Part 22

Were this history that of the entire war or even that of the Army of the Potomac, the story of the remaining days of July would occupy very little space, for the siege of Petersburg, actually beginning on the 15th of June, is to continue until the 2nd of April, '65, and may be characterized as an unbroken engagement of almost ten months' duration with occasional extra emphasis laid on this or that point along the battle line, many miles in extent. Away at the right is the Eighteenth Corps, holding the space from the Appomattox to the Ninth Corps which stretches out till its left joins the right of the Fifth, which in turn touches the right of the Second; this corps since the withdrawal of the Sixth for service in Maryland, in Washington and later in the valley of the Shenandoah, has become the extreme Union left, with its line refused towards the south, and west of the Jerusalem plank-road, only a fraction of the distance to be covered before the winter's stay is ended. Even now the enemy is making vigorous effort to defend the several railroads which connect Petersburg with the south, feeling certain that Grant and Meade will not long delay trying to cut off the city from its Weldon Railroad connections and, until that time arrives, there will be more digging than charging along the rival lines, though the exchange of sulphurous compliments will be so constant that cessation rather than continuance will arouse remark.

[Sidenote: JULY 13, '64]

General Warren, who has his command well in hand, has no conspicuous statement for this period, and even some regimental historians pass over the interval with only a few and scattering remarks. It will be understood that the most diligent picket and camp duties are maintained all of the time, and very few if any idle days come to either commissioned officer or enlisted man from one week's end to another. Never was there a better illustration of eternal vigilance than that displayed by both sides in this long game of opposites; hence in our progress it will be unnecessary to mention more than the passing events, in the least out of the ordinary. Colonel Thomas F. McCoy of the One hundred and Seventh Pennsylvania succeeds Colonel Davis as president of the court martial, while the body of the deceased officer, with his faithful steed and Chaplain French, starts July 12th on its long journey homeward. Many a member of the Regiment felt, if he did not so express himself, as did the writer who put these words in his diary, "I can't realize that he has really gone and will not be with us at the front again." Early in the morning of this day, the Regiment is aroused and at 2.30 a. m. moves into the large fort or redoubt, for some time in process of erection. Of this, General Warren makes mention, saying that he spent the day here, planning and cutting timber, etc. At daylight of the 13th, everyone goes to work with pick or shovel in making defensible the new fort. Here we are to remain till the middle of August. Named at first for the commander of the Fifth Corps, it will soon take the name of our late colonel. Covering about three acres of ground, it is capable of holding a brigade. Situated a mile or more below Petersburg, it is on the Jerusalem plank-road and the next fortification south of Sedgwick, the Fort "Hell" of rebel parlance. Lieutenant Dusseault says, "In building our fort, we dug a trench twenty feet wide and ten feet deep, and threw up the rampart on the inside. Thus there were eighteen or twenty feet of banking. The fort was made square with a diagonal through it. We had a magazine in it, and two wells were dug for a water supply. Besides our Brigade there was with us also the Ninth (Bigelow's) Battery, which had suffered so severely at Gettysburg."

The routine of duty, including at least three hours' work daily on the fortifications, continues to-day, and all day and all night, too, for that matter, since the stronghold must be one in fact as well as name, men being so detailed as to keep the dirt flying; a writer in the story of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Infantry says it took eight men to get one shovelful of dirt from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the work, the men standing in little nitches cut in the side of the bank and passing the earth from one to another. This day also marks the transferral of recruits and re-enlisted men of the Thirteenth Regiment, the time of this staunch companion on many a march and hard fought field having expired and the original members being about to withdraw for their joyful journey home, though the actual union of the one hundred remaining men of the Thirteenth and the Thirty-ninth does not take place till the 14th of July, the only noteworthy event of the day, unless mention is made of the withdrawal of the Second Corps from its western position and its encampment south of the Fifth Corps, thus leaving the Fifth at the extreme Union left. On the Fifteenth the camp ground is thoroughly policed and General Warren superintends the laying out of a camp for the men and pitching our tents, regular living seems probable for a time at least. It is related that, reviewing some of the work as already laid out, General Warren, who had been Meade's chief engineer, asked who had projected certain lines and, when a division commander was named, he sharply remarked, "General ---- had better stick to his pills," and seizing a shovel worked off some of his indignation by making the dirt fly with his major general hands. The Masonic Lodge held its first meeting for many a day and voted to pay for the embalming of Colonel Davis' body, and the expenses incident to sending it home, also appointing a committee to look after the families of brother Masons killed in the campaign.

