George C. Sumner

“ From Oct. 1st to the 5th our battery remained in the forts at Loudon. Each day details were made to accompany the three wagons upon forage trips, and many are the pleasant episodes recollected of those occasions. Seldom did those teams return to camp without the carcass of a slaughtered hog or a fine sheep underneath its load of corn on the ear. The citizens had kindly planted a liberal supply of that improvement upon the sweet potato—those golden yams—and any foraging trip which did not produce a large stock of them upon its return, was pronounced a failure. ”

“ As our infantry advanced to establish a picket line, they were met with a heavy fire, which convinced us that the enemy were in our near presence, and in large force. Their artillery shelled us continually, and the flight of the shells with their burning fuses, together with the flash of the small arms, made a very pretty display, but we were all glad when the exhibition came to a close, just before ten o'clock. ”

“ We now began to get our first impressions of what war really was, and soon became thoroughly convinced that it was very serious business. We had hardly settled down in our new position before wounded men began to pass through our intervals; those with light wounds on foot, and the more seriously wounded were brought upon stretchers.
This night we spread our blankets, and lay down in our positions, the cannoniers about the guns, and the drivers at their horses' heads, and were soon fast asleep. ”

“ As we reached that part where the cornfield was upon our left and the Dunker Church upon our right, the sight became sickening, even to men who had become inured to such scenes, for there lay within the reach of our vision hundreds, yea, thousands of dead, just as they had fallen, swelling into most horrible shapes, twice their natural size, and mortification, which had been hastened by a light rain on the night of the 18th, and a very hot sun on the morning of the 19th, had turned the exposed parts of the bodies black. ”

“ Most of the army had been brought up to the vicinity of the ford, and it was contemplated to make the movement on the morning of the 21st of Jan., but on the evening of the 20th a fearful storm of wind, sleet and rain came on, such as is seldom seen in that region, which continued all night, and when morning came the entire country had been converted into a vast bed of mud, and for hours the troops were hopelessly mired—it was impossible to move in either direction—every attempt to move only sank the wheels of the artillery and of the wagons deeper into the soft sticky mud. ”

“ Battery D remained in position. Through the night rumor had it that we had practically destroyed Lee's army, and that it only remained for us to up and at him in the morning, to drive him into the Potomac. But the next morning we were very much surprised at the entire absence of noise; instead of the roar of battle, we could not hear even the noise of a single picket gun. Our curiosity kept us hunting for a reason, until it was ascertained that we were under a flag of truce.
All day long we lay in our position, expecting that the truce would end, and we should resume the fight. ”

“ About the middle of the forenoon we left the Junction, taking the Sudley road towards the old Bull Run battlefield. Our progress was slow and tedious, the road being filled with troops and wagon trains. As we neared our destination we could hear the sound of battle, which grew louder and seemingly more extended with every mile we traveled. Our halting and hitching-along progress became very annoying to the men of Battery D, for it seemed to them that with such delay it was extremely doubtful about their reaching the battlefield in time to be of any service. ”

“ All day we marched at this high elevation. Occasionally a cloud would sweep across our path, enveloping us in fog for a while; then there would be places where we would pass out of the woods and a most magnificent landscape would unfold to our view. Sometimes it would be Kentucky, at others East Tennessee upon which we were looking. Taken all together it was the most enjoyable panoramic sort of a march that the battery ever made.
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It was left, however, for the morning of the 29th to unfold the most magnificent sight that most of us had ever looked upon. ”

“ All the afternoon troops were continually recrossing the river and moving to the rear, and just before we left, the buildings around the station were fired. The light from this fire illuminated our way for some distance. At the station, and for a mile or so beyond it, as we passed along the road, men were engaged in tearing up the railroad, heating the rails and twisting them beyond any possibility of their being used again. ”

“ All day of the 13th we lay under fire, protected by buildings. The enemy shelled Fredericksburg all the morning, and about noon the order was given for our infantry to advance upon Marye's Heights. The mist had cleared, and every movement of our troops could be distinctly seen by the rebels upon the heights. Then commenced a most furious cannonading, followed in a few moments, as our troops reached the stone wall at the foot of Marye's Hill, by volley after volley of musketry. ”

