Waiting for the Great Fight: Before Seven Pines with the 2nd Georgia

Writing on the afternoon of May 31, 1862 while on picket on the outskirts of Richmond, Virginia, Joseph D. Bethune of the 2nd Georgia Infantry felt that events were building towards a climax in the fight for the Confederate capital. He could hear the guns marking the beginning of the Battle of Seven Pines, but "I don’t think we will get into it just yet."

    "Here we are, the whole army within five miles of Richmond waiting for the great fight which is daily expected," he wrote. "While I have been writing, the firing on our right has continued pretty heavy. A moment ago, a report came that the firing was caused by our men attacking a division of Federals who were hemmed in by the great rise in the Chickahominy River, it having rained all yesterday afternoon and night, thus cutting them off from reinforcements." 

     Joseph Bethune rose to the rank of lieutenant by the end of the war. Afterwards, he took up the practice of law in Virginia before moving west where he served as Federal judge in Arizona Territory. He died in Hollywood, California in 1912. His letter describing his regiment's services on the Peninsula first saw publication in the June 9, 1862, issue of the Columbus Daily Sun published in Columbus, Georgia. 

 

General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Army of Northern Virginia on May 31, 1862. Little did Joseph Bethune know that his army commander would be severely wounded the same afternoon he wrote his letter, replaced first by Gustavus W. Smith, then permanently by Robert E. Lee. 

Camp of John Edmonds’ Farm near Richmond, Virginia

May 31, 1862

          Perhaps I better explain our present situation so that you may understand it. The Guards are off from the regiment at Mr. Edmonds’ farm on picket. We have been here eight days and have had quite a good time as there has been a good deal of rain from which we were sheltered. There is a fight going on now about five miles from here and the roar and rattle of the guns can be distinctly heard. I don’t think we will get into it just yet.

          Here we are, the whole army within five miles of Richmond waiting for the great fight which is daily expected. While I have been writing, the firing on our right has continued pretty heavy. A moment ago, a report came that the firing was caused by our men attacking a division of Federals who were hemmed in by the great rise in the Chickahominy River, it having rained all yesterday afternoon and night, thus cutting them off from reinforcements.

I reckon an account of what we have passed through during the last two months would be readable by you all, so I will endeavor to relate it to the best of my ability.

          About the 10th of April, we were ordered to Richmond from Orange Courthouse, all expecting to be mustered out of service when we got there, but alas! Not only were we disappointed, but also destined to see the hardest service. After staying in Richmond two or three days, we were ordered to the Peninsula to help Magruder who was about to be attacked by McClellan and his whole force.

          Accordingly, our regiment and about half the regulars were put on a boat the size of the Wave and down the river we went. We arrived on the Peninsula and having marched and countermarched nearly all over it, we were at last startled by the continuous rattle of musketry and roar of artillery down at the trenches about two miles from our camps. Then came the stirring long roll and off we went at a double quick. This was about 3 o’clock in the afternoon.

When we got near the enemy, we were drawn up in line of battle within range of their cannons and as the shell and shot came crashing through the trees just above our heads, I felt a little queer. ‘Twas no use to get behind trees as the cannon balls go right through at that distance. After remaining in line of battle until 8 or 9 o’clock, we marched back to camp where we stayed until the next day when we were marched into the trenches.

This view from Gettysburg typifies the carnage present on a Civil War battlefield. Joe Bethune recalled going into a trenches on the Peninsula after a fight that left dead men on the field for days. "The stench was unbearable," he noted. "At last, the Yankees raised a flag of truce and the bodies were taken away."

There I learned the cause of the previous day’s firing which was this: two companies of the Yankees were offered a canteen of whiskey and $50 to each man if they would cross the lagoon and whip our men who were digging a trench on the edge of the pond for us to stay in. But in this, they were disappointed for many of them were killed and the rest driven back. I went into the trench just where the fight occurred and the dead Yankees remaining on the ground for three or four days, the stench was unbearable. At last, the Yankees raised a flag of truce and the bodies were taken away. When the dead were carried over, one poor fellow recognized his brother and fell to weeping and lamenting most piteously.

The first day we got on the battleground, I had the opportunity of conversing with one of the wounded who had been left there. He said he was an Englishman and had no interest in the war at all but he said “work was dull and they told me the best thing I could do was to enlist in the army. So accordingly, they got me drunk and enlisted me.” He asked me for a drink of water which I gave him. The poor fellow died of his wounds a day or two afterwards.

Those trenches were gay places as there was a ditch which ran all along on the edge of a pond. Into this ditch we would crouch so that we could shoot down the Yankees as they were crossing the pond. We relieved each other in the night in order to prevent the enemy from firing on us. The first day we were relieved in the daytime, but that tempted them to fire on us many times. One shot passed near me, wounding a man just behind me, another came within two inches of my head, striking the bank and throwing the dirt in my face. Pretty close I thought as I tucked my head a little lower. The Yankees had some splendid marksmen there; they would get up in the trees where we could not see them and fire away at us.

I presume it is needless to bore you with an account of our march to Richmond. Suffice it to say that it was one of the hardest jobs I ever undertook. Very few thought of carrying their knapsacks or clothes, all these being thrown away. Being in the pioneer squad, I managed to get them through, it being the privilege of pioneers to have their baggage hauled.


Sources:

Letter from Private Joseph Daniel Bethune, Co. G, 2nd Georgia Infantry, Columbus Daily Sun (Georgia), June 9, 1862, pg. 3

Find-A-Grave entry for Joseph Daniel Bethune

 

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