On the 8th of July, 1862, the Peninsular Campaign came to a disastrous close. McClellan was at Harrison's Landing. The siege of Richmond was raised. Fifteen thousand men had been lost to the army in the fruitless struggle. That grand army, which was the pride and hope of the country and which had fought its way to the gates of the Rebel Capital, had staggered back in a seven days' combat to the banks of the James river. The North was stunned with grief and despair.
Halleck was made General-in-Chief. On the 14th of July, Pope took command of the Army of Virginia. On the 17th, the President was authorized to accept the services of one hundred thousand volunteers for nine months to serve as infantry, for whom the same provision was made as for volunteers for three years, except as to bounty. At the same time arrangements were made to set in motion the terrible machinery of the draft. The President approved the Confiscation and Emancipation Act. The Nation was beginning to adopt stringent and energetic measures. On the 31st of July, all leaves of absence were revoked and annulled, and all officers and privates capable of service were required to join their commands. During the (end of page 5) first week of August, the Confederate Generals were assembling their forces for the purpose of crushing the army commanded by General Pope and advancing to the capture of the Capital. On the 9th of August, Jackson fought Banks at Cedar Mountain.
Such was the aspect of military affairs in the East whilst the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth regiment was recruiting. About three weeks were occupied in this labor. Juniata county furnished two companies, namely: F and I. Captain John P. Wharton, of Perryville, led the men of Company F, and those of I came in charge of Captain Amos H. Martin, of Mifflintown. Both these officers were men of mature years and sterling character, and the young men who followed them from the banks of the Blue Juniata were the flower and promise of the county.
The remaining eight companies were from Franklin county, except part of one company, which was furnished by Fulton. Doebler gathered around him, in Company A, the young men of Chambersburg; and here also Miles and John H. Reel assembled companies G and D. Brownson led down C from Mercersburg. The mountaineers of Fulton, under Pott and Hoke, uniting with the men of Antrim collected by Wm. H. Davison, formed Company B, under Austin. Waynesboro' sent out E, under the Walkers. From the highlands of Path Valley, John H. Walker was followed by the bulk of Company H, Elder filling out the complement with St. Thomas' contribution. The quota of Greencastle marched out as Company K, under Rowe and A. R. Davison. The materiel of these companies was also excellent. The very pick and pride of Franklin county responded to the call of the President at this great crisis of the struggle. The towns and the hill-sides of the Conococheague sent of their best youth. A fair proportion of the officers had seen service and learned the rudiments of drill and discipline in the school of actual hostilities. (end of page 6) This regiment, made up so largely of the citizens of Franklin county, was always regarded with pride by her people as her peculiar contribution to the war.
The several companies of which the regiment was composed assembled at Camp Curtin between the 6th and 10th of August, 1862. These having been duly mustered into service, an election for field officers was held in camp on the 13th of August - the electors being the company officers. This election was without legal force, and merely served to indicate to the Governor the wishes of the regiment in this regard. James G. Elder, of St. Thomas, Franklin county, who had been captain of company C, Second regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, (three months service) was elected Colonel. Captain John Dick, of the One Hundred and Seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, then serving with his regiment in the field, was elected Lieutenant Colonel, and D. Watson Rowe, late First Lieutenant of Company C, Second P.V., was chosen Major. The selection of Captain Dick was due to the desire of the regiment to have the aid of an experienced soldier, but the regulations of the War Department, at the time, prohibited officers of three-years regiments from being transferred to nine-months organizations, (as was said,) and the Governor accordingly commissioned James G. Elder as Colonel, D. Watson Rowe as Lieutenant Colonel, and James C. Austin, who had been voted for as Lieutenant Colonel, to be Major. At the same time, John Stewart was commissioned as Adjutant, and T. Jefferson Nill as Quartermaster.
On the next day, the men having been supplied with arms and clothing, and the companies furnished with camp and garrison equipage, the order to proceed to the front was received by Colonel Elder, and at 4 A.M. of Friday, the 15th of August, tents were struck, and the commissions of the Field and Staff Officers being now handed to them, the regiment was conveyed by car to Baltimore and thence to (end of page 7) Washington, where it arrived at 4 A.M. of the succeeding day. Remaining at the Soldiers' Rest until noon, the march was then taken up for the south side of the Potomac, and at 6 P.M., tents were pitched near Fort Albany, about five miles from the city, a beautiful location, which was named Camp Stanton. General Casey was here in command of the provisional brigades, and to him reports were made. At this time the Surgeons joined the regiment and the Non-Commissioned Staff were appointed. From this camp, on the 22nd of August, the command was moved to Alexandria, and thence four miles out to Mrs. Scott's house, near Clouds' Mills. The regiment was now brigaded with the Ninety-First, One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth, and One Hundred and Thirty-Fourth Pennsylvania Volunteers, commanded respectively by Colonels Gregory, Frick and O'Brien. Brigadier-General Erastus B. Tyler was assigned to the command of the brigade. No change took place in the brigade organization whilst the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth was in service, and General Tyler remained in command until the term of service of the regiments had expired. Here the regiment was fully supplied with ammunition and transportation, and began regular drill. It was ready for work. Major Hershberger, of Chambersburg, went down to the front and instituted a school for officers, which was kept up until the result of the second Bull Run necessitated active movements of the command.
On the 23d of August, orders were received by Colonel Elder to be in readiness to proceed to Warrenton; but, for some reason, the regiment was not moved. On the 26th, indeed, the baggage was loaded and sent off, but the men remained in camp, and in the afternoon again pitched tents. On Sunday, the 31st of August, orders came at 8 P.M., directing Lieutenant Colonel Rowe to prepare to proceed with six companies of the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth and a section of artillery to Bull Run bridge and hold it. (end of page 8) The companies were called out, a train of cars with the artillery aboard stood ready near by. At 11 P.M. Colonel Rowe was ordered to Alexandria for final directions, but the order to move did not come, for the tide of battle had already passed the point designated, and the bridge was destroyed. On this day, companies A and B were sent seventeen miles to the front in charge of an ammunition train, and Company K was also sent to Fairfax Station to guard and care for the wounded there collected. The deep booming of cannon had now, for several days, warned the regiment of the fearful struggle daily drawing nearer, and at length the streams of wounded and stragglers revealed only too clearly that a second time, on the field of Bull Run, the banners of the Union had trailed before the foe.
On the 2nd of September, the whole army was drawn back within the lines around Washington, and the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth was moved to a position one mile from Alexandria, named Camp Wade, between two Forts. Here, on Saturday, the 6th of September, Reverend Samuel J. Niccolls, appointed Chaplain to the regiment, joined it, and the Commissioned Staff was thus made full.
