessantly and effectually 
to remedy the deformity. 

Our ranks gradually swelled by the return of conva 
lescents. A lot of knapsacks five hundred selected at 
random from the one thousand which the regiment left at 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 59 

Arlington were sent up from Washington, and some 
lucky men found their own among them. A change of 
underclothing had become extremely desirable. On the 
tenth the Eleventh New Hampshire Regiment, afterwards 
our fast friends, joined the brigade. They were remark 
able for their colonel the cordial Walter Harriman 
for their dark-blue overcoats, handsome new Springfield 
rifles, and, last but not least, their brass band. Lieutenant- 
Colonel Carruth returned on the thirteenth of October and 
took command, his wound being sufficiently healed. The 
most earnest efforts were now made by him to improve the 
regiment in field movements, especially the drill in forma 
tions against cavalry, by fours, by platoons, etc. Our first 
brigade drill under General Ferrero was held on the twen 
tieth of the month. 

The spirit of the men improved ; strength returned with 
the cooling air, better food and constant exercise ; and the 
army was ready for the field again. The health of the 
men of the regiment was remarkably good ; there was no 
case of dangerous disease in the hospital of the regiment. 
There had been no death by disease in the regiment since 
its organization. 

Meanwhile General Lee s army lay in the Shenandoah 
Valley, along the banks of the Opequan, waiting for the 
Union forces to cross the Potomac. 



CHAPTER IV. 

FALL CAMPAIGN IN VIRGINIA SKIRMISH AT FAUQUIER 
SULPHUR SPRINGS, 1862. 

SINCE leaving Arlington the weather had been dry, 
with occasional showers, which had caused no special 
discomfort ; but, on the twenty-sixth of October, a heavy 
rain storm prevailed, swelling the brooks and softening 
the roads. Fortunately for us we now had shelter tents. 
Orders were received in the rain to be ready to move, 
and, at noon of the twenty-seventh, the brigade fell into 
column and left the Pleasant Valley now dreary after 
the autumnal rain. We marched directly to the Potomac, 
passing under the canal by a stone culvert, through which 
a swollen brook also found a passage. A short distance 
down the river, at Berlin, a pontoon-bridge had been thrown 
across, composed of the very boats afterwards so famous 
for not being at Fredericksburg at the time they were 
wanted. They were the first we had seen, and, with the 
usual precautionary order to break step, we passed the 
famous river and trod again upon Virginia soil ; this time 
no jubilant song announced the fact, but the step was 
steadier and more soldierly. The Maryland campaign 
had left but about four hundred men for duty with the 
regiment. 

Our brigade was among the first to cross, the Ninth 
Corps, now under General Wilcox, going over this bridge, 
followed by the First Corps. The Second and Fifth Corps 
passed through Harper s Ferry and Snicker s Gap, and the 



6 1 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

Sixth Corps crossed at another point. Moving slowly 
along through Lovettsville and the fine country there 
abouts, we halted several days near Wheatland at the end 
of the month, to make out our first pay-rolls ; a difficult 
task, so many had been the changes since leaving Lynn- 
field. 

There was a charm in those autumnal days along the 
Blue Ridge which it is pleasant to recall ; the purple hills 
lying upon our right, the foliage blazing forth in ruddy 
hues, the soft sunlight, the hazy air, and the picturesque 
columns of cavalry, infantry and artillery, in glittering 
array, filling the roads all pleased or soothed the senses. 
The evening camp-fires shone out cheerily, while the boys 
gathered around and told stories, cracked jokes, or dis 
cussed the movements in progress. Some will remember 
the acrid smoke from the wood fires thereabouts, making 
the eyelids sore and causing much manoeuvring to get to 
windward of the blaze. General Pleasanton s cavalry pre 
ceded the infantry, and occupied the different passes, called 
gaps, in the mountains as the army advanced. Thus we 
came opposite and passed successively Snicker s Gap, 
Ashby s Gap, Manassas Gap and Chester Gap famous 
scenes of cavalry fights and of Stuart s and Mosby s 
raids and by the eighth of November had reached the 
country in front of Thornton s Gap. 

The itinerary of each day s march is as follows : Octo 
ber 27, crossed at Berlin and camped near Lovettsville. 
October 28, remained in same place and laid out camp 
with company streets. October 29, knapsack drill at 
ip A. M. ; marched in afternoon through Lovettsville, about 
eight miles, bivouac j Companies G, I and K in woods, in 
support of a battery. October 30, reveille at 3 A. M. ; 
marched at 7 A. M., for two hours, about four miles, to 
Wheatland ; making out pay-rolls rest of day and night. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 62 

October 31, at Wheatland all day; picket duty; muster 
for pay; order to pack up at 10 P.M.; did not march. 
November i, brigade drill in the afternoon; the Ninth 
Corps under Burnside again, with Second and Twelfth 
Corps. November 2 (Sunday), marched at 10 A. M., and 
until 5.30 P.M., fifteen miles; cannonade ahead all day; 
bivouac in field by side of wood near Bloomfield, called 
Cornstalk Camp ; General Hancock, in Snicker s Gap, 
repulsed the enemy. November 3, pitched tents at n 
A. M. ; began a forced march a little before 3 p. M. of 
seven miles ; stopped in woods to load rifles ; passed 
through Bloomfield, and camped at 5.30 P. M. November 
4, marched at 9 A. M., about six miles, and camped near 
Upperville ; firing heard all day. November 5, reveille at 
4.30 A. M. ; marched from 8 A.M. to 12 M. ; passed through 
Upperville, crossed Manassas Railroad at Piedmont and 
camped near there ; firing heard all day ; many stone 
walls by the road. November 6, left camp at 9 A. M., but 
waited in the road until 11.15 A - M * > tnen marched fifteen 
miles in five hours ; camped near Orleans ; cold and 
windy. November 7, snow all day ; marched from 4 p. M. 
until 6 P. M., halted in mud hole, then marched back five 
miles to the right road ; water froze in canteens ; cavalry 
pickets left ground as we came up to bivouac in woods. 

By day the artillery of the cavalry would be heard ahead, 
while we hurried forward to give support if needed, or 
waited until they had reconnoitred the country in front. 
By night some details would lie out on picket towards the 
Blue Ridge, in the moonlight ; the baaing of a calf or 
squealing of a captured pig would be smothered with 
difficulty ; the rattling of sabres upon stirrups and clatter 
of hoofs of an approaching squadron would be heard, the 
vidette s challenge, the reply, the whispered countersign, and 
" Pass, friends ! " all the romantic accompaniments of cam- 



63 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

paigning. But it was not all brightness, for on the seventh,, 
near Orleans, the clouds hung gray with flurries of snow 
all day, and at night it increased to a driving snow storm. 
The scene was dismal and wintry as the darkness gath 
ered around the column plodding along over the whitened 
ground amid the falling snow-flakes picturesque, indeed, 
but foretokening future hardship. The spirits of the men 
were not enlivened when, after halting and jerking along 
until late in the evening down a muddy cut towards Hedge- 
man s River, or some such branch of the North Fork of 
the Rappahannock, word was received from ahead that we 
were upon the wrong road, the bridge was down, and the 
rough track of five miles must be retraced. On such 
occasions soldiers are apt to indulge in language more 
strong than choice ; the right to grumble is reserved in 
the terms of enlistment. The mud hole was nicknamed 
on the spot Ferrero s Gap. Recovering the right road, 
the brigade went into bivouac along it beside bright fires 
of oak rails. 

During this campaign the war was waged "with the 
gloves on," and orders were very strict against depre 
dation. On this night a staff officer rode among the 
groups of shivering men about the wagons, repeating, 
" Take the top rail only, men ; the top rail only ! " Ac 
cordingly each man took his turn in going for a top ran\ 
the fires did not lack for fuel, and, strange to relate, in 
the morning few even of the bottom rails were left in 
course of the night even these had become top rails. It 
would be a sad sight to a land owner, but a comical one 
to the disinterested spectator to see, the moment a regi 
ment went into camp and ranks were broken, with what 
speed the men rushed to the nearest rail fence, and how 
the rails, like Birnam wood, seemed to take legs and the 
whole fence come marching back to the stacks of arms. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 64 

But on this night other events were occurring of greater 
importance to the future of the army and ourselves. By 
orders from Washington General McClellan was relieved 
of the command of the army, and General Burnside was 
directed to succeed him. The news of this change took 
the troops by surprise, and was almost as great a shock 
to the men as if the general commanding had been assas 
sinated. General McClellan seemed as much a constituent 
part of the Army of the Potomac as General Lee formed 
of his army, and the affection for him, both among the 
officers and the rank and file, was grievously wounded. 
Of General Burnside we new troops knew little; all we 
did know was to his advantage as a man and an officer, 
and we were proud of him as our corps commander, hith 
erto always successful ; but soldiers in our army saw their 
general seldom and never intimately. There was a feeling 
in the Ninth Corps that we, in spite of ourselves, were 
partakers in the guilt of this unpopular change, since our 
favorite general had taken precedence by it, and that it 
would create a coldness between the men of the other 
corps of the army and our own, which had not been a 
sharer in all the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, 
but until this event was being rapidly assimilated with it. 

The change was important to us personally, because if 
General Burnside had remained a corps commander only 
we, probably, should always have remained in the Army 
of the Potomac. 

On the eighth the vanguard of the army seemed to 
have outmarched the supply trains ; rations were insuffi 
cient, and cattle were killed, and beef, broiled upon the 
coals and eaten without bread, was the only food obtain 
able to stay the sharp hunger of the men. The mountains 
bend away to the west near Chester Gap, so that our 
southerly course lay further away from them. Passing 



65 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

Waterloo we crossed the Upper Rappahannock at Mill- 
ville, where the bridge was broken, and the Fifty-First 
Pennsylvania and Thirty-Fifth Massachusetts kept on, 
west, to the further end of the village of Amissville, con 
spicuous for several painted houses with green blinds and 
trailing roses still in bloom, while the rest of the brigade 
turned more southerly to Jefferson. At this time two 
divisions of Stonewall Jackson s Corps were yet in the 
Shenandoah Valley, while Lee and Longstreet were about 
Culpeper. General McClellan, writing of his intentions 
in this campaign, says : 

"I did expect that by striking in between Culpeper 
Court House and Little Washington I could either sep 
arate their army and beat them in detail, or else force 
them to concentrate as far back as Gordonsville, and thus 
place the Army of the Potomac in position either to adopt 
the Fredericksburg line of advance upon Richmond or be 
removed to the Peninsula, etc." 

The cavalry, with our division in support, was apparently 
in execution of this scheme, and we were now practically 
between the widely separated wings of the Confederate 
army and far in advance of our base. All was quiet about 
us, however, on Sunday the ninth, although the inhabitants 
seemed to view us askance, as if anticipating our early 
departure, if not capture. Service was held in the little 
wayside church, without steeple, near our camp ground, by 
our chaplain, assisted by others. A private of the Fifty- 
First died suddenly here ; he was said to have been poi 
soned, a common report in the early days of the war. At 
dress-parade the official order changing the commander of 
the army was read. About dark that evening our First 
Brigade relieved the two regiments at Amissville, and we 
made a quick march over a rough road to Jefferson and 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 66 

took position with our brigade on some rising ground 
overlooking the country to the westward. 

In the morning heavy firing was heard in our front, and 
orders were received to pack up and be ready to move 
at a moment s notice. The Twenty-First Massachusetts, 
Fifty-First New York and Eleventh New Hampshire 
marched off in the direction of the noise, the Fifty-First 
Pennsylvania and Thirty-Fifth Massachusetts remaining 
in camp waiting further orders. A little before noon the 
three regiments came back, reporting that the enemy had 
"skedaddled." Distant firing continued during the day. 
The affair was probably a reconnoissance of the Con 
federates to ascertain our position and strength. They 
were working down opposite us through the highlands. 
We could see the Blue Ridge Mountains from camp, their 
tops covered with snow. Rations continued scanty, and 
the men tried to quiet the pangs of hunger with unripe 
persimmons, a puckery diet, not suited to make "living 
off the country" a favorite system with us. The place 
was memorable for the immense flock of crows which 
darkened the air in their flight out and returning to their 
roosts. 

After the Confederates retired, our brigade staff seemed 
well assured of the security of our position ; not so, some 
of the regimental commanders, who of their own accord 
kept pickets out along their fronts. At 1 1 P. M. of the 
eleventh there was a stir in rear of our brigade, caused 
by the arrival of a reconnoitring party, sent from our 
rear to find out who we were. We having crossed above 
and come down the west side of the North Fork of the 
Rappahannock, our presence in their front was unknown 
to the division of our army posted on the river, and the 
sound of our firing was quite unaccountable to them. 
Word was sent to General Burnsicle, and orders came for 



67 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

us to return to the north bank of the river. We were 
roused quietly at kalf-past one in the morning of the 
twelfth, and at 4 A. M. stole off in the darkness upon the 
road to the rear, recrossing the Rappahannock at Fauquier 
White Sulphur Springs by climbing over trees felled into 
the river, the bridge having been destroyed during General 
Pope s campaign of the previous summer. We had had a 
narrow escape from a serious and unprepared-for attack, 
if not surprise, by General Stuart, whose adjutant-general 
informed our lieutenant-colonel his unwilling guest a few 
nights afterwards that Stuart s troops had prepared to 
give us a lively time at daylight with their whole force, and 
would very likely have captured most of our brigade. 

At the Springs we were entirely out of rations for a day, 
but there was corn for the animals, and we watched them 
crunching it, and tried cracking the grains with our teeth ; 
we had not yet learned how to satisfactorily appease our 
appetite if we could lay hands upon an ear of corn. Lieu 
tenant-Colonel Carruth and Adjutant Wales, enticed by 
hunger, next day recrossed the river to Miller s house 
not the white mansion-house visible from camp, but beyond 
it about half a mile distant, where three men of the 
Fifty-First Pennsylvania were posted ; our outer pickets 
and cavalry being nearly half a mile further out. While 
they were eating, a Confederate major, with a squad of 
cavalry, coming in through a gap in our line of posts, 
surrounded the house, captured our officers and the three 
PennsylvanianSj and marched them off to Richmond, not 
to return until the following spring. As they passed out 
they saw our pickets, and the major said to our officers, 
" If they fire on us we may be your prisoners " ; but our 
men did not fire. Our officers were exonerated from 
blame in the matter by a letter from General Sturgis. 

The disturbance caused upon the opposite bank by this 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 68 

capture was noticed from our camp, but its cause was not 
immediately comprehended. As soon as the alarm was 
given our battery opened upon the houses, and the regi 
ments were ordered to fall in. The Thirty-Fifth, under 
Major Willard, crossed to the west bank and skirmished 
up to the houses where our officers had been waylaid ; 
lines were formed and parties sent out, but nothing was 
discovered of the missing ones or their captors. The 
regiment remained on the spot all night. No fires were 
permitted, and as, in the hurry, many had brought no 
overcoats, there was much suffering from cold until a 
detail of men was sent to camp for them. The boys 
remember this as one of the nights when Jack Frost had 
unobstructed sway. There was no alarm during the night, 
and in the morning the regiment returned to camp, feeling 
rather lonesome without their trusted Carruth and frolic 
some Wales. 

The retirement of the brigade from Jefferson may have 
given the Confederates a hint that with a change of com 
manders a change of plan of campaign might occur. In 
fact, on the fourteenth, while we were returning from our 
reconnoissance, General Halleck was telegraphing to Gen 
eral Burnside the President s consent to the plan of advance 
upon Richmond by way of Fredericksburg, adding the 
words, " He thinks it will succeed if you move rapidly, 
otherwise not." 

Early in the morning of November 15 we received orders 
to march, and broke camp ; but, it being the turn of the 
Thirty-Fifth to march in rear, we waited until the whole 
Second Division had passed before moving. There were 
two roads down the river towards Fayetteville, one of 
which led back from the Rappahannock, the other passed 
the Springs and ruined hotels and, as it approached the 
river, turned to the left, in full view from the opposite 



6g HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

bank. No secrecy was attempted in the movement, as 
one would naturally expect. The whole division took the 
road nearest to the river, followed by the ambulances and 
train of wagons. The high canvas covers of the wagons 
shone out conspicuously as they traversed the hills border 
ing the lowlands of the river-bed. As we came near the 
river we saw our cavalry pickets rushing down the hill on 
the opposite side, and suspected danger. The Confederate 
force on the west bank, said to be part of Stuart s cavalry, 
was tempted by the display of our flank march to further 
the President s recommendation with a shower of shells 
from a battery planted near Hoffman s house. A more 
rapid movement of trains was never seen, in fact it 
was quite a stampede, as the bursting missiles came 
whizzing about the ears of the teamsters, who never 
were fond of the picket line. We also would have 
been content to follow the brigade at a lively pace 
in pursuance of the President s advice. But two of 
the wagons got overturned at the brook or mud hole 
east of the Springs and were destroyed; the rear of 
the train had to be turned back upon the other 
road, and our general began to think that Stuart was 
having all the fun to himself. So he posted Durell s 
battery and two guns of Roemer s along the ridge, with 
orders to silence their opponents across the river, and 
ordered the Thirty-Fifth back towards the Springs to 
support the guns. Then ensued a brilliant display of 
artillery practice, the positions on both sides being excel 
lent, and the cannoneers working their pieces with a fury 
that darkened the sky with smoke and made the air quiver 
with the explosions. 

There was a little hut upon the hill exposed to the 
enemy s fire, and during the shelling the door was flung 
open and a man rushed out carrying a child, followed by 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 70 

a woman bearing another. The fright had so overcome 
the poor woman that she fell headlong in the road before 
her door it was a pitiful sight. She was raised imme 
diately and escaped to the woods unhurt. At the same 
time the ambulances were passing, in one of which, upon 
the front seat, was Miss Gilson, of Chelsea, riding calmly 
along amid the bursting shells not the only time the 
regiment saw this lady present under fire. 

After the wagons had passed the regiment was posted 
under the ridge occupied by the artillery, and ordered to 
lie down. Lieutenant Mcllvaine, of DurelPs Battery, was 
mortally wounded, and carried by us, and one of the 
gunners had his arm torn off. Only one of our regiment 
was struck by a shell and he was not badly hurt, which 
was wonderful, so many shells struck around, about and, 
apparently, even among the men. It was said that the 
enemy also fired pieces of railroad iron, but they may 
have been oblong or percussion shells which had acquired 
an end-over-end motion after first striking the ground. 

Some mounted men appeared towards the ford of the 
river, as if attempting to cross ; a company of the Seventh 
Rhode Island was on picket there. The Thirty-Fifth was 
now ordered back to the Springs, and lay down at the 
opening of the road. Lieutenants Stickney and Hudson 
were sent forward to dispute the crossing. Chaplain 
Miller showed himself quite cool in danger while observ 
ing the enemy from this position, so the day was notable 
also as the only occasion when we saw a chaplain in action. 
General Burns s Division came up on our right, and Lieu 
tenant Benjamin planted his twenty-pounders upon the 
hill near the Springs. When he opened, the enemy felt a 
sudden call in the direction of Culpeper, the cross fire was 
too much for them, they decamped and we saw no more 
of Stuart or his battery. During this skirmish Major 



71 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

Willard commanded, Captain Andrews acted as lieutenant- 
colonel, Lieutenant Blanchard commanding Company A, 
and Captain Lathrop acted as major.* 

We started after the brigade, but had not gone far when 
the regiment was halted, then sent to the right into the 
woods, on picket at Lawson s Ford. There we spent an 
uncomfortable night, without fires, on account of the near 
ness of the enemy. To the soldier lack of fire means lack 
of his pot of coffee by the cheerful blaze after a hard day s 
work, and is not willingly endured whatever the danger. 
There was at least one flame alight down by the brook 
that night, over which some chops of a young pig were 
sizzling with dry corn parching in the fat. During the 
night Quartermaster Haines, with Upton and Cutter, came 
up to the regiment, bringing needed rations from the com 
missary wagons. 

On the following day (Sunday, the sixteenth) we resumed 
the march, joined the brigade at Fayetteville and kept on 
to camp near Warrenton Junction, on the railroad, passing 
through masses of the infantry of the other divisions of 
the army of which we had seen but little for some time. 
This was one of the hardest marches of the campaign, 
and, by a singular coincidence, it happened upon the very 
day upon which President Lincoln issued his famous order 
in regard to the observance of Sunday in the army. At 
the Junction the morning of the seventeenth opened with 
rain, which, with intervals of drizzle, continued for several 
days. Rations had been so scanty that an order of Major 
Willard for one hard bread apiece, extra, was received with 
cheers. We started again in the afternoon towards Fred- 
ericksburg, and pushed along rapidly through the fields 
beside the road, which was left for the passage of the 
artillery and wagons, and, in the same way, through the 

* An account of this skirmish is printed in 6 Rebellion Record, 195. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 72 

mud and drizzle on the eighteenth, leaving camp about 
7 A. M. and marching until noon. Many troops were in 
motion. General Burnside passed, on the way to Falmouth. 
On the nineteenth, in a down-pour of rain, the brigade 
reached Falmouth, and marched through its one street 
with the band playing "Yankee Doodle," and so came out 
upon the open plateau near the Rappahannock, opposite 
the upper part of the city of Fredericksburg. General 
Sumner with the Second Corps had preceded us, and we 
were probably the last of his Grand Division to arrive. 
The plain was blue with lines of troops between us and 
the river ; the waters of which ran turbid with the recent 
rains, and foaming among the rocks, where had been an 
easy ford in the drier seasons. 

At that time there was but a small Confederate force in 
Fredericksburg ; the movement, so far as concerned their 
unpreparedness here, seeming to have been successful, 
notwithstanding the hint of motion this way which we had 
given them at the Sulphur Springs. As we approached 
Falmouth the report was circulated that the army would 
cross the river at once, keep on direct to Richmond, and 
be there at Christmas. Something of the sort was our 
general s intention, but, on arrival at the point of passage, 
the pontoons were not in readiness, and no means were at 
hand for crossing the trains. We waited near the railroad 
some time, the boys occupying the moments so decisive of 
the campaign in plucking up wild garlic, which grew abun 
dantly there and was a novelty to us. The brigade then 
marched to the plateau above the railroad, and went into 
camp in the wide fields south of the Phillips House, a 
handsome mansion in the modern style and a prominent 
landmark, afterwards the headquarters of General Sumner 
and chief signal station of the army, where the powerful tel 
escopes and observation balloons were objects of interest. 



73 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

Everything was wet ; it continued to rain all day the 
twentieth and twenty-first, and, in pitching camp in com 
pany streets, some dried a spot to lie upon by first building 
fires upon the ground for the tent. Fences disappeared at 
once, and our fuel henceforth was the green pitch pine, 
with some beech wood near the river where the pickets 
were. We lay until the twenty-fourth in this uncomfortable, 
ill-drained location, the weather at last turning cold and 
freezing the rough ground. The only memorable event 
there was that, after the usual inspection and service on 
Sunday the twenty-third, the regiment formed by divisions- 
in-mass on centre division, and, after the chaplain had 
read the Thanksgiving proclamation of Governor Andrew, 
Major Willard required the whole regiment to repeat in 
unison the final words, " God save the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts ! " We did so, but felt all the time that the 
Old Commonwealth was safe enough at home, and what 
most needed saving, or a little Thanksgiving comfort, was 
the Thirty-Fifth Regiment. 

The day after this ceremony (the twenty-fourth) the 
brigade moved to a drier position, north-east of the 
Phillips House, and formed camp in a hollow square, the 
Fifty-First New York and Fifty-First Pennsylvania being 
on the west side, the Twenty-First Massachusetts on the 
south, we on the east and the Eleventh New Hampshire 
on the north. The space in the centre was used for drills 
and dress-parade. The Eleventh had a brass band which 
played for evening parades, each regiment facing inward 
in front of its camp and all going through the form 
together. In the absence of Adjutant Wales, Lieutenants 
Blanchard and Stickney, successively, performed the duties 
of that office. The brigade was reviewed by General 
Sumner on the twenty-sixth. About the same date First 
Sergeant Oscar R. Livingstone was promoted to the rank 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 74 

of second lieutenant, Sergeant-Major Hatch was promoted 
to second lieutenant, and Sergeant S. G. Berry succeeded 
him as sergeant-major of the regiment. 

On the twenty-seventh (Thanksgiving Day) a brigade 
service was held at 10 A. M. The chaplain of the Eleventh 
New Hampshire read the proclamation of that State and 
made appropriate remarks, the band played a few pieces, 
and three hymns were sung. The services were quite 
interesting. 

From the Phillips House a wide view could be had of 
the city of Fredericksburg opposite. The streets of the 
city were regularly laid out, running parallel with the 
river and at right angles to it, making blocks, most of the 
buildings being of wood, except upon the principal streets 
where brick was generally used. Rumors came to us of 
a cavalry charge through the town, and a good deal was 
said about flags of truce and agreements not to fire upon 
the city and its evacuation by the inhabitants. Behind 
the buildings of the city, upon the hills, earthworks and 
batteries began to appear, and General Lee and his army 
were plainly preparing to receive us, when, if ever, our 
time to cross here should come. 

Details were made for picket along the river bank 
the tour of duty being twenty-four hours and no firing 
allowed at the men in gray opposite. On the thirtieth the 
regiment had one hundred and sixty men on this duty. 
Fatigue parties were also sent to the rear, road making, 
where they learned how to lay corduroy, with a foundation 
of logs and cross pieces of smaller timber, the only means 
of keeping the wagons above ground in that bottomless 
country. These workers reported about the first of 
December that they had seen the pontoon boats a little 
way to the rear of our camp, in the hollow ; accordingly 
we began to look for a move, which we did not relish just 



75 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

then for we were anticipating a first visit from the pay 
master money having been among the things lost to 
sight but to memory dear for some time past. 

A ration of potatoes was issued an article we had 
nearly forgotten the use of and company streets were 
ordered swept in the morning of December 4 ; and, as a 
matter of course after such preparation to stay, orders 
came, while we were on battalion drill in the afternoon, 
to move at half-past four, and we packed up in a bad 
humor. The march was but a short distance, only about 
three miles south, down the river to the rear of a battery, 
which we were sent to guard and had some difficulty in 
rinding. It was Battery B, Second Battalion, New York 
Artillery ; the guns, four Parrott twenty-pounders. Camp 
was located and tents pitched in a storm of rain, with hail 
and snow. 

Thenceforward for a week, sentries were kept constantly 
on duty pacing the parapet of the little earthwork of the 
battery, overlooking the level ground below, the river 
flowing in its deep bed, and the lower part of the city and 
the plain over which General Franklin s left wing of the 
army afterwards made its advance. The officer of the 
battery said he had been in that position since November 
20, entirely without support. Next day Captain Lathrop, 
sent out by the major to see if there were any troops near 
us, met pickets some ways back from our camp, who said 
that they were the outer pickets, and they knew nothing 
of our regiment and the battery being outside of them. 

On the sixth three inches of snow fell ; it was freezing 
in true New England style, and the weather was as genuine 
an importation from Massachusetts as the regiment itself. 
The men not on guard duty employed themselves in cutting 
wood, a constant labor in a winter camp, arid some engaged 
in logging up their tents, orders or permission to do so 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 76 

having been given about the eighth of December. The 
slang word in that camp was " promptly," everything had 
to be done promptly, from turning out at dress-parade to 
dealing out the messes of baked beans. In the " Memoir 
of Major Willard " there are given at length interesting 
letters from him, describing the night duty at the battery, 
the watch fires of the enemy, the logging up, and the worn 
out shoes and almost bare feet of some of the men from 
their rough tramp along the Blue Ridge. Members of the 
regiment received new boots by mail, which was then con 
sidered a novel use for the postal service. The sutler 
came on the ninth, a certain forerunner of the paymaster, 
who arrived next day, paying off the companies at different 
hours from the tenth to the twelfth. 

Meanwhile General Burnside had been endeavoring to 
devise a way to get at the Confederates on something like 
an equal footing, if possible. He concluded to try to 
seize the heights behind the city by surprise, success to 
depend upon the " promptness " of execution. Where we 
were, the river was bordered by plains or table-lands rising 
like terraces, one above another. The highest plateau 
approached the river nearest on the east bank, giving our 
artillery full command of the city and the plain below it. 
Down stream the hills were further back, and General Lee 
anticipated our crossing at Port Royal rather than in the 
face of his batteries at the city, and sent Stonewall Jackson 
down there. Our general made feints in that direction, 
hoping to make General Lee carelessly secure at the city, 
to the extent of diminishing his force there and rendering 
the opposition to be met back of the city easy to be over 
come. 

On the ninth and tenth the woods behind our camp 
became filled with infantry and artillery of Franklin s 
Grand Division the First and Sixth Corps among 



77 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

whom we again recognized the Twelfth and Thirteenth 
Massachusetts Regiments. The whole army was massing 
at the river, the infantry under cover of the trees ; but, as 
soon as it was dark on the tenth, three batteries took 
positions along the heights where our battery was. The 
night was very cold and the ground frozen ; the rumbling 
of the gun carriages and cries of the drivers to their 
horses made a great noise, and must have been heard by 
the enemy. 

The paymaster was busy at Major Willard s headquarters 
until midnight of the tenth distributing the crisp green 
backs, some of the boys said to put us in good humor for 
the fight, as if a soldier could possibly be in a mind for a 
death struggle with his pockets full of cash. It was whis 
pered that the pontoons had been run down to the bank 
in the darkness, and the crossing would be attempted at 
three o clock in the morning. 

The opinion prevalent in an army, its morale, powerfully 
influences the success of its campaigns, and commanders 
of armies composed of "thinking bayonets" are specially 
solicitous to bring this opinion to concert with their plans ; 
failing in this they hesitate before perilous action. The 
past year s experience in the conduct of war in Virginia 
had convinced many of the thinking men in the service 
that it was expecting too much of the army to suppose it 
would be able by direct assault to force back General Lee 
from his position upon the Rappahannock, and the suc 
cessive lines of the Mattapony, North and South Annas, 
Pamunkey and Chickahominy, to Richmond, amid the 
storms, snows and mud of winter, with rivers and swamps 
swollen by rains ; the season seemed to forbid undertaking 
such a campaign, if ever advisable. General Burnside was 
more sanguine of success, for he, with subordinate armies 
at Roanoke Island, Newberne, South Mountain and An- 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 78 

tietam Bridge, had given the Confederates the odds of 
position and had uniformly won. He naturally reasoned 
that what had been done on a small scale could be done 
on a larger, if equal energy were displayed ; moreover, he 
hoped to effect a surprise. The general, therefore, with 
an army more or less disaffected towards his purpose, was 
about to attempt the first step in this herculean labor. 



CHAPTER V. 

FREDERICKSBURG, AND WINTER NEAR FALMOUTH, 1862-63. 

THE opening of the contest at Fredericksburg was as 
impressive as it was unfortunate. All the companies 
except K had been paid before midnight, and the men had 
been asleep in their little shelters a few hours when there 
arose from the darkness and fog of the river the heavy 
boom of signal guns, continued with occasional shots, 
volleys and shouts of combatants. At last a crossing was 
being attempted, and the engineers were trying to lay the 
pontoon bridges. Many a man s heart beat faster at the 
dread sound. More than one soldier bent his knee upon 
the pine boughs of his rough bed and prayed for strength 
to do his duty manfully, and that God would give the vic 
tory to the cause which seemed so righteous. And yet 
could it be right to attack, with fire and shells, a city filled 
with homes only partly abandoned? how could a victory 
follow, when the best of our men were shocked by a devas 
tation so opposed to their principles ; when the meanest 
spirit among our opponents could not but be made a hero 
by the sight of his own city laid waste ? thus, morally 
also, we were placed in a wrong position at the very 
beginning. 

The regiment was awakened at three in the morning. At 
dawn, orders were received for us to join the brigade at 
the Phillips House. By count, we had seventeen officers 
and three hundred and fifty-three men in line. They were 



So HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

to take blankets and shelter tents only, in a roll across the 
shoulders, and two days rations. The ground was frozen 
and slippery in damp places, the morning bright overhead, 
foggy in the river-bed. The lower bridges for Franklin s 
crossing had been successfully laid, but the upper ones, 
opposite the city, were not the fire of the enemy s sharp 
shooters had been too hot for the engineers to work under. 
We learned of this delay on our arrival at the brigade, 
which had intended to cross upon the upper bridge ; 
pending its completion, therefore, we had nothing to do 
but wait, sitting upon boards or tufts of grass near the 
Phillips House. Many of the members improved the 
opportunity to drop a few lines home, and send off the 
surplus of greenbacks, just received, by our ever-to-be- 
remembered friend, Mayor Fay, of Chelsea. 

Our artillery some one hundred and fifty guns of 
various calibre opened all along our lines upon the 
unfortunate city, for the purpose, as was said, of driving 
out the Mississippi sharpshooters hidden in the houses 
opposite the bridges ; and, if noise could compel them, 
they would have left in a hurry, for of all the thunder of 
artillery heard by the regiment during the war this seemed 
the loudest. It was a constant, booming roar, rising and 
falling in a peculiar way, occasioned, some said, by the 
echoes from the city, or along the river headlands; gun 
boats were mentioned at the time, but there were no 
vessels so near to the city. Only houses were injured ; 
the sharpshooters, though silenced for awhile, remained 
until volunteers from the Seventh Michigan, Nineteenth 
and Twentieth Massachusetts and Eighty-Ninth New York 
crossed in boats and gallantly drove them out of the city. 
All this was invisible to us, on account of the lowness of 
the river-bed ; only the rattle of the musketry and sounds 
of the contest were audible to us. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 8 1 

It was early dark in the afternoon when the bridges 
were completed, too late for any important further action. 
The regiment was ordered back to the battery, and plodded 
along through the now soft mud, to find their quarters laid 
waste and the camp ground cut up by passing artillery and 
wagons. Hardly were arms stacked when the order came 
for the regiment to return to the Phillips House, with a 
view to crossing the river that night. In an ill humor the 
men fell in and retraced the heavy track across the sea of 
mud. The glow of burning buildings in the opposite city 
could be seen through the fog. It was quite dark; changes 
of positions of troops had been made ; the head of the 
column got bewildered and wandered around over the 
open plain, with frequent halts to discuss localities, in a 
way to distract tired men carrying abundant luggage. At 
last our station was reached, only to find the order coun 
termanded, with direction to return again to the battery 
could the English language furnish words to express our 
emotions ! It was a wearisome tramp back to camp, and, 
when arrived there, it was difficult to find a dry spot large 
enough to spread a blanket. One man noticed the long 
hole in the ground, which had been dug and used for an 
oven to bake some company s beans, and, raking out the 
ashes, he made a luxurious bed, remarking, "There d be 
many a poor fellow over there to-morrow night would be 
glad of such a nice, comfortable grave to bury himself 
in!" 

Next morning (the twelfth) the regiment, under Major 
Willard Captain Andrews having been appointed acting 
lieutenant-colonel and Captain Lathrop acting major 
taking the road by the river side, instead of upon the high 
land, reached the upper pontoons and crossed to join the 
brigade, which was found massed on the bank above the 
bridges, sheltered from the enemy s artillery by the river 



82 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

bank and the houses of the city. As we passed over we 
noted the holes in the pontoon boats made by the bullets 
of the enemy the day before. Arms were stacked, 
packs unslung and piled, and the men, a few at a time, 
wandered up into the city to see the sights, while the 
remainder devoted themselves to gazing between the 
houses at the enemy s earthworks beyond the plain back 
of the town, or sat upon the bank watching the dropping 
of the shot into the river, aimed by guess at the pontoons, 
and passing over our heads to plunge their cold hearts into 
the frigid waters of the Rappahannock. The bottom of 
that river must be iron-clad. We had hardly been in 
Fredericksburg an hour when we saw Mayor Fay and 
Miss Gilson coming on foot over the pontoon bridge. 
As regiments came down the east bank to cross, their 
flags and glistening steel would attract the eyes of the 
Confederate gunners, and well-aimed shots would cause 
a ducking of heads and swaying from side to side in the 
ranks, quite amusing to see when the missile did not take 
effect, but serious when it did. The visitors to the main 
streets returned, generally bringing some useless article 
which the inhabitants had not removed, and which had 
attracted the soldier s fancy, but which he was not allowed 
to retain by the provost-guard. Tobacco was discovered 
in great abundance, in various shapes of pig, plug and 
twist. Several had found old-fashioned calico dresses 
and bonnets and came back dressed in them, cutting a 
swell appearance and exciting much mirth. It was a 
sickening mixture of death and frivolity. 

Lieutenant Hudson and members of Company D from 
Wayland happened upon the body of Reverend Arthur 
B. Fuller, former Chaplain of the Sixteenth Massachusetts 
Regiment, which they at once identified and cared for. 
This noble spirit, while on his way the day before to take 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 83 

passage for Washington, had been caught in the enthu 
siasm at the moment of the crossing in boats, joined as 
a volunteer in the assault, rifle in hand, and was killed 
in the streets of the city. His body had lain among the 
unrecognized dead until discovered by the members of our 
regiment. The watches and valuable parcels entrusted to 
him for conveyance home had been rifled from his body 
by the plundering followers of the army. 

Darkness and fog settled down ; another night of un 
certainty for us and of preparation for the enemy was 
coming on, and, with the soldiers wise thought for the 
comfort of the present moment, the men gathered boards 
and old doors from the houses and fences, and laid them 
in lines behind the stacks of arms, for dry but rather 
hard beds, and slept. No fires were permitted during 
the darkness. 

The morning of the thirteenth was foggy, as usual. In 
other wars, and on several occasions during this, fog and 
darkness were taken advantage of, to enable an assaulting 
force to approach the enemy s works. In this case, as the 
individual courage of the men was to be relied upon, and 
not leadership, and the purpose was so obvious to every 
one, it is possible that the Union loss would have be"en 
less, and chance of success greater, had the troops been 
massed under cover of this mysterious obscurity, near 
enough for a charge upon the works at a run. On the 
left of the army a brilliant dash was made during the 
morning, with success at first ; a movement very like the 
many left-flank moves at Petersburg, with similar results : 
confusion by advancing in a wooded country, an exposed 
flank, and a return discomfited to the starting point. 
General Meade took a prominent part in the movement, 
and the chivalrous Bayard was killed. 

During the morning our brigade moved up into the 



84 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

principal street, and, with halts, southerly to near the 
railroad track and station. Here, towards noon, there 
was a rest for an hour or so in the street under cover of 
the houses. Rations of raw salt pork were distributed. 
The artillery of the enemy, distant about half a mile, had 
a complete rake of the streets running at right angles to 
the river ; and we watched their shots, the puffs of smoke 
from the guns, the bursting of the shells near at hand, 
and the showers of pieces clattering along the streets and 
upon the sides of the houses, at which last part of the 
performance we drew back our heads and relied upon our 
ears. From our position we could see no movement of 
their infantry ; but there was no appearance of our general 
having effected his purpose of catching General Lee asleep. 
Occasionally a solid shot or percussion shell would come 
smashing through the buildings in front, scattering the 
plaster and clouds of lime dust. Such pounding was as 
harmless to us as our bombardment of two days before 
had been to them. We saw a brigade, or division, in 
good order come from near the railway station and 
move to our right among the houses, as if to make an 
assault, which we could not see ; they had green in their 
caps, and were said to be General Meagher s men. The 
ground, over which we looked, westward to the enemy s 
lines was a rolling plain, cut just at our left by the railroad 
running south-west, then south, its cutting deepening as it 
neared their position. Houses, trees and fences were 
scattered over the plain. The sun shone brightly upon 
the scene. 

About one o clock the major called, "Attention! " The 
men fell in with compressed lips the time had come. 
We marched by the right flank across the railroad, a 
grade crossing, moved a block south of it, then turning 
sharp to the west towards the enemy came again to the 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 85 

railroad beyond the station house, and recrossed to the 
north side. We passed several dead men, one entirely 
disembowelled and horribly mangled. Here we faced to 
the front; General Ferrero appeared for a moment, and 
gave the word to our commander. Major Willard, starting 
in front and drawing up his powerful frame to its full 
height, waving his huge cavalry sabre, gave the order in 
his sonorous voice, " Forward Thirty-Fifth! On centre 
dress! Remember Antietam ! " and set the example 
himself by leading on. The regiment kept a good line, 
and, at a double-quick, rapidly neared the Confederates. 
Their shells struck all about; some would burst directly 
in front ; there was time to see the explosion, and expect 
the fragments before they came ; the dirt thrown up made 
the ground seem travelling backward ; a man had time to 
wonder why he was not hit by the whizzing pieces. The 
sharp hiss of the more dangerous rifle-ball soon became 
more noticeable. In advancing, the left of the regiment 
kept along the railroad ; and, as that bent to the south, 
the course was upon a road running directly to the south 
end of Marye s Heights. 

Major Willard, thus leading and encouraging us, doing 
all that a heroic man could to further our general s plan, 
was struck by a bullet in the body, and fell upon the field, 
mortally wounded. The regiment, with the impetus he had 
given it, passed on, getting breathless with the run and 
their burdens, men dropping by the enemy s fire all along. 
We reached a wire fence, enclosing the yard of a white 
washed cottage. This fence broke the formation of the 
line, the wires catching a man by some of his many bags 
and bundles, and persisting in holding him until he un- 
slung the impedimenta, or was extricated ; the right of the 
regiment had to break through a board fence. Getting 
through these obstructions, and passing to the side of the 



86 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

house towards the enemy, we found a little ridge a 
hardly noticeable swell in the plain on the hither side 
of which the men stopped and lay down to recover breath 
and reform. Then, advancing to the crest, we found it 
occupied by men of the Fifty-First Pennsylvania on the 
left, and the Twenty-First Massachusetts and Eleventh 
New Hampshire, and troops of the Second Corps, on the 
right. They were firing at the enemy, and called to us to 
open also, which we did at once, mingling with them for 
the purpose. 

The Confederates were distant about two hundred and 
fifty yards. The ground sank down into a considerable 
hollow from our ridge, then rose to their position, which 
was at the foot of and upon a steep bank, where the upper 
plateau, upon which Mr. Marye s house stood, meets the 
lower. In our front was the south portion of Marye s 
Heights, so called, and we fired directly towards the spot 
now occupied by the National Cemetery. We could not 
distinguish their men well, the color of their clothes and 
hats being so like the soil of the bank, but aimed at the 
line of puffs of white smoke from their rifles or the battery 
behind them. Their infantry was in the sunken road which 
ran along the base of the bank, covered by the stone bank- 
wall, since partly or wholly removed, to build, it is said, the 
porter s lodge at the cemetery. 

