September 17, 1862: 2nd PA Emergency Militia (L. Richards)

Read the previous day here.

 

 

150 years ago today, while the Battle of Antietam raged...

 



Drilled in the morning in the adjoining fields, and while thus engaged observed a renewal of the reports of artillery towards the south, heard on the day previous, and with still greater distinctness.  These proceeded, as we afterwards learned, from the battle-field of Antietam, some thirty miles off.  A dull gruff belch, at irregular intervals, accompanied by a sense of concussion, told the story of the distant conflict.  This inspired strange and solemn feelings.  Human lives were being offered up as a sacrifice upon the altar of our country, and thousands of homes would sit in dread suspense until it should be known upon whom the fatal blows had fallen.  The result, too, was of great concern to us, who were auxiliaries in reserve against an untoward crisis.  The evolution now assumed a significance they had not heretofore possessed.  Their object seemed no longer to be skill merely, but preparation.  The zeal for duty was quickened, and it was the idea of responsibility which was uppermost in the minds of all.  Additional regiments meanwhile arrived, among others two of the Gray Reserves and Home Guards of Philadelphia, which left Harrisburg yesterday.  With drilling, guard mounting, and the usual routine of camp duties, the day wore slowly away.  Another picturesque scene at night.  After roll-call crawled again into our comfortable domicil [sic] of cornstalks, with every reason to expect another good night's sleep.

 

About 11 o'clock...the beating of the ominous long roll aroused us from our peaceful slumbers, and the word quickly passed that we had received marching orders for Hagerstown, and were to be ready to leave at 12. The accouterments having been collected by the light of the fires, the regiment marched to the railroad, a mile off, where it was expected a train would be waiting for us. Alas! we here received our first practical lesson of the great uncertainty of military movements, and the mechanical nature of the duties of the soldier, who must obey orders, simply, without inquiring for reasons. In the quality of civilians, which we could not altogether consent to drop, our sense of individual importance was frequently infringed upon in our new capacity. Each in his turn felt disposed to divide with his superiors the responsibility of command. After waiting several hours in the crisp cool air of the autumn night without and train appearing, we lost all patience and lay down on our blankets for temporary repose. As the dews of heavens gently distilled upon our unprotected forms, the memory of the comfortable quarters we had just left did not add to the feelings of reconciliation to our present miserable situation. Morning broke at length and breakfast was improvised by the cooks.

- Louis Richards

September 17, 1862: 5th PA Emergency Militia

Read the previous day here.

After we enjoyed, more or less, a night's rest hardly worth mentioning we received marching orders without stating the exact time; but our good Officers who treated their men so affectionately "like a father treats his children," awakened us about 5 o'clock in the morning.  In the afternoon of the 17th we left Camp Horn [near Chambersburg, PA] in haste, without knowing exactly where we were going; but the breaksmen told us that we were going to Dixie.  On the same day the battle of Antietam Creek was fought, in which the army of the Potomac, under Gen. McClellan, crowned itself with the laurels of victory.  About midnight we crossed the line of Pennsylvania and arrived at Hagerstown.  After a short march from the depot, in the darkness we halted in one of the principel [sic] streets, when the order "Rest" rang along the line.  

Never was an order more promptly obeyed, for each one being fatigued gladly sought refuge on the hard pavement.  During this time the superior Officers were consulting with one another, what measures to adopt, wether [sic] to move forward to Boonsboro or to go back to the line of Pennsylvania.  Several Companies began to sing patriotic tunes in the midst of a secession den. - Silence like death reigned in the streets.  The windows only were dimly illuminated.

The sweet sounds of music appeared like the spirits of our departed sires rising from their graves, inspiring us with an ardent love and zeal towards our country.  Only one Union man stepped out stating that he had two sons in the federal army, and ordered his servant to refresh us with a drink of water.  We arrived at Hagerstown exactly 48 hours after the rebels had evacuated the town.  We marched for hours in full equipment double quick time, without knowing where we were to halt.  Some murmured that we were to have an engagement on the morrow.  Every one of us, except a few complaining creatures on Canon fever patients, were resolutely determined to stand of fall like men.  The officers finally decided to remain on an eminence north of the town, until morning, awaiting further orders.  

Expecting a sudden attack of the enemy's cavalry we slept on our arms for about two hours, on the dusty soil of Maryland. 

I embraced my musket like a romantic lover his darling bride, praying "Lord of hosts, lead me to victory or death", and fell asleep.

September 17, 1862: 2nd PA Emergency Militia (J. Witmer)

Read the previous day here.

