Campaign of the Fourteenth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers

by J. Newton Terrill

The 5th and 9th corps had now arrived, and the attack was again renewed and persisted in with great fury, but only resulted in forcing the enemy to an interior line of works, from which they could not be dislodged; but the advantage gained in position by us was very great. The army then proceeded to envelope Petersburg towards the south side road as far as possible, without attacking their fortifications. The enemy, to re-enforce Petersburg, withdrew from a part of their entrenchments in front of Bermuda Hundred. Butler, taking advantage of this, at once moved a force on the railroad between Petersburg and Richmond. The 3d division was ordered to support Butler, if necessary, and was then lying in front awaiting orders. About two o'clock Butler was forced back, the enemy re-occupying their old line. As our division was not needed, we were ordered to join the balance of the corps that had preceded us.

On Sunday afternoon, June 19th, orders were issued. Accordingly at two o'clock the division started, marching ten miles and crossing the Appomattox River on pontoons. The evening was splendid; the boats sailing on the river all reminded us of home. The negro troops were guarding the bridge, their bands playing national airs as the columns passed. At 11 o'clock the division halted near Petersburg, in full view of the city. The next day a negro was hung in presence of the army, for abusing a white lady. We remained in line the next day, the enemy shelling the train.

On the afternoon of the 21st, the corps was ordered to move and take position on the left, the 3d division in advance; passed the 2d and 9th corps, marching six miles, and forming in line of battle to cut the enemy's communications, crossing the Norfolk railroad that had been taken possession of by General Smith, in the attempt to take Petersburg; lay in line of battle during the night, and advancing the next day, building works. The Weldon railroad was reached and torn up some distance. During the afternoon the enemy appeared in force, and succeeded in flanking us, capturing several from the division; about forty from the 14th were captured and several killed. At night the troops fell back, after destroying three miles of road. The headquarters of the 3d division was at the house of Brig.-General Williams, of the rebel army. A new line of works was soon erected, the men sleeping on their arms. The house of General Williams had been ransacked from top to bottom by the soldiers, carpets torn up and everything destroyed. A splendid piano was left in the house, and as several of the men could play, dancing and singing were kept up in a rude style for several hours.

On the 22d, General Wilson, with two divisions of cavalry from the army of the Potomac, and one division from the army of the James, moved against the enemy's railroads south of the James and southwest of Richmond, striking the Weldon railroad at Reams' Station, where he met and defeated a force of the enemy's cavalry, reaching Burksville Station on the afternoon of the 23d; and from there he destroyed the Danville railroad for a distance of twenty-five miles, where he found the enemy in position and was defeated with small loss. He then commenced his return march, and on the 28th met the enemy again in force on the Weldon Railroad, near Stony Creek; moving on the left, with a view of reaching Reams' Station, supposing it to be in our possession. Here he again engaged the enemy's cavalry supported by infantry, and was cut off with all communication, with the loss of his artillery and train. A Lieutenant and a few of his men cut their way through, and succeeded in reaching headquarters. Informing General Meade of the situation of General Wilson, orders were immediately issued to General Wright to take the 6th corps and move out to the support of Wilson; starting at three o'clock on the afternoon of July 29th, marched eight miles and halted for the night near Reams' Station, the enemy retiring, as their force was insufficient to cope with the cavalry and 6th corps.

Wilson was now extricated from his perilous position, and with the 6th corps remained at Reams' Station three days. The 14th New Jersey and 106th New York were detailed to destroy the railroad. General Wilson, with the remainder of his force, crossed the Nattoway River, coming in safely on our left and rear. The damage to the enemy in this expedition more than compensated for the losses sustained; it severed all connection with Richmond for several weeks. On the 13th of July the regiment was mustered in for the thirteenth time, for four months' pay, March, April, May and June, by Lieutenant-Colonel Hall. Our lines now extended a distance of over thirty miles, from Reams' Station to the Appomattox; the Potomac army lay behind extensive works that had been erected under fire. In the recent campaign our losses had been heavy, but still the army was large, as recruits and convalescents were continually arriving. Butler's army extended from the Appomattox to Deep Bottom, with cavalry on the flank and rear. It has been estimated that Grant lost from the Rapidan to Petersburg, eighty thousand men in killed and wounded. The losses of the enemy were not so great, as they were acting on the defensive behind their works.