On our left there were, at first, no troops ; our regiment 
appeared to be the extreme left of our assaulting line 
thereabouts. A board fence, running at right angles to 
the front, separated the left from the right of the regiment. 
Through this fence a heavy shot from the right occasion 
ally tore a hole, one of them striking a poor fellow in the 
bowels cut him nearly in two, tore off the leg of another 
man and dashed it against the fence, then passed on its 
way, spattering the men near by with blood and fragments 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 87 

of flesh. The reports of the enemy s guns and the burst 
ing of their shells seemed almost together, we were so 
near them ; and the difficulty they found in depressing 
their guns was our safety. Sergeant William H. Allen 
was color-bearer ; the regimental flag was torn by bullets, 
and the staff, cut half through by a ball, broke in two. 

We received no orders to advance beyond this ridge, 
nor was any attempt made to do so, in this part of the 
line, until nearly dark. No general officer came near the 
troops for a long time. To all appearances we could have 
gone considerably nearer the heights, with some such a 
rush into the hollow as at Antietam, and with similar loss, 
but the exigency of the battle did not force us to it ; our 
line, at first, would have been too thin to take the works, 
and the men wisely preferred the ridge to such another 
valley of death. It was reported at the time along the 
line that a canal ran in the depression in front, which was 
not the fact ; the real canal was to the right, and nearer 
the city. The men loaded and fired deliberately, aiming 
and calculating every shot but this was not the way to 
take Marye s Heights. Most of the shots fired at us went 
too high ; but there were sufficient lower down to keep up 
the excitement, men of our regiment and of the others 
falling all the time. Soon other lines of regiments 
General Nagle s brigade of our corps and General Car 
roll s brigade of the Third Corps came up behind us, 
the men stopping as we had done, breathless, and remain 
ing there, kneeling or lying down, in good lines, but 
massed closely. 

After firing an hour or so our ammunition was expended, 
and our men drew back from the ridge, inviting the troops 
behind to move up and continue the firing, which they did. 
Lying on the hither side of the now muddy slope, we had 
nothing to do but watch the enemy s missiles and our 



88 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

troops coming up to reenforce, when we had too many 
men already, if no further advance was to be made. The 
cottage behind us caught the enemy s bullets in a manner 
remarkable to witness ; one could tell the height of the 
thickest of the shower by a glance at the peppered wall. 
A west chimney seemed to catch everything going, and 
brick dust flew from it continually ; at last, it had crum 
bled so, the upper part came rattling down amid the 
shouts of the beholders. The declining sun behind the 
Confederate lines illuminated the field towards the city, 
and it was a splendid sight to see the admirably kept lines 
of battle of our reinforcements, as they came towards us, 
wavering a little to close up gaps, which the enemy s shells, 
passing over heads, ploughed in their ranks. One full 
regiment, or brigade, came on with drum corps beating 
the charge in superb style. But they all stopped on 
reaching our position, and lay or stooped down. Columns 
in mass might have had momentum sufficient to pass the 
ridge and go down into the hollow, but regiments in line 
seemed powerless to get past us when once they had 
stopped for breath after their long run. 

A general rode up on horseback to the cottage fence, 
and waved his hat to the men. It was General Griffin of 
the Fifth Corps. The cheers with which he was received 
drowned the sounds of battle. His division had been sent 
to relieve ours. The Twenty-Second Massachusetts was 
part of that division ; and, taking position along the ridge 
at our left, they fired by volleys at the word of command, 
as if upon drill, in an admirable manner. It was near sun 
set when the Confederate line was relieved or reenforced, 
for we could see the forms of their men dark against the 
red western sky. The musketry from our lines redoubled 
at the sight. The Twenty-Second or Eighteenth Massa 
chusetts, also of Colonel Barnes s brigade it was impos- 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 89 

sible to distinguish the regiments there, unless acquainted 
with the officers (corps badges had not come into use) 
was forming column with the leading files over the ridge 
at this time ; they made a charge to the front, but had to 
come back, leaving their dead in the hollow. Captain 
Andrews had taken command of our regiment, and, the 
brigade being relieved, he formed such of the men as 
could be got together in the mass of troops now gathered 
behind the ridge, and waiting for darkness lead us back 
to the city. We had been six hours in line of battle. The 
field over which we retired was strown with the dead and 
wounded, and equipments and equipage of all sorts ; any 
thing picked up in the darkness, to replace goods lost, 
was, more likely than not, found dabbled with blood when 
brought to the light. 

The losses in General Sturgis s division had been about 
one thousand. In General Ferrero s brigade, eighty-three 
killed and four hundred and thirty wounded ; of whom the 
Eleventh New Hampshire (their first battle) lost thirty killed 
and one hundred and seventy wounded. The casualties 
in our regiment were ten killed and about sixty wounded. 
The slaughter upon our right where the troops are said 
to have been more exposed and to have approached nearer 
the enemy was greater, General Hancock s division los 
ing two thousand men, General French s twelve hundred 
of General Couch s Second Corps and others in pro 
portion. The total loss in the Union army was 12,353 ; 
in the Confederate army, 4,576; as computed by Captain 
Phisterer. 

The names of the killed in the Thirty-Fifth were : Major 
Sidney Willard ; First Lieutenant William Hill, then com 
manding Company K (both originally officers of Company 
I) ; John W. Hodges, of Company C ; Avery A. Capen 
and Isaiah Hunt, of Company E ; First Sergeant Daniel 



90 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

Lamson, of Company H ; Corporal John E. McKew and 
George C. Bunker, of Company I ; Oliver S. Currier and 
Oliver P. Robinson, of Company K. 

Lieutenant Hill was a young man from mercantile life, 
who had been wounded at South Mountain, and was not 
very generally known in the regiment. Lieutenant Hatch 
was wounded in the knee, apparently his only vulnerable 
spot. 

Our great and irreparable loss was in Major Willard, an 
officer who lacked only the experience he was so solicitous 
to obtain, to have made as fine a soldier, in appearance or 
acquirements, as the army could produce. Intellectually, 
morally and physically, he was the beau ideal of a com 
mander of men. It is one of the compensations of the 
service that it acquaints us with such men, who elevate 
our conceptions of humanity, yet, too often, leave us only 
their examples and not their living presence to admire. 
He died in Fredericksburg the next day ; his last words 
being, "Tell them I tried to do my duty to my country and 
the regiment." No words can do fit honor to such sacrifice. 
The motto of the Independent Cadets, with whom he re 
ceived his military instruction, is " Monstrat viam" 

The night, fortunately for the wounded upon the field, 
was quite warm for the season. We spent it, as before, by 
the river bank. Some of the officers and men gathered 
in a house, where services were held. Lieutenant Mirick 
read from the Bible, and a private soldier offered prayer. 
In the morning the stragglers were collected, and ammu 
nition was distributed. Small rations of whiskey were 
dealt out, whether to counteract the fatigue and depression 
of the defeat or to prepare us for another attempt is not 
known ; for it was during this day that General Burnside, 
bitterly disappointed at the failure of the assault, which 
he at first attributed to slackness in his subordinate gen- 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 9 1 

erals resolved to form the Ninth Corps, consisting of 
some eighteen old regiments and some new ones, and, 
placing himself at their head, march to death or victory ; 
but the cooler heads of Generals Sumner, Franklin, Hooker 
and others dissuaded him. The chance for important re 
sults from such an attempt was small ; the men were glad 
to be spared a second trial of such a kind. A mail was 
received, and the home letters were read during the sus 
pense of waiting. At noon men had found flour in the 
city, and, as the movement appeared to be abandoned, 
all who could find utensils busied themselves frying batter 
cakes for dinner. In such close contact lie, in war, the 
sublimities of death in the grand assault and the meaner 
duties by which the life of the soldier is sustained. 

It came on very dark at night; orders to "fall-in" were 
received, and the brigade marched back through the city, 
as before, to the railway station, where the streets were 
crowded with moving troops changing positions. Thence, 
under cover of the darkness, we moved silently out to the 
position of the day before along the ridge near the two 
houses, and lay down upon the frozen mud, or, if one were 
lucky, upon a board from the fence, and, rifle in hand, 
waited in suspense for any movement from our foes. A 
counter assault was dreaded in the bad position and rather 
discouraged condition of the army. We felt how much 
depended upon our holding the ridge to the death, and 
the uncertainty of the result of a night attack upon our 
single line made the situation one of terrible anxiety. 
The Confederates tried the line, but, finding us ready, 
desisted. Their generals discussed a plan of attack upon 
the city, but abandoned it information which would have 
been welcome to us that night. The men threw up a little 
parapet of earth and rubbish, particularly upon the left 
of the regiment, which was most exposed, which did good 



92 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

service as a shelter from the sharpshooters when daylight 
came again. 

During the day the situation remained the same, both 
sides hesitating to take the initiative. Their marksmen 
were very watchful and quick to fire at any part of the 
person exposed above the ridge, while our men were for 
bidden to use their rifles unless attacked. Few moved 
more than once or twice during the whole day, but some, 
with the dare-devil recklessness of their kind, would jump 
up and run a few steps to enjoy the excitement of drawing 
fire. Another terrible night came on, and it was getting 
quite past longer endurance when, at midnight, after twenty- 
eight hours of as trying picket duty as the regiment ever 
endured, the brigade was relieved, and the men, stiff and 
unnerved from their enforced quiet, fell in and marched 
through the now deserted streets of the desolate city to 
the pontoon bridges, where they crossed at once, much to 
their astonishment, for it was the first intimation they had 
received that the city was to be evacuated by our army. 
After crossing the river the regiment marched to its barren 
but welcome camp near the battery, reaching it about three 
o clock in the rainy morning of the sixteenth of December. 

At that time we supposed ourselves to have been among 
the last to leave the city, but General Hooker testifies that 
" it was late when I got the order to withdraw my com 
mand, between three and four o clock in the morning, and 
it was between eight and nine o clock when the last troops 
were withdrawn. The enemy did not seem to realize but 
that there were troops in the houses. I withdrew my 
exterior lines of pickets last of all, and they were not 
followed by the enemy." 

The great event was over, and success had not perched 
upon our standards. Our opponents at Marye s Heights 
had been of Longstreet s Corps, as previously at South 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 93 

Mountain and Antietam Bridge, and this time they got 
the better of us. The enterprise had been carried out 
with less energy than General Burnside had intended, 
owing, apparently, to lack of explicit orders on the left 
wing and lack of commanders with the men on the right ; 
but the losses had been sufficient to excuse to the country 
all further movement of the army that winter. The gen 
eral, however, eager for results, declined to go into winter 
quarters, and continued his plans for action ; as a conse 
quence, keeping the men in a state of constant uneasiness, 
and hindering them from trying to improve their temporary 
camps and quarters. The winter months were, therefore, 
full of discouragement and discomfort. 

On the seventeenth of December, at 8 A. M., the regiment 
left the camp in rear of the battery and returned to its 
position in the square with the brigade, described in the 
last chapter. On joining the brigade, Captain Lathrop 
was sent, under a flag of truce, in command of a detail 
of fifty men of the brigade (ten from the Thirty-Fifth) to 
assist in burying the dead on the battle-field of Fredericks- 
burg. The detail was allowed to approach the stone wall 
as near as there were any bodies found lying. They buried 
one hundred and eight men that afternoon, nearly all of 
them stark naked, their clothing stripped off by the enemy. 

The regiment found the locality of the camp cleared of 
every kind of material for camp making rails gone, trees 
cut down, even the roots dug for fuel, the whole place a 
waste of loamy undulating field land. The low shelter 
tents were pitched in company streets, and beds were 
made of grass, pine-needles and pieces of cracker boxes. 
Green pitch-pine wood was brought by wagons and fatigue 
parties from a distance for the cooks smoky fires. If any 
one would indulge in the luxury of a fire for himself he 
had to bring his fuel upon his back a mile or so. 



94 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

The food was abundant but coarse : fat salt-pork, fresh 
beef, beans, hard bread old and weevilly, baked for 
McClellan s campaign, each box marked " White House " 
and, occasionally, potatoes or rice, with, of course, 
coffee and brown sugar. We had learned to make little 
bags to hold the rations of ground coffee, sugar and salt. 
The cooking utensils were the three or four iron pots of 
the cook and our fire-blackened tin dippers, one of which 
each man carried slung to his greasy haversack ; there 
were also two or three small frying-pans to a company, 
which some provident men had acquired on the route 
hither or in the opposite city. The beans would be 
cooked by stewing or baking in the iron pots ; these par 
tially cleansed and then the coffee boiled in them. The 
beans were eaten out of the tin dippers, and afterwards 
the coffee was drunk from them ; if there were no beans 
it was beef soup ; what the coffee tasted like one may 
hardly imagine it was called coffee from habit rather 
than from any resemblance to it in smell or taste. It 
required a day s manoeuvring to get the utensils and hot 
water to wash a woollen shirt the washerwoman never 
called at the back door there ; the man who owned more 
than one whole shirt was a fop. Sutlers were few at first, 
being kept back by orders or the rough roads ; in their 
absence we had to depend upon the cookies of our friends 
of the Eleventh New Hampshire. Active games or sports 
were hardly attempted ; the mud was a hindrance, even if 
there had been spirit for them among the men. 

We were too lately from home to take these things as 
a matter of course and make the best of them, as old 
soldiers do ; it takes a year s service to make a veteran. 
December and January are hard months for human nature 
to endure even in comfortable circumstances around the 
domestic hearth ; our condition upon that Falmouth plain, 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 95 

in the situation we have described, could not but be mis 
erable. Turn which way one would, it was cold comfort 
everywhere for body or mind, and all tended to dejection. 
The wind swept across the open fields and searched our 
very marrow. The newspapers and letters from home, if 
cheery, made the contrast of our position more gloomy ; 
if they were depressed, so were we, and we threw them 
aside. It was not pleasant to review the battles of the 
past, or anticipate similar ones in the future. The country 
was struggling through the great division of parties upon 
the question of Emancipation, and party spirit and abuse 
added to the darkness of the surroundings. At night, 
sleep was happy release from care, but even then cold 
compelled most of the men to turn out once or twice to 
the fire to warm up. 

The best relief was work to keep at something all the 
time. Those who did so became veteran soldiers. Those 
who lay about the cooks fires listlessly, or coiled up in 
blankets in their little tents, soon found the way to the 
surgeon s tent, the hospital and, often, to their graves. 
The lying upon cold ground, indigestible food and low 
spirits soon affected the health of the men, and the " sick- 
call" of the surgeon was attended by a motley throng with 
woe-begone faces, most of them really ill, but some of them 
under suspicions of their first sergeants and the doctors as 
chronic hospital " bummers/ as they were called. The 
word "bummer " was used in this sense in the Army of the 
Potomac long before Sherman s foragers adopted it and 
made it famous. The bugler s sick-call was interpreted 
as follows : " To the doc-tor ! To the doc-tor ! Come get 
your pills for aches and ills! Come get your pills of 
the doc-tor ! " If there was a pause out of place, or a false 
note, it was because the bugler had a hair in his mouth and 
had stopped to swear a bit at which the boys jeered. 



96 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

Camp duty was carried out according to the usual pro 
gramme, when the weather permitted, with regular morning 
and afternoon drills and evening parades, with music from 
the Eleventh New Hampshire Band. A tour of picket duty 
for twenty-four hours took the regiment, or heavy details 
from it, to the Rappahannock about once a week. Near 
the river, below Falmouth, are deep curving gullies or 
canyons, in which the reserves lay, while the videttes 
paced the road along the river. In these ravines grew 
quantities of laurel bush, and all who could whittle tried 
carving laurel-wood pipes and ornaments ; some of the 
results were quite elaborate and valuable. The men in 
gray upon the opposite bank seemed to be busy very 
much as we were, enduring as philosophically as possible 
the winter months and keeping a watchful eye upon our 
movements. Some attempts were made at trading with little 
rafts freighted with coffee for tobacco, until the commerce 
was declared contraband by orders from headquarters. 

December 23, General Sumner reviewed the Right Grand 
Division ; most of the Thirty-Fifth were excused, having 
just come off picket ; the band of the Thirty-Third Mas 
sachusetts played very finely. December 24, one hundred 
men from the regiment on picket ; Captain Andrews had a 
battalion drill with only sixty-four men present. December 
25 (Christmas Day), baked beans for breakfast; no drills; 
only duty was dress-parade ; pies, forty cents each ! De 
cember 26, brigade drill in the afternoon. December 29, 
orders to have three days rations on hand, but counter 
manded; the Signal Corps balloon was up. December 
30, Quartermaster Haines, having received his discharge, 
started for home; Quartermaster- Sergeant Upton was 
commissioned quartermaster of the regiment, and Ser 
geant Cutter was appointed quartermaster-sergeant, with 
Jesse Holmes as clerk. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 97 

On New Year s Eve the band visited the headquarters 
of each regiment of the brigade, and, while the hilarity of 
the occasion was at full tide, some of the unsanctified 
tried to tempt our chaplain from his steadfast ways ; but, 
although there was some boisterous fun, they did not 
succeed. Speaking of this gentleman reminds us of the 
prayers which it was his duty to extemporize, bareheaded 
in the freezing air, in front of the regiment, as part of the 
exercises of evening parade. Doubtless each man receives 
much or little good from such services, according to his 
nature ; to some of us it seemed that so much petitioning 
for the souls of such as should perish in the coming 
" battel " did not tend to encourage the weak-kneed, and 
might have been abbreviated. The creed of the soldiers 
at the front was very simple ; they felt that our cause was 
as near the cause of good and of God as it could well be 

the Confederates probably thought the same of theirs 

and each felt an entire confidence that it would be well 
with those who lost their lives. " Poor fellow, it s all right 
with him now," they said of the fallen, and they believed 
it. Most of them despised anything like whining; they 
preferred to turn their thoughts from the event of their 
own death, and dwell upon their purpose and the means 
of accomplishing it, leaving personal results to the Dis 
penser of all. So our chaplain found his situation rather 
a cold one his duty as postmaster of the regiment was 
also unpleasant to him and he did not remain long with 
us, but chose rather to enter actively into service as captain 
in a colored regiment, where he served with credit through 
the war. After he left we had no chaplain, and seldom 
heard a religious service ; but the men were kept so con 
stantly sobered by events that additional restraint was not 
often needed. Why ask for a chaplain when we had a Pope 
constantly present with us, for example and edification ? 



98 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

For some time Christmas boxes were delayed in Wash 
ington, pending our movements, until they accumulated in 
piles as big as the pyramids, and almost as old. Their 
contents, mostly eatables, perished or acquired a strong 
musty flavor, rather disappointing to the receiver when 
they reached camp. One must be a new recruit, in such 
a place, on such a diet, to fully appreciate and enjoy home 
goodies. It is almost laughable now to think how much 
the boys prized their boxes from home. 

Furloughs were not granted to the men, for the reason 
that we were not in winter quarters another source of 
vexation ; for what was the use of winning honors if we 
were not to be permitted, once in a while, to display our 
heroic selves before the eyes of admiring relatives and 
friends. 

January 6, 1863, there was a grand review of the Ninth 
Corps, at 2 P. M., before Generals Burnside, Sumner and 
Wilcox. January 14, E. Jernagan, of Company E, died; 
our first death by disease in camp since we had been in 
service. January 15, the regiment was under command 
of Captain Andrews, with Captain Pratt acting lieutenant- 
colonel and Captain Lathrop acting major; Lieutenant 
C. A. Blanchard was acting adjutant. There were two 
captains in command of companies ; three companies were 
commanded by first lieutenants, three by second lieuten 
ants, and two by first sergeants. There were two hundred 
and seventy-five non-commissioned officers and privates for 
duty, sixty-eight men on extra duty, away from the regiment, 
fifty on daily duty with the regiment ; total for duty, three 
hundred and ninety-three. There were still eight hundred 
and six names borne on the rolls as belonging to the regi 
ment. The few officers present, however, received full 
credit, for when the Adjutant-General s Report (Massa 
chusetts) was printed it was found to contain the following 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 99 

eulogium : "Among the many good regiments that Massa 
chusetts has sent forward, few, if any, surpass the Thirty- 
Fifth, especially in its officers," which, it is hoped, was 
fully deserved. At all events the men learned how to 
take care of themselves in a way which was always after 
wards noticeable ; so that, at a subsequent time, when a 
field officer of ours on staff duty informed the general of 
the division that he felt it his duty to quit the staff and 
return to the regiment then almost without officers 
the general remarked, " Oh, don t bother yourself on that 
account, your regiment runs itself ! " 

On the sixteenth of January Shepard G. Wiggin, of 
Company A, died of lung fever in the regimental hospital. 
On the same day we were under orders to move, with three 
days rations ; also on the seventeenth, eighteenth, nine 
teenth, and on the twentieth the orders were to march at 
four o clock next morning ; but these were countermanded 
at ten o clock the same evening. This was the occasion 
of the famous attempt to effect a lodgment on Lee s left 
flank by a crossing at Banks s Ford above us, which was 
frustrated by the severe storm, and got the name of the 
" Mud-march." Sumner s Grand Division, being in sight 
of the Confederate look-outs opposite, remained undis 
turbed, as a mask for the rest of the army as it moved 
up to the ford, and consequently did not get word to start 
before the weather vetoed the movement; for which we 
were duly thankful, for our quarters, wretched as they 
were, would have been much worse had we, by a move, 
lost the little store of comforts we had collected. The 
Confederates, well informed of the predicament of our 
army caught in the storm abroad in the fields of miry 
clay and impassable roads, posted up a sign: "Burnside 
stuck in the mud ! " in derision of our helplessness. 

The pickets, however, had a share in the bad weather 



100 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

on the river bank on the twenty-first; those who were 
present will remember the miseries of the situation. The 
rain was mingled with sleet ; the pine-bough shelters in 
the ravines were soaked with moisture, and made such 
cold shower-baths the men preferred to stand or walk 
about in the mud on the banks of the brook which drained 
the gully. There was absolutely no place to sit which was 
not soaked with the wet, nor dry fuel there for fires. The 
troops present seemed to be in greater numbers than usual, 
and more gray-coats were opposite ; each anticipating that 
the other might try to cross at Falmouth. In the road 
below the hill was an immense cannon, stalled in the mud, 
and abandoned until fair weather should enable it to be 
extricated. We wandered upon the hill above the little 
town, and found there passing the Twentieth Massachu 
setts, with whom we discussed the situation ; among them 
was the lamented Lieutenant Ropes, afterwards killed at 
Gettysburg. 

At night the reserve guard was assembled in a little 
dilapidated church on the hill, from which all the pews 
and furniture had been removed ; and for light and warmth 
the men, after placing beds of plaster five or six inches 
deep here and there upon the floor for fireplaces, built 
fires upon them with fuel from the neighboring fences. 
In course of the night these fires burned round holes 
through the flooring, but did not ignite the building fur 
ther; the mud was tracked in to quite a depth and helped 
to prevent the fires spreading. The enemy opposite, by 
accident or intention perhaps fearing our immediate 
crossing, and wishing to light up the scene or remove an 
obstacle to their artillery range burned a long brick 
factory for our amusement ; and the fire, the rain, the 
turbid river, and gathered troops made an impressive 
spectacle. In the morning the men waded through a sea 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 

of mud to camp. After such a tour of duty, even the 
poorest camp quarters seemed comfortable. 

In the obscurity of that stormy night, Albert W. Daven 
port, of Company B, on his way with the relief guard to 
his vidette post, slipped, unseen by his comrades, from the 
path along the verge of the cliff, and was drowned in the 
river below, his cries being unheard in the tempest. His 
absence was not discovered until the sergeant reached his 
last posts and found his squad one man short. It was a 
sad, lonely ending to life. His body was found by men of 
the Second Maryland, a few days afterwards, and brought 
to the regiment. A little enclosed lot in rear of camp was 
used as a place of interment. 

While Jacob G. Clarkson, of Company A, was drawing 
his gun by the muzzle from under the eaves of his shelter 
tent the charge exploded, injuring his thumb ; chloroform 
was administered to him at the hospital tent, and he died 
under its influence. 

January 23, Franklin s men were straggling back from 
the mud-march ; many of them stopped a few moments in 
camp as they passed. On the same day there was a row 
between some of the men of our brigade and the sutler, 
whom they undertook to " clean out ; " two shots were 
fired, and the crowd scattered. The roll was called to 
discover absentees from quarters, but none of our men 
appeared to have had an active part in the business. 

There were several severe storms of rain and snow in 
January, and, after the return from the mud-march, orders 
for winter quarters were issued, and the men set about 
making their camps as comfortable as possible. Pine logs 
were brought from long distances, the tents raised and 
banked up, and little chimneys built of sticks and clayey 
mud, surmounted by a barrel. Sutlers and boxes from 
home came in greater abundance. 



o? THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

January 26, General Burnside was relieved of the com 
mand of the army, and General Hooker succeeded to his 
place. January 28 and 29, snow fell to quite a depth and 
lay drifted in the company streets, nearly covering some 
of the low tents; the snow-flakes blew in between the 
seams of the tent cloth and spread upon the blankets of 
the sleepers, but comrades were found all right when dug 
out in the morning; Lieutenant Park, wounded at An- 
tietam, returned to duty with the regiment ; Lieutenant 
Burrell left us, and was unable afterwards to rejoin the 
regiment on account of physical disability. February 4, 
James T. Andrews, of Company A, the captain s cousin, 
died in camp. February 7, Sergeant William H. Mat 
thews, of Company C, Sergeant of the Ambulance Corps, 
fell a victim to the hardships of the campaign and died 
of fever. 

Other members of the regiment were transferred to 
general hospitals about Washington, and died there from 
diseases acquired in camp. Among them were : Francis 
J. Nash, of Company B ; Henry Keiley, of Company E ; 
James Rowe, of Company H ; Frederick A. Hews, of 
Company I. Charles B. Blanchard, of Company H, who 
was taken prisoner near Wheatland, Virginia, died in 
Richmond. 

With the assumption of command by General Hooker, 
General Sedgwick afterwards the famous chief of the 
Sixth Corps was assigned, for a few days, to the com 
mand of the Ninth Corps. After him, for a short time, 
General William F. Smith commanded the corps. He 
was afterwards at the head of the Eighteenth Corps, at 
Petersburg, and, it is said, was at one time urged by 
General Grant for chief of the Army of the Potomac, in 
place of General Meade ; but this was before the attack 
on Petersburg. On the third of February, General Hooker 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 103 

wanted to have General Smith appointed permanent com 
mander of our corps. Halleck replied : " Major-General 
Burnside is the permanent commander of the Ninth Army 
Corps ; but make such temporary changes as you may 
deem proper." General Smith was relieved, at Newport 
News, by General Parke. 

About the first of February the weather became milder 
for several days ; the influence of spring was soon felt, 
hope revived with the season, and the memory of the dark 
days of December grew less oppressive. New supplies of 
food, even soft bread once, and more vegetables, appeared 
from the commissary s ; and General Hooker, dropping all 
thoughts of present action, devoted his whole attention to 
the improvement of his command. But we were not to 
share his defeat at Chancellorsville, or the hard-won vic 
tory of General Meade at Gettysburg. General Burnside 
had expressed to the Government a wish that the Ninth 
Corps might be sent to the department to which it was 
intended to assign htm ; and General Hooker, under the 
advices quoted above, was not loath to part with a body 
of troops belonging so exclusively to his predecessor. 
Rumor of change, as usual, had been busy for some time, 
but was little credited ; when, therefore, we broke camp on 
the ninth of February, and marched to the box-cars for 
transfer to Acquia Creek, a smile lighted up many a face, 
which had been clouded for weeks. Any change, especially 
from scenes connected with defeat, is pleasant to the sol 
dier ; and, as the plains of Falmouth and the steeples of 
Fredericksburg passed out of view, we seemed to ourselves 
new men. We little thought that when, next year, we should 
again see those spires it would be from- the heights where 
now the enemy s lines were so securely established. 



CHAPTER VI. 

NEWPORT NEWS, AND SPRING IN KENTUCKY, 1863. 

THE Ninth Corps had been formed, in July, 1862, of 
troops which had taken part in the Sherman Expe 
dition to South Carolina and the Burnside Expedition to 
North Carolina, and, after the successful occupation of 
parts of the seaboard of those states, had held the country 
gained. They had been called thence to reenforce General 
McClellan upon the Peninsula, stopped at Newport News, 
and ordered to Acquia Creek. From there two divisions 
were sent to join General Pope, the third remaining until 
the first days of September with General Burnside ; and, 
afterwards, they had followed the fortunes of the Army of 
the Potomac in the course we have thus far traced. The 
fate of the Corps was to be sent about wherever there was 
a call for assistance ; and it soon, very naturally, acquired 
the name of " The Big Class in Geography. 7 Appear 
ances were now in favor of its return to North Carolina, 
and the first movement was in that direction. 

From the wharf at Acquia Creek the Fifty-First Penn 
sylvania, Twenty -First Massachusetts and Thirty-Fifth 
went on board the steamer Louisiana, which lay in the 
stream all day (February 9), receiving baggage, etc. At 
five o clock next morning we were steaming steadily 
down the Potomac, amid the jarring of machinery and 
the swashing of water alongside a change of circum 
stances so complete as to be quite bewildering. The 



105 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

steamer had in tow two schooners, containing the Fifty- 
First New York and Eleventh New Hampshire. Head 
lands of red earth or sand, crowned with dark pitch-pines, 
appeared ahead and were passed, successively ; and, at 
night, the broad waters of Chesapeake Bay opened out : 
thence, the course was directly south to Fortress Monroe. 
On the morning of the eleventh the famous fortress lay 
upon our beam ; the noted Union gun, an immense cannon 
of which great things were expected, conspicuous upon 
the beach. Upon our other side the tide water rushed 
and foamed among the rocks of the ill-reputed Rip Raps. 
All around us the ships of war were riding at anchor, in 
pleasant contrast with the scenery to which we had of late 
been accustomed. Our crowded quarters upon the straw 
between decks had, by this time, been sufficiently exam 
ined, and the orders from General Dix were received with 
satisfaction, to proceed to the entrance of James River 
and land at Newport News. 

At first view, Newport News had the appearance of a 
place where nothing new ever occurred or was likely to 
happen. A sandy plain, fifteen or twenty feet above the 
river, with a few old barracks, and some earthworks and 
ditches, constructed by General Butler s troops ; a gray sky, 
with spits of rain, made up the desolate picture. Beyond 
the plain was a swamp, with immense southern pitch-pines 
the only striking feature of the scenery scattered 
through it, and crossings leading out to Big Bethel and 
Hampton, in which direction the pickets were posted while 
we remained here. And yet, lonely as the spot seemed, it 
had been the scene of stirring events ; for, on the ninth of 
March, less than a year before, had occurred here the 
naval battle between the iron-clad Merrimac and consorts 
of the Confederate Navy and the Union wooden frigates 
Cumberland and Congress, which revolutionized the system 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. Io6 

of naval warfare throughout the world. The topmasts of 
the Cumberland and the charred timbers of the hull of the 
Congress still marked the spot, a warning to all who would 
accept it of the danger of being behind the age in the art 
of war. 

The Third Division occupied the barracks ; the rest of 
the corps encamped outside the entrenchments. Our 
camp was formed in brigade line, facing the river, with 
the swamp in rear; the older regiments upon the right, 
the Eleventh New Hampshire upon our left. At first we 
had our low shelter tents only, but, on the nineteenth, 
" A " tents were distributed, one to every five of the men, 
which made extremely close quarters. Some of these tents, 
owing to the increasing scarcity of cotton, were made en 
tirely of hemp cloth, and were about as useful as sieves 
for keeping out rain ; the fibre did not swell with moisture 
sufficiently to make the cloth water-tight, as canvas does. 
At the same time changes were made in the position of 
some of the companies in the regimental line : K, left 
flank company, was transferred to the right wing, and H, 
from the right wing, was made left flank company. 

Here for six weeks we enjoyed what seemed, after Fal- 
mouth, the fat of the land. Soft bread was issued in large 
loaves a luxury never elsewhere so plentifully enjoyed 
by the regiment. The locality is famous for fish and 
oysters, and our men, bred within view of salt water, 
relished these luxuries with appetites sharpened by the 
sea breezes. The colored pedlers from the back country 
opened a market at the east end of camp, and those boys 
who were in funds lived high, while the penniless majority 
were permitted to enjoy a free view of the tantalizing dis 
play. There were shops on the most extensive scale at the 
landing wharf, and these, with the other attractions, soon 
cleaned out the last scraps of postal currency in the regiment. 



107 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

On the twenty-First of February, Lieutenant-Colonel 
Carruth and Adjutant Wales returned to us from Parole 
Camp, Annapolis, having been exchanged. They received 
a rousing welcome, and were serenaded by the Glee Club 
of Company K ; all were glad to greet them personally, 
and to feel that the Thirty-Fifth was made whole again. 
Captains commanding cannot secure the respect which the 
men readily yield to a field officer ; and, in various ways, 
in dealing with brigade headquarters and the department, 
a regiment with full field and staff gets more attention. 
Promotions had occurred : Captain King was commissioned 
major of the regiment ; First Lieutenants Baldwin, Preston, 
Hood and Blanchard had become captains ; Second Lieu 
tenants Hudson, Stickney, Ingell, Blake and Burrell had 
become first lieutenants ; Sergeants Gottlieb, Wilkins, Dean, 
Atkinson, Floyd, T. D. Hodges, Dunbar, Hawes and Mor- 
rill were commissioned second lieutenants; but these latter, 
from various causes, did not remain long on duty with the 
regiment, so that the number of officers present continued 
limited. Berry was sergeant-major; Cutter, quartermaster- 
sergeant; and Plummer, commissary-sergeant, with Rice 
as assistant. Promotions among the non-commissioned 
officers were also very numerous. On the first of March 
Chaplain Miller preached his farewell sermon to the regi 
ment, he having tendered his resignation. Captains An 
drews, Pratt and Adjutant Wales, successively, acted as 
major or lieutenant-colonel. 

The colonel and adjutant at once commenced work upon 
the drill and discipline of the command. The officers were 
schooled by the colonel in tactics and battalion movements. 
The sergeants were thoroughly drilled in the manual of 
arms by the adjutant; and they, in squads, set up the 
men of their companies with an effect at once noticeable 
at dress-parade. The regiment became so expert that 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. Io8 

General Ferrero rode over at evening to witness the per 
formance, which was as well timed and correct as the 
motion of a perfect machine. Any superiority of this 
kind flatters the pride of the men in their regiment ; we 
had been so hardly used hitherto, there was danger of 
losing the esprit de corps which unites soldiers to their 
colors with affection superior to death. Some complained 
of wasted labor, saying that no rebel force was ever known 
to be frightened by such an exhibition, however excellent ; 
but the effect above stated was worth the trouble. To 
offset the show, the officers, notably Lieutenant Pope, 
drilled their companies as skirmishers, with the bugle- 
calls, and in the bayonet exercise. Had it been allowable 
to expend some of the abundant ammunition in target 
practice, for which the regiment was never better situated, 
the employment of time could not have been more advan 
tageous. But, although the Government had adopted rifled 
arms, target practice was never encouraged ; men learned 
the use of their weapons in battle or by stealth ; the usual 
reason given for the interdict was, that so much firing 
would occasion an alarm, which was generally true with 
us, but not at Newport News. 

February 25, there was a grand review in presence of 
General Dix and many ladies from Fortress Monroe. 
The column included thirty -five regiments and eight 
batteries. 

The temperature was milder than at Falmouth we had 
but two cold snaps with snow but the location proved 
unhealthy, owing to the stirring of the malarious swamp 
in rear, when cutting the wood for camp purposes. The 
embalming agents visited camp, and set up their machin 
ery ; but we preferred to be excused their well-intentioned 
manipulations. The Eleventh New Hampshire, robust 
looking men, but who had not in childhood been through 



109 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

the diseases of that age, suffered seriously from what was 
called black measles. Typhoid fever took from among 
us : Zachariah Damon, of Company D ; Charles W. Cole, 
of Company F; Sergeant David K. Hall and Corporal 
John G. Dymond, of Company I. Thus this ground, like 
most of the spots upon which the regiment staid any length 
of time, was marked by the graves of some of our number. 
The funeral ceremonies, if time permitted, were in military 
form, with beat of drum, reversed arms, reading of scrip 
ture and the parting volley. The little enclosing fences 
and head-boards must long ago have gone to decay, and 
the rain levelled the raised earth ; but there they rest, 
along the line, from the ocean to the Mississippi. Of our 
dead, also, Longfellow s lines now read truly : 
" A soldier of the Union mustered out 
Is the inscription on an unknown grave 
At Newport News, beside the salt sea wave, 

Nameless and dateless, 

Thou unknown hero sleeping by the sea 
In thy forgotten grave ! with secret shame 
I feel my pulses beat, my forehead burn 
When I remember, thou hast given for me 
All that thou hadst, thy life, thy very name, 
And I can give thee nothing in return." 

It is permitted us to linger over these memories now, but 
in those days the stern duties before us demanded quick 
forgetfulness of the past. 

On the thirteenth of March the Third Division, Getty s, 
formerly Rodman s, was transferred across the river, and 
never rejoined the corps. General Longstreet came down 
to see what was going on, and, in April, Getty s Division 
had hard fighting at Suffolk, under General Peck. Our 
movement to the mouth of the James was thought by 
General Lee to be the beginning of a transfer of the Army 
of the Potomac to the Peninsula. The Ninth New York, 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. IIO 

Hawkins s Zouaves, remained behind as a provost-guard, 
and formed a conspicuous object on drill in front of our 
camp, at all hours of the day, their jaunty uniforms, full 
ranks and accurate movements exciting our admiration. 
The Fifty-First Pennsylvania and Fifty-First New York 
moved into the barracks vacated by the Third Division. 
From time to time we had brigade drills, with more or 
less rather less success. 

On the same day Captain Lathrop, who had been dan 
gerously ill with malarial fever, in camp, since the second, 
was conveyed to the steamboat for transfer to Philadelphia; 
he recovered, but with health so much impaired that he 
was obliged to resign, and he never rejoined the regiment. 
Captain Cheever, who had rejoined after Antietam, found 
himself unable to sustain the hardships of the winter 
campaign, and did not again serve actively with the 
regiment. 

There was a brigade ball, on the fourteenth, on board 
the steamboat City of Hudson, in commemoration of the 
victory at Newbern, N. C., with ladies present from For 
tress Monroe, the only festivity of the kind in which our 
officers participated while in the service. 

On Sunday, the fifteenth of March, Dr. MunselFs father 
conducted a religious service with the regiment, and 
preached a sermon from the text, " What I do now, ye 
know not ; but shall know hereafter " ; the musical club 
furnished the psalmody. 

The weeks flew swiftly by. Occasional cannonading 
was heard across the river, and hints were thrown out 
that our future might lie in that direction. We were 
sitting, as it were, upon the very door-step of Richmond, 
and not even the wildest imagination could suggest that, 
before we should enter that city, we must make an excur 
sion to the far West. 



Ill HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

After an easterly storm, with snow, on the twentieth, 
rumor took the incredible shape that the Ninth Corps was 
to be sent to the Department of the Ohio, to the command 
of which General Burnside had been assigned. It seemed 
such a travesty of Greeley s Go West, young man!" we 
doubted. But, on the twenty-fifth, the brigade got march 
ing orders, and on the twenty-sixth we were off, after a 
day of saturnalia, while waiting amid the ruins of camp, 
after the tents had been struck. Many will remember 
Card s antics with the distracted pedler s tip-cart, and the 
mock dress parade with the big jug for colonel and the 
little demijohnnie for adjutant. We embarked on the 
steamer John Brooks, and were soon on the way up Ches 
apeake Bay, leaving the grim fortress and the Peninsula 
behind, with faces turned to distant scenes and adventures. 
Captain Dolan resigned just before departure, and Lieu 
tenant Collins was so much injured by a blow from a 
musket, in a fracas on the boat, as to necessitate leaving 
him in Baltimore for treatment ; he never rejoined the 
regiment. 

Landing at Baltimore, about noon of the twenty-seventh, 
the brigade marched across the city to the north-west rail 
road station. So much had we changed since our first 
passage through these streets that appearances, which had 
seemed foreign and almost hostile then, appeared now 
homelike and friendly; the service had converted us, at 
least, from provincials to true Union men. Our usual 
luxurious conveyances box-cars were filled, some forty 
men to each. Even straw was provided in some, to prevent 
their bones wearing holes in the clothes of such as found 
room to stretch out at length ; packing sardines was noth 
ing to it. The train did not get fairly started until mid 
night ; and, when moving, any uncommonly heavy jolt 
would be followed by a chorus of dashes and exclamation 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 112 

points. In the morning the men found that riding upon 
the car-tops was as comfortable as within, barring the 
cinders and tunnels, and certainly better for viewing the 
scenery, for cattle do not require windows in their cars. 
Those were merry times, passing through the towns, the 
boys on top shouting and waving caps and flags, the 
citizens rushing to doors and windows to respond, small 
children astonished out of their wits, dogs barking, horses 
frightened, and a lively time generally. Travellers upon 
the country roads laughed at the chaff of the men, and 
thought the train bore the liveliest freight that had passed 
for many a day. Bound for the Great West, what cared 
we ? It was all in the three years enlistment ! 

The route lay, on the twenty-eighth, through York, Har- 
risburg so near the yet unheard of fields of Gettysburg 
and on, by the Pennsylvania Central Railroad, through 
Altoona and the picturesque mountain scenery of Western 
Pennsylvania, to Pittsburg on the twenty-ninth. There 
was snow in the hill country, and everything was bleak 
and cold compared with the mild climate of South-eastern 
Virginia we had just left. At some of the towns rye coffee 
was handed in, which was warming, but an unpleasant 
substitute for real coffee, which we had no opportunity 
to prepare. At Pittsburg a collation was generously fur 
nished by the citizens, in a hall adorned with flags and 
mottoes. We became sensible of our terrible appearance, 
when some of the ladies of the city, being informed that 
the men were not so rough in manners as in looks, sum 
moned courage to attend upon us. As we had not seen 
ourselves in a mirror for six months, a first view was com 
ically surprising was it possible that the reflections were 
correct images of the former delicate youths, now browned 
and smoke stained, hirsute and thread-bare? Yea, verily; 
and yet, after all, there is a great deal of comfort to human 



113 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

nature in feeling that one can lie in the dusty road, and 
get as begrimed as he pleases, without shocking the pro 
prieties of his associates. Common joys and common 
sorrows made us one, and the customs and costumes of 
the world had become as strange to us as we to them. 

Leaving Pittsburg, we passed across the State of Ohio, 
through Columbus and Xenia, to Cincinnati. The snow 
was left behind, ploughed fields appeared, the air became 
more spring-like ; we rapidly moved into a warmer climate. 
Arriving at the latter city at 7.30 P. M. of the thirtieth, the 
troops marched to the Union Market, Fifth Street, and 
enjoyed an excellent collation furnished by the ladies. 
Many eastern people were living there and came about, 
examining the ranks for friends, and the greetings and 
meetings were very interesting and cordial, though the 
soldiers, perhaps, considered it fortunate that the darkness 
of evening made their travel stains picturesque rather than 
offensive. After lunch, the brigade crossed the Ohio River 
to Covington in Kentucky, and stacked arms in the street 
for the night. The boys, finding the night air chill, tore 
down a side fence and soon had a blaze upon the pave 
ment, rather to the astonishment of the citizens. Unroll 
ing blankets the men lay down upon the sidewalks, with 
heads to the wall and feet to the gutter, and found the 
new quarters, at least, not so cramped as the box-cars. 

Next morning (March 31) Lieutenant Ingell, opening 
his eyes long after sunrise, found himself the observed 
of all observers among the market women and people 
passing to the ferry over the small strip of the sidewalk 
that was left between his big feet and the curbstone. 
" What ! " he exclaimed, " is it the custom in this great 
and enlightened West for ladies to promenade thus through 
a gentleman s bed-chamber before he is up in the morn 
ing ? " Whereupon he roused out, and made his toilet by 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 114 

combing his moustache. At night, quarters were provided 
in halls and market places. 

We found that General Burnside s Department included 
not only Ohio, but also several other States north of the 
Ohio River and parts of Kentucky and Tennessee. After 
a day s waiting for orders, our division, the Second, was 
assigned to Eastern Kentucky ; the First Division went 
further to the west, into Central Kentucky, about Middle- 
burg and Columbia. During the autumn before while 
we were in Pleasant Valley Central Kentucky had been 
the scene of an active campaign between the armies of 
Generals Buell and Bragg. General Kirby Smith had 
come in from the south-east by way of Cumberland Gap, 
and Bragg had entered from the south near Columbia. 
The movements had culminated at Perryville, south-west 
of Camp Nelson, where the Confederates were worsted, 
and they then left the State. While we were at Falmouth, 
General Rosecrans, succeeding Buell, had fought with 
Bragg s army the sanguinary battle of Stone s River, near 
Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and he was now waiting there 
until the railroads could be completed in his rear before 
advancing upon Chattanooga. Our duty was to be, to 
help block the road to any repetition of the operations of 
the previous autumn, and to assist in covering the railroad 
communications of Rosecrans. We were also to discourage 
guerillas and prepare for a campaign, on our own account, 
into East Tennessee, with the assistance of the Twenty- 
Third Corps, then in process of formation. 

Our first movement was by rail, on April i, to Paris, in 
Bourbon County suggestive name where camp was 
located on the fair grounds. The commissary began to 
issue hard bread of the Cincinnati brand, an important 
event to us whose chief article of food it was ; for this 
bread was so superior in size, flavor and edible qualities 



115 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

that its appearance must be reckoned one of the pleasant 
incidents upon our arrival in the West. It was substantial 
evidence that the war was here conducted upon business 
principles rather than by routine. Bacon-sides were issued 
in place of pork, but were not quite so much to our taste. 

The people about us were found to be about evenly 
divided between Union and Confederate sympathies, the 
same family furnishing members to both causes. Political 
contests were bitter, and often not confined to words alone. 
The officers of the regiment enjoyed flirtation with the fair 
Kentucky belles, and many a gilt button was exchanged 
for a smile from some fair one, who wanted this memento 
from a hero s breast to pin upon her own. The handsome 
captain of Company G lost nearly all his buttons in this way. 

The Kentucky turnpikes are thoroughly macadamized 
with broken limestone, and are as hard as rock, which we 
discovered upon our first march, on the third, from Paris 
to Mount Sterling, twenty-two miles. The feet of the men, 
accustomed to the soft mud or sand of our late camp 
grounds, were now subjected to a pounding which made 
them swell so as to be almost disabled ; it was hard work 
for the sergeants to get their details for picket that night. 
Next morning, passing through the town, the regiment 
went into camp with the brigade upon one of those admi 
rable sites which can hardly be equalled outside of that 
beautiful State. The blue-grass sward under foot was thick 
and close as a lawn, and starred with spring flowers ; the 
trees were lofty, symmetrical and overarching, and not a 
particle of brush or undergrowth was there to mar the 
park-like appearance. The rail fences enclosing the 
grounds seemed sacred without the order forbidding their 
use for firewood ; the rails were often of handsome black 
walnut. The Twenty-First Massachusetts was, after a few 
days in camp, moved into the town of Mount Sterling to 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. Il6 

act as provost-guard ; and the members so won the com 
mendation of the townspeople that the regiment remained 
there several months, while the rest of the brigade was 
upon its travels. The business part of the town had been 
raided and burned a short time before our arrival. 

Hitherto, the Thirty-Fifth had been without a national 
color, the stars and stripes. While at this camp, April 8, 
Major William S. King joined, from home, bringing a fine 
silk flag ; he received a cordial welcome, and was serenaded 
by the glee club and brigade band. It was remarkable 
that when we had last seen him he was being carried 
from the field at Antietam with our blue silk flag in 
charge ; now he reappeared, unable yet from wounds to 
take the field, but still flag in hand. The new color was 
sent from Boston by Colonel Wild, and was his last 
memento to the regiment. Major King, soon afterwards 
promoted to lieutenant-colonel, was made chief-of-staff of 
the Second Division until July i, when he was appointed 
Provost-Marshal General of Kentucky, and, subsequently, 
in August, Military Commandant of the District of Lex 
ington. From the last duty he was relieved, April 5, 1864, 
and ordered to Boston, as superintendent of recruiting 
service in Massachusetts, which position he held until 
commissioned colonel of the Fourth Massachusetts Heavy 
Artillery Regiment. On account of his disability after 
Antietam, the men in the ranks of the regiment saw little 
of him ; but no officer took a deeper interest in the Thirty- 
Fifth or its men, wherever he met them, than Colonel 
King. At the close of the war he was brevetted brigadier- 
general. 

Reports reached headquarters of suspicious characters 
lurking about the neighborhood, and Adjutant Wales, with 
Lieutenant Hatch and twenty-five volunteers, went in pur 
suit, on the twelfth, capturing two men belonging to Hum- 



1 17 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

phrey Marshall s cavalry, whom they turned over to the 
provost-marshal. A raid, on a larger scale, was made 
(thirteenth and fourteenth) by the Fifty-First New York 
and Twenty-First Massachusetts to a place called Sharps- 
burg, about sixteen miles out, after guerillas. They were 
gone a day, and returned with twenty citizens and thirty 
horses. 

One of the vexations of the service was the long delay, 
after orders to march, before the actual start. In excep 
tional cases, the order to "pack up and be ready to march 
in half an hour" was fulfilled according to the programme, 
but more often the order came for preparation at some 
unseasonable time, at evening or midnight; there would 
be half an hour of haste, all would be ready, then would 
follow hours or days of waiting for the momentarily ex 
pected command to "fall in." It was the uncomfortable 
result of the transmission of orders through the corps, 
division and brigade headquarters to the regiment. The 
lesson of patience is thus well learned by the soldier ; 
high resolve and self-sacrificing spirit sustain him at the 
start, but, after experiencing the countless irritations of 
army discipline, it all settles down finally into a dogged 
determination to hang on and endure all things. So on 
the sixteenth the regiment was packed up all night, in 
order to get off at the hour of four the next morning 1 
Such things are easily borne in the presence of the enemy, 
but in such a place as we then were the unnecessary loss 
of sleep made the men angry. 

The march of eighteen miles was westward to Winchester, 
a pretty village, where we camped upon another of those 
charming park- like grounds, remaining two weeks. The 
paymaster made his welcome visit on the eighteenth, and, 
in his wake, gathered shoals of pedlers, with country 
produce, chicken and squirrel pies, fancy biscuits and 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. Il8 

roasted geese, the best of Old Kentucky viands ; the boys 
did not go hungry. A new sutler appeared, one Gostoffer, 
a careful man, but one not wise to attach his fortunes to 
such a peripatetic organization. He did not get all that 
the paymaster left, for the colonel rode over to Lexington 
and expressed home, to the families of the members of 
the regiment, the goodly sum of $12,000 of their pay. 
Allotment rolls were prepared and sent to Massachusetts, 
by which a portion of the pay of the men was made over 
directly to families from the paymaster there, and risk of 
loss by mail or express avoided. 

The trim surroundings affected the men, and their per 
sonal appearance received extra care ; even the paper 
collar appeared, a certain indication of soft times, and 
Sunday church-going became quite a matter of course. 
General Sturgis reviewed the Second Brigade, and, as 
part of the ceremony, marched us through the town, 
battery and all, making a fine pageant. Tableaux were 
presented in town, for the benefit of the hospitals, in 
which the glee club took part, singing "Joys that we ve 
tasted," "Lovely Night," and other airs, with frequent 
applause. Evening dress-parades and Sunday inspections 
were executed with the "snap" and punctiliousness our 
late drill had taught. It was the first camp in which the 
Thirty-Fifth enacted the part of a " crack " regiment, in 
the presence of admiring spectators and lady friends. On 
the twenty-seventh of April, Major King, Adjutant Wales, 
Lieutenant Hatch and twenty-five men went upon a scout, 
but returned unsuccessful the birds had flown. 

Pickets and guards were distributed through the country 
about camp, for Morgan s cavalry was a quickly moving 
body, and a certain amount of watchfulness had to be 
maintained even in these peaceful scenes. A pleasing 
trick of the men to secure some of the coveted whiskey 



119 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

with which that district of Kentucky abounded was 
for the picket to arrange with some colored brother to 
fetch a jug of the corn-juice to an appointed place, where 
the greenbacks would be present and the officers absent, 
carefully warning him to beware of the provost-guard ; 
thereupon a volunteer provost, of duly informed friends 
from camp, were, by a remarkable coincidence, sure to 
pounce upon the victim at the appointed spot, and, with 
hearts as hard as adamant, sure to confiscate the ardent, 
to the countryman s dismay. The jug would be borne to 
camp in an innocent looking sack, to await the return of 
the pickets ; but, alas ! sometimes the jug mysteriously 
leaked, while waiting, and the thirsty pickets found them 
selves as badly gulled as their sable friend. It used to be 
said that certain old lovers of whiskey, as soon as tents 
were pitched upon new ground, could strike a bee-line for 
the nearest supply with unfailing certainty. 

Colonel Wild was promoted to the grade of brigadier- 
general, to date April 25 ; Lieutenant-Colonel Carruth 
succeeded to the vacancy. Captain Andrews resigned, 
after constant service with the regiment, having succeeded 
to command, as senior captain, in two battles, and, also, 
during several months in camp, in the unavoidable absence 
of his superiors. Adjutant Wales sent in his resignation 
on the twenty-fourth; but, at the colonel s solicitation, 
withdrew it. First Lieutenant Park was, soon after, 
commissioned captain, Second Lieutenant Pope, first 
lieutenant, and Sergeants Meserve and Tobey, second 
lieutenants. The medical staff suffered an entire change: 
Surgeon Lincoln and Assistant Surgeons Munsell and 
Clark resigning, and Surgeon Snow, who joined here, suc 
ceeding, with Assistant Surgeon Roche in July. Alfred 
Williams became our ever -faithful hospital steward. 
There was a little fun at regimental headquarters over 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. I2O 

this appointment of a steward. The future wearer of 
the golden "caduceus," as unassuming a man as could 
be found in the regiment, was summoned to the colonel s 
tent, unwarned of what was in store for him ; there he 
found the colonel and Surgeon Snow, with grave faces, 
in deep cogitation over a sealed envelope, which, in fact, 
contained the warrant of appointment. After some words 
from the officers upon the sternness of the requirements 
of discipline, the victim, whose countenance the while 
expressed every degree of astonishment and mortification, 
was informed that the envelope, which was handed to him, 
contained certain charges against him, and that he might 
retire to his quarters and prepare his defence. Somewhat 
dazed he departed, but soon returned, having discovered 
the point of the joke upon tearing the cover, and with 
beaming face, amid a general laugh, expressed his will 
ingness to answer the charge, and do honor to the 
appointment, by the exercise of his utmost skill, then 
and thereafter, upon any of the group who might desire 
an amputation, blue pill or dose of castor oil. 

Quartermaster Upton suffered a broken arm by a fall 
from a strange horse, and, while he was laid up, Lieu 
tenant Hawes was appointed to act in his place. An 
order assigning the officers, present and absent, was issued 
as follows : 

Company A Captain, S. H. Andrews, succeeded by 
Captain E. G. Park ; first lieutenant, J. W. Ingell ; second 
lieutenant, Joseph Gottlieb. 

Company B Captain, C. A. Blanchard; first lieutenant, 
Gamaliel Hodges ; second lieutenant, N. W. Collins. 

Company C Captain, T. P. Cheever ; first lieutenant, 
F. B. Mirick ; second lieutenant, J. S. Tobey. 

Company D Captain ; first lieutenant, John 

W. Hudson ; second lieutenant, T. D. Hodges. 



121 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

Company E Captain, D. J. Preston; first lieutenant, 
J. B. Stickney ; second lieutenant, M. B. Hawes. 

Company F Captain, S. C. Oliver; first lieutenant, 
A. Hatch ; second lieutenant, A. Floyd. 

Company G Captain, William Gibson ; first lieutenant, 
William Washburn, Jr. ; second lieutenant, . 

Company H Captain, B. F. Pratt ; first lieutenant, 
George P. Lyons ; second lieutenant, J. W. Dean. 

Company I Captain, John Lathrop ; first lieutenant, 
Oliver Burrell ; second lieutenant, . 

Company K Captain, E. G. Hood; first lieutenant, 
A. A. Pope ; second lieutenant, W. N. Meserve. 

Some of these officers temporarily served in different 
companies from the above, in the absence of the per 
manent officers. The brigade at this time was commanded 
by Colonel Hartranft, of the Fifty-First Pennsylvania. 

On the fourth of May the command began the march 
to the south side of the Kentucky River, averaging about 
fifteen miles travel each day. The following is a brief 
itinerary : May 4, inarched at 8 A. M. to within seven miles 
of Lexington ; wet day ; camp near a brook. May 5, 
marched at 7 A. M. through Lexington and five miles 
beyond ; showers ; camped near a brick church on the 
left of the road. May 6, marched at 7 A. M. through 
Nicholasville, by the site of the future Camp Nelson, 
across the Kentucky River at Hickman s Bridge sur 
rounded by fine, almost sublime scenery and went into 
camp in the mud upon a hill near some log cabins ; rained 
all night. May 7, roads muddy; through Camp Dick 
Robinson to Lancaster, and camped on a hill side. May 
8, cloudy ; marched at 8 A. M. ; road, hilly and rough ; 
camp at Paint Lick Creek, near a fine spring ; the place 
is also called Lowell. May 9, cleaning up and inspection. 
May 10, reveille at 5 A. M. ; marched at eight back to Lan- 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 122 

caster. We always camped in the south or south-east 
suburbs of the places near which we were posted ; that 
being the direction from which raids were anticipated. 

Our way on this journey lay through the paradise of 
nature about Lexington, in the month of flowers, and the 
hot sun and heavy knapsacks were forgotten in admiration of 
that charming rural country. When passing through towns 
column was formed, company or platoon front, and, with 
drums beating and colors displayed, we did our best to 
impress upon the natives our soldierly character and war 
like disposition to defend the defenceless and carry woe 
to the foeman. What a gallant show our heroes made on 
such occasions ! At the crossing of the Kentucky River 
the weather was rainy, the dust upon the hard road became 
a thin skim of mud, which penetrated the shoes, worn by 
the grinding rock, and cut and galled the feet badly. An 
army brogan, made in imitation of a moccasin for use on 
soft prairie land, was not stiff enough in the sole for such 
work, and gave out after a few days wear. The quarter 
master, however, found such easy hauling for the teams 
that, contrary to his usual gentle negative, when offered a 
foot-sore man s pack to carry he even smiled upon such 
applicants, and answered, " Oh yes, pile them on ; if they 
will stick, the mules will pull them all ! " 

This reminds us that we have not yet mentioned that 
useful masked battery, the army mule, for whom all men 
in the ranks had a fellow feeling his treatment and that 
of the common soldier were so much alike ; each was 
expected to have endless endurance, and to be willing to 
take any amount of punishment without flinching. His 
cheerful voice was the accompaniment of our dreams, 
"haw-he! haw-he! haw-he!" a sound, when first heard, 
so strange as to strike the hearer dumb with terror. But 
the boys soon learned that it was the signal of trains with 



123 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

supplies, and welcomed it as the most melodious of voices. 
If the doctrine of the transmigration of souls were true, 
what sinners those mules must have been in the former 
stages of their existence ! 

At Lancaster the colonel was, if possible, more exacting 
than ever; nothing could suit him which was not done on 
time or at the double-quick. Coming back from Paint 
Lick special stress was laid upon falling out; the men kept 
the ranks and files perfectly, and the ten miles were paced 
off at a rate by the watch, which gave even him satisfaction. 
Drills were in quick time or the double-quick. Shelter 
tents were struck, knapsacks packed, line formed, the 
regiment countermarched, company streets laid out anew 
and tents up again all in the space of twenty minutes. 
In truth, and without exaggeration, the Thirty-Fifth had 
at this time, under efficient tutelage, become a model 
regiment in drill, discipline, dress, and arrangement of 
camp. General Sturgis, accompanied by his staff, after 
viewing one of the parades of the regiment, remarked, 
"That beats the regulars!" The thorough instruction 
then received was never forgotten ; but, through whatever 
hardships the men passed, when better times came around 
a few days of favorable surroundings quickly retored the 
regiment to its high standard. 

Kentucky, being loyal, was not affected by the Eman 
cipation Proclamation, and still continued to be a slave 
State ; naturally, the runaway slaves sought service in the 
army as attendants upon officers. General Burnside issued 
an order, forbidding officers or men "to impede the service 
of civil process having in view the recovery of slaves of 
citizens of the State, to abet their escape, or employ them 
against the consent of owners." This was an offset to his 
famous order, containing the words, " It must be distinctly 
understood that treason, expressed or implied, will not be 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 124 

tolerated in this department." A negro boy, called "Mace," 
had attached himself to our regiment, and a frequent call 
from the officers tents was, " Mace ! Mace ! where is, that 
d d Mace ! " One day a person, claiming to be his owner, 
came upon the ground, and at headquarters was invited to 
inspect the camp in quest of his delinquent chattel. Of 
course, Mace was as scarce as usual ; the trembling wretch, 
knowing where the softest heart beat, albeit under the 
roughest exterior, lay hid under Lieutenant IngelPs bed, 
upon which reposed the massive frame of its owner. In 
due course, the claimant lifted the flap of the tent and 
looked in ; no negro was visible, but Ingell reclined there, 
revolver in hand, with all the ferocity of expression he 
could summon flashing from his eyes, one glance of which 
was sufficient to satisfy the hunter that, whether the prey 
was there or not, it would be better not to disturb such a 
couchant lion ; and he retired without discovering the 
ebony. Ingell subjected himself to the danger of arrest 
and punishment, but when did the dear old boy ever 
estimate personal consequences when his sympathies were 
appealed to by any one ! He is said to have remarked 
that " no one, whether from heaven or hell, could search 
that tent ! " It is to be remembered, also, that this was 
in the heart of Old Kentucky, the home of Mrs. Stowe s 
"Uncle Tom," and every dark skin in distress seemed 
entitled to claim kinship with that old hero. 

At Lancaster the turnpike divides. The road to the 
south-east passes through Crab Orchard to Cumberland 
Gap, becoming rougher and wilder as it proceeds. The 
road to the south leads to Stanford and Somerset, near 
Mill Springs the scene of General Thomas s victory over 
Zollicoffer and traverses a more settled country upon 
the Cumberland River; both roads, however, terminate 
in East Tennessee. It was to be our fortune in the future 



125 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

to go to Tennessee by the first route and return by the 
second ; at present, however, we took but a step upon 
each^ 

On the twenty-third of May, the brigade left Lancaster 
for Crab Orchard, some twelve miles, over very dusty 
roads, stopping over Sunday upon the banks of Dick s 
River, a bright, clear stream, in which the boys enjoyed 
a welcome bath. Camp had hardly been laid out on 
Monday evening, at Crab Orchard, when an unexpected 
summons came to proceed at once to Stanford. The 
distance was only a dozen miles, but the cross-road was 
deep with dust, which rose in suffocating clouds, making 
the night darker and marching irksome, so that the men 
reached Stanford in a charming state of ill temper. Camps 
were passed all along, rather to our surprise, for up to this 
time we had met no troops other than the Ninth Corps. 

Preparations were making at Stanford for a grand advance 
of all the forces into East Tennessee, by this road through 
Somerset. Meanwhile, we camped quietly on one of those 
charming lawns, this time almost under the eaves of a 
mansion house, in which the officers messes obtained lux 
urious fare, with even an imp of darkness to keep the flies 
from their elevated noses with a peacock-feather brush. 
The enlisted men, whom the increasing warmth of summer 
affected with a desire for something lighter than the stand 
ard bacon sides and hard bread, sought a change of food 
at the tables of hospitable citizens for a modest consider 
ation. In short, it began to be evident that we were 
waxing fat enough to kill. Take a sample from Company 
H : " Ho, there, James ! " called the sergeant, " you are 
detailed for picket ! " " Picket, sergeant, picket ! why, I 
ca-a-n t go, sergeant ; I ca-a-n t go ! " " Ca-a-n t go ; why 
not ? " " Why, I ca-a-n t go, sergeant, I haven t had my 
coffee ! " 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 126 

While here a slave auction occurred in town ; a woman 
and twin boys of eleven years were sold. The woman 
brought four hundred and five dollars ; the boys were bid 
off for three hundred and fifty and three hundred and five 
dollars. This took place while the provost-guard in the 
place was Company C, under Lieutenant Tobey, from the 
patriotic city of Chelsea, from directly under the shadow 
of the State House of that abolition State, Massachusetts, 
and not a word or act of remonstrance ! Clearly the habit 
of obedience to orders without question was becoming 
deeply impressed, and, perhaps, upon a nearer view of the 
" institution " it appeared less repulsive, especially when 
compared with the condition of an enlisted man in the 
ranks. 

While the regiment was out on skirmish drill one after 
noon, General Ferrero came riding by in his usual dashing, 
McClellan style, and announced that his commission as 
brigadier- general had been confirmed. He seemed highly 
pleased to return to the brigade, and the men received 
him with loud hurrahs, for it was always pleasant to see 
accustomed faces back in their old places. Lieutenant 
T. D. Hodges left the regiment to accept promotion in 
General Wild s African Brigade. 

Orders were received to have eight days rations con 
stantly on hand five in knapsack, three in haversack 
and all overcoats and superfluous clothing to be sent back 
to Camp Nelson, in view of a forced march into East 
Tennessee ; but, here again, fate had other things in store 
for us before we should cross the Cumberland. The cus 
tomary command, " Pack up and be ready to march imme 
diately," reached us late in the afternoon of June 3, while 
the regiment was on battalion drill ; and, as if there was 
an attack somewhere in the neighborhood, we seized our 
luggage, fell in and moved out upon the road at a quick 



127 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

pace the attack to be met was only about nine hundred 
miles away by the route to be travelled. The head of column 
turned north instead of south, and then curiosity was highly 
excited to know "where we were bound " ; the only reply 
was " The Army of the Potomac or Vicksburg, it is not 
known which " ; and it was not until next day that word 
was passed along the line that we were bound for Vicks 
burg Vicksburg! Hades rather! the place, the cli 
mate, and the warfare thereabouts had at that time the 
reputation associated with the fiery pit of Gehenna. Gen 
eral Grant was besieging Vicksburg and needed more force ; 
we were to be lent to him for a time. 

We kept on the road until one in the morning; then 
turned into a church-yard for a short nap upon the un- 
mown grass. At sunrise we were up and on again, and 
all day until four in the afternoon, when we reached Nich- 
olasville, thirty-four miles in twenty-two hours, including 
halts for rest no joke to a soldier marching in close 
ranks, under a hot sun, weighted with arms and knapsack. 
It seemed as if the spirit of Grant had seized us at the 
very start, to show how inarches were to be made when 
he should grasp the reins. At Nicholasville, while the 
baggage was being loaded, a locomotive exploded. Among 
the men injured was John Leverett, of Company C, who 
was so severely scalded that he died next day. 

Crowding into the box cars at 9 P. M., foot-sore and dusty, 
we selected the least uncomfortable position attainable, 
and, speeding all night along the rails, were crossing the 
river into Cincinnati at ten o clock next morning. Arms 
were stacked in the street near the Sanitary Commission 
Rooms, while waiting for food and transportation, and the 
men were plied with attentions by the hospitable citizens. 
Hot dinners were offered ; oranges were distributed ; small 
boys were started at a run with pails of foaming beer to 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 128 

try how far they could get among the men before their 
cargo was captured ; altogether it was a festive time. 
Mirth and fun grew fast and furious, for we were bound 
for Vicksburg ; and the soldier drowns care of the future 
in present joy. At night we were again packed in the box 
cars upon the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, and were 
traversing the broad cornfields of Indiana, passing through 
Seymour and Mitchell, and over the bridge across the 
Wabash at Vincennes. 



CHAPTER VII. 

MIDSUMMER IN MISSISSIPPI VICKSBURG AND JACKSON, 1863. 

ON the sixth of June we were crossing the State of 
Illinois, the level country stretching out like an 
ocean to the horizon. Men on the car-tops practised 
shooting on the wing at the pigs in the groves beside the 
track, until it was found that the sport was growing into a 
general fusillade and had to be stopped. Warm greetings 
were extended to the troops by the inhabitants all along 
the route. At one station the ladies were more than 
usually attractive and very demonstrative in waving their 
white handkerchiefs. Attracted by a flutter in the rear 
of the officers car, the colonel found Lieutenants Hatch 
and Washburn vigorously shaking in the air a gray blanket 
of the largest size. "What s this, what s this, gentlemen?" 
"Oh," replied Hatch, "don t you comprehend? there are 
the ladies ; here are we ; this is the regimental pocket- 
handkerchief long may it wave ! " 

At Sandoval we changed direction from due west to 
south, taking the Illinois Central Railroad. While waiting 
for the train in the afternoon, the colonel to take the 
cramps out of us and keep all hands from mischief 
ordered a battalion drill. Perhaps the smooth, seemingly 
limitless prairie offered a field for the exercise too oppor 
tune to be neglected. The men groaned, but were soon 
at work, changing direction, forming in mass, etc., on the 
broadest parade-ground ever occupied. At Centralia, in the 



130 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

evening, pans of hot beef-steaks were passed into the cars, 
and devoured as ravenously as by the animals in a men 
agerie a name, by the way, which the Richmond papers 
adopted in mentioning the Ninth Corps, " Burnside s Trav 
elling Menagerie." 

In the morning of June 7 we were at the jumping-off 
place Cairo disembarking from the cars upon the 
levee, at the mouth of the Ohio. This town, like the 
land of Egypt from which it derives its name, is subject 
to overflows, against which the citizens guard their lands 
by broad dykes, upon which the streets are laid out, giving 
the place a unique appearance, and, at least at the time 
we saw it, entitling it to the name of the biggest mud-hole 
we had met with up to date. The cooks built fires upon 
the river bank and put the salt-pork on to boil, while the 
men bathed in the tepid waters of the Ohio, diving off the 
great coal barges. Tents were pitched for one night along 
the muddy levee. The immense steamboat Imperial, with 
decks tier above tier, was assigned to transport General 
Ferrero and staff, the Eleventh New Hampshire, Ben 
jamin s Battery, " E," Second United States Artillery and 
our regiment, and late in the afternoon of the eighth we 
were on board, with a mass of freight, and swung with the 
current out of the Ohio upon the broad Mississippi, whose 
winding course we were to follow for some five hundred 
miles. 

The great river, the Father of Waters, is impressive 
only when we consider its volume, the great distance it 
flows, and the vast extent of country which its branches 
water. Like many other marvels, a partial view is tame 
and ineffective. The banks are but little elevated above 
the water, arid stretch off interminably, for the most part 
still clothed with forest, the soil of blue clay or sand, with 
occasional banks of red or yellow earth. The stream 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 131 

meanders about so that in some of its windings it is 
difficult to tell whether a steamboat, of which the smoke 
may be visible over the trees, is coming up or following 
down. But as we keep on day after day, and think that, 
after all, we are traversing but a small portion of its course, 
we begin to appreciate the majesty of the great river : 

" Far down the beautiful river, 

Past the Ohio shore, and past the mouth of the Wabash, 
Into the golden stream of the broad and swift Mississippi ; 
Onward o er sunken sands, through a wilderness sombre with forest, 
Day after day they glided adown the turbulent river ; 
Now through rushing chutes, among green islands, .where plume-like 
Cotton woods nodded their shadowy crests, they swept with the 

current, 

Then emerged into broad lagoons, where silvery sand bars 
Lay in the stream." 

The names of places, then familiar to readers of the 
war news, served as mile-posts to mark our descent : 
Columbus, with General Folk s old fortifications, where 
we ran aground and stuck all night ; Belmont, opposite, 
where General Grant made his first essay in the war; 
Island Number 10, which we passed on the ninth, the 
scene of General Pope s victory ; Memphis, reached on 
the tenth, famous for its gun-boat fight; Helena, where 
we hitched up to the bank on the twelfth, which was, 
within a few weeks after our visit, to be attacked and 
bravely defended ; Milliken s Bend, on the thirteenth, and 
other places at first, the states of Missouri and Arkansas 
on the west, Kentucky and Tennessee on the east, and 
now, as we approach our goal, Louisiana on the west and 
Mississippi on the east. 

Events on board were few, and card playing was resorted 
to by many for amusement. The paymaster entertained 
us one evening at Memphis with a greenback reception, 



132 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

and next day our sutler, Gostoffer, who at such times 
clung closer than a brother, having us cornered on board, 
exacted his dues for past luxuries. At Memphis we stopped 
for coal, and at evening the levee was bright with twinkling 
fires of the cooks preparing the rations. A certain degree 
of reckless feeling seemed to inspire all on board ; the 
body of a drowned soldier, who had probably fallen in 
while intoxicated, was rolling in the water, between the 
boats and the shore, and no one seemed to feel moved 
to give it burial. 

After leaving Memphis, the eleven crowded steamboats 
kept within sight of each other for protection. General 
Parke commanded on the Silver Moon, which occasionally 
sounded its calliope. Details were made to picket the 
hurricane deck, and these guards lay, rifle in hand, to 
return with a volley any shot from the wooded shore which 
lurking bushwhackers might send us. Our loaded boat 
drew eight feet of water, and as there was but nine in the 
channel the pilot was afraid to run in the night below 
Helena, so the bows of the boat were run upon the bank 
and pickets were sent ashore to prevent surprise. The 
lead was thrown for soundings, and the boys caught the 
lingo, "A quarter less three," "And a half six," etc., which 
on many a rainy night afterwards, in bivouac or plodding 
in the mud, served as a call which never failed to raise a 
laugh. The water in the stream was of a gray color, and 
when allowed to settle deposited fine sand, leaving the 
upper part clear and palatable for drinking. 

We reached Sherman s Landing, below Young s Point, on 
the fourteenth of June, and disembarked upon the forest- 
covered western bank, at the north end of the great ditch 
or cut-off, which, commenced by General Williams in 1862, 
and worked upon by the army of General Grant in the 
February preceding our landing, was intended to turn the 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 133 

river and afford a passage to the fleet, harmlessly, past 
Vicksburg. The soil was clayey and hard to dig through, 
the dams broke unexpectedly and drove out the workmen, 
and the river still ran undisturbed in its own channel. 
Since the war the river has worn a channel through this 
peninsula, at a point between this wrongly located ditch 
and the city front. Down stream, looking south-east, lay 
in plain view the buildings of the city of Vicksburg, situ 
ated upon the high east bank, the court-house towering 
conspicuously. Below us, under the right bank, were our 
mortar-boats, enclosed rafts, each carrying a mortar of the 
largest size, from which was thrown every few minutes a 
shell into the doomed city. While the siege lasted these 
ugly fellows kept up an incessant knocking at the front 
door, while Grant and Sherman thundered at the rear. 
Almost directly opposite our landing-place was the mouth 
of the Yazoo River. 

General Grant, having tried ineffectually as had Gen 
eral Sherman previously to gain the rear of the city by 
movements up the Yazoo, and failing in the cut-offs and 
other schemes for getting by, had conceived the admirable 
plan of taking the city in rear from the south. Gun-boats 
and transports had run the gauntlet of Confederate bat 
teries at the city and below, and were then used to ferry 
the army across at Bruinsburg, below Bayou Pierre and 
the mouth of the Big Black River, which flow in from the 
north-east below the city, as the Yazoo does above. The 
general then led his forces up the Big Black, making a 
detour to Jackson, to turn back the Confederate army of 
General Johnston the Fifty-Ninth Indiana being first in 
the city and then coming back upon General Pemberton 
enclosed him with his forces in Vicksburg. The fighting 
had been sanguinary at Port Gibson, Raymond, Champion s 
Hill and Big Black Bridge, but always in favor of the Union 



134 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

cause, and greatly to the honor of the Thirteenth, Fifteenth 
and Seventeenth Corps, the troops engafed. Upon arriv 
ing behind the city Grant had ordered the usual grand 
assault, on the twenty-second of May, which, as usual, was 
a failure ; and since then regular approaches had been 
made and a complete state of siege maintained. We were 
not wanted to aid in the operations upon the lines facing 
the city, there was sufficient force present for that purpose ; 
our assistance was needed upon the reverse face, looking 
to the east, where General Johnston threatened an advance 
upon the rear of the troops fronting the city. General 
Sherman had command of the left wing of the army 
including the force fronting Johnston and to him our 
two divisions were assigned. 

Our landing below Young s Point was made in accord 
ance with a first intention of placing our divisions at the 
extreme south end of the city, which was the weakest part 
of the circle of investment ; accordingly, on the fifteenth 
of June, we crossed the Vicksburg and Shreveport Rail 
road, on the Louisiana shore, through the swamp, south, 
to the river bank below the city, at a point opposite War- 
renton. The landing-place was crowded with negroes of 
both sexes, who had attached themselves to the army, the 
men enlisting in the loyal Louisiana and Mississippi regi 
ments then forming ; they were a ragged and forlorn- 
looking crowd. We, with the Seventh-Ninth New York 
and Eighth Michigan, had boarded the steamboat Forest 
Queen, and were examining the shot-holes and damages 
she had sustained while running the batteries, when orders 
came to disembark and camp in a cotton-wood grove on 
the river bank. No sooner were tents pitched than a 
command arrived to return to Sherman s Landing, which 
was done, part of the way after dark, and very dark it was. 
The men did not object to the trip, as they had a good 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 135 

look at a Louisiana swamp, going and returning, and 
another view of the city from below. The most noticeable 
thing in the swamp was the trailing moss upon the trees, 
which gave them the appearance of being hung in mourn 
ing, and added a gloom to the forest which affected the 
wayfarer. Vines with flaming trumpet flowers somewhat 
relieved the sombre obscurity. 

At noon, next day, we went aboard the Omaha, and, in 
a heavy thunder storm, paddled up the Yazoo to Haines s 
Bluff. The boat was crowded with men, and as no landing 
was permitted until morning it was difficult to find space 
to sit down, not to mention the luxury of lying at full 
length. The heavy cannon, which had made the approach 
to this point impracticable to our gun-boats, were still 
resting in the earthworks, where the Confederates had so 
hastily abandoned them when Grant came in their rear. 
In the morning, the Western troops, who had occupied this 
point, marching away as we landed, we proceeded inland, 
about five miles, to Milldale, where camp was formed as 
well as the narrow vale in which we were located would 
permit, near a fine spring of water. The first days were 
given to examining the country and eating blackberries, 
until the lines could be laid out which we were to con 
struct and defend if need be. One morning, while the 
morning report books were under discussion, a heavy 
explosion was heard in the direction of the city, followed 
by heavier firing than ordinary, said to have been the 
explosion of a mine under one of the enemy s forts. Upon 
another morning General Grant visited our encampment, 
and called upon General Parke, who commanded our 
corps, to which a division of the Sixteenth Corps had been 
temporarily added. General Potter led our division and 
General Ferrero our brigade. 

The district back of Vicksburg, called Walnut Hills, is 



136 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

cut by deep dells or ravines, like immense furrows, in all 
directions. One goes up, then down, repeatedly, unless 
following a ridge. Even the city itself is located upon 
the same system, and the cuttings of the streets to grade, 
through the ridges, served the citizens for convenient 
banks, in which they dug the caves which sheltered them 
from the mortar-firing above mentioned. Where we were 
it was only necessary to throw up a breastwork upon 
the ridge selected, cut down the trees, which grew thickly 
upon the outer side, for a slashing or abatis; plant the 
artillery at commanding angles, and a line was established 
which was impregnable. General Johnston knew the diffi 
culties of the approach and kept a respectful distance, near 
Birdsong s Ferry, inclining rather to the south, down the 
Big Black which ran across our front in hopes of suc 
coring Pemberton, whose sortie, if made, would aim natu 
rally in that direction. As soon as the work of digging 
this line was commenced, we moved a mile nearer the 
Yazoo landing, and pitched tents upon a side hill, in order 
to be near the scene of our labors. The heat of the sun 
was excessive ; fortunately, we were able to keep in shade 
except when on the ridge handling the pick and spade in 
the trenches then the labor was very arduous. 

The luxuries of the place were blackberries and wild 
plums ; later on, peaches, figs and paw-paws. None of us 
ever saw these fruits in greater abundance so, in the 
intervals of digging and camp duty, the boys feasted upon 
these, while the constant booming in the direction of the 
city warned the berry-pickers that they were only playing 
at peace. And even among the bushes one had to keep 
his eyes open for bees and hornets, which also love sweets, 
and the snakes, which were of prodigious size and fatness. 
Several new insect torments here introduced themselves, 
peculiar to the climate, but the mosquitoes were not so 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 137 

troublesome as sometimes further north. The colonel 
commenced instructing the sergeants in tactics, and, there 
being no level ground for battalion manoeuvres, to employ 
the time usefully turned his critical eye upon the officers 
company books and accounts. This course of clerical drill 
produced valuable fruits, when at the end of their service 
the officers came to settle with the auditor at Washington 
for the losses and mishaps of such varied campaigns. Cap 
tain Blanchard left for home, having resigned ; but he was 
afterwards restored to his rank and returned to the regiment. 
On the twenty-ninth we moved still further south-east, 
about eight miles a hot march to McCalls, or Oak 
Ridge ; and a sandy waterless ridge it was. In the deep 
dells barrels were sunk ; these slowly collected from the 
soil our drinking water, which was cool, though one often 
had to wait a long while for a canteen-full. In the bright 
moonlight nights the heavy masses of foliage and dark 
shadows gave these ravines a very charming appearance. 
Here we relieved some of Sherman s men, tall and straight 
fellows, with their imposing felt hats, some armed with 
Henry repeating rifles. They were full of stories about 
the fights at Champion s Hill and other places, and we 
Jistened with interest. To be sure the losses at Fred- 
ericksburg alone in one day had been many more than 
theirs during their whole campaign, but Eastern soldiers 
were not inclined to boast of that day, and the Western 
vim and self-confidence were so different from the tone of 
the Eastern army it was a pleasure to listen to their talk. 
We accepted in silence the epithets of "Holiday Soldiers," 
etc., trusting to the course of events, rather than our 
tongues, to prove our mettle. They had served well in 
a magnificent campaign, and they were right to feel proud 
of their share in it. At Oak Ridge we adopted from these 
Western men the custom of raising beds and tents some 



138 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

two feet from the ground for the sake of coolness. The 
usual bi-monthly muster for pay to compare the number 
of men with the number on the rolls took place here, 
and digging was resumed. 

On the fourth of July we were enlivened by the arrival 
of mails and rations, which kept us so busy we scarcely 
noticed that the sounds of cannonading towards the city 
had ceased. In course of the day, however, the rumor 
was circulated that General Pemberton had surrendered, 
and in the afternoon the news was officially confirmed 
amid great rejoicing. The total losses to the Confederates 
had been over 40,000 men, of whom 31,000 were the gar 
rison of Vicksburg, and one hundred and seventy-two 
pieces of artillery, with arms and munitions for 60,000 
men ; altogether, the most damaging single blow the Con 
federate cause suffered during the war. There was no 
attempt at a triumph, and no troops, except General 
Logan s division for a guard, marched into the city ; on 
the contrary, the orders confirming the news also directed 
an immediate march eastward to meet Johnston ; and, 
before we could fairly realize the victory, we were upon 
the road, leaving camp about six that evening, the men 
feeling eager for a more active share in such achievements, 
and, if ever such words are true, spoiling for a fight. 

However, the excitement had time to cool a little during 
the following two days while the corps lay massed by the 
road side, waiting for the construction of a bridge over the 
Big Black, at Birdsong s Ferry, by the leading brigade, of 
which the Thirty-Sixth Massachusetts formed a part. Here 
Assistant Surgeons Roche and Coburn joined, but the 
latter was never mustered in, the regiment had become 
too reduced in numbers to be entitled to two assistants. 
Quartermaster Upton also returned, his arm having healed, 
and took position on the division staff. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 139 

General Sherman s plan of action is briefly stated in the 
following order, circulated here : 

"GENERAL ORDERS, No. 52. 
" HEADQUARTERS OF THE EXPEDITION, 

"CAMP AT FLOX, July 6, 1863. 

" IV. The movement (of this division) will begin at four 
o clock P. M. of July 6 (to-day). VI. All commanders will 
hold their troops in perfect order for battle at all times, 
and on encountering the enemy will engage him at once. 
VII. Private pillage and plunder must cease; our sup 
plies are now ample ; the people of the country 

should be protected as far as possible against wanton acts 
of irresponsible parties, etc. 

" By order of MAJ. GEN. SHERMAN, 

" R. M. SAWYER, A. A. G. 
"Official: G. H. McKiBBEN, A. A. 6V 

Drinking water became an item of chief interest at once, 
and continued to be during the march. The soil was 
porous and quickly absorbed rain, the rivers were swampy, 
and the water said to be poisonous or malarious. Small 
streams or springs there were none ; the people stored 
their drinking water in huge brick cisterns under ground. 
There were occasional clayey pond-holes where the rain 
collected, which were our source of supply ; and the water 
from them was sufficiently muddy and vile without the 
flavoring extracted from the dead mule, which usually lay 
stewing in the sun in the middle of the hole. The story 
was that the retreating enemy had placed them there pur 
posely; but this, like many similar tales, was crediting 
them with too thoughtful a malignity. As the troops 
passed, cotton presses, stored with bales of dbtton, then 
of almost priceless value at the North, were seen waste- 
fully burning, from lack of means of transportation. The 



140 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

old cotton-fields were planted with corn, now almost fit 
for roasting, which formed an important part of our sus 
tenance upon the trip. The people have a way, there 
abouts, of girdling the immense trees instead of cutting 
them down, and, thereafter, the slowly decaying trunks 
barkless and for the most part branchless stand, like 
ghosts, among the corn, forming a melancholy feature of 
the scenery. 

