One of the members of the regiment, who was an inmate of the barn which has been alluded to in this chapter, relates the following touching incident: Among the wounded men here, was a poor soldier, both of whose legs had been amputated. He had been told by the surgeons that his case was a hopeless one, and if he had any message to send to his friends in the North, they would gladly transmit the same. Conscious of having done his duty, he spoke often of the battle, and then dictated to the surgeons a brief, but touching, letter to his wife and family. His thoughts now seemed to turn wholly upon his far-off home, and forgetting his torturing pains, his face seemed all aglow with the sweet memories which were floating before his mind. After talking a few moments, he asked those about him to raise his head from the floor. Suddenly summoning all his remaining energies, he began to sing in a clear and very melodious voice, “Home, Sweet Home.” All voices save his were quickly hushed in deep and attentive silence. The surgeons and nurses who were on duty among the wounded paused in their labors, and stood spell-bound and fascinated by the sweetness of his voice, and his rich cadences. The appearance of the dying singer, his countenance pallid and bloodless, gave the spectacle a strange, unearthly character, and the effective rendering which he gave to the tender and touching sentiment of the song fairly melted the hearts of all present; and when he finished, breathing out in the utterance of the closing words the last remnant of his strength, and sank almost senseless upon his pallet, “there was not a dry eye in the room.” The poor soldier died in the course of the day, but the incident was made a subject of conversation among the inmates for several weeks afterwards.
The following is a list of the killed, wounded, and missing of the regiment in this battle:—
KILLED.
Co. A.—Corporal Timothy D. Donovan; Private Edward O’Donnell.
Co. B.—John J. O’Brien.
Co. C.—Corporal Elijah H. Toleman; Private David H. Lincoln (from injuries received during battle).
Co. E.—Private Lawrence R. Blake.
Co. F.—Private Edward Ratagan.
Co. H.—Corporal Robert F. Greenough.
Co. I.—Private John C. Dow.
WOUNDED.
Co. A.—Privates Martin C. Mullen, Edward Kelley, Isaac H. Ferry, Joseph S. Farrell.
Co. B.—Private Charles McNulty.
Co. C.—First Sergeant Thomas Conant; Corporals D. W. Tribou,[38] George W. Allen;[38] Privates Henry A. Osborne, Thomas Arnold, Neil McMillan.
Co. D.—Second Lieutenant James H. Atherton;[38] Corporal David D. Coleman; Bugler Benj. C. Dalton; Privates Frank G. Bumpus, John Fagan.
Co. E.—Sergeant John Shannon; Corporal Samuel C. Wright.[38]
Co. F.—Lieutenant Thomas H. Husband; Sergeant Bela H. King; Privates Joseph L. Westgate, Elisha Westgate; Musician Darius Bonney.
Co. G.—Private Joseph Duxbury.
Co. H.—Musician James A. Forbes; Private William Story.
Co. I.—Privates Thomas L. Glass, Charles E. Harris, Benj. E. Thompson.
Co. K.—Privates Elisha C. Ranks, Thomas F. Dolan.
MISSING.[39]
Co. B.—Corporals H. A. Dean, Thomas ——, Charles E. Getchell, Phillip Sullivan.
CHAPTER XIX.
The Regiment Leaves Antietam—March to Harper’s Ferry—The Reconnoissance to Charlestown, Va.—The Loudon Valley Campaign—Change of Commanders—The Green Flag Affair—Battle of Fredericksburg—Winter Camp—Death of Chaplain Hempstead—Close of the Second Year’s Service—Complimentary Correspondence Concerning the Regiment.
After attending to the sad duties of burying the dead on the 19th of September, the regiment, at three o’clock in the afternoon, was sent to the rear, and remained in the near vicinity of the field till the 22d, during a part of which time it performed picket duty. On the morning of the last-named day, it started for Harper’s Ferry, passing through the village of Sharpsburg, fording Antietam Creek at “The Iron Works.” The village of Sharpsburg was in the thick of the fight. On the side of the town fronting the Federal line of battle, nearly every house was shattered or marked by balls. The “Dunker Church,” or “School-house,” as it was called by our soldiers, on the outskirts of the town, and much nearer the field, was a complete wreck. The description given of its appearance by a negro, who lived near the field, is quite as truthful as original: “It was well smashed to pieces; all made like a riddle; you could jest look in and out where you pleased.”
When the battle began, on the morning of the 17th, the inhabitants of the village, about one thousand in number, fled from their houses and took refuge at a place some two miles distant, in a forest near the river, where they would have been in a sad plight if our army had followed the retreating Confederates on the 19th. “When our troops passed through the town, the most of the houses were still vacant, and our soldiers, somewhat destitute of rations, helped themselves to such articles of food, stray poultry, pigs, and so forth, as the enemy had left untouched. A woman living in this village, being afterwards questioned by a distinguished writer, who visited the place, as to which army did the most pilfering, replied as follows: “The rebels took, but the Yankees took right smart!”
Toward sundown of the 22d, the regiment reached Harper’s Ferry, and forded the Potomac River; the water at the point of crossing was in many places nearly waist-deep; the current was strong, and rushed over huge rocks, broken, jagged, and slippery. In crossing, many lost their footing and fell, receiving bruises; while the horses stumbled and floundered so badly that their riders were obliged to dismount.
At Harper’s Ferry, the Potomac and Shenandoah unite their waters, and flow through a deep gorge in the Blue Ridge. The land is mountainous and broken for miles around. A little west of the village, on the Virginia side of the river, are Bolivar Heights, while on the north, just across the Potomac, and nearly opposite, on the Maryland side, are Maryland Heights. “No doubt,” says Trowbridge, who visited this spot, “there was once a stupendous cataract here, pouring its shining sheet toward the morning sun from a vast inland sea; for the tourist still finds, far up the steep face of the mountains, dimples which in past ages ceaselessly whirling water-eddies made.” Upon gaining the Virginia shore of the Potomac, the regiment with its Brigade passed through the town of Harper’s Ferry, ascended Bolivar Heights, and encamped near the spot where Colonel Miles, on the 15th of September, disgracefully surrendered his army of over 11,000 men to General Jackson. When the enemy evacuated Harper’s Ferry, they burned all the bridges that crossed the river at this place, but on the 24th, our troops constructed a pontoon bridge, and thus re-established easy communication between the two shores.