Notes and observations made during four years of service with the Ninety-eighth N. Y. Volunteers, in the war of 1861.

Front matter

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Preface

T N publishing this work, the author has sought to place in more convenient and durable form, the notes and observations made during his service in the late war. He describes what he saw from his own stand-point, and the pages are stained with the smoke redolent from bivouac, camp, and battle-field. His memoranda were often made in haste, in exigency, under fire, seldom from memory. In transcribing the facts, names, and dates, he has diligently compared them with recognized authority. To supply a missing link he has resorted to the histories of Lossing, Greeley, and Frank Moore. Colonel Davis' " History of the 104th Pennsylvania Volunteers " has been invaluable. While the regiments were together, in 1862 and 1863, the histories are almost identical, and he has copied from it freely.

A regimental officer has but few opportunities to collect material for a book which shall be interesting to the general reader; from those only who have attempted it can the author confidently expect appreciation. Field service, active campaigning, want of sufficient transportation, the wind, the rain, the dust, " accidents by flood and field," keep him constantly in the lightest marching order.

Originally, the writer noted his impressions ; what he desired to remember; and in composing this volume he has taken the division for the unit, as suggested by army regulations, and marked out and pursued a plan entirely his own.

PREFACE.

Solomon wrote of the cedars of Lebanon, and of the hyssop that springeth out of the wall, so the author has written of mules, horses, cooks, privates, officers, marches, battles and sieges.

Retrospectively, his military life appears like a dream. The fatigue, the suffering, the exposure, the carnage, the martial material and parade seem unsubstantial, like a pageant faded. Time changes experience into memory; in memory the colors fade, the darker lines grow light, the lighter lines grow dim.

Before entering the service, the volunteer possessed but little military knowledge; he knew nothing of active campaigning, and had seldom seen "the legion's ordered line." If the profession of arms is a routine, still he had everything to learn. Enlisting, from peaceful pursuits, to perform an imperative duty, believing the civil preferable to the military, it needed no small amount of study, fortitude, and endurance to meet the responsibilities of open, flagrant war, the trade of princes.

Without powerful political friends or affiliations, in this country, however great his merit, none could reasonably hope to rise. Without the arts of the politician, advancement was as distant to the friendless volunteer, as are places of honor and profit in civil life to the poor but respectable. The curious inquirer has yet to learn of one promotion made on the battle-field. Greeley, the philosopher, closes his history saying that the soldier melts into the citizen, with nothing but the proud consciousness of having served and saved his country. And Grant, in his farewell address to the army, says that the families of the dead soldiers shall be helped and sustained. When, and where, and how, he does not say; clouds and darkness rest upon it.

To compose and publish is one of the inalienable rights of American citizenship, to be enjoyed without apology, or per-

PREFACE. 7

mission, or restraint. So the author exercises it, without hope of popularity, and without expectation of reward. As the manufacturer exposes his articles for sale, so the writer has composed his book, honestly, truthfully, faithfully, and now offers it to the public. He invites examination, criticism, charitable or censorious. But one man, poor Keats, ever died of a critic.

For composing this volume he has had but little leisure. His vocation is not professional, nor has he any literary aspirations. For an author, the advantages of a city are far superior to those of the country. He has had access to no public documents, no learned society, no extensive library, no historical celebrity.

Believing that the observations and experience of nearly every field officer who served four years during the late war, if carefully and plainly written out, will be interesting, if not instructive, to many, he publishes the work.

Introduction

TOUNG men, everywhere, even in old commercial and manu-

JL facturing communities, are fond of reading the times of heroes, martial stories, and narratives of deeds of desperate daring. The warrior, the chieftain, is the model character for youth; and every one who reads at all has read Plutarch's Lives, Rollin's History, Scottish Border Warfare, and our own Colonial history and biography.

