With the Regulars at Chancellorsville

 In the aftermath of the Battle of Chancellorsville, Private Joseph Groff of the 12th U.S. Infantry penned the following letter describing the campaign to his hometown newspaper the Weekly Lancaster Gazette in Ohio. 

Private Joseph Groff described Chancellorsville as consisting of "one large brick house resembling some of the noble edifices of the west. The only occupants visible were a few members of the weaker sex who were standing at the windows looking with scorn at the Yankees as we passed."  Francis Chancellor, a widow, and her seven children lived in the house up to the time of the battle and ended up sheltering in the cellar after General Hooker took charge of the house and nearby tavern as headquarters. Eventually the house was burned and the Chancellor family forced to flee. "I can see the blazing woods, the house in flames, the flying shot and shell, and the terror-stricken women and children pushing their way over the dead and wounded," 16-year-old Susan Chancellor recalled. 

Camp near Falmouth, Virginia

May 12, 1863

          I have no doubt but you would like to hear of the brave deeds of your sons and brothers who belong to the 12th U.S. Infantry during the seven days of fighting on the Rappahannock. With your permission, I will endeavor to give you a description of the proceedings that are such which the best of writers cannot do justice.

          We left our camp on the 27th of April and after a long and tiresome march we reached the Rappahannock River at about midday on the 29th, which we crossed at Kelley’s Ford. We also crossed the Rapidan on the same banks we bivouacked for the night. On the 30th we left camp at 7 a.m. and marched about four miles in a southeast direction then left the main road and went through the woods to U.S. Ford for the purpose of opening the ford for our troops to cross. When we reached there the first and second divisions of the Second Corps were crossing.

When then returned to the main road leading to Chancellorsville. This place is comprised of one large brick house resembling some of the noble edifices of the west. The only occupants visible in this place were a few members of the weaker sex who were standing at the windows looking with scorn at the Yankees as we passed, little dreaming that the beautiful meadow in front of their dwelling was the spot where thousands of brave heroes were to contend with an armed horde of traitors.

Corps badges made their combat debut at Chancellorsville and proved a popular innovation with the troops. The Fifth Army Corps adopted a Maltese Cross and each division had a designated color: first division (red), second division (white), and third division (blue). The above forage cap belonged to a soldier in the 44th New York which served in the Third Brigade of the First Division alongside the famous 20th Maine among others. The 12th U.S. would have utilized a white Maltese Cross. (James Mountain Antiques)


At the crossroads we took the road leading to Fredericksburg and marched about one mile. After stationing our pickets, we rested on our arms for the night. May 1st will always be remembered by the Second Division of the 5th Corps, known as Sykes’ Regulars. About 10 a.m. we encountered the enemy’s pickets. Our skirmishers were thrown out and our boys had the fun of opening the ball of a May party in the lofty pines of the Old Dominion. We drove in their pickets, then came their skirmish line supported by a battery, but Captain Stephen Weed of our division soon brought his battery to play on them and drove them from their position and occupied it himself.

We drove them about a mile into their works when we received orders to fall back for reasons best known to our brave officers. It would have done you good to see our brave boys fall back; they did it as cool as if they were on brigade drill. After we reached the woods, the Rebels thought we were on a skedaddle so they followed us with a yell but they caught a tartar. Our gallant Third Brigade [Colonel Patrick O'Rourke] happened to be lying down resting in close column when the Rebs came up. The first column raised and fired which stopped their hallowing. The second volley made them break and the third sent them back in a hurry.

Everything remained quiet until 5 o’clock when they thought to break our center with a large force, but here they met the regular pickets and the artillery of our division which sent them back howling with a much smaller number than they brought for the woods was covered with their dead and dying. This continued until night drew its sable curtain around the scene of action.

Brigadier General Romeyn B. Ayres commanded First Brigade of Sykes' Regular Division, his command consisting of the 3rd, 4th, 12th, and 14th U.S. Infantry regiments. His brigade formed the left flank of Sykes' drive against General Lafayette McLaws' division on May 1st. 

With the exception of occasional picket firing, everything remained quiet until about 5 o’clock on May 2nd when the firing became very heavy on our right, the position held by the 11th Corps formerly commanded by General Sigel. This corps, after facing the music for about two hours, broke and scattered through the woods which I was sorry to see for there were five or six Ohio regiments in that corps. I did not believe it until I saw some of the 61st Ohio boys. Our division and part of the Second Corps were ordered to take their places, which our boys did with a good heart. We then threw up breastworks and remained in that position that evening.

Our pickets brought in a prisoner who some of the boys spoke with. Sergeant Fields asked him how they were off for grub on their side of the house. He said they had been short for a few days, then the Rebel asked Fields who had command. When Fields replied Hooker, the Rebel said he thought so “for God damn him he was hooking them all around.”

After they had lost about one fourth of their army in killed, wounded, and prisoners and could not break our lines, they threw their main force back to recapture Fredericksburg heights which the 6th Corps had taken a few days before with a large number of prisoners and the famous Washington battery, the flower of the enemy’s artillery. I suppose that will account for our falling back on this side of the river, but the noble Hooker is again across the river on his way to Richmond where he will no doubt celebrate the Fourth of July.

