THE TARBORO MARCH.
On the morning of Oct. 30, Major Pickett, with six companies
(the other four being on picket up the Trent road), left Newbern, embarking on the
steamer Highlander for Washington on the Pamlico river. Here we joined Gen. Foster's
expedition for a raid up the country. The force consisted of the 17th, 23d,
24th and 25th Massachusetts and 10th Connecticut regiments of three years'
troops, and the 3d, 5th and 44th Massachusetts regiments of nine months' troops,
with five batteries of the 3d New York artillery, Capt. Belgers' Rhode Island battery
and seven companies of the 3d New York cavalry, besides a heavy wagon and ambulance
train.
On Sunday morning Nov. 2, the expedition left Washington for
a march across the country to the Roanoke river. The 23d and 25th were detailed
as guard over the wagon and ambulance train. We marched through a poor and sparsely
populated section of country without interruption or anything to create excitement,
until about the middle of the afternoon, when we heard firing on the advance. They
had reached a swamp of considerable width, with a small creek running across
and overflowing the road for quite a distance. At this point two regiments of
the enemy disputed the passage of the swamp, and a brisk infantry and artillery
fire commenced, which lasted with short intervals for an hour or more, when the
cavalry and two batteries charged the enemy beat a precipitate retreat, greatly
accelerated [sic] by shells from the batteries.
Our loss was small, not over a dozen killed and wounded, and most of these were
from the 44th Massachusetts, which behaved nobly.
During this skirmish the wagon train made slow progress, advancing
a short distance and then halting. It was late in the evening when we reached the
swamp. All the troops were on the other side, but we got orders to halt where
we night. The mules were fed and we made a supper of cold meat, hardtack and coffee,
after which we lay down by the side of the fence to sleep.
MULES IN A MUDHOLE.
Next morning the mule teams commenced the passage of the swamp
and mudhole. Hearing a great noise and shouting, I went down to see what was up.
I mounted the rude foot bridge at the side, improvised for the benefit of
pedestrians, and walked along until I was near the middle of the mudhole and
where the creek crossed the road. Here was a file of men on each side of the road,
armed with hoop-poles and standing in mud and water from six inches to three feet
deep. When a team was driven in, it received all necessary encouragement from
the hoop-poles and strong lungs of the men while running the gauntlet. If the pilot
was skilful and kept on the corduroy, the passage would be made before the
mules would get discouraged. Sometimes the mules would get off the corduroy,
but if the wagon kept on, the mules would manage to flounder back and go on.
After a spell a careless driver ran his wagon off the corduroy and down it went
to the axle. Here was a pretty fix. The mules couldn't haul it out and no other
team could get by. It was decided to unload the wagon, so the mules could pull
it out. The load, consisting of beef and hardtack, was dumped into the creek, but
the mules knew nothing of this arrangement, they only knew they were hopelessly
stuck, and when they were appealed to haul out the wagon, they obstinately
refused; bracing out their forelegs and sticking their ears straight up in the
air, they seemed to proclaim themselves a fixture. No amount of swearing and
belaboring them with hoop-poles had the slightest effect. Capt. Schenck, who was
standing by watching the fun, told them he would hitch on one of his teams and haul
them out. The captain had a battery of 20-pounder Napoleon guns, with teams of eight
heavy horses. He ordered in one of the teams and told them to bitch on to the mules,
and when all was ready, he would give the order. When all was ready, the
captain yelled, “Forward, march!” The horses, understanding the order, stepped smartly
off; while the mules, not understanding it, did not keep step with the horses,
but standing there braced out, the heels of three or four of them went up in the
air, and they came down on their heads; in this way, sometimes under water and
sometimes out, kicking and floundering, trying to regain their feet, they were
dragged out through the mudhole, to the great delight and amusement of the
captain and all other spectators.
This place is known as Rawls' Mills creek, and that a
grateful posterity may better understand the situation, I quote from Longfellow
or some other fellow:
Then the muels strove and tugged
Up the hillsides steep and rugged,
Till they came unto a mudhole;
This was nary a common puddle,
One it was without a bottom,
Into which the muels, rot 'em,
Got so very far deluded,
Nothing but their ears protruded,
Picturing in a situation
Uncle Abe's administration.