The passion or appetite for drink is well illustrated on the 17th in Lieut. Dusseault's effort to properly distribute eight canteens (twelve quarts) of whiskey among one hundred men, on police duty, the ration being one gill for each one but, for fear that the quantity might intoxicate them, he discreetly gave out one half a gill per man, thus retaining four canteens for a subsequent occasion. When he lay down at night he put the canteens under his head, but despite his care the canteens were stolen with no clue to the thieves, save the maudlin condition in which several men were found. There seemed to be no risk that men would not take to secure that which was worse than useless for them, an enemy to steal away their brains. Several days of continued routine of police, picket, drill and other features of camp life follow, but entirely agreeable after the exactions of May and June. Thursday, the 21st, the enemy varied the monotony by making an artillery demonstration against Fort Sedgwick, possibly lest its occupants should forget its nick name, "Hell." The cordial relations existing on picket are well illustrated by an incident related of the period where a Union soldier, crawling out carefully to reach his station, was more than surprised to hear in unmistakable Southern speech, the words, "Say, you Yank don't belong thar'; that's we uns place; you uns place's over thar," a bit of information that the Yank did not hesitate to avail himself of. Deserters are in constant evidence, all coming in ragged and hungry.

[Sidenote: JULY 21, '64]

It was at Fort Davis that Corporal Dow of Company C got one of his first experiences on horseback. Captain Hutchins sent him to Colonel Peirson, one morning, in answer to the latter's request for a messenger to City Point. On the Colonel's telling Dow that he was to ride a horse to City Point, ten miles away, the poor Corporal stood aghast and avowed his utter ignorance of an equine, his vocation being that of a ship carpenter, saying, "I can tell you all about a boat, Colonel, but I know absolutely nothing about a horse." "Oh! That's nothing," replied the officer, "you can stick on and the horse you will ride is like a rocking chair." The animal that Colonel Peirson named was an exceedingly easy riding beast but, unfortunately, the same had been appropriated by an officer and ridden off on a somewhat questionable errand; to make a fuss about it would be to give the officer away, so Dow submitted to the caprice of the man in charge of the stable and went off mounted on the Adjutant's steed, notoriously the worst riding brute in the entire equine outfit. John Gilpin's condition after his ride to Ware and back was nothing compared to that of the Corporal when he returned; as he expressed it, if he had ridden a rail the entire twenty miles, with sledge hammers pounding the ends of the same, he could not have been more jolted and galled than he was at the end of his twenty miles. A whiskey ration was being distributed when he reached camp, and Dow remarked that he needed extensive application, both within and without. "I guess I've killed your horse or he has me," he remarked to the Adjutant as, walking very wide, he passed that officer. "I hope you have," said the officer, "for then I can get a better one." The steed really did die from the trip, and when the Colonel called for Dow again, luckily for him, the easy going beast was ready.

[Sidenote: JULY 29, '64]

Lest we should forget that we are in a state of war with our Southern brethren, we are favored on the 24th and the 25th, late in the afternoon, with certain iron compliments, the rebels even shelling the picket line, a very unusual procedure, one shell entering the fort; as many of their missiles fail to explode, we conclude that they must be using a very poor grade of powder. The cannon opposite to us are manned by the Washington Artillery, that crack New Orleans organization whose batteries were found in all the great Confederate armies, east and west. Towards the end of the month, a greater degree of activity is apparent; the Second Corps moves out on the 26th and then returns the next day; on this same 27th, loads of ammunition are bought up and picket relations are less amicable than hitherto. We turn in July 29th, with orders to turn out at 2.30 the next morning; this we do on the 30th and the Fifth Corps moves a half mile or so to our right into trenches back of the Ninth, with the Second Corps similarly disposed at our right. As yet we do not know what a large part of the country is to learn soon, viz., that this 30th of July is to go down the annals of time as the day of the "Crater." For weeks, under the direction of Colonel Pleasants of the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania, his men have been digging an underground way, in front of Burnside's advanced lines, to a point beneath Elliott's or Pegrams' Salient, more than five hundred feet distant. It was finished on the 23rd and in it were soon placed 8,000 lbs. of powder. To divert the attention of the enemy, lest he might discover the undermining project, the Second Corps had been sent across the James, to assist the troops already there in a demonstration against Richmond, but when the mine was ready for exploding the corps was hastily called back. Pages have been written of the event, of the explosion, of the advance of troops, white and black, into the abyss caused by the eruption and of their sorry fate beneath the concentrated fire of the Confederates, under Mahone and his artillery, and the unkind words that for many a year were uttered concerning Burnside and his part in the well conceived though unfortunately consummated project. Many of our Bay State regiments are in the Ninth Corps and they perform with credit whatever duty falls to their lot. We are not called upon for any part in the fight, though we have our share of earache at the terrific explosion and the artillery firing afterwards. July ends with the Fifth Corps back in the same position as that held before the "Crater" episode, one of whose principal features was the practical demonstration that negro troops are much like those of other complexion and may be depended upon in an emergency.

