CHAPTER III
Battles of Chancellorsville and Salem Heights—Battery H Ordered to Chantilly, and Afterwards to Fairfax Court House—Return to Camp Barry—Picket Duty at Fairfax Seminary—Moved to Vicinity of Fort Scott.
When Gen. Joseph Hooker was appointed to succeed Burnside in command of the Army of the Potomac, he made earnest efforts to raise its morale and increase its efficiency. In the meantime the inclement season and the bad roads prevented any forward movement before spring. On the 13th of April General Hooker commenced his campaign by sending a force of cavalry, with artillery, across the upper fords of the Rappahannock, and thence to the Rapidan, preparatory to a general advance of the army. A storm and bad roads delayed the latter movement until the 27th. On the morning of that day the Fifth, Eleventh, and the Twelfth Corps moved toward the upper fords, which they reached the next day, and crossed on the 29th. Thence they moved to the Rapidan, and crossed that stream at Germania Ford and another some eight or ten miles above its confluence with the Rappahannock. From this stream they advanced to the vicinity of Chancellorsville, a village consisting of a single house and out-buildings, and here three corps were massed on the 30th.
On the morning of the 1st of May four corps were there prepared for an advanced against the enemy. During the 2d and 3d of May occurred one of the hardest fought battles, of the war. The losses on both sides were severe. On the 3d and 4th of May, Sedgwick’s Corps of nearly twenty thousand, fought an almost independent battle at Salem Heights, near Fredericksburg, about fourteen miles from Hooker’s position. They fought with determined bravery, but were compelled by the presence of a superior force to fall back, and recrossed the river in good order. The main body of Hooker’s army safely recrossed the river on the evening of the 5th. When morning revealed to the enemy the movement, they seemed more content to have it take place, and made no attempt to hasten it. The Union army had fought three days with about one-third of its numbers against the massed forces of the enemy, and though forced to yield some ground had repulsed their desperate assaults, and then returned to its old camps having suffered large losses but not seriously weakened.
May 4th. At the time of the battle of Chancellorsville, General Abercrombie ordered the right section under command of Captain Hazard, in connection with the Twelfth Vermont regiment of our brigade, to Rappahannock Station for the purpose of guarding the river at this point. While stationed here Captain Hazard relates that a number of negroes came across the river one morning, and the next day Hon. John Minor Botts crossed and claimed them as his property. He talked with them quite a while and endeavored to induce them to return with him. This they declined to do. Mr. Botts claimed to be a Union man, and said he would go to President Lincoln for redress. He also threatened to use his influence to have his friend, the Hon. John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky (who was holding out as a Union man), espouse the cause of the Confederacy unless his (Botts’s) property was returned. His “boys,” as he called them, were soon scattered and were employed in the army or at the north, and were about as free as they were after the Emancipation Proclamation. As an instance of the financial situation of the Confederacy at that period of the Rebellion, Mr. Botts, who wore a pair of cowhide shoes at this time, said they cost him twenty-five dollars in Confederate money, in Richmond.
While the right section of the battery was with Captain Hazard at Rappahannock Station, First Lieut. George W. Blair remained in command of the camp at Union Mills. On the 17th of the month the centre section, which was on picket guarding the ford at Kettle Run Shoals, was relieved by the left section.
At ten o’clock on the morning of the 20th the battery received marching orders and left Union Mills for Chantilly, near Centreville, arriving there about one P. M., and going into park near the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-seventh Maine regiments of infantry.
On the 24th many of the members of the battery availed themselves of the privilege of visiting the old Chantilly battlefield.
May 26th. The sound of artillery firing was heard in the direction of Drownsville, causing our battery to be held in readiness to move at a moment’s notice.
May 29th. The long roll awakened us from our slumbers, and “boots and saddles” call was sounded. The battery was hitched up and ready to move in eight minutes. We anticipated an attack of the rebels on our picket line. If they had come upon us then they would have found confronting them the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-seventh Maine regiments (each eleven hundred strong), and, with the Eleventh Massachusetts Battery and our own battery, they would have met with a warm reception, as the night was very dark and we had the advantage of a good position.