“ Our guns are short range, and we find it impossible to reach the rebel battery; but it became certain that rebel infantry are moving through the woods in our front, and we begin to throw shell and solid shot in their direction. Soon the line of battle in our front opens upon the rebel line coming through the woods, and a sharp and vigorous fire is kept up for a while, when the rebels charge our thin lines, which break and run up the hill towards us, passing through our intervals to the rear. ”

“ Soon after the failure of the enemy to drive our centre, they made a vigorous assault upon the right of Christ's brigade, Ninth Corps. Our battery was ordered to change its position and direction of its fire, to co-operate with this brigade, and we shelled the woods upon the right with such good effect as to check the progress of the enemy in that direction. It was while executing this movement that the men of our battery became thoroughly convinced of the utter impossibility of successfully manœuvering light artillery with mules as a motive power. ”

“ Any veteran will remember how apt an old soldier was who had been living upon salt junk, salt pork and hard-tack for a considerable time, to allow his imagination full scope whenever his surroundings reminded him of a full course dinner or banquet. Thus it was with Battery D on the evening that we spent at Crab Orchard. ”

“ The ground the battery had secured appeared in the darkness to be unfavorable for the use of all the guns; therefore two were posted in the road, where they had a flank fire upon both the infantry and artillery of the enemy. A captain of one of the rebel batteries engaged here told me several years afterwards that the guns away off to his left, which he had understood were those of a Rhode Island battery, inflicted terrible punishment upon him, and that he lost more heavily in men, horses and material, than in any one action of the war. ”

“ About five o'clock a horseman was seen to ride over the hill from which the rebel battery had shelled us in the morning, followed almost immediately by the teams of a battery, and rapidly making the left about, drop their pieces into battery, but before they had fired a shot, twenty-nine projectiles of various kinds and sizes were flying towards that unfortunate battery, creating, a few seconds later, the greatest consternation, as they exploded among the pieces and limbers ”

“ Speaking about horses, I wonder if my comrades of Battery D have forgotten what an amount of affection was lavished upon the horses by their drivers. Certainly no one of the sixth detachment will ever forget "Old Curley," driven so long as the nigh leader upon their piece, by Anson Mathewson, possessed of an intelligence which enabled him to reason more successfully than some animals of the human species. ”

“ To be continually upon the alert, prepared to dodge a shell, never forgetting to keep your head down and your body out of sight, lest some sharpshooter should get a bead upon you which would certainly end your earthly career; the constant screaming of the shells and the whirring of the minie balls, all have such a wearing effect upon the nerves of a man that he wishes something would happen that would make the other fellow quit and give him a rest. ”

“ About eight o'clock the battery moved out of our winter camp and took up its line of march in a cold drenching rain, towards Bell's Landing on the Potomac River, distant about twelve miles. The roads [Pg 47] were exceedingly muddy, so that our progress was necessarily very slow; the very best we could do was about six miles on the first day; the pieces and caissons would become fast in the mud, and we would have to double our teams to pull them out. Our condition may be imagined—tired out, wet through, and no way of protecting ourselves from the cold storm, which continued through the night. ”

“ Upon Loudon Hill was constructed by far the most important work of the entire system. As has before been intimated, this fort was commenced by the enemy before Knoxville was occupied by the Army of the Ohio. From its strategic situation, coupled with the fact that the single assault made by the enemy upon our lines during the siege of Knoxville was upon this fort, when a force of less than three hundred men successfully repelled and disastrously defeated nearly four thousand picked men from Gen. Longstreet's army, it would seem to require a somewhat detailed account of its principal features. ”

“ Show me a people possessed of greater heroism, patriotism and love of country, than the men and women—of whom I propose to say more—of East Tennessee!
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It had been the custom of Capt. Buckley after we entered the wilderness, to ride on before the battery after he had seen it under way, taking with him as orderly, William Fisk, and hunt for forage. On this morning they started as usual, and were nearly the first to pass the tavern. They were successful in securing two of the chickens before-mentioned, but could get no information as to any grain in that vicinity. ”

“ Not a man of the battery had had a morsel to eat since the night before, and no show for rations getting to the front that night. We could get along without tents or blankets, but the day's excitement had given us a good appetite. We built up two large camp fires and sat around discussing the events of the day.
About nine o'clock Lieut. Gray (who had left the battery shortly after we arrived in our old position) rode into camp escorting a four-mule team which he had captured. The contents of the wagon were soon spread out, disclosing three boxes of "hard-tack" as a part of the capture. ”