On Sunday, the 7th, a long and tiresome march was made from this camp to Fort Corcoran, up the river, and back again to Camp Whipple beside Fort Richardson, where tents were pitched in a peach-orchard. At 6 1/2 in the evening divine service was held by Reverend Mr. Niccolls, the chaplain, before head-quarters. At that hour, unknown to the men, the whole rebel army had crossed the Potomac and were settling around Frederick.
At this place the regiment learned of the dismissal from the service of Major Austin, on the 5th of September, for visiting Washington without leave, contrary to General Orders, No. 114. Major Austin had been very sick of a severe chronic disease, and ignorant, like the rest, of the order referred to, went to the city and placed himself in charge (end of page 9) of a physician there from August 28th till September 3d, when he rejoined the regiment. This summary dismissal was subsequently, upon a better understanding of the matter, revoked and Major Austin restored, but he then resigned. He accompanied the regiment, however, to Antietam.
It was whilst lying in this camp, a portion of the regiment in the rifle-pits, and the remainder on picket at Bailey's Cross-Roads, near Munson's Hill, every one supposing the enemy to be in full force in front of Washington, and an assault upon the fortifications daily expected, that a flood of letters from Franklin county first informed the men of Lee's invasion of Maryland, and that their hearths and altars were threatened. A very deep feeling pervaded the entire regiment. Every one pondered the situation, and endeavored to divine the near future. While thus the letters came in from the 8th until the 11th, showing with each day an increase of excitement at home; while Lee was issuing his proclamations to Maryland, and McClellan was marching in five parallel columns on Frederick; the men of the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth picketed and drilled, and lounged and smoked in the works around Washington, the monotony broken only by a review on the 9th by Gene- [sic] Fitz John Porter and General Whipple. But the afternoon of Friday, the 12th, found the brigade of Tyler marching through Georgetown and Washington to Meridian Hill, at the foot of 14th street in the latter city, whence began, on Sunday, the 14th of September, the march for the battle field of Antietam.
Before we follow the regiment from Washington a bit of romance connected with its history is to be chronicled. William Fitzpatrick, of Western Virginia, loved or was loved by Frances Day. Fitzpatrick enlisted in company F, from Juniata county, and went to the war with the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth regiment. In a short time he fell ill, (end of page 10) and on the 24th of August, 1862, whilst the regiment lay at Cloud's Mills, he died in the hospital at Alexandria. On the day he died, Frank Maine, a Sergeant of company F, unaccountably deserted. When he enlisted he was a stranger to all the men of that company, but in a few days he had so ingratiated himself with his comrades and officers as to be promoted to Sergeant. He was not heard of any more while the regiment remained in service. But long after, in the far West, a soldier, wounded badly in a great battle, could not conceal her sex, and Frances Day then told how she had followed Fitzpatrick into the army and become herself a soldier and a Sergeant in the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers; of her desertion upon her lover's death, and the abandon and despair which led her to seek again the ranks of the army. To verify her story, letters were written to the officers of Company F, at Mifflintown, and thus the mystery of the Sergeant's desertion was dispelled.
On Sunday, Sept. 14th, the regiment marched with the brigade from the Camp at Meridian Hill for the Monocacy, by way of Rockville, encamping by that stream on the afternoon of the 16th, about the time Hooker's corps was first put in motion on the field of Antietam, and the great battle began. On the first day's march, General Humphreys with his staff was observed on the roadside, snatching a marching review of the brigade as it passed by en route, and it was then learned that a day or two before he had been assigned to the division composed of the brigades of Tyler and Allabach. He remained at the head of this division until the muster out of the regiments composing it. Of these two officers, Tyler and Humphreys, who together had sole charge of the fortunes of this regiment, General Humphreys was a Regular officer, past middle life, educated at West Point, deeply learned in engneering, long attached to the Topographical Department, and so far, during the (end of page 11) war, on the staff of General McClellan. He entered the service on the LSAT of July, 1831, as Brevet Second Lieutenant, in the Second Artillery. Served in Florida: resigned 30th September, 1836: was appointed First Lieutenant of Topographical Engineers, July 7th, 1838. He knew little of human nature in civilians, and when he first assumed command of this division he was not well fitted to handle citizen volunteers. Nevertheless, he was greatly relied upon. General Tyler, on the other hand, was not an educated soldier, but full of military spirit and aptitude, and admirably suited to have charge of a brigade of men fresh from the people. He was heartily liked by all under him, and was as much respected as liked. He was a large, soldierly-looking man, in the prime of life. He entered the army at the outbreak of the war as Colonel of the Seventh Ohio, and served under Rosecrans in West Virginia. He subsequently fought by the side of Shields in the Valley, when Stonewall Jackson was there. The regiment was fortunate in both its general officers.
Tyler's brigade lay on the Monocacy, by the Frederick road, from the evening of the 16th till the middle of the afternoon of the 17th of September, during which time a large body of paroled Union prisoners, surrendered by Miles at Harper's Ferry, passed southward. About 3 o'clock the march was taken up for Antietam, by way of Frederick, Middletown and Boonsboro, and the command was forced forward all night, halting but one hour on the top of South Mountain for rest, and at 8 A.M. of the 18th arrived on the battle field, received twenty additional rounds of ammunition, and took position in reserve with the rest of Porter's corps. The men were much fatigued with the twenty-six miles forced marching, but were in good heart at the prospect of making their first fight near home. The reinforcement which Humphreys thus brought to M'Clellan numbered six thousand men. The fight was not resumed. Lee (end of page 12) crossed the Potomac. Tyler's brigade was moved down to the river bank and watched the enemy on the other side all day, while an Ohio battery amused them with an occasional shell. The brigade went into camp one mile from Sharpsburg, where it lay without a movement worthy of note until the 16th of October. The One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth regiment, raised on the border, was over-overflowed all the while it lay here with friends and relatives, who came in great numbers, bearing loads of provisions and delicacies. The State Colors were presented here, and the division was honored with a review by the President of the United States.
On the 16th of October, General Humphreys, with his division and some artillery and cavalry, made a reconnoisance [sic] into Virginia, crossing the Potomac below Shepherdstown and proceeding as far as Leetown. The enemy's cavalry hovered in the Federal front all the way, and his horse-artillery were kept pretty busily at work. He fell back, however, without showing much resistance, and the casualties were few. The reconnoitering force encamped over night near Leetown, and next day retraced its steps and recrossed the river, the movement having been very finely conducted by General Humphreys. After this, for two weeks, the time passed as before - in guard, drill, parade and review. The ladies of Waynesboro' relieved the monotony somewhat by the presentation of a beautiful banner to Company E, many of the fair donors being present.
