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Drum Taps in Dixie
Drum Taps in Dixie
The Author—A War-Time Photograph. DRUM TAPS IN DIXIE MEMORIES OF A DRUMMER BOY 1861-1865 BY DELAVAN S. MILLER Watertown, N. Y. Hungerford-Holbrook Co. 1905 Copyrighted 1905 By Delavan S. Miller Published December, 1905 HUNGERFORD-HOLBROOK CO. WATERTOWN, N. Y. Affectionately dedicated to my Wife and Children....
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Preface
Preface
A chance meeting with a comrade who was instrumental in saving from capture a piece of artillery at the second battle of Bull Run suggested one of the several sketches grouped together in this volume. Memory awakened furnished material for those that followed, each article recalling faces, forms, scenes and incidents from out of the misty past. “Awake but one, and lo! What myriads rise!” The writer has enjoyed his reminiscing. It has been a labor of love, so to speak, enabling him in a measure t
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Prelude—The Drum’s Story
Prelude—The Drum’s Story
Yes, I am a drum, and a very old drum at that. My leather ears are twisted and brown. My shiny sides are scratched and marred. My once beautiful white head is patched and blood-stained. Yet, I am loved and tenderly cared for; have my own cosy corner in the attic and am better provided for than many of the brave men who fought for the Union. So I am content. I have lived my life. Was ever ready for duty. Made lots of noise. Have led men on the march and in battle. Now I am laid aside, growing old
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
OFF FOR THE WAR. When the news was flashed across the country that Fort Sumter had been fired upon the writer was a 12-year-old boy residing in West Carthage. The events of those days stand forth in his memory like the hillcrests of a landscape. The shot electrified the north, and the martial current that went from man to man was imparted to the boys. Favorite sports and pastimes lost their zest. Juvenile military companies paraded the streets every evening and mimic battles were fought every Sa
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
THE THORNY PATH OF FOREIGN-BORN OFFICERS. The soldiers who enlisted early had some fun that the boys missed who went out after things were in good shape and the officers had learned the tactics so they did not have to stop in giving an order until they consulted a drill-book. It took some little time, however, for the young volunteer of ’61 to understand that if he was “just as good as them fellers with the shoulder straps,” that the first word in military tactics was “obey.” I heard of a lieute
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
LITTLE MAC AND HIS GRAND ARMY—THE SECOND BULL RUN. Probably the most popular commander of the Union forces in the civil war was General George B. McClellan. Whatever his faults, he was idolized by his men. Historians may write him up or down according to their bias, but the boys who carried the muskets away back in ’62, who were with him at Yorktown, Williamsburg, Malvern Hill, Fair Oaks and Antietam, believed in him and through all the long years since then have had a warm place in their hearts
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
INCIDENTAL TO BULL RUN. THE CAPTURE OF UNCLE HAWLEY. Henry Hawley was his name, but the boys of Company H always called him “Uncle,” and so he appears on our company record. Hawley was not cut out for a soldier—in fact he was several sizes too large. His corpulency made him appear rather ludicrous when he tried to line up with the slender youths of the company on dress parade. Tom Murphy, the orderly sergeant, was always yelling out “right dress there, Hawley.” One Sunday morning the regiment wa
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
WASHINGTON IN THE SIXTIES. Washington in the sixties was not the beautiful city that it is today. The nation’s capital was one vast camp of armed men and the city was circled with a cordon of forts and earthworks. Early in the war the Confederate flag could be seen from the dome of the capitol, flying on Munson’s hill, while the exchange of shots by the pickets was heard at the White House more than once. “‘All quiet along the Potomac,’ they say, Except now and then a stray picket Is shot, as he
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
OUR FIGHTING COLONEL. After the Bull Run campaign our regiment was detailed for garrison duty again and sent to some forts near Arlington where we remained for a long time. Our colonel (with a foreign military experience?) was relieved of his command immediately after Bull Run and there came to us a commander who proceeded to jerk things straight in the regiment. His name was Jeremiah N. G. Whistler and he had been in the regular army since he was a day old, having been born in camp. He was all
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
OFF FOR THE FRONT. The next day we assembled at Fort Corcoran. The regiment had been filled up with recruits until there were about 1,800 men on the rolls. Probably 1,500 were present for duty when we left to join the Army of the Potomac. We were ordered to “fall in” at noon and in a few moments we marched away with colors flying and the band playing a lively quickstep. It was like leaving home to go away from the forts we had learned to love so well, the huge walls of which had been cemented wi
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
IN A BIG FIGHT WITH HANCOCK’S VETERANS. The next morning we were awakened by the booming of cannon and clash of musketry. As we got up off the ground we could see smoke curling up from the tops of the trees on a hillside a mile or more to the south of us. We were foot-sore and covered with dust from our big march of the previous day, and few of us had any water in our canteens. Before we had time to find any or make coffee we got the command “fall in” and were soon advancing toward the firing li
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
“ON TO RICHMOND.” Gen. Grant, having decided to change his base of operations, directed Gen. Hancock on the 20th to move his corps to the left as soon after dark as practicable. Gen. Horace Porter, who was one of Grant’s aides, says that he purposely detached the Second Corps from the rest of the army, his object being to tempt Lee to attack them. Of course we poor mortals in the ranks knew nothing of the plans. The privates, nor even the drummer boys, are seldom consulted in such matters. Proba
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CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
