Four Years With the Iron Brigade

by Lance Herdegen

  10 A.M. And the Rebs come out & charge on both sides of the fort & our men run so that they couldnt hold it & perhaps 400 of the Bravest of the Brave had to surrender. Which they did. Then our fellows poured the shot & shell into them when they see the Rebs had it back again. Oh, how our Boys cursed & damned them & damned the officers for not reinforcing our Brave fellows when the Rebs would charge on them. There is something wrong says the Boys. The Boys yell to much commisary allowed, meaning of this that the officers were to Drunk on commisary Whiskey. For last night when our Brigade Ammunition team came up with ammunition they brought a Barrel of whiskey. I suppose thinking that would be needful to insure success. But the Rank & file didnt get a smell.

  By this time we had nearly quit firing as the Rebs wouldnt show themselves above the Brestworks at all. Only now & then a man & our fellows would send a number of ball after him & not unfrequently bring them down. Well we are ordered to assume the defensive & give up the offensive for the Present. Evrything is lost that was gained early in the morning.

  The Boys begin to cook coffee & prepare & eat breakfast and 11 oclock dinner togather. Things look rather dubious. The rumor is that we have captured a line of their works on the left but I don’t place much confidence in it. The firing has ceased except the usual desultory fire as before the Battle.186

  The news from the north is anything but good. The Rebs have whipped our forces & drove them back to Harpers Ferry & still confronting them. & it is anticipated that they (the Rebs) are going to make another Invasion of Maryland. But our fellows are preparing to give them a warm reception. But the news from Sherman is good. That is that he has closed in around Atlanta & cut off all but one road of escape & that the cavelry has started for that & are almost sure to cut it. He defeats the Rebs in evry attempt to suprise him &c. The Army is in high spirits. They ought to be surely.187

  (Evening) And the things are as usual. Except the conflicting rumor about the Disaster and who the blame rests upon &c. There was one Divison of Negro troops in the Battle for the fort. The rumors about how Brave or how cowardly they are &c. But the best founded rumor is that that Regt of negros did run. Their officers run first & this seem to be the truth for it is not denied and evrybody believes it. For many of the negros stayed & fought without any officers to command them. Tis said by the 37th & 38th Wisconsin that was in with & fought with the negros. That the negros done as well and many instances better than some whites because they fought without officers which our Boys is not apt to do. & when the Rebs captured them they put them in a squad by themselves &c. Well I saw two squads going away & there is rumors that they didnt take a negro prisnor & when they did they abused them & even cut out their tongues &c other barbarities. I as well as most of us think the negro will fight if he is commanded by good officers. I say try again. The negros seem to hate the defeat as bad or worse than we do.188

  July 31, 1864

  And fine day somewhat cooler than yesterday, sprinkled rain a little once today. We were relieved last night about 9 P.M. & came to camp & had a good nights rest. We lay in camp today till about 2 P.M. when were ordered to pack up to be ready to move at a minutes notice which we soon done & come about 2 miles to the left. & after laying around and resting an hour or so we were put into camp for the night in front of a large fort on the hill. We got supper & laid down without taking the blankets for now. Twas verry warm & sultry. Tis said we are to do Picket duty & garrison this fort. That is our Brigade and the troops that are here are to move out and we go into their camp. They are nice camps. Shades built over the tents & many things fixed up which they will have to leave. They will come good for us. But at the same time I am sorry to see them have to leave things for I know how it is by experience.

  Today there is not much said about the fight. The rumor is & I think it is true that our Genrls sent in a flag of truce to care for the wounded & bury the dead. But the Rebs only received it & returned it & when it was nearing the work they fired on it. They are verry cross. They wouldnt let our fellows do anything to relieve the wounded (so the rumor is) but give them water. The reason, I suppose, is that they have none but what is inside their works, as they near come over them so they can take care of theirs anyway in spite of us & our poor fellows must lay there & suffer. Tis horrible they say to look on the dead & wounded. They lay piled up. I could see in the evening after the Battle that the ground on their side of the fort looked quite blue and know it must be as the fighting was done on such a small space. & we cant see what was done on the other side of the fort as right there, the line turns.

