John Mead Gould

“ After crossing the road, bullets from the enemy began to whiz over and around us. When well into Sam Poffenberger’s field the Colonel commanded “Right flank,” then each man again faced south (or west of south to be more exact) and we all marched straight for the enemy, whom some of us could see in the woods, close to where our Mansfield marker is now standing, marked M on the map.
The 10th Maine was in “double column at half distance” (or “double column in mass,” as some remember.)
[Pg 11] Each line in the diagram represents about 15 men all facing “front.” ”

“ Mansfield and Crawford, and other mounted officers, over on the Croasdale Knoll, which, with the intervening ground, was open woods. Mansfield at once came galloping down the hill and passed through the scattered men of the right companies, shouting “Cease firing, you are firing into our own men!” He rode very rapidly and fearlessly till he reached the place where our line bent to the rear (behind the fence) . Captain Jordan now ran forward as far as the fence, along the top of the ledge behind which his division was sheltered, and insisted that Gen. Mansfield should “Look and see.” ”

“ Only twenty or thirty men of the 10th Maine were left on the ground; the colors and the others had gone out and taken position somewhere back of the Croasdale Knoll.
[Pg 18] We buried some of the dead of our regiment in the north edge of “the bushes,” near to the Smoketown road fence. During the remainder of the day a very large number of the officers and men of the regiment were detailed by various medical officers to bring off wounded men from “the cornfield” and woods, for the ambulance department was not organized at that time as it was later in the war, and was not equal to the task. ”

“ From all this story, I hope the reader will see why the wounding of Gen. Mansfield, which is the all important part in this narrative, is only a secondary matter to the men of the Tenth Maine Regiment, and why misrepresentations and errors have gone undisputed so many years. We never considered it our business to set history aright, until we saw that our testimony was discredited and found our statement of [Pg 32] fact treated as only one of the many stories of the wagon-drivers of Sharpsburg. ”

“ It has been stated that the 10th Maine was the extreme left of Hooker’s command (1st and 12th corps) during the 40 minutes, more or less, the regiment was engaged. The Confederate troops opposed to us and to our neighbors [14] on the right were from Hood’s division. [15]
The 4th Alabama was the right regiment of all, and they came up the Smoketown road from the West Woods in a hurry. On reaching East Woods they deployed and advanced “in line.” ”

“ It was an awful morning; our comrades went down one after another with a most disheartening frequency, pierced with bullets from men who were half concealed, or who dodged quickly back to a safe cover the moment they fired. We think it was enough for us to “hold our own” till Greene’s men swept in with their “terrible and overwhelming attack.” ”

“ It was this habit of personal attention to details, and his other characteristic of rapid flying here and there, that make it so difficult for many of the soldiers of the 12th corps to believe he was wounded when and where he was.
A WORD IN CLOSING.
In this narrative it has been impossible to avoid frequent reference to myself and to my regiment, but there is nothing in the Mansfield incident of special credit to any of us. We were there and saw it; we live and can prove it; this is the whole story in a nut shell.
I have always regretted that I left the regiment even on so important a mission. ”

“ This battalion got into the fight an hour or more before their brigade and fought independently of it. The troops under Robbins, Turner and Arnold are the only Confederates, so far as I can learn, that did heavy fighting in East Woods. [16] There were no better troops in the Confederate army; they suffered a loss in killed and wounded of nearly one-half, and probably inflicted a still larger numerical loss upon the Union troops. ”

“ It cannot be determined from the report, exactly when or where “this” was; but it was plainly early in the morning and before the 125th entered West Wood, where (and not in East Wood) they fought.
This report annoyed me much when I first saw it in 1887, but Col. Higgins has written to me that he knows nothing personally of the event but reported it because officers whom he trusted assured him it was so.
III. Col. Knipe, (46 Penn.) who made the brigade report, simply mentions that Mansfield was wounded. ”

“ There are also shadowy hints from various sources that a Lieutenant of cavalry, name and regiment not stated, lost his opportunity for a day of glory by too frequent sips of what was known as “commissary.”
Gen. Forsyth writes (1891) that he was sent by Mansfield to “bring up the divisions of the corps” and that he “was not with Gen. Mansfield when he received his death wound.”
Maj. Dyer writes (1891) :
“At the time the General was mortally wounded, I was not near him, as he had given me an order to bring the command of Gen. ”

“ Dunegan to the place where they say Mansfield fell from his saddle and was borne off by two of their men. The place is about 600 yards from where Mansfield was shot. From others of the 125th it was evident that Gen. Mansfield’s riderless horse did bring up at about the place pointed out, but we know the fatal shot came to the General himself while he halted in front of Captain Jordan.
The thoroughly good feeling shown to us by all of these good fellows of the old 125th has not been forgotten, and never can be ”

“ A, the extreme left of the 125th Penn.
[Pg 5] Mr. Alexander Davis, who resided and worked on the field before and after the battle, points out a place several rods northeast of the present residence of Millard F. Nicodemus (built since the war and not shown on the map) . Some Indiana troops were the supposed original authority for this place, which is not far from B. It is only fair to Mr. Davis to add that he claims no personal knowledge. ”

“ The 10th Maine went into battle with 21 officers, and 276 men with muskets.
Loss. 3 officers and 28 men killed and mortally wounded.
5 officers and 35 men wounded.
0 prisoners.
Total killed and wounded 71, or 24 per cent. of number engaged.
[9] A regimental division is two companies; C and F in the present case.
[10] He named an officer and regiment of Hooker’s Corps, both of which I forgot before the day was ended.
[11] Sergt. Joe Merrill, Co. F; Private Storer S. Knight, Co. B; Private James Sheridan, Co. ”

“ This “position” is not defined further than to state that it was “Miller’s” woods, or “East woods,” as we now call them.
V. Gen. Williams, commanding 1st division and succeeding Mansfield in command of the corps, says:
“While the deployment [of the 12th corps] was going on and before the leading regiments were fairly engaged, it was reported to me that the veteran and distinguished commander of the corps was mortally wounded.” (Page 475, Vol. XIX.)
VI. Gen. Geo. H. Gordon, commanding 3d brigade, 1st division, says:
“Gen. ”