We were awakened just before daylight with orders to pack our knapsacks and prepare to march. We hastily got our blankets rolled up, and all our goods packed into our knapsacks with the exception of our plate and tin-cups and awaited breakfast fully expecting to be hurried off immediately. We got coffee and fresh beef for breakfast this morning, with crackers as usual.  I wrote my first letter home this morning, telling of adventures. We heard very heavy cannonading which continued all day in the direction of Harpers-Ferry.  We afterwards learned that it was the Antietam battle. Still the orders to march did not come, and we waited patiently until night came, when we thought certainly we would be allowed to sleep once more in our shanties, in anticipation of which I drove in a couple of stout stakes just above where I lay to prevent my being rolled out again in the night. I had just got my stakes driven, and was thinking how completely every thing was fixed when we received orders to fall in. We now had 50 rounds of cartridge given us (I had 10 rounds before which made 60.) and were told that we were to march to the railroad to get transportation, for Hagerstown. Every one seemed in good spirits, they apparently did not know that in order to reach that place, the state line had to be crossed. We marched about 1 ½ miles before arriving at the railroad, and then waited a long time for the cars, they finally came, but owing to some mistake they had another regiment on board and we had to wait till morning. We lay down on the ground in our blankets without any fires, and in spite of our hard beds and the cold, slept quite soundly.

- John Witmer

September 17, 1862: 7th PA Emergency Militia

Before being sworn into state service for the "emergency", the 7th Pennsylvania Emergency Militia had been known as the 3rd Regiment Infantry Gray Reserves from Philadelphia.  With hostilities growing in 1861, the Grey Reserves had been organized, and made up of National Guard regiments from the city.  The National Guard was not what we think of today, however, it was a well trained and well equipped militia unit that could be called upon by State and Federal government.  Many such units provided the back bone of the famed Pennsylvania Reserves, which were originally intended to act as Pennsylvania's last line of defense at the outbreak of the Civil War, before they were sent to Washington to strengthen the Union ranks after the disaster at the Battle of 1st Bull Run.  Upon the reorganization, the 3rd Regiment was designated as the "1st Regiment of the Brigade" (the Gray Reserves), and was then referred to as the 1st Regiment National Guard of Pennsylvania.  

The 7th PA Emergency Militia was among the very few military organizations that were accepted into state service as an already organized regiment.  Generally, after Gov. Curtin's call of Sept. 4, militia companies arrived in Harrisburg, organized into Regiments, and then sent south toward Maryland.  Being allowed to keep their regimental structure allowed the 7th to be quickly transported to Harrisburg, and then quickly transferred down the Cumberland Valley Railroad to Hagerstown.  There was some displeasure at losing their familiar Regimental designation (1st Regiment), and being given a new one (7th PA Emergency Militia).  However, with their presence in the Emergency Militia, Pennsylvania was assured of at least one unit with solid military training and cohesion.  

We pick up the 7th's journey on late on the night of September 16th:  

The arrival [in Chambersburg on the 16th] was after dark, and the troops were quartered through the night in churches and school-houses, until the next morning when they moved out to a wood on the south side of the town to an encampment known as "Camp McClure."

Instead of a camp, it was scarcely a halt.  Orders immediately followed to re-entrain, and the regiment was again on its way, this time over the State line to Hagerstown, Maryland.  On the route an issue of ball cartridge was made, forty rounds for the cartridge-box and twenty for the pocket.  At eight o'clock on the evening of the seventeenth on its arrival at Hagerstown the regiment left the cars, stacked arms in the main street, and awaited the distribution of what proved to be a very limited supply of rations.  The commissariat, by those who looked to it to be fed, was pronounced a failure, and what the soldier got he had either brought with him or gathered up from his own pursuit of it of obtained it through purchase by his officers while on the move.  Coffee was a negligible quantity.  There was mischief somewhere - nobody cared to inquire where.  It was said there were ample stores at the depots, but supplied and consumers rarely met.

Knapsacks and baggage were left behind at Hagerstown, and with lightened load the regiment pulled out for its first real march to Boonsboro.  The distance was ten miles, which with an hour's halt at Funkstown was covered before daylight on the morning of the eighteenth.  "I remember," reads a note made of the occasion, "that weary march, and how we dropped like logs, in bivouac, at three o'clock in the morning, feeling the coming day might be fatal to some of us; for signs of war and battle were in the air, and the guns of Antietam had been making unwonted music to our ears.  Signals on the mountain tops, orderlies dashing by, broken caissons and vacated rebel camping grounds told us we stood on sacred soil; but the battle was over when we reached Boonsboro."

The march [to Boonsboro] was well along, when the regiment pulled out of the road and into the timber for a short halt and a brief rest.  Overstrained to the limit of endurance, the men were soon asleep.  Other troops began to pass along the road, and their tramp aroused some of the more restless.  One especially, bewildered at his sudden awakening, hurriedly gathered accoutrements, knapsack, and musket, and hastened to join the ranks of the moving column, thinking it his own, with the very natural inquiry for his own Company D.  "Yonder on the right," was the prompt response.  Our new recruit pushed along until he dropped into what he supposed was his place or very near it, neither he in the darkness recognizing any of the men about him, nor they him.  He had failed to extend his inquiry beyond the letter of his company.  What regiment it was had altogether escaped him.  By and by day began to break, strange faces were all about him, and the distant boom of the cannon indicated a near approach to a battle-field.  Suddenly it dawned upon him he had forgotten to ask for the regiment, and when he did, back came the answer, "Twenty-ninth Pennsylvania."  Without disclosing his mistake, he quietly let himself drift to the rear, and after some tribulation, much fatigue, and a bit of chagrin found his way back to his command again.

source:

Latta, James. History of the First Regiment Infantry National Guard of Pennsylvania (Gray Reserves) 1861-1911. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1912.

September 17, 1862: Byers' Independent Cavalry Co.

Read the previous day here.

Windy, signs of rain.  Left Spriggle's [Farm] at 7 A.M., for [Hagerstown], where we reported to Gen. Reynolds at 8 to 9.  Received orders to proceed to Jones' Cross Roads [modern day intersection of MD65 & MD68], six miles on the Sharpesburg Pike or road, where we arrived about 10 to 11 A.M.  Found great  bustle.  large numbers of the Anderson Cavalry about, riding back and forth as orderlies to and from the scene of the terrible fight there and all day going on in the neighborhood of Sharpsburg. 

We have been within very distinct hearing of the rapid and incessant discharges of artillery at the fight the whole day since daylight this morning.  Saw some secesh prisoners from the fight brought in while we were at the Cross Roads.  We reported there, as ordered, to Captain Palmer who is by no means of unassuming appearance a man of some 30 years of age, about 5 feet 10 inches high, quite thin, reddish face, quick and firm looking, but evidently...feeling and thinking himself to be some considerable [?], and that he was making that impression upon observers.  He inquired our force and how we were armed; said we would do very well, and ordered us to proceed to Williamsport, some four miles distant, by way of Manor Cross Roads to relieve, as I at finish understood him, a cavalry company there.  We started off and when within a mile or two [of] Williamsport were met by him coming from that direction.  How he had got round or ahead of us I cannot say, as we had left him at the Cross Roads.  He hurried us in on the gallop and sharp trot to Williamsport, and ordered us through Capt. [Byers], and his aid, one Samborn or Sambent, to proceed to the burning of the ware-houses, canal boats, board yards, etc. to prevent and obstruct the passage of the retreating rebels across the river into Virginia at that point.  Our fellows unhorsed and went into it with a will, and in a very short time - say from 10 to 15 minutes the ware-house, planning mill and lumber yards were in full and terrible conflagration.  Many of the leading citizens cursed and swore at what they chose to designate as a wanton useless and unauthorized destruction of property, calculated in no way to retard the progress of the rebels across the [Potomac] river.  They got up a great excitement against us, and for a time it seemed as if they had determined to make an attack upon us.  Capt. Palmer was there until the flams was fully going, and left there to direct us the aid above named.  There were no Union troops of any kind in Williamsport or nearer than one to two miles.  A brick dwelling house, said by the man who lived in it to belong to "dam rebel or secesh", was burned from the were heat of the burning warehouses nearest it, which were some 20 or 30 yards off, and the wind blowing parallel with and not toward the house any part of the time.  We got there about the middle of the day, and had our work accomplished, including the undermining of and preparation to blow up the wall of the aqueduct across the creek, and despositing a heavy amount of powder in it, awhile before sun set.  We had orders to remain there until notified by our pickets or by Union picket firing that the enemy was approaching, and then to leave on the Hagerstown road.  Our horses were tied round a certain warehouse on the main street, or near it and around a coal yard fenced in, not unsaddled, but with bridles off, eating hay.  We had laid down to sleep about 9 to 10 o'clock - myself and the bugler together.  He went to sleep soon.  I had not gone to sleep, when about 10 1/2 to 11, four picket shots followed by Captain's order, "Up men!" roused us, and in less than five minutes we were in our saddles and on the way out of Williamsport.  When out about 1 to 1 1/2 miles, we encountered a heavy picket of cavalry, which we at first took for rebels, drawn up along the side of the road.  They were uncertain of  our character and purpose for a time as we were of theirs.  Questions were hurriedly exchanged an "who are you?" and a shot fired on their side, (a warning shot, I suppose) I drew my right pistol and the Captain and I Leut Boyed advanced slowly.  Explanations took place and we turned out to be friends - they a picket of New York cavalry encamped near by where we encountered them.  We pass on and made our camp that night at Spriggle's [Farm], east of Hagarstown and some seven miles from Williamsport, an hour or two after mid-night. 

- Charles Rawn

source:

"The Militia Journal of Charles Rawn, September 9 to 23, 1862". ed. by Darin Smith. available from http://rawnjournals.com/papers/militia_journal_1862-09-09_to_1862-09-23#pdf; Internet.