The Black Phalanx Part 26

"The Charleston Battalion was a.s.signed to that part of the work which extended from the Sally port or Lighthouse Inlet creek around to the left until it occupied part of the face to the south, including the western bastion; the Fifty-first North Carolina connected with these troops on the left and extended to the southeast bastion; the rest of the work was to be occupied by the Thirty-first North Carolina Regiment, and a small force from that regiment was detailed as a reserve, and two companies of the Charleston Battalion were to occupy outside of the fort the covered way spoken of and some sand-hills by the seash.o.r.e; the artillery was distributed among the several gun-chambers and the light pieces posted on a traverse outside so as to sweep to sea face and the right approach. The positions to be occupied were well known to every officer and man and had been verified repeatedly by day and night, so there was no fear of confusion, mistake or delay in the event of an a.s.sault.

The troops of course were not ordered to these positions when at 6 o'clock it was evident a furious bombardment was impending, but, on the contrary, to the shelter of the bomb-proofs, sand-hills and parapet; a few sentinels or videttes were detailed and the gun detachments only ordered to their pieces.

"The Charleston Battalion preferred the freer air of the open work to the stifling atmosphere of the bomb-proofs and were permitted to shelter themselves under the parapet and traverses. Not one of that heroic band entered the opening of a bomb-proof during that frightful day. The immense superiority of the enemy's artillery was well understood and appreciated by the Confederate commander, and it was clear to him that his policy was to husband his resources and preserve them as best he could for the a.s.sault, which it was reasonable to expect would occur during the day. He recognized the fact that his guns were only defensive and he had little or no offensive power with which to contend with his adversaries. Acting on this conviction he had the light guns dismounted and covered with sand bags, and the same precaution was adopted to preserve some of the sh.e.l.l guns or fixed carriages. The propriety of this determination was abundantly demonstrated in the end.

"About a quarter past 8 o'clock the storm broke, s.h.i.+p after s.h.i.+p and battery after battery, and then apparently all together, vomited forth their horrid flames and the atmosphere was filled with deadly missiles. It is impossible for any pen to describe or for anyone who was not an eye-witness to conceive the frightful grandeur of the spectacle. The writer has never had the fortune to read any official Federal report or any other account of the operations of this day except an extract from the graphic and eloquent address of the Rev. Mr. Dennison, a chaplain of one of the Northern regiments, delivered on its nineteenth anniversary at Providence, R. I. He says: 'Words cannot depict the thunder, the smoke, the lifted sand and the general havoc which characterized that hot summer day. What a storm of iron fell on that island; the roar of the guns was incessant; how the shots ploughed the sand banks and the marshes; how the splinters flew from the Beacon House; how the whole island smoked like a furnace and trembled as from an earthquake.'

"If that was true outside of Wagner it is easy to conceive how intensified the situation was within its narrow limits towards which every hostile gun was pointed. The sand came down in avalanches; huge vertical sh.e.l.ls and those rolled over by the ricochet shots from the s.h.i.+ps, buried themselves and then exploded, rending the earth and forming great craters, out of which the sand and iron fragments flew high in the air. It was a fierce sirocco freighted with iron as well as sand. The sand flew over from the seash.o.r.e, from the glacis, from the exterior slope, from the parapet, as it was ploughed up and lifted and driven by resistless force now in spray and now almost in waves over into the work, the men sometimes half buried by the moving ma.s.s. The chief anxiety was about the magazines. The profile of the fort might be destroyed, the ditch filled up, the traverses and bomb-proof barracks knocked out of shape, but the protecting banks of sand would still afford their shelter; but if the coverings of the magazines were blown away and they became exposed, the explosion that would ensue would lift fort and garrison into the air and annihilate all in general chaos. They were carefully watched and reports of their condition required to be made at short intervals during the day.

"Wagner replied to the enemy, her 10-inch columbiad alone to the s.h.i.+ps, deliberately at intervals of fifteen minutes, the other guns to the land batteries whenever in range, as long as they were serviceable. The 32-pounder rifled gun was soon rendered useless by bursting and within two hours many other guns had been dismounted and their carriages destroyed.

