On the Left at Malvern Hill with the 4th Michigan

     The Battle of Malvern Hill, Virginia fought July 1, 1862 was the culmination of the Seven Days battles around Richmond in which General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia broke George McClellan’s hold on the city, and drastically changed the fortunes of war. Malvern Hill was a clear-cut Union victory, at least in the tactical sense. The Army of the Potomac had fought valiantly during the Seven Days, the 5th Army Corps under General Fitz-John Porter bearing much of the weight during this campaign and proving themselves to be top-notch soldiers. Among those troops serving in the 5th Corps under Porter was Captain George W. Lumbard of the 4th Michigan Infantry.

          Captain Lumbard joined the regiment the previous summer as commander of Company E from Hillsdale County in south central Michigan, and he went to war with an extraordinary artifact of the Revolutionary War in his possession. The day before the company left town, he was presented with a sword in a private ceremony by a local citizen. The sword once belonged to General Ethan Allen, leader of the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont and victor at Fort Ticonderoga during the Revolutionary War. Lumbard was still carrying the sword a year later and if it possessed any spiritual power, Captain Lumbard would need every ounce of it during the desperate fighting at Malvern Hill.

          As part of the Second Brigade of the First Division of the 5th Army Corps, the 4th Michigan took their place on the left flank of the army’s position atop Malvern Hill, a 130-foot tall crescent-shaped eminence that historian Douglas Southall Freeman once wrote was “an exceedingly formidable position. Had the Union engineers searched the whole countryside below Richmond, they could not have found ground more ideally set for the slaughter of an attacking army.” Even backed by abundant and well-positioned artillery, Lumbard and his comrades would have their hands full holding off Lee’s men in the fight that developed on the afternoon of July 1, 1862.

Lumbard, a regular correspondent with the Hillsdale Standard newspaper back home, wrote the following account of Malvern Hill about a week and a half after the battle.

 

A camp scene image of Major Sewell S. Parker with two soldiers of the 4th Michigan and one of the camp cooks. The captioning from the LoC cites this as Lt. Parker but a review of his military record shows that he was a lieutenant while with the 26th Michigan, transferring to the 4th Michigan as Major in mid-1864. (Library of Congress)

Harrison Landing, James River, Virginia

July 11, 1862

          As I was sitting in my tent today meditating upon the scenes through which our regiment has passed within the past few days, I almost unconsciously picked up the last Standard and noticed particularly the date: July 1, 1862. What think you of the position of the Michigan 4th on that day? While you and your employees were busily engaged in striking off the Standard, we were forming a portion of the rear guard of the Army of the Potomac in the change of position from the Pamunkey to the James River, and although our brigade was in the desperate battles of Mechanicsville and Chickahominy on Thursday and Friday preceding, had marched all Sunday night and been under the fire of the Rebel batteries on Monday, yet on this day, Tuesday, we were assigned to the honorable and important duty of forming the left of the rear guard.


Captain (later Colonel) George W. Lumbard, Co. E, 4th Michigan Volunteers
Lumbard would die May 6, 1864 of wounds received the day before at the Battle of the Wilderness

          Our regiment was supporting a battery all that warm day in an open field, exposed to a fearfully scorching sun, and although nearly worn down with fighting and marching, our boys stood up to their duty like men. Our regiment was on the extreme left; just to the right of us was the 9th Massachusetts and to the right of them the 62nd Pennsylvania. Couch’s division was still on the right of our brigade. General Martindale’s brigade, in which is the 1st Michigan, was supporting our brigade and stationed a short distance in the rear of us.

          About 2 o’clock in the afternoon, we could see great clouds of dust rising which warned us that the Rebels were advancing in great force. General Charles Griffin, our brigade commander, was watching their movements with an eagle eye, and soon he discovered them planting their batteries in the edge of the woods about 100 rods across an open field directly in our front. Soon after, five Rebel regiments came out of the woods into the open field directly in front of our regiment. [General Lewis Armistead’s attack] During this time, two guns of Griffin’s battery had been planted on a slight elevation about 40 rods directly in the rear of our regiment. No sooner did the Rebel regiments issue from the woods then “Bang! Bang!”  went our field pieces, and such a whizzing of shot, shell, grape, and canister and such a roar of cannon reminded one forcibly that “school was out for noon.” It proved too much for the five Rebel regiments, and back into the woods they went pell-mell.