The pleasure we experience in meditating upon expeditions, marches, battles, and exhibitions of energy, will, courage, and prowess, seems to arise from the gratification of one of the deepest propensities of our nature, and shows as conclusively as any of the deductions of Darwin, that we have all sprung from ancestors whose lives were spent in plundering forays and war. In fact, we are often led to think that civilization is nothing but a gilding or veneer, which hides the grain and color of our uglier and rougher character. We study and practice deportment, and the amenities, and civilities of enlightened refinement. We are every day told, and everywhere, that the light and knowledge, the benign institutions we enjoy, the charity and philanthropy which we see exhibited from youth to age, have chastened, subdued, refined, corrected, extinguished, our lower propensities ; that they have smoothed the raven-down of darkness until it sparkles into light ; so that, guided by our reason and prompted by our nobler feelings, affections and yearnings, we fancy that we have overcome ourselves and are approaching the Infinite. We persuade ourselves that the reign of universal brotherhood has begun; and if angels do not walk with men, men approach the sphere of angels. But in an evil hour, while our minds are filled with love and beneficence, some extraneous, worldly considerations excite our interest, pride, or passions, and our aspirations for the Good, the Beautiful, the True

INTRODUCTION.

vanish like the baseless fabric of a vision; we become prehistoric men, and shout with demoniac savageness and frenzy: "On to Richmond ; on to Berlin ; on to Paris."

War is a refiner, a civilizer, a teacher, a chastener of society. Its lessons are grimly terrible and fearfully salutary ; care, treatment, medicine, have failed, and the knife and fire must be tried. Its solutions often transcend the progress of years of peace.

Our statesmen appear to understand, but in part, what the war of 1861 achieved. They have done but little more than wrangle over its results, without being able to comprehend or answer the great questions which our new relations and conditions have proposed. For the past fifteen years they have told over and over again the same speeches ; Conkling, Sherman, Schurz, Seymour, Johnson, Blair, each side all the same ; the one for the South, the other for the North. Fighting old issues, not one of them is over the war yet. The financial inquiries of our industrial interests receive no intelligent attention or response ; while the South is in anarchy yet, on the road to depopulation and desperately poor. It is thirteen years since the army was disbanded and Congress assumed command ; and still that fair domain of ten states is, literally, a howling wilderness and an insurrectionary chaos. Our senators and our representatives, little men, too often, like our petty officials, buy their offices, and, resting on their laurels, attribute their distinction to their worth, and their success to their intelligence and sagacity. Like little fishing smacks, when once in orifice, they keep near shore, behind the bars and breakwaters; but do not resemble that adventurous pilot who, pleased with the danger when the sea ran high, sought the deep.

The large estates of the South should have been confiscated or purchased, and, resurveyed and broken up, they should have been given to our soldiers and landless millions. So the nations assimilate and hold their conquests; so Rome subdued the world.

The war lifted the nation to a higher agricultural, manufacturing, and social plane ; and how to maintain it there, or take it higher, is the question for the statesman and financier ; and how to return to its former condition is the question which the weak and the stupid are asking.

For the exhibition of stupidity and gross imbecility by public men, the period from the election of Mr. Lincoln to the battle of Bull-run stands ahead in the history of the world. The reason and

INTRODUCTION.

courage of the North appeared paralyzed. Our high officials, silenced by the arguments and sophistry of the South, thoroughly penetrated by the doctrine of state sovereignty, could not coerce a state.

Lincoln did not ask for troops until the Confederacy was organized and on foot. The Government durst not reinforce Fort Sumter until it was too late. Stephen A. Douglas was opposed to coercion. Until the people asserted their ideas of patriotism and treason, the politicians tried expedients, talked of peace measures, peace conventions, compromises, and wrangled over preambles and resolutions. Smitten with judicial blindness, they temporized, befooled themselves, groped and stumbled. Seward, while the Confederacy was taking shape, and form, and exhibiting unparalleled energy and vigor, announced that the " war would be over in sixty days." Buchanan, with a more correct idea of the strength and determination of the South, and, despairing of any adequate force on the part of the Government to resist, supinely said that the Constitution contained no provision for coercion. The activity and vehemence of opinion exhibited by the South led England and France to concur in this opinion of irresolution and imbecility. The patriotism and energy of the people conceived, inspired and demanded the war measures,, and saved the country. It needed no speeches, pamphlets, dinners, processions, firings, rousings, massmeetings.

u Amour sacre de la patrie!"

