The 5th Michigan and McClellan's Great Skedaddle

General George McClellan called it a "change of base." One of his men, Lieutenant Willis Pomeroy of the 5th Michigan, referred to it as "the great skedaddle." History calls it the Seven Days. 

    The Seven Days campaign fought outside of Richmond, Virginia in the waning days of June 1862 marked a turning of Confederate fortunes in the east. Robert E. Lee, newly in command of the Army of Northern Virginia, through a series of heavy engagements, most of them Union victories, managed to drive the Federal army from the gates of Richmond back to Harrison's Landing on the James River. For the 5th Michigan, it was a series of confusing battles during the day and retreating all night just to fight again the next day. 

    "Of all the noises I ever heard, this was the worst," Lieutenant Pomeroy wrote regarding the fight at Savage Station. "Niagara Falls is nothing compared to it. It was plain that there was hot work before us. I say before us- it was all around us, on every side, or in other words, the grand Army of the Potomac was completely surrounded and as General Berry said, the only way to get out of it was to fight our way out, which we did most gallantly."

During the Seven Days campaign, the 5th Michigan formed part of General Hiram G. Berry’s Third Brigade of General Phil Kearney’s Third Division of General Samuel P. Heintzelman’s III Army Corps. Writing to his father Noah Pomeroy back in Chardon, Ohio, Lieutenant Pomeroy’s battle account first saw publication in the August 1, 1862, edition of the Chardon Jeffersonian Democrat.

 

One of Lieutenant Pomeroy's men during the Seven Days: Private Alfred Ingram of Co. G of the 5th Michigan Infantry who survived the battle and the war. Ingram, a native of St. Clair County, enlisted in 1861 at the age of 22 and suffered a severe wound on July 2, 1863 at Gettysburg. The wound proved disabling enough that he was transferred to the Veterans Reserve Corps in February 1864 and mustered out at the expiration of his three-year term of service in August 1864. 

Camp near Harrison’s Landing, Virginia

July 18, 1862

My dear father,

          I have no doubt that you are complaining seriously because I don’t write. My only apology is necessity for there was an order issued that there should be no communication with our friends at home until the official report came out in regard to the grand skedaddle which the Army of the Potomac had just passed through. I suppose you have heard all the particulars in regard to it; therefore, I will not worry your patience in relating them to you save for the part our regiment and my company took in it.

          Saturday night June 28th the order came to fill haversacks with five days’ rations and be ready to march at a moment’s notice- nobody knew where. Sunday morning the 29th the order came to strike tents, which we did in short order for it doesn’t take a soldier long to put his effects on his back and be ready to move. We filed out of our rifle pits and moved in a northeasterly direction but had not got more than two miles when we were halted and brought up in line of battle to receive the Rebels who were close on our track having anticipated our movement.

          In a short time, we heard the booming of cannons and the sharp rattle of musketry on our right but we were not kept in suspense long for we saw that Thompson’s battery [Battery G, 2nd U.S.] was too much for them. The firing became more distant and less severe. Finally, Heintzelman and Kearny came tearing down the road with the news that the enemy was retreating and that our only chance was to double quick across the Chickahominy Swamp, a distance of about two miles, which we did with much more alacrity than as if the enemy had been in our front instead of our rear.

          Each man had 150 rounds of cartridges besides rations, clothing, canteen, blankets, etc. So, you can judge a little how much the men suffered under this load and a hot Southern sun, but we accomplished it in good order with the enemy close on our heels and firing at every opportunity. Finally, we were halted, formed close column by division, and ordered to rest, the General having previously ordered the artillery to come into battery on the only road leading from the swamp.

          We remained here about two hours when it seemed as though hell had broken loose for, of all the noises I ever heard, this was the worst. Niagara Falls is nothing compared to it. It was plain that there was hot work before us. I say before us- it was all around us, on every side, or in other words, the grand Army of the Potomac was completely surrounded and as General Berry said, the only way to get out of it was to fight our way out, which we did most gallantly. [This was the Battle of Savage’s Station]

          The 5th Michigan was ordered down the road to support the battery but did not stay long for an orderly came down with orders from General Berry saying that he wanted the 5th to lead the brigade in battle. We were relieved by the 37th New York and double quicked back to our former position where we led the brigade in: first the 5th Michigan, then the 2nd Michigan, after them the 3rd Michigan, and finally the 37th New York.

