The Black Phalanx Part 27

The rout was complete; the army was not only defeated but beaten and demoralized. The enemy had succeeded in drawing it into a trap for the purpose of annihilating it. Seymour had advanced, contrary to the orders given him by General Gillmore, from Baldwin's Station, where he was instructed to intrench and await orders. Whether or not he sought to retrieve the misfortunes that had attended him in South Carolina, in a.s.saulting the enemy's works, is a question which need not be discussed here. It is only necessary to show the miserable mismanagement of the advance into the enemy's country. The troops were marched into an ambuscade, where they were slaughtered by the enemy at will. Even after finding his troops ambuscaded, and within two hundred yards of the confederate fortifications, General Seymour did not attempt to fall back and form a line of battle, though he had sufficient artillery, but rushed brigade after brigade up to the enemy's guns, only to be mowed down by the withering storm of shot. Each brigade in turn went in as spirited as any troops ever entered a fight, but stampeded out of it maimed, mangled and routed. At sunset the road, foot-paths and woods leading back to Saunders' Station, was full of brave soldiers hastening from the ma.s.sacre of their comrades, in their endeavor to escape capture. At about nine o'clock that night, what remained of the left column, Colonel Montgomery's brigade, consisting of the 54th and 35th Phalanx Regiments, and a battery, arrived at the Station, and reported the confederates in hot pursuit.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHARGE OF THE PHALANX.]

Instantly the shattered, scattered troops fled to the roads leading to Barber's, ten miles away, with no one to command. Each man took his own route for Barber's, leaving behind whatever would enc.u.mber him,--arms, ammunition, knapsacks and cartridge boxes; many of the latter containing forty rounds of cartridges. It was long past midnight when Barber's was reached, and full day before the frightened mob arrived at the Station.

At sunrise on the morning of the 21st, the scene presented at Barber's was sickening and sad. The wounded lay everywhere, upon the ground, huddled around the embers of f.a.got fires, groaning and uttering cries of distress. The surgeons were busy relieving, as best they could, the more dangerously wounded. The foot-sore and hungry soldiers sought out their bleeding and injured comrades and placed them upon railroad flats, standing upon the tracks, and when these were loaded, ropes and strong vines were procured and fastened to the flats. Putting themselves in the place of a locomotive,--several of which stood upon the track at Jacksonville,--the mangled and mutilated forms of about three hundred soldiers were dragged forward mile after mile. Just in the rear, the confederates kept up a fire of musketry, as though to hasten on the stampede. It was well into the night when the train reached Baldwin's, where it was thought the routed force would occupy the extensive work encircling the station, but they did not stop; their race was continued to Jacksonville. At Baldwin's an agent of the Christian Commission gave the wounded each two crackers, without water. This over with, the train started for Jacksonville, ten miles further. The camp of Colonel Beecher's command, 2nd Phalanx Regiment, was reached, and here coffee was furnished. At daylight the train reached Jacksonville, where the wounded were carried to the churches and cared for. The battle and the retreat had destroyed every vestige of distinction based upon color. The troops during the battle had fought together, as during the stampede they had endured its horrors together.

The news of the battle and defeat reached Beaufort the night of the 23rd of February. It was so surprising that it was doubted, but when a boat load of wounded men arrived, all doubts were dispelled.

Colonel T. W. Higginson, who was at Beaufort at the time with his regiment, (1st S. C), thus notes the reception of the news in his diary, which we quote with a few comments from his admirable book, "Army Life in a Black Regiment":

"'FEBRUARY, 19TH.

"'Not a bit of it! This morning the General has ridden up radiant, has seen General Gillmore, who has decided not to order us to Florida at all, nor withdraw any of this garrison. Moreover, he says that all which is intended in Florida is done--that there will be no advance to Tallaha.s.see, and General Seymour will establish a camp of instruction in Jacksonville. Well, if that is all, it is a lucky escape.'

"We little dreamed that on that very day the march toward Ol.u.s.tee was beginning. The battle took place next day, and I add one more extract to show how the news reached Beaufort.

"'FEBRUARY 23, 1864.