About two in the afternoon of July 7 the bridge was 
ready and W 7 e crossed the river. In the bottom lands 
some cotton-fields the sun beat down with power untem- 
pered by the slightest breath of air. The effect was over 
powering ; stout men dropped in the ranks as if shot, and 
even the toughest gasped for breath and staggered on to 
the upland, where there was some shade. The men affirm 
that they never, before nor since, experienced such torrid 
heat. The afterpiece was a thunder storm of great fury, 
the flashing of the lightning and rolling of the thunder 
being continuous instead of in explosions in the normal 
way. Nevertheless, we kept upon the road, the grateful 
rain pouring upon our soaked caps and down our backs in 
bucketfuls. The mud in the road was unfathomable. At 
midnight a halt was called, and, the storm having passed 
over, we turned off the road in the pitchy darkness, and, 
perched upon rails or brush, slept who could. Next morn 
ing we had to wait for the road to dry, to be passable for 
the artillery, and the start came again at mid-day ; where 
upon the heat was so great as to compel a halt until the 
sun should sink sufficiently to be borne, and thus the 
march again drew out until midnight ; this time the air 
being so warm and close as to induce drowsiness, so that 
after every halt the men who had insensibly dropped asleep 
had to be roused altogether, marching in such devitalized 
air was trying work. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 14! 

During the night of the tempest Lieutenant M. B. Hawes, 
acting quartermaster, with the wagon train, was accident 
ally killed. The following account of the storm and of the 
lieutenant s death was written a few days after by one who 
was near him at the time : 

" It now became so dark I could not see my mare Sallie s 
head. By this time the wind increased to a gale and it 
never rained faster. Such vivid flashes of lightning and 
such peals of thunder I never saw or heard. I found it 
impossible to control Sallie on her back, so dismounted, 
and then I had my hands full. The lightning struck all 
around us, and boughs were falling in all directions. The 
storm, or rather tempest, lasted about two hours, and, 
more or less, all night. During the storm a bough fell 
and struck Lieutenant Hawes, killing him instantly. He 
was sitting in his wagon, only two or three wagons in rear 
of ours. Lieutenant Hawes was a splendid fellow, pro 
moted from the ranks, and was one of the most promising 
officers in the regiment, and would, no doubt, soon have 
been again promoted. I spoke with him only about an 
hour before he was dead. He was always cheerful, with a 
pleasant word for everybody. I understood the quarter 
master of an Ohio regiment was also killed. Lieutenant 
Hawes was buried next morning under a tree near the 
place where he was killed." 

We plodded along, during the eighth and ninth, towards 
Jackson, through the cornfields and by-roads, the artillery 
and trains occupying the best track, the forces of General 
Johnston retiring as the Federals advanced. Sherman s 
army of about 50,000 men marched in three columns, of 
which our corps formed the left and most northerly. Our 
route was by rough side roads ; but, thereby, we escaped 
the worst of the dust. We passed the plantation of Joe 



142 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

and Jefferson Davis, but hurried by so fast no opportunity 
was given for an examination of a place where the Pres 
ident of the Confederacy had plotted rebellion long before 
the war began. It was said that stragglers opened Jeff s 
library to free circulation, with no penalty for books not 
returned. As we approached Jackson, the Confederate 
cavalry was encountered, and the artillery began shelling 
them, while the troops were massed in an opening to await 
the result. A large house was in flames near by, and some 
of the men who strolled in that direction returned with 
small articles they had picked up, rather to the disgust of 
others who were not yet hardened even by the scenes in 
Fredericksburg to approve useless plundering. Generals 
Sherman and Parke issued rigorous orders, forbidding 
everything of the kind we had been accustomed to keep 
even the apple trees under guard in Virginia. As the war 
progressed, however, and especially under Sherman and 
Sheridan and certain Confederate raiders, this leniency 
towards private property was less regarded it is a diffi 
cult thing to manage in civil war. The afternoon was to 
us a specimen scene from Sherman s future " March to 
the Sea." 

On the tenth, crossing the wide ocean it was like 
nothing else of cornfields west of the city, we struck the 
road leading north to Canton, and at evening were in line 
of battle, facing the city lying south of us, and in this 
position lay upon our arms all night. The right (Ord s 
Corps) and centre (Steele s Corps) of the army enclosed 
the south and west sides of the town ; to the east was 
Pearl River, which the cavalry was expected to watch. 
General Johnston had about 30,000 men for duty. 

At dawn our troops were in line, advancing, the First 
Division in front with skirmishers deployed. While mov 
ing up, an officer in a uniform coat, faded from blue to 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 143 

bottle green, rode quietly by, attended by one or two 
others. He was General Sherman even then an object 
of curiosity ; but where was the immense staff, the flash 
and glitter, which we were accustomed to associate with 
the chief of a great army ? Evidently our present com 
mander had come out to see and not to be seen. 

Reaching and passing the buildings of the State Asylum 
for the Insane and the grove near it which served for 
our hospital and where Company K was detailed for guard 
we traversed the grounds and sweet-potato patches, and 
halted upon a wooded hill-side. The Second Michigan 
was skirmishing in front upon a ridge facing the enemy s 
intrenchments, and our duty for the day was simply to be 
ready in case they should need support. The heat was 
intense and, added to their previous exertions, overpowered 
some dozen of the men, and so affected even the colonel 
that he was obliged to retire to the hospital. During the 
day an occasional chance bullet visited us, one hitting 
Folsom, of Company I who was noted for catching stray 
balls but they did not come often enough to prevent the 
men from falling asleep. In the absence of field officers 
Lieutenant-Colonel Mitchell, of the Fifty-First New York, 
was assigned to command the regiment. He proved to 
be an able officer, of pleasant manners, and so won our 
regard that he never afterwards could approach the quar 
ters of the Thirty-Fifth without being cheered by the men.^ 

Before daybreak of the twelfth, the Thirty-Fifth moved 
forward noiselessly, and at sunrise relieved the Seventeenth 
Michigan upon the skirmish line. The right of the regi 
ment rested upon a ridge close to the Canton road; .here 
Adjutant Wales, inspecting our skirmish line, discovered a 
gap of about two hundred yards between our right which 
was the right of the Ninth Corps and the left of the 

* Lieutenant-Colonel Mitchell died at Aurora, Indiana, on January 16, 1884. 



144 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

Western troops ; reporting the fact to Lieutenant-Colonel 
Mitchell, the adjutant was ordered to report to General 
Ferrero, who, finding that we had one company (K) not 
on the skirmish line, ordered him to put it in the interval, 
which he did by deploying it as skirmishers behind the hill 
and then advancing. The Confederates made it warm 
for K s men when they appeared on the crest of the hill. 
General Ferrero and Captain McKibben were present at 
the time. At this point the Canton road there was a 
Confederate battery in a covering work made of earth and 
bales of cotton ; the space between the opposing lines was 
low ground cleared of trees and underbush, except what 
had been left for abatis. The enemy s lines of entrench 
ment retired on both sides of the battery, sweeping back 
to enclose the town, and were occupied by his infantry 
(Loring s division, mostly Mississippi troops), with pickets 
and sharpshooters lying in the woods in their front. In 
short, it was such a line as we had been making at Mill- 
dale to receive them, and which they had declined to attack. 
The centre and left of the regiment was stretched out 
as skirmishers for some quarter of a mile to the left, all 
but the right companies being in thick woods with much 
underbrush. As this was our first experience in such 
bushwhacking business, the day s operations were very 
interesting as well as exciting. The men lay low or kept 
behind trees, exchanging shots with their opponents 
who lurked under cover in the same way and watched 
the artillery duel. Lieutenant Benjamin, with his favorite 
twenty-pounders, opened upon the enemy ; once or twice, 
while getting the range, dropping a shell short into our 
line, in the pleasant way the gunners had of letting the 
infantry know that they had artillery support. The Con 
federates who manned the cotton battery were the noisiest 
lot we ever listened to,; we were so close as to easily hear 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 145 

everything, their words of command, the discharges, and 
the yells which they gave every time, with the compliments 
they sent with the shot. The noise they made seemed to 
keep up their courage, and as for their missiles they went 
whirring overheard in search of the lunatics in the asylum. 
General Sherman posted about one hundred guns in good 
positions, which commanded the city in every part, but, 
as ammunition was short, delayed opening fire until the 
supply trains should come up. At night the men were 
ordered to fix bayonets and receive any sallying party 
with cold steel. The only event was the missing of our 
lines by men returning from the rear in the darkness ; 
Sergeant Luther S. Bailey, of Company G, in this way 
wandered over to the Confederates and was taken pris 
oner. 

At daylight, July 13, we were, in turn, relieved by the 
Seventh Rhode Island. In coming forward for the pur 
pose, they made what seemed to us rather too much racket 
with orders and tin pots rattling upon bayonets. The 
enemy thought it an advance of our lines, and commenced 
shooting in a brisk manner at once, keeping up a more 
steady firing all day, to the damage of the Seventh, who 
lost some fifteen killed and wounded. As they had started 
the game we were content to let them play it out, and 
retired into the reserve line to cook the longed-for coffee. 

The following is a sample of the events which were 
happening along the line in such work : One of our ser 
geants, having in his usual systematic way done up his 
morning "chores," which consisted of carefully combing 
his hair, shaking and folding his rubber blanket, reading 
his morning chapter in the Bible, and disposing of a bit 
of hard bread and a sip of water all the time moving 
about without regard to shelter, as if there was not a 
sharpshooter within a thousand miles at length, ready 



146 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

to be relieved, received the salutations of the sergeant of 
the Seventh, who had come to take his place, and, holding 
his rifle across his breast in his left hand, with his right 
pointed out the localities where the Confederate pickets 
were hidden ; a shot came at the instant, passed through 
the body of the sergeant of the Seventh, killing him, and 
smashed the lower band of the rifle of our sergeant, doing 
him no harm. The marvel was that our man was not fired 
at before, when he was shaking his blanket. 

The enemy continued very uneasy all day; the Thirty- 
Fifth lay in support as upon the first day, this time in rear 
of the Sixth New Hampshire ; but the rumpus in front was 
so continuous as to prevent catching much of the precious 
sleep which the men now needed extremely. At one time 
during the day the efforts of the enemy were so violent as 
to appear like an attempt to break our front line; the 
humming of the bullets was quite lively, and the regiment 
formed, moved into position, and even charged forward a 
little way ; but, finally, the Confederates desisted and the 
lines quieted down. It is possible that the capture of 
Bailey, informing them that they had Massachusetts men 
in their front, had excited their spite. By the next morn 
ing (fourteenth) the men were so used up, from lack of 
rest and food and the heat, a day was given for a respite, 
and the regiment marched to the rear of the Asylum. 
Many of the boys took a plunge in a mud-hole near by, 
which was more cooling than cleansing. It was so dry 
and warm the men slept anywhere upon the ground with 
out covering; few carried more luggage than a shelter 
tent or piece of rubber blanket for protection in case of 
rain. On the fifteenth, Captain Pratt and fifty men went 
on a scout south-eastward towards Pearl River, in support 
of the engineers, who were investigating that weak point 
in our investment. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 147 

At half-past one in the morning of the sixteenth we 
moved up to the reserve post, relieved the Twenty-Seventh 
Michigan in support of skirmishers, and lay in the road 
running under the ridge the whole day, reading old papers, 
etc., with an occasional chance shot or shell from the 
enemy, or an order to fall in, fix bayonets, etc., to relieve 
the dullness of waiting. During the day our skirmishers 
were advanced and the enemy were driven into their 
intrenchments, where they appeared to be in full force, 
quieting the suspicions entertained by our generals that 
an evacuation was in progress. At night we got about 
two hours sleep, and then crept forward quietly and 
relieved the Forty-Sixth New York (Germans) on the 
skirmish line. The position was nearly the same as on 
the twelfth, and therefore the broken Dutch instructions 
of our predecessors were little needed. It was about two 
o clock, quite dark, and some care was required to post 
the men without noise. Having selected cover and a hard 
bread to munch we waited patiently for dawn, or for some 
venturesome foeman to expose himself. A bright light 
appeared over the city, the bells rang for fire, and there 
was a great stir; then the glow died out, and all was quiet. 
The cocks began to crow and the birds commenced to 
sing. There was an alarm about the centre of the regi 
ment and the musketry was brisk for a few moments, but 
nothing came of it. 

Soon it was gray dawn, but still no shots from the 
enemy ; it began to look suspicious. Lieutenant Ingell 
was eager for an advance, and sent back to ask permission 
to go forward. General Ferrero was on the alert, and the 
order was passed along the line to send out a few men to 
try and draw the enemy s fire. They went out, discharged 
their pieces and returned, and no hostile shot replied. At 
the battery something was seen waving like a signal, and, 



148 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

as light increased, it was found to be a white flag displayed 
by a colored man, who asked if he could come over, and 
was answered in the affirmative. He was met half way 
by Sergeant-Major Berry and an officer of the Forty-Sixth 
New York, each bearing a white flag; they learned that 
the city was being evacuated. The information spread 
quickly; the order was given to move upon the works. 
The right companies, under Lieutenant-Colonel Mitchell, 
with the flags, at once dashed up the road to the cotton 
battery, sending word along the line to rally on the colors. 
They found the battery almost deserted, waved the colors 
in token of success, and hastened forward through the 
city to the State Capitol, upon which the Confederate flag 
still floated. Adjutant Wales, Sergeant-Major Berry and 
Color-Sergeant A. J. White hurried in front; in haste they 
climbed to the top of the stately edifice, and the rising 
sun saluted the national flag, which Colonel Wild had so 
lately sent from home, surmounting the stars and bars 
upon the Capitol ! Adjutant Wales secured the Con 
federate flag. Meanwhile the left companies advanced in 
skirmish line through the woods and up to the works in 
their front, also meeting no opposition from the enemy. 
At their point of entrance there remained in position a 
thirty-two pounder cannon, with shells beside it. They 
made directly to the Capitol the Eleventh New Hamp 
shire coming on in a handsome line upon the left and 
found the rest of the regiment there, with our glorious 
banner floating above in the morning light. 

Our men had many adventures that morning in the 
capture of prisoners, etc., which served to amuse the 
circles about the camp-fires in after days. The regiment 
collected one hundred and fifty-seven prisoners, including 
one officer. The last of the retreating enemy were hurry 
ing off, over Pearl River, to Eastern Mississippi. It was 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 149 

a happy moment ! One may imagine the pleasurable feel 
ings which comes over a poor, half-starved devil who 
has laid out, in prospect, a day of hard picket duty, with, 
perhaps, wounds or death to find all this passed away, 
the enemy gone, and himself standing upon the earthworks 
which have cost them so much labor, and the victory gained 
with so little loss. The Thirty-Fifth was the first regiment 
of the army to enter the city ; the first men over the Con 
federate works were Sergeant Joseph E. Hood, Corporal 
Newell Davis, Dennison Hooper, Jonathan Whitehouse 
and one other, all belonging to our company F. 

The centre and right wing of the army entered the town, 
marching up the broad main avenue to the Capitol in tri 
umphal columns. Our men, who were scattered about for 
a few hours two companies to collect stragglers of the 
enemy, and Companies D, G, H and I as safeguards upon 
the property of citizens secured, most of them, at least 
one good meal of broiled chicken and corn bread from 
the breakfast tables of the people they were protecting. 
We were soon relieved and returned over the scene of our 
past labors, to the neighborhood of the Insane Asylum, 
and given time to rest. 

The casualties in the regiment, by the enemy, had been 
Corporal Stephen R. Willis and Private Henry S. Hollis, 
both of Company H, died of wounds, and eight others 
wounded. The loss to the army was chiefly in General 
Lauman s division, which through some misunderstanding 
made an assault not intended by the general, and lost some 
three hundred killed and wounded and two hundred pris 
oners, with the colors of the Twenty-Eighth, Forty-First 
and Fifty-Third Illinois regiments a bloody mistake ! 
Of our share of the glory Lieutenant-Colonel Mitchell, 
Adjutant Wales, Sergeant-Major Berry and Color-Sergeant 
White secured the greater part, of whom the last two after- 



150 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

wards lost their lives at Petersburg, Va., as did also Ser 
geant Fiske, the bearer of the regimental flag. But we 
must not forget that the alertness shown to improve the 
moment was the result of Colonel Carruth s thorough drill 
during the past months, of which he, unfortunately, did 
not here gather the reward. The members of the regi 
ment thought it rather a hard joke upon them when the 
Northern papers gave the honors to the Thirty-Fifth Mis 
souri, the editors thinking, probably, that it was not pos 
sible for a Massachusetts regiment to have been present 
here the armies of Grant and Sherman were well known 
to be composed originally of Western troops. 

The victory was, however, rather a barren one. General 
Johnston retreated into a district whither it was not pos 
sible for us to follow him in the heats of midsummer, and 
the fruits were through the increase of demoralization in 
his ranks and the clearing of the country rather than in 
substantial trophies. General Sherman proceeded to make 
Jackson as useless as possible to the Confederate cause, 
by destroying all public property and tearing up the rails 
on the roads out of the city for miles in every direction. 
Our First Division devoted a couple of days to the track 
north to Canton; and by watching their operations we 
learned the method of making the rails worthless, by 
bending them when heated in a fire made of the ties 
which had supported them. 

The occasion having now passed for which the Ninth 
Corps had been sent south, a return to Kentucky was 
directed forthwith, and we began to retrace our steps to 
the banks of the Yazoo. The distance by the road is only 
some fifty miles, but, owing to the burning sun, the dust, and 
the haste with which the first days marches were pushed, 
it proved the most exhausting journey in the experience 
of the regiment. Rations were in short quantity, and 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 151 

were supplemented with green corn, unripe peaches and , 
apples. The day s march would begin at daylight, a halt 
would be made at noon, and the march continued until 
after dark. The first day (July 20) we made twenty miles, 
and went into bivouac in a large field with the First Divis 
ion, near Clinton. The second day we rose at half-past 
three o clock, and accomplished fifteen miles with great 
difficulty. It was the hottest day of the season, dust rose 
in suffocating clouds so that one could hardly see his 
file leader and the fever and thirst were unendurable. 
Weak men, overcome, threw themselves down by the road 
side in desperation ; strong men fell, and lay struggling 
and frothing at the mouth ; the ambulances and wagons 
were filled with the helpless. Those days cost the regi 
ment more good men than a battle. 

On the twenty-second but seven miles were made, most 
of the day being spent in a grove beside the road to enable 
the column to close up. That evening the Big Black was 
recrossed by a lower bridge, and, as before, we got a thorough 
sousing from one of the tropical thunder storms, which for 
opening the flood-gates of heaven and displaying its artil 
lery are unexcelled. A good shower bath all around did 
not come amiss, but its cleansing effects were lost by the 
following night s bivouac in the mud of an old cotton-field. 
A short march of eight miles in the morning brought the 
" never-fell-outs " into the old camp at Milldale on the hill 
side. Some stragglers were stopped by guerillas and lost 
their watches, but were themselves released. The rest 
came along in squads, and a ragged, mud-bespattered lot 
they were, but right glad to ground arms at the spring and 
quench a thirst made insatiable by past deprivation. Who 
ever would learn to appreciate good water should make a 
a forced march in that country in July, and the thought 
thereof will make him thirsty forevermore. 



152 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

, Different reasons were given to account for the hurry of 
the return. Some said it was done upon a wager; others 
declared it was the scarcity of water, ".the distance between 
drinks," and not their frequency, which induced haste ; 
and another suggestion was, the wish to catch the first 
boats up-river; so many troops were being shifted or 
returned to their posts transportation was hard to obtain 
the first to get back to Vicksburg would be the first 
sent North. We did not gain anything by it, for we had 
to wait for steamboats until the sixth of August, with 
nothing to do but a little picket duty up the Yazoo. 

The following communication was read at Milldale, rel 
ative to the division of the Sixteenth Corps, which had 
been serving with us : 

"HEADQUARTERS FIRST DIVISION, i6TH A. C. 

"JACKSON, Miss., July 20, 1863. 
" MAJOR-GENERAL J. G. PARKE, Com d g gth A. C. : 

"Sir, Your order transferring our division to the Fif 
teenth Army Corps is just received. Permit me, in behalf 
of the division I command, to tender to you our thanks 
for your uniform kindness to us and for the interest you 
have manifested in our welfare during our temporary 
assignment to duty with your corps. I am happy to 
assure you that the opportunity offered us to witness the 
conduct of the Eastern troops of your command has con 
vinced us that they possess valor and discipline which we 
may well emulate. Longer association would, we doubt 
not, have matured and strengthened the friendship so aus 
piciously begun. Our best wishes for your welfare and 
success will constantly attend you. 

"Very respectfully, your most obedient servant, 

"WM. S. SMITH, 
" Brig. -Gen. Com d g First Division" 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 153 

Those days at Milldale were too warm for any but the 
most moderate exertion ; usually, about four in the after 
noon, there would be a shower of more or less violence, 
everything remaining wet and steaming until morning. 
The deep trench we had dug for a rifle-pit on the summit 
of our hill collected such a body of water that finally it 
burst forth, came rushing down the steep, and swept away 
several tents, scattering the contents all abroad, to the no 
small discomfort of the inmates and amusement of their 
comrades. 

Many of the regiment were ill, prostrated by the climate, 
but those who retained health enjoyed themselves in a 
quiet way. From the cane-brakes near at hand long, 
thick canes were collected and dragged to camp ; these 
were cut into proper lengths, wattled together and sup 
ported upon crotched stakes, making an elastic bedstead. 
Upon this were spread rolls of the trailing moss from the 
trees, and, high above all, the shelter tent, or a fly, was 
spread for a canopy, making a luxurious resting-place. 
The magnolia trees were in blossom, and the mocking 
bird occasionally favored us with his song. The contents 
of the mails from home were devoured with interest, and 
ample leisure for discussion of the news from Port Hudson, 
Gettysburg, the draft with lists of exempts, for disability, 
which excited no little merriment and the return home 
and festive receptions of the nine months men. After 
reading the latter, the boys adopted a saying, often repeated 
in times of special hardship, " We ll make this all right 
when we get on to Boston Common," to which the em 
phatic rejoinder would be, " That s so ! " 

One of the companies received a box from home, which, 
intended to reach them in the past winter at Falmouth, 
had lain buried in some express ofiice, and when unearthed 
had followed us down here. Considerable curiosity was 



154 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT,* 

manifested to see its contents. When opened it displayed 
a lot of woollen mittens ! a splendid pair for every man in 
the company, from the good ladies at home. How the boys 
roared could fortune have timed a gift more inopportunely ! 

The insatiable ramblers, who are found in every company, 
explored the neighborhood for figs and peaches, now ripe 
and plentiful. Some, even, got an opportunity to visit 
Vicksburg, and examine the captured works and spoils 
of victory. Boats, crowded with paroled Confederates, 
moved up the Yazoo, looking as gray as so many cargoes 
of millers good natured, for the most part, and ready for 
a stop to be put to the fighting. It appeared near the end 
to us, for the Mississippi ran unfettered to the sea. Gen 
eral Lee had again returned discomfitted to Virginia, and 
our armies were in good condition and better spirits than 
at any time since the war began. It seemed as though a 
general forward movement would crush in the sides of the 
sham edifice. 

The worst effect of the situation with us was the malaria 
and fever. Rations of quinine and whiskey were dealt out 
as regularly as roll-call. Among the victims to disease at 
Milldale were : Henry Kiley, of Company D ; Sergeant 
Charles E. Gannett, of Company H ; Corporal John F. 
Spofford, of Company F, and David Phalan, of Company 
I. These found graves in the cathedral shades of the 
Southern forest, where the drooping moss waves its ban 
ners above, and the magnolia casts its pure petals upon 
their resting places. Others: George H. Bacon, of Com 
pany A ; John H. Birch and Samuel G. Wright, of Com 
pany I, died on the passage up river, or at the hospitals 
along the return route. 

The small number of officers present was lessened by 
the departure of Captains Pratt and Preston, who had 
accepted promotions the former to lieutenant-colonel, 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 155 

the latter to major in General Wild s African Brigade 
in North Carolina. With them went Corporal Francis A. 
Bicknell, of Company H, William M. Titcomb, of Company 
I, and Amory O. Balch, of Company K, who had received 
commissions in the same corps. Doctor Snow was brigade 
surgeon, and Quartermaster Upton was on the staff at 
corps headquarters. Quartermaster-Sergeant Cutter was 
acting regimental quartermaster. Adjutant Wales received 
a commission as major of the regiment. 

Before our departure General Grant issued an order 
containing the following : " In returning the Ninth Corps 
to its former command, it is with pleasure that the general 
commanding acknowledges its valuable services in the 
campaign just closed. Arriving at Vicksburg opportunely, 
taking a position to hold at bay Johnston s army, then 
threatening the forces investing the city, it was ready and 
eager to assume the offensive at any moment. After the 
fall of Vicksburg, it formed a part of the army which 
drove Johnston from his position near the Big Black 
River into his intrenchments at Jackson, and, after a 
siege of eight days, compelled him to fly in disorder from 
the Mississippi Valley. The endurance, valor and general 
good conduct of the Ninth Corps are admired by all, and 
its valuable cooperation in achieving the final triumph of 
the campaign is gratefully acknowledged by the Army of 
the Tennessee. Major-General Parke will cause the dif 
ferent regiments and batteries of his command to inscribe 
upon their banners and guidons Vicksburg and Jack 
son. " It is not surprising that our men felt grateful to 
General Grant, and rejoiced, with a sort of fellow-feeling, 
in the subsequent brilliant campaigns of Grant and Sher 
man and their gallant armies. 

On the -sixth of August the regiment marched down to 
Haines s Bluff and on board the steamboat Planet, which 



156 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

was already crowded with the Eleventh New Hampshire, 
Fifty-First and Seventy-Ninth New York, and a company 
of the Forty-Fifth Pennsylvania. General Welsh, com 
manding the First Division, and staff were also on board." 
The general, who had entered the service as colonel of 
the Forty-Fifth Pennsylvania, was now ill with a disease 
incurred in the campaign which proved fatal. 

The progress up the river was similar to the journey 
down, but slower, and the depth of water less, requiring 
careful pilotage. The Planet was very much inferior to 
the old Imperial, and our quarters were uncomfortably 
crowded. When all the deck space, outside and in, was 
occupied there was hardly room for each man to lie down, 
and when a man had appropriated his six feet of plank, by 
depositing his pack or spreading his shelter tent over it, 
he kept it all the way, rain or shine. We stopped at 
Helena and, on the ninth, at Memphis to coal-up. The 
very sick were sent ashore to Overtoil Hospital. The 
able-bodied were given a few hours ashore to stretch their 
legs ; it is sad to relate that some, having discovered 
"tangle-foot" whiskey, returned to the boat with legs less 
steady from the stretching. The boys brought back all the 
soft bread they could carry, and the decks were stacked 
with loaves. The bread alone no one thought of butter 
it was so long since any had been seen was a welcome 
change from hard-tack and bacon-sides. Excellent coffee 
was made by turning the steam from the boiler of the 
steamboat into the mixture of ground coffee and cold 
water. There was a pretty little green park, or square, 
in Memphis, with a monument to General Jackson, bearing 
the motto, " The Federal Union it must and shall be pre 
served." Some Secessionist had chiselled off the word 
" Federal," with which attempted improvement the face of 
Jackson did not appear well pleased. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 157 

We reached Cairo at daybreak on the morning of the 
twelfth, and at 6 P. M. took the box cars for Cincinnati, 
passing over the former route through Centralia, Sandoval 
and Vincennes. If we were a hard-looking set when we 
first passed this way, we were a deal rougher returning; 
but our welcome along the road was more hearty than 
ever; even the coarsest food of every-clay life, offered 
along the way, was luxury after such a campaign. Arrived 
at Cincinnati, August 14, the boys said they felt as if they 
had got home. The regiment created a sensation in the 
streets by displaying the Confederate flag taken at Jackson, 
upside clown on our flag-staff, and the jest was received 
with unbounded applause. With the victories, East and 
West, the people were feeling quite happy. 

We crossed immediately to Covington, and went into 
camp near the One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Ohio, a 
six months regiment, with whom we at once fraternized. 
From them the boys caught several Western phrases, which 
were constantly repeated, and, no doubt, they did the same 
with our odd sayings. They were new troops, and were 
astonished to see the dispatch with which our men levelled 
a board fence, cut stakes and poles, pitched their shelters, 
made fires, and had coffee boiling and all comfortable in 
a few moments. Pedlers flocked about camp, but as our 
pocket-books were empty their show of cakes and fruits 
was more tantalizing than gratifying. To save fences, the 
quartermaster drew wood for fuel from Government for 
the first time sipce leaving Massachusetts. 

On the fifteenth a detail of men was sent to assist the 
officers of a battery, who, by the disabling of their men, 
had been left helpless with their guns, caissons and horses 
upon the Cincinnati side. Florian Matz, of Company I, 
a veteran hostler, proved himself a useful man in this 
movement. 



158 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

Our stay near the great city was brief. A guard was 
required to accompany a train of two hundred wagons 
to Hickman s Bridge, and the general, to our vexation, 
selected the Thirty-Fifth for the duty. All who were 
unable to make a quick march some seven of the officers 
and eighty of the men were sent to Camp Dennison, or 
forwarded by rail to Nicholasville. When the "invincibles" 
were drawn up in line they were found to number but six 
officers and two hundred and twenty-five men truly, the 
climate of Mississippi had done its work thoroughly! The 
six officers were Adjutant Wales, Assistant Surgeon Roche, 
Lieutenants Ingell, Pope, Tobey and Meserve. Captain 
Sims, of the Fifty-First New York, was detailed to com 
mand, but relieved next day by Captain Stuart, whose style 
of. discipline was not favorably received by the boys. 

The first day s march (August 18) was to Snow s Pond, 
fifteen miles, where we met the train ; after that, the men 
were given the privilege of riding or walking as they chose, 
and they took turns at each the army wagon has no 
springs, and riding in it is little better than walking. 
Many took a lesson in mule driving, and improved their 
acquaintance with that near relation of ours. The day s 
march on the nineteenth was but eleven miles to Crit- 
tenden, there being no watering-place for some distance 
ahead. The afternoon was spent in boiling corn and 
bacon, and devouring as much as each man could stuff; 
as good an antidote for malaria, perhaps, as the doctor 
could furnish. The location of camp was upon the edge 
of a large cornfield, and the owner seemed to have no 
objection to contributing a part of his crop to the Union 
cause. 

On the twentieth, thirty-one miles to Big Eagle Creek. 
On the twenty-first Captain Stuart, Sergeant Hodgdon 
and a detail of men captured two supposed guerillas, of 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 159 

whose hiding place they were informed by a colored man ; 
these prisoners were carried to Georgetown and delivered 
to the authorities ; we marched eleven miles to Dry Run, 
and camped on the Osborne estate, Scott County ; one 
of the drivers insulted Captain Stuart, who fired his pistol 
over the man s head, and tied him up under guard until 
morning. On the twenty-second we went twenty-one miles 
out of our way, through Georgetown and its rural surround 
ings,, to Paris, to load the wagons with forage. Sunday, 
the twenty-third, we rested ; the day was saddened by the 
funeral of John Davis, of Company H, who died the night 
before, and was buried at Paris. The men will always 
remember the kindness of Dr. Griffith, of Paris, who 
replenished their stock of tobacco on credit, trusting to 
obtain payment at our future camp, when the regiment 
should be paid off. 

On the twenty-fourth we made twenty miles to the ponds 
beyond Lexington, Adjutant Wales stopping in the city to 
get mustered in as major. On the twenty-fifth the train 
passed through Nicholasville, and the regiment parted 
from it, three miles beyond, at a place afterwards called 
Camp Parke, where Lieutenant Mirick, acting assistant 
quartermaster on General Fry s staff, located our camp 
ground. It was a pleasant thing to again pitch our shelter 
tents in correct regimental form in the groves of Old Ken 
tucky. At evening our new major Wales came into 
camp ; there was a cry, " Fall in, Thirty-Fifth ! " The 
men rallied and gave him three hearty cheers. Some 
unfortunates were almost immediately detailed to return 
to Covington, under Captain Rapelji, for another train. 
We were in danger of earning more honors as mule drivers 
than we coveted. 

The Thirty-Fifth was the first of our brigade to arrive 
upon the ground. The First Division was in camp south 



l6o HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

of us, and was suffering extremely from the debilitating 
results of the Southern campaign ; more even than our 
division. Our trip hither with the train and constant 
activity had set up our regiment well, and the arrival of 
the paymaster, Major Walker, with greenbacks and the 
quartermaster s supplies of new clothing, changed the 
appearance of things wonderfully in a few days. The 
rust of the Mississippi rains was scraped from the gun 
barrels and sword-scabbards, blacking brushes made their 
appearance, belt-plates got a polishing, and when inspection 
day came around on the thirtieth our major complimented 
the men for their trim appearance ; and, if he approved, 
the regiment must have deserved the commendation. 

Lieutenant Meserve was adjutant, and Lieutenants 
Mirick and Tobey, successively, quartermaster in this 
camp. Colonel Carruth visited camp, but was too ill 
to assume command ; and, indeed, he never seemed quite 
to recover his old energetic ways after the Vicksburg trip. 
His health, thereafter, was so broken that the hardships of 
subsequent campaigns were too great, generally, for him 
to endure. An elegant sword and belt, which had been 
subscribed for by the non-commissioned officers at the 
time of his promotion to the colonelcy, was exhibited and 
presented to him at Camp Parke. Lieutenant Colonel 
King called at our camp, and commanded at dress-parade 
on the evening of September i ; he was on detached ser 
vice at Lexington at this time. As for the "invincibles," 
having now only the lightest camp duty to attend while 
the sick and convalescent were recuperating, they led a 
merry life, as who would not in such a country with money 
in pocket. Big dinners of pork and cabbage or boiled 
fowl, or even citizen hospitality, were enjoyed with keen 
appetites, well knowing that the time for such things would 
soon end if past experience was to be consulted. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. l6l 

Men who had been left in Kentucky sick or detailed 
now rejoined, full of accounts of John Morgan s raid north 
of the Ohio, between July 8 and July 27 the days of our 
trip out to Jackson and back. Morgan came to heavy 
grief, and was captured with most of his men after a 
spirited chase by our cavalry, which, under able leaders, 
was now picking up in a way which soon made it more 
than a match for the Confederate horse. We learned, 
also, that General Burnside, finding the summer slipping 
away and our return to duty with him delayed, had started 
for East Tennessee, with cavalry and mounted infantry 
and the Twenty-Third Corps, we to follow as soon as men 
enough recovered to make it worth while. 

Looking back over the campaign in Mississippi, it forms, 
to those who were not attacked by the diseases of the cli 
mate, one of the pleasantest chapters of the war. It was 
laid among scenes where everything was novel and inter 
esting; and, while upon it, we enjoyed a share of the 
success which accompanied Grant and Sherman from that 
time forward. We had a taste of the wine of victory, and 
began to see the dawning of a successful end of the war, 
of which, in the neighborhood of the political strife and 
inefficiency about Washington, it was hard to continue 
hopeful. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

WINTER IN EAST TENNESSEE CAMPBELL S STATION AND 

KNOXVILLE, 1863-64. 

HE who breathes the air of mountains imbibes the 
love of freedom with every inspiration. The people 
inhabiting the hills and valleys of East Tennessee had 
been distinguished from the beginning of the war for their 
intelligent understanding of its causes and for their strong 
attachment to the Union. For two long years they had 
been subject to the odious rule of the Confederacy, and, 
though constantly and cruelly harried, their young men 
conscripted or driven across the mountains, their old men 
imprisoned and shamefully abused, they had never given 
up hope. The persecutions of the Scottish Covenanters 
were not more severe nor more full of heart-rending inci 
dent. President Lincoln had long been solicitous for their 
relief. It was the good fortune of General Burnside and 
the Twenty-Third Corps to carry the old flag back to East 
Tennessee, there to remain, and it was our happiness to 
assist in making its presence there permanently secure. 

The general left Crab Orchard August 21 a body of 
cavalry only making a feint upon the Cumberland Gap 
road while the main army, largely mounted infantry, 
bore away south through Montgomery, Tenn., passing 
into the valley of East Tennessee by way of Kingston, 
and so upon Knoxville from the south, September 3, and 
taking Cumberland Gap in rear ; whereupon General Fra- 
zier, the Confederate commander, surrendered with about 



163 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

twenty-five hundred men and eleven pieces of artillery. 
Upon the appearance of the Union army near Kingston 
the enemy s general Buckner had fled, burning the 
high railroad bridge at Loudon. 

While Burnside was making this advance, General Rose- 
crans occupied Chattanooga, September 9, and was con 
centrating in the valley of Chickamauga Creek, in front of 
General Bragg. The Confederate authorities had sent 
General Longstreet s Corps south to assist Bragg, fore 
seeing that if Rosecrans were thoroughly beaten Burnside 
must fly also. General Halleck, at Washington, became 
frightened at Rosecrans s danger, and telegraphed to Burn- 
side, September 13 received by him on the sixteenth 
" It is important that all the available force of your com 
mand be pushed forward into East Tennessee. So long 
as you hold Tennessee, Kentucky is perfectly safe," etc., 
and ordering him to connect with Rosecrans. General 
Burnsicle s troops were over one hundred and twenty- five 
miles from Chattanooga, but were started down the valley 
on the eighteenth. On the nineteenth and twentieth, how 
ever, Rosecrans was attacked, the sanguinary battle of 
Chickamauga was fought, and but for General Thomas the 
Union army would have been completely routed ; as it 
was, Chattanooga was held, though almost in a state of 
siege. 

All these movements were of interest to us, because 
they decided our whereabouts for the winter ; had Chicka 
mauga been a Union victory we, probably, should have 
lain in winter quarters in Kentucky. The First Division 
started for Tennessee about the tenth of September. On 
the seventh we, also, had orders; but General Grifrin, com 
manding the division, protested that only two thousand 
men were yet fit for duty in the whole Second Division, 
and the order was countermanded. The regiments were 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 164 

assigned to different posts in Kentucky : the Fifty-First 
New York at Camp Nelson, the Fifty-First Pennsylvania 
and Thirty-Fifth Massachusetts to Crab Orchard, and the 
Eleventh New Hampshire to London on the road to Cum 
berland Gap. The Twenty-First Massachusetts, not having 
been in the Mississippi campaign, left Crab Orchard for 
Tennessee about the sixteenth, with the Forty-Eighth Penn 
sylvania and Second Maryland as the First Brigade of our 
division. 

We left Camp Parke and marched for our post at Crab 
Orchard on the ninth of September, Captain Gibson in 
command Major Wales and Quartermaster Upton being 
away on leave. The men, for thirty cents each, hired a 
farmer to carry their knapsacks the first afternoon, eleven 
miles, to Camp Dick Robinson, passing Camp Nelson and 
the picturesque scenery about Hickman s Bridge and the 
Kentucky River for the third time. The major overtook 
the icgiment next day on the road to Lancaster, where we 
camped on a hill-side beyond the town, after a dusty march. 
On the eleventh we again reached the Springs beyond Crab 
Orchard. This town is a noted spa or mineral springs, 
much resorted to by invalids and pleasure seekers in peace 
times ; while we were there we had the use of the waters 
pretty much to ourselves. 

Here a lot of promotions was announced : First Lieu 
tenants Lyon, Hudson, Mirick and Stickney became cap 
tains ; Second Lieutenants Meserve, Tobey, Washburn and 
Gottlieb became first lieutenants the first named lieu 
tenant acting as adjutant, the second as quartermaster. 
Also Sergeant-Major Berry and Sergeant Creasey became 
first lieutenants; Austin J. White became sergeant-major. 
At this time Doctor Snow was surgeon and Upton quarter 
master of the Second Division. 

On the fifteenth of September we were again under 



165 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

orders for Knoxville, again countermanded, and, instead, 
we moved to the elevated fields of the Fair Grounds, east 
of the town, at first camping near the covered arena, after 
wards within the circle of the race-track, upon broad, level 
grounds the track, just one mile around, tempting the 
men to all kinds of trials of speed. This was called Camp 
Carruth. After orders had been thus twice countermanded 
the men made up their minds that Crab Orchard would be 
our winter quarters, and began to build huts, for which the 
ruinous fencing of the enclosure furnished inviting mate 
rials. Some were doubters, and shook their heads at the 
notion of winter quarters ; they pegged their tents close 
to the ground to keep out the winds stole what hay 
and straw they could for warm bedding, and kept their 
knapsacks always packed. During the whole winter a 
great source of amusement was the sanguine hopes of the 
hut-builders, always disappointed, and the cynical com 
ments of the doubters. The former, sometimes, out of 
mere bravado, kept on logging-up, when the advance troops 
were already falling back, saying, no one knows how long 
we shall stop here, and plain signs are not to be trusted 
in our case at least. 

Captain Gibson was appointed provost-marshal in the 
town, and Lieutenant Berry had command of the provost- 
guard. On the eighteenth the twenty-five hundred pris 
oners from the Gap passed through town on their way 
North ; they were broad-faced, sturdy-looking fellows. In 
the town there was some waving of handkerchiefs from 
upper windows, and the prisoners cheered ; but there was 
no violent demonstration of feeling. They were in charge 
of the Eighty-Sixth and, our old friends, the One Hundred 
and Twenty-Ninth Ohio. We had seen so many gray-coats 
under guard during the summer, a few thousand more 
seemed a matter of course the Confederacy was caving 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 1 66 

in rapidly ; then came the news of Chickamauga, exagger 
ated into a crushing disaster, and we felt blue ; the doubt 
ers chuckled, they foresaw now that the comfortable huts 
would soon be vacated. 

While at this camp Adjutant Meserve had a narrow 
escape while racing with Major Wales and Assistant 
Surgeon Roche, his horse becoming unmanageable at the 
sight of a dead mule, and throwing the rider, who was 
dragged some distance, fortunately without other injuries 
than severe bruises. Naaman Torrey, of Company H, 
died at the post hospital, and his remains were buried in 
the village cemetery, with military honors, the whole regi 
ment attending ; he will be better remembered as " Father 
Torrey." 

The Fifty-First Pennsylvania and Thirty-Fifth received 
the anticipated order for " over the mountains " on the 
thirtieth of September, eight days rations to be carried 
by each man in knapsack and haversack, which certainly 
looked like preparation for a hungry land. Captain Gibson 
was ill in town, and, consequently, had to be left behind ; 
Captain Blanchard, next senior, now recommissioned, joined 
the regiment and took command. The number of guns, 
including provost-guard, was only about one hundred and 
fifty at the start, so many men were sick or detailed. 