Although August, 1864, is written deep in the hearts and memories of members of the Thirty-ninth, up to and beyond the middle of the month there is little to record except the regular round of camp life close to the enemy's lines, and the rumors that are ever afloat where many are assembled. The sending away of the Sixth Corps to the defense of Washington and the inauguration of the Shenandoah Valley campaign under Sheridan, whose only instructions, imparted to him by Grant at Monocacy, in that meeting of August 6th, are "Go in," making matters in the Petersburg Zone much more quiet than they would be otherwise. A southside view of the situation is not amiss and the words of T. N. Page, in his life of Lee, are appended:--

"Jefferson Davis has declared that the remainder of the Petersburg campaign is 'too sad to be patiently considered.' Locked in his fortifications, with Richmond hung like a millstone about his neck, while the South was cut off piecemeal from possibility of contributing to his support, Lee, faithful to his trust, and obedient to the laws, put aside whatever personal views he might have held and continued to handle the situation with supreme skill. Before that army had succumbed it had added to Grant's casualty list, from the time he crossed the James, another sixty-odd thousand men, thus doubling the ghastly record of his losses.... Grant seems to be the one firm, clear-headed, practical man in all of the muddle of conflicting ambitions and confused orders. 'This man Grant grows on me,' Mr. Lincoln had said a year or two before--'He fights.' It was the one solution of the problem--to fight and keep on, no matter at what cost, till the other side should be exhausted. Grant recognized it and acted on it. Happily for the Union cause, Grant was the commanding general of all of the armies of the Union. Unhappily for the Confederate cause, Lee had not been given similar power. As dependent as was the South on his genius, the military command was still reserved in the hands of the civil authorities. He could not even appoint his chief of staff."

Of the period between the Mine and the month of March, 1865, General Humphreys, in his story of the campaign, remarks on the movements of the Army of the Potomac and that of the James to the right and the left, resulting in the extension of our line of entrenchment in both directions, and causing a corresponding extension of the Confederate entrenchments on our left, and their occupation in stronger force of their entrenchments on the north bank of the James. Very likely these blazing, hot August days would have been blazing with gunpowder in the furthering of the investment of the Cockade City had not the departure of the Sixth Corps compelled the temporary suspension of the western project and a continuance of the strengthening of the works already built. So far, however, as anything akin to comfort beneath the midsummer sun, in the exposed earthworks was concerned, nothing of the sort was possible. Only when the king of day hid his shining face, during the hours of night, could the intensity of his heat be forgotten.

[Sidenote: AUG. 4, '64]

Still, time was passing, and every day marked the approach of the wind-up, so long and so devoutly prayed for. Regimental note takers were observing everything out of the ordinary, and Horton of "E" remarks, August 1st on a visit to the scene of the explosion, July 30, saying, "It is opposite the old brick house, where we were before coming here" and he also comments on the burial of the dead, while a flag of truce is up. Another, writing on the 2d, says, "Walked along the front of our Corps, everything is under ground, covered ways for teams and troops to pass out if the enemy is near, showing a vast amount of labor." Thursday, the 4th, was a Fast Day, appointed by the President, which was observed in Fort Davis by a suspension of fatigue duty and religious services at 6.30 conducted by the chaplains of the Sixteenth Maine, the One hundred and Fourth New York and the One Hundred and Seventh Pennsylvania. The day was not observed by all organizations, and along the line of the Ninth Corps there was considerable firing. The versatile accomplishments of Union soldiers are indicated in that on the 5th of August a member of Company H, suffering from toothache, sought out an ex-dentist in the One Hundred and Seventh Pennsylvania and had his aching molars filled; and the scarcity of proper material is also shown in that the substance, used for filling, was just ordinary lead, but it did the business. Who would suppose that, through all of the ups-and-downs of an exacting campaign the instruments, essential to such work would have been, carried and what a substitute for a dentist's chair, with its varied attachments, must have been the end of a log or an empty cracker box!

Almost every day brings one or more deserters from the rebel ranks, men who are convinced that the game is really lost and can see no pleasure or profit in the "last ditch" idea. They are invariably hungry, ragged and dirty. On the 9th, Fred. Glines of "E," a Somerville boy, visits the hospital of the Ninth Corps and there meets Professor John P. Marshall, a respected instructor in Tufts College, a most pleasant meeting for both parties. He also records the blowing up of an ordnance boat, lying at the wharf in City Point, receiving fixed ammunition. The incident is an item in the history of the war, whereby there were a great loss of life and destruction of property. All told, the value of property destroyed mounted into the millions and the number of lives lost was between sixty and seventy; one hundred and thirty were wounded; some battles had a smaller record. At the time the explosion was ascribed to the careless handling of the ammunition cases.[O]

In the night of the 10th-11th there was a little artillery play in the direction of Fort Davis, but it proved to be harmless. The 12th marks the second anniversary of the muster-in of Company E, the first one in the Regiment. This day also saw a new movement of the Second Corps across the James River, another blow to be struck at Deep Bottom, if practicable. Evidently Generals Grant and Meade thought the quiet period had lasted long enough, besides the Lieutenant General thought that the rebels had sent off three of their divisions to reinforce Early in the valley. The truth was that only Kershaw's had gone, and all the others were right on the spot, ready to receive callers or boarders, it was all the same thing, and the expedition was not as productive of results as the projectors had desired.