June 7th. Reviewed at ten A. M. by Gen. Alfred Pleasonton.
June 12th. While the battery was drilling in rapid movements, this forenoon, one of our attached men, Private John D. White, of Company D, Sixteenth Vermont Infantry, met with a painful accident. In mounting, and while throwing his right leg over the back of his horse his left foot slipped from the stirrup, throwing him on the pummel of his saddle and causing a severe rupture. He remained in camp a week or more, and was then sent to the post hospital, at Camp Barry, and remained there until the muster out of his regiment.
It being the plan of the rebel General Lee to attempt an invasion of the northern States, he at once set his troops in motion and did not meet with any serious obstacle to his progress until Gettysburg was reached, which we will notice further on.
On June 15th the battery witnessed the passage by its camp of the Eleventh, Twelfth, Second and Third Corps of the Army of the Potomac, on their way to intercept the rebel army, which was moving on Gettysburg. On this date Private Earl Fenner was ordered on special duty to carry dispatches to the commanding general of the Army of the Potomac. On his return he narrowly escaped capture by Mosby’s guerillas.
June 17th. We can hear distant cannonading in the direction of Aldie Gap. We learn that our forces are having quite a brush with the enemy. A large body of our troops are concentrating at Fairfax Court House, awaiting orders to move toward Gettysburg. A number of rebel prisoners passed our camp to-day under guard. Their brown butternut uniforms and slouch hats indicated that they hailed from North Carolina.
June 25th. The battery received orders to leave camp at Chantilly this morning at eight A. M., and proceed to Fairfax Court House, and report to Brig.-Gen. Henry J. Hunt, who had command of the Reserve Artillery of the Army of the Potomac. On our arrival there, Captain Hazard reported to General Hunt that the term of service of the attached men assigned from the Vermont brigade to our battery would expire on or about July 10th. The general, having more artillery than he needed, and noting the deficiency in the number of men in our battery, ordered Captain Hazard to report to Gen. William F. Barry, Chief of Artillery in the vicinity of Washington. Thus, owing to the depleted condition of the battery, we were not permitted to share with our sister batteries from our State in the honor of participating in the mighty struggle at Gettysburg a few days later, which shed so bright a lustre on the fame of the light artillery that Rhode Island furnished to the armies of the Union.
In accordance with the instructions from General Hunt our battery marched to Arlington Heights, camping outside of the intrenchments near Annandale Court House. About midnight an officer on General Barry’s staff directed Captain Hazard to withdraw his battery inside of the intrenchments, as there were no infantry troops to support us should the enemy appear in force. Accordingly we hitched up and shortly afterward moved within the intrenchments.
At eight o’clock on the morning of the 26th we left Arlington Heights and marched to Camp Barry.
June 28th. Our battery was again ordered to march, and, at eight P. M., left Camp Barry for Fairfax Seminary, passing through Washington, going over Long Bridge to Alexandria, Va., and from thence to Fairfax Seminary. On arriving in the vicinity of the Seminary a soldier on picket, from a New York regiment, fired upon our battery, mistaking us for the enemy. We then took position near Fort Ward, coming into action front, running our guns out of the embrasures and in line with the breastworks. As an attack was expected there our cannoneers remained at their posts till reveille the next morning. Captain Hazard reported with his command to Col. H. L. Abbott, of the First Connecticut Heavy Artillery, commanding the Third Brigade, Defenses South of the Potomac.
General Hooker ascertained that Lee’s army instead of threatening to attack him in front of Washington, had crossed the Potomac into Maryland. He accordingly made a similar movement, crossing between Harper’s Ferry and the capital. The 27th of June found the greater portion of his forces in the vicinity of Frederick. When nearing this place an order was received relieving him of the command of the Army of the Potomac, and appointing in his place Maj.-Gen. George G. Meade. Considerable astonishment was manifested among the army and the people at this unexpected change. It was subsequently stated that General Hooker was relieved at his own request, some of his plans not meeting with the approval of those in authority. He declared in his orders he felt that his usefulness was impaired, and he relinquished the command with regret at parting from his brave comrades, especially at this time when they were moving to drive the invaders from the loyal States. General Meade, upon whom this unsolicited and unexpected honor and responsibility was conferred, had been identified with the army from its organization, and had proved himself an able and competent officer. On the same day that he assumed command he issued orders for the movement of the army, rendered necessary in order to checkmate the operations of the Confederates.