The Fairfield County boys all got through safe with the exception of Kitty Linn who was slightly wounded in the hand. The loss in our division was not very large, only 146 killed, wounded, and missing. Well, I suppose I must close by adding a word of sympathy for the Butternuts of the North as the rebellion has received a blow which is sure to crush it. I suppose the barbers will be cruel enough to raise the price of these poor, deluded wretches on account of their long faces. The report is current here that Stonewall Jackson is dead. Would to God that it is true.


Yours truly,

Joseph B. Groff

Co. A, 2nd Battalion, 12th U.S. Infantry

 

Source:

Letter from Private Joseph B. Groff, Co. A, 2nd Battalion, 12th U.S. Infantry, Weekly Lancaster Gazette (Ohio), May 28, 1863, pg. 1

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

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

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

The Wizard of Oz and the Civil War

Image
T he 1939 film The Wizard of Oz has delighted viewers for 85 years and ranks as a personal favorite, especially during the Halloween season. While watching it with the family the other night, I wondered if there were any connections between the film and the Civil War. Not surprisingly, the answer is yes and those connections touch both the blue and the gray.           Interestingly both “witches” in the film not only had Civil War ancestors but had connections with Civil War soldiers from Ohio. Margaret Hamilton, the “Wicked Witch of the West,” was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, to attorney Walter Jones Hamilton and his wife Mary Jane Adams; Margaret’s grandfather was Judge Edwin Timothy Hamilton. Judge Hamilton had served as a private in Co. D of the 84 th Ohio Infantry during the summer of 1862. The 84 th Ohio, a three months’ regiment, served nearly the whole of its service attached to the Railroad District in western Maryland, performing provost duty at Cumberlan
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

In front of Atlanta with the 68th Ohio

Image
  The arrow corps badge of the 17th Army Corps was worn by many members of the 68th Ohio in the latter days of the war.       Private Edward A. Bigelow of Co. F of the 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry wrote this brief account of the Battle of Atlanta just two days afterwards to his father back home in Henry County, Ohio. The regiment formed a part of Colonel Robert K. Scott's three regiment all-Ohio brigade consisting of the 20th, 68th, and 78th regiments, being designated the Second Brigade of the Third Division of Frank Blair's 17th Army Corps. Bigelow's letter originally appeared in the Napoleon Press newspaper and was copied in the Toledo Daily Commercial which was providential as no known copies exist today of the wartime Napoleon Press.  
Read more

Charging Battery Robinett: An Alabama Soldier Recalls the Vicious Fighting at Corinth

Image
W riting 30 years after the Battle of Corinth, James A. McKinstry of the 42 nd Alabama recalled his experiences storming Battery Robinett with Colonel William P. Rogers of the 2 nd Texas and expressed guilt that it was perhaps his action that brought about the colonel’s demise. “On seeing a line of Federals approaching, and before giving the situation a thought, I immediately raised my gun and fired full into the breast of a Federal sergeant, who was in front of the column, and only a short distance from us.  'Twas then that Captain George Foster shouted, "Cease firing, men! cease firing!" and waved his handkerchief, then I realized the true situation. 'Twas too late! That fatal volley had been turned on our little band from the muzzles of 1,500 muskets. I was still standing just as I was when I fired my last shot, and within a few feet of Colonel Rogers, when a Minie ball went crashing through my left hip and turned me half round; another went tearing through my
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

Cook & Brother of New Orleans

Image
    The lockplate of a New Orleans-made Cook & Brother Enfield rifle produced in 1862 shows the fine craftsmanship that became the hallmark of the maker throughout the Civil War. Note the stars and bars flag at left, an emblem used on C&B's production throughout the war and the Cook & Brother, N.O. 1862 markings. Earlier production weapons at New Orleans had the flag located just above the maker's name while later weapons produced in Athens, Georgia would have a modified flag and Athens on the plate followed by the serial number.        In the spring of 1861, two English-born businessmen, Ferdinand and Francis Cook of New Orleans, perceived the need for the South to have its own domestic production of firearms and  set out to prove "that rifles could made here as well as in Yankee land or in Europe." The brothers  elected to produce copies of the British Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield rifle as this was considered the benchmark longarm at the outset of the
Read more

Revisiting Snodgrass Hill: Memories of a 21st Ohio Officer

Image
Captain Isaac Cusac, Co. G, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry proudly displaying his rank as captain in an image likely dating from early 1863. One of his shoulder straps was shot off in the final stages of the 21st Ohio's fight atop Snodgrass Hill on September 20, 1863. Cusac brought it back to Chickamauga 50 years later.  I n September 1913, 83-year-old Isaac Cusac, a retired Presbyterian minister from the little town of McComb, Ohio, returned to Chattanooga to attend the national G.A.R. encampment. The former captain of the 21 st Ohio returned to Snodgrass Hill on the old Chickamauga battlefield on the 50 th anniversary of the battle carrying with him a precious relic of his wartime experiences. “He carried with him there an epaulet that was shot from his shoulder at the battle,” it was reported. “The bullet clipped off the epaulet and then struck him on the left hand, injuring two fingers.”           The flood of memories as he walked the grounds must have been overwhelming. The f
Read more