The National tribune., 1911-01-19

The 18th n. j.. 18th Conn. and 10th n.
j. Have the Honor of Making the
Capture, According to This Account.

The 18th n. j.. nth Conn. and 10th \
j. Have the Honor of Making tn
Capture, According to This Account
issue of Dec. 81, 1909, you give Gin tn
fight at Ream's Station) Gen. Miles an,
the First Division a great deal of credi
that does not belong to them alone
And in The National Tribune of Jan. q
there is letter from the Major of tn,
| 5th n. H. who claims all the credit TO
recapturing the three guns.
On Aug. "a we left the works in from
of Petersburg early in the morning anc
arrived at Ream's Station about
o'clock and destroyed the railroad. Aftel
that was done we remained there. Or
the evening of the oath orders We're re-
ceived to be ready to march at 2 a. m
the next morning, but just before thai
time the orders We're countermanded
Shortly after daylight we were ordered
to strip of woods about one mile from
the station, and while on the march We
We're halted by Gen. T. A. Smyth and
ordered TO the skirmish line.
Maj. 81. F. Chew took Cos. +, A,
B and H and deployed them as Skin
mishers. We advanced into a cOrnifeld
and commenced firing. 1t was warm
work and we were down there under
fire for about three hours. At O'Clock
in the afternoon Gen. Smyth rode out
and ordered us in. Just before we
reached the station we heard yell from
the rebels, and knew that they were
charging the works at the station: but
they were repulSed by our men when
we arrived at the station.
Taking our position in the rear of the
front lines, the rebels commenced to
shell; one shell wounded Lieut.-CoI.
Thompson and some of the men. After
that Maj. H. +. Chew took command of
the regiment and the rebels made an
other charge, but were repulsed Soon
after that the rebels made another
charge and broke thru the First Divi-
sion. Gen. Hancock then rode TO where
Maj. Chew was standing and asked him
if he commanded the regiment Mai.
Chew replied that he did. Gen Han
cock then ordered him to move the reg
iment forward. r..
We advanced, btN were soon halted.
While standing there in the woods some
men of the First Division came running
back, among them color bearer, who
stopped with us. | shall never forget
him. Wien we reached our lines he
was so mad that he was crying and
swearing, and said: II will not go back
any further" He belonged to a New
York regiment There was an officer
on horseback who belonged to the First
Division. and he was trying to stop his
men. One of the men pulled his gun
on the officer. Seven or eight stands
of colors and good many men stayed
in line.
Capt. Bronson. of Gen Hancock's
staff. came up and ordered Maj. Chew
to take charge. Capt. Bronson went
into the charge with us and was kill
ed. Before reaching the works, in
charging to the woods, we went thru q
battery and the guns were turned on
us. There were three guns there, and
on the charge Lieut.. James Straton was
killed and Lieut.. John R. Rich was
wounded on the top OF his head, and
when we got to the works he received
another wound in the mouth and died
from the effects of it one week later
While lying there, our regiment was
separated from the brigade in the
morning; we stayed until late in the
evening, and then we went back to
camp. The reason that | remember the
fight so well is that 1T was my birth
day, and / was II years old, and | did
not expect to see another one.
Gen. T. A. Smyth says about the
fight (This is taken from his diary, and
all of the boys of the old Second Corps
know that there were no frills on him.
but he was with the boys all the time
either on the skirmish line or in the line
of battle, and the boys Of the 18th n. j.
knew it,:
THE enemy having captured u
pieces of artillery, the 18th n. j., l4th
Conn. and 10th N. Y. recaptured three
of them about $3.50 o'clock. They at
tackled the Third Brigade on the right
and they fell back of my rear carrying
my men. The balance of my command
] formed in the edge of the woods in the
rear of the First Division, and | took
the Goth Pa. to the front TO bring off
the three guns, but on the way j found
that they were being brought off by
some of the men on the left of the First
Division. l posted the 69th Pa. to pro-
coed to the left flank of the three regi-
ments 1 had on the First Divisions
left"
After we recaptured the three guns
an officer of the battery came to the
woods and thanked us. If l am not
mistaken, he said that it was the second
time that his guns were lost. / do not
say that there was no man of the First
Division in the charge. There We're. be-
cause there were about five stands OF
colors with ours, and / give them due
credit for going back into the fight. But
don't you think that a regiment stand
ing in the line of battle and a lot of
men falling back. fell in with the regi-
ment, that the regiment is entitled to
some of the credit?
In The National Tribune of April Z
another regiment claims all the credit
tthe 61st N. W. They say that the
Major of the 5th n. II. waited until
nearly all of the boys were dead before
making claim to 1t. When Gen. Walker
wrote the history of the Second Corps.
i bought one and read it until 1 read
about the Ream's Station fight, and
then 1 laid ii aside, disguised. I wrote
a small note. which was published in
The National Tribune, and no one con-
tradicted me- i did not wait Al years to
do 1t. But 1 do say that there were
no troops in the breastworks where the
guns were recaptured until we got
there; and we remained there until we
were ordered back 70 camp.-Samuel
e. Harrington, Co. e, 18TH N. j., Third
Brigade. Second Division, Second Corps,
Philadelphia, Pa.