On the 29th the position of our battery is thus defined by Colonel Abbott, commanding our brigade, in his report of affairs on Little River Turnpike, where our pickets were established. He says:
“I have the honor to report that the enemy have been reconnoitering on the Little River Turnpike, just in front of our pickets, both last night and to-day. On the first occasion three men put to flight a whole company of the One Hundred and Seventy-eighth New York (infantry), although the only demonstration (the Confederates) made was to retreat on being challenged by the pickets. On the second two armed men shot a civilian and drove two others into our lines in sight of our pickets.
“Fort Worth is too high to command this road by night by artillery fire, and my infantry is too bad to be trusted to protect even a section of the light artillery there, where there is no retreat for it from cavalry.
“I have ridden over the position this morning, and would respectfully suggest that the Twenty-fifth Maine regiment, now near my right, be placed where this company now is, to hold the road, and cover a section of my battery (Hazard’s) to-night.
“After due examination I have decided, unless more force is available, to put the whole battery in position in the rifle-pits, between Forts Worth and Ward, covered by three companies of the One Hundred and Seventy-eighth New York infantry, with orders to hold the Leesburg Turnpike, and await further developments in case of an attack to-night.
“I cannot hold the Little River Turnpike without more infantry. If the rebels pass Fort Worth on it, they ought to be stopped by the forces near Alexandria; if they then turn up on the Seminary plateau the light battery is ready to prevent their attacking our line in rear in that vicinity, and the convalescent men ought to hold their own camp. Their raid will thus do little good to them.
“If I try to block the Little River pike, I fear I shall lose my guns to no purpose.”
Let us pause for awhile to observe the movements of the Union and Confederate armies now approaching Gettysburg, the county seat of Adams County, Pennsylvania, and eight or ten miles north of the Maryland line, and about forty miles north of Frederick, from which place the Federal army moved. On the evening of June 30th the Federal cavalry advance reached Gettysburg, passed through the village and encamped on the northerly side. On the following morning a deadly encounter took place between the Union and Confederate forces, which resulted in the success of the troops of the enemy and in the withdrawal of the Union forces to Cemetery Hill, which lies nearly south of Gettysburg, and derives its name from a cemetery which crowns its summit. Here our troops encamped for the night, throwing up breastworks along the whole front, the artillery well posted, and the positions on Cemetery Hill and Culp’s Hill (to the right) were made exceedingly strong.
On the morning of July 2d, General Meade arrived on the field, and determined to fight a defensive battle. The Federal line was an irregular semi-circle, the centre of which was Cemetery Hill, fronting the village, and thence running on the left southwest along the ridge fronting the Emmitsburg road, to the hill called Round Top; and on the right running nearly south over Culp’s Hill, and along the ridge fronting Rock Creek to the Baltimore Turnpike. The rebels furiously attacked our lines, and the result of the second day’s battle was the gain of some half a mile of ground where the Third Corps had been forced back, and the occupation of the extreme right of the Federal works. The gain of the Confederates on the left was at a heavy cost, the Union lines being in a stronger position than the day before.
The next day, the 3d, preparations were made to dislodge the enemy on our right. Our troops advanced at that point, and drove the entire force of the enemy out, and the Federal line was re-established as on the previous day, the rebels also returning to their former positions. While this engagement was transpiring on the right, it was comparatively quiet along the other parts of the line except the usual desultory picket firing.
At one o’clock a desperate charge on the Union lines at Cemetery Hill was made by the rebels, composed of a division of Longstreet’s corps under Pickett, which led the attack supported by other troops from Longstreet’s and Hill’s corps. Says Longstreet: “The signal gun broke the prevailing stillness, and immediately 150 Confederate cannon burst into a deafening roar, which was answered by a thunder almost as great from the Federal side.” The attack was gallantly made and the struggle fierce, but the picked troops of the rebel army were finally routed, and thus ended one of the greatest battles of modern times, which resulted in a glorious victory to the Union arms and turned the tide of rebel invasion, hurling Lee’s army back into Virginia, discomfited and disheartened.