Detail from a map drawn up by the American Battlefield Trust showing the location of the 4th Michigan in the front rank of Griffin's line near the Crew House. General Lewis Armistead charged forward in the early afternoon with three of his Virginia regiments but Federal artillery and musketry fire proved so onerous that Armistead's men hugged the earth for protection, unable to advance or retreat without running the risk of being slaughtered. Armistead would lead another desperate charge a year later at Gettysburg, one that would cost the Virginian his life. 

          Soon after this scene, we heard a wild shout on our right which proved to be a large body of Rebels making a charge upon the batteries stationed there. Again, the grape and canister were freely administered to them, and soon back they went, limping and howling to the woods. But the Rebels said to themselves I presume, “it will not do to give it up so, Mr. Brown,” for in a short time they opened upon our batteries and our infantry with shot and shell, which was promptly responded to be ours. A right lively time they had for about one hour in which the Rebels got the worst of the bargain, having five of their pieces dismounted, yes, verily “knocked into a cocked hat” as the boys say.

          Then for a time everything was quiet and calm; but it proved to be one of those calms which precedes the terrible storm. A calm, oppressive from its very magnitude, for not to hear the roar of cannon and the interminable rattle of musketry which we had heard almost constantly since the 26th day of June, to our minds presaged another mighty conflict between the veterans of the Army of the Potomac and the Rebel hordes who were pressing upon our rear like the mighty waves of the ocean. Soon, the war cloud burst upon us again in all its fury; under cover of fresh batteries, which the enemy had posted in the woods, and soldiers of treason in almost countless numbers came pouring down upon our lines like the avalanche from the mountain.

 

         The left, center, and right of our lines were attacked at the same time and at all points by overwhelming numbers; but this was no time to think about numbers for the salvation of the army depended upon the rear guard holding their ground until dark at least, as Harrison bar on the James River, was still nine miles distant, and the greater part of the army, together with the immense baggage train, was scattered from Malvern to Harrison Bar. A full 5,000 Rebels marched to attack our regiment which was only 450 strong. [This would be General John B. Magruder’s late afternoon assault.]

The gallant and brave Colonel Dwight Woodbury gave his last orders to his regiment. Having gotten his regiment into a proper position, we awaited the approach of the Rebels. On they came with a shout which made the woods ring, and confident of an easy victory, they still rushed on in spite of the grape and canister from our batteries, which mowed them down by hundreds. When the Rebels had got within about 20 rods of our line, every man and nearly every officer of our regiment at his post. At this moment, even above the roar of cannon, rang out upon the air in trumpet tones, the last orders of our beloved Colonel: “Fire by rank! Battalion, ready! Rear rank, aim, fire, load! Front rank, aim, fire, load! Now boys, give them three cheers and hold your ground!” And there amid the hail of bullets, such a cheer as went up from those Michigan boys was inspiring in the greatest degree. It is almost needless for me to say that they held their ground- not one inch did they yield.

Colonel Dwight Woodbury, 4th Michigan
Killed in action at Malvern Hill
Image courtesy of  "Crossing Hell on a Wooden Bridge" at 4th Michigan@wordpress.com

Sergeant R. Watson Seage, who was wounded in the fight, is a perfect trump, and although it is not the duty of sergeants to fire, he fired and fought until his gun needed cleaning and then, amid the tempest of leaden storms, went to work and cleaned his gun and then went again to firing until he was hit in the head by a musket ball. During the thickest of the fight, I told him to go to the color bearer and have him wave the “Old Flag” as we wanted to give three cheers and have the “Old Flag” waving at the same time. He delivered the order and fought on until wounded. I also must not forget to mention James Harroun, whom it takes a clap of thunder generally to arouse, got so excited that after the fighting had been going on about half an hour, he jumped to his feet and for full ten minutes with his gun in one hand and hat in the other, cheered and made speeches and told the boys to “go in.” I finally told him I thought he could do about as much good firing, and at it he went in right good earnest.

"It was not war- it was murder." Major General Daniel Harvey Hill, C.S.A. on the Battle of Malvern Hill

Such an incessant fire as our regiment kept up, I do not believe was ever equaled upon this continent. We soon put the first Rebel regiment hors du combat, and then with a cheer, a fresh regiment would take its place. But not to be outdone, our boys would answer, cheer for cheer, and by this means the Rebels were made to believe that we were constantly being reinforced by fresh regiments. After the firing had continued about half an hour, the 9th Massachusetts was ordered to make a charge, but half the regiment not understanding the order, they broke in the center and but half the regiment made the charge and were repulsed, breaking up in confusion. In their falling back, quite a number passed through the right of our line which prevented that portion from firing for a time.