George Law, a citizen of New York city, one of many, had rather fixed and tangible ideas of the irresolution of the Government — tangible and definite ideas of treason and patriotism, of the temper and opinion of the men of the loyal states, when, on the 25th of April, 1861, he wrote to the President of the United States, saying: "That facilities by mail and telegraph have been cut off by an unlawful assemblage in Baltimore and other parts of Maryland, at a time when free communication was so much required between the Free States and Washington; that, unless the lines of communication were immediately re-established, the people would feel compelled, whatever the consequences, to take the matter in their own hands."

The calls of 1861 were filled without drafting, and generally

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INTRODUCTION.

without municipal bounties. Money, means, men, were in excess. Before the close of the year recruiting was stopped by authority.

No doubt, promises of honest promotion (without favoritism, family, or political influence) from the ranks, a glittering lure and imposition, induced many a young man to enlist. A belief that the war would soon cease, that the South would not fight, prospects of ease and good pay, promises to provide for " the dear ones left at home," caused many a " bummer" to^respond to the President's call. With others, a well-balanced self-respect, an imperative sense of duty inspiring the noblest resolutions were paramount ; and those resolutions no fear, no hardships, no privations, no battle-fields could countervail. They went from places of ease and profit, from the quiet homes of security and luxury, from the waysides and farm-fields, from the college-halls and the counting-rooms. Men everywhere felt and said : "My country calls, and I must go. I cannot own property, hold office ; I cannot hope to enjoy the security and sanctity of peace and law ; I cannot keep my self-respect and stay at home in such a time as this. The most sacred duties of manhood and citizenship urge me to go." Like the Greeks against the Persians, like the Swiss against the Austrians, like the Scotch in the days of Bruce against the English, like the Americans in the Revolutionary war, united by the sacred love of country, the loyal North stood up and said : " Our rights are in danger. Let us march ; let us fight ; let us suppress the rebellion, or die."

Many did as commendably as that Roman matron, who, while the banners of Hannibal could be seen from Mount Aventine, led her two sons to the Consul and said : " I present my boys to you for soldiers. They will not disgrace me, and the state needs their service."

Reader, take some history of the late war ; open it at the 15th of April, 1 86 1, when Mr. Lincoln made his first call for seventy-five thousand militia, and consider the state of the Union. We do not propose to expatiate; we have no time or place here for remarks. Words are idle ; let us pause and think. Seward's sixty days were up. The efforts, resolutions and measures of the peacemen were all played out. The wisdom of our little politicians had gone by the board. Sumter was taken, and somebody hurt. The Confederate government, with cabinet and all its appliances, sat in its capitol at Montgomery, face to face, with its antagonist at

INTRODUCTION.

Washington ; and Europe and the world were asked to recognize the latest born sister of the nations.

On the 3d of May following, the President again by proclamation called for a volunteer force consisting of forty regiments. On the 4th of May, the War Department, by general order, promulgated a plan of organization for infantry and cavalry, and company and regiment were formed according to its provisions during the war.

Congress assembled July 4th, 1861, and on the day after the battle of Bull-run, the 2 2d, the President approved its first great war measure.

The nation was rising ; Congress was comprehending the popular feeling : the erring sisters shall not be allowed to go in peace.

This act was the basis of our volunteer force. It fixed the time of enlistment at three years or during the war. It subjected the volunteers to the rules and regulations of the regular army. It enacted general order 15, to which we have referred. It provided for the organization of brigades and divisions, and the appointment and promotion of officers. It fixed the pay of officers and privates, designated those entitled to pension and, generally, was the platform of our volunteer force.

Fort Sumter surrendered to the Confederates the 12th of April ; and Mr. Lincoln issued his proclamation, the 15th, for seventy-five thousand militia. He had tried every expedient with the leading Confederates, made every overture for peace, tried for the North with the South what repentance could do. Past eleven at night of the 15th, sad, tired, sick, desponding, he lay down to rest. He slept soundly until a few minutes after one, when he awoke, and was restless* and wakeful until morning.