  August 1, 1864

  And fine day and we are still here in front of the fort. Get breakfast & then get ready & move into a camp used by a Battalion of sharpshooters in rear of the fort. They are just moving out & leave many things that will be useful to us. We come in & Brinkman gets a nice place with a good bunk already made. Tentpoles &c. We just pitch our tent over them & go to work to fix up a table & made a stool &c and fixed up generally. Then policed all around, got cleaned up. So by evening the camp has a homelike appearance. All the tents have a shade over them. Take it altogather, the camp would be hard to beat. All the Regts have been assigned to the camps that have been evacuated by other regiments. All nice camps. There is plenty of wells that have been dug by the occupants of the camps & altogather the Brigade has a nice place & we have to garrison the fort. But none is camped in it. But there is a guard kept on it. There is one line of Rifle Pitts along here, they being small ones & they are only guarded lightly. So we can man the work & lay in camp for our camp is within a few rods of the works & the Picket line is 2 or 3 miles out. Therefore if we are attacked, the Picket firing will warn us in time to run to the works. We are almost on the extreme left of the line now & we are almost out of hearing of the fire of Musketry on the right where we used to lay. We were on the right of the Corps & now I guess we are on the left of the Corps.

  The news today is to the effect that the Rebs are going into Maryland. The news from Sherman is about the same as yesterday, still grasping around Atlanta. The mail comes & with it a letter for me, or rather a small bundle. A pair of socks with a box of pills & a verry nice little needlebook in them & in the needlebook a nice little letter from Sister Lu. In the letter she says all is well and that Mother was not at home. She being on a visit to Thurza Anns & Marys & all the relatives in that neighborhood. I was delighted to hear from home again & know all was well & Lu seen from the letter what I wanted & she sent me the things.

  Sergt Eustice went over to the Pioneer Corps & got a kettle to wash & when he was done, I got it & Brinkman & I went down and washed evry bit of our clothing (but coats) & boiled them & now we will be rid of lice perhaps for a few days at least. & we washed our persons. We feel much better. Most all of us have got what we call the ground itch which is caused by being so dirty. Our clothes is packed full of dust & our skins is caked with dirt. All of which we could not help till now. & perhaps we will have a chance to get clean if the Johneys will let us. At least I think we will act on the Defensive for a while now until the army is recuperated as also to get in some of the men that have been called for.

  August 2, 1864

  We lay in camp all day. Do a good deal of policing. Our camp is in fine order. There was a detail for Picket made taking about half our Co & we have to guard the fort too. One out of each Co for the Fort. I got 2 letters from home, one from Mother & one from Lu. They are well. They sent me a sheet of paper & envelope in each letter. I wrote a letter to Mother but wouldnt mail it for I thought I would get one from home. Brinkman has gone on Picket.

  August 3, 1864

  And fine day & nothing unusual transpired today. There was a fatigue party went out & cleaned out the trenches that we are to occupy if the enemy come to attack us. I finish writing the letter to Lu today & mailed it. The paper brings the sorrowful news of the Rebels being in Maryland & Pennsylvania again & they have burned Chambersburg, a nice thriving city in Pennsylvania & committing various depreda
tions to numerous to mention & the news from Sherman is meagre, he being in about the same position as yesterday.189

  The news from this Army is various. But the supposition was when the last dispatch was sent by the correspondents of the Press that we would be in Petersburg in a day or two. That dispatch being sent when we had evry prospect of winning. But tomorrows paper will have the failure. The rumor that the Rebels wouldnt receive the Flag of Truce has proved untrue for they did & allowed us to bury the dead & care for the wounded. Tis said 150 of the former & 40 of the latter were found in & about the fort or at least between the lines. There is a rumor the Paymaster is coming.