DARKIES AND MULES.
All the teams across, the march was resumed through a much
better country, and we reached Williamston on the Roanoke river, about noon.
Our teams are four horse and six mule teams. Some of the male teams are driven
by darkies, who sit on the nigh hind mule and pilot the craft by means of a
single line running to the leaders, called a jerk line. With this line and
their peculiar mule dialect, they handle the team admirably. Darkies and mules
work together naturally; they understand each other perfectly and have the same
dialect. Take a mule team that a white man can do nothing with, and let a darky
come along and speak to them; in a minute they are entirely different animals
and as docile as a kitten. They seem to have a love for him and are perfectly
cognizant of all his actions and movements. If a darky while driving falls asleep,
the mules know it in a minute and will stop. The leaders will face about and
commence tangling themselves up in the chains and gearing of the next pair, and
that will go on until some one hits the nigger on his head with a pine knot or
lamp of clay, waking him up. Ile will give the line a few jerks and call out to
the mules in their language, and they will untangle themselves, straighten out
and go on as though nothing had happened. Niggers and mules are a great
institution.
Williamston is a pretty little town of about 1200 or 1500 inhabitants,
nearly all of whom wad left, leaving it to the tender mercies of an army; of
course what was left lying around loose was gobbled up. When the wagon train marched
through, the boys were frying the chickens and pigs in the streets, and probably
the houses and stores contributed to their wants. The train halted just outside
the town till about 4 p. m., when we again resumed the march, going up the Hamilton
road.
We went up this road about ten miles, and bivouacked in a
large field of corn about 10 p. m. This afforded abundant forage for our horses
and mules, also good beds and fires for ourselves. This day's march was through
a fine section of country and without opposition. A great quantity of corn was yet
unharvested and a few barnsful [sic]
of harvested corn which we found was set on fire, as being the best and
quickest way to market it.
PLANTATION DANCE.
Soon after we got into camp, a few darkies were seen lurking
around, not knowing exactly whether it would do to come too near. But their
fears were soon dispelled by a few darkies who were with us, telling them “de
Yankees are our frien’s,” and to come right along. They soon began to flock
into camp, and in a little while a hundred or more had come in. After the boys
had their suppers, large fires were kindled, around which 200 or 300 of the boys
formed a ring and getting thirty or forty of these darkies, men and women,
inside, set them to dancing. They were free then and seemed anxious to do
anything to please the boys and keep on good terms with them. Three or four of
them would pat the time and the rest would dance. They seemed to enjoy the fun as
much as the spectators. Here was a genuine plantation dance in costume; men and
women were dressed in well-worn garments of gunny cloth or Kentucky jeans, with
enormous brogan, shoes of russet leather, some of them looking as though they
had a whole tannery on their feet. Some of the old were a little lame and would
try to get rid of dancing by saying they didn't know how, but the boys would tell
them they did and that they must go in. It was great sport to watch the anties they
cut up trying to dance. The next morning this field of corn comprising nearly
or quite fifty acres, was nicely harvested. I don't think ten bushels could
have been saved from it.
RAINBOW BLUFF.
On the march at sunrise; just before noon we came out of the
woods into an open country and in full view of the famous Rainbow bluff of which
we had heard so much. The batteries were soon in position and skirmishers were
sent out to examine the situation. After a time word came back that no enemy
was near, the batteries limbered up and the march resumed. We were soon on the bluff,
which was well fortified on the river and east sides but quite defenseless in the
rear; it would have been an easy matter to have shelled out an enemy had there
been one there. Here we found our gunboat fleet which had come up and was going
to keep us company higher up the river. After destroying these works we moved
on, reaching the little town of Hamilton about 2 p. m., and halted just outside.
Here we were to stop three or four hours for rest and dinner.
A PRIVATE DINNER PARTY.
