About the 20th day of April, 1863, with Colonel Clark in command, the Twenty-ninth regiment, with its brigade, left Dumfries, Virginia, and marched to Aqua creek, which place it reached two days later, and encamped about one mile from the Potomac river. Aqua creek is sixty miles below Washington on the river; it was used as a base for supplies, and a field hospital was soon established. The regiment with its brigade remained at this place performing the usual camp and garrison duty, building forts and, at the same time, doing its full share of picket duty. We are encamped on the hill overlooking the Potomac. To the north and west is a fine rolling country partly covered with pine timber and tangled undergrowth. All was quiet until orders were received to march; then what a bustle; haversacks were filled, each soldier furnished with sixty rounds of ammunition, and preparations made for “business.” At 7 o’clock A. M., on the 27th day of April, the regiment fell into line and moved forward on the road leading to Kelleys ford via Stafford Court House and Hartwood church, reaching the Rappahannock river at Kelley’s ford late in the afternoon. The enemy was found in small force on the south bank of the river. Late in the evening the Sixty-sixth Ohio regiment crossed the river in a small boat capable of carrying but one company at a time. The regiment deployed as skirmishers, holding the enemy back until the division had all crossed when we bivouacked for the night. The next morning we marched at 5:30 A. M., the Twenty-ninth regiment in advance; passed through a low, level country, with heavy timber; halted at 12 M. for dinner at a fine residence on a large plantation; fell in at 1:30 P. M. and moved in an easterly direction, reaching the Rapidan river late in the afternoon. The bridge had been destroyed, so that a crossing was not effected until in the evening, after which the Twenty-ninth camped for the night. 29th instant,—marched at 7:30 A. M. on the direct road to Chancellorsville. About 10 o’clock A. M. General Slocum came up and orders were received for the Twenty-ninth regiment to send out a line of skirmishers on the right of the road, which was done, the regiment passing through an open field and entering the timber, forcing the enemy back; marched on the flank through the woods and thick undergrowth for several miles, were then ordered to join the brigade. We reached Chancellorsville late in the afternoon of April 30th, where we found a small force of Confederate soldiers who were engaged in throwing up earthworks near the Chancellor house, at a point where the roads crossed, one leading to the United States ford, and the other to Fredericksburg. The Twenty-ninth regiment, with its brigade and division, were the first Union soldiers to enter the place. A number of prisoners were taken, and late in the evening the Twenty-ninth moved a short distance southwest from the main road and the Chancellor house into a piece of timber and bivouacked for the night.
CHAPTER VIII.
1863.
Battle of Chancellorsville—March to Leesburg, Littletown, and Gettysburg.
The morning of May 1st dawned upon a scene of bustle and active preparation for the bloody work which was to follow. Troops had been arriving during the entire night from the direction of the United States ford, and the light of early morning revealed an almost solid mass of blue-coated soldiers filling the open fields and woods in the vicinity of the Chancellor house. They were mainly from the Fifth, Eleventh, and Twelfth corps. At about 8 o’clock A. M. the Twenty-ninth, with its brigade and division, made a reconnoissance in force, and after marching about one-half mile the division formed in line of battle, and in this position was moved about the field until afternoon, when the lines were generally moved to the east through the timber, the right resting on the road. Moving perhaps half a mile we found the enemy in strong force, his artillery masked in the road. During this time some skirmishing and artillery firing was indulged in, and several of the Twenty-ninth were wounded. Late in the afternoon we moved to the rear under a heavy fire from the rebel artillery. Reaching the place we had left in the morning we set to work throwing up breastworks. The rebels advanced and our skirmishers kept up a rattling fire all night, while the regiment worked like beavers preparing the works for the coming conflict. The Second division, commanded by John W. Geary, occupied about the left center in the order of battle.
During the evening of May 1st the Confederate army were charging the right of our lines, and for four hours the artillery firing on both sides was terrific. It continued at intervals the entire night. The air was ablaze and full of deadly missiles dealing destruction all around us; the earth trembled under our feet; the rattle and roar of artillery was like continued bursts of thunder. The heavens seemed on fire, revealing the deadly strife of two grand armies locked in close embrace, fighting with desperate valor. The dense smoke was lightened by rapid flashes of artillery, the bursting of shell, and the unceasing discharges of musketry, making a scene grand and terrible in the extreme. At midnight this deadly combat ceased, the death-like stillness which succeeded being broken only by the cries of the wounded and the dying comrades so recently beside us in deadly combat. About 1 o’clock at night pickets were posted forty yards from the main line. We were so near the rebel pickets we could hear every movement. Here we lay flat on the ground watching for demonstrations of the enemy until the dawning of another day of blood and death. In the first flush of early morning the rebels advanced with columns en masse and at once opened fire on us. This we returned and then quickly retired under a storm of leaden hail. Leaping over the rifle-pits we soon rejoined the command.
The Twenty-ninth regiment now moved in a southwesterly direction along the line of works a short distance, in support of a New York regiment. While supporting this regiment the Twenty-ninth was under artillery fire from the right flank. Colonel Clark was struck by a shell, and rendered unconscious nearly two hours. The regiment again moved into its old position on the road south of the Chancellorsville house, where it remained under heavy fire of artillery and musketry, and in the afternoon our right flank was turned, and the Union army was soon forced back in the direction of the river, at Banks’ ford. When the Twenty-ninth fell back the rebels were in possession of the Chancellor house, and there were not one hundred Union soldiers in sight. The army fell back about one mile and a half, filling the woods and the road leading to Banks’ ford. Here it took a strong position and threw up a line of works and remained until May 6th, when, after being on arms all night, it marched at 6 A. M., crossed the river at Banks’ ford, and camped for the night.
During the three days’ fight the Twenty-ninth regiment lost quite heavily; the killed were four, wounded forty-two, and prisoners twenty-five.
In this action the rebel loss was officially reported in killed, wounded, and missing, as upward of 10,000 men, while the Union loss was about the same. The rebel loss in killed and wounded was greater than ours, in addition to which they lost one of their ablest generals.
May 7th, marched at 6:30 A. M. It rained hard all day. We passed Hartwood church, Staffordshire, and went into camp near Aqua creek, and here it remained until June 3d, when the regiment moved to the south about one mile, and engaged in the construction of two small forts.