The Regt being so small, the noncoms, at any rate of our company, condescend to stand post & I with the balance. But this I generally do so it did not matter much for me. Things all quiet on our part of the line. But away up the right, considerable picket firing. Two posts have one Vidette out in daytime & at night one from each. I & Sergt Alexander & 3 Privates are on this post. I got my first State Journal [newspaper] today that I subscribed for some few days since. It is the weekly.
October 11, 1864
And fine day & all quiet in our front & going on well &c. We commence to fortify our posts today & the Pioneers to chop a little timber down in our front.
We draw rations today it being my turn to do so. We had to go clear back to camp. The Rebs & our Boys got into conversation this evening, our boys cheering for Abe [Abraham Lincoln] and they for Jeff. [Jefferson Davis] & our Boys for Little Mac [Democratic Presidential Candidate George B. McClellan] & they the same. They seemed to be pleased when we cheered him. Then our Boys cheered for Butler & they said to hell with him &c&c. And so on, things to numerous to mention. Dark coming on they stoped & only then it was verry pleasing to hear them. Up about 1 mile to our right constant picket firing all last night until at last the Rebs charged down on our men who sent them back in a hurry. The firing was quite brisk intermixed with Artillery.
October 12, 1864
And fine day. The relief come about 10 A.M. & we came to camp & settled down for a little rest. I answered Lu’s letter today & mailed it. I had my warrant as Sergeant presented to me today & as a matter of course I was much gratified. And feel grateful to Cap for the honor he has confered on me & also the confidence he puts in me & I shall try to do my whole duty. My tentmate being sick when we went on Picket & went to the hospital, so I had to get another tentmate & I got J. A. Drew [Jacob A. Drew].212 He used to tent with me last fall & I liked him & do still. He is a man of passable morality.
October 13, 1864
And fine day but rather misty and cloudy towards night & twas cold. I wrote to Mother today & also sent my warrant as Corporal home with the letter. The news from all the armies is good. Especially from Sheridan. His cavelry whipped the Rebel Cavelry & took 11 pieces of artillery & 300 prisnors & drove them all through the mountains.213
Hood is in rear of Sherman. But the supposition is that Hood is past where Sherman wants him for he has six weeks rations & a good large army. There is no uneasiness for his safety.
October 14, 1864
And fine day & we expected to have Inspection today but it didnt come of. It is the monthly inspection. I got a letter from Mother today.
I got the stuff from home I sent for to line my blanket. Twas verry cold last night & I and my tentmate concluded to put up a chimney which we done & have a good one too. I build it & some of the Boys thought I was a stonemason & so neat was it built. & it draws good. I will now sleep more comfortable. We carried the Brick about 40 rods from an old mill that is burned down. We now have the nicest chimney & tent in the Regt.
October 16, 1864
And fine day. We go on Picket today. The whole Regt. getting on the line about 9 A.M. & we have to stand about 3 hours apiece in 24, noncoms & all stand & I with them. I command the Co today being the Senior Sergt on duty with Co.
October 17, 1864
And fine day & all quiet on the line. We have fine weather now. There was a little cannonading last night away up to the right. Sergt [Jesse] Roberts has returned to the Company. He has been with the Pioneer Corps all summer & the Boys, & I with them, would rather see him there than with the company. But however, I can stand it. The Sanitary Commission issued onions today. We got about 1 pound apiece. Good treat. The rumor is that [War Department] Secretary [William] Stanton is going to visit the lines today. Some say he has been on the Picket line but this I doubt some.
October 18, 1864
And fine day. We are relieved this morning & by the same men that we relieved. The 2nd & 6th Regt. This makes only 2 days off. This is pretty heavy duty. We came into camp & all right. & I write a letter to Mother. Drew rations, I having to do that this time. The report that Stanton was coming around was false. At any rate he didnt come from some cause. But he is in the army some place.