Sumter, Colonel Alfred Rhett in command, and Gregg, under charge of Captain Sesesne, with the Sullivan and James Island batteries at long range, threw all the power of their available metal at the a.s.sailants and added their thunders to the universal din; the harbor of Charleston was a volcano. The want of water was felt, but now again unconsciously the enemy came to the a.s.sistance of the garrison, for water was actually scooped from the craters made in the sand by the exploded sh.e.l.ls. The city of Charleston was alive and aflame with excitement; the bay, the wharves, the steeples and streets filled with anxious spectators looking across the water at their defenders, whom they could not succor.

"At 2 o'clock the flag halliards were cut by a shot and the Confederate garrison flag was blown over into the fort; there was an instant race for its recovery through the storm of missiles, over the broken earth and sh.e.l.ls and splinters which lined the parade. Major Ramsey, Sergeant Shelton and private Flinn, of the Charleston Battalion, and Lieutenant Ridd.i.c.k, of the Sixty-third Georgia, first reached it and bore it back in triumph to the flagstaff, and at the same moment Captain Barnwell, of the engineers, seized a battle-flag, and leaping on the ramparts, drove the staff into the sand. This flag was again shot away, but was again replaced by Private Gaillard, of the Charleston Battalion.

These intrepid actions, emulating in a higher degree the conduct of Sergeant Jasper at Moultrie during the Revolution, were cheered by the command and inspired them with renewed courage.

"The day wore on; thousands upon thousands of sh.e.l.ls and round shot, sh.e.l.ls loaded with b.a.l.l.s, sh.e.l.ls of guns and sh.e.l.ls of mortars, percussion sh.e.l.ls, exploding upon impact, sh.e.l.ls with graded fuses--every kind apparently known to the a.r.s.enals of war leaped into and around the doomed fort, yet there was no cessation; the sun seemed to stand still and the long midsummer day to know no night. Some men were dead and no scratch appeared on their bodies; the concussion had forced the breath from their lungs and collapsed them into corpses. Captain Twiggs, of the staff, in executing some orders was found apparently dead. He was untouched, but lifeless, and only strong restoratives brought him back to animation, and the commanding officer was buried knee-deep in sand and had to be rescued by spades from his imprisonment. The day wore on, hours followed hours of anxiety and grim endurance, but no respite ensued. At last night came; not however, to herald a cessation of the strife, but to usher in a conflict still more terrible. More than eleven hours had pa.s.sed. The fort was torn and mutilated; to the outside observer it was apparently powerless, knocked to pieces and pounded out of shape, the outline changed, the exterior slope full of gaping wounds, the ditch half filled up, but the interior still preserved its form and its integrity; scarred and defaced it was yet a citadel which, although not offensive, was defiant.

"It was nearly eight o'clock at night, but still twilight, when a calm came and the blazing circle ceased to glow with flame. The ominous pause was understood; it required no signals to be read by those to whom they were not directed to inform them that the supreme moment to test the value of the day's achievements was now at hand. It meant nothing but a.s.sault. Dr. Dennison says the a.s.sault was intended to be a surprise. He over-estimates the equanimity of the Confederate commander if he supposes that that bombardment, which would have waked the dead, had lulled him into security and repose. The buried cannon were at once exhumed, the guns remounted and the garrison ordered to their appointed posts. The Charleston Battalion were already formed and in position; they had nestled under the parapet and stood ready in their places. The other troops with the exception of part of one regiment, responded to the summons with extraordinary celerity, and the echoes of the Federal guns had hardly died away before more than three-fourths of the ramparts were lined with troops; one gap remained unfilled; the demoralized men who should have filled it clung to the bomb-proofs and stayed there. The gallant Colonel Simpkins called his men to the gun-chambers wherever guns existed. De Pa.s.s, with his light artillery on the traverse to the left, his guns remounted and untouched, stood ready, and Colonel Harris moved a howitzer outside the fort to the right to deliver an enfilade fire upon the a.s.sailants.

"The dark ma.s.ses of the enemies columns, brigade after brigade, were seen in the fading twilight to approach; line after line was formed and then came the rush. A small creek made in on the right of the fort and intercepted the enemy's left attack; they did not know it, or did not estimate it.

