The National tribune., 1900-06-21
A PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT.
"reminiscences OF Some of the Service of tn


16Sth.
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: On Oct.
81, 1862, we, the 16Sth Pa, left our homes
and families and started for the scene of
war. We rendezyoused at Camp Howe,
where we first learned to shoulder arms.
Marching orders came at the end of a
month Or so. On the last day We spent
in camp Gen. Candy stood before us, in
specting the 1GSth and 10th. Little did
we think that his scalp would be in pos
session of Modoc Indians years later
We took the cars for Pittsburg and
reached Baltimore Dee. 3. We boarded
cattle cars at o'clock, and noon found
us marching up Pennsylvania avenue, in
Washington. After n rough trip we ar
rived at Hampton Roads and went to
Yorktown and Gloucester Point, and
camped.
On March 3, 1868, as We were going to
camp across York River from attending
a review of the brigade, in transferring
one of the pieces of artillery from
steamer to the wharf the gun slipped off
the gangway and went to the bottom OF
the river. Said Capt. Mink, of the bat
terry to which the gun belonged, rs there
man here who will volunteer to go down
and secure rope to that guny'
Soon soldier, rope in hand. was seen
to disappear beneath the water and soon
to emerge again. All hands took hold OF
the rope, and the siX-pOunder was lifted
onto the wharf, wiped dry and swabbed
out, aud ready again to speak to Johnny
reb.
In the later spring of 1868 one day a
detail of LOGO men took tramp in
Gloucester County to the plantation of
Col. Hays, of the rebel army. Lieut.. Col.
Wickersham had command. We stopped
in front of the Hays mansion. Mrs. Dob
son, Hays daughter, told us that she had
dispatched her servant to inform the reb-
el cavalry, which were but q short dis
tance away and they would soon be down
our commander to march to an elevation
in the vicinity, so as to be in position
to receive the enemy.
The Colonel, riding at the head of his
force, did not always know what the boys
were doing. One of them picked up a
pet goose, and as he started away Mrs.
DObson saw it and rushed out with re-
vOlver and commenced firing on the men.
The Colonel, taking in the situation,
exclaimed, Men, burn that house." And
it was burned. Mrs. Dobson and her sis
ter, Miss Georgiana Hays, were taken
prisoners.
On June 5 we were ordered on board
detachment. We steamed up York river
with two gunboats to West Point and
then up the Malapony, within twenty-five
miles of Richmond, where we were Or
dered on shore for raid. We raked the
country for several miles, getting horses,
anchored. About 1 o'clock we heard the
gunboats making the air hideous and the
hillsides tremble. We were ordered back.
AS we passed back some Of the New
York men who had been with us were
found dead, having been killed by rebel
cavalry. To keep the rebels at bay and
as q parting benediction to the inhabi-
tan ha pftnhnafS chaIlod fha river
both sides for thirty miles.
Women were seen standing in the doors
of their houses waving handkerchiefs in
supplication for protection. Children
clung to their dresses, while great shells
roared and screeched over their heads
| across the country for three or four miles.
On July we were ordered to Wash
ington- Next Frederick City was our OBJ
| jective point, where we arrived on the
11th. We advanced in the direction of
Hagerstown. On this beautiful Sabbath
| morning the sun beamed down with
| scorching intensity on the heads of the
! marching soldiers. Heavy cannonading
| was going on at the front. Ambulance
| wagons loaded with wounded were pass
| ing us on n rush for the rear. But it was
| only a skirmish. We were halted near
Middletown, and did not get to the front
until the 14th. The heavy rains Of July
during the Gettysburg campaign and the
| armies rendered the roads into state
of mire. The golden grain ready for har-
vesting in this fertile country was tram
pied beneath the hoofs of horses and the
| shoes of men, making wide, desolating
paths.
The front line occupied the old Antie-
tam battle-ground. Long lines of weapons
| glittered in the sun, and artillery and
horses made a gallant array. But Lee
| had crossed the river. Our corps, the
| Eleventh, followed to Williamsport. AL
though the guns roared at Shepardstown,
our corps was not engaged. We had lost
the last chance to participate in a great
battle.
We retraced our steps to Monocacy
Junction, where we boarded cars for Bal
timore, thence went to Harrisburg, where
we lay in Camp Curtin for one week, then
received our discharges.-D. N. McCLIN-
ToCK, 16Sth Pa, Shaw, Pa.