At length, on the 30th of October, 1863, (M'Clellan having begun his movement on Warrenton,) the regiment broke camp at 3 P.M., and moved about six miles into Pleasant Valley. At day-break next day the march was resumed, the river at Harpers' Ferry was crossed on pontoons, and the brigade halted four miles beyond the Ferry, in Loudon county. On Sunday, 2nd of November, Snickersville was reached and the regiment went into camp, but having only (end of page 13) had time for supper, the march was continued after dark to the top of the mountain - Snicker's Gap. Here, on the top of the Blue Ridge, the brigade lay until Wednesday, the 5th. The weather was growing cold. The west winds whistled on the mountain peaks and pierced to the marrow of the men's bones. But there were compensations. The soldiers, living off the enemy, reveled in mutton and veal. The enraptured vision of the pickets drank in the beauties of the Shenandoah Valley, spread out like a great quilt beneath them - Berryville plainly in view, and the distant spires of Winchester dimly visible.
From Snicker's Gap the command was moved towards Aldie, but when about four miles from that place changed direction and passed through White Plains to New Baltimore, and thence to the vicinity of Warrenton, where it lay encamped until the 17th of November. Here M'Clellan, attended by Burnside, his successor in command of the army, bade farewell to all the corps in a grand and brilliant review. A day or two later, Fitz John Porter also reviewed the 5th Corps upon taking leave of it - Hooker succeeding him. While here, the six corps of the army were consolidated into three Grand Divisions of two corps each, and the Fifth Corps, now under Butterfield, was assigned to the Center Grand Division, which Hooker commanded. On Sunday, the 16th, Hooker reviewed Humphreys' division, and the men began to know "Fighting Joe," and to take pride in him as their commander. In the evening, Reverend Mr. Niccolls preached his farewell sermon to the brigade, at General Tyler's headquarters. The leave of absence granted him by the Presbyterian Congregation of Chambersburg had expired, and he now resigned the chaplaincy and returned home.
On Monday, the 17th, the division began its march by way of Warrenton Junction and Richland Creek to the vicinity of Falmouth. The weather was rainy, the country (end of page 14) traversed poor and deserted, the rations short, and the march, though the stages were not long, was altogether disagreeable. On the 19th tents were pitched six miles from Fredericksburg, and on the 22d camp was shifted to a point two miles nearer Falmouth. The coldness of the weather now admonished the soldiers to build chimneys and otherwise promote physical comfort in their tents, and the camp soon became a temporary village. Upon the arrival of the regiment here, it was greeted with the return of Captain Reed and Lieutenants Cook and Hornbaker and a number of enlisted men left sick at Antietam.
At 4 A.M. of the 11th December, the reveille was beaten and the regiment moved out to the field of its first great battle. It halted in a level plat about two miles out. The next day it was moved forward a mile or two and bivouacked in a pine woods near the Philips House, and close by the river. During both days the men were inspired by the music of bands and the deep booming of Burnside's cannon on the river bank. On Saturday, the 13th of December, the brigade crossed the Rappahannock on the upper pontoon bridge, entered Fredericksburg at the northern end, then turning to the left moved down to the centre of the town. At 3 1/2 P.M. General Tyler moved his command to the front, and filing to the right from the Telegraph road, entered a low meadow, at the far end of which stood a large brick tannery. Above this meadow, overshadowing it, frowned the rebel redoubts and batteries. The command was massed in this enclosure - the Union and Confederate batteries playing over the heads of the men. Very soon a rebel officer was observed to advance a section, and immediately he opened on the crowded mass beneath. The shell dropped down into the throng and threw the earth and mangled bodies into the air. The men were not in line of battle - could not form in line - were simply awaiting orders. They could only watch the battery on the height above; watch (end of page 15) the flight of the shell into their midst, and shudder at its destruction. It was awful to stand thus and be slaughtered. But at length the order came to move to the left of the Telegraph road and form in two lines under cover of a hill, preparatory to a last charge upon the rebel works on Marye's Heights. The road was swept by the enemy's shell and the bullets of his sharp-shooters. The right of the regiment was hurried across; the left waited a moment at the edge of the road, then it also hastily passed over, but not scathless [sic]. Lieutenant Fortescue, of G, had scarcely put foot into the road before a ball from a sharp-shooter's rifle pierced his head and he fell a corpse.
As rapidly as possible, for it was growing late, the column of assault was formed in two lines. The first line was composed of the One Hundred and Thirty-Fourth Pennsylvania, under Colonel O'Brien, on the right, and the One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Pennsylvania, Colonel Frick, on the left; the second line, six or eight paces in the rear, was made up of the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Pennsylvania, Colonel Elder, on the right, and the Ninety-First Pennsylvania, Colonel Gregory, on the left.
While the brigade was thus forming, at the base of the hill, a battery above was engaged in a fearful and desperate duel with the rebel artillery - their many guns concentrating on it a converging fire. It was an unequal fight. The artillery-men, black with powder and smoke, worked like fiends. Volunteers were sent from the regiments below. In a short time the men were scattered about the ground dead, and the guns were rendered useless or hauled off. At this moment General Hooker and General Butterfield came out of town, and from an eminence a short distance to the rear, prepared to watch the effect of Humphreys' charge.
The men were ordered to rely solely upon the bayonet and cautioned not to fire; the command: "Officers, twelve paces to the front!" was given; the bugles sounded the charge, (end of page 16) and then, with cheer upon cheer, the hill which covered the formation was ascended and the charge began. The ranks were well kept; the men ran steadily and in line. The brick house on Marye's Hill was already reached. The evening was fine; it was just beginning to grow dark. This was the fourth charge made that day over this same ground. Hancock had followed French, and then Howard had gone up the hill. Each charge was repulsed after fifteen immortal minutes. When the third charge failed, Burnside, riding down to the Rappahannock, (the men of the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth saw him pass,) gazing over at those heights, exclaimed, "That crest must be carried tonight!" Humphreys had been at once ordered across. So far he had done his work well. "No prettier sight was ever seen," said Hooker, as he turned to leave the field after the failure of the assault, "than the charge of that Division." General Humphreys himself, a stern judge, who, brave to a fault, exacted much of the soldiers under him and was little given to compliment, spoke highly of the conduct of his command. General Tyler in his report extols their gallantry. Harpers' Pictorial, a week after the charge, contained a large wood-cut illustration of it. But it was unsuccessful.