Orders were given to Gaillard to hold his fire and deliver no direct shot. It was believed the obstacle presented by the creek would confuse the a.s.sailants, cause them to incline to the right and mingle their ma.s.ses at the head of the obstacle and thus their movements would be obstructed.

It seemed to have the antic.i.p.ated effect and the a.s.saulting columns apparently jumbled together at this point were met by the withering volleys of McKethan's direct and Gaillard's cross-fire and by the direct discharge of the sh.e.l.l guns, supplemented by the frightful enfilading discharges of the lighter guns upon the right and left. It was terrible, but with an unsurpa.s.sed gallantry the Federal soldiers breasted the storm and rushed onward to the glacis.

"The Confederates, not fourteen hundred strong, with the tenacity of bull dogs and a fierce courage which was roused to madness by the frightful inaction to which they had been subjected, poured from the ramparts and embrasures sheets of flame and a tempest of lead and iron, yet their intrepid a.s.sailants rushed on like the waves of the sea by whose sh.o.r.e they fought. They fell by hundreds, but they pushed on, reeling under the frightful blasts that almost blew them to pieces, some up to the Confederate bayonets. The southeast bastion was weakly defended, and into it a considerable body of the enemy made their way but they were caught in a trap, for they could not leave it. The fight continued; but it was impossible to stem the torrent of deadly missiles which poured out from the fort, the reflux of that terrible tide which had poured in all day, and the Federals retreated, leaving near a thousand dead around the fort.

"There was no cessation of the Confederate fire. Sumter and Gregg threw their sh.e.l.ls along with those of Wagner upon the retiring foe; nor was the conflict over in the fort itself.

The party which had gained access by the salient next the sea could not escape. It was certain death to attempt to pa.s.s the line of concentrated fire which swept the faces of the work, and they did not attempt it; but they would not surrender, and in desperation kept up a constant fire upon the main body of the fort. The Confederates called for volunteers to dislodge them--a summons which was promptly responded to by Major McDonald, of the Fifty-first North Carolina, and by Captain Rion, of the Charleston Battalion, with the requisite number of men. Rion's company was selected, and the gallant Irishman, at the head of his company, dashed at the reckless and insane men, who seemed to insist upon immolation. The tables were now singularly turned; the a.s.sailants had become the a.s.sailed and they held a fort within the fort, and were protected by the traverses and gun chambers, behind which they fought. Rion rushed at them, but he fell, shot outright, with several of his men, and the rest recoiled. At this time General Hagood reported to General Taliaferro with Colonel Harrison's splendid regiment, the Thirty-second Georgia, sent over by Beauregard to his a.s.sistance as soon as a landing could be effected at c.u.mmings' Point. These troops were ordered to move along on the traverses and bomb-proofs, and to plunge their concentrated fire over the stronghold. Still, for a time, the enemy held out, but at last they cried out and surrendered.

"The carnage was frightful. It is believed the Federals lost more men on that eventful night than twice the entire strength of the Confederate garrison. The Confederates lost eight killed and twenty wounded by the bombardment and about fifty killed and one hundred and fifty wounded altogether from the bombardment and a.s.sault. Among the killed were those gallant officers, Lieutenant Colonel Simkins and Major Ramsey and among the wounded Captains DePa.s.s and Twiggs, of the staff, and Lieutenants Storey (Aide-de-Camp), Power and Watties. According to the statement of Chaplain Dennison the a.s.saulting columns in two brigades, commanded by General Strong and Colonel Putnam (the division under General Seymour), consisted of the Fifty-fourth Ma.s.sachusetts, Third and Seventh New Hamps.h.i.+re, Sixth Connecticut and One Hundredth New York, with a reserve brigade commanded by General Stephenson. One of the a.s.saulting regiments was composed of negroes (the Fifty-fourth Ma.s.sachusetts) and to it was a.s.signed the honor of leading the white columns to the charge. It was a dearly purchased compliment. Their Colonel (Shaw) was killed upon the parapet and the regiment almost annihilated, although the Confederates in the darkness could not tell the color of their a.s.sailants. Both the brigade commanders were killed as well as Colonel Chatfield.

