Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-01-06

gade were, one by one. withdrawn from
the front line and brought together in a
small clearing under cover of the woods,
the rank and file believing for a night of
sleep ard rest. While the other regi-
ments were filing in, the adjutant of the
paced back and forth in front of the reg
iment, when one of the boys called out:
well. adjutant. we are going to be re-
lieved, eh?'
With a significant gesture of the head
and a still more significant tone in his
voice. he replied: How are you le-
ieved?' =
Matters began to look serious. One of
the captains stepped out and asked the
adjutant what it all meant.
His reply was: We are all gone to
HE'LL and passing out his canteen, said
Here. Capn. take something.
NO replied the captain. IF l am go
ing to hell l am going sober"
That captain is still selling coal in Bar
gor, but the adjutant
PASSED over
The cold stormy river, Al
Mid the roar and the rattle
OF nation in battle"
The brigade was soon marched back
and massed just in rear of the road and
| far enough to the right to clear the Hare
house when it should advance. The First
| Maine. being larger regiment than the
| others of the brigade was divided into
| three battalions which Were placed one
I
| ments. each in line, still in its rear. SO
| that it formed the first three lines at
| the head of the column and. in fact. they
were the only troops who went onto the
| field as all the other regiments threw
| themselves fiat on the ground along the
| road and behind the bredstworks as soon
| as the column started.
| Guns were loaded. bayonets fixed. KNAPP
| sacks thrown off in piles and goodbyes
said. instructions were given for the
] first line to lead off and for each succeed
| ipo IN a nj
| feet and for no man to fire a shot until
| he was inside the Confederate works.
| The enemy could be seen standing IN me
| behind their works. three hundred and
| fifty yards distant across the level field.
Every man in the command fully realized
| the situation and fOresaw the result, yet
general slaughter. they might be the
| fortunate ones to escape. 1t was time
| to try mems nerves. Cheeks may have
| blanched. hands may have trembled. but
| on every face was fixed a determination
to do or die.
During these preparations the guns
We're silent and a hush had settled or
| that part of the field so strange in
great battle that the silence seemed OPP
pressive. 1t was like the lul in the winds
just before the tornado breaks forth
the face of the earth The command
unbearable su""en~" and the quickly sue
ceeding order double quick" sent "a
| along the iine. YET wl.n Irm and meas
u
sulen and silent and without n cheer.
First a scattering as of leaden rain
drops. and the men involuntarily pulled
down their cap visOrS over their eyes
and with bowed heads advanced against
the increasing storm. In a moment all
had changed. The booming of hundred
cannon rent the air and the bursting
shells carried destruction in every direc-
ton. The constant roll of musketry, now
high, now low, like the undulations Of
pealng thunder, as it echoed and re
he
dread music on the ear. Half way across
the field, and as the regiment cleared
the shrubbery which skirted it on either
flank. a six gun battery with double
shotted canister opened on it, diagonally
from the right and an instant later the |
same thing was repeated on the left.
madly on through the ever increasing
musketry and artillery fire until near tn |
line Of abattis. when the officer in COM |
mand ordered a retreat.
The result may be better ina gined than |
described. Out of nine hundred who
went into the charge more than two
thirds We're down. The field was literally
strewn with the dead ana dying the in
jured crawled painfully to the rear, while
those unhurt sought safety in flight.
Many of the more seriously wounded re
manned on the field and died after hours
and even days of suffering. tortured by
thirst under the broiling summers sun.
The Union forces could not and the Con-
federateS would not remove them. With
fearful Il loss and withal sudden,
the whole affair seemed like some hOrrid
dream. 1t was as though the rushing
had swept them from the face of the
earth. No such havoc was wrought i'm
any other regiment during the entire
war |
During this three days battle the Sec
ond Army Corps. composed of eighty-four
regiments and fourteen batteries lost fif-
ty-nine commissioned officers in killed
and mOrtally wounded fourteen of whom
twenty-four per cent, nearly, We're
members of the First Maine Heavy Ar
tiery. The exact loss to the regiment Is
the Second Army Corps puts the number
who fell at over six hundred. while the
historian of the Seventeenth Maine In
fantry places the number of dead and
eight. The State report gives it as one
hundred and fifteen killed. four hundred
eight missing, total of six hundred and
thIrty-two. 1t will be noticed that the
number of killed and wounded in this ac-
count amounts to six hundred and four.
mt the twenty Eight missing should all |
axe been reported killed. as they later
on were, for they all went onto the field
and none came off, and none were made
prisoners. No complete list of the cas- |
u3lties was published at the time. A par
tial list was printed in some of the Maine
papers but Co. l. was omitted entire eN- |
cept three commissioned officers. while
most other companies omitted the names
of those hit during the first two days OF |
the battle a~a more or less of those |
wounded on the eighteenth were omitted
by oversight. This rs not to be wondered
at for but two company commanders
were left unhurt and some of the mpa-
MES came out under a sergeant. whit |
in others the company roll and all reno'd
were lost: but the writer has a well au-
thenticated list Of six hundred and iii |
teen who were hit two hundred and for |
tv- one Of whom were killed mortally |
wounded and three hundred and seven
ty-four wounded who recovered.
The summary of losses for the month
would be as follows: |
Wound
Killed. ed. Total.
Harris Farm 15 372 527
Petersburg. 2i1 34 81
Intervening losses, 4I sol
Totals, 403 7S9 119.