  August 4, 1864

  And fine day & this is my Birthday making my 26th. And also Thanksgiving day. But I think there wasnt much given in the Army if there was at home. The news is nothing exciting except from Maryland. The Rebs are there in some force. But how much they don’t know. I got a letter from Richard Lander. He is well & at Memphis. He has been out on the great expedition which whiped Forrest so bad & tore up the Mobile & Ohio R.R. & done a big thing. I am on guard today as Corporal of the Guard. Only three men on guard at the well.

  August 5, 1864

  I didnt get a paper today. But tis said the news is the same as yesterday. The papers is filled with the particulars of our failure here & the Rebs in Maryland &c.

  August 6, 1864

  A fine day & verry warm towards evening. I go on Picket this evening. We start from camp at 3 P.M., go to Brigade Headquarters where all the Regimental details meet & from there we go to Picket line. Reach it half past four, it being about 1 ¼ miles & we are posted, I with 4 Privates on one post. There is a cavelry camp in our immediate front & most of them is out on Picket 4 or 5 miles in front of us so we are in secure place for Picket. One man on post at a time so we have pretty heavy duty.

  August 7, 1864

  And fine day with a slight sprinkle in the evening. But not enough to do us any good. Evrything goes on right & we are getting along fine. We are still in hearing of the firing of the 9th Corps & we are still 1 ½ mile south of our camp. I was quite unwell last night with headache & pain in bowels. But feel great deal better today. I feel quite at a loss for news. Get no paper & even no reports or rumors. I feel hungry for some news. I wrote a letter to Mother today & I hear from some of the Boys that come out to get apples &c from the orchards outside of the Picket line from a mile to mile & half, that I have a letter in camp. But they forgot it. The Boys will go out anyhow & they get some pretty good apples but generally they are verry poor. They, like evrything else in Virginia, are verry poor.

  August 8, 1864

  And fine day & warm. The Brigade of Cavelry that was here was relieved today by another Brigade & they went back to the rear to go into camp & recuperate themselves & horses. 1 of the Boys went into camp today & brought out the mail. I got 2 letters, one from Mother and one from Henry. The folk are well as usual. I see from them that Isaac Lander has sold his farm again, this time for $3,000. He has made $600 by taking it back from the man he sold it to last spring. He has the crops off the place &c. That was a lucky hit for him that Thomas wouldnt have it. But he don’t say who he sold it to this time. He and Henry are talking of going out west to look up a new home. I wish I were there to go with him. But there is no show for it now until the war is over or I am discharged.

  August 9, 1864

  And fine day. Rather cooler today. Good signs of rain but it passed around us. There was a great deal of thunder & lightning. We were relieved last evening about dark & came to camp. I find my tentmate has gone on Picket. I guess they have changed the program so that we, our Brigade, does Picketing all the time on a certain part of the line & the 2nd Brigade on another certain part. For the last two or three nights there has been a detail out to build a fort in the front on the Picket line away down to the right where the works are close together. The Rebel works within a quarter of a mile. I wrote a letter to Sarah & John today.

  August 10, 1864

  And fine day with nothing unusual but the report of that Mobile is taken by [Admiral David] Farragut.190 I wrote a letter to Mother today.

  [Ed. Note: End of Diary. Ray’s next page contains the following list:]

  First Relief:

  Atkinson, Alexander, B. Bryan, Cook, Brinkman, Delp, Mchugh, Hutchinson

  Second Relief

  P Bryan, Booth, Rice, Lesler, Endicott, McDonald, Garner, Bronsetter [Branstetter]

  Note: 200 cartridges wanted in Co. F to make 40 rounds each

  Picket Guard:

  1. O. Clark, 2. H.M. Pulver, 3. D. Borst, 4. D. Birdsill

  2. Relief

  B.C. Tolison, Co E

  G. Donaldson, A

  [Ed. Note: The sheets of paper in the back of Volume 12contain the balance of Ray’s diary for this period.]

