We Buried 110 Men in That Half Acre of Ground: A Buckeye Remembers Spotsylvania Courthouse

In the aftermath of the bloody fighting at Spotsylvania Courthouse, Lorenzo Barnhart of the 110th Ohio drew the unenviable task of burying the Federal dead. But as the area remained under fire of Confederate skirmishers, Barnhart and the other members of the Pioneer Corps had to do this grisly work at night while under fire. 

    "It was not very dark and we calculated a grave to hold as many of our dead comrades as we could and dug the grave about 6-15 feet and laid them crosswise," Barnhart wrote. "The Confederates had stripped them of their trousers, their white underclothes could be seen in the night, that way we found them laying around over a scope of ground about half an acre. Two pioneers would carry a man into the grave lay him down and then another on top and so on until that grave was full. We covered them with earth. We buried 110 soldiers in that half acre of ground. We left many more unburied, we did not dare to undertake to get them as we would have been shot ourselves and there would be no one to bury us, as the dead cannot bury themselves."

    Private Barnhart's memoir was originally published on Larry Stevens' superb Ohio in the Civil War website and is shared here with Larry's permission.

Dead Confederate soldiers gathered for burial in the aftermath of the fighting at Spotsylvania Courthouse in May 1864. The engagement, which lasted nearly two weeks, was incredibly bloody totaling more than 30,000 casualties between the two armies including more than 4,200 dead. Barnhart estimated that his detachment of Pioneers buried 110 Federals in just half an acre of ground. 

In the Spring of 1864, General Grant ordered a Pioneer Corps to be organized. Two men from each company were to be detailed by the Orderly's Sergeant company roll book. I was the first on detail on the book and Peter Gates the next. The Orderly Sergeant told us to report to Brigade Headquarters. We went and found that there was to be a new organization made up of brigade pioneers. It was a new study to us and we were organized into a company with officers as follows: our captain from a New York regiment Captain Prentice; 1st Lieutenant from a New York regiment Norval and 2nd Lieutenant from a Vermont regiment name Lieutenant Perham. Now here we went under the command of three new officers. They gave us two pack mules with pack saddles and boxes to carry our axes and pick axes and shovels and spades in on the two pack mules. We carried our guns and ammunition and blankets and haversacks and rations.

The duty we were assigned to was that any time we came to a swamp or creek we stacked our guns and cut timber and corduroyed a road across a swamp, built a bridge or repaired it so the army could advance after the enemy. When our army wanted to attack and make a charge on a fort, where there were abatis in front of the works, we pioneers had to stack arms take axes and cut them to pieces so the regiments and brigades and divisions and corps could charge through and capture the fortifications from the enemy. When we built works for our use, we felled the trees in front of our own works to make an entanglement for the enemy to come through so we could shoot them. We were in very hot places the enemy could always see us while we were cutting abatis and we always would get the concentrated fire from their guns. We always were in the front and went in battle and used our guns when there was no other work was to be done.

Hooked bayonets were utilized by soldiers to move bodies to the graves. Two soldiers would hook their bayonets beneath the arms of the deceased and drag them to the grave site. This made the moves somewhat easier and kept a soldier from having to touch the dead body. 

We broke winter quarters in the month of April and crossed the Rapidan River over onto the Wilderness there we found the Confederate army commanded by Gen. Robert E. Lee. We crossed at different fords of the river and attacked them in the Wilderness close to the old Chancellorsville House. We had a desperate battle with them into and through the Wilderness. That night we slept with our guns in our hands where we stopped to lay down to try to sleep and meditate over the transaction of the day. We could not sleep, for the country being so desolate and God forsaken, we hoped we would not get killed in such a God forsaken country. The Whippoorwills made the woods ring with their song it and made it seem so desolated, that we wished we would get out of this spot of the country as none of us wish to die here.

The thought of dying stared us in the face as the bullets flew thick around here, but we punched ahead until we could see something like an open spot ahead of us, we were nearly though the woods of the Wilderness, then all at once we struck the Confederate earth works and they gave such a deadly volley that our brigade commanded by General Seymour retreated to the rear. General Seymour saw he could not get away from them and surrendered. Me and himself and his staff all did not retreat with the rest, I stood there and looked on and watched my chance to get away. Directly, the Confederates turned their back toward me and talked to the general and his staff officers. That is when I took to the rear with a few lively steps and disappeared in the brush and took the trail of my brigade and it was on a flank movement towards the Capital.

Private Lorenzo Dow Barnhart, Co. B, 110th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (1843-1913)

We tried to beat them to Spotsylvania C.H., a fortified place nearer to Richmond, their capital, they beat us when we got there they had possession of the strong works. We tried to charge them out but we could not the earth works were too strong they could kill five of us to one of them, they were our equals every place we would meet them.

    After a big battle was fought a detail of Pioneers was made to bury the dead. At Spotsylvania C.H. we fought for 10 days. It was a bloody fight and there was many killed and the lines of battle were so close that a soldier did not dare to show any part of his body or he would get shot.

    We charged their lines and again we charged out of a ravine up then over a level piece of ground to their earth works. We would charge up onto their works and club with our guns but they fought us like devils and then we would retreat back into the ravine and form again for another charge. We could not dislodge them and between these lines lay our dead.

Another essential tool for the Pioneer Corps in their burial task was the army spade. 

The ground lay covered with dead soldiers between the two lines of battle and nearly all were Union soldiers because we had been charging onto their powerful strong earth works. We wished to have them buried but the Confederates would not let us bury them. We undertook to bury the dead at night. The pioneers had to do this, so we went with shovels and spades and picks about 10 o'clock one night. It was not very dark and we calculated a grave to hold as many of our dead comrades as we could and dug the grave about 6-15 feet and laid them crosswise.

The Confederates had stripped them of their trousers, their white underclothes could be seen in the night, that way we found them laying around over a scope of ground about half an acre. Some lay under pine treetops which had been shot off by musketry and canon shots. Two pioneers would carry a man into the grave lay him down and then another on top and so on until that grave was full. We covered them with earth. We calculated another grave and dug it to hold about 10 more and we filled this with 10 more and covered them with earth.

Now while we were doing this we did not dare to speak above a whisper, the Confederates heard us in there but could not see us very good but they shot at us all the time. We were there alright, I guess they heard the brush crack as we tramped on. The blaze and sparks of their guns showed us where they were, but we kept so far distant and their shots went past and over us and none of us got hurt. We buried 110 soldiers in that half acre of ground. We left many more unburied, we did not dare to undertake to get them as we would have been shot ourselves and there would be no one to bury us, as the dead cannot bury themselves.

          Intense first-person accounts detailing the chaos and horrors of Civil War combat are the hallmark of our Echoes of Battle series. Barnhart’s account is one of nearly 100 that will be featured in our upcoming Echoes of Battle Volume 3: Sabine Crossroads to Appomattox to be released via Columbian Arsenal Press in 2025. Stay tuned for further updates.

Source:

Reminiscences of Private Lorenzo Dow Barnhart, Co. B, 110^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Roger Barnhart Collection, Courtesy of Larry Stevens’ Ohio in the Civil War website