Timid, with no fight in his nature, he pondered over the step he had taken ; and visions of the future pressed upon his mind. In the South and West, marches and battles, and sieges for a series of years crowded upon his thoughts. Pitched battles like Fredericksburgh and Chancellorville passed in panorama before him. Such forms or demons as rise, pass over the stage and figure in Der Freischiitz rose, fought on the side of the Confederates and drove his armies from nearly every field. He thought of his ships, and turning eastward towards the sea, saw his navy scattered along the coast, and out over its wide, tempestuous waves, no friendly fleet, no friendly shore appeared. The heavens were brass above

INTRODUCTION.

him, and the earth under his feet was iron. He arose and stood by the window, and while his eyes rested on Arlington or wandered down the Potomac,

" Wasting cares lay heavy on his mind ; In his black thoughts wide fields of slaughter roll, And scenes of blood rise dreadful on his soul."

An hour passed on ; he returned to his couch, and, in a dreamy sleep, saw those frightful shadows disappear. The heavens brightened like the sky at Austerlitz; the sea was covered with his victorious fleets, and he heard the united nation shout his name.

Four years, precisely, accomplished his vision, and the curtain fell.

NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

MADE

DURING FOUR YEARS OF SERVICE

WITH THE

98th REGIMENT, NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS,

IN THE WAR OF 1 86 1.

Chapter I

The Organization of the Regiment — Officers : Field, Staff and Line — It is Armed with the Austrian Rifle while at Albany — Reviewed by Governor Morgan — Sent to Washington — It goes into Camp on Kalorama Heights — Assigned to General Casey, it enters the Third Brigade of his Division — The Composition of his Division — How we spent the Time at Washington — The Appearance of the City — The Army of the Potomac.

THE Ninety-Eighth was formed by uniting seven companies raised in Franklin county, with three recruited in Wayne and Ontario counties. Companies F, I and K had their provisional camp of instruction at Lyons, and the remainder of the regiment had a similar camp at Malone. The primary organizations of the companies were made in October and November, 1861.

Clothing, quarters, blankets, knapsacks, subsistence, medical attendance — every thing necessary to equip and make the men comfortable — were supplied by the respective departments at Albany. In each camp the men were drilled daily in the School of the Soldier and of the Company, according to the Tactics of Hardee, as promulgated by the general Government.

The rendezvous at Lyons and Malone created excitement throughout the counties. The war feeling ran high, and a disposition to sustain the Government against an armed rebellion was

*5 i6 universal. Citizens of all parties, ladies and gentlemen, tendered their assistance, and labored in the enterprise. More prominent for their interest and activity at Malone were Hons. William A. Wheeler, Albert Hobbs and Albert Andrus. At Lyons were Messrs. George C. Strang, Thomson Harrington, E. W. Bottum and De Witt Parshall. A few arms were procured for drill and guard duty. These, with the uniform*, made a wonderful change in the appearance of the men, and gave them some of the characteristics of a standing army. The companies, while in line, appeared like organized bodies. Men came for miles, bringing their wives and children, to "see the soldiers drill."

At Malone, Charles Durkee, a merchant and prominent citizen of that village, commanded the camp. At Lyons, William Dutton, a graduate of West Point, an officer in the Mexican war, a resident of the county, and subsequently colonel of the regiment, was commandant of the post.

The state authorities commissioned the officers and held full control over the volunteer organizations until they were complete and mustered by the general Government. After December 3d. 1 861, no new companies could be formed. The state authorities were required to fill up, consolidate, complete, and hand over those in course of formation as soon as possible. The Government had troops enough, and the people were requested to withhold recruits and supplies. About the 1st of February, 1862, the commanders of the two camps were ordered to report with their men at Albany. Captain E. G. Marshall mustered and inspected the men at Lyons, Feb. 1, and at Malone, Feb. 6.

Preliminary arrangements were made as to the officers of the field and" staff, and the rank of a few companies ; and, by an order dated February 5th, 1862, the ten companies at Malone were consolidated into seven, and the five at Lyons, into three. Of the ten companies thus formed, the 98th regiment of New York volunteers was constituted.

Its aggregate was nine hundred and ten, of whom eight hundred and seventy-two were enlisted, and thirty-eight were officers. In social standing, intelligence, appearance, and military ability, its field and staff were equal to the average of other volunteer regiments of the state. After the expiration of a year, but two of these remained in the organization. The colonel died of sickness, and the remainder resigned, or were mustered out. The men were hardy, strong, generally young, and of full size. Governor Morgan remarked, as he saw them at dress parade, that in "general appearance," New York had sent no better regiment to the war. A large proportion of those from Franklin county were farmers and lumbermen ; and to march, to dig, to build roads and bridges, to endure hardships and exposure, fatigue and privations, was their element.

THE FIELD AND STAFF OF THE 98TH.

Colonel, Wm. Dutton, who died July 4, 1862, in the city of New York. Lieutenant Colonel, Charles Durkee, promoted colonel and resigned, March 25, 1863. Major, Albon Mann ; resigned June 4, 1862. Surgeon, Wm. G. David ; resigned Sept. 26, 1862. Assistant Surgeon, G. B. Balch ; resigned Sept. 23, 1862. Adjutant, E. H. Hobbs; mustered out June 2, 1863. Quartermaster, George H. Clark; promoted major and dismissed from the service by order of the War Department, May 4, 1864. Chaplain, Wm. C. Hubbard ; resigned Oct. 3, 1862.

About the middle of February the different companies arrived at Albany and went into barracks at camp Rathbone.

The quarters had been occupied by thousands before ; they were fearfully filthy and dirty, and

« £ Oft in the stilly night,

Ere slumber's chains had bound us,

We felt, Oh ! the cursed bite,

Of something crawling round us."

To many it was a treat to visit the city, the large stores, the saloons, the Delavan, the capital, and the legislature. Hundreds came to visit us daily. We saw a great many officers flitting about in gay uniforms, and were forcibly reminded that, fine feathers make fine birds. We bought for ourselves more expensive clothing, made in better style, and imagined ourselves members of the regular army. The privates wore white gloves and blacked their shoes, and the chevrons of the non-commissioned officers were more attractive.

But the days of our sojourn at Albany were numbered. The soldier must leave that attractive place of peace and plenty, and go where well-dressed ladies, legislators, and high officials will never come to see his drills and dress-parades. They snatched 2 i8 every rumor, for they knew that they were only waiting the arrangements for transportation to Washington. The order to go was not long delayed. It was read one evening and commanded us to be ready to march at daylight. All night long the barracks echoed with shouts and cheers. The men sang, " Uncle Ned had no wool on the top of his head," 1 ' Carry me back to Ole Virginny," " Way down South in Dixie," ''The Star-spangled Banner," and " The girl I left behind me."

Could they have read what the future had in store for them, the deaths, wounds, disease and hardships, they would have been less boisterous in their gladness and hilarity.

The barracks which the regiment occupied at Albany were its first and last permanent quarters.

Before leaving, it was armed with the Austrian rifle ; a rough, serviceable, beech-stocked weapon of 56 calibre, shorter and inferior to those made by the British government at Enfield. The Springfield rifle at that time was not in requisition.

Our tents, wagons, camp-kettles, hatchets, axes and shovels were drawn at Washington.

The state and national colors were presented by Governor Morgan. With knapsacks prodigiously swollen with clothing and personal trinkets, with haversacks filled with three days' rations, and canteens with coffee or whiskey, the regiment thus equ pped and accoutred, on its march to the -depot, passed in review before the executive mansion. Happy time, glorious days ! A train of 16 cars was required to transport the men and their five days' rations in bulk, and the horses of the field and staff.

They passed through New York city, Easton, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Long before they arrived in Washington, many of the men caught a glimpse of the Federal capital for the first time, as high and bold it glanced through the valleys among the forests and the hills. They shouted like Christian pilgrims at the sight of Jerusalem, or Mohammedans at a distant prospect of Mecca. They had, too, as they approached, a fine view of the Potomac, smooth and silvery, and of the tall, white national monument standing near it on the flat ground.

They were landed almost under the shadow of the dome of the marble senate-house. The hour was 10 a. m. Congress was in session ; thousands of civilians and soldiers filled the approaches or collected on the porticoes and corridors. Beside the depot was a "Soldier's Rest," where the regiment had dinner, but no rest. We were ordered to go into camp on Kalorama heights, out 14th street, on the western border of the city. More definitely, we learned when we arrived there, that we were to encamp on Meridian hill, near Columbia college, just where the meridian of Washington passes, and where the government had erected a great sun-dial. We must carry all we can, all we have, and tents and rations will follow when the quartermaster receives his teams. So out 14th street we go, — up 14th street we go, through mud and slush and mire. The sun shines hot, the wind blows high, and, by turns, snow and drizzling rain descend ; still, tramp, tramp, we push along, slow and steady and sure, as the march of destiny. Without tents we bivouacked on the cold, sandy ground, in the keen night air, and late in the hours, we watched the clouds and stars like Palinurus, with our martial cloak wrapped around us.

We arose at sunrise and took our reckoning. Ten acres of sloping ground, bordered behind by a little brook, composed our camp, under the meridian of Washington. It was just back of Georgetown, and overlooked the city of Washington and the Potomac river. We were assigned to General Casey, and were on the right of the regiments of his division.

Exercise and sunlight soon gave us animation. We cleared the ground from brush, fence and trees, and, in the afternoon, pitched our tents with regularity and precision.

Casey had established a rigid system of drills and camp-duty. He sought to put his division, composed for the most part of raw recruits, on the best possible war-footing. Casey was a fighter, an earnest, courageous man, and always intended business.

We drilled twice a day, six days in the week, and had inspections on Sundays. The regiments spent much time in loading and firing blank cartridges, and sent large details twice a week for target-practice.

The 98th was paid on the 27th of March, to include the 31st of December, 1861. The men were enabled to discharge their debts. The regiment received, we think, about $29,000.

For a great part of the summer and fall of 1861, the regiments arriving at Washington from the different states, had been assigned to General Casey for the purpose of arming, equipping, instructing, and brigading. He began the formation of his celebrated division in October, 1861. It was now complete, and contained fourteen regiments, of which the iooth regiment, New York volunteers, was the youngest, and four batteries of light artillery, all from New York, and commanded by Capts. Regan, Fitch, Bates and Spratt.

The division consisted of three brigades; the first was commanded by Col. W. W. H. Davis, 104th Pennsylvania volunteers; the second, by Gen. Keim, and the third, by Col. Wm. Dutton, 98th New York volunteers. Gen. H. M. Naglee was soon after assigned to the command of the first brigade, and Gen. I. N. Palmer to that of the third. These officers were graduates of West Point Military Academy.

The effective strength of this division was roundly 12,000 men, and sixteen three-inch rifled, and six Napoleon guns.

The regiments of the third brigade were the 81st, 85th, 92d, 93d and 98th regiments of New York volunteers. The reader has now our latitude and longitude ; and, until our organization is changed, he will know where to find us.

A division of infantry consists of two or more brigades, to which are added in necessary proportion troops of other corps, cavalry, artillery and engineers ; and the formation by divisions is the basis of the organization and administration of armies in the field. In its various movements this history will follow the division to which the 98th belongs ; for we shall be at home in our division, understand its positions, and be acquainted with all its principal officers.

While at Washington we had a review and several brigade drills out on the old Georgetown race-course. Distinguished, wealthy, patriotic citizens, ladies and gentlemen, visited us every pleasant day. They watched our manoeuvres, rode through our camps, and sought our acquaintance. * Off duty, we in turn, strolled through the city, the department buildings, the capitol, and attended the President's levees. One day we looked in upon the senators, the representatives, the Supreme Court, and descending into the basement of the capital, saw how the bread was baked there and distributed to the army ; on another, we visited Arlington, the Long Bridge, and the Navy Yard.

Washington was in a state of war, with martial preparations, forts, magazines and cannon everywhere. Tents rose on all the plains and hill-sides, and troops were drilling on every hand. Long trains of provisions, baggage, quartermasters' and sutlers' stores rumbled along the streets and roads. A hundred batteries and pontoon bridges were parked about the city, on the vacant squares and fields. Mounted orderlies, bearing dispatches, officers in gay uniforms, soldiers lounging off duty, regiments arriving and marching, squadrons of cavalry, with jingling sabres and prancing horses, were always in view ; and gave interest, animation and character to the scene.