BLOODY COLD HARBOR. The next move in the great game of war between Grant and Lee was Cold Harbor—a name indelibly impressed upon every survivor of the campaign. It recalls two weeks of hunger, thirst, hardships that language is inadequate to describe; unsuccessful assaults and losses, that tell the story of most desperate fighting. It was Greek against Greek, veteran against veteran. No one seems to know why the place was so named for, as Pat. Devereaux of our company expressed it, “’twas no har
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CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
HANCOCK AND HIS MEN. General Hancock possessed to a remarkable degree the power of exciting to enthusiasm the men he so often led to victory. And even a drummer boy may be pardoned the pride he feels in the enduring fame of this intrepid commander. During the ’64 campaign he was compelled to ride in an ambulance on the long marches because of the breaking out afresh of his old Gettysburg wound. But he did not ask a leave of absence, and when there was any fighting he mounted his horse and was at
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CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
TO PETERSBURG. On the night of June 12, ’64, the withdrawal of the army from the trenches at Cold Harbor began. The picket lines were not disturbed until the army were several hours under way. Of course there were all sorts of rumors as to where we were bound for. Many were of the opinion that we were going to White House landing and take transports for Washington, but Grant was not that kind of a general. He had started out to destroy Lee’s army and he was going to keep hammering away until the
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CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
GRANT’S HEADQUARTERS AT CITY POINT. City Point, a little insignificant wharf town on a point of land at the intersection of the Appomattox with the James River, about 25 miles from Richmond and seven or eight miles from Petersburg, leaped into world-wide importance in 24 hours in June ’64. Gen. Grant made his headquarters there until the surrender of Lee and it was the base of supplies for the army of the James, as well as the army of the Potomac. Think if you can what it would mean to Sackets H
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CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
WINTER QUARTERS. How many of our readers who are old enough to remember back so far can tell what kind of a winter we had 40 years ago? Probably not more than one in a hundred, unless it be some of the survivors of the army of the Potomac, or the army of the James, for the winter of 1864-5, was one of unusual severity, and there was much suffering among the troops in the trenches before Petersburg and Richmond. Possibly it may interest some of the present generation to know how the soldiers, who
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CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.
LAST STRUGGLE AND DEFEAT OF THE LOST CAUSE. Grant’s and Lee’s forces occupied intrenchments more than 30 miles in length reaching from Richmond around to the left of Petersburg. The effective soldiers of Grant’s army were about 125,000, including the Army of the James, while Lee’s forces numbered about one-half, but they were veterans, every man of them, for on the southern side there was no expiration of service. The confederacy was in sore straights. The strenuous campaign of 1864 had put ever
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CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
AN ACT OF HEROISM. Sergt. Robert Cline of our company, who carried the New York State colors after saving the flag, found that a comrade had been left wounded near the enemy’s intrenchments and he heroically faced about and amidst the whistling bullets went up near the rebel works, found his friend and brought him into the lines across his shoulder. This little incident is only one of thousands illustrating what one comrade would do for another. The casualties of our regiment in this affair were
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CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVII.
RETRACING THE STEPS. The armies of Grant and Sherman turned their backs on the South and took up their line of march for Washington, where they had been ordered to report for a general review and muster out. We passed through Richmond and retraced our steps over much of the same ground that had been fought over the previous year, and all along the route were reminders of the terrible struggles between the two great armies. Earthworks that had swarmed with soldiers were now deserted. Everywhere t
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CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE GRAND REVIEW. The assembling of the armies at Washington was for the purpose of marching them in review through the nation’s capital before mustering them out of service. As Grant’s and Sherman’s troops numbered too many for a one day review, the former were given precedence and May 23 was fixed as the day. We left our camps in Virginia at an early hour and crossed over the long bridge into that part of the city east of the capitol where the troops were massed ready to move when the hour sho
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CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XIX.
WHEN JOHNNIE COMES MARCHING HOME. After the grand review, our regiment was ordered back into the forts again around Arlington. It was not until October, 1865, that we marched down Pennsylvania avenue for the last time to take the cars for home. Our regiment had gone to the front 18 months before, 1500 strong and notwithstanding the fact that the 9th New York had been consolidated with us we were going home with but 500 men. At the Baltimore & Ohio railroad depot, in Washington, a patheti
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CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XX.
SCATTERING REMINISCENCES. A COMRADE’S LOVE. James Tabor and Dennis Garrity were about the last two soldiers that would have been taken for chums. Garrity was a great thick-chested Irishman with brawny arms and a roistering sort of manner who had served through the Crimean war and knew more of tactics in the first year of the Civil war than half of our officers. Tabor was scarce more than a boy, a slender, palefaced youth, mild of manner and gentle of speech as a girl. Tabor’s mother had given hi
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