In front of the brick house at the foot of the crest, and along the raised ground to its right and left, lay a body of men in line prone on the earth. They were the men of the last preceding charge. Whether they did not wish to be run over by the men and the officers on horseback, or from whatever cause, they raised partly up, cried halt, remonstrated with violent gesticulations as the charging line came upon them, and thereby very greatly disarranged the ranks and broke the force of the charge. But the column passed over them like a storm. Colonel Elder led the right wing of the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth to the right of the brick house. Lieutenant Colonel Rowe sent part of the left wing, placed in his charge, also to the right, and led (end of page 17) the two left companies, H and K, around on the other side. These latter companies having a clear field pressed rapidly beyond the house and quite near the stone wall, blazing now in the evening with the enemy's fire. Colonel Elder, with those who went to the right of the house, was greatly obstructed by fences in the way, which had to be broken down. Nevertheless he pushed vigorously beyond the house and approached the stone wall. As the house was passed on either side, the fire of musketry, which was severe before, grew terrific. The long line of stone wall was a sheet of flame. From every eminence, in front, to right, to left, the rebel cannon were turned on the charging column. Whatever was to be done must be done quickly. In one moment more the wall could be gained. How it came about is not known, but certain it is that the men lying in front of the house, who had been passed over, began to fire at the enemy through our advancing lines. Immediately there was a stop. The fire in the front, the fire in the rear, every flash visible in the twilight, astounded the soldiers. Bewildered, they stood for a moment irresolute; then in their excitement began to fire at the rebel line. This was fatal. The charge was over. All its momentum was lost. It was folly to thick of leading men leisurely up to that blazing fence; it was more hopeless still to expect them to stand still and remain enduring that fire. The officers urged. Colonel Elder, gallantly pushing forward, fell badly wounded. General Tyler was struck on the breast with a piece of shell. General Humphreys already had two horses killed under him, and was raving in front of the lines - urging the men on whilst pulling his holsters from under his dead horse. Among the line officers of the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth, Doebler, Pott, Wharton, Walker, Fletcher, and Mackey, had been carried from the field. Men were falling rapidly. Their feeble fire against the stone wall was futile. It was growing dark. Lieutenant Colonel Rowe (end of page 18) was on the left of the regiment, on the other aide of the house, ignorant that Colonel Elder had fallen. The regiment was without a Major. It fell back with the rest of the brigade to the protection of the house, and descending the acclivity up which the charge had been made, re-formed under the cover of the hill whence the charge began.
Of the character of the work which this division was put to do, and of the behavior of the men who followed Humphreys up those heights on that December evening, General Hooker speaks thus, under oath a week afterward, before the Committee on the Conduct of the War; and he who won on many a bloody field the sobriquet of "Fighting Joe," must be supposed no mean judge of a brilliant charge:
Major General JOSEPH HOOKER, sworn and examined.*
"About 2 o'clock, on that day, [December 13th,] I received orders to send another of my divisions to support General Sturgis, and about the same time I received an order from General Burnside to cross over my other two divisions and attack the enemy on the Telegraph road - the same position we had been butting against all day long. As soon as I received the order my divisions commenced crossing.
"I rode forward to see what I could learn from the officers - French, Wilcox, Couch, and Hancock - who had been engaged in the attack. Their opinion, with one exception, was that the attack should not be made on that point. After conferring with them I went to examine the position to see whether or not it could be turned. Discovering no weak point, and seeing that many of the troops that had already been engaged in the attack were considerably demoralized, and fearing that should the enemy make an advance, even of but a small column, nothing but disaster would follow, I sent my Aid-de-camp to General Burnside to say that I advised him not to attack at that place. He returned, saying that the attack must be made. I had the matter so much at heart that I put spurs to my horse and rode over here, [the Lacy House, where the committee were sitting,] and tried to dissuade General Burnside from making the attack. He insisted on its being made.
"I then returned and brought up every available battery in the city, with a view to break away their barriers by the use of artillery. I proceeded against the barriers as I would against a fortification and (end of page 19) endeavored to breach a hole sufficiently large for a "forlorn hope" to enter. Before that, the attack along the line, it seemed to me, had been too general - not suffciently concentrated. I had two batteries posted on the left of the road, within four hundred yards of the position upon which the attack was to be made, and I had other parts of batteries posted on the right of the road at the distance of five or six hundred yards. I had all these batteries playing with great vigor until sunset upon that point, but with no apparent effect upon the rebels or upon their works.
During the last part of the cannonading I had given directions to General Humphreys' division to form, under the shelter which a small hill afforded, in column for assault. When the fire of the artillery ceased I gave directions for the enemy's works to be assaulted. General Humphreys' men took off their knapsacks, overcoats and haversacks. They were directed to make the assault with empty muskets, for there was no time there to load and fire. When the word was given the men moved forward with great impetuosity. They ran and hurrahed, and I was encouraged by the great good feeling that pervaded them. The head of General Humphreys' column advanced to within, perhaps, fifteen or twenty yards of the stone wall, which was the advanced position which the rebels held - and then they were thrown back as quickly as they had advanced. Probably the whole of the advance and the retiring did not occupy fifteen minutes. They left behind, as was reported, seventeen hundred and sixty of their number, out of about four thousand.
"I may as well state here that Sykes' division was drawn up to support Humphreys, so that in case he should succeed, I could throw forward all the force that I had left - Sykes' division, about four thousand men - to hold the position in face of thirty thousand who were massed behind that wall. That was why I did not like to make the attack, because even if successful, I could not hold the position. It was now just dark. Finding that I had lost as many men as my orders required me to lose, I suspended the attack, and directed that the men should hold, for the advance line between Fredericksburg and the enemy, a ditch that runs along about midway between the enemy's lines and the city, which would afford a shelter for the men.
"I will say that, in addition to the musketry fire that my men were exposed to, the crests of the hills surrounding Fredericksburg form almost a semi-circle, and these were filled with artillery, and the focus was the column that moved up to this assault. That focus was within good canister range, though I do not think any canister was thrown on my men that day. All those difficulties were apparent and perfectly well known to me before I went into this assault. (end of page 20) They were known also to other officers. General French said to me that the whole army could not take that point." * * *
Question. - Had you made any impression upon their works?
Answer. - Not the slightest; no more than you could make upon the side of a mountain of rock. * * * * * *
Question. - How did the men behave during the attack?
Answer. - They behaved well. There never was anything more glorious than the behavior of the men. NO CAMPAIGN IN THE WORLD EVER SAW A MORE GALLANT ADVANCE THAN HUMPHREYS' MEN MADE THERE. But they were put to do a work that no men could do."
Colonel Elder was carried from the spot where he fell to the brick house, and after a while into Fredericksburg to the hospital, where he was placed in charge of Doctor Nugent. His left leg near the thigh was fearfully shattered, and his life for a time was despaired of. He was subsequently conveyed to Washington, where he remained until the regiment was mustered out, the command of it devolving, thenceforth, on the Lieutenant Colonel. The wounds of Captain Doebler also prevented his return, and Lieutenant Welsh was in charge of Company A from this time. During the charge the color-bearer of the One Hundred and Thirty-Fourth regiment was shot; and the colors of that regiment were rescued and safely brought off by George E. Jones, of Company H, One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth, and returned by Lieutenant Colonel Rowe to the regiment. The brigade went into action two thousand strong, and lost in the few minutes of the charge, thirty-three officers and four hundred and twenty-three men.
