Near daybreak, Colonel Buchanan informed Colonel Barnes that he was about to move to the rear; it was yet quite dark, and one of the regiments of regulars, which lay just in front of the Twenty-ninth, in moving rearward, passed through the lines of the latter, by which the Twenty-ninth became divided, the two wings separating in the darkness. When it became day, the two wings united near the field, and started for Harrison’s Landing. The march to this point, where the regiment arrived toward noon of this day (Wednesday, July 2), was hurried and exceedingly toilsome. Not long after daylight a cold rain-storm set in, which lasted for nearly forty-eight hours. The men were without overcoats, and were consequently thoroughly drenched, many of them taking severe colds, which in not a few instances resulted fatally. The officers were equally as destitute as the men. Everything except what they wore had been lost during the retreat; they were without tents, and when the regiment halted at the Landing, in an old orchard, the soldiers stretched themselves upon the ground thoroughly exhausted, passing the night at this place under a pelting, merciless rain. Many who had straggled during the retreat, joined the regiment here, and kind greetings and personal explanations followed.
When the regiment reached its destination, and joined the other regiments of the Brigade, already in camp, the supposition as to the error in leaving the regiment on the field at Malvern Hill was fully confirmed; and they were highly complimented by General Meagher for their action in remaining, who addressed them in the presence of the whole Brigade. The General was an orator of rare ability, and in this speech, which will be long remembered by those to whom it was addressed, he pictured in impressive language, the varied scenes and hardships of the retreat, and of the desperate battles that attended it. In the course of his remarks, he took occasion to say some very clever things of the regiment. He was an educated Irishman, possessing a very strong national pride, and was especially proud of the high reputation of his three Irish regiments. He told the soldiers of the Twenty-ninth, that they had proved themselves the equals of any others in the Brigade, and had no superiors in the army. As sons of the Pilgrims and Puritans, and natives of the fair land he was glad to call his adopted country, they had shown themselves worthy of their honorable ancestry and high heritage; his heart had swelled with pride as he had stood upon the various fields and witnessed their sturdy valor.
Although these glowing compliments were duly appreciated, yet they did not cause the soldiers to forget their sufferings, nor to banish from their minds, even during their utterance, the thought that they would much prefer a good meal or a comfortable overcoat to all the compliments in the world. Nor did the General’s eloquence overcome the disposition of some of the men to be mischievous, for while he was speaking, certain soldiers of the regiment abstracted from his tent nearly all the whiskey he possessed.
As the arrival of the army at this point was a practical termination of the campaign, it seems altogether proper to pause here in our narrative, and give a statement of the losses sustained by the regiment during this time.
KILLED.
At Fair Oaks, June 15.—George D. Brown, Co. C.
Battle of Gaines’ Mill, June 27.—Second Lieutenant Thomas A. Mayo, Co. E.
White Oak Swamp (Nelson’s Farm), June 30.—Henry Austin, Co. F; Sergeant Ansel B. Kellam and George W. Smith, Co. H; and Joseph A. Short, Co. I.
WOUNDED.
Nelson’s Farm, June 30.—Colonel Ebenezer W. Pierce, right arm shot off.
Fair Oaks, June 15.—Charles Kleinhans, Co. E.
At Savage’s Station, June 29.—Cornelius L. White, Co. G; Augustus J. Leavitt, Co. K.
At White Oak Swamp (Nelson’s Farm), June 30.—George E. Wadsworth, Co. E (died in hospital August 31, 1863); Alfred B. Warner and Sergeant Samuel C. Wright, Co. E; Sergeant L. A. Howard, Co. A; Charles Ross, Co. A; Minot S. Curtis, Co. C; Sergeant Walter A. Kezar, Corporal A. A. Blaney, and John H. Shaw, Co. I. (Sergeant Kezar was wounded in the head, and captured.) Captain William Pray, Second Lieutenant William W. Davis, and Sergeant Henry A. Hunting, Co. K.
At Malvern Hill, July 1.—Charles E. Merriam, Co. E (died November 12, 1862); Irving Bates (in the hand), and William H. Osborne (severely in left leg), Co. C.
A full statement of the losses of the regiment during this period should include the names of those who were disabled by sickness and overwork, but there are no data from which such a list can be compiled.
Assistant Surgeon George B. Cogswell voluntarily remained behind at White Oak Swamp (and subsequently fell into the hands of the enemy), for the purpose of attending to the wounded of his regiment who could not be removed, and while in the enemy’s lines, made himself exceedingly useful. He rejoined the regiment about July 19, 1862.
When it had once become understood that our army had retreated, a deep feeling of gloom settled down upon the North, while the South became highly elated and confident. The Richmond “Whig” of July 12, 1862, in an article entitled, “The Tide in Our Affairs,” urged upon the Confederate government the necessity of continuing aggressive movements toward the Union army, saying: “The foe should never be allowed to recover from their stunned and bewildered state. We should rain blows upon them so fast and thick that they would have no chance to collect their faculties. The watchword of Danton should now be ours, ‘L’audace! l’audace! toujours l’audace!‘”
The same paper, in an article headed, “Effects of Rain,” said: “One of the effects of rain in this city is the appearance of numerous Yankee overcoats in the street. Nearly every Confederate soldier is provided with one; and on rainy days, when they are worn, an imaginative person would fancy that the city was garrisoned by Yankee troops.” This was written in order to magnify their victory, and to convey the impression that our soldiers had been virtually stripped of their clothing.
The barbarous sentiment that prevailed among the Confederates is shown by the following extract from a Richmond paper of this period: “What has become of the buzzards? It is a singular fact, that very few buzzards have been seen in this section for some time past. One explanation of their absence is, that they have been driven away by the stench from the carcasses of the slain wretches who came here to desolate our State and murder our citizens.”