The march over the mountains was worth making for 
the pleasure of it alone. The road led through a wild 
country abounding in natural beauties and wonders. The 
month was October, the harvest season of the year, and, 
like our tramp along the Blue Ridge the autumn previous, 
the route was among hills glowing with resplendent foliage 
or empurpled by distance. The way was enlivened by the 
drum and fife, or the bugle echoing from the sides of the 
hills, calling the halt, or the more unwelcome signal for 
forward movement. Just before the start there was an 



167 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

alarm in camp, while the regiment was upon fatigue duty, 
mending the road towards Mount Vernon, and Companies 
G and I were hurried back to quarters ; but the expected 
scrimmage with guerillas did not come off. 

The column left Crab Orchard on the second of October, 
passing over what appeared at that time the roughest road 
we had ever seen. One of our wagons and one of the 
Fifty-First got capsized during the afternoon ; others stuck 
in the mud; the work of the teamsters was harder than 
that of the foot soldiers ; the march was twelve miles 
nearly to Mount Vernon. The second day we made but 
five miles, passing through the town and over a moun 
tain, and going into camp near a big spring a full stream, 
or brook, issuing from the mouth of a cavern in the hill 
side. Many of the men went into this cave without finding 
the end; but, being without guides or proper lanterns, it 
was rather a hazardous exploration. The following day 
(the fourth) was a hard one for the teams, climbing over 
Wild Cat Mountain the scene of several conflicts early 
in the war, the lines of earthworks still visible. For the 
sake of the draught animals we went into camp early, at 
Little Rockcastle River, and the men spent the afternoon 
hunting for pigs and persimmons. On the fifth there was 
continued heavy work for teams, at one place a steep ascent 
for a mile required the use of ten mules to haul each wagon. 
The boys, however, felt frisky, and the mountain air was 
so bracing that, a mile or so before getting into camp at 
Pitman s, near London, they must needs have a race with 
the artillery. The men set up a shout, the drivers whipped 
up their horses, and away we went on the run, " Hi ! hi! 
hi!" through the pitch-pine woods and over the sandy 
road into the camp of the Eleventh New Hampshire, in a 
way to scare off whatever of malaria still hung about us 
that was a jolly race ! The men of the Eleventh were glad 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 1 68 

to see the old brigade in such high spirits. We passed on 
the road seventy-five Confederate prisoners for Camp Nel 
son, under guards from the Eighty-Sixth Ohio. 

The regiments had a rest of several days here while 
waiting for batteries to come up; they were Benjamin s, 
"E," Second United States Artillery, and Edwards, "L" 
and "M," Third United States Artillery both old friends. 
Major Wales and Lieutenant Washburn joined, the latter 
being appointed permanent adjutant, a position which he 
held to the end of our service, though absent on staff duty 
or otherwise most of the time ; while he was away Lieu 
tenant Meserve acted as adjutant until promoted captain. 
Rations were all consumed, and the men were glad to fill 
up their haversacks from the accumulated surplus of the 
Eleventh, who had been here for some time. The Eleventh 
was left at London to follow on with a supply train ; the 
Fifty-First and Thirty-Fifth proceeded on the tenth to 
Laurel Creek. This was the day of the battle of the First 
Division and the Twenty-First Massachusetts of our old 
brigade at Blue Springs near Bull Gap, of which there was 
a good deal said when we first reached Knoxville. The 
day following the roads improved, and we made twenty 
miles, to beyond Barboursville on the Cumberland River, 
here a wide, clear stream, with banks overhung with 
foliage. 

On the twelfth of October our march was sixteen miles 
to the ford of the Cumberland, situated in the midst of 
scenery worthy of an artist s pencil. The beautiful river, 
enclosed by wooded mountains, affected the senses with an 
indescribable charm. But the interest with us was more 
practical ; there was, of course, no bridge, and this was 
our first experience in fording a wide river ; the question 
was, whether it would be better to try to cross barefoot 
and bruise still more, upon the rough stones, the feet 



169 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

already raw with marching, or wear shoes and have wet feet 
for twenty-four hours afterwards. It is a sufficient answer 
to say that, whichever method was tried, the experimenter 
wished afterwards that he had adopted the other. A regi 
ment fording a river offers a picturesque foreground to fine 
scenery, and if any of the men slip into holes the picture 
becomes very lively. We camped beyond the ford, and 
had an opportunity to dry clothes. Mountaineers came 
in with chestnuts, and when we complained of the high 
price declared the nuts worth it, for they had to cut down 
the trees to pick them, whereupon we asked, with inquiring 
minds, if that was the usual way of gathering fruit in that 
country. The next day s tramp over Three Log Mountains 
will be remembered for the down-pour of rain and the slip 
pery roads ; the wet clay offered so little foothold that the 
ordinary exertion of marching was doubled. That night 
we pitched tents in a cold rain turning to snow, but within 
sight of Cumberland Gap. 

On the fourteenth of October the long train of infantry, 
artillery and trains climbed the winding ascent to the 
famous Gap a depression in the mountain range through 
which the road found a passage. These Cumberland 
Mountains are a continuation of the Virginia mountain 
system, but on a grander scale, and the country about 
them is wilder and more difficult by far. The summits 
above the pass were fortified, and appeared impregnable 
to the assaults of every foe but starvation. To give eclat 
to our passage Parson Brownlow appeared, on the way to 
his home in Knoxville, in company with his daughter, in a 
carriage the only vehicle of the kind we met on the 
journey. He was an old hero in our eyes, and when he 
got out and walked up through the pass the regiment 
cheered, while the band played patriotic tunes it was a 
triumphal welcome home to the redoubtable patriot. The 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 1 70 

boundary lines of three States Kentucky, Tennessee and 
Virginia meet in the centre of an immense marking- 
stone, upon which many of the boys took a seat, to be 
able to say that they had been in all three States at once. 
The view from the top was over an endless sea of billowy, 
wooded hills, with few signs of human culture or habi 
tation. 

Coming down the south of the Gap we crossed Powell s 
River a fine stream, tributary to the Clinch River upon 
a bridge, just beyond which one of the men, stepping into 
a log-house for a coal of fire to light his pipe, came flying 
out, pursued by an old hag, in appearance a very witch of 
the mountains probably an insane person her long 
white hair streaming behind her. At Tazewell we halted 
over for a day, the road being very difficult for the teams. 
Apples and fresh pork were abundant ; the camp was 
adorned with piles of the rosy fruit, which the boys 
brought in for the pleasure of looking at them, for they 
could not all be eaten nor carried along. The branches 
of the trees about the camp-fires were hung with quarters 
of unlucky pigs, who had died of blue-pill or the prod of 
a soldier s bayonet, and were now seasoning for a savory 
roast. Those of the regiment who were disposed towards 
mild drinks made the acquaintance of the mellifluous sor 
ghum molasses, while those who claimed to be iron-clads 
tested their capacity with raw apple-jack just from the 
still. 

On the sixteenth, in a heavy rain,, we forded Clinch 
River, a branch of the Tennessee, the water clear and 
ice-cold, knee-deep. It was a pretty scene to watch 
Captain Ingell leading across the wide stream, the rain 
drops dripping from his hat and rubber coat, the water 
gurgling around his massive legs, his steaming puffs for 
breath, and pointed remarks upon the situation adding 



171 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

force to the whole. On the further bank the regiments 
went into camp upon the hills in an upland cotton-field 
the cotton still hanging in the bolls where blazing fires 
restored the circulation to benumbed members. Next day 
we plodded along with difficulty over a rough road, where 
the brook, which usually accompanies the mountain roads, 
was not satisfied with either side of the valley, but crossed 
and recrossed the track continually, much to the discom 
fiture of shoe leather and army socks, and so on through 
Maynardsville, where the Union flag was flying. Passing 
the village of Gravestown on the eighteenth, over a road 
deep with soft, sticky mud, the rail fences before the houses 
were gay with little red flags signs of small-pox within; 
their hospitalities were, therefore, not sought, in spite of 
the drizzle and dreariness without doors. At night we 
camped within four miles of Knoxville and received letters 
from home, which had preceded us by another route. On 
the following morning (October 19) we reached the suburbs 
of the city, and pitched our shelter tents south of Second 
Creek, near the engine-house of the East Tennessee and 
Kentucky Railroad, upon a field afterwards occupied by 
the Confederate picket line. 

The inarch of one hundred and forty miles over such 
rough roads had given the boys troublesome appetites, 
which they were destined to keep keen during the winter. 
Captain Rapelji, brigade quartermaster, happening to pass 
the camp, was saluted with such loud cries of "Hard-tack! 
hard-tack ! " that he took offence and complained of the 
insult, whereupon the major ordered a moonlight inspec 
tion, not of stomachs, but of equipments, as a punishment 
the preparation for inspection after a long march, pol 
ishing guns, brasses, etc., is no light matter and he also 
improved the occasion to censure the shouters for their 
bad manners. On the twentieth, the cavalry of the depart- 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 172 

ment, both up and down the valley, met with such severe 
handling that it was drawn nearer to Knoxville; so we 
appeared to have arrived just in time for the fun ahead. 

During the following two days an opportunity was given 
to most of the men to visit the town, which they found 
much better built and more city-like than they anticipated. 
There were large railroad stations and freight houses, 
hotels, markets, a university, asylum for deaf and dumb, 
numerous churches and schools, and street lamps for gas ; 
but the gasworks had been destroyed by the Confederates. 
The town was not fortified, but situated upon hills com 
manding the surrounding country to the north, and pro 
tected by the Holston River and high hills on the south. 

The higher powers seemed to be uncertain of the future, 
to judge from their conduct towards us, for we got daily 
orders to pack up and be ready to march, countermanded 
again as often, until the repetition became vexatious. 
Finally, at dark on the twenty-second, the regiment started 
for the city, only to enjoy a comfortable sleep upon the 
platform of the freight-house at the station. It rained in 
the morning, and the troops crowded into the station, 
where fires were built between the railroad ties, and the 
men gathered about with steaming overcoats. Mingled 
with us was a lot of East Tennessee cavalry, wild-looking 
fellows, like Texas Rangers ; they had their saddles with 
them and were waiting for remounts. A cooky-shop stood 
open for trade in gingerbread and apples ; the first and last 
time we saw a huckster s stand in that country. The weather 
was dull and autumnal, and with the rather dilapidated 
surroundings of the place oppressed the spirits. Chicka- 
mauga still weighed upon the mind ; the rails we were 
sitting upon ran directly to it, distant some one hundred 
miles south-west, down the great valley of East Tennessee. 

In the afternoon the box cars we were waiting for arrived, 



173 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

and in a pouring rain we ran slowly down to the Tennessee 
River, opposite Loudon, some thirty miles, getting out at 
the abutment of the high railroad bridge, the stone piers 
still standing but superstructure destroyed as above men 
tioned. It was dark, and scrambling through the mud to 
the hills south of the railroad we received the usual sar 
castic order, "Make yourselves comfortable for the night!" 
and with fence-rails soaking wet, and with difficulty ignited, 
we boiled the indispensable coffee, rigged some sort of 
shelter, and sank to sleep in soft beds of mire. 

After one day of full rations a roll of soft bread the 
next day but half the quantity appeared, and we were 
informed that in future half-rations only would be issued, 
which meant an ever-present craving sense of hunger for 
the rest of the campaign. As there was no occupation for 
a day or two, and as it was of no use sitting about the fires 
guessing what movements were afoot, the men started out 
hunting for "belly-timber." One device was to make bread 
of the shorts, bran or middlings, which could be obtained 
in Loudon, although flour or bread could not. As to the 
success of this, we advise any one who wishes to enjoy a 
stunning headache to try bread made of pure shorts. The 
cavalry, supported by infantry, were somewhere on the 
south side of the Tennessee, towards a place called Phil 
adelphia, and rumors of the defeat of Wolford s Cavalry, 
alluded to above, found their way into camp. Distant 
cannonading could be heard, but what it meant was none 
of our business, at least so we were told ; it was slow work 
for inquisitive Yankees to learn to leave to the general the 
planning and management of the campaign. So complex 
are extended field movements and so narrow the field of 
view of each soldier, that what seems to him confusion 
may be well-arranged combination, apparent defeat may 
be success, or vice versa; consequently, the old soldier 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 174 

learns to distrust first appearances and wait for orders,- 
which constitutes his "steadiness" as compared with the 
new recruit. 

However, on the twenty-eighth the mystery was solved, 
the infantry followed by the cavalry came back to the 
north bank of the river, and four regiments, including 
ours, were detailed to take up the pontoon-bridge, which 
was a home-made affair of box boats. The further end of 
the bridge was cut loose, and the boats were swung to our 
side, dragged out by mules, and, with much heavy lifting, 
the materials were loaded upon flat cars and sent towards 
Knoxville. A locomotive and cars had been taken, piece 
meal, to the south bank, and put together in running order; 
there was not time to bring them back, and they must be 
destroyed. A full head of steam was gathered in the 
engine, the cars hitched on, and started for the brink of 
the abyss where the bridge had been the driver jumping 
off and leaving the train to its fate. We were busy upon 
the river bank when the train was heard approaching the 
abutment high above us ; all looked up and watched for 
the catastrophe. On came the engine, roaring like a wild 
bull ; it reached the abutment, leaped into the air, and 
with its cars plunged headlong into the river; the agitated 
waters foamed and raged, then flowed on calmly as before. 
It seemed as if we had witnessed the drowning of a friend. 

Soon after, a few mounted men in gray appeared upon 
the southern bank, bearing a flag of truce. Captain 
McKibben with some companions crossed in a boat and 
returned with despatches for General Burnside, of which 
we did not learn the contents ; but it was apparent that 
the Confederates were gradually narrowing our field of 
operations. They were, however, in no immediate haste 
to cross the Tennessee, for next day we retired quietly 
about six miles to the plain about Lenoir s Station, and 



175 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

went into camp, with the information that we might re 
main there all winter, or not ; it would depend upon the 
movements of the enemy. A large oven for a government 
bakery was commenced at the station, an undertaking 
which implied permanency, and the hut-builders were en 
couraged to commence again, drawing lumber from a ruined 
mill on the Kingston road. General Burnside stopped a 
few clays in camp, and all things quieting down he re 
turned to Knoxville. The little Army of the Ohio for 
that was the proper name of Burnside s command was 
posted with White s division of the Twenty-Third Corps at 
London, our two divisions of the Ninth Corps at Lenoir s, 
and the cavalry at the outposts. 

The situation of Lenoir s was excellent for cantonments. 
Wooded hills surrounded the level ground through which 
the railroad ran. To the south was the clear-flowing 
Holston, at this point joined by the Little Tennessee, 
coming in from its sources among the North Carolina 
mountains to form the Tennessee ; the three streams 
dividing the country into three great triangles, from either 
of which, by our pontoon-bridge, we could draw forage. 
There was direct railroad connection with Knoxville, and, 
by way of Kingston, communication was open with the 
main army at Chattanooga, now under General Grant ; 
for he, also, had come eastward from the Mississippi to 
this central point of interest for the winter, and had super 
seded General Rosecrans. The open ground between our 
color-line and the railroad afforded a good field for evolu 
tions, and morning and afternoon the Thirty-Fifth was busy 
practising the skirmish drill under the direction of Major 
Wales. The men soon became proficient in the movements 
in obedience to the notes of Gardner s bugle : " Forward," 
" In retreat," " Lie clown," " Rise up," " Commence firing," 
V Cease firing," "Rally," etc. A foraging expedition 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 176 

under command of Lieutenant Meserve, to the country 
towards Kingston, was very successful. 

Lieutenant Dunbar, Commissary-Sergeant Plummer and 
a squad of convalescents joined on the fourth and fifth of 
November, and on the ninth Captains Lyon and Hudson 
returned ; the former took command of Company D, the 
latter of Company H. Surgeon Snow left for Crab 
Orchard, and Lieutenant Creasey was detailed on the staff 
of Colonel Leasure, to collect men of the Ninth Corps in 
Kentucky and Ohio. 

Several alarms were occasioned by wandering Confed 
erate scouts feeling the pickets. A light pontoon-bridge 
was thrown across the Holston, south of our camp, to make 
a connection with our mounted infantry on the Little Ten 
nessee. The Thirty-Fifth spent the night of the eleventh on 
the south bank on picket in the woods, without disturbance ; 
several pigs met with a, to us, timely end, and persimmon 
trees got a good whacking. 

The Confederates, having failed in their efforts to pre 
vent Grant and Thomas from opening railroad connection 
between Chattanooga and the base of supplies at Nashville, 
now turned their attention to freeing their own direct 
communication with Lee s army and Virginia, which our 
position severed. General Longstreet was given, by re 
port, some 20,000 men for this purpose, General Bragg 
thinking himself able to hold Grant in Chattanooga with 
the remainder of his divided army ; an error in judgment 
for which he had to pay dearly soon after at Lookout 
Mountain and Missionary Ridge. 

At three o clock in the morning of the fourteenth of No 
vember, in the darkness and rain, the regiment was awakened 
and ordered to " turn out without noise and stack arms on 
the color line." The builders had their huts and mud 
chimneys almost done and were anxious to learn "what 



177 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

was up," but the cynics were ready with their " I told you 
so." After waiting some two hours, further orders came : 
"Pack up and be ready to strike tents at a moment s 
warning," the tents were left till the last moment on 
account of the severity of the weather. Soon after, " Strike 
tents ! " and when this was done, down came the rain in a 
deluge. At daylight the trains began moving towards 
Knoxville, and things began to look decidedly lively on 
the road northward as the forenoon wore away wagons, 
ambulances, artillery and troops, all on the move in the 
road and alongside. No one appeared to be going towards 
Loudon. This was the scene before us as we sat upon 
our knapsacks among the ruins of camp, reading Parson 
Brownlow s " Knoxville Whig and Rebel Ventilator," first 
copies of which had just been issued arid were selling at 
fifteen cents each. During the forenoon our pontoon- 
bridge over the Holston, in rear of camp, was destroyed. 

About two in the afternoon a locomotive came down 
from Knoxville and stopped in front of us, a few rods dis 
tant. From the tender jumped Generals Burnside and 
Ferrero, and in less than fifteen minutes affairs took a 
different turn ; the fighting portion of the army was faced 
about, and soon the First Division, Ferrero s, was on the 
way south towards Loudon. All this time the wildest 
rumors were circulated, but no sounds of fighting reached 
us until near sunset, when a few cannon-shots were heard. 
It was announced that Longstreet was crossing the Tennes 
see by a pontoon-bridge at Hough s Ferry below Loudon, 
opposite General Julius White s division of the Twenty- 
Third Corps, to whose aid our First Division had marched. 
It was obvious to us that the enemy must be delayed as much 
as possible to enable our trains to reach Knoxville and the 
city to be fortified. He had about three men to our one, 
so hindering rather than fighting him was our only prudent 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 178 

course. It has since been stated that, by an understand 
ing between Generals Grant and Burnside, our little army 
was fronted close to Longstreet to bait him on and draw 
him so far from Bragg that a return would be impracticable, 
when the grand battles about Chattanooga should be de 
livered. Finally the day passed, and we were still on the 
same ground ; but, as most of the tents were down, there 
was little chance for rest, even if the order for movement 
at a moment s notice had not been continued. Some, 
nevertheless, with the indifference to the future acquired 
by experience, wisely improved the present by getting 
three or four hours sleep. 

We were routed out again at half-past one in the morn 
ing of the fifteenth rather early for Sunday morning 
and this time there was no delay ; in twenty minutes we 
were upon the road south, towards Loudon, and a most 
disagreeable march it proved. To say that the road was 
rough and muddy that night is but a feeble description of 
it ; men stumbled upon each other in the darkness, rapping 
their file leaders over the head with their muskets, or 
slipped and sat in the mud, then started on again, guided 
by the exclamations of comrades rather than by sight, and 
in the morning found themselves dabbled with mud to the 
waist. At daylight we reached the high land about half a 
mile below Loudon, and got a chance to cook coffee and 
dry our clothes a little. 

With the dawn the clouds cleared away for awhile and 
it was colder, then November s gray sky settled down 
over the scene. On first reaching the Tennessee no 
enemy appeared ; about ten o clock the Twenty-First Mas 
sachusetts was deployed as skirmishers and moved down 
the river until they struck the foe, who, however, did not 
attack us, being intent upon his crossing and seeking to 
pass by our right-flank to get the start in a race for Knox- 



179 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

ville, which he knew to lie open to him. General Burnside 
had about 6,000 men in hand ; General Potter command 
ing the Ninth Corps, Colonel Sigfried our division, and 
Colonel Schall our brigade. The Thirty-Fifth was drawn 
back out of sight, and lay in a deep wooded valley, near 
some deserted log huts of the Twenty-Third Corps, listen 
ing to the light skirmishing in front ; our men poking over 
the cast-off shoes about the premises, seeking to supply 
deficiences in shoe-leather. 

Meanwhile General White s Division of the Twenty- 
Third Corps and our First Division had retired to Lenoir s, 
leaving our division, in its turn, to cover the rear. About 
the middle of the afternoon the Twenty-First came off the 
skirmish line, column was formed,, and we started for Le 
noir s at quick time with flankers out on the left. Reach 
ing the neighborhood of the station at dusk, our regiment 
was deployed as skirmishers, faced to the rear, across the 
road we had just come over and the railroad. The position 
was taken by order communicated through Captain Davis 
of the brigade staff, and, as it was known that the enemy 
was at least abreast of us on the road from Kingston to 
Lenoir s, the arrangement was looked upon as a sacrifice 
of the Thirty-Fifth. It was remarked to the Captain : 
"This means that this regiment is to be killed, wounded 
or taken prisoners ; " he replied, " It looks very much like 
it, good bye," and rode off. 

As the men took positions behind rocks and trees, peer 
ing into the darkness, the last of the rear guard (cavalry) 
rode past, and silence fell on all ; the chirp of an insect 
sounded like the rebel yell, and every foot-fall was the 
tramp of the advancing enemy. It was uncertain from 
which direction the gray-coats might first appear, front, 
flank or rear. Color-Sergeant Patch was posted down the 
road with the colors, with instructions what to do with the 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. l8o 

flags should the regiment be overpowered. Such moments 
are trying at the time, but, if the result be happy, are not 
unpleasant to remember. But a sacrifice was not required ; 
in a little while a galloping horse was heard in rear and 
another staff officer appeared with orders to withdraw the 
regiment, and, rallying the battalion, we marched in quick 
time to Lenoir s and the open field in front of our old 
camp ground. Here all the huts were burning with some 
much-needed clothing and shoes, which there had been no 
time to distribute in due form. A roll of bread two 
day s half rations was given to each man for food until 
Knoxville should be reached, twenty-four miles away. 
Colonel Hartranft met us here and took command of our 
division. The First Division and White s Division lay in 
the woods on the north-west, side of the station, facing the 
enemy on the Kingston road, and as we passed slowly 
across the plain now ruddy with the flames, their skir 
mishers kept up a pretty steady volley of musketry, sug 
gestive of our fate had the regiment been left upon the 
Loudon road. The night scene was thrillingly picturesque. 
While Ferrero s and White s divisions thus maintained 
their position at Lenoir s, again in their turn covering the 
rear, Hartranft s Division, with mounted infantry, was sent 
forward to occupy the junction of our road with another 
road from Kingston coming in from the south-west some 
eight miles nearer Knoxville at Campbell s Station, the 
next point for which it was supposed Longstreet would 
strike. The Thirty-Fifth was detailed to help forward 
Benjamin s battery. The condition of the roads for the 
movement of trains and artillery was execrable ; where the 
wheels did not sink in the mud they were blocked by 
rough rocks ; the horses had been overworked for the past 
twenty-four hours and were now so balky as to be almost 
useless for hauling ; so the column hitched along out of 



l8l HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

Lenoir s at a snail s pace, the men not knowing at first the 
cause of the delay. At last, patience became exhausted, 
ranks were broken and the men caught hold of the muddy 
rims of wheels or parts of gun-carriages, wherever a hand 
could seize them, and pushed and shoved to assist the 
animals. The fences along the way were burning to light 
the work. In this way we were eight hours making the 
first three miles. Towards morning Lieutenant Ben 
jamin, finding that unless there were greater speed his 
guns would fall into the hands of the enemy, ordered a 
part of the ammunition and the rear caisson destroyed ; 
in the latter, however, he failed, being unable to procure 
an axe. He labored hard all night, and, notwithstanding 
the perplexities of the situation, kept his temper through 
out, talking very calmly to his men as if all was progress 
ing favorably. The rope prolonges were brought out and 
attached, and the guns were slowly dragged through the 
mire by hand ; finally the horses of the mounted infantry 
were used to haul them. 

At daylight of the sixteenth, flankers were thrown out 
upon our left, and much better progress was made. As we 
approached the junction at Campbell s Station, the country 
on our right was mostly open, cleared land ; on the left it 
was heavily wooded, excepting a field of about six acres at 
the meeting of the roads. The Thirty-Fifth formed line in 
this field, north of the road, and advanced across it to the 
woods on the further side. At this time the musketry was 
quite brisk to our right, as we then faced, a little further 
down the Kingston road, where Longstreet s advance had 
engaged the mounted infantry and Morrison s brigade of 
Ferrero s Division. Here several of our men were wounded 
by shots from the right, but no enemy appeared in our 
front, and as soon as the last of our wagons had passed, 
we were marched to the line of battle north of the village. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 182 

A commanding position had been selected by Generals 
Burnside and Potter, and the artillery having been posted 
all the troops were withdrawn from the junction, and 
drawn up in line of battle from side to side of the open 
country. We had five batteries on the Union side ; while 
the Confederates were slow in getting up their artillery, 
on account of the bad roads. With both our flanks rest 
ing upon wooded hills, and the guns in position defended 
by veteran soldiers, the narrow front of about a mile be 
came a formidable barrier to Longstreet s progress. As 
we faced to the rear, the Fifty-First Pennsylvania was upon 
the left of this line, the Thirty-Fifth next, with a skirmish 
line, composed of Companies C, D and K, in front. In 
this left wing were the guns of Roemer s battery, which 
did excellent service. To attack us the enemy must come 
out of the woods and expose themselves to our artillery. 
From our position we could see both armies, and it was a 
grand sight. The Confederates came out in line with 
colors flying, fully expecting, apparently, that as soon as 
they got close to us we would retreat as before ; but they 
were mistaken, for no sooner were they in sight than our 
batteries poured shells and shrapnel into their ranks with 
terrible effect ; we could see the shells burst among them, 
and they would break and run for the woods. 

At the opening of the engagement in this second posi 
tion, about noon, we could see their batteries take position 
in a field near the road we had passed over, and send 
shells in our direction, which burst in too close proximity 
to be pleasant; but their guns were soon silenced by our 
batteries. We could also see their infantry marching 
across from the Kingston road to the woods upon our left. 
Their attack commenced upon the right of the line, 
Ferrero s Division, and, being repulsed, worked towards 
our front, avoiding a direct assault upon the centre, 



183 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

White s Division. After awhile, our artillery continuing 
to shell them whenever they could be seen, we discovered 
a force coming over the crest of the hill through the woods 
on our left; Roemer immediately changed front and gave 
them a few shot so well placed that they sought cover on 
the double-quick, scattering "like nine-pins," as an ob 
server expressed it. 

They kept on, however, working around in the \voods 
on the left, and to prevent being flanked it became neces 
sary to withdraw the whole line of battle, between three 
and four o clock, to a new position in rear, upon the top 
of the hill we were occupying. This movement to the rear 
was executed with perfect regularity, and we took up a 
position similar to the former, but commanding it so that 
the Confederates must still further stretch out their flank 
to reach ours. The evolutions upon this battle-field were 
like the moves upon a chess-board, and were executed 
with a precision and regard for military art seldom dis 
played in active field service in our thickly wooded country. 
One of our batteries was stationed in an orchard near the 
centre of the line of battle and a little in advance of this 
last position ; beside it General Burnside remained most 
of the time, carefully scanning the whole field. 

Late in the afternoon the Confederates were observed 
again working upon our flank, and we gave them the same 
warm reception as before and with the same discomfitting 
result. But this time their halt was only temporary, and 
soon after, when most of our army, filing off by the right, 
had taken the road towards Knoxville, and we were pre 
paring to follow, the enemy again appeared coming on. 
Our skirmishers, under command of Lieutenant Meserve, 
opened a brisk fire and stood their ground without waver 
ing. Word was sent to Roemer s battery, then limbering 
up, the guns were again sighted and a round of shells sent 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 184 

among the gray-coats which chilled their enthusiasm. It 
was now late, and so dark it had become difficult to dis 
tinguish friend from foe, even at short distance, and the 
obscurity concealed the Confederates from our view. The 
skirmishers were ordered to rally on the regiment, which 
they did with a will, and the column turned into the road 
and left the field to Longstreet and the darkness of night. 
The purpose of delaying him for twenty-four hours longer 
had been attained and our trains secured. 

As we passed a wagon by the roadside, ammunition was 
distributed, and then the men summoned resolution for an 
other night march of sixteen miles. Skirmishing was heard 
behind us all the first part of the night, General White s 
Division of the Twenty-Third Corps and the cavalry now 
covering the rear ; but towards morning this ceased. The 
engineers felled trees across the road to retard the enemy, 
who were easily distanced. The day s work on both sides 
at Campbell s Station had been worthy of troops who had 
come from Gettysburg and Vicksburg to test each other s 
skill and courage in this far-away corner of the mountains. 
The casualties in our regiment had been several slightly 
wounded and one missing, Charles H. Ellis, of Company 
I, adjutant s clerk, who was taken prisoner and died at 
Belle Isle near Richmond. 

This was, to most of the men, the third night without 
sleep, so that their condition was pitiable. Night march 
ing in close ranks is hard, under the most favorable cir 
cumstances ; these last few hours before reaching Knox- 
ville were spent as in a dream, many declaring that they 
slept while marching ; officers dozed in the saddle ; tired 
human nature could endure no more and insisted upon its 
right to rest. After halting, numbers who had dropped 
asleep had to be awakened with the warnings that to 
rest now was a sure preliminary to Libby Prison ; a few, 



185 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

happily, continued wide awake and spurred on the rest. 
The column entered Knoxville early in the morning of 
November 17 ; a rest of a couple of hours was given, and the 
half-starved men received rations of beef and hard bread. 

General Ferrero s Division had reached the town first, 
and was now posted on the high lands facing to the south 
west and west and extending from the Holston River 
around Fort Sanders, the salient, to Second Creek, which 
was the stream running by our first camp ground near 
Knoxville. Our division, arriving in town second, was 
extended from Second Creek to First Creek and faced 
north-west and north. The Twenty-Third Corps, coming 
along in rear, now occupied Temperance Hill and the 
north-east side of the town, also the high fortified hills on 
the south side of the Holston, which were connected with 
the city by a pontoon-bridge. Our First Brigade held the 
left of our division line, our brigade the right, and our 
regiment held the extreme right of all, next to the mill and 
dam on First Creek. 

Marching through the town to our position, we halted 
and stacked arms in the open field upon the hill overlook 
ing First Creek, the East Tennessee and Virginia Rail 
road, and the rolling, cleared ground beyond, gently rising 
from us to the pitch-pine woods through which was cut, 
directly in our front, the road to Cumberland Gap ; to the 
left was the road to Jacksboro. There were no buildings 
of importance between us and the Gap road, but on the 
left there were well-built houses with gardens extending 
out upon the way to Jacksboro. On the outer slope of our 
hill a line of intrenchments was drawn, and all hands went 
busily to work to make cover. A large part of the labor 
was done by citizens, especially colored volunteers from 
the city, and in a surprisingly short time a trench sufficient 
for our purpose was dug along the whole front. The 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. l86 

Fifty-First Pennsylvania was in line upon our left"; then 
the line was cut by the steep descent of the street to the 
railroad station, and beyond was located the rest of our 
brigade upon the high bluff overhanging the station. The 
Fifteenth Indiana battery was posted on the highest part 
of our hill, behind an earthwork and bales of cotton 
sheathed with raw-hides. This work was called Battery 
Billingsley, after an officer killed during the siege. 

It was a strange sight to see citizens clothed in gray or 
butternut, with long rifle in hand, come down and take 
places by our side in the trenches for the defence of their 
homes. We had been so long accustomed to look upon 
that color as hostile, its appearance in our ranks was very 
cheering to the men. Our shelter-tents were pitched in 
regular order in rear of the battery and beside the city 
street ; but most of the regiment passed the first night in the 
trenches, sleeping upon their arms the first sleep to most 
of them for seventy hours. Time for this work and rest 
was gained by the heroic conduct of our cavalry, south of 
the city, under General Sanders, in which action that gal 
lant leader was mortally wounded. As the enemy closed 
around pickets were sent out ; the detail of sixty men from 
our regiment being under Captain Mirick. They con 
structed a line of low rifle-pits about half a mile to the front, 
and extending from the Gap road south to near Second 
Creek, a line which was held by our brigade pickets during 
the siege, connecting, of course, at both ends with the 
pickets of the other divisions. During his tour of duty 
Captain Mirick was wounded by a bullet from the enemy 
through his wrist. As Longstreet had not sufficient force 
to entirely invest the city, his main force was concentrated 
around the south-west and west sides, where he had better 
positions for his artillery and at the same time interposed 
between us and Grant s army. 



187 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

Central Burnside issued an order stating that there was 
to be no further retreat, and Knoxville was to be held at 
all hazards and to the last man. The question of food 
supply seemed to be the most difficult to meet ; only half 
or even quarter rations were issued, the bread sometimes 
having the appearance of being made of a mixture of rye 
and refuse grains and quite black in color; but the men 
echoed the spirit of their beloved leader and stood up to 
their share of the work unflinchingly. The following diary 
of the siege, kept by Captain Nason, then First Sergeant of 
Company K, sets forth the daily life of the enlisted men 
during those trying days better than any description which 
we can now give : 

"Wednesday, November i8th. We were relieved from 
the trenches in the morning by the Eleventh New Hamp 
shire. Every preparation is being made to hold the city ; 
the Fifty-First Pennsylvania and Thirty-Fifth were busy 
most of the clay in stopping a run of water (First Creek) 
by making a dam, filling up with dirt, stones and brush, in 
order to overflow the space between the fortifications and 
the railroad, which would be a great hindrance to the 
enemy in making an assault. The citizens living outside 
of our intrenchments were ordered to vacate their dwell 
ings. Another detail from the regiment relieved the picket 
at six P. M. 

"Thursday, igth. A part of the regiment is ordered to 
remain in the trenches, the rest to be ready to fall in at a 
moment s notice. There was considerable picket firing 
during the day. A rebel battery, with white horses, made 
its appearance from the woods and fired three shots ; one 
of them passed through a tent in Company E, without in 
juring the occupant, who was eating his dinner ; one went 
through the door of a building in rear of the right of the 
regiment, and the other passed near General Burnside, 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 1 88 

who was inside the parapet looking through a glass. He 
showed his white teeth, and sighting one of the guns, 
quickly sent the white horses flying ; they were soon out 
of sight with the rebel battery. At night every man for 
detail was put at work digging. Slept in the trenches all 
night ; I was awakened from sleep by the playing of Web 
ster s March at the funeral of General Sanders ; the effect 
in the stillness of night was solemn and impressive. 

"Friday, 2oth. Foggy morning. In trenches all day ; 
made a fire-place by digging into the bank. Picket firing 
all day ; several shots from rebel batteries at five P. M. ; 
no one injured. Drew half a day s rations of bread from 
the commissary. The parapet covering the battery in rear 
of our company was strengthened by placing cotton-bales 
on the top and filling in with dirt ; a detail of the regiment 
kept at work all night. 

" Saturday, 2ist. Sergeant Worcester and seven men left 
for picket at four A. M. Ripley, our cook, went to the picket 
line with their breakfast, seven A. M. ; on returning, he 
stopped and milked four quarts of milk from a stray cow. 
It rained steadily until three p. M. The dam gave way 
during the heavy rain, and men were immediately set at 
work repairing it. A few shots were fired from the fort on 
our left, the only firing from batteries during the clay. 

"Sunday, 22cl. Two corporals and one private for picket 
at four A. M.* Clear and pleasant. Less firing than usual. 
Regiment ordered to discharge muskets and to police 
camp. Lewis Morse obtained some meal and flour, with 
which I made some bread and pancakes. At five P. M., 
four or five shells came over to our right from a rebel 
battery, exploding some distance to our rear ; a few shots 
fired from the forts on our right silenced it ; also ours fired 
again at eight P. M., without any reply. 

* K was a small company for two years after Antietam. 



189 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

"Monday, 230!. Lieutenant Meserve and six men of K 
on picket. I went into town and called on Mr. Locke, a 
baker, from Massachusetts. Most of the stores were 
closed, and prices very high : coffee, one dollar a pound ; 
sugar, fifty cents ; molasses, two dollars per gallon. Sev 
eral citizens, out of employment, were put to work on the 
dam with a detail of troops, who worked all day and night. 
A volley of musketry aroused the camp at eight P. M., and 
we rallied to the trenches. The line of pickets occupied 
by the Second Maryland was attacked and the men driven 
from their posts, the rebels occupying the pits until day 
light, when the Forty-Eighth Pennsylvania and Twenty- 
First Massachusetts, with a detachment of thirty-six men 
from the Thirty-Fifth on their right, charged on the picket 
line, driving the enemy, and reestablished the line. Dur 
ing the skirmish twenty-five houses were fired by men 
detailed for that purpose, to prevent their occupation 
by the enemy s sharpshooters. Many of them were val 
uable, with grounds handsomely laid out. The scene 
of the conflagration from the trenches was grand and 
thrilling.* 

* Major Wales was officer of the day. When, in the evening, the enemy made 
their attack as above he came to the Thirty-Fifth and called for volunteers the 
whole regiment at once sprang out of the trenches and over the works to the front ; 
but only the thirty-six men were taken. The detachment was during the night under 
the immediate command of Lieutenant Pope, who was officer of the picket. Our 
pickets had been flanked by the break on the left, and obliged to abandon their pits 
along our whole front ; falling back they set fire to the inflammables prepared in the 
houses, and then formed line behind stumps and other cover in the open ground about 
half way back to the railroad, and at such an angle as to cover the flank of our line 
to the right. On the left were the burning buildings, casting a brilliant red glare over 
the whole ground and into the woods in front. Occasionally a man could be seen 
among the buildings carrying combustibles or a torch from one to the other. Our pits 
in front were occupied by the enemy ; but they kept close, the slightest exposure above 
the brink catching the light and revealing itself to our riflemen at once. They fired 
at our men who were much more exposed. Great masses of flame, smoke and cinders 
rolled overhead with imposing effect. 

At daybreak Major Wales gave orders that, as soon as cheering should be heard 
on our left the charge of the Twenty-First and Forty-Eighth we should jump up 

I 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. IQO 

"Tuesday, 24th. Rain most of the day. Very little picket 
firing. Our loss in the charge, Monday night, was one 
killed Private Henzy. The Eleventh New Happshire 
and Fifty-First Pennsylvania each lost one man killed. 
The Twenty-First and Forty- Eighth lost more. The Sec 
ond Michigan lost eighty killed, wounded and missing, 
leaving the major and adjutant on the field. A flag of 
truce to bury their dead was fired upon by the enemy. 

"Wednesday, 25th. Clear and pleasant. Washed 
clothes. An alarm at 2 P. M., and we rallied in the trenches 
expecting an attack, but only the usual picket firing oc 
curred during the day. At 5 P. M. returned to our tents, 
leaving one man from each company on guard. The band 
played, morning, noon and night, in front of camp.* 

"Thursday, November 26, National Thanksgiving Day. 
Clear and frosty. Picket line strengthened on the left by 
falling back into new pits to avoid the cross-fire from the 
left, and six or eight buildings were destroyed at 5.30 A. M., 
to prevent their occupation by the enemy s sharpshooters. 
For my Thanksgiving dinner I had bean soup and bread 

with a shout and dash with all speed for the rifle pits in front. The cheers were heard, 
up sprang the men and charged forward recklessly, each trying to outrun the others 
and get first to the line. The men in gray, startled by the attack on their right, left 
in haste all but one, a fine fellow from a South Carolina regiment Palmetto Sharp 
shooters who was found shot through the body in one of the pits. A man of our 
detachment Henzy, of Company I stooped down to examine him ; at the same 
moment a few bullets from the retreating foe came pattering among us, one of them 
seeming to hit a stump with the peculiar sharp " chick ! " so well remembered by all 
soldiers. Major Wales ordered the men to stand up, and walked afong the line ; com 
ing to Henzy and seeing him still bending over the Confederate, he asked, " What is 
that man down there for? " A comrade placing his hand on Henzy found him lifeless, 
the ball which seemed to strike the stump had passed through his head. For the dash 
exhibited in this charge this detail of thirty-six men from the regiment received due 
credit from headquarters. 

* This was the last day of the battles at Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, 
which proved such glorious Union victories and decided our fate, although as yet 
unknown to us. The days, 26th to 28th, were those of the Mine Run affair in the 
Army of the Potomac; so there was fighting at both ends of the great mountain range 
and we in the middle. 



19 1 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

and molasses, using about all my next day s ration of 
bread. Ordered to be ready to fall in at any moment. 
Private Smith, of Company C, detailed as adjutant s clerk 
at regimental headquarters in place of Ellis, missing since 
the fifteenth.* 

"Friday, 27th. Half of the men are ordered to remain 
in the trenches day and night. Major Wales was officer of 
the day. Made up daily report book since the thirteenth. 
A quiet day. The houses on the north side of the creek 
have been loop-holed in front and occupied by detailed 
men as sharpshooters, which is more comfortable than 
lying in the trenches. 

" Saturday, 28th. Cloudy and wet; rained 8 A. M. Clark 
of our company went to purchase some bread of a baker 
who commenced selling, having been permitted by the 
authorities to open his shop ; but Clark was unable to get 
near, the crowd was so great the supply was unequal to 
the demand. Batteries on our left commenced shelling, 
which continued through the night. The enemy made an 
assault on Fort Sanders about daylight, but were repulsed 
by the First Division, with the loss (to the Confederates) of 

* Our position was a singular one for thanksgiving, but half starved, exhausted 
with watching and environed by enemies, we still had cause for gratitude. General 
Burnside issued the following order: 

"GENERAL FIELD ORDERS, No. 32. 

"HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE OHIO, 

" KNOXVILLE, TENN., Nov. 26, 1863. 

"In accordance with the proclamation of the President of the United States, 
Thursday, the twenty-sixth instant, will, so far as military operations permit, be ob 
served by this army as a day of thanksgiving for the countless blessings vouchsafed 
the country, and the fruitful successes granted to our armies during the past year. 
Especially has this army cause for thankfulness for the Divine protection which has 
so signally shielded us, and let us with grateful hearts offer prayer for its continuance, 
and with a firm reliance on the God of Battles. 

"By command of MAJ. GEN. BURNSIDE, 

"LEWIS RICHMOND, A. A. G." 