About 9 o'clock at night the brigade was withdrawn from the field and rested in the streets of the town. At 3 A.M., however, it was again taken under Colonel Gregory to the scene of the evening's charge. Everything now was perfectly quiet, not a gun broke the stillness of the night. The groans of the wounded rang out clear in the night air. The ground was strewed with the dead and dying, and the ambulances and stretcher-bearers flitted quickly and quietly over (end of page 21) the field. A deep mist obscured everything. Lieutenant Walker was out with a party detailed for the purpose, seeking all night long the wounded and dead of the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth. Until daylight the regiment lay on the ascent below the brick house. In the morning the brigade was relieved and taken by General Tyler into Fredericksburg, the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth being quartered in a graveyard opposite the office of G.H.C. Rowe, Esq., which was used as regimental headquarters. The 14th was Sunday. On the evening of the 15th, the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth was posted as a strong picket along one of the streets in the suburbs. From this duty it was subsequently taken, toward midnight, and hurriedly conducted across the city and out to the left beyond the limits of the town, across a stream and up a road to a small brick house. Here four companies were held in reserve, and the remainder were posted on the edge of a precipitous hill running in a semi-circle round to the railroad. The enemy's pickets could be heard talking. The men crawled quietly to their places and lay flat down, their guns pointing through the fence. Arrived at the block-house, Lieutenant Colonel Rowe placed therein Captain Brownson, with a dozen of his men, and sent Captain Walker with six of company E's men across to the railroad. Just at this time the moon shone out brightly for a little while, throwing long shadows down the hill, rendering what was doing observable to the enemy. But fortunately the changing of the pickets was now accomplished. Soon, however, it grew dark again and towards morning rained very hard. All night long the army of Burnside had been busy seeking the North bank of the Rappahannock, yet so quietly that not the rebels only but this regiment (except one or two officers) knew nothing of it.
Toward daylight an order came to withdraw the command as speedily and cautiously as possible. Colonel Rowe had (end of page 22) hardly begun to put this order in execution before it was countermanded; and the men had to be put back. Then part of a company of the Ninety-First under Captain Lentz, and also a body of Berdan's sharpshooters were sent to him. Again the order came to withdraw, and again it was countermanded by fast-riding aids-de-camp. The army was not yet quite over the river. The Lieutenant Colonel was exceedingly fearful these movements among the pickets would draw the attention of the enemy. It was a long time growing light, but now at length it was broad-day, when, not too soon, the order came to hasten to the bridges. The regiment was hastily collected together. Lentz, with his men and the sharp-shooters, were to remain until the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth should begin to move down the road to town and then fall in as skirmishers on the flank and rear. All this was happily executed (with one oversight), and the regiment, double-quicking, entered the town, found the lower bridge taken away, hastened to the upper bridge, without stopping for the knapsacks which had been stored when about to proceed to the charge. This bridge had also been swung out into the river, but was now put back, and the regiment crossed over to the other side. Then the bridge was again cut loose and Fredericksburg was abandoned by the Union. army. The One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth was the last regiment to cross.
But Captain Lentz with six of his men was in the blockhouse. Lieutenant Bonsall, of F, the officer sent to withdraw the pickets and convey the orders to Lentz, had mistaken his lieutenant for him, and he was in utter ignorance of what was doing. Here he remained some time alone (he and his six men) of all the army, in front of the enemy. A rebel soldier, approaching cautiously, found six guns suddenly thrust out at him, and surrendered. Brought into the block-house he surprised Lentz with the news of the evacuation of Fredericksburg. Look- (end of page 23) ing out he saw the Union line deserted and the rebels gathering towards the block-house. He left suddenly with his prisoner, down the steep hill, across the canal, through the edge of the town, the other end of which was swarming with rebels, hid behind the abutment of the destroyed bridge, until a gallant little fellow, a drummer, swam across for a skiff, which, brought back, saved most of Lentz's party. The morning of the 16th the regiment breakfasted in the pine woods where it had bivouacked the night of the 12th, and after noon settled down in the former camp. It left camp with twenty-six officers and six hundred and six men, but company I, having been detached as hospital guard, did not participate in the action.
A few days after the battle of Fredericksburg, the Rev. John Ault joined the regiment as Chaplain. He remained with it, however, only until the 18th of January, when the mud-march was begun, at which time, being sick, he went home on leave, and did not rejoin the command again until it arrived at Harrisburg for muster-out. Until the mud-march the life in camp was monotonous and devoid of excitement. The courts-martial of Lieutenants Cook and Hornbaker, of the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth, and afterwards of Colonels Frick and Armstrong, of the One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth, which grew out of the dress-coat difficulty, alone gave any zest to it. Lieutenants Cook and Hornbaker left the regiment at Antietam after the battle, when the regiment was under orders to move, and went home, sick, with the Surgeon's leave - but there was want of formality in procuring the leaves of absence. Though both undoubtedly sick and wholly unfit for duty in the field, they failed to send to the headquarters of the regiment the certificates required by regulations and orders. They were accordingly found guilty and dismissed, and left as the command started on the mud-march. The dismissal of Lieutenant Cook, upon a full presentation of his case, was after- (end of page 24) wards, and after the muster out of the regiment, justly revoked by order of the President. It is to his credit, that being under arrest at the time of the battle of Fredericksburg, he asked permission to have his sword and command restored in order to his taking part in the battle, which was refused. Lieutenant Hornbaker made no effort to have his sentence reversed, but subsequently entered the army as a private and effaced whatever stain there was upon his record, if any, by his death on the field of battle.
The difficulty about the dress-coats, which was quite an episode in the life of the regiment, was succinctly this: About the 10th of January, 1863, General Humphreys issued an order that all the men should draw dress-coats. Now, whatever clothing the men drew above a prescribed quantity, they were charged with, and they were already amply provided with blouses and warm under-clothing. Dress-coats were superfluous for comfort. This was represented to the Division General, but he clung to his caprice, and the men refused to take the coats. The regimental and company commanders were placed in an awkward position. The order was arbitrary, but it was imperative. They finally refused to compel their men, and were placed in arrest. They were, in the end, forced to yield and made the necessary requisitions, and the men took the coats off their hands, but threw them away, and the only effect of the order was to subtract several dollars from each man's pay. The Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel of the One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth remained contumacious, were placed in arrest, tried and dismissed the service, but were restored again by the President, and wrote in their vindication a book called "Red Tape and Pigeon Hole Generals."
