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I found the regiment all in line, waiting to cross some pontoon bridges which had been laid, and which the cavalry were then crossing. Meanwhile I picked the chicken apart. He was black as a hat on the outside, and about half roasted, but two of my chums and myself quickly ate him up, bones and all, except the very toughest one and we thought it was very good eating.
We had hardly finished our meal when we were ordered across the stream, our regiment being the first infantry to cross. We marched a half mile or so into some woods where we were halted and called to attention as General Hunter wanted to make a few remarks to us. I can not recall much that he said except that he expected us to do our duty today and wipe out the stain attached to the Eighteenth Connecticut Volunteers since our last fight at New Market, under General Sigel, where we were badly shipped. We were all as mad as hoppers before he got through as we did not think it was any fault of ours that Sigel got licked, and I think every man made up his mind right then that if we did come up against the Rebs that day some of them would get hurt.
We were soon marched out of the woods into open ground where we formed in line of battle with a strong line of skirmishers some 1500 to 2000 yards in front of us. My company "A" was sent out with the skirmish line, but as I was Right General Guide of the regiment and I did not have a gun, I had to stay with the regiment and took my place on the right of the next company "F". I did not like this arrangement for a cent as I wanted to be with my own company, but a soldier must obey orders so I had to stay.
The bugle sounded "Advance" and we started. The ground was very open and I could see the whole of our line of battle marching in double ranks by regimental front, with the skirmishers out in front; keeping as near in line as possible, and 15 to 20 feet apart. The sight was beautiful, our regiment being on the right of the line and I being the Right Guide brought me as the extreme right man of the command.
We had not gone a great ways before the Rebs opened fire from a hill about three miles directly in front of us, toward which we were marching. At first their shells fell short but as we kept moving toward them they commenced soon to burst in among our skirmishers, doing but very little as the men were so spread out they were a poor mark to shoot. We kept going forward, not very fast, but fast as we could and keep our lines in good shape.
The Rebs kept shelling the skirmishers, they did not fire a single shell at the line of battle. I suppose they wanted to break up our skirmish line and prevent our finding out what kind of works they had in the woods on the hill we were approaching, but we kept on advancing and did not fire a shot in return.
When we had gotten within 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile of the Rebs the right of our line came close to the banks of the same stream we had crossed lower down. It was a warm day and I was very dry so I thought I would run down to the stream and get a drink, and fill up my canteen at the same time. I told Sgt. Charles Carroll of Company "F" what I was going to do, and he handed me his canteen to fill for him. The bank of the stream on the side I went down was some 12 to 15 feet high, but on the other side it was nearly on a level with the stream and beyond were trees and underbrush. I rushed down and dipped up my quart coffee cup full and tipped back my head to drink but did not take but a swallow, for on the opposite side of the stream, some 60 to 70 feet from me, standing partly behind a tree was a Johnnie Reb, loading his gun; and skulking along among the trees and bushes, I caught glimpses of a good many more.
I looked around to sing out to some of our boys but the bank was so high I could not see them and of course they could not see me. Well now -- I don't believe the Rebs could have seen me for the dust I made going up that bank, at any rate it has always seemed to me that I flew, as my feet did not seem to touch the ground until I caught up with the regiment and had told Sgt. Carroll what I had seen. Then we both peered over the bank and saw any number of Johnnies in among the trees and some up in them. At this time we were getting so near to the hill in front that they had opened fire on us with musketry and our boys were beginning to fire back, and our skirmishers had fallen back in rear of the line of battle.
Just at this time I saw our Colonel, William G. Ely (and a better fighter never straddled a horse) in rear of the center of the regiment, so I made a rush for him and told him about the Rebs I had seen on our right.
The Colonel was a very moderate talker, but a very decided one and he says to me, in his moderate way, "Oh No, Sgt., there ain't any Rebs there" but I knew better so I insisted it was so, and, as luck would have it, we were just entering a fringe of woods on the side of the hill, and a bullet cut a twig from one of the limbs; it fell in such a way that the Colonel saw the bullet must have come from the right, and it was very near a line shot for him as he sat on his horse.
He acknowledged the truth at once by exclaiming in his usual tone of voice, though I think his speech was a little quicker, "I believe you are right, Sgt.". At this moment my Company "A" came marching in from the skirmish line with our Orderly Sgt., Robert Kerr, in command (at this time we had no commissioned officers in our company, and in fact there were very few in the regiment, as they were prisoners of war in Richmond.)
Colonel Ely, as soon as he saw Kerr, sang out "Lt. Kerr, deploy your company as skirmishers and clear out those woods."
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Continuing to Part 3...
Pat
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