Soldiers of 4th Michigan

Colonel Woodbury was endeavoring to rally the 9th Massachusetts when he was instantly killed by a Minie ball which struck him in the head. His own regiment did not require anyone to rally it, for not a man left the ranks after the firing commenced unless he was wounded or someone to assist the wounded off the field. About the same time that the 9th Massachusetts broke and fell back, the 62nd Pennsylvania also broke and retired in confusion, and the battery having expended all its ammunition was obliged to retire for more, and thus for a time our regiment was left alone to hold the whole Rebel force on the left in check.

The 4th Michigan held their ground until they had fired 80 rounds, all they had, when they were relieved by the 12th New York [3rd Brigade of the 1st Division of the 5th Corps under General Dan Butterfield] and our regiment went back to the rear after more ammunition in perfect order. They would willingly after getting ammunition had returned to the fight, but it was not necessary for the fresh regiments and batteries which went to the front drove the Rebels back to the woods with terrible slaughter, and darkness having already set it, put an end to the conflict that day. The victory was ours; the army was safe.

I must say that after the first fire, all concern for my personal safety vanished and I never felt more enthusiastic at a political meeting than I did amid that awful din of battle and storm of lead. The only drawback to my happiness was to occasionally see some of my brave boys fall, never to rise again. Corporal David Brock, although quite unwell, was on that day in the front ranks and at the head of the company and was the first to fall. He was one of my best men and a man upon whom I could always rely. Soon Frank Forncrook, as brave and as good soldier as ever drew a trigger, was almost instantly killed by a bullet. Alfred Dolph was instantly killed also. It seemed as though my best men were the ones who suffered most. They laid down their lives in a holy cause and may their countrymen in Hillsdale County do them justice. Their memoirs will be long treasured by their comrades, and vows have been made by them to avenge their fall.

Major General Charles Griffin of Ohio eventually rose to command the division then became commander of the 5th Corps in the final days of the war. A pre-war Regular, Griffin went to Texas after the war and died of yellow fever in 1867 at age 41. 

General Griffin, our brigade commander, says that if we should be in the service 20 years, we probably should not do as much fighting as we have done since the 25th of June. I am confident that our brigade during that time did more fighting and suffered more than any brigade in the army. General Griffin is a splendid officer and our boys almost worship him. He is as brave and fearless as a tiger and watches the Rebels as a hawk watches his prey. At Malvern Hill, he was on horseback in the thickest of the fight and his horse was shot dead under him. One great reason why our boys fought so well in that battle was because they had perfect confidence in their General. He told them before the battle that if they were attacked by 10,000 Rebels, to hold their ground, and I am happy to say they obeyed orders.

 

Robert Knox Sneden watercolor of the Battle of Malvern Hill. Federal gunboats in the James River lobbed shells towards the Confederates but several fell short, leading General Fitz-John Porter to signal the guns to seize firing. Their contribution really wasn't needed: the Army of the Potomac's crack artillery batteries took full advantage of the killing field Malvern Hill's offered. 

Source:

Letter from Captain George W. Lumbard, Co. E, 4th Michigan Volunteer Infantry, Hillsdale Standard (Michigan), July 22, 1862, pg. 2

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on their way to
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of how Confederate jacke
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true warrior, for then comes the harvest of gain.
Read more

The Cannons are Now Silent: The Field of Death of Tupelo

Image
       The smoke of battle had drifted away from the battlefield at Tupelo, Mississippi on the hot afternoon of July 14, 1864, but the carnage of war lay spread across the open fields. “Scattered at intervals over the field of a few yards are dull gray blotches half shaded by grass,” an officer from the 7 th Minnesota Infantry recorded. “These are the Rebel dead. They have fought their last battle and lie generally in attitudes of rest; some of them look as if they had welcomed death. On the faces of two is imprinted a smile. One is a boy of 16 with delicate features, almost girlish in their beauty. His last gaze seems to have been directed toward his hand on the forefinger of which was a ring. A circle of purer white indicates its place; the ring was carried off as a trophy of the field.” The following account of the Battles of Tupelo and Old Town Creek was written by an unknown officer of the 7 th Minnesota Infantry, his account appearing in the August 5 th 1864 edition of the
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on securing all the Enfi
Read more