October 19, 1864
And fine day & we are enjoying ourselves the best we know how. The Boys are fixing for cold weather. Most evry tent in our Co. has a chimney & are building them & fixing up tents &c. Ours is verry comfortable. I wrote a letter to Mother today & sent a Harpers Weekly also. It had the Chicago Platform Illustrated. It is a good get off on Democracy of the Present day. I took a walk out today to get a kettle to Boil some rations in. I went to a number of Sutlers & didnt find any. But found some Blacking Brushes & bought one as we need some more in the Co so that when we have to fix for Inspection we will not have to wait so long on others for brush &c. I have got the lining sewed on my blanket & I find that it adds fully the warmth of another blanket & adds only one pound to the weight of it. I sleep as cozy & warm now as when at home in a feather Bed.
October 21, 1864
And fine day but cool & likely to storm soon. All is quiet on the lines except an occasionally a shot at the Boys. They fire now where our Boys is. But our Boys don’t fire back so they will soon stop it. We fell in & stacked arms along the works ready to receive Gen Grant & Mead [Meade] but they didnt come & we were somewhat disappointed. Sheridan has been whipped & then turned again and whipped the Rebs recapturing 20 pieces of Artillery &c and capturing 23 more & lots of wagons &c and 1600 Prisnors & they are still coming in. The Rebs where we were on Picket said that [Confederate General James] Longstreet had gone up to whip Sheridan & he did. But twas a dear one to him. Sheridan will soon be as high up in the Pictures as Grant if he keeps on.214
October 22, 1864
And fine day & all quiet &c. The Boys come in off Picket today & nothing especial to chronicle. I got the certificates for Jewelry that I sent for & they called for articles worth from 5 to 7 dollars. But I sent for the Pens of highest price for they sell the best of anything I could get. I had to borrow $81.00 to send for them or rather make out enough.
October 23, 1864
And fine day & all is quiet. This being Sunday we had Co Inspection. And at 1 P.M. we had church. The chaplain having returned from his furlough home, we will have church regular now. He gave us a good discourse. I got 2 letters today, one from Richard Lander & the other from Cornelia, my little niece, some 12 years old. She is living with Mother (her GrandMother). All was well & doing well. Richard has got back to Memphis Tenn. He had been sick & was sent there to the Hospital.
October 24, 1864
And fine day. And on fatigue duty today. I & 2 Corpls & 14 men. We are rebuilding Parapets or Brestworks, putting them up better & in a better location. The Boys don’t work verry hard & some of them don’t do anything. F. A. Boynton, our first Sergt got back last night, also H Brinkman. They have both been to the hospital. The latter was sick. But the former was wounded & is now minus 2 fingers on the left hand. He looks well. There is lots of the boys coming back. Our Co numbers 30 now.
October 25, 1864
And fine day & there’s a heavy detail to work on Fortifications. I don’t have to go today. The next Sergt went. Evrybody seems to think that there will be a move soon & others think not till after Election. I wrote a letter to Cornelia today in answer to hers.
Dark & I am detailed for Picket tomorrow with 3 Corpls & 14 men. Rumors that the army is now moving. Tis only a rumor. F.A. Boynton acted as Lieut for the first time today. He is going to make a good officer I think. I shall be glad to see him in Command of the Co. Capt [Henry Young] has gone to command the Division Pioneers or rather Div Pioneer officer.
October 26, 1864
And fine day & we go out to the picket line. But it had been relieved by some of the 3rd Brigade and after waiting sometime for the officer in command of us to go to camp to see what he was to do & returned, we came back to camp. We put in for things that we needed badly in the way of
Ordnance & Camp equipage &c. I put in for a knapsack as mine was somewhat worn. We now know that there is a move on hand. In fact troops have been moving today. Night and we have orders to be ready to move at 4 in the morning. Revilee at 3 oclock. Cap has been returned to the Co again.
October 27, 1864
And fine day till towards night when rain sets in & continues most of the night. Last night about 12M we were awoke to get our things we had signed for & get our mail. I got 2 letters, one from Mother & one from Lu bringing news of all well &c. Henry & family & Lu have got to their new home.
Well for what we done today, Revilee at 3 A.M. March at 4 taking the road to the left, to by where we had the fight on the 21 of August & on to the Vaughn road, going on it a ways, turn to the left, come inside of the fortifications which are verry strong & travel on inside them for several miles, come to where they turn square to the right & run round to the front line. This being the rear line we traveled by. Here on this corner where we go out is a large fort named Fort Cummings. We have been traveling rather slow until now & we now travel pretty brisk. Soon hear skirmishing which seems about 1 ½ miles off, going on hear it plainer & more of it. Come to the 2nd Division Hospital. Few wounded here. With skirmishing in front & ahead we now think we will soon have something to do but we keep on. The Major [Hollon Richardson] says we have or rather that [Union General Winfield Scott] Hancock has taken the road.215
We come to an old sawmill & cross the creek on a dam newly built. Just on the rebel side is a weak line of brestworks which our men hold. We cross, go a little ways, form line of Battle across these works, rest a while & send skirmishers ahead. We follow up to a creek which we cross & then have to recross & from now on till about 4 P.M. I cant tell where we went.216
Two pages from William Ray’s Volume 13, detailing the Hatcher’s Run engagement, one of the major encounters of the Petersburg Campaign. Sherry Murphy
We marched all the time, first by the flank, then in line &c. So many different moves I cant recollect, with skirmishing first to our right, then front, then to the left & sometimes in our rear &c. And twas all the time in the woods with thick underbrush & a shower of rain about 1 P.M. Just enough to wet the brush & that wet us. At last we formed line & pretty heavy skirmishing in front. We now thought we had got to the desired place for the reb bullets came amongst us occassionally. We were allowed to sit down, ly down &c. Some took off their knapsacks but few would venture so much. Some go to sleep, some eat a hard tack &c. We now can hear only a little skirmishing in front perhaps ¼ of a mile long & a little to our left-rear. The latter is said to be the 2nd Corps. Begins to get dusk. Some start fires to make coffee.
Now Gen [Samuel] Crawford came down the line from the left with 2 Prisnors. He orders our Regt out as skirmishers on double quick to the left & rear & at the same time, asked the Rebs how many there was out there. He replied he didnt know. Well, says Crawford, how many do you think? He replied again, well Gen I don’t know & if I did I wouldnt like to tell. So the general didnt quiz him any more while I was in hearing. For we went off on doublequick. But I heard Gen say to somebody that there was a gap out there where they came in. So we went out, formed line to protect the flank of our Brigade & pushed ahead. We are ordered in doublequick. Come to a few rebs. They cry don’t shoot, we surrender. They were taken in &c and from now on a little ways kept taking in a few stragglers. Sergt Roberts captured one & here we stoped & formed a good line & Roberts went to the rear with his Prisnors. The Major sending word to the general that he was awaiting orders. Roberts soon come back & went to the Major with some order I suppose.
But at any rate, we were not relieved or ordered back as we had anticipated. But ordered to put out Videttes & make ourselves as comfortable as possible without fires. I soon made me a bed by just taking my rubber of my knapsack & lying down, spread it over me with my knapsack for a pillow. But I could not sleep for we was wet to the skin. As I said before, twas raining all the time now. It being now about 10 P.M. I should judge, I thought—what a contrast now with this time last night. Then I was lying in my tent with a blazing fire in the fireplace. But I should have mentioned that since about 8 P.M. there has been hard fighting up on the left some 1 ½ miles from [here], tis said with Hancocks men. There was several charges made but we cannot tell how they made it. But the firing is in about the same place as before the Battle so we have not lost much ground I guess.217
11 P.M. And they up on the right & Lieut Deerbon commanding, got scared & run along the line nearly to our Co, telling them to get to the rear for the rebs was in their rear & he put off with a squad of them that would follow him. & the scare come on down the line to our Co & I told the Boys not to run but let the Major know about it. So Roberts, he knowing where the Major was, went down & told him. So he ordered us togather & we go, a great number of us for some run of at first mention of it. But now we are togather & start for the Brigade as we suppose. But after wandering around for an hour or so and being completely lost, we halted and the Major ordered a guard to take care of the Prisnors we had & guard the camp. We lay down as best we could, the water pouring down at times. But I was soon asleep it by this time being Midnight.