I suggested to Doctor Ben that it would be a good plan to
forage our dinner; to this he assented and said if I could find some sweet
potatoes he would finish the chicken or pig. We started out, going up town;
here we separated, each one to obtain his share of the dinner and then meet
again on the corner. I was not long in finding a garden in which grew the potatoes;
making a break in the fence I soon filled my haversack, and returning to the
corner, waited for the doctor. Great was my surprise to soon see him coming down
the street with a hen dangling by the legs, and in charge of an officer of the guard,
going in the direction of the general's headquarters, on the veranda of which he
and his staff were sitting. Being an interested party, I thought I would attend
the conference. The officer preferred his charges, and Capt. Dan, the provost marshal,
commenced the trial. He did not seem to get very much interested in it, and the
doctor was getting along nicely with it, until the general began a cross
examination by asking him if he had not heard the order in regard to foraging? The
doctor admitted that he had. “How then does it happen that you do not observe
it?” This was a pretty close question and I began to tremble for him, but he
proved equal to the emergency; after waiting a moment he looked up and said, “General,
this rebellion has got to be crushed if it takes every hen in North Carolina.” A smile lit up the face of the
general, who asked, "Where is your regiment?" “Just beyond here,
sir.” “Go to it, my boy, and get your dinner and be ready to march in a couple
of hours or so.
We started, congratulating each other over the fortunate turn
affairs had taken. We had a good dinner, and were well rested when the order
came to march, about 6 p. m.
BURNING OF HAMILTON.
This was a small town about half as large as Williamston,
and like all other southern towns I have seen was built all in a heap. The inhabitants
all left on our approach, and exhibited a bad feeling by cutting their well ropes
and filling the wells with rubbish. This so incensed the boys that on leaving
they set the town on fire, and we marched away by the light of it. A tramp of five
or six miles up the Weldon road brought us to a plantation on which was a big cornfield.
Into this we filed and put up for the night. Here again was forage for the team
and cavalry horses and material for beds and fires. Our force of darkies was
greatly augmented, they came in by hundreds, and after we had our supper the plantation
dance was in order.
THE GUNBOATS THUNDERING UP THE RIVER.
The gunboats had come up the river, and were now working
their way towards Halifax, causing, I presume, the people of that town a
terrible fright. They would fire an occasional shot as an advance notice of their
coming, and on the still night air the boom of the big guns far up the river
was wafted back to our camp.
NOT SEEKING A FIGHT.
They were expecting us at Halifax and Weldon and were making
preparations to receive us, but the general was not up in that part of the country
looking for a tight. A battle up there would have been without results to us, unless
it was the loss of men.
He was up there simply looking over the country, picking up
a few horses and mules and helping the planters do their harvesting. The general,
not caring to go where they were expecting him, the next morning turned his
course across the country towards Tarboro, a town on the Tar river, some twenty
miles west, hoping to reach there before the enemy could concentrate their
forces against him.
A RICH COUNTRY.
This day's march was through a rich and fertile section of country,
abounding in large, rich plantations, affording plenty of luxuries for the boys
and a great many horses and mules for the use of the army. The contrabands flocked
in droves to our standard, and were very useful in carrying our blankets, filling
canteens, foraging chickens and pigs, toting rails for the fires, and in many
other ways. We harvested a large field of corn at noon and burned several
barnfuls during the day, reaching camp late in the evening, some five or six miles
from Tarboro. A heavy
northeast rain storm set in during the night, and we could hear the cars
running, bringing troops into Tarboro. Scouting parties were sent out to
reconnoitre the enemy's force and position, and reported they were in force and
fortified between us and the town. As the general’s errand up through this part
of the country was more for observation than fight, he thought with his small force
of infantry (and a part of that new troops) and with a cumbersome wagon train,
he had better act on the defensive, and early the next morning ordered a
retreat.
THE RETREAT.
The morning was dark and dreary. With a heavy northeast rain
storm blowing, the enemy in force in front of us and expecting an attack on or rear,
when the retreat commenced our prospects were anything but flattering. Quietly
the order was given for the wagons to start and make the time as short as
possible back some eight miles to an old church and cross roads, past which we
had come the day before, and there await further orders. Three companies of cavalry
preceded us as an advance guard. The road was very muddy and the traveling
hard, but that made no difference; the teams were urged forward and the boys
exhibited remarkable enterprise in getting over the road. I thought I had never
seen our boys more interested in anything than they were in this. Not even
applejack nor all the luxuries that lay scattered along their pathway had any
charms for them. Their whole souls seemed centered on the old church, and they
were thorough[h]ly absorbed in their efforts to reach it. I don't believe they ever
took half so much interest before in going to a church. The old church and cross
roads were reached before noon, and we anxiously awaited the arrival of the general.