"The same account says: 'We lost 55 officers and 585 men, a total of 640, one of the choicest martyr rolls of the war.'

By 'lost,' 'killed' is supposed to be meant, but still that number greatly falls short of the number reported by the Confederates to have been buried on the 19th by them and by their own friends under a flag of truce. These reports show that 800 were buried, and as a number were taken prisoners, and it is fair to estimate that three were wounded to one killed, the total loss of the Federals exceeded 3,000. The writer's official report estimates the Federal loss at not less than 2,000; General Beauregard's at 3,000. The Federal official reports have not been seen.

"The limits prescribed for this paper would be exceeded if any account of the remaining forty-eight days of the heroic strife on Morris Island were attempted. It closes with the repulse of the second a.s.sault, and it is a fit conclusion to render the homage due to the gallantry of the contestants by quoting and adopting the language of Dr. Dennison's address: 'The truest courage and determination was manifested on both sides on that crimson day at that great slaughter-house, Wagner.'"

It was no longer a question of doubt as to the valor of Northern negroes. The a.s.sault on Fort Wagner completely removed any prejudice that had been exhibited toward negro troops in the Department of the South. General Gillmore immediately issued an order forbidding any distinction to be made among troops in his command. So that while the black Phalanx had lost hundreds of its members, it nevertheless won equality in all things save the pay. The Government refused to place them on a footing even with their Southern brothers, who received $7 per month and the white troops $13. However, they were not fighting for pay, as "Stonewall" of Company C argued, but for the "_freedom of our kin_."

n.o.bly did they do this, not only at Wagner, as we have seen, but in the battles on James Island, Honey Hill, Ol.u.s.tee and at Bodkin's Mill.

In the winter of 1864, the troops in the Department of the South lay encamped on the islands in and about Charleston harbor, resting from their endeavors to drive the confederates from their strongholds. The city was five miles away in the distance. Sumter, grim, h.o.a.ry and in ruins, yet defying the National authority, was silent. General Gillmore was in command of the veteran legions of the 10th Army Corps, aided by a powerful fleet of ironclads and other war vessels. There laid the city of Charleston, for the time having a respite. General Gillmore was giving rest to his troops, before he began again to throw Greek fire into the city and batter the walls of its defences. The shattered ranks of the Phalanx soldiers rested in the midst of thousands of their white comrades-in-arms, to whom they nightly repeated the story of the late terrible struggle. The solemn sentry pacing the ramparts of Fort Wagner night and day, his bayonet glittering in the rays of the sun or in the moonlight, seemed to be guarding the sepulchre of Col. Shaw and those who fell beside him within the walls of that gory fort, and who were buried where they fell. Only those who have lived in such a camp can appreciate the stories of hair-breadth escapes from hand-to-hand fights.

The repose lasted until January, when an important movement took place for the permanent occupation of Florida. The following account, written by the author of this book, was published in "The Journal," of Toledo, O.:

"The twentieth day of February, 1864, was one of the most disastrous to the Federal arms, and to the administration of President Lincoln, in the annals of the war for the union.

Through private advice Mr. Lincoln had received information which led him to believe that the people in the State of Florida, a large number of them, at least, were ready and anxious to identify the State with the cause of the Union, and he readily approved of the Federal forces occupying the State, then almost deserted by the rebels. Gen. Gillmore, commanding the Department of the South had a large force before Charleston, S. C., which had been engaged in the capture of Fort Wagner and the bombardment of the city of Charleston, and the reduction of Sumter.

"These objects being accomplished, the army having rested several months, Gen. Gillmore asked for leave to undertake such expeditions within his Department as he might think proper. About the middle of December, 1863, the War Department granted him his request, and immediately he began making preparations for an expedition, collecting transports, commissary stores, drilling troops, etc., etc.

"About the 1st of January, 1864, General Gillmore wrote to the General-in-Chief, Halleck, that he was about to occupy the west bank of St. Johns river, with the view (1st) to open an outlet to cotton, lumber, etc., (2d) to destroy one of the enemy's sources of supplies, (3d) to give the negroes opportunity of enlisting in the army, (4th) to inaugurate measures for the speedy restoration of Florida to the Union.

