Perry's Saints; Or, The Fighting Parson's Regiment in the War of the Rebellion

by James Moses Nichols

Expedition to Port Royal Ferry. Progress up Broad River. Colonel Perry acting brigadier-general. The rebel yell heard for the first time. The regiment's first baptism of fire. The old horse. Night on the field. Return to Hilton Head. Object of the expedition. Presentation of flag to the regiment. Off for Dawfuskie. Southern homes. Preparatory work by Major Beard and others. Building batteries on Jones and Bird Islands. Mud and malaria. Reconnoissances and midnight wanderings.

The closing day of the year brought rumors of a contemplated movement. The scene of operations, and their extent, were only subjects for conjecture. Early on the last day of the year, we received notice to be in readiness to march with a number of days' cooked rations, and about noon of that day started for the dock. The expedition was under the command of General Stephens, and two regiments were taken from our brigade,—the 47th and our own,—in addition to those of his regular command. By the middle of the afternoon we were on board of the steam transport Delaware, and on our way up Broad River towards Beaufort, where we anchored for the night. In the early morning, we started for Port Royal Ferry, against which point we learned that the expedition was directed. Several gunboats accompanied us, under the command of Captain Rodgers. Our progress up the river was slow and cautious, until we arrived opposite the plantation of Mr. Adams, where we disembarked.

We were much interested, while on the steamer, in watching that portion of our troops already landed, as they could be distinctly seen, pursuing their winding way through the woods and over the fields, their bayonets glistening in the sunlight. Sometimes they went at slow step, at others in quick or double-quick time. Sometimes they fired, and charged the Confederates whom they encountered, while the gunboats covered them to guard against attack by superior forces, all the time shelling the woods in front of them as they advanced. As soon as landed, we formed in line and moved forward, the two regiments—the 47th New York and our own—under the command of Colonel Perry. Acting as reserves, the duty assigned us was to intercept the Confederate retreat. Very soon, however, orders were received to attack the battery which was found to cover the road over which we were expected to advance, and the 47th was moved through the woods on the right to attack it in flank, while the 48th was to charge in front. Some delay occurred in establishing the position of the 47th, and arranging so that the attack might be simultaneous. Well do I remember the rebel yell, heard for the first time as I was returning from conveying orders from our colonel to the 47th. Accompanied by the discharge of cannon and musketry, it seemed, to my unaccustomed ears, as if the inhabitants of pandemonium had been let loose, and as I rounded the last point of woods which shut out from view the scene of operations, I expected nothing less than a hand-to-hand conflict. Instead, I found the regiment lying quietly down between the furrows of a cornfield, over which the Confederate shot skipped harmlessly. In this way the men were protected while awaiting the final order to charge. This was found unnecessary, for the yell of the Confederates proved only the parting word given while in the act of abandoning the battery, which was speedily occupied by our troops. The guns were removed, and the works destroyed, and we continued our advance towards Port Royal Ferry, where the enemy was known to be strongly entrenched.

At this time two horses had been captured and placed at the disposal of the colonel and his aid, to which position I had been appointed. I have no recollections of the colonel's, but my horse soon gave evidence of manifold infirmities. Three times we rolled over together on that cotton-field, before it was discovered that, with his other weaknesses, he was stone blind, when he was left to tempt some other officer, and I returned to nature's conveyance, sadder and sorer for the experience. That night we lay down on the field, but gained little rest, as the Confederates were known to be in force in the vicinity, and an attack was looked for. The next morning we embarked for Hilton Head, the objects of the expedition having been accomplished, in the destruction of the Confederate works, which were being constructed for the purpose of preventing any forward movement on our part in that direction, and confining us closely within the territory already captured. This was only one of the points which the Confederates proposed to fortify, which were intended not only as a restraint upon any forward movement by us, but also as bases of aggressive operations against us.

January 12 the regiment was presented, through Adjutant Goodell, with a beautiful flag from the ladies of Hanson Place Methodist-Episcopal Church of Brooklyn, of which Colonel Perry had been pastor. That flag has waved over many battle-fields, and is a witness that the 48th never faltered in the discharge of any duty. It is now in the custody of the Long Island Historical Society, having been committed to its charge, with suitable ceremonies, on the evening of April 21, 1881.

January 25, 1862, we broke camp, and marched to Seabrook's Landing, on our way to Dawfuskie, an island bordering on the Savannah River, some four or five miles above Fort Pulaski. That night we spent at Seabrook's, and on the next morning embarked on the steamer Winfield Scott, and proceeded to a place on Dawfuskie called Hay's Point, where five companies disembarked, and at 9 P.M., under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Barton, started for the other side of the island. Three hours of wearisome marching brought us to Dunn's plantation on the bank of the river. Pickets were established, and sentries posted, and we got what sleep we could. The next day was occupied largely in procuring supplies of food, as everything of that nature had been left on the Winfield Scott. Detachments were sent out in all directions to secure the cattle, pigs and poultry abandoned by their owners on the approach of our troops, and to collect whatever else could be found that was edible. The men were quartered in the houses and sheds, while the officers occupied the family mansion. In the afternoon we learned that the Winfield Scott had been wrecked on Long Pine Island, where the other wing of the regiment remained until taken off by the steamer Mayflower, which conveyed them, with the regimental baggage and supplies, to Cooper's Landing, on Dawfuskie. At this point they remained until February 1, when they joined us, and, a permanent camp was established near the borders of the woods, a little way back from the river.

During the interval there was little of severe duty, and all were allowed the largest liberty consistent with proper discipline. Frequent excursions were made to different points on the island, especially to the beautiful residences along the shore. Of these, the most attractive were Munger's and Stoddard's, the former a short distance below us, the latter some miles away, and occupying a commanding position, overlooking the sound. Both gave evidence of large wealth and cultivated tastes, in the character of the houses and beauty of their surroundings, and as we wandered through the shaded avenues, and among the shrubs and flowers, in gardens where roses and japonicas grew in tropical luxuriance, where the air was full of sweet odors, and the eye confused with the multitude and variety of brilliant colors, and remembered that these abodes of happiness and beauty had been abandoned to pillage and destruction, and that wherever our armies penetrated, homes would be broken up, and in the place of comfort would come suffering, and in the place of beauty, desolation, we cursed the madness of those who had brought such miseries on the land.

OBSTRUCTIONS IN SAVANNAH RIVER.