But now the time had come for Burnside to move again. At 2 1/2 o'clock, P.M., of Tuesday, the 20th of January, the brigade to which the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth was attached (Tyler's) marched out of camp and journeyed two (end of page 25) miles on the famous mud-march. Towards evening it began to rain and continued to rain all night, sometimes with much violence. The men were drenched; the roads were made dreadful. It rained the next day, during which the command made some four miles. On the 22nd, the brigade lay in a woods where it had encamped the night before. This day there was no forward movement. The afternoon was employed in making corduroy road. There was no thought of going ahead; how to get back was the question. Pontoon trains, wagons, guns, ammunition trains, encumbered the roads. Horses and mules were everywhere floundering in the mud. The soil, though tenacious, was without bottom. The supply trains could not be brought up. The whole army, therefore, was put to corduroying. Regiments could be seen coming across the country like moving groves, every man carrying a tree top. So Birnam Wood once came to Dunsinane.
"Let every soldier hew him down a bough,
And bear 't before him."
Behind came others bearing the rails of rifled fences. The branches thrown into the mud made a bed for the rails. Whole woods were cut down and thrown into the road. On Friday, whiskey rations were issued to the command, and the same work was continued. At length, on Saturday, the 24th, the brigade marched back over the road it had helped to make to the former camp, and so the mud-march ended. Burnside after this resigned, and Hooker became commander of the Army of the Potomac. General Meade was assigned to the command of the Fifth Corps.
For three months all grand military operations ceased. In this interval, however, the troops were constantly and energetically drilled and disciplined. The ranks were filled up. Clothing was furnished, and excellent food in abundance. A system of furloughs was instituted. From the 1st of February till the 1st of May, the regiment daily grew better in physique and morale. (end of page 26)
On Monday, the 2d of February, Tyler's brigade was transferred from the camp it had hitherto occupied, near Falmouth, to another a mile or two further West, where were greater conveniences of wood and water. The new location was a very beautiful as well as advantageous one. The regiments were in the woods, on the sides of gently eloping hills, at the foot of which ran a stream of clear water. The One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth and One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth were placed side by side and over against the Ninety-First and One Hundred and Thirty-Fourth, on the other side of the stream. Brigade head-quarters were near by, on a bluff, amidst cedars. This camp was the home of the regiment during the remainder of its term of service. Three quiet months were passed here in picket and drill, and inspection and parade; in eating, sleeping, smoking; in going to camps, and hurdle-races and home (as to some); in drawing rations and washing, and writing love-letters; in rollcalls and reviews; in camp and hospital guard, and burials of the dead with muffled drum.
Among the occurrences of this time which excited a lively interest in the men of the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth regiment, was the presentation to General Tyler, by the men and officers of his brigade, of a magnificent young horse, named "Young Salem," of "Grey Eagle" stock, pure white, and superbly beautiful, - bought in Ohio for a large sum, - together with the necessary trappings and housings, and a splendidly mounted sword and spurs. The visit, also, of Governor Andrew G. Curtin, in March, and the subsequent review by General Polardi, a Swiss officer of rank, served to relieve the tedium of the days.
About the 25th of February, Stuart pressed back our cavalry out-posts, which created some excitement in camp. The regiment was hastily forwarded to the picket line, and kept under arms all night - a night which will remain long in the memories of the men on duty. "It snowed and (end of page 27) blowed," said they upon their return, "and we marched in a circle all night long through the snow and mud to keep warm."
The 22d of February was duly observed by the firing of cannon in the morning, which, naturally enough, was mistaken at first for a fierce attack by the enemy. But the repose at head-quarters, and the absence of gay Aids hurrying with sharp messages, quieted all such apprehensions. On this anniversary of the birth of Washington, celebrated by the Army of the Potomac, in the midst of a great war for the Union which he founded, an echo in every soldier's breast responded to the loud acclaims of the deep-mouthed cannon.
At Head-Quarters of the Regiment: On the 25th of February, Lieutenant Colonel Rowe was made President of a court-martial and military commission which sat at the head-quarters of Allabach's brigade, and remained on this special duty until the 17th of March, when he took command of the brigade for ten days. During this period, Captain Andrew R. Davison, the senior captain present, commanded the regiment. On the 31st of March, Captain Robert S. Brownson, of Company C, was mustered in as Major, and assumed command as such. Adjutant John Stewart was appointed by General Humphreys, on the 11th of April, Commissary of Musters for the Third Division, Fifth Corps, and Lieutenant George F. Platt acted as Adjutant thereafter. In April, Assistant Surgeon Grube was transferred to the Sixth Corps. B.B. Henshey, the Hospital Steward, having been discharged on account of disability, on the 1st of the same month, Lewis Keyser was appointed to fill his place. Nugent, resting from the amputations and dressings of Fredericksburg, and the Assistant Surgeon, Swift, dealt out, at the hour of the Surgeon's call, the daily portions of quinine and calomel; while Nill, the Quartermaster, and his aids, Allison and Kinsler, (what time the (end of page 28) reveille had summoned the men from their downless couches to the labors of the day,) devoted themselves assiduously to the diurnal duty of issuing hard-tack and pork. The Sergeant Major, Ziegler, was busy in the Adjutant's quarters with the morning reports, or flitting about the camp with unwelcome details for picket or guard. Miller and Donovan, and their comrade musicians, were ever and anon, throughout the day, sounding their too-accustomed calls; and Tommy Daily and Kauffman, the color-sergeants, at the hour of dress-parade, brought out the colors which they carried so gallantly up the heights of Fredericksburg, and which they were destined to wave so lightly in the face of the enemy in the dark woods about Chancellorsville.
In the Companies: In February, Captain William H. Davison was appointed Assistant Inspector General on the Staff of General Tyler, and detached thenceforth until the muster out of the regiment. The command of the company devolved on Lieutenant James Pott; the First Lieutenant, Henry M. Hoke, having been made Division Ordnance Officer in October, 1862, and detached on the staff of General Humphreys. On the promotion of Brownson, James P. M'Cullough was advanced to Captain from First Lieutenant, to which he had been promoted on the discharge of Hornbaker. The First-Lieutenancy remained vacant. Lieutenant Trout, in command of a detachment of thirty men, was on duty at the General Hospital, Stoneman's Switch, from the 16th of January till the 16th of March. John H. Reed resigned the captaincy of company D in January, and Josiah C. Hollinger was its commander subsequently, with Platt as First Lieutenant and McCauley as Second. All the officers of company H were absent on account of wounds for two months succeeding the battle of Fredericksburg, and in the interval of their absence, Lieutenant Walker, of E, first, and afterwards Lieutenant McWilliams, of F, was assigned to the command of that company. Benjamin F. (end of page 29) Zook was made Second Lieutenant of company G in the place of Harry Fortescue, mourned by his company. Lieutenant Rowe commanded A.R. Davison's company while the latter had charge of the regiment, and John W.P. Reid was for a while Ambulance Officer. Company A was kept small by details from it, and Doebler was much missed by his men, but his absence was not regretted more by them than by Welsh and McLenegan, his Lieutenants. Captain William W. Walker, enjoying a better fortune than most others, obtained from General Hooker a leave of absence for twenty days for the benefit of his health, and hied him off to Waynesboro', leaving George Walker and Brenneman to look after company E. This was before the epoch of "leaves" and furloughs. George L. Miles and McCurdy were accustomed, in these peaceful times, to take a quiet delight in exercising their men in the manual of arms; and while Martin of I watched with fatherly care over his men, and Davis amused himself with the drill, the honest Lieutenant Degan enjoyed himself often on extra and special duty.