It was supposed the enemy would make a grand attack on the morning of the 4th of July, and preparations were made to meet them. The morning dawned and the troops were all in line behind their works; the enemy's communications were in danger, and the Potomac army must be driven back; the morning passed and not a shot was fired along the entire line. It was now evident that the enemy did not intend attacking, and the troops laid aside their arms. The weather was warm and the sand dry and hot. The men laid off in their shelter tents thinking of former days, when the 4th was spent in a different manner. At noon General Butler, for the purpose of firing a salute, trained and shotted one hundred guns upon Petersburg, and the shells were soon flying through the air; the enemy replied, and a lively cannonade was kept up until sunset.

General Hunter having been placed in command of the armies of Western Virginia, immediately took up the offensive, and moved up the Shenandoah Valley, where he met the enemy, routed and defeated them, and moved direct on Lynchburg, which place he reached on June 15th. Up to this time he was very successful, and but for the difficulty of taking with him sufficient ordnance stores over so long a march through a hostile country, he would no doubt have captured that important place. To meet this movement under Gen. Hunter, General Lee sent a force equal to a corps, a part of which reached Lynchburg before Hunter. After considerable skirmishing, Hunter, owing to a want of ammunition to give battle, retired back from the place, and moved back by the way of the Kanawha Valley; this lost to us the use of his troops for several weeks. Immediately upon the enemy ascertaining that Hunter was retreating from Lynchburg by way of the Kanawha River, thus laying the Shenandoah Valley open for raids into Maryland and Pennsylvania, he moved down that Valley. It was at first supposed to be only a small force of the enemy, and General Wallace, with a brigade of one hundred days' men and detachments from the Invalid corps, was sent to Monocacy Bridge. Their advance, consisting of a few guerillas under the notorious Harry Gillmore, were met and driven back. The troops in the Potomac army were all lying in front of Petersburg, under fire day and night, preparing to besiege the place.

At two o'clock on the morning of July 6th the bugle sounded, and the troops were ordered to fall in and prepare to move, the 3d division being ordered to Harper's Ferry; the men were glad to go, as they were tired of lying in the sand. At four o'clock the division started, and marched fifteen miles to City Point, the dust and sand so thick that nothing could be seen, the men being completely covered and no water could be had; this march was very tiresome to the men, numbers falling out on the way. City Point was reached at noon, and the men were placed on transports, and new clothing was issued. The 14th Regiment and 151st New York were placed on a splendid steamboat called the Sylvan Shore, the men enjoying the sail very much, a distance of three hundred miles, passing Fortress Monroe, Point Lookout, and the Rip Raps. The scenery along the river was grand; they landed at Locust Point near Baltimore on the morning of the 8th, at five o'clock. Rumors were now in circulation, and the people of the North were alarmed for the safety of our National Capitol, for instead of a few guerillas as was first supposed, it was a grand raid of the enemy in force on an extensive scale. So silently and secretly had this movement been conducted, that none were aware of the magnitude of the invasion. Major General Jubal Early, with a force of thirty thousand veteran troops, had taken possession of Martinsburg. General Seigel, who was in command of our forces there, retreated across the Potomac to Shepardstown, and General Weber, commanding at Harper's Ferry, crossed the river and occupied Maryland Heights. On the 6th the enemy occupied Hagerstown, moving a strong column toward Frederick City.

The 3d division, under General Ricketts, numbering but five thousand men, were placed immediately on baggage cars and forwarded to Monocacy, the first train carrying the 87th Pennsylvanian and 14th New Jersey. The enemy were now in force at Frederick City. The Baltimore American was issued that day with the following address to the public: "That Ricketts' division had arrived from the Potomac army; that the 14th New Jersey and 87th Pennsylvania had reached Monocacy, and with such veteran regiments as these nothing more need be feared" from the then supposed guerillas. The remainder of the division was forwarded as rapidly as possible, reporting to Gen. Wallace, then in chief command. Fourteen months had elapsed since the 14th regiment had left Monocacy Bridge, but the place looked natural; none dreamed that on the morrow a terrible battle would be fought on the old camping ground; grass and weeds had grown in abundance, and scarcely a vestige of the former camp could be seen. The regiment with the troops that lay there, marched up to Frederick City, and then around a circuit of ten miles, but nothing of the enemy could be seen, and halting at ten o'clock, near the bridge, in line of battle.

Saturday, July 19th, 1834, will long be remembered by the Jersey boys. The remainder of the division with General Ricketts and staff had arrived, and orders were issued to form the men in line and prepare to repel an attack, as it was now discovered that instead of a small force it was a corps of rebels thirty thousand strong. To retreat would only result in the capture of Washington and Baltimore, and it was determined by Generals Wallace and Ricketts to hold Monocacy Bridge at all hazards, and to retard the advance of the enemy as much as possible until re-enforcements would arrive. Just one year had passed since the 14th joined the Potomac army, and during that time we lost a great number of men.