The National tribune., 1907-04-11
"wAY Dow IN MAINE"


Peninsula In viruania.
Editor National ,4ribuns, am sit
ting by the fire. reading TIE National
| Tribune way down here in the good old
STAKE OF Maine. with old ''Boreas" howl
Ing outside and tho Thermometer hang
ing out over the well, SO It can run
down as far below zero as it wants to.
MY memo-y runs back to the days Of
81 and '65. ana will try to Jot down
a Few lines. II may interest some that
TOOK part In that great struggle, espe-
claliy those who were in the Peninsular
i campaign.
i 1 cannot write Of the horrors of the
prison pen at Andersonville. because I
was good sprinter 40 years ago. and
was always on the lookout for No. /.
Neither can tell who captured the DE
Crosse Battery. could tell what regi-
ment was the first to cross the Chicka-
hominy, If hadn't been so busy trying
to catch catfish for my breakfast, Just
above the bridge, that morning. If 1
had been thoughtful enough to take
my diary along with me. perhaps I
could have settled that question right
here. But, alas! my diary went with
my Maine knapsack Cor bureaus" as
we called them) on our first hard march
after leaving Washington. So I must
write from memory. But you can put
it down as fact that 1t was a regiment
of PENNSYLVANIA boys dhat were with
the venerable old Casey's" Division
! that ran so well afterwards at Fair
1 Oaks. Not even "bummer'' from
j COUGHS Division was within a mile of
the bridge at the time. 1 know. as NJ,
| chum and / had turned out early that
morning to see that the stray chickens
| We're all on their roosts. and we Ger
i tainly should have run across some of
| them If they had been there AS thu
| record stands now, should say that the
SD Pa. was the first infantry regiment
to cross the Chickahominy. But should
like to hear what some of the little
Dutchmen' of the 104th Pa. have to say
about it. Surely. there are some of
them alive
/ helped repair Bottoms Bridge ana
| the railroad bridge. also helped destroy
them; was one of the men that helped
| destroy the stores at Savage Station;
| helped place the ammunition in the
cars that were run off into the Chicka-
| hominy afterward.
Mcclellan did not consult me when
he ordered that famous "change OF
base" neither did Hancock when his
brigade made that famous" charge at
| Williamsburg; but I heard him give the
order to one of his Aids and saw the
| charge. They did well, but ii did not
hurt them much, while we poor kids
| of Naglee's Brigade had to stand al
night in the mud and dT:zzling rain be-
| tween them and the Johnnies. while
| they retired to the rear and went 20
sleep.
/ enlisted Oct. Is, 1861, in Co. II, 11th
Me. Our regiment arrived at Washing
| ton about Nov. 20. and went into camp.
in tents. on Meridian Hill. 1t was said
at the time that it was tEt first regi-
ment that marched thru Baltimore.
without arms, after the 9Th Mass. was
| fired upon. While camped on the hill
we helped build the Carver Barracks,
and moved into them Jan. l, 1862.
| We broke camp the latter part of
March, and went to Alexandria, Va, to
take transports to Fort Monroe. We
arrived in a cold, sdriZzling snowstorm,
and camped out back of the town. Ii
was there we had our first experience
in capturing an old Virginia rail fence.
| / also had some Of the conceit taken
out of me there. WAS a lean. lank
| kid, and tough as pitch knot-thought
I could run with the best of them. We
were halted about 20 rods from the
fence. and altho there was a cavalty
guard on ii, / had my eye on a certain
| rail before We broke ranks that ] was
going to call mine; being on the left Of
the company line j thought l was sure
of it, and had made at least one step
towards ii before the word ranks WAS
| spoken out by the Orderly-Sergeant;
but when ! got there that particular
rail of mine was sgone, and / had TO
sprint it pretty lively for about 10 rods
along the fence before / could put my
hands on a rail could call mine. That
was one of the many lessons / learned
during my four years of service. There
were others besides myself who could
get there. However. / never was will
| ing. nor ever was told, to Go away
back and sit down when anything WAS
going on.
l. III I, ~
104th and SD Pa, the seth and Tooth
n. Y. and the 18th Me-. was packed on
the old ocean steamer Constitution.
Some of the most notable events on
that ship was our running aground near
Aqua Creek, near where a rebel bat
terry was supposed to be. and one of the
suffers lost several tubs of butter. A
good many of the 18th found their COZ
fee cups filed with butter in the morn
ing, and 1t was. and still is. great
question, especially among the survivors
of the 18th Me-, who stole the butter.
We arrived at Fort Monroe in the
night, and morning found US lying
alongside of the original little Monitor
the "cheese-box on n raft" and it GER
tainly looked like one. We then went
over to Newport News and landed.
While going we passed near where the
Cumberland went down. The top masts
We're sticking out of the water. We
We're also fired upon by rebel battery
at Sewell's Point, I think. That was
our first experience Of being under fire.
We camped out back of the town a few
days, and then got a hurry order to
march to Young's Mills. 1t was hot
day, and when we arrived at the mills
we were in light marching order, the
most of the knapsacks that We brought
from Maine were left along the road,
as well as the most of our extra cloth
ing.
While at Young's Mills we were short
of rations, and altho orders were very
strict against foraging, our officers al
lowed us to shoot anything running
wild. We soon exhausted that supply.
Then we would start out in two squads;
one with guns would lay in the woods
near a plantation, and the other would
go without arms, and carelessly, of
course, tear down the pig pens and cat
tie yards; and, no matter how much we
ran and hallooed, the pigs and other
stock would be wild by the time they
got to the woods.
It was while at the mills that our
company CID had our first battle, and
also captured our first prisoner, which
would make quite a story if properly
written up. as the prisoner was little
darby and our engagement was with
the rebel gunboat Teazer.-Matt. S.
Berry, 18th Me. and 9Th N. Y. Jnd'p't
Battery. Chandler. Me.
Not Good Catholics.