"'There was a sound of revelry by night at a ball in Beaufort last night, in a new large building beautifully decorated. All the collected flags of the garrison hung round and over us, as if the stars and stripes were devised for an ornament alone. The array of uniforms was such, that a civilian became a distinguished object, much more a lady.

All would have gone according to the proverbial marriage bell, I suppose, had there not been a slight palpable shadow over all of us from hearing vague stories of a lost battle in Florida, and from the thought that perhaps the very ambulances in which we rode to the ball were ours only until the wounded or the dead might tenant them.

"'General Gillmore only came, I supposed, to put a good face upon the matter. He went away soon, and General Saxton went; then came a rumor that the Cosmopolitan had actually arrived with wounded, but still the dance went on. There was nothing unfeeling about it--one gets used to things,--when suddenly, in the midst of the 'Lancers,' there came a perfect hush, the music ceasing, a few surgeons went hastily to and fro, as if conscience stricken (I should think they might have been),--and then there 'waved a mighty shadow in,' as in Uhland's 'Black Knight,' and as we all stood wondering we were aware of General Saxton who strode hastily down the hall, his pale face very resolute, and looking almost sick with anxiety. He had just been on board the steamer; there were two hundred and fifty wounded men just arrived, and the ball must end. Not that there was anything for us to do, but the revel was mis-timed, and must be ended; it was wicked to be dancing with such a scene of suffering near by.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PHALANX RIVER PICKETS DEFENDING THEMSELVES.

Federal picket boat near Fernandina, Fla., attacked by Confederate sharpshooters stationed in the trees on the banks.]

"'Of course the ball was instantly broken up, though with some murmurings and some longings of appet.i.te, on the part of some, toward the wasted supper.

"'Later, I went on board the boat. Among the long lines of wounded, black and white intermingled, there was the wonderful quiet which usually prevails on such occasions.

Not a sob nor a groan, except from those undergoing removal.

It is not self-control, but chiefly the shock to the system produced by severe wounds, especially gunshot wounds, and which usually keeps the patient stiller at first than at any later time.

"'A company from my regiment waited on the wharf, in their accustomed dusky silence, and I longed to ask them what they thought of our Florida disappointment now? In view of what they saw, did they still wish we had been there? I confess that in presence of all that human suffering, I could not wish it. But I would not have suggested any such thought to them.

"'I found our kind-hearted ladies, Mrs. Chamberlin and Mrs.

Dewhurst, on board the steamer, but there was nothing for them to do, and we walked back to camp in the radiant moonlight; Mrs. Chamberlin more than ever strengthened in her blushing woman's philosophy, 'I don't care who wins the laurels, provided we don't!'

"'FEBRUARY 29TH.

"'But for a few trivial cases of varioloid, we should certainly have been in that disastrous fight. We were confidently expected for several days at Jacksonville, and the commanding general told Hallowell that we, being the oldest colored regiment, would have the right of the line.

This was certainly to miss danger and glory very closely.'"

At daybreak on the 8th of March, 1864, the 7th Regiment, having left Camp Stanton, Maryland, on the 4th and proceeded to Portsmouth, Va., embarked on board the steamer "Webster" for the Department of the South.

Arriving at Hilton Head, the regiment went into camp for a few days, then it embarked for Jacksonville, Fla., at which place it remained for some time, taking part in several movements into the surrounding country and partic.i.p.ating in a number of quite lively skirmishes. On the 27th of June a considerable portion of the Regiment was ordered to Hilton Head, where it arrived on July 1st; it went from there to James Island, where with other troops a short engagement with the confederates was had.

Afterwards the regiment returned to Jacksonville, Fla., remaining in that vicinity engaged in raiding the adjacent territory until the 4th of August, when the regiment was ordered to Virginia, to report to the Army of the Potomoc, where it arrived on Aug. 8th. The 55th Ma.s.sachusetts Regiment was also ordered to the Department of the South, It left Boston July 21st, 1863, on the steamer "Cahawba," and arrived at Newbern on the 25th. After a few days of rest, to recover from the effects of the voyage, the regiment was put into active service, and performed a large amount of marching and of the arduous duties required of a soldier. Many skirmishes and actions of more or less importance were partic.i.p.ated in. February 13th, 1864, the regiment took a steamer for Jacksonville, Fla., and spent considerable time in that section and at various points on the St. Johns river. In June the regiment was ordered to the vicinity of Charleston, and took part in several of the engagements which occurred in that neighborhood, always sustaining and adding to the reputation they were acquiring for bravery and good soldierly conduct. The regiment pa.s.sed its entire time of active service in the department to which it was first sent, and returned to Boston, Ma.s.s., where it was mustered out, amid great rejoicing, on the 23rd of September, 1865.

