The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1894-07-26
AT HARPER'S FERRY.
With No Glory and No Chance to Fight, the
125th N. Y. Made Prisoners IL Days After
Leaving Home.

With No Glory and No Chance TO Fight, the
I25th N. Y. Made Prisoners IL Days After
Leaving Home.
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: was very
much interested in Comrade Sanderson's
account of the battle of Harper's Ferry,
which in the main corresponds with my
diary One correction / wish to make. In
the first part of his paper he stated that
the 111th n. Y. was stationed at Bolivar
Nights, and the 125th n. Y. at Maryland
Nights. The reverse is true. The l25th
did not cross the river until after the sur
render, when we crossed on the pontoOn
as paroled prisoners-of-war.
A short account of the movements of the
regiment may be interesting. / have my
diary at hand, and will give an outline of
the first few days of our service.
On the next to the last day of August,
1862, in the evening, we took the cars at
Troy a little before midnight, and were
whirled down the river to New York, where
we arrived early in the morning. Toward
night we took a steamer for South Amboy,
thence by rail to Philadelphia, and after
refreshments at the Soldiers Home, were
packed into freight cars about O'Clock in
the morning of the 1st of September. Away
we went to Baltimore, which we reached
about noon.
A little after midnight of the Cd we
were rolling over the B. & o. r. 4. for Mar
tinsburg w. Va, where our time was spent
in making camp, cutting down timber dig
ging riie-pits, rushing to arms quickly, lis
tening to exciting rumors until the 18th,
when we took our first march and retreated
to Harper's Ferry.
We camped on the plain below Bolivar
Nights until near night on Saturday, the
18th, and noticed that as long as the siege
guns on Maryland Nights were kept in
action the rebels could not successfully
plant their batteries on LoudOun flights;
and also saw with regret the glistening
bayonets of the 111th n. Y. as they wound
their way down the mountain on their re-
treat to Harper's Ferry, and wondered why
so good position was abandoned. Near
night on the 18th the 125th was sent out
beyond Bolivar flights, l think on the side
away from the town, where we remained
until after dark, where we lay in field.
The next day our regiment was relieved
before noon by the Sd Md. and went to
camp and stacked arms. The rebels opened
fire on us in the afternoon, when the whole
regiment rushed for arms without orders
and made for the rayine back of the hospi-
tai. Here the regiment was formed and
marched up into the road between the "a
vine and hospital, where we remained until
near night, partly concealed by bushes
The rebel fire becoming sharper, we again
took shelter in the ravine, and the Sd Md.
were engaged with the rebels near the place
where we stayed the night of the 18th. Soon
Co. II and another were sent to support a
battery where we were for the first time
under musketry
When the battery retired just after
dark our regiment was formed in line-of-
battle. Early in the morning of the 18th,
while we were looking for our things in the
ravine where we had left them, battery
opened on us from the place where the in
fantry were engaged the night before.
Later in the morning our regiment, or most
of it, was in rocky rayiue below the hos
pital, when little before o'clock Zebulon
Gibbs and myself were sent up on an emf
nence directly under the fire of a rebel bat
terry as they fired from Loudoun flights
towards the hospital. Seeing the white flag
on Bolivar Nights we returned to the COM
pany and reported the fact; but Lieut.. Hyde
could not at first believe it, and rebuked us
sharply for returning without orders. Col.
Willard had seen the white flag, aud imme-
diately called us back, aud the regiment
marched down to the town, where Col. Will
ard had large white flag displayed from
window, as the rebs were still firing.
When the firing ceased, with cad hearts
and fearful eyes we marched up to Bolivar
Nights and stacked arms; thus without
any glory or any chance to defend ourselves,
within II days after leaving home, we were
prisoners-of-war-C. W. BELKNAP, Co. II,
125th n. Y, Sioux Rapids, Iowa.