On the way back at Philadelphia the 19th we were given a fine supper at the Cooper Shop Saloon and the next morning at Baltimore we were treated to a fine breakfast at the Union Relief Association rooms. Proceeding on our way we arrived at Annapolis in the afternoon of March 25th. We went into camp and stayed there until we started to join the Army of the Potomac at the Wilderness. After the fine times we had had at home, ordinary camp life was decidedly dull. Troops were arriving daily and we soon learned the 9th Army Corps was assembling there preparatory to joining General Grant’s army on the Rapidan. Every fellow had left a girl behind him. Writing letters was freely indulged in by all, and the mails were loaded with sweet-scented, delicately addressed notes, and Oh, such longings for home.
Chapter IX
WITH GRANT IN VIRGINIA
The Battle of the Wilderness. The Battle of Spottsylvania Courthouse. Johnnies caught undressed. The Battle of Bethseda Church. The Johnny who wanted to see the sun rise. Life in the trenches during the siege of Petersburg. Wounded.
On the 23d day of April, 1864, we again started for the front, leaving Annapolis with the rest of the 9th Army Corps. We passed through Washington on the 25th, and were reviewed by President Lincoln and General Burnside. That night we camped near Alexandria. On the 27th we marched to Fairfax Court House; the 28th to Bristow Station. The 29th took us to near Warrenton Junction. The 30th we moved on a little and camped near Bealton Station. Here we remained until the 4th of May, when we moved forward to Brandy Station. We were then getting into the immediate vicinity of the Army of the Potomac and the report was circulated during the evening that that army had crossed the Rapidan.
May 5. The report that the Army of the Potomac was in motion and had crossed the Rapidan was confirmed early in the morning, and we pressed forward as rapidly as possible to join it. We reached the Rapidan in the evening, crossed over at Germania Ford and went into camp.
May 6. We started before daylight and at eight o’clock reported to General Hancock, who had just been pushing Lee’s right flank back. We were placed on the left of Hancock’s corps. About ten o’clock, the 21st was sent to make a reconnaissance. We formed a line at right angles to Hancock’s line of battle, well out in front of it, and swept clear along past the whole front. This was a hazardous and mighty unpleasant thing to do and we lost some men in doing it. When we got back, we took a position on Hancock’s right and were there when Longstreet’s corps made the advance in the afternoon. That was a pretty tough reception, the Johnnies got in the part of the line where we were. We had three solid lines of battle to meet them, drawn up on land sloping toward the enemy. At the foot of the slope was the first line of battle; far enough back to shoot over the heads of the men forming line number one was line number two. The 21st was in the second line. Then far enough back to shoot over our heads was line number three. We were all lying flat on the ground. Two or three minutes before the Confederate line of battle came into view, in our immediate front, two or three little gray rabbits came jumping along towards us; at the same time we got glimpses of the Confederate line of battle as it advanced off to our left, the wood being less dense there, we saw the lines cross little openings.
The Johnnies came up with terrific force—three lines of battle deep. They forced back our first line a little, but the second and third lines never moved, but kept pouring the shot into them unmercifully. They stayed there about twenty minutes to half an hour and retreated. After they had fallen back many of us went down to our front earthwork, from which our first line retreated and where the Johnnies formed and where they stayed the few minutes they were in our immediate front. There were a lot of dead and wounded men lying all about there. As I looked about I saw a middle-aged man looking around. He was examining the dead men in a most earnest way, I could not take my eyes off of him. Directly, he found the one he was searching for, it was a young boy, his son. He took hold of the boy’s hand, he spoke to him, but his son was cold in death. He sat down beside him and sat there sobbing but motionless for a long time—the tears streaming from his eyes. One of our boys ventured up to him after a while and inquired if he knew the boy; “yes,” said he, “that is my Charley, that is my cub; but he is silent now, once so full of life and so active.”