The battles in which the 54th Regiment were engaged were some of the most sanguinary of the war. The last fight of the regiment, which, like the battle of New Orleans, took place after peace was declared, is thus described by the Drummer Boy of Company C, Henry A. Monroe, of New Bedford, Ma.s.s.:

BOYKIN'S MILL.[27]

One wailing bugle note,-- Then at the break of day, With Martial step and gay.

The army takes its way From Camden town.

There lay along the path, Defending native land; A daring, desperate band Entrenched on either hand In ambuscade.

A low and dark ravine Beneath a rugged hill, Where stood the Boykin Mill Spanning the creek, whose rill Flows dark an deep.

Only a narrow bank Where one can scarcely tread: Thick branches meet o'erhead; Across the mill-pond's bed A bridge up-torn.

One single sharp report!

A hundred muskets peal,-- A wild triumphant yell, As back the army fell Stunned, bleeding, faint.

As when some mighty rock Obstructs the torrent's course, After the moment's pause Twill rush with greater force Resistless on.

A moment's pause and then, Our leader from his post, Viewing the stricken host.

Cried 'Comrades, all is lost If we now fail!'

Forming in single file.

They gaze with bated breath, Around--before--beneath-- On every hand, stern Death His visage showed.

'Forward!' They quickly spring With leveled bayonet; Each eye is firmly set Upon that pathway wet With crimson gore.

That 'Balaklava' dash!

Right through the leaden hail.

O'er d.y.k.e mid timbers frail, With hearts that never fail They boldly charge.

Facing the scathing fire Without a halt or break; Save when with moan or shriek, In the blood-mingled creek The wounded fall.

What could resist that charge?

Above the battle's roar, There swells a deafening cheer Telling to far and near, The Mill is won!

The slaughter was terrible, and among the killed was young Lieutenant Stevenson, a graduate of Harvard. The affair was an unnecessary sacrifice of human life, for the war was over, peace had been declared, and President Lincoln had been a.s.sa.s.sinated; but in the interior of the Carolinas, the news did not reach until it was too late to prevent this final bloodshed of the war. Perhaps it may be regarded as a fitting seal of the negro to his new covenant with freedom and his country.

The very large number of negro troops which General Gillmore had under his command in the Department of the South, afforded him a better opportunity to test their fitness for and quality as soldiers, than any other commander had. In fact the artillery operations in Charleston harbor, conducted throughout with remarkable engineering skill, perseverence and bravery, won for General Gillmore and his troops the attention and admiration of the civilized world, and an exceptional place in the annals of military siege. Such fame is sufficient to prompt an inquiry into the capacity of the men who performed the labor of planting the "Swamp Angel," which threw three hundred pound shot into the heart of Charleston, more than four miles away, and also mounted the six 200-pound cannons which demolished the forts in the harbor two miles distant. The work of mounting these immense guns in swamp and mud could only be done by men who feared neither fatigue, suffering nor death.

After the accomplishment of these worlds, wonders, and the subjugation of "arrogant" Wagner, the following circular was addressed to the subordinate engineers for information regarding the negro troops, which drew forth explicit and interesting answers:

"COLORED TROOPS FOR WORK.--CIRCULAR.

"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,

"ENGINEER'S OFFICE, MORRIS ISLAND, S. C., Sept. 10th, 1863.

"As the important experiment which will test the fitness of the American negro for the duties of a soldier is now being tried, it is desirable that facts bearing on the question be carefully observed and recorded.

"It is probable that in no military operations of the war have negro troops done so large a proportion, and so important and hazardous, fatigue duty, as in the siege operations on this island.

"As you have directed the operations of working parties of both white and black troops here, I respectfully ask, for the object above stated, an impartial and carefully prepared answer to the following inquiries, together with such statements as you choose to make bearing on this question: