Camp Benton, October 23, 1861.
To Gen. Stone,
Commanding Corps of Observation: —
General, — I have
to report that one hundred men of the Twentieth Regiment crossed from Swan's
(or Harrison's) island on Monday morning, October 21st, to support the
detachment of the Fifteenth and cover its retreat. We climbed the steep bank,
one hundred and fifty feet high, with difficulty, and took post on the right of
the open space above, sending out scouts in all directions. The detachment of
the Twentieth consisted of two companies, I and D, in all one hundred and two
men, under command of Colonel Lee.
A little after daylight, First Sergeant Kiddle of Co. I was
brought in, shot through the arm by some pickets of the enemy on the right.
At 8 A. M., a splendid volley was heard from the direction
of the Fifteenth (who had advanced half a mile up the road leading from the
river), and soon wounded men were brought in towards the river. We were then
deployed by Colonel Lee as skirmishers, on each side of the road mentioned,
leaving an opening for the Fifteenth to pass through in retreat. They fell back
in good order at about 10 A. M. At 11, the other companies of the Fifteenth
arrived from the island, and Colonel Devens with his command moved inland
again. At this time the remaining men of the Twentieth, under Major Revere,
joined us. Major Revere had during the morning brought round from the other
side of the island a small scow, the only means of transportation, excepting
the whale boat holding sixteen and the two skiffs holding four and five
respectively, with which we crossed in the morning. At 2 o'clock, the detachment
of Baker's Brigade and the Tammany Regiment had arrived, and Colonel Baker, who
disposed the troops under his command. The three hundred and eighteen men of
the Twentieth were in the open space, the right up the river; the Fifteenth
were in the edge of the woods on the right a part of the California (Baker's)
Regiment on the left, touching at right angles our right.
One company of the Twentieth under Captain Putnam was
deployed as skirmishers on the right in the woods, one under Captain
Crowninshield on the left. Captain Putnam lost an arm in the beginning of the
engagement, and was carried to the rear. His company kept their ground well
under Lieutenant Hallowell. The Fifteenth had before this, after the arrival of
General Baker, fallen back the second time, in good order, and had been placed
by General Baker as above mentioned. The enemy now opened on us from the woods
in front with a heavy fire of musketry, which was very effective. They fired low,
the balls all going within from one to four feet of the ground.
Three companies of the Twentieth were kept in reserve, but
on the open ground, exposed to a destructive fire. It was a continual fire now,
with occasional pauses of one or two minutes, until the last. The rifled cannon
was on the left, in the open ground, in front of a part of Baker's regiment,
exposed to a hot fire. It was not discharged more than eight times. The gunners
were shot down in the first of the engagement, and I saw Colonel Lee carry a
charge to the gun with his own hand. The last time that it was fired, the
recoil carried it down the rise to the edge of the bank. The men of the
Twentieth Regiment behaved admirably, and all that were left of them were on
the field, after the battle was declared lost by General Baker. They acted, at
least all under my command, with great coolness and bravery, and obeyed every
command implicitly, and even after the intimation had been given that we must
surrender in order to save the men that had been left, they cheerfully rallied
and delivered a well directed fire upon two companies which we met, which had
just advanced out of the woods.
We were slowly driven back by their fire in return, and
covered ourselves with the slight rise mentioned above. We tried to induce the
Colonel to attempt an escape, and got him down the bank unhurt. I turned to
collect the remnant of my company, and when I returned to the bank, they told
me that the Colonel (Lee), Major, and Adjutant had got into a small boat, and
were by this time safely across. Feeling at ease then about them, I collected
all that I found of the Twentieth, and gave permission to all those who could
swim and wished to, to take to the water, and sent over reports and messages by
them. I then ordered those of the regiment who could not swim to follow up the
river, in order to get them out of the murderous volleys which the enemy were
pouring down upon us from the top of the bank. About twenty of the Twentieth
Regiment, twenty of the Fifteenth, and forty of the Tammany and California
regiments, followed us.
We went up as far as the large mill, where I found, by means
of a negro there, a small sunken skiff in the mill-way, and induced him to get
it out of water and down to the river. It was capable of holding five men, and
I began to send them over, expecting every minute to be discovered by the
enemy. In an hour they were all over, and I crossed with Lieutenant Abbott of
my company, and Captain Tremlett of Company A, Twentieth. I reported with the
men at the hospital on the island. They got across to this side during the
night. They were obliged to stop at the ferry and sleep out, many of them
without overcoats or blankets, till morning. Out of twenty-two officers that
were with us in the engagement, thirteen are killed, wounded, or missing; of
three hundred and eighteen men, one hundred and forty-six are killed, wounded,
or missing. The Colonel (Lee), I learned at the island, had not crossed, but I
have since learned that he and his companions went farther up the river, found
the boat which I afterwards used, thought it impracticable, and went on. They
were (by the report of one or two men who have since come in) taken prisoners.
Colonel Lee, Major Revere, Adjutant Peirson, Dr. Revere, and Lieutenant Perry
are supposed to have been together. I supposed it was my duty to make this
report of that part of the regiment engaged, as senior officer of those saved.
SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William
Francis Bartlett, p. 16-9
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