October 28, 1864
And we were awoke at daybreak, get up, get ready to march. Have a guard detailed to take care of 7 prisners we had taken. And before starting the Major said to us, he wanted no straggling & if we were attacked to fight & no giving back. That if we were taken we would all go togather. So we start, evry little ways we take a Rebel Prisnor or find one of our men & he being a Prisnor or perhaps two or three. Soon in our wandering, we come upon a goodly squad of about 66 Rebs & about a dozen men of a Maryland Regt guarding them. They, too, was lost so they made signs to surrender & we took them & kept on and soon seen some more which we tried to get but they run like deer. But some of the Boys got sight of them & they were Blue coats & they, I suppose, thought we were rebs so they run. This being something I did not see a reb do for they would stop as quiet as lambs. Here we halted and a few went out to recconnoiter, they soon found out where we were & came back with several officers of the Brigade that were sent out to look for us.
We soon started, came to the creek we crossed in the morning & here we stop to make a Bridge which was soon done for our forces had built it & crossed & torn it up so this looked like retreating. So by this time most of the boys had come to us one way & another & we had about 100 Prisnors.218 While here there was heavy skirmishing not far off. So having the Prisnors securely guarded, we start & going about ¼ mile we come to the old Brigade & I tell you twas a welcome sight. They were building works &c, preparing for what might come. The guard turned the Prisnors over to the Provost-Martials & the 24 Mich was ordered out to relieve the 6th Wis on skirmish line & we took the place of the 24th & were ordered to take of all but cartridge box & rest & get something to eat & dry ourselves. For we were verry wet & we hadnt been by fire since we left camp, so it felt good. We got breakfast & ate hearty. This being the first meal we had had, we just nibbled a cracker for the last 24 hours. Here we get an inkling that it is a retreat.
About 10 oclock we are ordered up & we start for the rear & now the Major tells us that we are ordered back to our old camps. This made us feel good & I felt much better for I was quite sick last night & until I got breakfast. But now feel all right & we march a great pace & come back to camp resting only twice on the way. We reach our old camp at 4 P.M. & happy we were to get here. We found our chimney standing. But all boards & boxes were gone. They are a Soldiers furniture. But the Boys & I with them were thankful that the chimneys were left & didnt mourn over the loss of so many boards &c. Well, we get supper &c and enjoy it well. So ended our short & hard but verry eventful campaign. But lo, some of the Boys & a Lieut of Co. D that we thought was taken comes in. They all together brought in & turned over about 80 or 90 more Rebs & the scattering ones in all, we can safely count on 200 Prisoners. But we or Co E lost one man taken prisnor, that being the total loss of the Regt.
October 29, 1864
And fine day & we rest today. In the evening the officers laid out a new camp a little back & on the top of the hill & with it we had orders to build good comfortable quarters. So we Policed off the ground a little & Picket out our lots. We camp by wing having two rows of shanties & a street of 60 feet between them & evry shanty is to be built about 6 by 10 feet & about 5 feet high. We can vary a few inches if we wish and we have 12 feet in width on ground to build on & all our chimneys on the same side & evrything in uniformity. I got my Pens today that I sent to New York for. They came in good order & I sold them all in an hours time. But my money is gone & I cant get any more or I could do a good Buisness just now. But will try it on Payday which will soon come for we will be mustered tomorrow for 2 months more pay. I also got a letter from Henry. They are well.
October 30, 1864
And fine day. Capt Young went over to the intrenching tool wagon & got an ax for evry tent so we could go at it & put the Shanties up in a hurry. We got ours raised today. We took considerable pains & we have the nicest in the Co so far. We worked hard today, made good use of the Axes which were returned at 5 P.M. The whole Brigade & I don’t know how many more, are at work building. The Place begins to look like a city.
Four Years With the Iron Brigade Page 46