Straw Already Threshed: Sherman on Shiloh

Image
  W illiam Tecumseh Sherman was enjoying retired life in New York City when just before Christmas in 1889 he was presented with an article written by John Cockerill, a former drummer boy in the 24 th Ohio who was visiting his father Colonel Joseph Cockerill of the 70 th Ohio of Sherman’s division when the Battle of Shiloh began. Cockerill’s article, originally published in the New York Journalist and later featured in the January 1893 issue of Blue & Gray Magazine, Sherman later pronounced as “the best war story ever written” and the truest account of Shiloh.           On New Year’s Day 1890, General Sherman composed the following letter to his friend Marshall P. Wilder thanking him for sending along Cockerill’s article and giving his own explanation of Shiloh. “This to me is straw already threshed for we have fought this battle on paper several times, a much more agreeable task than to fight with bullets,” he concluded. “When in England some years ago I was gratified to liste
Read more

Federal Arms in the Stones River Campaign

Image
  T he following list, constructed after many years of research, lists unit by unit which type of weapons were carried by the Army of the Cumberland during the Stones River campaign. A number of sources were consulted including state ordnance reports, Federal quarterly ordnance reports (thank you Research Arsenal ), Ken Baumann’s Arming the Suckers, regimental histories and memoirs, captured ordnance reports, and consultation with knowledgeable experts in the field of firearms. Some of this information has been shared on the blog before in “ Rosy’s Heavy Metal: Artillery of the Army of the Cumberland ” or “ Shoulder Arms: How Sheridan’s and Davis’s Divisions Were Armed at Stones River ” but this is the first time the army as a whole has been presented. The overall conclusion I drew from looking at this data is that the Army of the Cumberland in December 1862 was an organization in the midst of transformation as far as arms. Many of the regiments still retained their original issue
Read more

Escape of Captain Henry H. Alban of the 21st Ohio Infantry

Image
Captain Henry H. Alban was among the dozen officers of the 21 st Ohio Volunteer Infantry who were captured on September 20, 1863 at the Battle of Chickamauga. The regiment had held its position atop Snodgrass Hill against repeated Confederate assaults and now battered and without ammunition, with the darkness of evening enveloping the hill, the remainder of that gallant band found themselves at the mercy of the 54 th Virginia. A total of 12 officers and 121 enlisted men surrendered; the regiment’s colors were taken, and the men marched off the field into captivity. Captain Henry Harvey Alban, Co. F, 21st O.V.I. Captain Alban along with the rest went through a series of Confederate prison camps before arriving at Columbia, South Carolina in October 1864. Determined to make an escape, he watched for his chance and one night made his leap for freedom, successfully eluding the local camp guard and setting out along the railroad to head for the mountains of eastern Tennessee and
Read more

Knapsack Compression: Wilbur Hinman recalls the first step of becoming a veteran

Image
L ooking back on his experiences during the war, Captain Wilbur Hinman of the 65 th Ohio (perhaps best known as the author of Si Klegg and His Pard ) recalled that the first road along which his regiment marched was strewn “with debris. A pair of six-mule wagonloads might have been gathered of notions that had been flung aside by a thousand suffering “tenderfeet.” “The average young patriot started for the war with a wheelbarrow load of clothing, a bed quilt or two, books, photograph albums, toilet articles, and gimcracks of every sort,” he wrote. “Neither he nor the good homefolks had the slightest conception of the capacity of a knapsack, nor did they for a moment imagine that before the close of his first day upon the road every pound he carried would seem a hundred.” To the true mark of a veteran soldier was one who “learned to dispense with every unnecessary ounce of weight, and just in the ratio that he did this he increased his efficiency as a soldier. It was of the highest
Read more

Federal Arms in the Chickamauga Campaign

Image
T he ordnance returns of the Army of the Cumberland at the end of September 1863 show the results of a transformational year in weaponry. Since taking command of the army at the end of October 1862, General William S. Rosecrans had repeatedly pestered the War Department to supply his regiments with better firearms both to improve the command’s efficiency as well as expand its striking power. The results speak for themselves: for the infantrymen at the end of September 1863, 90% of them now carried Class I long arms (36,058 out of 39,959), 8.3% carried Class II arms, and a mere 1.5% carried Class III weapons. Most of the foreign-made weapons (except Enfields) were gone, and by and large the army had settled on a single common .58 caliber ammunition, although a few .54 caliber and .69 caliber weapons remained within the ranks. The English-made Enfield rifle musket was by far the most common arm, carried by 56% of the men while the second-most common arm was the .58 caliber M1861 Spring
Read more