We will now return to the Department of Washington, which was under the command of Maj.-Gen. Samuel P. Heintzelman, with Brig.-Gen. Gustavus A. De Russy commanding defenses south of the Potomac, in which the brigade under Col. Henry L. Abbott formed a part. Battery H was attached to this brigade.
At three o’clock on the morning of July 2d, long roll was sounded. Our battery occupied the breastworks near Fort Ward, and remained in that position until reveille.
July 6th. At ten A. M. a review took place of the entire Twenty-second Corps by Generals Casey and De Russy. Our battery is assigned to the First Brigade, Third Division of the corps.
July 10th. The attached men from the Vermont regiments, who have served with the battery since last March, left us to-day. Their term of service has expired and they are about returning to their regiments to be mustered out. They are good soldiers and we part from them with sorrow.
July 16th. Our battery was inspected to-day by Captain Howard on General De Russy’s staff.
July 18th. The paymaster arrived in camp and we received two months’ pay, which was very welcome. While in camp here the several sections of the battery were drilled by the bugle call by First Lieut. Charles F. Mason, he also acting as bugler. First Sergt. Charles E. Bonn also assisted in drilling the battery.
August 6th. We find on this date only twenty-seven men fit for duty in camp, a large number being sick with chills and fever.
August 17th. Capt. Jeffrey Hazard, our battery commander, took his departure, having tendered his resignation from the service. He bade us “good bye” at retreat roll call and started for Rhode Island. Captain Hazard was a skillful and efficient officer, loved and respected by his men. While in command of the battery he brought it to a high state of proficiency in drill and discipline. Upon the resignation of Captain Hazard, First Lieut. Charles F. Mason assumed command of the battery. He was a brave and accomplished soldier, having previously served with Captain Hazard in Battery A, First Rhode Island Light Artillery. At the battle of Antietam both of these officers, then lieutenants in that battery, after many of their number had been killed or wounded, bravely worked the guns for the want of men.
August 30th. Our battery was inspected by Colonel Abbott, commanding Third Brigade, Twenty-second Army Corps, of the forces south of the Potomac.
August 31st. At 12.30 A. M. we bade farewell to our old camp at Fairfax Seminary and marched to Fort Scott, going into park in that vicinity.
September 1st. Moved our camp to higher land and nearer Fort Scott. Farrier George W. Tracy died to-day in hospital at Fairfax Seminary.
September 12th. Again the welcome paymaster appeared in camp. We signed the rolls and received two months’ pay.
September 30th. First Lieut. Crawford Allen, Jr., of Battery G, First Rhode Island Light Artillery, has been promoted to the command of our battery. Captain Allen came to us with a record of good service in the field. He was commissioned second lieutenant in Battery G, First Rhode Island Light Artillery, Nov. 7, 1861, and on the 18th of November, in the following year, was promoted to first lieutenant. He participated with his battery in the Peninsular campaign, and in the battles of Antietam and the first and second Fredericksburg. In the latter engagement, May 2d, 1863, Captain Allen was slightly wounded. He was subsequently made adjutant of his regiment and acting adjutant-general of the artillery brigade of the Sixth Army Corps, which positions he continued to hold until he was promoted to the captaincy of Battery H, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Captain Hazard.
October 14th. We heard the sound of artillery firing in the direction of Thoroughfare Gap, caused by a skirmish of our troops with Gen. Fitz Hugh Lee’s cavalry. Our battery was ordered to hold itself in readiness to move at a moment’s notice.
October 18th. The battery was reviewed by Colonel Abbott, commanding our brigade.
October 20th. Captain Peirce, Chief of Artillery on the staff of General De Russy, inspected our battery to-day.
November 18th. Private Andrew Turner, who had gone to his home in Hope Village on a sick furlough, died in that place on this date.
November 17th. The battery was reviewed by Gen. William F. Barry, chief of artillery.