From the best information obtainable, we are led to believe
the mountains and hills lying between this place and Beverly are strongly
fortified and full of men. We can see a part of the enemy's fortifications very
plainly from a hill west of camp. Our regiment was ordered to be in readiness
to march, and was under arms two hours. During this time the Dutch regiment
(McCook's), the Fourth Ohio, four pieces of artillery, one company of cavalry,
with General McClellan, marched to the front, the Dutchmen in advance. They
proceeded, say a mile, when they overhauled the enemy's pickets, and in the
little skirmish which ensued one man of McCook's regiment was shot, and two of
the enemy captured. By these prisoners it is affirmed that eight or nine
thousand men are in the hills before us, well armed, with heavy artillery
planted so as to command the road for miles. How true this is we can not tell.
Enough, however, has been learned to satisfy McClellan that it is not advisable
to attack today. What surprises me is that the General should know so little
about the character of the country, the number of the enemy, and the extent of
his fortifications.
During the day, Colonel Marrow, apparently under a high
state of excitement, informed me that he had just had an interview with George
(he usually speaks of General McClellan in this familiar way), that an attack
was to be made, and the Third was to lead the column. He desired me, therefore,
to get out my horse at once, take four men with me, and search the woods in our
front for a practicable road to the enemy. I asked if General McClellan had
given him any information that would aid me in this enterprise, such as the
position of the rebels, the location of their outposts, their distance from us,
and the character of the country between our camp and theirs. He replied that
George had not. It occurred to me that four men were rather too few, if the
work contemplated was a reconnoissance, and rather too many if the service
required was simply that for which spies are usually employed. I therefore
spoke distrustingly of the proposed expedition, and questioned the propriety of
sending so small a force, so utterly without information, upon so hazardous an
enterprise, and apparently so foolish a one. My language gave offense, and when
I finally inquired what four men I should take, the Colonel told me, rather
abruptly, to take whom I pleased, and look where I pleased. His manner, rather
than his words, indicated a doubt of my courage, and I turned from him, mounted
my horse, and started for the front, determined to obey the order to the best
of my ability, but to risk the lives of no others on what was evidently a
fool's errand. After proceeding some distance, I found that the wagon-master
was at my heels, and, together, we traced every cowpath and mountain road we
could find, and passed half a mile beyond the enemy's outposts, and over ground
visited by his scouts almost hourly. When I returned to make my report, I was
curtly informed that no report was desired, as the plan had been changed.
A little after midnight the Colonel returned from
head-quarters with important information, which he desired to communicate to
the regiment. The men were, therefore, ordered to turn out, and came
hesitatingly and sleepily from their tents. They looked like shadows as they
gathered in the darkness about their chieftain. It was the hour when graveyards
are supposed to yawn, and the sheeted dead to walk abroad. The gallant Colonel,
with a voice in perfect accord with the solemnity of the hour, and the funereal
character of the scene, addressed us, in substance, as follows:
"Soldiers of the Third: The
assault on the enemy's works will be made in the early morning. The Third will
lead the column. The secessionists have ten thousand men and forty rifled cannon.
They are strongly fortified. They have more men and more cannon than we have.
They will cut us to pieces. Marching to attack such an enemy, so intrenched and
so armed, is marching to a butcher-shop rather than to a battle. There is
bloody work ahead. Many of you, boys, will go out who will never come back
again."
As this speech progressed my hair began to stiffen at the
roots, and a chilly sensation like that which might ensue from the unexpected
and clammy touch of the dead, ran through me. It was hard to die so young and
so far from home. Theological questions which before had attracted little or no
attention, now came uppermost in our minds. We thought of mothers, wives,
sweethearts—of opportunities lost, and of good advice disregarded. Some
soldiers kicked together the expiring fragments of a campfire, and the little
blaze which sprang up revealed scores of pallid faces. In short, we all wanted
to go home.
When a boy I had read Plutarch, and knew something of the
great warriors of the old time; but I could not, for the life of me, recall an
instance wherein they had made such an address to their soldiers on the eve of
battle. It was their habit, at such a time, to speak encouragingly and
hopefully. With all due respect, therefore, for the superior rank and wisdom of
the Colonel, I plucked him by the sleeve, took him one side, and modestly
suggested that his speech had had rather a depressing effect on the regiment,
and had taken that spirit out of the boys so necessary to enable them to do
well in battle. I urged him to correct the mistake, and speak to them hopefully.
He replied that what he had said was true, and they should know the truth.
The morning dawned; but instead of being called upon to lead
the column, we were left to the inglorious duty of guarding the camp, while
other regiments moved forward toward the enemy's line. In half an hour, in all
probability, the work of destruction will commence. I began this memoranda on
the evening of the 10th, and now close it on the morning of the 11th.
SOURCE: John Beatty, The
Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 20-24