Within a day or two afterwards General Sherman started from Chattanooga, by 
forced marches up the valley, to our relief. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 1 92 

over eight hundred killed and wounded and four hundred 
prisoners,* while our loss did not exceed fifty. After mid 
night the picket line had been attacked for a mile, extending 
to our regiment. The Forty-Eighth Pennsylvania pickets 
were outflanked, the enemy getting into their rear, when a 
scene of confusion followed, friend and foe being mixed 
together. Houses were fired as before, and the same lurid 
heavens canopied the scene. Our pickets were obliged to 
retire, getting behind the stumps and fences, where they 
remained until daylight, when Sunday, 29th, the Second 
Brigade made a charge and drove out the enemy, thus 
regaining our pits after twice being flanked out of them. 
The boys charged forward with a will and determination 
that would have driven twice their number, Major Wales 
leading the Thirty-Fifth and calling upon us to yell our 
loudest. We remained in the pits until the pickets were 
relieved and had returned to camp. The Eleventh New 
Hampshire lay in support in rear. The Thirty-Fifth lost 
one man killed and one taken prisoner.! Corporal Solon 
E. Morse, of Company K, was deceived by the enemy, who 
told him not to fire on his own men, at the same time ask 
ing him what regiment he belonged to ; he told them, and 
was taken prisoner before he could escape. Before he was 
undeceived he was heard urging our men not to run but 
to come back to the pits, which if they had done they 
would, no doubt, have been also captured. Morse died 
at Belle Isle, near Richmond, in March following. 

*Woodbury says eleven hundred killed and wounded, and three hundred un- 
wounded prisoners. 

t Frank A. Porter and E. P. Kelly, of Company G, were together in a rifle-pit, 
when, about three o clock in the morning, they suddenly found themselves flanked on 
the left and the enemy getting in their rear. They at once moved off to the right 
when the Confederates ordered them to halt, but they paid no attention to the com 
mand; they next heard the order " Fire ! " and received a volley, killing Porter, the 
bullet entering his right side. Porter s body was left on the disputed ground until 
daylight, when it was recovered by the charge of our men above mentioned. 



193 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

"An armistice was agreed on from 10 A. M. to 8 P. M. to 
bury the dead and care for the wounded. I went to the 
corps hospital. The ambulances were busy all day bring 
ing in the wounded, mostly rebels. I saw a number of 
prisoners belonging to Georgia and South Carolina regi 
ments. The carnage before Fort Sanders and Benjamin s 
battery was awful. A wire netting extended around the 
stumps in front of the fort, which broke their line as they 
came up. Some succeeded in reaching the breastwork 
only to be shot. They crowded into the deep ditch outside 
the fort, into which Lieutenant Benjamin threw shells 
lighting them, it was said, with his cigar causing a fearful 
slaughter. The enemy having many times our number, 
too much praise cannot be awarded to Lieutenant Benja 
min, who was as cool as he was brave.* 

" Monday, 3oth. Very cold; ice half an inch thick. 
Fixed up quarters in the trenches, making three fire-places 
and room for ten members of the company. Made the pit 
two feet wider to allow room to lie down. 

"Tuesday, December i st. Cool and pleasant. An order 
from General Burnside was read to the regiment by Adju 
tant Meserve, complimenting the troops for their heroism 
during the past seventeen days of trying experience ; also 
mentioning the regiments which repulsed the attack on 
Fort Sanders Seventy-Ninth New York (Highlanders), 
Seventeenth Michigan and others, with Benjamin s and 
Buckley s batteries. It was a glorious defence. He also 
announced the great victory of our army under General 

* For a detailed account of this attack on Fort Sanders, we refer to " Woodbury s 
History of the Ninth Corps " and Captain Barrage s narrative in the Atlantic Monthly 
for July, 1866. The scene of action was too far to our left for us to describe it as eye 
witnesses, only the smoke and din of battle and the turmoil of the assault were dis 
cernible by us; and, indeed, we were so busy in rectifying affairs in our front that 
many were not certain until afterwards of the exact hour of the grand assault and 
repulse. We were all kept in the trenches for the rest of the siege. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 194 

Grant, with the loss to Bragg of six thousand prisoners 
and fifty-one [forty] pieces of artillery and many stands 
of colors. At the conclusion Major Wales proposed nine 
cheers, which were given with a will. The whole line of 
the army stood up on the works and cheered and waved 
the colors, while the bands played, to inform Longstreet s 
men that we had received the good news. Our battery on 
the right opened at 5 P. M., throwing the shot further to 
the right than usual ; no reply from the enemy. Drew 
rations of coarse corn-meal. Made out monthly returns. 
A quiet night. 

"Wednesday, December 2d. Pleasant and warm. Gen 
eral Potter issued an order, read to the regiment, honoring 
the corps for good conduct during the late encounter with 
the rebels. 

"Thursday, 3d. Usual picket firing during the day. 
Reports are current that the rebels are leaving. 

"Friday, 4th. Very quiet. A number of cows are roam 
ing between the lines ; some of them were brought in by 
the pickets, and we were treated to fresh beef. A rebel 
battery fired a few shots from our left, but Benjamin and 
the Fifteenth Indiana soon made them skedaddle. More 
picket firing towards night, but none during the night. An 
officer of General Sherman s staff arrived in the city with 
information that Sherman was only twenty-four hours away. 

" Saturday, 5th. Very quiet. The rebs have left. Our 
pickets advanced after daylight without finding an enemy, 
but picked up one hundred and sixty stragglers for pris 
oners, who made no resistance. They were an inferior- 
looking lot from Georgia and South Carolina ; they were 
tired of fighting and wished Bragg and Longstreet were 
hung. Our brigade marched out about four miles on the 
Gap road about 10 A.M., but found no enemy; they left 
last night, our pickets heard them moving. Their pickets 



195 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

were withdrawn at 2 A. M. ; fires were left burning to deceive 
us. Went to work on the pay-rolls and requisitions for 
clothing. Men ordered to clean their guns." 

General Sherman arrived in the city and surveyed the 
defences, visiting our battery, where he was warmly wel 
comed. The success of the whole campaign from Chat 
tanooga up was almost too overwhelming to be true. 
General Longstreet s army, disheartened by defeat and 
by Sherman s arrival, had retired towards Virginia on the 
Rogersville road. Knoxville had proved a Fredericksburg 
to them. 

On the seventh our two divisions and part of the 
Twenty -Third Corps started north-eastward, upon the 
track of the enemy, in light marching order, without tents. 
Captain Lyon took command of the regiment for the 
remainder of the winter. Major Wales, Lieutenant Berry, 
Sergeant-Major White, Sergeants Bent and Castle, with 
privates Wellington and Matz, started for the North by 
way of Big Creek Gap, most of them upon recruiting 
service. 

Our first day s march was over good roads, making rap 
idly thirteen miles, and going into bivouac in the same line 
of battle as at Campbell s Station First Division on the 
right, Twenty-Third Corps in the centre and Second Divis 
ion on the left. Next day we made but seven miles on the 
Rogersville road. Rations were scanty ; each man drew 
one-half ration of pork, one-quarter ration of flour, and to 
eke out the need picked up corn left by the horses and ate 
it raw or parched. 

On the ninth we made thirteen miles over muddy roads, 
with the Clinch Mountains on the left, and went into biv 
ouac in a bare, open valley, within two miles of Rutledge 
Longstreet said to be twelve miles ahead, somewhere 
about Bean s Station. The position we had was good for 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 196 

defence; and, as the enemy were too strong for us to 
attack, we awaited Longstreet s movements here until the 
fifteenth, employing the days in devising ways and means 
to fill our stomachs, which the short rations and winter 
weather caused to be loud in their appeals for more food. 
Here the coffee mills came to the rescue gallantly. In the 
Western armies the coffee berry, to prevent fraud, was 
issued burned but not ground, sometimes even unbrowned. 
It was soon found that crushing it in a tin cup with a bay 
onet was too slow, and the company cooks acquired at 
least one old coffee mill to a company. As the coffee 
ration fell short and the sugar ration ceased, these mills 
were turned to grinding grain, corn or wheat, which was 
generally first parched, or partly broken by pounding. A 
good part of a man s time would be taken up grinding in 
his turn such corn as he might have found, begged or 
appropriated. The product was cooked in our battered 
tin dippers, or fried into " flippers " upon half a canteen 
stuck upon a split stick. 

The nights were often cold and rainy. In these valleys 
the air draws through with great force, as in a tunnel, and 
sometimes whirls around suddenly to the opposite quarter, 
so that the nicely-constructed shelter of rails, backed to 
the cold rain from the north, would be found at midnight 
open to a driving storm from the south, whereupon the 
inmates had their choice of a shower bath or rousing out 
to change front. Thus there was employment for day and 
night. For amusement, after we had been without a change 
of clothing for a fortnight, individuals could be seen retired 
apart, in dishabille, examining their shirts with fixed atten 
tion for gray-backs of the six-legged species, which were 
said to be about camp. 

The Twenty-Third Corps passed to the rear at midnight 
of the fourteenth, and on the fifteenth we heard of a skir- 



IQ7 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

mish at Bean s Station and ninety prisoners were brought 
in. About noon we moved a little way and formed line of 
battle, remaining in position until evening, when we marched 
back six miles and went into bivouac at one in the morn 
ing. The day s ration had been flour, and some of the 
wise ones had prepared for the emergency by frying it into 
griddle cakes or flippers, while others had their whole ration 
mixed in their dippers, but uncooked ; these gravely took 
up the line of retreat, tin dippers in hand, and stumbling 
by night over a muddy road full of holes was perilous to 
the precious contents of those dippers. 

On the sixteenth we got back to Blain s Cross Roads, 
where a halt was ordered for coffee ; and, cannon being 
heard in rear, division line of battle was formed, and a 
barricade of rails and savin bushes was thrown up across 
the valley. The most conspicuous person at times of 
excitement during these harassing days was Captain Mc- 
Kibben of the staff dashing about, the cape of his coat 
thrown back, showing its scarlet lining, attended by order 
lies who were the oracles to be consulted by us when 
seeking to know what our movements portended. The 
mounted infantry came in from the front, and an imme 
diate attack was expected. The rain poured down at 
midnight, but we managed to catch a few hours sleep. 

On the seventeenth the muskets were put in order after 
the rain, and the regiment formed in one rank, taking 
ground to the left. There was light skirmishing in front 
at noon, and our battery shelled the woods. The four left 
companies under Lieutenant Pope were thrown out into 
the woods, where they spent the night, with low fires, much 
more snugly than the rest of the line, who suffered from 
an intensely cold wind sweeping down the valley. Next 
day the skirmish line was advanced a mile, but no enemy 
was encountered in force, and it was announced that he 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 198 

had left our front. That evening the paymaster, Major 
Haggerty, paid off the regiment in a little hut in front of 
the lines. 

On the nineteenth we moved into the woods on the west 
side of the valley, near a fine stream of water, and camp 
was laid out in company streets; but, as the shelter tents 
were still in Knoxville, the bough huts were pitched in 
rather an irregular fashion, wtych characterized that camp 
afterwards. The nights became bitter cold, but the wood 
pile was unlimited, and the fires blazed up bright and 
cheery. On the twenty-first and twenty-second our knap 
sacks and the headquarter s baggage arrived with Quarter 
master Tobey, and were gladly welcomed, for our clothing 
was badly demoralized. Many of the men were ragged 
and almost bare-foot, no clothing having been drawn since 
we left Crab Orchard. Lieutenant Tobey brought news 
of General Burnside s departure for the North, and the 
arrival of General John G. Foster, of North Carolina 
memory, to command the department. The mail came 
along, and we learned with what deep interest the siege 
of Knoxville had been watched by the Government and 
the people of the North. President Lincoln, in particular, 
was now elated and thankful over the result, and issued a 
proclamation, stating that the enemy had left Knoxville 
"under circumstances rendering it probable that the Union 
forces cannot hereafter be dislodged from that important 
post," and advising that " all loyal people do, on receipt 
of the information, assemble at their places of worship 
and render special homage and gratitude to Almighty God 
for the great advancement of the national cause." Another 
foothold had been gained, from which, as upon the Missis 
sippi, a column could be driven through the Confederacy, 
to separate another large territory from the Richmond 
Government. The success was as depressing to the Con- 



199 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

federate leaders as it was cheering to the upholders of the 
Union. 

On the twenty-third there was an alarm, and the Fifty- 
First New York, Eleventh New Hampshire and Thirty- 
Fifth made a reconnoissance, with a section of Edward s 
battery, two miles out, the First Brigade going still further; 
but the foe had left. Returning to camp, we commenced 
to log up the tents and bui!4 chimneys of sticks and mud 
in the old Falmouth fashion, but now with ample materials 
at our very doors ; wood-chopping and hauling employed 
much of the time. Short rations continued ; on Christmas 
Day there was no bread all day, and no other food but 
fresh beef, issued at evening, for a Christmas dinner; even 
salt to season it was a luxury. Pickets we kept posted up 
the valley and towards the Holston, which lay to the east 
ward, and, as the men upon this duty had advantages for 
foraging, the position was rather sought than avoided, ex 
cept by the shoeless. 

The year 1864 opened w r ith rain, turning to snow, and 
the weather very cold. The wind was high, and dodging 
the smoke of the camp fires was an unending amusement. 
On the third of January there was no bread nor materials 
for it in camp, and two ears of corn on the cob were issued 
to each man in place of the bread ration ; the grinders at 
the mills thought it a good substitute, but some, consider 
ing it rather mulish treatment, inquired how long it would 
be before the order would come to fall in for rations of 
hay whereupon " Fall in for your hay ! " became a camp 
by-word. Captain Ingell, being asked how he liked so 
much meal diet, replied, " It is very fattening to bipeds ; 
besides, it tickles one s throat all the way down ! " The 
Twenty-Third Corps and the First Division had been longer 
in Tennessee than we, and were even worse off for shoes 
and clothing. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 2OO 

The older regiments of the Ninth Corps, which had 
enlisted in 1861, were now approaching the expiration of 
their three years term of service. Recruiting at home for 
old regiments had little success, and, to prevent the loss to 
the service of so many old soldiers, great exertions were 
made to secure their reenlistment; among the inducements, 
they were offered a thirty days furlough to their homes. 
On the twenty-fifth of December the proposal to reenlist 
was made to the veteran Twenty-First Massachusetts, and 
within thirty-six hours two-thirds of the men had reenlisted 

a brilliant page in the record of that heroic regiment. 
Finally, all but about thirty of the Twenty-First reenlisted ; 
these were transferred for a time to our regiment on the 
seventh, and the same afternoon the reenlisted Twenty- 
First started for home, in charge of one hundred and fifty 
prisoners from Longstreet s forces, which, judging from 
the men coming over to us, were in even more straitened 
circumstances than we, if possible. 

On the eighth of January the whole country was clothed 
in a mantle of snow two inches deep. Small-pox was pre 
vailing in the district, and all the men were vaccinated. 
We had read in our youth of Valley Forge and the dark 
days of the Revolution, and, outwardly, the scenes about 
us were a renewal of history. We were probably more 
stinted for food but rather better clothed than the Con 
tinental army, although rags and tatters were conspicuous 
with us ; certainly we were not better shod, and necessity 

the mother of invention suggested that moccasins 
would be better than bare feet upon the snow; accordingly, 
squares of green hide were issued in couples, which the 
same old mother was to teach each man how to make into 
foot-wear. They were laughable affairs when made, and 
put one in mind of the foot of an elephant. The boys 
called these moccasins " thanks-of-Congress-shoes," and 



201 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

their ragged pantaloons " stars-and-stripes trousers." The 
meat rations were eked out by purchasing livers, hearts 
and tails; and tripe became fashionable. The poor beef- 
on-the-hoof, starved for days, when slaughtered was found 
to be almost without tallow even the kidney fat frizzling 
away to nothing in the frying-pan. Nearly every other day 
a half-ration of hard bread was issued ; but the rough jour 
ney over the mountains had broken the crackers into such 
small bits it was difficult to divide them fairly. A common 
way was for the company cook to arrange the pieces upon 
a board, as many piles as there were men in the company, 
each pile containing what seemed to him enough fragments 
to make a cracker. The men of the company then filed 
by, and each one pointed out the pile which seemed to him 
largest, and received it for his ration. It was fair play, 
but slow work ; but time just then was not valuable in the 
cook-house the fires were not overworked. The surgeon 
had no patients ; all present were as healthy as they were 
tough. 

Rev. T. B. Fox, of Boston, visited camp at this time to 
give us a word of encouragement, although he had no 
special errand to us, we not being old enough as a regi 
ment to reenlist. Those of the men who wished to hear 
were drawn up in a half circle to listen ; and, out of mis 
chief, the most ragged trousers and moccasin men were 
put in front, while the rear rank thrust their tattered 
elbows over the shoulders of their file leaders. A photo 
graph of the scene would be worth having. The kind 
gentleman hardly knew what to say to such a beggarly- 
looking crowd ; but the boys were fat in spite of slim diet, 
and their eyes twinkled with merriment, which proved how 
little the present hardships penetrated. Those were tough 
times, but not of discouragement ; in this, the inward spirit, 
our men differed from the heroes of Valley Forge the 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 2O2 

prospect before us was brighter and more promising of 
success. 

Two men from each company, daily, were given passes 
to go outside the pickets upon foraging excursions, to 
wheedle from the needy inhabitants some portion of their 
little store of food or seed corn in exchange for coffee, 
salt, or least available greenbacks. The limestone hills 
about us contained deep, half-explored caverns, adorned 
with fairy grottos and glistening stalactites, undisturbed 
by tourists, and fascinating for exploration ; and the view 
from the uplands of a fine day towards the Great Smoky 
Mountains upon the North Carolina line, rising tier above 
tier in purple majesty, was a rich experience to the wan 
dering forager, even if he found no food to satisfy bodily 
hunger. 

A few pairs of shoes were distributed soon after the 
moccasin day, and were received as prophetic of marching 
orders, which came on the sixteenth of January. The 
Fourth Corps, under General Gordon Granger, had come 
in contact with Longstreet in the country south of the 
Holston, and it became necessary for our army to con 
centrate. In the early morning the frozen ground made 
decent roads, but when the sun had risen and penetrated 
an inch or two the surface came off from the frozen sub 
stratum with every step, and the feet became clogged with 
huge lumps of sticky mud, which made marching desperate 
work and often very laughable. The short-legged fellows 
got the worst of it, for they had most footprints to make 
and less power to sling their hoofs. Adjutant Meserve s 
horse slipped suddenly upon the uncertain footing, and 
came down upon his haunches in a way to endanger his 
rider, but fortunately without harming him. This happened 
after we had passed south through the isolated hills called 
the Knobs, and approached the Holston at the Strawberry 



203 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

Plains crossing. The brigade moved up over the hills over 
looking the river, which wound around from north-east 
to south-west, and was crossed in a bend by the railroad 
bridge, successor to the one destroyed by General Sanders 
in the raid of the previous June. We went into bivouac in 
the woods upon the hill ; afterwards we moved over into 
the dell behind it. General Longstreet had unexpectedly 
marched southward to Dandridge, on the French Broad 
River, as if to flank us towards Knoxville ; hence our 
movement hither in support of the Fourth Corps. 

Our Second Division headquarters were now broken up. 
So many regiments had reenlisted, the only regiments left 
in the division were the Second- Maryland, Eleventh New 
Hampshire and Thirty-Fifth. Quartermaster Upton re 
turned, and Captain Gibson joined from Kentucky ; they 
did not stay long with the regiment, but resigned, and about 
the twenty-eighth or twenty-ninth left for the North. Gibson 
was the last of the original captains of the regiment. 

Appearances in front began to look squally; the infantry 
on foot and mounted came slowly back over the railroad 
bridge, and General Ferrero made preparations to burn 
the structure when the enemy should appear. We had 
several light snow storms, and smoky fires caused sore 
eyes. While waiting the men began to log up again, but 
work was stopped on the twenty-first, when orders came to 
strike tents and pack up. A lively duel began across the 
river between the opposing batteries; but from our position 
in the woods little could be seen a few solid shot came 
over doing no harm. Details of men were sent to the 
station for fresh pork, left behind by some commissary, 
and about midnight the brigade moved up to the station. 
Two cannon had been left for lack of horses to draw them ; 
one of them was taken in charge by the Eleventh New 
Hampshire, and the Second Maryland and Thirty-Fifth 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 204 

took the other. The rope prolonges were hitched on, and 
the men taking hold as upon the rope of a fire-engine we 
started on the road to Knoxville. It was a repetition of 
the night before the battle at Campbell s Station, but not 
so dark ; the deep mud was partly frozen, and tugging 
away, each man his pound, the guns made slow but sure 
progress. At daybreak the column reached the railroad 
bridge over Flat Creek, and the cannon were handed over 
to other troops, who hauled them to a place where they 
were loaded upon cars and started south. While making 
coffee, a few cavalry overcoats were distributed gratis, to 
save them from the enemy ; but the demand was greater 
than the supply. 

Keeping along slowly towards Knoxville, we turned off 
to the left, south from the railroad, into the Knoxville road 
near Knave s farm, and, loading muskets, prepared to meet 
the advancing enemy. They, however, appeared to be in 
weak force, and, after engaging our skirmishers and finding 
us ready, declined to come on a few spent bullets came 
over and that was all. The Twenty-Seventh Michigan 
advanced and drove them off. We were out of rations 
and very tired ; our sleep was undisturbed. Early on the 
twenty-third General Ferrero came along and gave infor 
mation that the foe had retired ; Longstreet was not con 
templating another siege of Knoxville. The troops were 
ordered into camp on the ground. The quartermaster 
reported that we should have plenty of rations before 
night, and there was need, for we had received no bread 
for three days and only half a ration of flour a diet of 
fresh pork alone is not inviting. In the evening there was 
an issue of four days half-rations of hard bread and flour, 
and quarter-rations of coffee and sugar, and a fair supply 
of clothes said to have come up river in a steamboat. 
The roads over the mountains had become impassable ; 



205 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

our supplies, if they can be called such, came from Nash 
ville by way of Chattanooga, Grant s army having the first 
pick. Living off the country, when that country has been 
already skinned by a Confederate army, is sucking a very 
dry bone indeed. 

On the twenty-fourth of January we kept on south, 
passing through the city and five miles beyond, to Erin s 
Station or Lyon s Mill. Here, upon a sunny, wooded slope, 
inclining to the south into a dell, where the road and a 
clear brook crossed the front, the brigade laid out a reg 
ular camp, with regimental headquarters up the hill, com 
pany streets leading down. This was the pleasantest camp 
ground that winter. The weather became milder and like 
early spring the boys even bathed in the creek and, 
had the food question been less pressing, the situation for 
winter could hardly have been improved ; but the half and 
quarter rations were continued so long as we remained in 
Tennessee. On one occasion in this camp sick-wheat flour 
was issued. Foraging was absolutely necessary for sub 
sistence ; but the people, though friendly, had already 
parted with whatever they could reasonably be asked to 
spare. 

All sorts of rumors floated into camp about the Ninth 
Corps being ordered to the North. It was plain that, if 
the organization of the corps was to be maintained, it 
would be cheaper for the Government to transport North 
the few regiments still in Tennessee than to bring back 
the reenlisted veterans. With this reasonable ground for 
expectation, we listened to every story, however absurd, 
with interest ; Captain Rapelji seemed to be the oracle, 
at least he was always referred to as the authority and 
source of rumor. There was also some talk about filling 
up the regiments with East Tennesseeans ; but this 
amounted to nothing. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 206 

On the twenty-eighth Captain Hudson returned from 
hospital at Knoxville. Forage had become so limited in 
supply that most of the horses and mules were sent over 
the mountains. On the first of February a hurried move 
was made to Knoxville, where we crossed the pontoons to 
the south side and climbed through the mud to Housetop 
Mountain, and spent the night there, returning to camp 
next day. It appears to have been a movement in support 
of General Sturgis, who was up the French Broad River 
with cavalry and had captured two steel guns and one 
hundred prisoners, finally falling back towards Maryville. 

Company drills and dress-parades were resumed, but 
the display was small, at one time eight companies march 
ing out under sergeants. The officers in camp were : 
Captain Lyon, commanding ; Captains Ingell, Hudson 
and Blanchard ; Assistant-Surgeon Roche ; Lieutenants 
Pope, Meserve (adjutant), Tobey (quartermaster) and 
Dunbar. There were about one hundred and fifty enlisted 
men present for duty, armed. A common camp cry during 
these months of frequent alarms was, " I hear a gun ! " 
" I hear another ! " but the shout peculiar to this camp 
was to cry out when a rider passed, "There he goes 
stop him ! " which often quite disconcerted the wayfarer, 
the object of such uncalled-for attention, and not seldom 
thoroughly angered him. The band of the Eleventh New 
Hampshire furnished music for dress-parades, as at Fal- 
mouth. 

The vendetta waged between loyal and disloyal Ten- 

nesseeans found a victim close by our camp a citizen 

of Secesh proclivities, while at work upon the roof of his 

cabin, was shot by another from an ambush a dangerous 

wound, but not fatal, in Dr. Roche s opinion. 

Hunger pressed us closely, and, as often noticed in like 
circumstances, the mind turned of itself to this theme at 



207 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

leisure moments, and the fancy painted the delights of the 
well-spread tables of the past. In the dark, mild evenings 
the boys would gather around the glorious camp-fires 
one of our luxuries, the other being abundant good water 
and one man after another, in turn, would relate some 
past events of his life, dwelling long upon the eatables 
portion. One old wanderer, who had been cook on board 
a mackerel schooner, set forth the ample provender he 
furnished brown bread and beans, plum duff, dumplings 
and molasses, etc., all of the most substantial kinds, until 
the stomachs of his auditors fairly ached, and they shouted, 
" Enough of that; lets go and get a drink of water ! " On 
the tenth of February, one diary states, "I have eaten 
nothing for twenty-four hours except some flour cooked " 
the cooking being simply boiling in water with a little salt. 

Under these circumstances, news came into camp of a 
vote of thanks passed by Congress, January 28, 1864: 
"The thanks of Congress are hereby presented to Major- 
General Ambrose E. Burnside, and through him to the 
officers and men who have fought under his command, for 
their gallantry, good conduct and soldier-like endurance." 
So the boys felt that they were not so far buried in the 
mountains as to be entirely forgotten. 

General Foster s health failing an old wound reopening 
he was relieved by General Schofield about the middle 
of February. A change of commanders brought also a 
change of our camp. On the sixth of February General 
Grant had telegraphed to General Thomas, "Two divisions 
have gone to Longstreet ; he is reenforced by troops from 
the East. This makes it evident the enemy intend to 
secure East Tennessee if they can," etc. On the fourteenth 
Genera] Schofield telegraphed to General Thomas, " Long- 
street has advanced to Strawberry Plains with pontoon- 
boats," and asked for reinforcements. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 2o8 

In a pouring rain, on the fifteenth, we moved a few miles, 
through the mud and over swollen brooks, to the west side 
of the railroad and nearer the city. The Fourth Corps 
also passed us, going towards the town. Next day there 
was an inspection with knapsacks, but the wood-choppers 
kept busy logging up again; they had hardly got their 
trees down when orders came for a change of camp to 
a better location, about a mile west from town. Here 
logging-up proceeded again, and made better progress. 
The regiment was inspected by a lieutenant-colonel of 
General Grant s staff. It was colder, and on the twenty- 
first snow fell. 

On the twenty-second the band played " Washington s 
March" and "Yankee Doodle." Details of men were at 
work upon the forts about the city, that everything might 
be in readiness in case Longstreet should come on. At 
evening the regiment was agreeably surprised by the infor 
mation that Colonel Carruth had arrived at brigade head 
quarters. The boys got together to go down and welcome 
him; but, he being tired, they. gave it up for the night. 
Next morning the colonel came into camp ; the men rallied, 
and gave him nine rousing cheers. At dress-parade, the 
regiment forming three sides of a square, the colonel ad 
dressed them. He thanked them for their good behavior, 
while he had been gone, in face of the enemy and in 
camp. He had watched for all the news he could hear 
from them while he was at home, and had heard nothing 
but praise. He was very sorry that it so happened he 
could not have shared their privations, hardships and 
dangers during the East Tennessee campaign, and was in 
hopes that their future campaigns would be less arduous 
and that all might be spared to see their homes once more. 
All he could ask of them in the future was to conduct 
themselves as they had done. In conclusion, he hoped 



209 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

that his health would be spared him, so that he might not 
leave them again until he led them home at the expiration 
of their service. At evening he was serenaded by the 
brigade band the first piece being "Home Again." The 
colonel took command of the brigade. 

At midnight the sergeant-major went the rounds, with 
orders to be ready to march at daylight. Accordingly, on 
the twenty-fourth, reveille sounded at half-past four ; tents 
were struck, and we started with knapsacks, and camped 
again at Strawberry Plains, after a march of nineteen 
miles, which, as we moved rapidly and long distances 
without the customary halts, made a hard day s work. 
General Schofield passed twice, and Generals Parke, 
Wilcox and Ferrero were with the troops. It began to 
appear that Schofield was a driver. The Fourth and 
Twenty-Third Corps were on the move as well as our 
corps. 

Next day, resting on the hill overlooking the river and 
ruins of the bridge, we got a mail, which contained infor 
mation that the Ninth Corps was expected North by way 
of Chattanooga. On the contrary, we received orders, 
February 26, to prepare for a fifteen days march, with 
shelter tent and blanket roll only, one hundred rounds of 
cartridges per man, and five days rations. It had the 
appearance of a raid on the Virginia salt works, following 
retiring Longstreet. The bridge being gone, a double 
ferry was rigged of pontoon-boats, three boats to each 
rope, each boat transporting twenty-five men at a time. 
The regiment after crossing marched to the high ground 
beside a ploughed field and camped. Company K, detailed 
to guard the train, which crossed at a ford above, had a 
hard march that day. On the twenty-eighth we proceeded 
to Mossy Creek Confederate cavalry retiring as we ap 
proached and, on the morrow, to Morristown and a mile 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 2IO 

beyond. Many will remember the rainy time we had at 
this place ; the whole country was flooded ; it was like the 
old north-easters at home, and turned freezing cold at night. 
A heavy and watchful picket was thrown out, for we were 
close to the enemy in force. 

Morristown had been General Longstreet s winter quar 
ters ; the citizens appeared very neutral, and wisely so, for 
with the armies of the Union and of the Confederacy 
dancing to and fro, forward and back, over them, it was 
best not to be too demonstrative. Our movements were 
but a repetition of the famous campaigns in the Shenandoah 
Valley, with points of compass reversed. We visited these 
people unexpectedly, and on the second of March we as 
suddenly took an early departure on the back track as far 
as Mossy Creek. This may have been, however, not a 
retreat, for the other corps did not share it, but simply a 
precautionary change to protect the right flank to the east 
ward along the Nolichucky River. Our front was quiet 
except in the direction of the bends of the Chucky, whence 
frequent alarms came in of East Tennessee or North Car 
olina refugees cutting their way into the Union lines, or 
of Confederate cavalry lurking about that front. But, 
upon the whole, the camp at Mossy Creek was very quiet, 
except some noisy debates among the men upon questions 
of politics and theology, gotten up for amusement, but 
too vociferous for headquarters to endure without re 
monstrance. The penmen were, as usual, busy upon 
pay-rolls and returns to the departments. Colonel Har- 
riman came up with recruits for the Eleventh New 
Hampshire, and Sergeants Farrington and Chamberlin and 
a squad of detailed men arrived from Kentucky. March 
5, Schofield telegraphed to Thomas, "Longstreet is slowly 
moving towards Virginia." 

On the twelfth we moved east again, this time upon the 



211 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

Chucky road, with little halting, an advance guard under 
Lieutenant Pope marching some distance in front. Thir 
teen miles were covered before the two hours rest for 
dinner ; then the Second Maryland and Thirty-Fifth went 
in advance, scouting six miles out, much of the way at the 
double-quick to keep up with our cavalry. It was fun to 
see the colonel dashing ahead on his white horse, and the 
men hurrying along so rapidly made the chase quite en 
livening. Our packs were left at the halting place under 
guard. The cavalry overtook the enemy, killing one and 
capturing two. The prisoners were delivered to us and 
escorted back to the resting place ; one of them, a butter 
nut clad youngster, enacted the hero, and certainly bestrode 
his horse in gallant fashion. Companies C and K were 
left at the halting place, while the rest of the regiment 
marched one or two miles on the cross-road towards Mor- 
ristown, and went into bivouac among a lot of knobby hills, 
making twenty-five miles for the day s run. Next morning 
we marched into Morristown. This was our last duty at 
the front in East Tennessee. 

There was a large force about Morristown, judging from 
the spread of tent cloth Fourth and Twenty-Third Corps 
troops. Knapsacks came up from Knoxville, and we pitched 
a regular camp. Quite unexpectedly, Lieutenant Pope, 
Sergeant Worcester, Corporal Hague and several others 
were detailed to proceed North on recruiting service, by 
order of the War Department ; they left on the fourteenth 
of March. On the seventeenth, what remained of the 
Ninth Corps fell in at half-past five in the morning, the 
adjutant, before moving, reading an order about straggling; 
and, by the way, straggling was almost unknown in this 
campaign. The teamsters were ordered to tell the citizens 
that we were bound for Chucky Bend; but the band struck 
up " Saint Patrick s Day in the Morning " and " Home 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 212 

Again," and the report quickly circulated that we were 
bound for Annapolis in Maryland. With light hearts the 
boys stepped off that morning. Thus we parted from the 
Fourth and Twenty-Third Corps, our tried companions of 
that winter of hardship ; they remained to follow Long- 
street towards the Virginia line, then to join General 
Sherman in the campaign to Atlanta; we, by the long 
route over the mountains, marched to face Longstreet 
again in the Wilderness campaign. 

We were beyond New Market at evening, and, next day, 
passed Strawberry Plains, the pontoons over the Holston 
and Flat Creek, to within seven miles of Knoxville, re 
viewing the old camp grounds for the last time. Reaching 
Knoxville in the morning, we had a spell of "bone-shaking" 
winds, piercing chills from the mountains, which made it 
almost impossible to get warm, however closely one crept 
to the fire. All extra luggage and the regimental baggage 
were sent around through Chattanooga, Nashville and 
Louisville, with the sick or disabled men, by rail. The 
Second Division was divided into two brigades Colonel 
Titus, of the Ninth New Hampshire, taking the first, and 
Colonel Carruth commanding the second. We were to 
march to Kentucky by way of Jacksboro Gap and Point 
Burnside. 

W T e took the road at 9.30 A. M. on the twenty-first of 
March and reached Clinton at dark, camping on the bank 
of Clinch River opposite the town. On the twenty-second, 
crossed the Clinch on flat boats, and marched in the snow 
over swollen brooks sometimes crossed by a slippery 
log -to camp not far from Jacksboro. March 23d, halted 
at Jacksboro and drew full rations of everything : bacon 
sides, pork, hard bread, coffee and sugar; the first full 
rations since leaving Crab Orchard last October. If to 
remember Mississippi makes one thirsty, one needs but 



213 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

recall Tennessee to feel hungry as well. Pack mules were 
received to carry officers luggage, in place of wagons. 
On leaving Jacksboro the way led directly up the side of 
Elk Mountain, a tough climb ; but when the summit was 
attained and, looking back, we saw the lovely valleys and 
mountains of East Tennessee spread beneath us, a pang 
of regret and ingratitude struck us that we could leave so 
picturesque and interesting a country with cheerful smiles. 
Before the ascent, a wretched style of joke was perpe 
trated by putting large stones into a victim s knapsack, for 
him to "tote " to the top full rations with a vengeance I 
At night, camp was located near a tannery. 

March 24th, passed through grand mountain scenery, 
log houses and cornfields, to bivouac on a hill-side ; a 
frosty night. 

March 25th, marched through Chitwoods and crossed 
the line between Kentucky and Tennessee. The band 
struck up " Farewell to Old Tennessee " and " Arn t 
you glad to get out of the Wilderness ; " the boys gave 
three cheers for the appropriate selections. Camped in 
a grove. 

March 26th, we plodded on over steep hills and roads 
deep with mud, halting at Beaver Creek, in a pine grove, to 
draw rations ; here we met wagons from Burnside s Point, 
to carry the knapsacks of disabled men. We passed that 
day more than two hundred dead mules : these sharp hills 
and heavy roads were killing to them. Poor creatures ! 
they had died in the effort to keep us supplied with food 
during the past winter ; but their remains were more 
odorous than lovely, and it was not pleasant when passing 
a deep hole to spring for a seeming rock and have the foot 
slide upon the carcass of a defunct mule. The mountains 
were full of holly bush, with red berries, and clumps of 
trailing arbutus. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 214 

March 2yth, reached Burnside s Point at the forks of the 
Cumberland River, a depot of supplies at the head of 
steamboat navigation. Halting there from eight in the 
morning until noon, we enjoyed some of the sights of 
civilization ; among them a table with a white cloth, knives 
and forks, and a napkin ! but our boys were too barbarous 
for the sutlers the penniless troops were inclined to ap 
propriate the eatables without pay, and doors had to be 
closed. The Seventh Rhode Island had been posted here 
for three months past. Here Weston F. Hutchins joined 
the regiment ; the first recruit to join the Thirty-Fifth 
since the regiment had entered the service. He had tried 
to enlist at Lynnfield, but was rejected then on account of 
his minority. In the afternoon we crossed the Cumber 
land on a pontoon-bridge, and passed through Somerset, 
bands playing and colors flying. 

March 28th, through Waynesborough to camp in the 
woods. 

March 29th, the Thirty-Fifth in its turn led the column. 
We passed through Hall s Gap, an interesting place, well 
fortified, the road winding along the hill-sides, enabling the 
column to see and admire the romantic appearance of the 
long train of marching troops. Camped at last upon the 
blue-grass lands again. 

March 3oth, the Thirty-Fifth in rear of all. Passed 
through Stanford at eight in the morning and reached Old 
Lancaster at noon, marching fast. Here we began to 
meet our detailed men, who had passed the winter in 
Kentucky, looking sleek and clean. " Ah," they remarked, 
"you look rather tough !" we should think so ! The cli 
mate was sensibly colder, and many had coughs, barking 
all night in bivouac. 

March 3ist, without a halt, passed Hickman s Bridge 
and Camp Nelson, and pitched tents at old Camp Parke, 



215 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

now under leafless trees, desolate and soaked in rain ; a 
stormy night. Clothing distributed in the evening. 

On this march from Knoxville the division had tramped 
one hundred and seventy miles in eleven successive days, 
averaging over fifteen miles a day, over the roughest and 
muddiest of mountain roads. 

April ist, we marched to the railroad station at Nicholas- 
ville and slept in a storehouse, and next day, taking cars, 
reached Covington at three in the morning of the third, 
and stacked arms near the barracks. Crossing to Cincin 
nati in the afternoon, we left by rail at dark, over the same 
route we had traversed in coming West, just a year before. 
In Pittsburg, on the fifth, we were served with a bountiful 
collation ; mottoes were displayed, " Welcome to our 
Country s Defenders ! " " Welcome the Ninth ! " 

April 6th, Harrisburg and coffee at the Soldier s Rest. 
Baltimore in the evening, and quarters in a building on 
South Eutaw Street ; a few were entertained at the Sol 
diers Home, where, one diary notes, the soldier "slept in 
a bed for the first time since leaving home, almost two 
years ago." On the seventh, by steamboat Columbia, to 
Annapolis. 

As we passed thus swiftly through the cities of the pros 
perous North, we seemed strangers and alien to the soil. 
These people had ample food and warm places to sleep at 
night, undisturbed by the constant watchfulness of the 
front. How different was our daily life ! Yet hard as our 
experience had been that winter, who that endured it all 
would now change the remembrance for as many months 
of inglorious ease at home ? Much as we suffered in Ten 
nessee, not a few declared that when peace should come 
they would like nothing better than to return there 
few have done so. One member of the regiment who 
revisited those scenes in 1870, says that the earthworks 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 2l6 

were then standing about Knoxville much as we left them ; 
the wood in front of our picket line had been cut down, 
and in the open country beyond the city cemetery was 
the National Cemetery. Examining the books of the 
superintendent, the name of Ezra Currier, of Company B, 
was the only one of the Thirty-Fifth whose grave was 
marked with his name ; the other dead were removed 
from the city lot where first interred, and their head-boards 
marked "unknown." 

After the war, Major Wales received the brevet rank of 
Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel, for conspicuous gallantry 
in command of the Thirty-Fifth Massachusetts Infantry at 
Knoxville, Tennessee. 



CHAPTER IX. 

VIRGINIA AGAIN WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN, 1864. 

LANDING, April yth, at Annapolis where Burnside s 
Expedition had been organized for the North Caro 
lina campaign in December, 1861 the regiment marched 
out by the brick buildings and grounds of the United 
States Naval . Academy, through streets deep with yellow 
mud, to camp beyond the railroad station ; moving further 
out next day to a sandy plain about two miles from the 
town and opposite the Parole Camp. We learned that 
there were some twenty thousand troops about us intended 
for the Ninth Corps, to be formed into four divisions, the 
Fourth Division to be composed of colored troops, under 
command of General Ferrero. The destination of the re- 
. organized Ninth Corps was not disclosed, but several 
things were pointed out to indicate an expedition on the 
Southern coast : General Burnside was to command he 
had hitherto generally held an independent position, and 
probably would not be placed in the Potomac Army under 
his junior, General Meade ; the location of the camp upon 
a salt water harbor looked as if shipping was to be em 
ployed ; the colored troops could hardly be intended for 
the aristocratic Army of the Potomac, and the newspapers 
and officers of the new regiments favored the expedition 
theory. This served for camp and mess-table talk ; but 
all were very busy preparing for an active campaign wher 
ever it might be undertaken. 



2l8 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

It was almost pathetic to view our little camp ; the low 
shelter tents, regularly pitched in company streets to be 
sure, but mildewed and smoke-stained, and our two or 
three old wall tents for headquarters and the officers, 
without camp guards or any of the glitter of martial life 
visible, and compare it with the quarters of the new troops, 
where ample tent cloth sheltered officers and men in 
bright uniforms, bands played, guards paced to and fro, 
and such strict attention was given to form and ceremony 
we hardly dared to go near them ; our recent life in the 
backwoods made us shy of such grandeur. The officers 
with the regiment were : Colonel Carruth, Captains Lyon, 
Blanchard, Hudson and Ingell, Assistant Surgeon Roche 
and Lieutenants Tobey and Meserve. The, last two were 
now commissioned captains, and First Sergeants Farring- 
ton and Wright, Sergeant-Major White, Quartermaster- 
Sergeant Cutter, First Sergeants Cobb and Mason were 
promoted to first lieutenants, most of them having com 
manded companies or acted as officers for some time. Of 
these, Cutter was appointed quartermaster, and Cobb 
acting adjutant. Surgeon Snow came to the regiment 
soon after its arrival, and Lieutenant Hatch joined from 
detached service in the West. Major Wales returned on 
the twenty-first, and Captains Stickney and Pope visited 
us, the former having resigned. Sergeant Nason acted for 
a time as sergeant-major, but the position was afterwards 
given to Sergeant Hagan. There were about two hundred 
and fifty enlisted men present, numbers having increased 
by the return of the men detailed in Kentucky. In gen 
eral, furloughs were denied, which caused some grumbling, 
considering the long time we had been away from our 
families, but betokened a short stop at Annapolis. 