Lieutenant Bonsall, of Captain Wharton's company, was in arrest from the time of the battle of Fredericksburg until the 29th of January, on the following charge and specification:
Charge: Failure to deliver orders entrusted to him by his commanding officer for delivery.
Specification: In this, that he, the said Lieutenant James C. Bonsall, of company F, One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers, whilst his company and regiment were on picket duty to the front and left of Fredericksburg, having been ordered by Lieutenant Colonel D. Watson Rowe, the officer commanding his regiment, to communicate an order of Brigadier General Humphreys' to the commanding officer of the Berdan Sharp-shooters, and to the commanding officer of a company of the Ninety-First Pennsylvania Infantry, on the picket line held by the said One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth regiment, in relation to the withdrawal of the said sharp-shooters and the said company of the Ninety-First, did fail to deliver said order to the commanding officer of the said company. This at or about 6 o'clock A.M., of the 16th day of December, 1862. (end of page 30)
This charge was tried by a court-martial, and Lieutenant Bonsall was not found wholly blameless, but was restored to duty. His duties during the entire night of the 15th were of an arduous and dangerous character, being constantly, sent with orders along the picket line, withdrawing and replacing the men; yet he performed them with fidelity and alacrity. The blame principally attached, in the opinion of the Court-Martial, to the officer of Lentz's party to whom Bonsall communicated the order, after asking for the officer commanding the party, and being referred to him as such, and who failed to notify his captain of its reception; and they found him guilty and inflicted upon him a sentence of extraordinary severity. This, however, General Humphreys did not approve. In consequence of the failure to receive Colonel Rowe's order, Lentz and his men were in great danger, and some of them were captured, as before narrated.
Many other things occurred in this interval between the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, which it would be pleasant to relate, but the limits of a brief Sketch forbid.
The Changes in the Rank and File of the Companies: Who, among the thousand men, was killed; who was wounded; who nobly died; who meanly deserted; who was discharged or taken prisoner; who was promoted and who reduced, will be found in the following pages in a compact shape. In the List of Casualties are gathered the heroes of the battles. But not all of them; for many brave men escaped unharmed - too many to be mentioned by name. Many gallant deeds of officers and men must remain unwritten, to be told and talked of by the cheerful fire of a winter's night; and many interesting stories and laughable incidents and, perhaps, some pitiful tales, like that of Susan S. Edrington, - the sweet young lady of seventeen summers, who died on the picket line - must be reserved for those private recitals.
In this Sketch a simple chain of occurrences has been (end of page 31) forged, each link of which, like a morning drum-beat to a spectral army, will call up before the minds of the participants in the scenes described, a thousand departed and long-forgotten associations connected with bivouac and battle.
On Monday, the 27th of April, Lieutenant Colonel Rowe received orders to be ready to move the regiment at 12 M., and at that hour the march was taken up for Chancellorsville. The effective of the regiment was twenty-nine officers and five hundred and seventy-seven men; but Captain W.W. Walker's company having been detailed for guard duty, was temporarily detached from the regiment, decreasing its strength by three officers and fifty-six men. Proceeding up the river on Monday and Tuesday, the Rappahannock was crossed on Wednesday, at Kelly's Ford, by means of pontoons. Crossing Mountain creek the same evening and halting long in the darkness of the night, on Thursday, the 30th, the Rapidan was passed at Ely's Ford. It was an inspiring sight - the crossing of the Rapidan. The long column moving down into the swift river, stretching across and far up the long and gentle ascent on the southern side; the men wading arm-pit deep, clothes and cartridge boxes swinging on the bayonets of the guns held well up in the air. Having encamped over night in a wood of thick-standing pines, on the 1st of May, (Friday,) the direct road to Chancellorsville was taken, and shortly before noon the regiment, with the brigade, was massed by the side of the Chancellor House, a solitary large brick dwelling, on an open clearing of some three hundred yards in extent each way, in the margin of the Wilderness, which constitutes Chancellorsville. Precisely at 12 M., the first gun of the great fight opened. Three roads run east from Chancellorsville towards Fredericksburg: on the right, the plank road; to its left, the turnpike, uniting with the former at Tabernacle Church; still to the left, and not far from the (end of page 32) river, a road leading to Bank's Ford. Slocum's corps took the plank road, Sykes' division the turnpike, and Meade, with Griffin's and Humphreys' divisions, advanced on the river road for five miles and came within sight of Bank's Ford. Thus this ford was uncovered and a position obtained out of the Wilderness on a commanding ridge. As suddenly as unaccountably the three columns were ordered back. Tyler's brigade hastened back at the double-quick the whole distance to Chancellorsville, and came in just as Sykes was arriving, skirmishing hotly with the enemy who had followed him closely. Tyler was just able to get in without becoming engaged. On Friday evening, the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth, with the brigade, lay quite near the Chancellor House, being on the left of the line of battle, which stretched along the Orange plank road, westward about four miles. On Saturday, Humphreys was moved back near to the Rappahannock, to the vicinity of Scott's Dam, and held a formidable position there on high and steep bluffs, which he lined with artillery. Here the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth lay during Saturday and Saturday night, whilst Jackson made his famous onslaught on the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps. The enemy occasionally showed himself on this part of the line, but made no attack or advance. Early on Sunday morning, however, Tyler's brigade was moved down from the heights which it held, and hurried to the right. Along the road lay the Eleventh Corps greatly shattered, ready to occupy the position evacuated.