[Sidenote: AUG. 13, '64]

One scribe, on the 13th, writes, "Got paid off," and elsewhere mention is made of the proximity of sutlers who are ready to settle old scores and also to sell for cash. Rumors of coming activity are current on the 14th and the next day, Monday, the Brigade marched out of the fort giving place to the First Division of the Ninth Corps, negro troops, and going back about two miles, we pitch camp and are evidently in reserve for some project. The heavens also are active and the long delayed rain comes in torrents for two hours in the afternoon. The troops which relieved us were the colored division of the Ninth Corps, under General Edward Ferrero, and of their appearance as we marched out, Beck of Company C remarks, "Who of the Thirty-ninth will ever forget the appearance of the colored troops sent to relieve us, as they lay about outside, half buried in yellow mud and water, as we filed out of the fort on that rainy morning? They had been marching all night in the darkness, rain and mud, and were so completely exhausted that sleep to them was the one great necessity, position and bed being secondary. We carefully stepped over their bodies and soon were beyond the sound of their snoring." A heavy detail is made on the 16th for work on Fort Sedgwick, but day work is impossible there on account of the nearness of Fort Mahone, or "Damnation," whose sharpshooters are regularly gunning for the "blues." The detail had hardly more than begun to work at 10 p. m. when the command came to cease from labors and to report to the Regiment at once. There the information is imparted that the corps will move at 3 p. m. of the coming day. On this next day, the 17th, when in line awaiting the expected "Forward" there comes the order to break ranks and encamp for the night. Concerning the movement against the Weldon Railroad, whole volumes have been written. It was a part of Grant's effort to cripple the resources of the rebel army that was being hemmed in gradually by the Union forces. The necessity of the move had been recognized from the first and it had been delayed, as already stated, principally by the departure of Sheridan and the Sixth Corps to the Shenandoah Valley. We have noted the activity of Hancock and his Second Corps, north of the James, made in the hope that it might cause the return of some of the Confederates who had gone to Early's relief, thereby enabling Sheridan to strike a heavier blow in his present command.

Incidentally, it seemed that troops had been withdrawn from the rebel right to strengthen those fighting Hancock and others, at the Confederate left, and Grant saw his opportunity to strike again for the Weldon track, and this is what he says in his Memoirs:--

"From our left, near the old line, it was about three miles to the Weldon Railroad. A division was ordered from the right of the Petersburg line to reinforce Warren, while a division was brought back from the north side of the James River to take its place. The road was very important to the enemy. The limits from which his supplies had been drawn were already very much contracted, and I knew that he must fight desperately to protect it. Warren carried the road though with heavy loss on both sides. He fortified his new position, and our trenches were then extended from the left of our main line to connect with his new one. Lee made repeated attempts to dislodge Warren's Corps, but without success and with heavy loss. As soon as Warren was fortified and reinforcement reached him, troops were sent south to destroy the bridges on the Weldon Railroad, and with such success that the enemy had to draw in wagons for a distance of about thirty miles all the supplies they thereafter got from that source. It was on the 21st that Lee seemed to have given up the Weldon Railroad as having been lost to him; but along about the 24th or 25th he made renewed attempts to recapture it. Again he failed, and with very heavy losses to him as compared with ours. On the night of the 20th, our troops on the north side of the James were withdrawn, and Hancock and Gregg were sent south to destroy the Weldon Railroad. They were attacked on the 25th, at Reams Station, and after desperate fighting a part of our line gave way, losing five pieces of artillery. But the Weldon Railroad never went out of our possession from the 18th of August to the close of the war."

The foregoing extract from the memoirs of the Lieutenant General has been made as an indication of his opinion of the magnitude of the work of August 18th in the progress of the war. The Army and Navy Journal of August 27th, after noting the extraordinary storm of the 15th, "Which swept away many tents and sutler's booths and filled the trenches with water" and the fierce cannonading on the 16th, also that of 1 a. m. of the 18th, lasting for two hours, has this to offer concerning the event which figures so largely in the annals of our Regiment:--

[Sidenote: AUG. 18, '64]