The clerical work of the regiment and companies was 
pressed busily, and drills and dress-parades were resumed. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 2 19 

Seventy-five new Springfield rifled muskets arrived to re 
place worn-out arms. Friends came to see us ; Hon. 
Charles Hudson father of the Captain of Company H 
and our old friends, Mayor Fay and Miss Gilson, called. 
A supply of " A" tents was received and pitched on the 
twelfth, and struck again on the twenty-first more than 
nine days of such luxury would be enervating. Generals 
Grant and Burnside reviewed the troops drawn up in line 
in front of their camps, and hearty cheers were given as 
they passed the regiment. 

Our old brigade, "Reno s Own," was broken up a 
better brigade never faced the foe and parting with the 
old regiments was like sundering family ties. The Thirty- 
Fifth was assigned to the First Brigade of the First Di 
vision, with other Massachusetts regiments, the Fifty- 
Sixth, Fifty-Seventh and Fifty-Ninth, called "Veterans," 
because to a considerable extent composed of men who 
had seen a previous term of service ; and, in addition, the 
Fourth, Eighth and Tenth United States Infantry regi 
ments, of whom the Eighth never joined. General Thomas 
G. Stevenson, formerly colonel of the Twenty-Fourth Mas 
sachusetts, was to command the division. Colonel Carruth, 
senior colonel, commanded the brigade, with Surgeon 
Snow and Captain Tobey upon his staff. A conspicuous 
addition to the corps was a regiment of cavalry with 
hussar jackets overloaded with yellow braid, which quickly 
earned them the nickname of "the Butterflies." 

Great movements were impending, that was plain to 
every one. How did we then look forward to the coming 
campaign ? Rather wearily, it must be confessed ; to again 
turn our backs upon home and the blessings of civilization 
before time had dulled the dreary reminiscences of the 
past winter was hard. Physically, however, the men con 
stituting the remnant of the regiment were prepared for 



220 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

any hardship. Soldiering was no longer an enthusiasm, 
nor a consciously difficult endurance, it had become ordi 
nary every-day life ; the men went about every duty quietly, 
but with assured confidence. We remarked among the 
new troops a harsher discipline than prevailed in the army 
of 1862. 

On the twenty-third of April, after the usual scenes of 
frolic when camp was broken, the Thirty Fifth took the 
lead upon the road towards Washington and lightly covered 
the dozen miles of level sandy Maryland before camp was 
reached. At evening, the boys had their shelter tents 
well up and coffee boiling before the new troops had 
stacked arms and marched off by companies for water, 
with an amount of ceremony which quite astounded our 
men. Our officers, also, were surprised when some of 
their friends of the brigade came over to complain of 
being marched so fast we had forgotten our own days 
of breaking in. Next day, however, we in turn followed in 
rear, and had the fun of it. It rained and the roads were 
heavy; the knapsacks of the regiments ahead became un 
bearable, and their contents were thrown out along the 
way in confusion. Our men improved the opportunity to 
exchange old for new without cost. Books, stationery, 
toilet articles and clothing of all kinds strewed the road 
side ; new blankets were shed in such quantities that a 
citizen was seen collecting them in, a farm wagon ; we had 
not seen such a wholesale throwing off of baggage since 
the Confederates abandoned their luggage at South Moun 
tain. Just before going into camp in the mud and rain 
we forded, knee deep, a branch of the Patuxent River; 
General Stevenson, who happened to witness the crossing, 
laughing and seeming to approve the way in which the 
men unhesitatingly dashed into the stream, not delaying 
the column, and setting the rear an example. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 221 

On the twenty-fifth, after more fording of branches, we 
reached the outskirts of Washington and halted some time 
for the Eleventh Massachusetts battery to join. It cleared 
off bright and sunny. Major Wales riding at the head of 
the regiment, in column with the Ninth Corps, we passed, 
company front, through the city to Fourteenth Street, and 
by that thoroughfare to the Long Bridge. The sidewalks, 
and even the streets, were thronged with people, great 
interest being manifested to see the troops pass. The torn 
colors of the old regiments were continually applauded. 
It was amusing to us in the ranks to overhear the com 
ments. At Willard s, President Lincoln and General 
Burnside reviewed the column, and here the cheering and 
enthusiasm were vehement, some of the boys even threw 
up their caps. Yet there was a deeper feeling under it 
all, as we passed the streets full of well-fed and well- 
clothed statesmen, politicians, clerks and civil employes, 
yes, morituri salutamus ! 

" O Ceesar, we who are about to die 
Salute you ! was the gladiator s cry 
In the arena, standing face to face 
With death, and with the Roman populace." 

The overshadowing future solemnized the triumphal hour ; 
we oldsters knew what was to come after. 

Passing the familiar scenes about the Long Bridge, the 
brigade turned to the left towards Alexandria, and went 
into camp in a valley near some whitewashed barracks. 
The Fifty-Sixth Massachusetts had an excellent band, and 
for the first time we heard them play the soldiers chorus 
from Faust, which afterwards became so familiar, com 
mencing with the words : 

" Glory to those who in battle fall 
Their bright deeds we can with pride recall." 



222 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

The expectation of a naval expedition faded away. 
Some of the veteran officers inquired if we did not feel a 
sinking of the heart when treading again the soil of Vir 
ginia; yes, and a rising of the heart, too, for Grant was to 
lead us. Doubtless there would have been more shrink 
ing if we had known that our indomitable leader s system 
of campaign was to be attrition, with Lee s intrenched 
army as the grindstone upon which we were to be ground. 
For this the general has been censured, but his critics 
should bear in mind that his great fear, during the whole 
following year, was that Lee would escape him and con 
centrate upon Sherman ; writing to the latter, April 19, 
1864, from Culpeper, Grant says : " My directions then 
would be, if the enemy in your front shows signs of joining 
Lee, follow him up to the full extent of your ability. I 
will prevent the concentration of Lee upon your front, if 
it is in the power of this army to do it." No thought of 
facing Lee for a day or two was in his brain when he 
penned those lines. Our view of the field was too narrow. 
The grasp upon Lee s army was to be constant he was to 
be fought in the open field, if he would ; if not, he was to 
be hammered. After the first battle, Lee remained within 
his intrenchments, and pounding and grinding were our 
general s only alternatives. But the position of the hammer 
in the hands of Thor cannot be enviable. 

We left Alexandria on the twenty-seventh, and marched 
rapidly to near Fairfax Court House ; on the twenty- 
eighth, through Centreville and Manassas to Bristoe ; 
on the twenty-ninth, through Catlett s to Warrenton Junc 
tion ; and on the thirtieth, to Bealton Station. The whole 
country was one great unfenced plain, with occasional 
woods ne ar streams the tramping ground of armies for 
the past three years. The Thirty-Fifth and Ninth New 
Hampshire, as guards, accompanied an endless train of 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 223 

wagons. Near Centreville, the colonel rode back and 
pointed out the localities of note about the town, Black 
burn s Ford and Bull Run, his mind occupied with mem 
ories of the old First Massachusetts Regiment and 1861. 
At Warrenton Junction we recalled Major Willard and the 
extra hard bread on the march across to Fredericksburg. 
At Bealton, tents were pitched in the open plain west of 
the railroad, camp duties resumed, and all were busy upon 
the pay-rolls. It was said that the Ninth Corps was to be 
located for some time along the railroad to protect it 
from raiders. May ist, Lieutenant Creasey arrived and 
took position on the brigade staff, as acting assistant 
adjutant-general. The Tenth Regiment, United States 
Infantry, with a good band, was encamped near us, 
and, with the Fourth United States Infantry, was now 
attached to our brigade, making it, we hoped, a crack 
corps ; but we were too soon in action to gain proper 
coherence as a brigade, or even to make their acquain 
tance. The cars upon the railroad were rushing the 
surplus baggage and supplies towards Washington, 
one train wrecking seven cars in front of our camps, 
and injuring six soldiers of their freight, besides scat 
tering sugar and commissary stores broadcast for the 
benefit of our boys. This was early in the morning of 
May 4th, at the time the men were turning out to strike 
tents and prepare for the inarch. After assisting to remove 
the wreck, the regiment took the line of march towards 
the Rappahannock, much to the disappointment of those 
who looked for a resting spell guarding the railway. We 
crossed the river on the pontoons near Rappahannock 
Station, where the earthworks so gallantly captured by 
General Russell of the Sixth Corps, in November pre 
ceding, were still undisturbed. Following the railroad to 
Brandy Station, situated in a wide, treeless waste, we halted 



224 



HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 



about noon for several hours, to allow the teams to come 
up. The railroad was then left and a course taken south 
easterly across Mountain Run towards the Rapidan, 
marching until late at night, and finally lying uncomfort 
ably by the road in constant expectation of movement. 

The strength of the brigade, by the morning report of 
May 3d, was : 



REGIMENTS. 


PRESENT. 


ABSENT. 


Totals 


Officers. 


Men. 


Officers. 


Men. 


Fourth United States Infantry . . . 
Tenth United States Infantry . . . 
Thirty-Fifth Massachusetts Infantry . 
Fifty-Sixth Massachusetts Infantry 
Fifty-Seventh Massachusetts Infantry. 
Fifty-Ninth Massachusetts Infantry . 


6 
4 
13 
3 
30 
29 


287 
233 
285 
689 
763 
79 


24 

25 
14 
7 
5 
7 


5 
65 
172 

87 
129 

121 


367 
327 
484 
813 
927 
947 


Aggregate 


112 


3,47 


82 


624 


3,86s 



The march with the wagons was resumed on the fifth, 
and it was announced that the Thirty-Fifth was separated 
for the present from the brigade and detailed to guard 
the division supply train. The weather was clear and 
warm. General Burnside and staff passed to the front 
early in the morning. In the afternoon, as we approached 
the Rapidan, the continuous roar of battle could be heard 
rising from the forests on the south bank; the sound was 
impressive, not only in itself, but from the momentous 
consequences which were at stake. At Ely s Ford the 
water was about three feet deep, the bottom stony and 
current strong; the men waded across with difficulty, and 
went into camp on the south bank. Company D, under 
Lieutenant Hatch Captain Lyon having resigned 
being detailed to guard the ammunition train, had to re- 
cross, and became separated from the regiment until the 
twenty-fifth of June. 

The sounds of battle were renewed at daybreak, and 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 225 

lasted through this day, sixth, and, with the exception of 
two or three days, were continued in some direction within 
our hearing for three months and a half afterwards, until 
habit made the sound so customary that the dead silence 
of its cessation seemed irregular. We proceeded towards 
the field of battle, coming out upon the bare hills near 
the Old Wilderness Tavern, where the train went into park 
in the large green pasture, with the twelve hundred wagons 
of the Army of the Potomac. Major Wales had a tent 
pitched, for shade, upon the hill, and we waited the result 
of the conflict. Right, left and front were apparently un 
broken forests, purple with the opening foliage. Through 
these, from left to right, was visible a line of whitish-gray 
smoke rising through the tree tops, marking the lines 
of battle, from which the rattling sound of musketry pro 
ceeded. No artillery was to be seen excepting the one 
gun, without gunners, unlimbered, and left upon the brow 
of our hill. All clay the volume of sound and clouds of 
smoke sank and swelled, but scarcely a man could we see ; 
only now and then a wounded soldier came to our tent, 
thinking it a hospital, and received the attentions of Sur 
geon Roche. 

Our brigade was in front of us, in the left centre of the 

O 

army, between the Second and Fifth Corps. The Fifth 
Corps formed the centre of the army, the Second Corps 
the left wing; between the two corps was a gap, near the 
intersection of the Brock Road and Plank Road. Steven 
son s division reported at that point about eight in the 
morning. The Second Brigade was sent to the left of the 
Second Corps, where it did famous service. Our brigade 
was turned off by Colonel Carruth to the front into the 
unoccupied ground, and formed in four lines, the right 
resting on some troops said to be of the Fifth Corps, but 
still leaving a small gap on the left, at the road, beyond 



226 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

which was the First Massachusetts, of the Second Corps. 
In this gap, in extension of our first line, we should have 
been placed had we been present. In the first line were 
the Fourth and Tenth United States Infantry, then the 
Fifty-Sixth, Fifty-ninth next, and Fifty-Seventh in rear. 
They had hardly got into position and lain down when a 
tremendous musketry fire was opened upon them, which 
lasted, with greater or less fury, until late in the afternoon. 
Twice the enemy tried to break the lines by assault, but 
failed ; late in the day they tried again, in great force, 
rushing on with yells, but the brigade held on with the 
steadiness of veterans, poured in volleys with telling effect, 
and drove them back into the obscurity of the woods, end 
ing the battle for the day on the left centre. The slaughter 
was terrible : Colonel Griswold, of the Fifty-Sixth, was 
killed; Colonel Bartlett, of the Fifty- Seventh, was wounded. 
Lieutenant-Colonel Collins, of the Eleventh New Hamp 
shire, for some months our brigade commander in Ten 
nessee, fell in another part of the field, and Colonel 
Harriman was captured by the enemy. General Long- 
street was among the wounded of the enemy. 

Towards evening we observed a decided increase of 
firing on the extreme right of the army, and, after dark, 
the news came that the line of the Sixth Corps had been 
broken. The question was asked whether a repetition of 
Chancellorsville was impending; and the immense trains 
whose position was exposed if the break should be a 
bad one were set in motion, and continued through the 
night, taking the road to the left of the army ; but disaster 
was averted by the exertions of General Sedgwick, com 
manding the Sixth Corps. The regiment lay in bivouac be 
hind the stacks of arms, at one time being roused out to 
corduroy, with boards and rails, a part of the road which 
a small brook made difficult of passage for the wagons. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 22 7 

On the seventh, the army commenced the move to the 
left, towards Spottsylvania. The wagon trains kept as 
near the rear of the centre as possible, moving a few miles 
only over dusty roads. Our old friends, the Eleventh 
New Hampshire, passed us with a cheerful morning greet 
ing. At night the men got no sleep, the wagons being in 
the road and expecting to move at any moment. The 
same slow march to the left was continued next day, halt 
ing about noon for coffee. A train of ambulances and 
army wagons passed with the wounded from the front, who 
were furnished with water by our men. Also some hundreds 
of captured Confederates marched by under guard. The 
locality we had reached was the ground over which Stone 
wall Jackson advanced to turn Hooker s right at Chan- 
cellorsville, a year before. The leaves of last autumn had 
covered most of the relics of that unfortunate affair, but 
groping among the rubbish by the road-side, a human skull 
was uncovered ; a fit text for one disposed to moralize in 
the midst of the great events transpiring. At dark we 
kept on, the train went into park near the old Chancel- 
lorsville House, and we got the first sound sleep for 
several nights. We passed the junction of the roads at 
Chancellorsville next morning, ninth, the whole area about 
the mansion crowded with wagons and artillery and 
columns of troops passing towards Spottsylvania. For 
several succeeding days the trains remained in park along 
the road towards Fredericksburg, the men patiently await 
ing events and listening to the sounds of battle in front. 
Part of the Fifty-Eighth Massachusetts passed to join the 
Second Division. 

This trifling at the rear had its irksome side. There 
was a feeling among the officers and men that we were 
playing truant ; the constant music of battle kept calling 
calling and yet we dawdled beside the wagons, a 



228 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

necessary duty, but seeming unsoldierly at the beginning 
of the campaign ; we did not appreciate, at that time r 
General Grant s anxiety about the trains. At the front 
one sees what is going on, knows his place and feels as if 
he were doing his whole duty ; with the rear, he hears 
the concentrated din of the fighting of the whole army, 
knows nothing but what the exaggerated tales of stragglers 
bring him, sees all the wounded congregated in the horrors 
of the field hospital so that our losses appear like an army 
of themselves and, if at all susceptible, he quickly gets 
the blues. Much of such duty must be demoralizing ; but 
it is well enough to lie in reserve occasionally, and some 
times to visit the hospitals, to see what the thing is like. 
Captain Blanchard expressed his views to the effect that 
it was a duty unworthy of our regiment. The reply to him 
was, not to worry his heroic soul, the duty would not be 
likely to last long ! 

On the tenth, there was sanguinary fighting, and our 
division commander, General Thomas G. Stevenson, was 
killed by a sharpshooter. He was succeeded by General 
Thomas L. Crittenden, a son of Hon. John J. Crittenden r 
and previously a commander of the left wing of the Army 
of the Cumberland, under General Rosecrans. Major 
Wales, having sent in his resignation at Alexandria, re 
ceived his discharge, and returned to Massachusetts with 
the body of General Stevenson, his former colonel in the 
Twenty-Fourth Massachusetts. Captain Lyon also de 
parted at the same time, leaving Captain Blanchard senior 
officer and in command until the fifteenth. 

Next day, we had rain in the afternoon, and the regi 
ment moved a little way into the woods and tents were 
pitched. At daylight of the twelfth heavy firing was heard 
at the front, which continued with great rapidity until 
three in the afternoon, then ceased, except a solitary can- 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 229 

non heard at intervals. This was the noise of battle 
attendant upon General Hancock s successful assault with 
the Second Corps upon the Confederate salient, in which 
he captured Major-General Edward Johnson, Brigadier- 
General Geo. H. Stewart, and some three thousand pris 
oners and twenty cannon. After the prisoners were taken 
to the rear, it is related that Hancock seeing Stewart, a 
former friend, extended his hand, saying " How are you, 
Stewart ? " The latter haughtily replied, " I am General 
Stewart of the Confederate Army, and, under the circum 
stances, I decline to take your hand." " And under any 
other circumstances, General, I should not have offered 
it," was Hancock s response. No anecdote could better 
illustrate the disposition in which the two armies fought ; 
the officers of the Confederate army bitterly vindictive and 
making the war a personal affair, the Union army lenient 
and without ill-will. Indeed this dissimilarity helps to 
account for much of the difference in fighting spirit, which 
some writers state was possessed in greater degree by the 
Confederate soldier. Shakespeare wrote long ago : 

" To be tender-minded does not become a sword ; " 

but it was part of the task of the Union army to overcome 
hostile hearts as well as hostile hands. 

We halted in the drizzle near Salem Church, the scene 
of General Sedgwick s battle of May 4th, 1863, and saw 
these prisoners pass under guard ; their officers appeared 
in no wise discouraged, but the men, as is usual with 
prisoners, rather a bedraggled looking set. The regiment 
spent the afternoon upon a by-road, repairing a bridge for 
the wagons to pass. There was a pleasant house near by, 
with greenhouses and exotic plants, among which the men 
wandered during the halt. At night we reached the turn 
pike and slept under some pine trees dripping with mois- 



230 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

ture. On the thirteenth, the trains and guards moved 
rapidly over the pike to within three miles of Fredericks- 
burg, where, in an open field, the wagons went into park ; 
tents were pitched over the fourteenth and rations issued, 
A military band wandered disconsolately about, like wet 
fowls, in the rain and mud, their instruments bruised and 
clothing much the worse for the ten days south of the 
Rapidan. 

We were surprised and cheered, on the fifteenth, by the 
arrival of two officers, Captain Park and Adjutant Wash- 
burn, from detached service at Lexington, Kentucky. 
Captain Park took command of the regiment. Next day 
the train moved towards the city and joined the immense 
park of wagons near the old battle -field ; the regiment 
turned to the south and went into camp upon a wooded 
hill-side overlooking Hazel Run. The men improved the 
opportunity to visit the scene of the battle of December 
i3th, 1862, so memorable to us, searching for old land 
marks. The ridge and sunken road with the stone wall 
were so well defined as to be easily recognized, but the 
plain below, where we had advanced, was now so changed 
in appearance by the destruction of houses, fences, etc., 
as to render locating any point quite difficult ; the small 
house with the battered chimney was, however, recognized. 
In the course of the day orders came from the front for 
the regiment to join the brigade. Captain Blanchard drew 
a breath of relief ; his wish, " to take a thousand before 
breakfast," might now be gratified. 

Early in the morning of May lyth, the regiment was on 
the way south-westerly by the telegraph road towards 
Spottsylvania. After some ten miles of easy marching, 
we struck into a military road cut through the pine woods 
and came out upon a rise of land overlooking the valley 
of the Ny River. The lines of our army could be seen 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 231 

extending far to the left, posted close up to the pine woods, 
which separated them from the Confederate intrenchments 
about Spottsylvania Court House. Turning off to the 
right we met some of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Regi 
ment, as before at South Mountain and . Fredericksburg r 
and crossing the little Ny River upon a temporary bridge 
found our brigade. 

Our division was behind hastily constructed low in 
trenchments upon the hither slope of a little elevation, 
beyond a small brook, an affluent of the Ny, in which 
some of the men were bathing as we approached. In front 
of our lines was an open space for a few rods, then pine 
woods with thick undergrowth ; upon our right were pine 
woods, which concealed our troops in that direction ; but 
in front of this forest, between it and the enemy, was an 
open field, in which, at some distance from us, could be 
seen the bodies of several soldiers, who had fallen in the 
attack of the twelfth, still unburied. The scene of Gen 
eral Hancock s surprise and capture of the Confederates, 
mentioned above, was beyond these woods and fields. 
We were shocked at the appearance of the men of the 
brigade, so thoroughly had the struggles of the past few 
days worn off their polish and newness ; their numbers 
also were wofully diminished ; they looked, it was re 
marked, as if they had just arrived from Blain s Cross 
Roads by way of Big Creek Gap. A little picket firing was 
going on in the forest in front ; one bullet intended for Lieu 
tenant Farrington, passing through his shelter tent close 
by his head. We learned that General J. H. Ledlie, an 
officer entirely unknown to us, was in command of the 
brigade, our colonel having gone to hospital. Lieu 
tenant Creasey was upon his staff. At evening, orders 
were received to be ready to assault the enemy s works in 
front at an early hour next morning. There was a little 



232 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

moon throwing its soft light over the martial scene; the 
men conversed quietly, in the subdued way so marked 
when under orders to attack, then slept, rolled in their gray 
blankets, and quiet reigned over the bivouac. 

Awakened without noise, at half after three in the morn 
ing, a double line was formed in front of our works ; the 
front line was to advance and feel the enemy, we were to 
support it. About five in the morning, the signal sounds 
of attack were heard from our right, and our lines advanced 
in good style into the woods. The enemy were awake, 
and, conscious of our approach, opened upon us with 
spherical case-shot ; the bursting missiles tearing through 
the shrubbery and laying low several of our men. The 
first line reached the opening before the Confederate 
works, halted upon a ridge and commenced firing; the 
Thirty-Fifth moving up, came close upon the rear of the 
troops in front. Hardly had we attained this position, 
when the Confederates fired a volley, and some person 
whether authorized or not in the front line shouted 
loudly " Retreat ! " Very likely it was done by some 
bounty jumper, who, trusting to be undiscovered in the 
confusion of an engagement, took this method of getting 
out of an unpleasant situation. This danger of false 
orders is one to which all troops, in which unwilling men 
are serving, are constantly exposed, and it was our first 
experience with that class. At all events, whoever 
started it, the word was repeated, and the troops went 
back in a decidedly hasty manner, the first line running 
over our men, who thinking it was an overwhelming 
counter attack and that the order to fall back was by 
authority went to the rear with equal celerity. 

On getting to the open space in front of our intrench- 
ments, no pursuers being seen, the men stopped and 
immediately formed into line again, those who had reached 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 233 

the works coming out without hesitation. At this time a 
natty-looking officer, apparently a lieutenant, appeared 
and began to address the men in a rather excited manner, 
" Fall in, Thirty-Fifth ! Steady, Thirty-Fifth ! " etc., while 
our men looked at him calmly and wondering who he was. 
One of our officers spoke to him, saying : " Don t trouble 
yourself ; you attend to your business and we 11 attend to 
ours !" to which, if he heard it which, fortunately for all 
concerned, he probably did not he made no reply; our 
officer was abashed to learn afterwards that the animated 
gentleman was our new general, Ledlie. The Fifty- 
Seventh Massachusetts, under the gallant Lieutenant- 
Colonel Chandler, now went forward in admirably kept 
ranks, but, singularly enough, by flank, to the front, and 
the Thirty-Fifth again advanced in line of battle on their 
right. The Fourth and Tenth United States Infantry 
were on the right of the Thirty-Fifth. We passed through 
the woods, reached the opening nearest the enemy, and, 
at about one hundred yards from their intrenchments, the 
whole line lay down, without firing a shot, and in this 
position calmly sustained the fire of the enemy two or 
three hours, with little loss to us, as the shells and bullets 
of the Confederates passed over our heads. The order 
was simply " to feel the enemy," and as it was plain they 
were ready to receive us, no final assault was ordered. The 
good conduct of Sergeant Alfred W. Tirrell (afterwards 
lieutenant), while scouting on our left, was commended 
by Captain Hudson. 

While lying thus, a man in the uniform of a staff officer 
came along the line with a solid shot in hand inquiring for 
a certain battery; turning to the front he disappeared 
through the line, which let him pass, not suspecting his 
intention, until he pulled out a white handkerchief and 
sprang lightly into the Confederate intrenchment, much to 



234 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

the chagrin of those who witnessed the performance. 
That fellow has always been known in the regiment as the 
" mysterious stranger," and guesses of all sorts have been 
made about him : spy, deserter, or Confederate officer 
accidentally caught in our lines, ghost or real flesh and 
blood, he was of a most intrepid spirit. This was the 
second instance of mistake in persons that morning, owing 
to lack of mutual acquaintance in our brand-new brigade. 
The line received orders to return to our intrenchments, 
and the regiment retired by right of divisions to the rear, 
as if on drill. One hundred men of the Thirty-Fifth were 
detailed under command of Captain Meserve to occupy 
the picket line during the rest of the day and the follow 
ing night. 

Our loss was : two officers wounded, Adjutant Wash- 
burn and Lieutenant Wright, and twenty enlisted men 
killed and wounded. The killed or mortally wounded 
were : Corporal Alfred E. Waldo, of Company E, Corporal 
John F. Cole and George Clark, of Company F, Sergeant 
L. T. Holmes, of Company H, and Sergeant Wm. R, 
Wright, of Company K. The fallen men were, of course, 
well known ; no man dropped out of our ranks in this 
campaign but it was like the loss of a brother to all the 
rest. Of Sergeant Wright, a comrade preserved these 
lines in a diary : " He bore his sufferings like a true hero, 
being torn by canister in the left arm and right leg near 
the hip, and did not fear to die, only feeling sorry for his 
family, which he spoke kindly of, requesting me to tell 
them that he died happy." 

The day passed quietly, and was spent in resting or 
in making the acquaintance of our comrades in the other 
regiments of the brigade. On the nineteenth, before day 
break, the whole division was withdrawn from the works, 
the picket line covering the rear, and marched to the left 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 235 

of the army, past General Burnside s headquarters near 
which we stopped to make coffee and came out upon a 
more open and level tract of country than we had seen for 
some time. The movement was conducted in good order, 
without appearance of the enemy, who were heard chopping 
trees in our front as we left. 

Reaching the extreme left, the Thirty-Fifth was ordered 
forward as skirmishers to discover the enemy. The open 
country offered a fine opportunity for a display of the 
skirmish line, and the manoeuvre was neatly executed ; the 
regiment moving up in line and deploying to the right and 
left, then advancing as if on drill, General Ledlie and the 
brigade looking on. After going forward about half a 
mile, the left of the line being in oak woods, a position 
was reached near a pine grove from which the Confederate 
lines could be inspected ; their rifle-pits extending along 
the further bank of the Po River or a branch of it. Here 
the regiment remained until relieved by a detail for picket, 
when we moved to the right and formed on the brigade 
line at Queesenberry s ; the Fourth United States Infantry 
coming up on our left. The usual line of intrenchments 
covering our front was then thrown up, and the men slept 
the sleep of the very weary, soon broken, however, by an 
order to occupy the trenches, as an attack was expected, 
but which did not occur. 

The following day was spent in quiet; two lines of earth 
works were built in our rear, and batteries placed at inter 
vals, making a formidable defence. At evening the bands 
played to cheer up the men. While we had been with the 
trains no attack was made upon them, but on the nine 
teenth we could hear behind us the music of battle from 
General Ewell s attempt in imitation of Stonewall Jack 
son to sweep upon our rear, which was repulsed by the 
heavy-artillery regiments and some of our cavalry. 



236 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

The army commenced, on the twenty-first, another move 
to the left ; the Second Corps had already started. It was 
intended that the Ninth Corps should move eastward, 
down the Po River to Stannard s Mill, cross there and ad 
vance south upon the west side of the river. When General 
Curtin, with his brigade of the Second Division, arrived at 
the Mill, the Confederates appeared in such force that this 
line of march could only be secured by a battle, which was 
not advisable ; Curtin, therefore, held the position while 
the rest of the corps passed in his rear to Guinea Station, 
on the east side of the Frederick sburg and Richmond 
Railroad. 

We started about five in the afternoon. The pickets 
under Lieutenant Farrington were left out, and had a hot 
time that night before they were relieved. The Sixth 
Corps occupied the works abandoned by us, and we had 
gone but a short distance when the enemy, for whose 
attack we had constantly watched, made an assault upon 
that corps and suffered a severe repulse. While we 
marched, the thunders of this battle in our rear filled our 
ears and was then quite inexplicable, all had seemed so 
quiet at our starting. All the night we kept on, with 
flankers out upon the right, until we reached the Fred- 
ericksburg turnpike, then northward upon this well worn 
road until we met the cross road running east again to 
Guinea s. We crossed the railroad early in the morning, 
overtook at the station the rear of the corps which had 
preceded us, and came to a halt near several houses for 
coffee. Some will remember that as we passed a house 
upon the left a window was thrown up, a head appeared, 
and a volley of maledictions was hurled at us, much to the 
amusement of the passing troops. 

From Guinea Station we turned south again, falling in 
left in front, and marched near the railroad, passing Gen- 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 237 

eral Grant s headquarters where General Burnside re 
viewed the corps keeping on slowly all day, crossing 
the railroad and several bridges, and halted for the night 
in a ploughed field near the Mattapony River, where Lieu 
tenant Farrington and the pickets caught up with the 
regiment. 

On the twenty-third we made slow progress southward, 
over hot and dusty roads, while the Second Corps was 
pushing forward to effect a crossing of the bridge over the 
North Anna River. During the day a sergeant of some 
regiment ahead passed us, while we halted, and attracted 
attention by the excessive profanity with which he ad 
dressed his men, who were tugging large quarters of fresh 
beef. All at once General Burnside and staff came riding 
through the woods ; the general overheard the sergeant s 
blasphemy, stopped short, his eyes flashing with indigna- 
tion 5 demanded the man s name and regiment, ordered 
him reduced to the ranks, and his chevrons and stripes 
torn off on the spot; an act of summary justice which 
seemed quite to the satisfaction of the perspiring privates. 
At twilight heavy musketry was heard ahead, and the 
brigade stacked arms in a ploughed field on the right of 
the road, got rations and slept, within a mile or two of the 
North Anna. The country along the railroad was open 
and inhabited, but as we approached the river we again 
struck the pitch-pine forests, with roads much travelled 
and deep with dust. The firing heard was the successful 
assault of the Second Corps upon the bridge-head at 
Chesterfield Bridge. 

While we were making this long circuit, General Lee 
had ample time to prepare his defence on the North Anna. 
He formed his army in a V shape, the point resting upon 
the river. The Fifth and Sixth Corps crossed above at 
Jericho Mills and enveloped the west side of the angle, and 



238 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

tore up the Virginia Central Railroad ; the Second Corps 
and part of the Ninth crossed at Chesterfield Bridge and 
attacked the east side. We had reached the river at Ox 
Ford, where the point of the V rested, and the plan was 
for us to cross, crush in this angle, and become the centre 
of the army connecting the Second and Fifth Corps. 

On the sunny afternoon of the twenty-fourth of May, the 
brigade started across the fields directly for a ford above 
Ox Ford, coming out upon the high bank of the river, 
which here runs in a deep cutting. The descent to the 
stream was so abrupt that one of our officers, seeing Major 
Putnam of the Fifty-Sixth going down on horse-back, re 
marked to him, in allusion to " Old Put " of Revolutionary 
fame, that " it was not quite so steep as Horse s Neck, 
but would do for practice," at which he laughed ; but the 
major was not so lucky as his ancestor, for he received a 
mortal wound upon the opposite bank. 

The North Anna was not very wide, but deep for ford 
ing and full of rocks, consequently the crossing was slow 
work. It was a picturesque spot and an interesting scene, 
enlivened by a few rattling shots which echoed in the woods 
above, but without other signs of an enemy near. General 
Crittenden s intention had been to attack with the Sec 
ond Brigade, but, as ours arrived first, as soon as we were 
assembled upon the south bank, he commenced operations. 
The Thirty-Fifth was again ordered forward as skirmishers, 
to beat the thick woods in front. The men wished to 
leave their knapsacks, but, as we did not expect to return 
to the spot, they were obliged to lug them along. Form 
ing in line of battle facing the south-east, Captain Hudson 
was placed in charge of the left ; Captain Meserve, of the 
right; while Captain Park, with Company G as reserve, 
took the centre. The deployment was quickly made, the 
line fronted, then, at the command, "Forward, guide 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 239 

centre march!" the boys dashed ahead in the spirited 
way an old soldier loves to see. The reserve had hard 
work to keep up with the line, which, passing some pickets 
on the right, wearing bucktails in their caps Pennsyl 
vania Reserves of the Fifth Corps crossed several 
ravines, and advancing some half a mile, driving back the 
Confederate pickets, came out into an open field in full 
view of the enemy s intrenchments. After exchanging 
shots, forward again went the line over the open field, 
driving the gray-coats from their pits and for the moment 
clearing the field ; but they returned in force, too heavy 
for a skirmish line to withstand, and compelled our men 
to fall back across the field to the woods, where they took 
position partly sheltered and held on. The right of our 
line, companies A, E and F, though less close than the 
left to the enemy s works, was more exposed upon the 
flank, which the Confederates took advantage of, issued 
from their intrenchments to the right, and coming behind 
our line swept off four or five men, including Sergeant 
Lunt, and compelled the right to retire also to the woods. 
Meanwhile, the rest of the brigade had been formed in 
two lines of battle, and came forward through the woods 
with that swaying from side to side so noticeable in a close 
line of battle advancing over rough wooded ground. They 
bore to the left, coming up in rear of our line in the edge 
of the woods behind companies H and I, and commenced 
firing by volleys upon the enemy, who now opened a rapid 
fire of artillery, and the action was hot for an hour or two, 
without material change on either side, until ammunition 
was pretty well used up. The right of the line of battle 
was well covered by our skirmishers, but on the left the 
most dangerous position, as it was nearest the Confederate 
line the skirmishers, owing to the brigade coming up 
behind our left companies, extended but a little way. 



240 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

This the enemy discovered after a time, and coming out 
of their works upon our left, charged into them with their 
well-known yells, which, added to the effect of a smart 
shower driving in the faces of our men, broke the forma 
tion, and the regiments fell back towards the river into a 
line of works which the troops in our rear had constructed. 
The left of our skirmish line went back with the rest, ex 
cept several unfortunates who were surprised and captured; 
the reserve and right under Captain Park remained out 
until Captain Hudson came from the left with the news, 
when they also were drawn back some distance and finally 
into the works. 

It had been a lively afternoon s work, and the advance 
of the line as skirmishers was never better done by the 
regiment ; the men, although obliged finally to retire, felt 
proud of the performance and strengthened confidence in 
the old Thirty-Fifth, and with justice, for General Crit- 
tenden, speaking of its swift advance, said, "He had never 
seen the like before." The losses of the regiments in the 
line of battle were heavy. The much-admired Lieutenant- 
Colonel Chandler, of the Fifty-Seventh, fell, mortally 
wounded, and had to be abandoned to the enemy. The 
loss of our regiment was small, as the men took advantage 
of all shelter, six wounded and eight prisoners picked off 
the flank, viz. : Sergeant J. W. Lunt, of Company A ; 
Robert Steele, F. Sweeney and James A. Lord, of Com 
pany C; Israel Roach and another, of Company F; Corporal 
B. F. Pratt, of Company H ; and Sergeant Henry W. Tis- 
dale, of Company I. Also Lieutenant Creasey, of General 
Ledlie s staff, had the misfortune to be swept in by the 
Confederate line, and was forced to spend the remainder 
of his term of service as a prisoner of war. 

The position of the enemy was found to be too strong 
and too easily reenforced upon either flank to justify the 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 241 

cost of crushing it in, and our army remained astride of 
the river, bridges being built or pontoons laid at all need 
ful points. 

On the twenty-sixth, unexpectedly to us, the regiment 
was appointed the engineer corps for the First Division, 
and ordered to report to Major Morton, chief engineer of 
the Ninth Corps. The order came through General 
Ledlie, who was directed to detail an old and reliable 
regiment for the duty, and honored the Thirty-Fifth by the 
selection. The detail of line regiments for engineer duty 
was a novelty to us, and was introduced by Major Morton, 
an officer whose service with the Army of the Potomac was 
brief, but who was the most capable and zealous soldier our 
regiment ever had intimate relation with. He was born 
in Philadelphia in 1829, graduated at West Point in 1851, 
and was appointed to the engineers. After serving as 
assistant professor of engineering at the Academy, and 
taking charge of various works, he went to Central 
America at the head of the Chiriqui expedition in 1860. 
In the spring of 1862 he was chief engineer of the Army 
of the Ohio, and in the following October received the 
same rank in the Army of the Cumberland, under Rose- 
crans, and, soon after, he was made a brevet brigadier- 
general. He built the intrenchments at Murfreesboro and 

o 

was engineer of the works at Chattanooga. At the time 
the Thirty-Fifth was placed under his orders he was a 
total stranger to us by name and reputation, and much as 
we looked up to him, we never fully appreciated his worth 
until we lost him. 

The detail duty as engineers continued until about the 
first of September following, and had its advantages, al 
though the work was hard and often perilous. The com 
manding officer of the regiment was placed in a difficult 
position between two superiors, his brigadier and Major 



242 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

Morton, both issuing orders, with a resulting double allow 
ance of duty. Interference with his engineers was resented 
by Major Morton, and whom to obey was sometimes a 
vexatious question. This trouble could have been avoided 
by bringing the engineer regiments of the corps under a 
brigadier of their own, and this would have been best for 
instruction and division of work ; but a withdrawal from 
the line would have weakened it to that extent against 
attack, therefore it was not attempted. The result was 
that in addition to their severe extra labors, the men of 
the regiment took part in all the battles of the First Di 
vision with one exception which occurred during the 
detail, although regular engineer regiments are exempted 
from line duty in consideration of their other exertions. 

General Grant, having decided that Lee s position on 
the North Anna could not be carried without a loss dis- 
proportioned to its value, determined to move to the 
Pamunkey River. The base of supplies was transferred 
from Fredericksburg to the White House, and the army, 
undisturbed, executed another bold flank march in the face 
of the enemy. Late on the twenty-sixth, the regiment was 
withdrawn to the north side of the river and stacked arms 
upon the bank, watching the returning troops ; the knap 
sacks were put in wagons and each man given some tool, 
pick, shovel or axe to carry. At daylight the Confederate 
pickets approached the south bank and opened a scatter 
ing but harmless fire, to which no reply was made. We 
marched south-easterly, following the Fifth Corps, travelling 
almost at a run when on the road, but stopping frequently 
to fill up mud holes and places difficult for the artillery 
and wagons. At night we built a temporary bridge over 
a small stream, the regiment bein divided into three 
reliefs and working all night. 

On the twenty-eighth, we pushed along in the same way, 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 243 

passing King William s Church, the weather hot and roads 
dusty, yet accomplishing twenty miles, and reaching the 
Parnunkey at Hanovertown at six in the evening. We 
crossed on the canvas pontoons and slept on the south bank. 

South of the Pamunkey the country continued well 
covered with woods, with occasional open tracts or old farm 
lots ; the loose soil was cut into deep swampy ravines along 
the numerous winding branches of Totopotomoy Creek; 
a difficult country for offensive operations. The roads all 
converged to the south-west, crossing the Chickahominy 
River to Richmond, now not more than a dozen miles or 
so distant. The Fifth Corps advanced to the front of 
Shady Grove and skirmishing commenced; Near Hawes s 
Shop we built a line of intrenchments in the woods on the 
left of a church ; it was Sunday, and this was the nearest 
we got to a religious observance of the day in this cam 
paign. The line was hardly finished when the troops had 
advanced so far as to render the works needless. General 
Lee with his army held the north bank of the Chicka 
hominy, covering the approaches to Richmond, and it was 
anticipated that he would now yield ground only inch by 
inch. Our corps approached his lines at Shady Grove, 
and then with the Fifth Corps shifted along his front to 
Bethesda Church and Cold Harbor; while the Second 
and Sixth Corps were transferred from the right to the left 
of the army. 

The work for the whole army along this line was severe 
to the limit of human endurance ; the weather hot, with 
occasional showers, and very enervating. To most who 
were there the memory of those days is probably a tangle 
of confused incidents, which the following extract from 
Captain then first sergeant Nason s diary will help to 
unravel, and also exhibit the variety of duty performed by 
the regiment as engineers : 



244 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

" Monday, May 3oth. Marched nine A. M., proceeding: 
very cautiously, and having made only one and a half miles 
at noon, halted for two hours and made coffee ; then again 
moved on slowly half a mile and stacked arms in woods 
on the right of our brigade. Soon after, moved by left 
flank to the front about a mile, and took position in an 
open field near the edge of woods at nine P. M. and threw 
up breastworks (near Huntley s Corner) ; picket firing con 
tinued through the night, at times quite lively, which twice 
called us up, expecting an attack, but our pickets held 
their ground ; slept an hour. Drew rations at midnight. 
Our position is with left resting on the Shady Grove Road. 

"Tuesday, May 3 1 st. Called up early. Regiment ordered 
to cut road through woods for artillery to pass, which was 
speedily done; meantime our position in the breast 
works was filled by a portion of the Fourteenth Massachu 
setts Artillery. After completing the road, returned to 
our position in the works. Advanced with our brigade 
half a mile at noon, by left flank, and formed line of battle 
in woods, when we quickly commenced a breastwork. 
Half an hour later the order came to retire to our old 
position, a flank movement being anticipated. Several 
men of the brigade were wounded before reaching the 
works, two of the Thirty-Fifth slightly. The Fourteenth 
Massachusetts and Second Maine batteries took position 
in front of our intrenchments P. M., and earthworks to cover 
them were thrown up by the Thirty-Fifth ; while at work 
the rest of the brigade advanced, when biisk firing began, 
but they held their position. Some picket firing during 
the night, which passed quietly, obtaining considerable 
sleep. 