Not hearing any firing in the rear we concluded they were lying for us at some
other point, if they were intending an attack on us. The cavalry informed us
that the bridge across the creek out in the swamp, over which we crossed the day
before, was taken up and things looked as though somebody might be waiting for
us on the other side. The troops were now coming up, and a couple of batteries dashed
past us, down the road into the swamp. The general soon came up and seemed
quite pleased that he had gained this point without opposition, and thought
there would be no further trouble.
The commander is a practical engineer, and can map with his eye
the country as he passes through it, picking out the strong and weak positions,
moving his troops in this or the other direction, holding such roads and
positions as he thinks will give him an advantage, and when a movement is
ordered, it is entered on by his troops with full confidence of success. Two
roads branched from the one we were on, one taking a north-easterly direction, the
other a north-westerly. Up these roads the cavalry were sent. to make a reconnoissance.
The pioneer corps was ordered down to the creek, over which the bridge had been
taken up, and commenced felling trees as though they intended to rebuild it.
After an hour's ride, the cavalry returned and reported everything all right. A
part of the infantry and artillery now took the advance, going up the
north-easterly road, followed by the wagon train, while the balance of the
troops brought up the rear. While this was going on, the sharp ring of the axes
could be heard out in the swamp as though that was the intended route, but
after the column had got well under way, the pioneers abandoned their job and followed
along. The route lay through an open country, easy of defence, and if anybody was
waiting for us on the other side of the swamp (as we have since learned there
was), they got nicely fooled. About night we reached the site where two days
before stood the town of Hamilton. Nothing remained but a few scattered rookeries
on the outskirts occupied by negroes. There was, however, one small two story building
standing a little apart from the others, which was saved, and into this went
company B, taking the up-stairs tenement, while the lower one was occupied by a
company of the 5th Massachusetts. The night was cold and stormy, snowing quite heavily,
and the little army was obliged to stand it or find shelter as best they could.
I reckon the boys who set the fires bitterly repented of their acts, as they must
have suffered much, and a good many of them were worn down and sick from the
long march.
By morning the storm had abated, but there were about two
inches of soft snow or slush, and some of the boys were barefoot, having worn
out their shoes, and a good many were nearly or quite sick. The surgeons looked
over their regiments, sending the sick and bare-footed aboard the gunboats for
Plymouth, for which place the troops were bound.
The order of exercises for today was a march back to Williamston,
which I very much regretted not being able to do, as I rather enjoy these rambles
through the country and feel disappointed when I cannot go, but I had been a
little under the weather for a clay or two, and was sent with the others aboard
the little gunboat Hetzel, where we were greatly sympathized with by the
marines, who seemed to think we had had a pretty hard time of it, and who showed
us every favor and indulgence that lay in their power. The boats steamed slowly
down the river, keeping along with the army, and arriving at Plymouth on the afternoon
of the 10th, having made a two weeks' excursion.
THE RESULT.
I reckon the landed nobility up the country through which we
traveled will never care to see another excursion of the same kind. They
probably by this time begin to think that war is not so pretty a pastime, and the
Confederate commissariat can mourn the loss of many thousand bushels of corn.
We made a desolation of the country through which we passed, and that proud
aristocracy can now look over their desolate fields, and in vain call the roll of
their slaves; can sit down and make a nice calculation of how much better off
they are under their Confederacy than they would have been had they remained
loyal to the old flag. We cleaned up pretty much everything there was, bringing
back with us upwards of 1000 negroes and several hundred horses and mules.
Coming down the river we ran past what appeared to be a
large cotton plantation, when some 40 or 50 negroes came running down to the shore
and begged to be taken aboard. They were the most forlorn and wretched looking
beings I had ever seen; their clothing was little else than rags, scarcely
covering their nakedness. Some of them followed us nearly a mile down the river,
begging piteously to be taken aboard. I pitied the poor creatures, but was
powerless to help them, and the thought occurred to me that if God cares for
all his creatures, he surely must have forgotten these.
SOURCE: David L. Day, My Diary of Rambles with the
25th Mass. Volunteer Infantry, p. 69-76