About eight o'clock Tyler reached the open ground and the road running from Chancellorsville to Ely's Ford, and prepared at once for action. In the hasty march to the right, about thirty men of the regiment had seized the opportunity to drop out among the men of the Eleventh Corps, and the Lieutenant Colonel commanding having ordered the rolls to be called, four hundred and ninety men only (end of page 33) responded to their names; but they were to be relied upon, and the regiment was still comparatively large. Shortly the order came to move into position in the line of battle, and Lieutenant Colonel Webb, of General Meade's staff - across the open space swept by the batteries, down into the dense woods a good distance - led the brigade and placed it on the right of General French, whom it was to support, and under his orders. Captain W.W. Walker's company having been detached as before-mentioned, did not participate in the action, but a few of its men went in with Wm. H. Davison's company.
The brigade was just getting into position on the right of French, (in the order from right to left of Ninety-First, One Hundred and Thirty-Fourth, One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth, and One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth,) when a scout brought word to Colonel Rowe, which was at once communicated to General Tyler, that the enemy was hurrying masses to the right and would advance to the attack at once. At the same moment, almost, the brigade opened fire on the right, and in a few minutes the entire line was engaged. During the whole of this action the right of Tyler's brigade was "in the air." No troops whatever were in position on its right flank, and there was nothing to protect that flank or prevent its being turned. The First Corps was not yet in place so as to join it. French, therefore, was on the left; nothing was on the right of this brigade. Stuart, now in command - in place of Jackson, shot the night before - was pushing his forces to Tyler's unprotected right, and beyond it.
From the first the firing of the brigade was very rapid. The enemy, in the dense woods and thicket, were not very clearly seen by the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth, nor did they for some time reply actively at this part of the line. Colonel Rowe, therefore, sent first the Sergeant Major, Ziegler, then Major Brownson, and at last went himself to (end of page 34) General Tyler to inform him that the fire did not seem to be effective, and that the enemy appeared to await the time when the ammunition should be exhausted, for their charge - stating that it was already very low and requesting that the firing should cease or at least slacken. But General Tyler, having the whole line and all its exigencies in view, ordered the firing to be kept up, saying "Your men are doing excellently, Colonel." At length, after more than an hour's hard work, the ammunition was spent, and the men were beginning to rifle the cartridge-boxes of the dead and wounded to supply themselves. The enemy now evidently began to press forward more earnestly; their banners advanced through the woods; their fire began to tell fearfully on the ranks of the regiment. The gaps, however, were speedily closed, and the line was firm. The company officers were very diligent and active. Major Brownson, in the Lieutenant Colonel's place on the right, and Captain A.R. Davison, acting Major, on the left, increased their exertions. Adjutant Stewart (now Division Commissary of Musters and detached, but participating in the action with the regiment), and Acting Adjutant George F. Platt, aided Brownson and Davison, respectively, with coolness and effect. Colonel Rowe was everywhere along the line with words of encouragement. But every moment it became more evident that unless ammunition arrived soon, the line could not long be held. Colonel Rowe was cut in the cheek with a rifleball. Major Brownson's clothes were pierced with bullets. Lieutenant J. Gilmore Rowe, commanding company K, was borne from the field badly wounded in the head. Captain Walker of H was struck. Men were falling all along the line. On the right, company C had lost full one-fourth of the men McCullough took in. Company I, on the left, had suffered nearly as much, and company H even more severely. General Tyler now sent word that ammunition was not to be had after repeated endeavors; that General French's orders were (end of page 35) to retire in as good order as possible when the ammunition should be entirely exhausted. Still the enemy pressed harder and harder in front.
Such was the state of affairs in the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth, when Stuart, having turned the right of the brigade and taken it in reverse, was pouring down his troops on the right and rear, filling all the woods. The Ninety-First regiment was first struck, and to avoid capture fell back. Then in turn the One Hundred and Thirty-Fourth, next in line to the right, gave way. This left the right flank of the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth exposed. To change front in that dense thicket was impossible, even if the impetuous charge which the regiment was now sustaining in front would have permitted. The line was held, however, till the last minute - till the rebels on the flank were within forty yards; then, from right to left, the line melted away in the thick woods, and emerging upon the cleared space beyond, re-formed behind the battery. Lieutenants Fletcher and McCauley, and Sergeant Lesher, with a number of men, became mixed with the enemy and were captured. The rebels pressed closely after to the edge of the clearing and showed themselves on the open ground, but the guns opened upon them with grape and canister, they speedily disappeared in the shadow of the forest.
The same fate with the other regiments befell the One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth, which stood on the left of the line next to French's men. In its turn it was swept back, but so mingled did its men become with the enemy that there was a hand to hand tussle for the colors, which, however, were safely borne off at last. Having re-formed behind the battery, which stood near the small white house along the road to Ely's Ford, the regiment remained there in support of it, until the First Corps got well into their position on the right of the line, when it was withdrawn with the rest of the brigade back from the road, a short dis- (end of page 36) tance into the woods, where it remained until the return movement began.
The night of May the 5th, (Tuesday,) was a hard and gloomy one. It rained violently. The commissary stores were burnt. The army was falling back across the river. Again all sacrifices had been in vain. the men lay or sat about all night long awaiting momentarily the order to move to the rear. It came at daylight. In the forenoon of the 6th, the swollen stream was crossed on pontoons at United States Ford, and after a fatiguing march of twelve miles, through deep mud, the site of the old camp, whence the regiment started on the Chancellorsville campaign, was reached, and it was done with marching and fighting.
A quiet week in camp succeeded the battle of Chancellorsville. The term of service of the regiment was about to expire. General Tyler assembled it, and publicly extolled the conduct of the men in both the great actions in which they participated. Tuesday, the 12th of May, was a day of leave-taking in camp. There was a great visiting among the regiments, and the General's quarters were crowded all day. At six o'clock in the morning of Wednesday, May 13, 1863, the regiment took cars to Stoneman's Station for Aquia Landing, and ceased to belong to the Army of the Potomac. At Aquia, the boat Warner lay ready to convey the men to Washington, where, after a beautiful ride up the Potomac, they arrived, and went to the Soldiers' Retreat, blessing, all the way, James Watt and those who helped him, bring about, for purposes of locomotion, the substitution of steam and iron for human will and muscle. The next forenoon the cars carried them to Baltimore. At dark they continued their homeward journey to Harrisburg. At 7 o'clock in the morning of Friday, the 15th, the regiment marched, with drums beating and flags flying, through Harrisburg to Camp Curtin. The comrades, free from restraint, gay and happy, enjoyed themselves about the town or in the camp, (end of page 37) for several days, while the officers were busy with the preparation of the muster-out rolls. At length, on Wednesday, the 20th of May, the companies were mustered out of service, the men received their pay and discharges, and, with cordial hand-shakings, separated and started home. The companies from Juniata were welcomed at Mifflntown [sic], and those from Franklin county received a great ovation at Chambersburg. Each town and township beside gave a separate reception to its own peculiar company.
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