Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1900-10-04
Address By WIN. ?. HAINEs
at Reunion Of Co. r, 18th Regiment, N. ],
Volunteers, at the Home Of James White,
Mullica Hill, September 90, 1900.

ing, marching, lighting. Through hardshlps,
dangers and trials sore, James White was
always with US No battle or slzirmish but
be was in line, no march but found him
present, no camp complete without his
cheerful, smiling face; always a friend
always soldier, always a comrade; and
what privilege to meet with him here to-
day, surrounded by his family and these
veterans of old Company F, and once more
grasp the hands and feel the presence, hear
the voices and and see the welcome faces of
these, our grand old comrades cheerful,
sturdy, smiling, hopeful, strong, self-reliant
patriotic as on that memorable morn in
1862, when we first met as a company, on
the green-elad fields of Woodbury., and took
that solemn cath of fealty, loyalty and
obedience.
How thoughts win come up on these
occasions How fondly our memories turn
back to those happy days-those first nights
in tent, the first turn on guard, the awk-
ward drills, the unfitable clothes, the novel
meals morning and evening roll-call, the
Respondent dress parade, and unwelcome
reveiIle and taps For the first few days
there was a tinge of sadness. We could
not forget the sad parting with home,
mother, sister, or somebody else's sister,
for there were very few of us but to whom
that parting was sad, indeed. Mother may
have given silent and fearful CONSENT but,
oh how her dear old heart did ache. How
she shuddered at the thought of her boy
going to war. He over whom she had
watched and prayed, wept and rejoiced;
kept his face clean and clothing neat, cooked
for, washed, seolded, spanked, and enjoyed
his love and presence until her whole heart
was wrapped up in the pride of his early
manhood, his strength, his love. All /!
comrades. how well we remember those sad
scenes. Enlistment seemed easy enough;
we felt so proud, 50 brave; we thought we
could say goodbye and walk off just as we
often did before, but when the time came
to leave mother we found it different. How
could you tear yourself away from those
fearful, pleading eyes, that loving clasp,
that fond embrace, and leave her alone with
that bitter heartache? This was to me the
greatest trial / ever experienced, and came
very near breaking my firm resolve to be a
soldier. But at last she asked, 'sDoes thee
fully believe it's thy duty to go?n Moth
er, do" "Then do thy duty, and the
parting was made easy, and my experience,
comrades, was your experience.
Those few weeks in our Woodbury. camp
were happy ones, indeed. One hundred
young, strong, hearty lads of us
farmer boys, but now no more pitching hay
or binding wheat, blowing corn or milking
cows in fy-time, no horses or pigs to care
for, no running out at night to get your
mail or see your sweetheart; just obey
orders and don't talk back to any of your
superior officers, except the cook. Give
him fits; that's what he's for, and if the
cooking dom suit you, the rice gets burned,
the bean soup salty, the coffee thin and
greasy, and piece of meat small, then talk
to the cook, and talk strong, so that each
dime may strengthen our butter fund. And
don't any of you, comrades, now jump up
in righteous indignation and deny having
ever contributed to that fund. paid for
my share of the butter, didn't you?
Happy days Happy boys We were
getting acquainted with each other, knock
ing off the rough corners Of individual
peculiarities, smoothing, polishing prepar-
ing to drop our individuality and become a
company military company, and how
well we succeeded history tells Twenty
six Of those brave boys killed in battle !
A record of bravery we may well be proud
of, for no Jersey company has a better.
Over $1,000 men were furnished by New
jersey during the Rebellion This was
equivalent to $40 companies like ours of 100
men each, and our company of Gloucester
county farmers heads the list. Company A
of the 18th Regiment claims the same num-
Der Of killed (twenty-six), but of two of
these they have no certain knowledge; they
disappeared in some of those actions at
Spottsylvania and are supposed to have
been killed. Some persons claim that big
death-list don always mean the best fight
ers, but my experience is that where the
firing was hottest the dead lay thickest
Active service always leaves scars, and
bloodless battles show no signs Of valor
The regiments that fought the hardest, held
their place in line the longest, were the ones
that lost the men. The jersey regiments
only show numbers up to the 10th regiment
This would mean 40 900 men; the other
A, 900 were made up of artillery, cavalry,
marines, regulars, colored troops, emergency
men, recruits, conscripts, substitutes and
men who went from here and enlisted in
other States, but were credited to New
Jersey. And of these forty regiments, how
differently they Jared Nine of them never
had a man killed in battle. The cavalry
regiments, which were much larger than
infantry, experienced no such great losses,
and none Of our FIVE New jersey batteries,
each larger than company, experienced
loss of more than nine men.
The LIST Battery had three killed, the I'd,
nine; the Sd, eight the 18th, six, and the
9Th two, showing that place in artillery
is much less dangerous than in cavalry or
infantry. In going over the official records
of the whole Union army and selecting the
fifty regiments which suffered the greatest
losses in men killed in battle, find thirty
three of them were in the Army of the
Potomac, and seventeen of these in the
I'd Corps, showing conclusively that the
Eastern Army did do some Of the fighting,
and the old ID Corps did her full share.
am often asked (which was the hardest
battle you were in ?'' This is a tough
question, and probably no two of us would
give the same answer, as each of our battles
had distinct Individuality of them
anything like the others. Position, condi-
tion and circumstances rendered them
unlike, and we saw them 50 differently.
Charlottesville, with its newness and terri
BILE death-list, seemed to us then as if none
ever could equal it; then came Gettysburg,
with that thrilling charge across the open
field, right into the rebel lines at the Bliss
barn and back again with our wounded
and prisoners, then without finching
endure that awful two-hours storm of shot
and shell and repulse their grand assault
How could any battle be more sublimely
grand, more trying? Then that busy day
at Auburn, and Bristow-marching fight
ing, hot, sleepy, tired and hungry, but the
results were satisfactory. At Mine Run
there were plenty of hardships, but not
much bareback. Morton's Ford gave us
fine cold bath, and two canteens Of sscom-
missary." Ask Griscom how we earned it.
Then Wilderness, with that grand charge
through the thickets, the flashing fires and
long rolling volleys of musketTy. Those
terrible days and nights of fire and blood
at Spottsylyania; that thrilling charge at
North Anna, and the terrible heat and dis
couragements Of Cold Harbor, followed by
the long and trying seige of Petersburg,
with our many excursions to Deep Bottom,
Hatcher's Run, Boyden Road and Reams
Station, until at last we bagged our game
at Appomattox. Which was the worst, the
hardest and the most unsatisfactory But
one answer for me Cold Harbor. And
best of all and most satisfactory, Bristow
Another subject wish to touch on here
is those Congressional medals for conspicu-
Gus bravery. They somehow don't carry
much weight with me, as they seem to be
reserved for political fay0rites and men