"In accordance with instructions from President Lincoln received through the a.s.sistant Adjutant General, Major J. H.

Hay, who would accompany the expedition, on the 5th of February the troops began to embark under the immediate command of General Truman Seymour, on board of twenty steamers and eight schooners, consisting of the following regiments, numbering in all six thousand troops, and under convoy of the gunboat Norwich:

"40th Ma.s.sachusetts Mounted Infantry, Col. Guy V. Henry.

"7th Connecticut, Col. J. R. Hawley.

"7th New Hamps.h.i.+re, Col. Abbott.

"47th, 48th and 115th New York, Col. Barton's command.

"The Phalanx regiments were: 8th Pennsylvania, Col. Fribley; 1st North Carolina, Lt.-Col. Reed; 54th Ma.s.sachusetts, Col.

Hallowell; 2d South Carolina, Col. Beecher; 55th Ma.s.sachusetts, Col. Hartwell, with three batteries of white troops, Hamilton's, Elder's and Langdon's. Excepting the two last named regiments, this force landed at Jacksonville on the 7th of February, and pushed on, following the 40th Ma.s.sachusetts Mounted Infantry, which captured by a bold dash Camp Finnigan, about seven miles from Jacksonville, with its equipage, eight pieces of artillery, and a number of prisoners. On the 10th, the whole force had reached Baldwin, a railroad station twenty miles west of Jacksonville. There the army encamped, except Col. Henry's force, which continued its advance towards Tallaha.s.see, driving a small force of Gen. Finnegan's command before him.

This was at the time all the rebel force in east Florida. On the 18th Gen. Seymour, induced by the successful advance of Col. Henry, lead his troops from Baldwin with ten days'

rations in their haversacks, and started for the Suwanee river, about a hundred and thirty miles from Baldwin station, leaving the 2d South Carolina and the 55th Ma.s.sachusetts Phalanx regiments to follow. After a fatiguing march the column, numbering about six thousand, reached Barbour's Station, on the Florida Central Railroad, twenty miles from Baldwin. Here the command halted and bivouaced, the night of the 19th, in the woods bordering upon a wooded ravine running off towards the river from the railroad track.

"It is now nineteen years ago, and I write from memory of a night long to be remembered. Around many a Grand Army Camp-fire in the last fifteen years this bivouac has been made the topic of an evening's talk. It was attended with no particular hards.h.i.+p. The weather was such as is met with in these lat.i.tudes, not cold, not hot, and though a thick vapory cloud hid the full round moon from early eventide until the last regiment filed into the woods, yet there was a halo of light that brightened the white, sandy earth and gave to the moss-laden limbs of the huge pines which stood sentry-like on the roadside the appearance of a New England grove on a frosty night, with a sh.e.l.led road leading through it.

"It was well in the night when the two Phalanx regiments filed out of the road into the woods, bringing up the rear of the army, and took shelter under the trees from the falling dew. Amid the appalling stillness that reigned throughout the encampment, except the tramp of feet and an occasional whickering of a battery horse, no sound broke the deep silence. Commands were given in an undertone and whispered along the long lines of weary troops that lay among the trees and the underbrush of the pine forest. Each soldier lay with his musket beside him, ready to spring to his feet and in line for battle, for none knew the moment the enemy, like a tiger, would pounce upon them. It was a night of intense anxiety, shrouded in mystery as to what to-morrow would bring. The white and black soldier in one common bed lay in battle panoply, dreaming their common dreams of home and loved ones.

"Here lay the heroic 54th picturing to themselves the memorable nights of July 17 and 18, their bivouac on the beach and their capture of Fort Wagner and the terrible fate of their comrades. They were all veteran troops save the 8th Pennsylvania, which upon many hard-fought fields had covered themselves with gallant honor in defense of their country's cause, from Malvern Hill to Morris Island.

