On the
15th of June, 1864, when Grant was making that
terrible campaign of his,
which began in the Wilderness on May 5.
My regiment crossed the James River at a point some
distance below City Point which afterwards became so famous as the base
of
supplies for the army which fought it out on that line.
After reaching the south side of the James we
marched in the direction of Petersburg
where the colored troops were holding some earthworks forming the outer
line of
defenses of the city that they had wrested from the rebels. Our regiment, the 99th
Pa Vols. to
which the veterans of the 26th (I among the
number) had been
transferred, relieved the colored troops and on the following morning
advanced
our line, meeting with most determined and stubborn opposition from the
rebels. Major John
W. Moore, who
afterwards became Colonel of the 203rd Regiment
and was killed at Fort Fisher, N.C., was in command of the 99th
and those
whose good fortune it was to know that brave and gallant officer need
not be
told he kept us steadily on the advance.
It is true we made but little progress, but even a
few feet gained was
considered a considerable gain during the early and in fact through all
the
stages of siege of Petersburg.
On the
morning of the 18th of June we had advanced our
line to within a few
hundred yards of a long stable on the farm of a man named Cox. On the other side of this
stable the rebels
were strongly entrenched. In
front of
our regiment was a beautiful grove which covered a hill gently sloping
towards
us. On the crest of this hill stood the stable.
That morning we received rations, the first we had
had for three days,
and also the mail reached us and I had the good fortune to receive a
letter
from home. The
regiment had been massed
with the brigade for charge. An
inspection of arms had been had and the men directed not to fire until
we had
cleared the rebel works. A
battery of
our artillery had been run up to the crest of the hill and was pouring
shot and
shell into the rebel lines. We
were
waiting the order to charge. I
was
taking a hasty glance at my letter which was postmarked Upper Darby, when Major Moore passing me said
jokingly, “Ah you curly headed
rascal, you’ll never hear from her again.”
The 40th New York
“Mozart” passed in front of us. This
regiment was one of the best fighting regiments of the corps, but it
was but a
remnant of its former self, being now composed of the remnants of nine
different regiments and, consequently, not under much control or
discipline. Added
to this was the fact
that the term of enlistment of the men was expiring every day. In the engagements of the
two previous days
they had broken several times. This
day
we were ordered to keep them up. The
command came: “Forward!” Our
battery
ceased its fire. Up
the hill through the
grove we went with a wild hurrah.
The New York boys ran full abreast of the
stable. The line
became broken. The
rebels fully aroused and made aware of
our intention were pouring a deadly fire upon our advancing line. Shot and shell and rifle
balls crashed
through the frame timbers and weather boarding of the stables, the
splinters
flying in every direction and making confusion worse confounded. Major Moore with his sword
uplifted was
leading or attempting to lead the charging line around the stable. I had that day been placed
in command of A
and F companies consolidated and was, therefore, on the right of the
regiment. Noticing
a number of the 40th N.Y.
making a detour to the rear. I went towards them to intercept them and
while
parleying with one of them, I felt a sharp twinge in my right hip, at
the same
time feeling myself whirled half way round.
For a moment I could not realize what had occurred
but soon I became
faint and saw the blood trickling over my shoe.
Unbuckling my sword belt to give myself relief from
some stifling
sensation, I took a step or two backwards and fell to the ground weak
from loss
of blood. Just at
that moment Major Moore rushed by me.
Seeing me, he stooped over, gave me his hand and
said, “Great God boy,
are you badly hurt/”, and directed a couple of the boys to help me out
of the
way; while he rushed on in his wild endeavor to urge the boys past the
barn and
wrest victory out of the apparent disaster which threatened our troops. The two comrades, who were
half leading, half
carrying me, soon reached a spot which was sheltered from the bullets
of the
enemy by a rise in the ground and at my solicitation they left me and
returned
to their comrades on the hill. While
lying upon the ground listening to the varying changes in the
discharges of
musketry on the hill and trying to form some opinion as to how the tide
of
battle was going and at the same time wondering how badly I was hurt, I
was
struck with astonishment at seeing what seemed to me a full brigade of
men rise
up not a hundred yards from me, who up to that moment had been lying
upon the
ground with their arms stacked. To my delight they
advanced and passed over
me and soon from the redoubled fury of the fire and the cheers, that of
our
boys, that came echoing through the valley above the dim of the
musketry, I
felt a silent “Thank God our boys have won” and made an effort to get
further
to the rear. A
strip from a window lay
close by me and I took hold of it, thinking it would afford me support
and had
reached the top of an earthwork when, leaning too heavily upon my frail
support, it broke and I went head over heels to the bottom of the
trench,
passing out. How
long I lay I had no
means of ascertaining but when I regained consciousness, I was being
lifted on
a stretcher by a couple of the ambulance corps, who told me they had
passed me
twice before, thinking me dead. I
was no
light weight and weighed then 183 pounds, more than I ever have since
and, the
stretcher bearers set me down to rest several times before they reached
a road
where some ambulances were in waiting.
In the ambulance with me were two others one of whom
died before we
reached the field hospital about a mile from the front.
Here a great many wounded had already been
collected but it was not a few moments before I was approached by one
of those
noble ladies of the Sanitary Commission….
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