Our battery marched at four A. M. to near Chancellorsville, where we heard heavy firing at the front. As we approached the Wilderness we passed many of the wounded going to the rear. We moved towards Yellow Pine Church and joined the artillery reserve of the Ninth Corps, commanded by Capt. John Edwards, Jr. Here we saw our infantry charging and driving the enemy across Mine Run. The Confederates reformed charged in return, forcing our troops back, to be driven themselves again in turn. This was repeated three times until our men finally held the ground and the enemy retired. The battery went into position near Yellow Pine Church, well advanced, remaining in position till nearly dark, then changed position and moved to the left and halted near Chancellorsville. After a brief stay here we marched a few miles and halted in the vicinity of Marysville, remaining in the saddle all night. We learned that our troops had taken 2,000 prisoners and forty-two pieces of artillery during the day. Thus ended the battle of the Wilderness. Our losses were severe. Those of the enemy were even more so.
On the evening of May 7th the army commenced its march towards Spottsylvania Court House. General Grant’s object in moving to this place was to prevent Lee from returning to Richmond in time to attempt to crush Butler, who was at City Point. By accident Lee obtained possession of Spottsylvania before our troops arrived. He had ordered Longstreet’s corps, now commanded by Anderson, to move in the morning (the 8th), but the woods being still on fire Anderson could not go into bivouac and marched directly to Spottsylvania that night. Some fortifications had already been thrown up here, and the Confederates immediately began to extend them, while a force was sent out to delay the advance of the Federal army. General Warren’s corps, after marching all night, reached a point about three miles from Spottsylvania Court House early Sunday morning, May 8th. As General Warren’s troops advanced the enemy’s artillery commenced to throw shells at it, but their cavalry and infantry fell back without offering much resistance. It soon appeared that they had selected a better position for battle. As the Union troops reached a large clearing the artillery of the rebels was found posted there with infantry supports. Beyond these was other infantry supports. General Warren immediately made preparations for battle. The Union troops were soon engaged and an obstinate combat ensued. The losses were large and many officers fell, and regiments that went into the contest two or three hundred strong returned with a mere handful of men. General Warren, however, steadily gained ground in spite of the efforts of the enemy to drive him back, and in the afternoon, being reinforced by a brigade from General Sedgwick’s corps, he succeeded in driving the enemy back to their intrenched line. The battle then ceased till the other corps should arrive and get into position. On the morning of May 7th, we find Battery H moving towards Mary’s Cross Roads, where it halted and awaited orders.
May 8th, the battery marched at seven A. M., crossed the Po River and halted near Spottsylvania Court House. We could hear heavy cannonading on our extreme front.
On the 9th Battery H occupied the same position as the day before, opposite the court house. It was a great boon to our men to be allowed to obtain some needed rest, as they were very tired, and our horses had not been unharnessed for three days and nights. Most of this day was occupied by the Federal troops (nearly all of which arrived during the night and on that morning) in manœuvring to obtain good positions for further operations and in throwing up breastworks. It was while posting his forces and superintending the mounting of some artillery that the intrepid commander of the Sixth Corps, the lamented Sedgwick, was killed by one of the sharpshooters of the enemy. He was remonstrated with for exposing himself unnecessarily, for the bullets were whizzing through the air uncomfortably close to those standing near the general. “Why,” said Sedgwick, “they cannot hit an elephant at this distance.” Hardly had these words been uttered when the bullet of the sharpshooter struck him, and he fell into the arms of his attendant officer. He was one of the ablest soldiers in the army. He was modest, manly and courageous. General Grant says of him: “His loss was a severe one to the Army of the Potomac and to the nation.” He was beloved by the soldiers of the Sixth Corps, who regarded him as a father.
May 10th. At ten A. M. the march of our battery was reversed to Mary’s Cross Roads. Marched a few miles and camped for the night. We found the roads very muddy. Our base of supplies having been changed to Aquia Creek, we were ordered to join General Abercrombie’s forces at that place.
We learn that in the fight at Spottsylvania to-day the commander of our division in the Ninth Corps, Brig.-Gen. Thomas G. Stevenson, was killed. He was a brave and fearless soldier. Woodbury, in his Burnside and the Ninth Corps, says of him: “But the Ninth Corps suffered a severe loss in the death of General Stevenson, the commander of the First Division. He was killed early in the day by one of the enemy’s riflemen, while near his headquarters.” He further says: “He was the son of Hon. J. Thomas Stevenson (of Boston), well known as an able lawyer and a sagacious man of affairs. He was educated in the best schools of Boston, and at an early age he entered the counting-room of one of the most active merchants of that city. There by his faithfulness in duty, his promptness, and his generosity of disposition, he secured the entire confidence and love of his principal and the high esteem of the business community, and a brilliant commercial career opened before him. But when his country called him he could not neglect her summons. The parting words of his father to himself and his younger brother when they left home for the field well express the appreciation in which his domestic virtues were held: ‘Be as good soldiers as you have been sons. Your country can ask no more than that of you, and God will bless you.’
“In the spring of 1861 he was orderly sergeant of the New England Guards, and, upon the formation of the Fourth battalion of Massachusetts infantry he was chosen captain of one of its companies. On the 25th of April the battalion was sent to garrison Fort Independence, in Boston Harbor, and, on the 4th of May, Captain Stevenson was promoted to the rank of major. In this position he was distinguished for an excellent faculty for discipline and organization, which were subsequently of great benefit to him. On the first of August he received authority to raise and organize a regiment of infantry for a term of three years, and on the 7th of September he went into camp at Readville with twenty men. On the 9th of December he left the State of Massachusetts with the Twenty-fourth regiment—one of the finest and best drilled, organized, equipped and disciplined body of troops that Massachusetts had yet sent to the war. His regiment was assigned to General Foster’s brigade in the North Carolina expedition, and he soon gained the respect and friendship of his superior officers.
“The conduct of the Twenty-fourth regiment and its commander in North Carolina has already been made a matter of record. When Colonel Stevenson was assigned to the command of a brigade, in April, 1862, the choice was unanimously approved by his companions-in-arms. General Burnside regarded him as one of his best officers. ‘He has shown great courage and skill,’ once wrote the general, ‘and in organization and discipline he has no superior.’ General Foster was enthusiastic in his commendation. ‘He stands as high as any officer or soldier in the army of the United States,’ said he, ‘on the list of noble, loyal and devoted men.’ On the 27th of December he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, and, on the 14th of March, 1863, he was confirmed and commissioned to that grade. In February, 1863, he accompanied General Foster to South Carolina, where his brigade was attached to the Tenth Corps, and where he served with great fidelity and zeal throughout the year under Generals Foster, Hunter and Gillmore. In April, 1864, he reported to General Burnside at Annapolis, and was assigned to the command of the First Division.”
May 11th. Early this morning 9,000 rebel prisoners taken at the battle of Spottsylvania passed our camp going to the rear under guard.
May 12th. The men were given permission to view forty-two pieces of artillery taken from the enemy at Spottsylvania, as they were parked in the vicinity of our camp. Marched at seven A. M. to Oak Hill and camped for the night. Here we found batteries D and G, First Rhode Island Light Artillery, the Third New Jersey, Second Maine, Eleventh Massachusetts, and Twenty-second New York batteries, and the First Rhode Island Cavalry, besides three regiments of the infantry of the Invalid Corps.