"It was in the gray of the next morning that Gen. Seymour's order aroused the command. The men partook of a hastily prepared cup of coffee and meat and hard-tack from their haversacks. At sunrise the troops took up the line of march, following the railroad for Lake City. Col. Henry, with the 40th Ma.s.sachusetts Mounted Infantry and Major Stevens'

independent battalion of Ma.s.sachusetts cavalry, led the column. About half-past one o'clock they reached a point where the country road crossed the railroad, about two miles east of Ol.u.s.tee, and six miles west of Sanderson, a station through which the troops pa.s.sed about half-past eleven o'clock. As the head of the column reached the crossing the rebel pickets fired and fell back upon a line of skirmishers, pursued by Col. Henry's command. The enemy's main force was supposed to be some miles distant from this place, consequently General Seymour had not taken the precaution to protect his flanks, though marching through an enemy's country. Consequently he found his troops flanked on either side.

"Col. Henry drove the skirmishers back upon their main forces, which were strongly posted between two swamps. The position was admirably chosen; their right rested upon a low, slight earthwork, protected by rifle-pits, their center was defended by an impa.s.sable swamp, and on their left was a cavalry force drawn up on a small elevation behind the shelter of a grove of pines. Their camp was intersected by the railroad, on which was placed a battery capable of operating against the center and left of the advancing column, while a rifle gun, mounted on a railroad flat, pointed down the road in front.

"Gen. Seymour, in order to attack this strongly fortified position, had necessarily to place his troops between the two swamps, one in his front, the other in the rear. The Federal cavalry, following up the skirmishers, had attacked the rebel right and were driven back, but were met by the 7th New Hamps.h.i.+re, 7th Connecticut, a regiment of the black Phalanx (8th Pennsylvania), and Elder's battery of four and Hamilton's of six pieces. This force was hurled against the rebel right with such impetuosity that the batteries were within one hundred yards of the rebel line of battle before they knew it. However, they took position, and supported by the Phalanx regiment, opened a vigorous fire upon the rebel earthworks. The Phalanx regiment advanced within twenty or thirty yards of the enemy's rifle-pits, and poured a volley of minie b.a.l.l.s into the very faces of those who did not fly on their approach.

"The 7th Connecticut and the 7th New Hamps.h.i.+re, the latter with their seven-shooters, Spencer repeaters, Col. Hawley, commanding, had taken a stand further to the right of the battery, and were hotly engaging the rebels. The Phalanx regiment (8th), after dealing out two rounds from its advanced position, finding the enemy's force in the center preparing to charge upon them, fell back under cover of Hamilton's battery, which was firing vigorously and effectively into the rebel column. The 7th Connecticut and New Hamps.h.i.+re about this time ran short of ammunition, and Col. Hawley, finding the rebels outnumbered his force three to one, was about ordering Col. Abbott to fall back and out of the concentrated fire of the enemy pouring upon his men, when he observed the rebels coming in for a down upon his column.

"Here they come like tigers; the Federal column wavers a little; it staggers and breaks, falling back in considerable disorder! Col. Hawley now ordered Col. Fribley to take his Phalanx Regiment, the 8th, to the right of the battery and check the advancing rebel force. No time was to be lost, the enemy's sharpshooters had already silenced two of Hamilton's guns, dead and dying men and horses lay in a heap about them, while at the remaining four guns a few brave artillerists were loading and fixing their pieces, r.e.t.a.r.ding the enemy in his onward movement.

"Deficient in artillery, they had not been able to check the Federal cavalry in its dash, but the concentrated fire from right to center demoralized, and sent them galloping over the field wildly. Col. Fribley gave the order by the right flank, double quick! and the next moment the 8th Phalanx swept away to the extreme right in support of the 7th New Hamps.h.i.+re and the 7th Connecticut. The low, direct aim of the enemy in the rifle-pits, his Indian sharpshooters up in the trees, had ere now so thinned the ranks of Col. Hawley's command that his line was gone, and the 8th Phalanx met the remnant of his brigade as it was going to the rear in complete disorder. The rebels ceased firing and halted as the Phalanx took position between them and their fleeing comrades. They halted not perforce, but apparently for deliberation, when with one fell swoop in the next moment they swept the field in their front.