  August 15, 1864

  And fine day, somewhat cooler today. We had an awful hard shower about 10 to 11 oclock last night. Run me out of bed, the water come about 2 inches deep in & under my bed. So I got up and crawled on to some poles & got some sleep, some of the Boys was up all night playing poker & other kinds of gambling. We lay in this camp all day today. I now hear we were to go to City Point last night & get on transport to go some place. Some say to Fortress Monroe. But we don’t know where & others say we come here to act in the same capacity as the 2nd Corps so as to be in supporting distance of either flank of the Army. We are expressing our money home. The Chaplain is here to take it to City Point & there he will put it in the Agents hands and get the receipts for it &c. I sent $100.00 to Henry & with what I had coming to me in the Co. I will have $25.00 left me to dispose of for such articles as necessary. [See Appendix 2]

  Just night and we have had an awful hard shower, harder than the one we had last night. The water run in a flood all over the ground. This will effectually lay the Dust which had become intolerable. Brinkman & I fixed up our tent & I went to an old camp near by & got some boards & put a floor in it. So we will have a nights rest if it does rain.

  August 16, 1864

  And fine day. Pretty warm. We don’t go away today. But about 10 AM we move a little ways & make a new camp & are likely to stay here a few days at least. We will have to make shades over our tents if we stay long here so as to keep the sun off. We have plenty of good water here. The troops that was in those camps, I must give them great credit for their enterprise they showed by providing themselves with good water. Our Boys have never dug a single well in any of our camps. Our officers don’t take hold of such things as they ought to. They lay around, seemingly without energy enough to eat & drink. I have often spoke of digging wells. But nobody takes any notice of such things. Our Col is good enough but the line Officers are lazy, verry.

  August 17, 1864

  And fine day with a shower in the evening. We lay in camp as usual and evrything is quiet. The Boys are patronizing the Sutler pretty well. I commence to write a letter today to Sister Lu, but didn’t get it finished.

  August 18, 1864 [Start of the Battle of Weldon Railroad or Globe Tavern]

  And fine but verry warm day. We marched at just daylight. Come to near the front and then turned down marching Southward towards the left flank of the Army. I find our whole corps is going. The Divisions that were in the works being relieved by so many of the 9th Corps. After getting pretty well towards the left we went outside of the works and on outside of the Picket line. We have to rest often, the heat being so overpowering. See several sunstruck.

  The rumors are many & of a great variety. The general opinion is that we are going to the Weldon RailRoad to bear it up and perhaps hold it. Soon the word comes that the first division hold the Railroad & have tore up 1 ½ miles of it. We soon come in sight of it & see that it is done. We stop for dinner. They fly around and get dinner, all pretty near given out. Just before stopping, one of our Co. (Webster Cook)191 was sunstruck. We soon got a stretcher & carried him off & under a shade & put him in care of the doctor. There was only just men enough left
in the Co to carry him off, all the rest being stragglers. I come verry near being one of the latter, but kept up.

  We can hear skirmishing up the road a mile or so towards PetersBurg which I think we can not be more than ten miles from. After getting dinner we start and go up towards the firing. We soon get where the bullets whiz past over us and they are fighting hard. We hear our Boys cheer & the Rebs cheer. The wounded begin to come to the rear but not verry fast. But more stragglers. The Provost Guard stops most of them, letting none through but the wounded & our Boys stop many. We are in support of those fighting.192

  The Boys drive & are driven &c for a couple of hours when our line, all but a strong skirmish line, fall back & same in front of us. March off to the left flank where the rebs are driving them back a little & we march up in as pretty a line as ever I seen to the edge of the woods & halted & built work. The fighting is over except skirmishing & our Batteries throw a shell once & a little while. We must lay on our Arms all night ready for any emergency. So they order us. Night comes on & all is quiet except the skirmishing. The Rebs we captured says their generals tell them that they must have the road back at all hazards & they will try it tomorrow.