As the Army of the Potomac retreated, it burned stores and stocks of ammunition that had been brought forward to sustain the drive on Richmond. "A short distance to the rear, we passed a large pile of shot, shell, and powder that was to be fired as soon as we were out of danger. In a few moments, a terrific roar was heard caused by the explosion and shells could be heard exploding for some time. Our retreat lay through White Oak Swamp and having only one road to march on it with safety, it was a slow job," Alfred Bellard of the 5th New Jersey recalled. 

          I cannot describe to you my feelings on going into battle, it being my first experience except a little skirmishing. I was not frightened but was very much excited and thought a great many times of home. In fact, I believe that everything I ever did in my life came into my mind. But after the bullets began to fly, all thoughts of home and everything else except my duty left me and I became perfectly desperate. I saw my comrades falling all around me, heard the groans of the dying, the shrieks of the wounded, but still pushed on regardless of it all. I don’t say this to praise myself, but merely to show how desperate a man can become in so short a time.

          We were ordered out of the fight about 6:30 in the evening and marched until 3 o’clock the next morning [June 30th] when we came on to Sykes’ brigade and were ordered to pitch tents. The men had just unslung their knapsacks, tired and sleepy, when we were ordered in front (as usual) to do picket duty. We had no sooner arrived at our destination than I laid down on the bare ground (I had thrown my blankets away before going into battle) and slept. I do believe that if the enemy had come, they would have taken me for I should not have made any resistance.

          The next morning [June 30th] we were roused at sunrise to march, as we supposed, towards the James River, but no; we marched back about two miles to support a battery. We had not been there long before we were ordered into battle the second time. [The Battle of Glendale] This battle, if anything, was more desperate than the first, still I went into it with more coolness. While we were there, one of my men came to me with his sleeves rolled up and said, “Lieutenant, shall I keep firing or shall I go to the rear?” I looked around and saw the blood running off his elbow and asked him if he was wounded badly. “No, I guess not,” he said but on close examination I found the ball had passed entirely through the wrist. I, of course, ordered him to the rear. Another one of my company was wounded through the neck but kept on firing until he dropped from loss of blood. The third, a Frenchman, was shot in the head, arm, and leg, and fell in front of me. I stopped and bid him goodbye for I knew that the enemy would have him before morning. He said, “Go in, boys, I will be with you.” He died about 20 minutes after he was shot. In my company there was one killed, five wounded, and three missing, making in all 9 killed, wounded, and missing. I saw that day at least 1,000 killed on the field and that was but a very small portion of them.

Survivors of the 5th Michigan Infantry gathered for their regimental monument dedication at Gettysburg in 1889. Pomeroy would miss Gettysburg as he had resigned his commission in January 1863 after Fredericksburg when Union fortunes were at their nadir. 

          The next day, July 1st, we marched towards Malvern Hill. The 5th Michigan participated in another fight but I will not worry you with a description of it. Suffice it to say we were in about an hour and came out 100 men short. We muster now for duty 205 but still they keep us in front all the time. In the battle of July 1st, I had a ball pass through my blouse coat and one went through my canteen but they did no damage except to spill the water. That night I procured another canteen and had it filled with water from a hole at the side of the road, but what surprise and disgust in the morning to find that I had been drinking blood and water? Just above, on the bank, lay a dead rebel and I had been drinking his blood, but I was not the only one that was served the same way.

          On July 2nd as we were marching towards Harrison’s Landing, I was knocked down with a piece of a shell which the Secesh fired from the hill we had just left. I lay for some time but finally recovered and went on with the regiment, having only a small cut on my forehead to show for it, probably caused from the fall. We are encamped in a very healthy locality now and with plenty of rest will be ready to try them another pull.

From your son,

W.B. Pomeroy

Source:

Letter from First Lieutenant Willis B. Pomeroy, Co. G, 5th Michigan Volunteer Infantry, Jeffersonian Democrat (Ohio), August 1, 1862, pg. 2

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