"The Phalanx did not, however, quit the field in a panic-stricken manner but fell hastily back to the battery, only to find two of the guns silent and their brave workers and horses nearly all of them dead upon the field. With a courage undaunted, surpa.s.sed by no veteran troops on any battle-field, the Phalanx attempted to save the silent guns.

In this effort Col. Fribley was killed, in the torrent of rebel bullets which fell upon the regiment. It held the two guns, despite two desperate charges made by the enemy to capture them, but the stubbornness of the Phalanx was no match for the ponderous weight of their enemy's column, their sharpshooters and artillery mowing down ranks of their comrades at every volley. A grander spectacle was never witnessed than that which this regiment gave of gallant courage. They left their guns only when their line officers and three hundred and fifty of their valiant soldiers were dead upon the field, the work of an hour and a half. The battery lost forty of its horses and four of its brave men.

The Phalanx saved the colors of the battery with its own.

Col. Barton's brigade, the 47th, 48th and 115th New York, during the fight on the right had held the enemy in the front and center at bay, covering Elder's battery, and n.o.bly did they do their duty, bravely maintaining the reputation they had won before Charleston, but like the other troops, the contest was too unequal. The rebels outnumbered them five to one, and they likewise gave way, leaving about a fourth of their number upon the field, dead and wounded.

"Col. Montgomery's brigade, comprising two Phalanx regiments, 54th Ma.s.sachusetts and 1st North Carolina, which had been held in reserve about a mile down the road, now came up at double-quick. They were under heavy marching orders, with ten days' rations in their knapsacks, besides their cartridge boxes they carried ten rounds in their overcoat pockets. The road was sandy, and the men often found their feet beneath the sand, but with their wonted alacrity they speed on up the road, the 54th leading in almost a locked running step, followed closely by the 1st North Carolina. As they reached the road intersected by the railroad they halted in the rear of what remained of Hamilton's battery, loading a parting shot. The band of the 54th took position on the side of the road, and while the regiments were unstringing knapsacks as coolly as if about to bivouac, the music of the band burst out on the sulphurous air, amid the roar of artillery, the rattle of musketry and the shouts of commands, mingling its soul-stirring strains with the deafening yells of the charging columns, right, left, and from the rebel center.

Thus on the very edge of the battle, nay, in the battle, the Phalanx band poured out in heroic measures 'The Star Spangled Banner.' Its thrilling notes, soaring above the battles' gales, aroused to new life and renewed energy the panting, routed troops, flying in broken and disordered ranks from the field. Many of them halted, the New York troops particularly, and gathered at the battery again, pouring a deadly volley into the enemy's works and ranks.

The 54th had but a moment to prepare for the task. General Seymour rode up and appealed to the Phalanx to check the enemy and save the army from complete and total annihilation. Col. Montgomery gave Col. Hallowell the order 'Forward,' pointing to the left, and away went the 54th Phalanx regiment through the woods, down into the swamp, wading up to their knees--in places where the water reached their hips; yet on they went till they reached terra firma.

Soon the regiment stood in line of battle, ready to meet the enemy's advancing cavalry, emerging from the extreme left.

"'Hold your fire!' the order ran down the line. Indeed, it was trying. The cavalry had halted but the enemy, in their rifle-pits in the center of their line, poured volley after volley into the ranks of the Phalanx, which it stood like a wall of granite, holding at bay the rebel cavalry hanging on the edge of a pine grove. The 1st Phalanx regiment entered the field in front, charged the rebels in the centre of the line, driving them into their rifle-pits, and then for half an hour the carnage became frightful. They had followed the rebels into the very jaws of death, and now Col. Reid found his regiment in the enemy's enfilading fire, and they swept his line. Men fell like snowflakes. Driven by this terrific fire, they fell back. The 54th had taken ground to the right, lending whatever of a.s.sistance they could to their retiring comrades, who were about on a line with them, for although retreating, it was in the most cool and deliberate manner, and the two regiments began a firing at will against which the rebels, though outnumbering them, could not face.

Thus they held them till long after sunset, and firing ceased.

"The slaughter was terrible; the Phalanx lost about 800 men, the white troops about 600. It was Braddock's defeat after the lapse of a century."