“ July 2d we turned in our battery of Parrotts and howitzers and drew one of light twelves or Napoleons. These guns were of brass, smooth bore, and had fixed ammunition. They were of short range, which would necessitate our coming in close contact with the enemy; but the fixed ammunition would enable them to be fired much more rapidly; and as they had the reputation of being very destructive when used at short range, the exchange was on the whole very acceptable to the men. ”

“ The departure of the enemy was very satisfactory to us. A person who has never passed through the experience of being confined within very narrow limits for a considerable time, under an almost constant fire from artillery and infantry, can hardly realize what a strain it produces on one's nervous system. ”

“ There were a number of generals commanding certain sections of the country in the vicinity of Washington, and each thought that Early was sure to attack him, and if a small cavalry force showed up in his vicinity, he immediately wired to Washington that Early's whole force was after him, and then everything had to "hustle;" but at last Gen. Grant insisted that one man should take command of the whole, and Gen. Philip H. Sheridan was sent from his command of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac to [Pg 133] take command of all troops on the Upper Potomac. ”

“ All the afternoon the enemy were moving large bodies of troops towards our right, constantly pushing our pickets nearer our works. In front of the northwest angle of Fort Sanders our picket line was only a few yards from the fort.
That the assault was near at hand, and must come in a few hours, we were all certain. That every one was on the alert was proven when at about ten o'clock in the evening a general alarm was sounded; our artillery immediately opened from Battery D's section at Battery Galpin, under Lieut. ”

“ Soon after nine o'clock the heavy firing ceased, and in a half hour everything was quiet, save occasional shots from the pickets. By ten o'clock the men were sleeping quietly, the drivers near their horses, and the cannoniers in their positions about the guns.
About midnight a staff officer entered the battery, found the captain and ordered him to awaken his men, have the guns limbered, and move the command into the road with the least possible noise. Sergeants were awakened and sent around among the men, who were awakened with great care, and cautioned not to speak save in a whisper. ”

“ During the siege the Seventy-ninth New York had a plank laid over the ditch from the embrasure on the west, which they used in going to and from the picket line, and when the enemy was looking for a good place to assault the works, they saw some men of the Seventy-ninth crossing on this plank, and came to the conclusion that there was no ditch in front of the bastion. Gens. Longstreet and McLaw both speak about this in their report of the siege and assault. ”

“ A steam flour-mill in Loudon was found to be in perfect condition, and was soon at work converting the wheat into flour, which was issued to the army for the first time on the fifth. Corn meal was soon added to our rations; flap-jacks and corn-dodgers became plenty; chickens and fresh pork could be obtained without much trouble; and we were soon able to get up a dinner the quality and quantity of which was very satisfactory to us.
September 14th orders were received late at night for the battery to be prepared to march at an early hour next morning. ”

“ On the morning of the 6th we hitched up at three o'clock, and awaited orders. At five o'clock we started with Benjamin's battery, and marched about four miles and went into position near some woods. There had been a constant roar of musketry since five o'clock. Our position was such that we could see but a very small part of the field, and we wondered why we were put in such a position, as the underbrush in the woods just in our front was so thick that we could not see an enemy until they were right on our guns. ”

“ Just before we went into position our hearts were rejoiced by the discovery of one of our pieces and its caisson which we had about given up as lost, fearing that it must in some manner have missed its way and been overtaken by the enemy. Sergeant Gray explained his early arrival by saying that, becoming convinced that being obliged to render assistance to less fortunate teams was rapidly exhausting his own teams, he determined to push on as fast as possible, and wait for the battery at the station. ”

“ Double canister went from the well served guns, and great gaps appeared in the hotly charging line; but it was only for a few seconds, for in that brief space of time they were in among the guns and gunners, the latter seeking safety in precipitate retreat; there was nothing else to do except to remain and become prisoners. The guns were silent; they could hardly be seen on account of the great number of the enemy in among them. The drivers hastily mounted the horses of the limbers, and making a short "left about," hurried away with the fleeing cannoniers. ”