"Wednesday, June ist. Left intrenchments at eleven 
and a half A. M., with tools, etc., and moved, by left flank, a 
few rods in front of our outer line of breastworks. Stacked 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 245 

arms and commenced, by order, to throw up a new line of 
works at right angle with the old line* Worked steadily 
till five P. M., when heavy volleys of musketry were heard 
to our left, and a yell of the enemy ; we put on equipments 
and resumed work. An hour later an attack was made in 
our front, at right angles with the line we had partly 
finished, which, of course, furnished us no protection, and, 
our skirmishers being driven in, a rush was made for the 
stacks of arms, which caused considerable confusion. As 
we had no support outside of the intrenchments, we made 
our way back to our old position, and, as soon as our 
skirmishers arrived, opened a brisk fire, which, together 
with shots from our artillery which was most ably served 
.this day had the effect to drive back the enemy. Our 
skirmishers again advanced to near their former position 
and no further trouble occurred during the night. The 
regiment escaped with only two wounded : Sergeant 
William White of Company H, and H. C. Green of Com 
pany I. Three recruits arrived for Company K, one an 
old soldier. 

"June 2d. Quiet morning. Left breastworks at three 
p. M., moved by left flank slowly along eastward. Had 
proceeded a mile and a half when our pickets in rear were 
attacked. We had just passed a line of battle, which was 
soon wheeled to the right and marched forward on the 
double-quick towards the enemy. Our batteries got into 
position and a brisk fire commenced on both sides, which 
continued after dark. The enemy was held in check. 
Our brigade was not engaged, but, while lying down in 
readiness in the open field, our regiment had three men 
wounded by our own shells. Retired a short distance in 
rear of the Gibson House said to be eight miles from 
Richmond in an air line and threw up breastworks, com- 

*An odd piece of engineering never explained to us. 



246 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

pleting them at dark. A very heavy shower before the 
attack wet us through, and made ,the roads in bad con 
dition for awhile, but they soon dried up. Passed the 
night quietly near the Gibson House (near Bethesda 
Church). 

"June 3d. Skirmishing commenced at daylight on our 
right front, which terminated in an engagement, six and 
half A. M. ; the Second and Third Divisions being engaged. 
Several charges were made by the enemy, who were repulsed 
each time ; losses heavy on both sides, but, we having the 
best position for batteries, our loss said to be less than the 
enemy s. They planted a battery quite near our skirmish 
line, but were prevented from using it by our skirmishers. 
Hard fighting during the day with ground gained by our; 
side, also some prisoners. The regiment proceeded to the 
second rear line of intrenchments at three P. M., and at 
five commenced to build quite an extensive fort, shaped 
like a square : eight feet high, twenty-eight feet through at 
base, from which extends a platform six feet wide, termi 
nating at the ditch, eight feet deep and fifteen feet wide. 
The regiment was divided into two reliefs and continued 
work through the night. The troops behaved well. The 
rest of the brigade moved forward ; had a few wounded.* 

" June 4th. No firing heard till seven A. M., which proved 
to be our troops discharging their muskets. The enemy 
left our front at four A. M. Those who visited the battle 
field pronounced it equal in severity to anything ever wit 
nessed. Horses covered the ground, and forty were 
counted in the space of an acre. Trees were full of holes, 
and many rebels lay where they fell ; their battery-men 
suffered terribly. Orders at seven and a half A. M. to stop 
work on the fort, which would have taken three days to 
complete. Three cheers heard at our left at eleven 

* Colonel Schall, of Fifty-First Pennsylvania, was killed this day. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 247 

o clock predicted good news. We moved about half a 
mile and stacked arms. Troops on the move. Moved 
again at seven P. M., two miles south-eastward, and stacked 
arms near division headquarters and put up shelter tents, 
the first time for several days. A rainy night ; some picket 
firing. 

" Sunday, June 5th. Marched, five and a half A. M., a 
short distance, and stacked arms in rear of the first line of 
breastworks, left equipments, etc., and proceeded in front 
of breastworks to make a passage to a fort being built 
by the Fifty-First New York ; after which worked on 
fort. Three privates of our regiment wounded while at 
work. Heavy fighting on our left, nine p. M., and, soon 
after, skirmishing in our front, which prevented the men 
from working. We retired to our stacks, remaining be 
hind the breastworks until midnight ; then moved one mile 
to rear, working on a road upon a side hill until two and 
a half A. M., when we lay down to rest. 

"June 6th. Resumed work at four A.M. on road, and made 
bridge near General Burnside s headquarters. Heavy 
shelling by the enemy in the afternoon, several shots 
falling near the regiment, but no one injured. Very warm 
day. A shower at dark. Several recruits arrived for the 
regiment. Henry Card found a box of hard bread, left by 
some cook during the shelling, which replenished our 
empty haversacks. Finished work on the bridge at ten 
p. M. and turned in for the night. 

"June yth. Moved at five A. M. to the fort and resumed 
work, after disposing of our coffee. The regiment worked 
by wings undisturbed till ten A. M. ; when our pickets in 
front were attacked ; stopped work until our line was re 
established, when the firing ceased, and work was again 
resumed on the fort. While watching the progress of 
work on the stockade a minie-ball passed spitefully 



248 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

through the left leg of my pants, just above the knee, the 
only damage done. Heavy shelling by the enemy in the 
afternoon, which continued one and a half hours ; the shots 
passing over us to the rear. Heavy musketry on our right. 
The Fifty-First New York, while at work on intrenchments 
at the front, was attacked and several men taken prisoners. 
A flag of truce appeared to our left, seven p. M., from the 
enemy, to bury the dead, and there was no firing for two 
hours in that quarter. Considerable picket firing during 
the night. Relieved from work at nine P. M., retired to 
woods outside of breastworks and bivouac for the night, 
being relieved by the Eighth Michigan regiment. 

" June 8th. Resumed work on, the fort, six A. M., relieving 
in turn the Eighth Michigan, and commenced a traverse 
from right front corner to centre of the rear. Dimensions 
of fort : rear, one hundred and sixty feet ; right side, 
eighty-three feet ; front, seventy-two feet ; left, one hun 
dred and three feet. Were relieved at nine P. M. and 
passed the night quietly in same position as before. One of 
Company A was wounded slightly in the head while at work 
on the fort. A quiet day in front, only light picket firing. 

"June Qth. Returned to the fort at six and a half A. M., 
finding three guns of Roemer s battery placed there during 
the night. Captain Park being unwell, Captain Blanchard 
took command. Finished the traverse and made a maga 
zine, six feet deep, twelve feet long, covered with five feet 
of earth. A slight shower in the afternoon. Finished 
work at ten P. M. and retired to our usual position for the 
night. Quiet night, moonlight evening ; the boys in the 
best of spirits. 

"June icth. A pleasant day. Captain Blanchard in 
command. Remained quiet all day. Made out company 
report from June ist to date. Roemer s battery opened 
from the fort at noon, continuing till eight P. M., at 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 249 

intervals of five minutes. One shot from the enemy 
wounded three men in our front, bursting over the rifle 
pits. Passed a night of undisturbed rest." 

Such was life in the trenches on the Cold Harbor front. 
Two members of the regiment died of wounds received 
during these movements : James W. Bartlett, of Company 
A, and George F. Sargent, of Company G. The diet upon 
which these severe labors were prosecuted was hard bread, 
coffee, salt pork, and, occasionally, fresh beef ; no vege 
tables or change of any kind was made, yet few com 
plained of illness. The endurance of the men was 
wonderful, and their zeal was constantly commended by 
Major Morton, who was superintending the work, visiting 
it from time to time day and night, so that he seemed not 
to require sleep to support his energetic life. The labors 
of the officers were lighter than those of the men simply 
to oversee the workers yet even they speak of the 
severity of the constant mental and physical strain. Cap- 
lain Hudson showed special ability in executing the plans 
of Major Morton upon the fort. This earthwork when 
completed was called Fort Fletcher, or the Red Fort, from 
the color of the soil thrown up. Heavy oblong shells 
were found in digging, relics of the siege artillery used in 
McClellan s campaign, for in our front were Gaines s Mill, 
Mechanicsville, New Cold Harbor, and other fields of 
McClellan s operations. The movements during the days 
above detailed were always to the left, General Burnside 
covering the right of the army, and withdrawing from 
Shady Grove to Bethesda Church and then to Cold 
Harbor. The whole district became a maze of lines of 
-earthworks, running in all directions, and difficult to thread 
even to us who saw it grow. The owners of plantations 
thereabouts must have been astonished when they came to 
examine their premises after our departure. 



250 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

The losses of the opposing armies to this date had been 
enormous, that of the Union the heaviest by far, as it was 
generally the attacking party. The men who had fallen 
could not be replaced, they were the bravest and most ex 
perienced of the army, and the recruits and soldiers from 
the fortifications were not equal to them in the steadiness 
which only long service in action at the front can give. 
Yet the pluck of the men, as stated in the diary above, 
continued good ; they had learned to dread making assaults 
upon fortified lines, for hitherto, cases of surprise excepted,. 
they had found such defences impregnable ; but they 
shared the confidence of their indomitable leader, Grant, 
that somewhere, by manoeuvring and constant pressure, 
he would find the weak spot in General Lee s armor. 

Towards the end of May, the Ninth Corps, which had 
hitherto received orders directly from General Grant, on 
account of General Burnside s seniority in rank to General 
Meade, was, by Burnside s waiver of superior rank, perma 
nently joined to the Army of the Potomac. This ended 
all talk about independent expeditions, expectations of 
which had been kept alive among the men by unfounded 
rumors. The number of men in the Thirty-Fifth at this 
time was : for duty, two hundred and fifty-one, absent, 
one hundred and thirty-five, total, three hundred and 
eighty-six. Quartermaster Cutter joined the regiment for 
a few days from the trains, all the quartermasters being 
ordered to their regiments to oversee the commissary 
department, which needed supervision among the new 
troops. Lieutenant Berry joined from recruiting service, 
and was received with a warm welcome ; he was a bright 
soldierly spirit and a general favorite. 

The strength of Lee s position along the Chickahominy 
was so formidable that Grant, having delivered the grand 
assault unsuccessfully on the third of June, now turned to 






MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 251 

the left again ; this time, as at Vicksburg, by a sweep 
to the south upon the enemy s communication so grand in 
conception that even Lee did not mistrust it, and remained 
north of the James River until our attack upon Petersburg 
was actually begun. So quietly was our army withdrawn 
from Cold Harbor that the artillery of the enemy could be 
heard by our retiring pickets firing upon our forts for an 
hour after the garrisons had left them. The Fifth Corps 
and cavalry crossed the Chickahominy to our left of Lee s 
position, and then facing Richmond at the White Oak 
swamp, served as a shield, behind which the rest of the 
army passed undisturbed to the James River. 

We started on the twelfth of June, repairing the road to 
Tunstall s Station on the White House Railroad, which 
we reached at evening ; Companies B and K staying behind 
to repair a bridge, then following in rear. The cooks had 
drawn the rations, and, unfortunately for them, had no time 
to distribute them before the start ; they will, doubtless, 
remember the " toting " of their burdens over the eleven 
miles to the station that warm day. The day following, 
slow progress was made, some ten miles south-easterly 
towards the lower Chickahominy, stopping occasionally to 
assist the wagons, which blocked the roads. Captain Park 
was in command again. In the evening we were enter 
tained with a road-side concert, in which Captains Blanchard 
and Ingell and Sergeant Nason, with others, joined. On the 
fourteenth we were at work at daylight repairing the road 
through a swamp hole ; then moved on, crossing Black Creek 
at Forge Mills, and passed to the south side of the Chicka 
hominy soon after at Jones s Bridge. Here an island divided 
the stream, requiring but one pontoon upon one side, two 
upon the other, to bridge the river ; not a wide stream, surely, 
for one so famous ; but the swamps upon either side were 
extensive and wild and intricate beyond description. 



252 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

Pushing along the road, in advance of everything, towards 
the James River, we were told that Wild s African Brigade 
was in the neighborhood, but we did not have the good 
fortune to meet our former colonel, or the officers trans 
ferred from the Thirty-Fifth to his command. The country 
soon became open and cultivated. The road was shaded 
by cherry and mulberry trees, which, when we halted, 
became alive with blue jackets, gathering their fill of the 
pleasant fruits. As we approached the James the masts 
of transports could be seen above the trees upon the right, 
enlivening the hearts of the men who were tired of the 
endless pine forests we had been traversing. In the after 
noon the regiment constructed a small bridge for the 
artillery, then moved into the open country upon the 
north bank of the river, at first halting among the other 
corps near Charles City Court House, but keeping on 
again, and in the evening reaching General Burnside s 
headquarters at Wilcox s Landing. It was pleasant to 
.again view a wide stretch of open water and homelike- 
looking farms and fields. 

In the morning, June i5th, the scene was surpassingly 
fine as we marched down to the river bank. It was a 
bright clear day, and the blue waters of the James danced 
and sparkled in the sunlight, enlivened by white-winged 
fleets of transports, with gunboats here and there, and 
steam tugs moving busily about. On shore the masses of 
troops, with bright gun barrels and brilliant flags, covered 
the hills, waiting to cross. The Second and Sixth Corps 
crossed by ferry at Westover Landing, above us. The 
Fifth and Ninth Corps and trains of wagons passed over 
the remarkable pontoon-bridge, half a mile long, from bank 
to bank of the wide stream. During the day the regiment was 
at work building rafts and repairing a pier, the latter under 
direction of Captain Hudson. At eight in the evening 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 253 

the approaches to the pontoon-bridge were completed, and 
we crossed to the opposite bank, among the first troops 
to arrive south of the river. We waited several hours in 
the darkness upon the bank for the First Division to over 
take us, enabling the unlucky cooks, again behind with 
rations, to catch up. 

The memorable campaign north of the James was ended. 
The regiments which had crossed the Rapidan with such 
full ranks were now shockingly reduced in numbers ; the 
flower of the army had perished. It was impossible that 
men should pass through such trials and labors so 
incessantly prosecuted without injury to their morale as 
combatants ; they were weary of the strife and longed for 
rest, yet they were not disheartened ; ranks and files were 
as well kept as ever, but, so tired were they, it was only 
dogged determination that kept the men moving. Our 
generals had not achieved the impossible in carrying by 
assault Lee s impregnable intrenchments, but they had 
tamed the spirit of the Confederate army from self-confident 
pugnacity to a waning and discouraging defensive. It 
recognized the hand of the conquerer impelling it into 
"the last ditch." 



CHAPTER X. 

SIEGE OF PETERSBURG THE MINE, 1864. 

THE Second Corps having taken the advance towards 
Petersburg, the march of our division was resumed, 
and continued with scarcely a halt through the rest of the 
warm night. At daylight, June 16, the woods beside the 
road were full of stragglers from the troops ahead who 
had stopped to breakfast, and General Ledlie, who had on 
the ninth of June succeeded General Crittenden in the 
command of the First Division, complained in strong 
language of the "coffee boilers." We kept on until nine 
in the morning, and then halted ourselves for the indis 
pensable pot of coffee. About five in the afternoon, after 
a march of eighteen miles, we reached the open undulating 
country within two miles of the City of Petersburg, ap 
proaching it from the north-east. Other troops had pre 
ceded us, and had carried by assault part of the outer 
line of strong detached earthworks, built long before for 
the protection of the city. By the road-side lay the first 
dead negro soldier we had seen in the campaign. The 
regiment halted by Major Morton s direction at some old 
log: huts or Confederate barracks, and remained there over 

o 

night, listening to the heavy skirmishing fire of the Eigh 
teenth and Second Corps in front, and expecting moment 
arily to be called upon for work. 

The First Division was not actively engaged until the 
following afternoon, June 17, when they made a dashing 



255 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

charge from one of the deep ravines and captured a line 
of works, but were unable to hold them on account of a 
failure of ammunition, as appears in the record of the 
Twenty- First Massachusetts in the Adjutant- General s 
Report for 1864. Major Morton, our too intrepid chief 
tain, was killed while retiring with Hartranft s brigade from 
an advanced position, which they had taken but were too 
weak to hold, near the Norfolk Railroad cut on the left. 
He fell somewhere near the spot afterwards occupied by 
Fort Morton. His loss at any time would have been 
inestimable, but happening at that time, just at the begin 
ning of siege operations, it was peculiarly heavy, and deeply 
affected all who knew him and recognized his value to the 
army. Our old friend, Major McKibben, so conspicuous 
on General Ferrero s staff in East Tennessee, was also- 
severely wounded in the same affair. 

At dark the regiment moved to the left, and worked 
most of the night turning the face of a Confederate lunette, 
which had been captured, it was said, by the Seventh 
Rhode Island, Thirty Sixth Massachusetts and others of 
General Potter s division. There was an uncountable 
number of muskets lying about, which had belonged to 
the Confederates who had been captured or had fled, 
leaving their arms behind them. We filled the ditch on 
the north front of the work sufficiently to form platforms 
for artillery, and cut embrasures through the parapet 
opening towards the enemy, who still occupied a line of 
works on the hither side of the pine woods afterwards 
our camp ground and from that elevation spitefully threw 
over an occasional shell, the gunners, probably, being at 
tracted by the gleam or glint of our shovels. When the work 
was completed, it was occupied by the Fourteenth Massa 
chusetts battery. Our men retired to the woods in rear and 
got such sleep as they could behind their stacks of arms. 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 256 

In the morning (eighteenth) the Confederates had with 
drawn from the front of the pine woods, mentioned above, 
to the ridge beyond the railroad and the brooks forming 
Harrison s Creek, and had established permanent lines 
upon the north and east sides of the elevation called 
Cemetery Hill, which lay between them and Petersburg. 
Details of men were sent out from the regiment for bridge 
building, road cutting, and even to bury or burn the bodies 
of the artillery horses killed in the action. At night we 
camped in the grove near General Burnside s headquarters. 
The tool wagons arrived bringing our knapsacks, which we 
had not seen since leaving Cold Harbor. 

On the twentieth of June the regiment moved camp to 
the pine woods spoken of above, and located near Genera! 
Ledlie s headquarters, where we remained for nearly two 
months, during the rest of June, July and part of August. 
During these hot, dry months of summer, the siege was 
carried on with great zeal and the defence was equally 
persistent. The Ninth Corps extended from the locality 
of Fort Haskell and the left of the Second Corps, near 
the hill upon which Fort Steadman was afterwards con 
structed, through the deep valley under Cemetery Hill 
and between Fort Morton and the Crater, towards the 
position of Fort Rice and the right of the Fifth Corps. 
The distance between the hostile lines was greater in front 
of our division than in front of the other divisions, the 
brook valley being wider arid flatter ; but all our advanced 
infantry lines were commanded by the higher position of 
the enemy. Our infantry lay in two lines of trenches, 
those of the front line called the pickets being relieved 
every three days by the rear line. The difference between 
them was not material, the most important item being that 
the rear had more shade from the pine woods and more 
.undisturbed rest. 



257 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

During the whole two months a steady firing of mus 
ketry was maintained between the advanced lines day and 
night, and as soon as the artillery could be placed in posi 
tion under suitable cover this arm also joined in the horrid 
din. Not only field guns and siege cannon were used, but 
also, when a siege was decided upon, mortars of various 
calibre were hauled to the front and a perpendicular fire 
of bomb-shells opened, in which proceeding the Con 
federates also took part, at first with small coehorns, 
afterwards with the largest mortars. Death stalked abroad 
in that valley in the most varied form ; the air was filled 
with lead and iron missiles of every shape. Sharpshooters 
watched the opposing lines with quick eyes for an exposed 
head or limb, and wherever men were supposed to be con 
gregated the bomb-shells were dropped with fatal accuracy. 
Hair-breadth escapes were the order of the day, and of 
every day and night. 

At first our camp was pitched as usual, with shelters of 
green boughs for additional shade, but casualties and nar 
row escapes became so frequent that bullet-proof shelters 
or stockades had to be thrown up upon the exposed side 
of the tents, which allowed sleep with a sense of security. 
The dead and wounded of the battles of the seventeenth 
had been removed, except the body of one Confederate 
who had crawled into the bushes to die, and remained 
undiscovered until the odor of decomposition disclosed 
such an unwelcome guest upon* our camp ground. There 
was some water to be had at first from springs, but the 
burning sun soon shrunk them, and the men resorted to 
well digging, sinking as many as four barrels in depth to 
reach the water, which, when obtained, was sweet and cool. 
Morning, noon and evening the bands of the Fifty-Sixth 
Massachusetts and other regiments played at General 
Ledlie s headquarters to cheer the men, with good effect ; 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 258 

but we got extremely well acquainted with their collection 
of music, patriotic, operatic or other, during that summer. 
We staid so long in this camp it began to seem quite like 
a home, and its incidents were family events. On the 
twenty-fifth of June, Lieutenant Hatch and Company D 
returned to the regiment from detached service, having 
been absent since the fifth of May. 

The duties of the regiment were too various to mention 
in detail; they followed naturally the progress of a siege. 
At first there was road cutting and bridge building, to get 
the artillery forward ; then the infantry lines were strength 
ened, cover thrown up to protect the cannoneers, and abatis 
of felled trees laid in front of these, the day work being 
the stockading of General Ledlie s headquarters, and bower 
building for shade. The infantry line well settled and 
secure, strong redoubts or forts, with thick parapets, were 
begun at prominent points, and the labor upon them pushed 
forward day and night by reliefs. The principal works of 
the kind near us were a mortar battery and Fort Morton. 
After the enclosures of these were completed came the 
cutting of the embrasures, digging magazines, bomb proofs 
and traverses, opening of covered ways of approach from 
rear to front, and protecting the outer sides with obstacles, 
ditches and entanglements. We lead the same busy life 
as at Cold Harbor, detailed in the last chapter, excepting 
that the work was now much heavier, the cuttings and 
covered ways were deeper, and the exposure while at work 
greater. 

Labor at the front occupied most of the night time. 
The men were frequently employed digging ditches or 
planting abatis between the lines, exposed to the enemy s 
fire, their only cover being the darkness, and it took a cool 
head and steady hand to stand upon the parapet of our 
earthworks, unsheltered from the cross fire, and cut em- 



259 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

brasures for guns, drive the poles and make the necessary 
hurdle work or wattling to support the earth at the sides. 
It would be pleasant to mention the names of some yet 
living who were conspicuous for steadiness in such work, 
but as they might object we forbear. Among others, Ser 
geant Oakman, of Company C, who afterwards died of 
wounds received in action, seemed to linger over such a 
task as if he had a partiality for it, and would not quit 
until his critical eye was satisfied. Captain Hudson took 
such interest, in his always earnest way, as to be appointed 
engineer officer of the division. After the main lines were 
thus established, the regiment, for days in succession, was 
taken to the rear into the woods, and taught by the regulars 
to construct gabions, fascines, and other siege materials. 
From the eighth to the twentieth of July the regiment 
averaged about one hundred and fifty gabions a day, and 
became very expert. 

Now and then a small squad of recruits would arrive 
from Boston, usually bringing a long roll of enlisted men 
who never put in an appearance having secured the 
heavy bounties, for which they had enlisted, they had 
jumped the service on the way to the front. Those who 
came through were the men who had intended honest 
service, and they generally made respectable soldiers. 
These new men were kept under drill, but the old mem 
bers were so busy as not to admit even of dress-parade at 
evening; an occasional inspection was the only manoeuvre. 

Our labors at the front were not performed without loss. 
Among the men were many slight wounds or injuries not 
of record. On the twenty-sixth of June, Corporal Charles 
P. Merrill, of Company B, had an arm broken by a falling 
tree ; Samuel L. Knight, of Company F, was wounded in 
camp while preparing supper. On the night of July 4, 
while at work at the front, Charles G. Bates, of Company 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 260. 

C, was mortally wounded in the bowels ; Sergeant Oakman 
was also wounded ; George T. Tucker, of Company I, was 
shot in the body and died. On the sixth, William H. 
Amerige, of Company F, was wounded in the chin by a 
piece of a shell which burst immediately after leaving the 
gun of one of our batteries, in front of which we were at 
work; and there were others of a like nature. At night 
the camp was so raked by bullets coming over from the 
lines, chicking in the tree trunks and logs, it seemed more 
dangerous to go about than it really was ; frequently a 
comrade in passing out to the mail bag would say, " Good 
bye, boys, I m going to post a letter/ by way of joke upon 
the dangers of the locality. 

Our greatest loss here was in our commanding officer 
Captain Edward G. Park on the first day of July. The 
woods had become so thinned by cutting in our front that 
in the afternoon, when the western sun shone in brightly, 
our regimental headquarters were quite visible to the sharp 
shooters in the Confederate lines ; but all had become so 
accustomed to the place that the stray bullets were little 
noticed, except to point a jest when any one was startled 
by the sudden hiss of a passing ball. The captain was hit 
by one of these shots, while close to headquarters, at this 
favorite hour for sharpshooting, near the spot where 
Knight had been struck a few days before. His excla 
mation called several to him, who assisted him to his 
camp bed, upon which he reclined with expressions of 
intense pain. His coat was removed, and it was found 
that a minie-ball had struck the elbow and passed under 
the muscles of the right forearm, some six inches, where 
it could be plainly distinguished. The group about him 
tried to make light of the affair to the captain in our 
jocular way, calling it a furlough, and congratulating him 
upon his good luck. In truth those present envied him 



26 1 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

the wound. An ambulance was brought and the captain 
was transferred to it, and left for the field hospital as 
we suppose for a brief excursion home after his wound 
was dressed ; but it was his last parting from the regiment 
he loved so well. He received the furlough as suggested, 
but, owing to the debilitated state of his system from the 
campaign in Mississippi and the current year, the flesh 
refused to heal, gangrene set in, and he died at his home 
in Roxbury, August 14, 1864. His father writes: "With 
out opening his eyes, and in a voice clear as a clarion, he 
broke the solemn stillness of that beautiful Sabbath morn 
ing by the command, Stack Arms ! " then sank into the 
sleep of death ; the march of life for him was ended. 

He had been wounded in the left arm at Antietam, as 
First Lieutenant of Company K ; returned to the regiment 
at Falmouth ; went with us to Vicksburg, where he, with 
so many others, nearly died of disease, which prevented 
his participation in the East Tennessee campaign. Before 
his death he received the commission of major in the regi 
ment, upon the recommendation, among others, of General 
Burnside, in the following letter, which is reproduced as a 
tribute to the major s memory, and also as showing our 
general s estimate of the services of the Thirty-Fifth, as 
engineers : 

" HEADQUARTERS NINTH ARMY CORPS, 

" BEFORE PETERSBURG, VA., July 20, 1864. 
"To His EXCELLENCY JOHN A. ANDREW, 

" Governor of Massachusetts : 

"Sir, I have pleasure in recommending to your favor 
able consideration, for the vacant majority of the Thirty- 
Fifth Massachusetts Volunteers Infantry, Captain Edward 
G. Park, senior captain. His wounds at Antietam and 
before Petersburg, his disease after the Mississippi cam- 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 262 

paign entitled him to consideration ; still more so does 
the praise which Major Morton, late chief engineer in my 
staff, has always bestowed on the zeal and ability shown 
in the government and direction of the Thirty-Fifth, which 
during the greater part of the present campaign has been 
detailed as an engineer corps under his orders. I advocate 
the captain s claim to promotion with sincerity and con 
fidence. I have the honor to be, sir, 

" Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
"A. E. BURNSIDE, 

" Major- General U. S. Vols" 

A " Memorial of Major Park " has been published, but 
is now out of print, which contains many interesting par 
ticulars of his life and the great sacrifice which he made 
for the country. From lines therein by W. R. E. we pluck 
this flower to place upon his grave : 

" Death were no terror to his soul, but only sweet release, 
If so the war-torn land might taste the earlier fruit of peace." 

The officers with the regiment at this time were Captains 
Blanchard, Ingell and Hudson, Lieutenants Hatch, Berry, 
Farrington, White, Wright, Cobb (acting adjutant) and 
Mason ; Captain Meserve being on duty at corps head 
quarters. In so small a group the loss of Major Park 
made a deep impression. 

Captain Blanchard took command after Major Park 
left, and did his best to sustain the dignity he esteemed 
so highly during the following month. The adjutant 
jokingly told him to be careful of himself, for to take 
command of the Thirty-Fifth was to receive a death 
warrant; it would be his turn next. But the Captain of 
"bully" B considered himself as invulnerable in body as 
he certainly was in spirit. 



263 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

Those were laborious days, and trying to the soul and 
body of man. After the tremendous exertions of the 
campaign we seemed to be little nearer the end. It is 
always darkest just before day, and that hot summer under 
fire was the murkiest of all. The political excitement at 
the North was at fever heat. The peace party declared 
the war a failure, and newspapers containing such doctrine 
and the most discouraging views were freely circulated in 
the army, giving to the men in the ranks, who had little 
other means of forming a judgment, false impressions of 
the strength of our opponents and of the spirit of the North. 
It was not until the atmosphere was cleared by Sherman s 
and Sheridan s victories and the November presidential 
election that the country was sure of its position ; mean 
time partisan politicians did all they could to blacken 
character and discourage patriotism. It is wonderful that 
men could be got on any terms to enlist in our armies, or 
that those who had enlisted remained steadfast under such 
showers of bullets from the front and of invectives from 
the rear. 

Among the enlisted men there was little inclination for 
fun, an occasional sing together was about all the circum 
stances admitted. To rest out the weariness of labors, 
which were double severe in that Southern climate in mid 
summer, was about all they longed for. Captain Ingell, 
however, here as everywhere, was irrepressible in spirit, 
and must get up a dinner party. The service of plate was 
such an assortment of battered tin plates and cups as had 
survived, in the mess chest, the many journeys of the 
regiment ; the food the best the commissary s stores 
supplied, which were better than ordinary from our near 
ness to our base of supplies at City Point. These, with 
sundry sutler s goods, garnished with IngelPs smiling 
welcome, made a feast not to be despised, as Captain 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 264 

Meserve indicates in the following witty lines, which breathe 
the spirit of the occasion : 

" I 11 ne er forget a table set 

At Captain Ingell s tent, 
A merchant prince could scarce evince 

Such airs grandiloquent. 
He sent behests to numerous guests 

And courtly was his phrase ; 
With welcome hand and greeting bland 

He asked us in4o graze. 
The narrow board was richly stored 

With commissary fare, 
And O, my eyes ! a rich surprise, 

Tomatoes too were there. 
But better still, a right good-will 

Was very manifest ; 
A merrier set was never met 

A soldier s lunch to test." 

Captain Ingell s genius for fun shone most resplendent 
at such times. He had all the wit and humor of old Jack 
Falstaff, but added thereto the courage of a soldier and 
the kindest of hearts. 

A badge for the Ninth Corps was adopted, and required 
to be worn conspicuously upon the cap. It was a shield 
bearing a crossed anchor and cannon, with a cable fouled 
about the anchor in the form of the figure 9, emblematic 
of the early history of the corps, as the Coast Division of 
the Army of the Potomac. General W. F. Bartlett took 
command of the brigade on the twenty-third of July, and 
thoughtfully sent to the men of the regiment a package of 
home newspapers, as a notice of his arrival and kind 
intentions towards us."* 

At the sutler s, several men had been met from the 
Second Division whose clothing was so deeply stained 
with the yellow clay of the soil as to excite question how 

*See page no of General F. W. Palfrey s Memoir of General Wm. F. Bartlett. 
19 



265 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

it happened. In this way the secret leaked out that the 
Forty-Eighth Pennsylvania, old coal miners, under Lieu 
tenant-Colonel Henry Pleasants, were digging a mine in 
front of General Potter s division, extending under the 
enemy s fort. Towards the end of July, Adjutant Wash- 
burn, who had been serving, since Spottsylvania, on the 
staff of General Sigfried, in Ferrero s Fourth Division, 
colored troops, happened into camp and informed us that 
the mine was nearly completed, and that his division was 
under daily drill, practising the manoeuvres to be executed 
when the mine should be exploded and the division should 
head the charge into the Confederate lines. Small pieces 
of the stiff marl, dug through in cutting the shaft, were 
handed about among the men as curiosities. A great 
event was approaching. During all this time the regiment 
was at work, day times, upon the gabions, which at night 
they placed at the front and filled with earth, to strengthen 
the parapet or top the breastworks at exposed places. 

Observations had been taken by Captain Blanchard of 
the covered way leading to the locality of the mine, and it 
was the intention that our men should work all night of 
the twenty-ninth, placing gabions in position. Companies 
A, B and K were detailed in the afternoon to get out 
stakes to pin the gabions in place. In the evening, 
however, orders were received to pack knapsacks and be 
ready to fall in with haversacks and canteens, guns, equip 
ments, intrenching tools and extra ammunition. It was 
whispered that the mine was to be blown up, and that we 
should take some part in the general movement, but we 
did not anticipate any important share, as no special in 
structions were given us ; in fact, when we were leaving 
t camp, so little information had been given to Captain 
Blanchard, commanding the regiment, that he expressed 
doubt whether we should get in at all. There were but six 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 266 

officers accompanying the regiment, including Blanchard. 
Lieutenant Berry remarked to the men of his company, G, 
that they should have an officer present to lead them that 
day, if he knew himself. 

About two o clock in the morning of the thirtieth, the 
regiment had assembled, leaving knapsacks in camp and 
carrying tools, and joined the brigade outside the woods 
near camp. From thence the column moved very slowly 
and silently to the left, along the rear of Fort Morton to 
the widest covered way, and, through it, forward to the 
Norfolk Railroad cut and the extreme front of General 
Potter s lines, a locality with which we were little ac 
quainted. A brook ran in the lowest part of the valley 
from which the land rose front and rear. Behind us was 
Fort Morton; in front were our advance breastworks; 
before them, a gradually rising hill upon which was the 
enemy s fort to be blown up. We followed in rear of the 
First Division, the provisional brigade, composed mostly 
of regiments of heavy artillery which had joined after the 
Wilderness, taking the position at the head and nearest the 
enemy. The night was not very dark, a waning moon 
hung phantom-like in the north-east, over our pine woods. 
The column was closely massed in regimental lines of 
battle, but without noise, fearing to alarm the enemy, whose 
sharpshooters were alert and kept up the usual dropping 
fire, a bullet now and then falling near the regiment. We 
saw no other troops save our own division, and not a word 
was said in explanation of the intended movement or the 
work to be accomplished. We were formed for an assault, 
that was all we knew. 

After awhile a report came that the affair was a failure, 
the fuses had been fired, but were damp and had gone out. 
It was getting to be daylight fast, about five o clock, and the 
sky was ruddy with the dawn. In this position of affairs, 



267 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

suddenly and unexpectedly the ground was felt to tremble 
beneath our feet, a mysterious rumbling was heard, and 
before us, where the morning light was revealing the Con 
federate fort, there rose high into the air an immense 
column of earth mingled with parts of artillery carriages, 
bodies of men, and other wreck, the red explosions of the 
burning powder still glowing in the mass. Clouds of thick 
smoke and dust rolled from the summit, presenting an 
appearance as if the earth thrown up would spread out and 
partially cover our front line; it did not, however, its 
material was too heavy, but sank down into the form of an 
immense ant-hill with the crater in the centre, some one 
hundred and fifty feet long by sixty wide and twenty-five 
feet deep, the interior rough with boulders of clay. Awe 
struck and astounded our front lines recoiled involuntarily, 
human nature was unbalanced by the terrible spectacle, 
but it was only momentarily, then, recovering presence of 
mind, the men raised a cheer and charged forward over 
our lines, across the interval and into the still smoking 
crater. At the same instant our artillery of eighteen siege 
guns, eighteen large mortars, twenty-eight coehorns, and 
eighty field pieces, opened all along the front, the passing 
missiles sounding like railroad trains above our heads and 
apparently exploding in the very works we were assaulting. 
As seen from our position in rear, it was a grand sight as 
the heavy column of men went up over our parapet, 
recalling the assaults into the deadly breach so famous in 
history. 

As soon as the last regiment was out of the works, the 
Thirty-Fifth moved up to the front in battalion line. The 
rear of the parapet had been levelled up so that the right 
and centre of the regiment had free passage out ; the two 
left companies were cut off by a traverse and Captain 
Blanchard sent his adjutant to have them right face and 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 268 

file left in rear of the regiment. While this was doing, 
General Ledlie, who stood on our left close to the front 
line, gave the captain some orders, which, unfortunately, 
no other officer heard. Immediately the regiment went 
forward over our works and up across the open field, some 
one hundred and twenty-five yards, to the crater. As we 
moved across this clear space there was time to look about 
a bit. Overhead hung the cloud of dust and smoke, now 
orange red in the first rays of the rising sun. On the right 
the ground sank away into a deep ravine, across which the 
opposing forces could be seen exchanging shots. On the 
left, the whole more level tract lay open far to the south, 
crossed and recrossed by the discharge of guns from either 
side. No other troops seemed in motion, or in position 
to move ; on the contrary, right and left, the battle seemed 
an artillery duel only, instead of the sweeping assault 
which would imply a grand attack ; the inference was that 
our division was the only force engaged ; such hasty judg 
ments often affect results. It was not until after the fight 
that we learned that others beside the colored troops and 
ours were in the assault the other divisions went up in 
the hollows to the right and left. 

Captain Blanchard, in writing of the affair a few weeks 
after, says : " It being intended to carry the works and 
heights, the Thirty-Fifth was to follow closely our brigade, 
and, as soon as the works were carried, to throw up breast 
works. We reached and carried the enemy s first line and 
the regiment with their tools soon changed its face to the 
rear. Having given my orders and the men well at work, 
I was hit in the left shoulder, so disabling me that I was 
obliged to leave the field." Others say that the regiment 
had not commenced work when the captain was wounded, 
but was waiting at the crater for his directions. The ad 
jutant says that from the right of the battalion he saw 



269 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

Captain Blanchard looking about, examining the works, or 
looking for him, as he has since thought, when the above- 
mentioned wound was received ; that First Sergeant Moses 
Bartlett of Company B sprang forward to support the 
captain and was shot dead ; that the order had probably 
been given to turn the works, for, at the same instant, the 
men advanced and went to work energetically upon the 
face of the crater nearest our lines. The incident occupied 
but a moment. The adjutant then inquired for the next 
senior officer, Lieutenant Hatch, and was told that he had 
been shot across both legs, while coming over our works, 
and been taken to the rear. He then asked for the next 
senior, Lieutenant Berry, and was informed that Berry 
had fallen dead within a rod from our lines. Thus three 
out of the six officers were gone in the first fifteen minutes 
after the blow-up. The three juniors came together and 
consulted upon what was to be done. 

In front was the immense mound of the crater, of gentle 
slope perhaps fifteen feet high, formed of loose earth, in 
which were half-buried bodies of dead Confederates, broken 
gun carriages, tools and platform timbers in great confusion. 
Within the crater our troops were cheering loudly and cel 
ebrating the success of their assault, but making no motion 
in a body to secure the ridge of the hill. Our officers, 
therefore, hastily decided to keep the men at the work 
they were upon, turn the face of the line secured and 
connect it with our intrenchments. Lieutenant A. J. 
White took charge of the left of the regiment, Lieutenant 
Farrington the centre, and Acting Adjutant Cobb the right, 
and superintended the labors of the men. 

At first there was little firing from the enemy, only a few 
sharpshooters to right and left, whose aim, however, as 
we have seen, was with deadly accuracy. In a few minutes 
a gun on the left opened from a position where our artillery 



MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 270 

could not silence it, and a detail of men was made to occupy 
the crest of the crater and try to keep down its fire, which 
enfiladed the line. Squads of Confederate prisoners came 
to the rear, with many of our wounded, some of the latter 
lying down under cover of the excavation we were making. 
Our wounded were sent off the field, and Lieutenant Far- 
rington, by advice of the other officers, went back also, to 
collect the men who had gone to help the disabled, get 
orders, and, if approved, commence a narrow trench, or 
sap, from our lines towards the crater, to connect with one 
which we now had a few men engaged upon. 

Thus the first half hour, while the enemy were confused 
by the surprise, and when alone success was possible, 
slipped away; the Confederates concentrated infantry and 
artillery around the crater, which at once became a death 
trap to those who were in it. Staff officers, among them 
Captain Hudson, came from our lines with orders to " push 
forward to the crest of the hill in front," but as it seemed 
useless to try to get through the mass of men in the crater 
we kept on digging, expecting that when the orders reached 
the head of the column the whole would go forward to 
gether, if possible ; but the troops did not move, and we 
supposed there was some obstacle in the way. 

The enemy s fire from right and left grew more deadly; 
wounded men crowded upon us ; as fast as our men opened 
the bank these poor fellows crept into it, some refusing to 
budge even when partially covered with earth, and our 
officers would say, " Bury them if they wont move ! " 
Some stragglers came with -them, and more white troops 
moved up to mingle with the crowd in the crater and add 
to the confusion. After awhile the excitement and severity 
of their exertions exhausted our men, and they stopped 
for rest. At this time the head of the column of the 
Fourth Division (colored) was seen coming over our 



271 HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT, 

intrenchments. They were gallantly led by their officers, 
Colonel Sigfried s brigade, upon whose staff we saw Adju 
tant Washburn, charging forward upon our left into the 
crater. What they could do now it was not easy to see, 
but they came up as spiritedly as could be wished, yet 
stringing out by the flank. Their color bearers, fine mus 
cular fellows, some of them stripped to the waist, shouted 
and displayed their flags most manfully, but, alas, most 
vainly it was too late ! 

After they had passed "to the front their appearance 
seemed to add greater fury to the enemy, and the carnage 
became terrible past description. Wounded and stragglers 
accumulated so that no more work could be done, except 
that the sap to the rear was continued, but the soil was so 
hard baked it could with difficulty be broken by the pick 
axe. All were more or less disabled for labor by nervous 
prostration, after their violent exertions at first and by the 
scenes of horror about them. We supposed that the as 
sault upon the second line had failed, but that the position 
secured would be held till night, when, in the darkness, it 
could be connected and made part of our intrenchments. 
The scene grew, if possible, more terrible as the cross fire 
of the Confederate artillery and mortars was concentrated 
upon the crater and the space between it and our lines. 
Spherical case shot burst continually over and among the 
crowd of wounded and stragglers, who would send up 
groans of agony. Our boys did what they could to help 
the disabled, and declared that they had not been under 
such a hot fire since Antietam ; in fact, few expected to 
survive until night or get back to our lines, so completely 
was the space swept by the shower of missiles. 

About nine o clock in the morning the colored division, 
with some white troops, broke