From Battle of Antietam, Md., 17 September 1862.
Robert Knox Sneden Diary. (Wikipedia)
Friday, October 5, 2012
Sunday, 5th—The entire Sixth Division, taking up the line of march[1] this morning at 6 o’clock, marched five miles and then formed a line of battle. We heard some very heavy cannonading out on the Hatchie river, in our front. General Hurlbut had cut off the retreat of the rebels at the bridge crossing the river, but after a hard fight they got away and continued their retreat to the south, on the east side of the river. We resumed our march at 1 p. m. and after covering ten miles stopped for the night. The Second Iowa Cavalry was ordered back to Corinth.
[1] As we passed the fivld hospital of the Confederates on the Corinth battlefield, we saw eighteen of their dead, evidently having died from wounds, lying side by side, and almost black in the face, which at the time was said to have been caused by their drinking a mixture of water, vinegar and gunpowder. Our army had barrels of vinegar, one for each regiment, so stationed as to permit the men to come and help themselves. Now, our quartermaster, in hastily removing the commissary’s supplies back of the inner lines during the battle, had, for lack of facilities, left standing these barrels of vinegar. It is supposed that the Confederates took the vinegar and made a drink of it, for after the battle there was no vinegar to be found.—A. G. D.
Sunday, 5th. In the morning rode about town and visited the different places of interest connected with the battle. Went into the stable where the Dutch were confined. At noon, after a hearty meal got up by us non-commissioned officers, started south. Capt. Seward came on and took command. N. officer of the day. Encamped on Big Indian, 15 miles from Pineville.
Written from the Sea islands of South Carolina.
[Diary] October 5.
Mr. Phillips preached under our pines. He says the elders decided to exclude us from communion. So be it. I have done. I wonder whether it was by their own wish, or by instruction that they so decided.
Mr. Judd was here to-day and he says the soldiers rob the negroes on Port Royal and he can get no redress.
Sunday, 5th.—Marched six miles; halted and cooked two days’ rations; but started forward again at midnight. Halted at 4 A. M., near Versailes and rested until 9 A. M. Passed through Versailes 10 A. M. Very nice place; halted 2 P. M., two miles from Kentucky River, 11 P. M., started forward, crossed Kentucky River at mid-night.
Corinth, Miss., Sunday, Oct. 5. As it is seen from the last date, I have not written any for some time and I must write of the past from memory. Not getting any better, I went to the Company hospital on September 24 and there was treated for fever of which I had but a very slight touch. On the morning of October 1 every man that could not join his platoon was to be sent to Corinth as the Battery was going to move, so I and four others were put in the ambulance and driven to the depot, but the cars did not come till 2 P. M. When they came, they loaded all the commissary stores in the rooms. E. R. Hungerford and myself were lucky enough to get into the box car. We got to Corinth in about two hours, and after waiting an hour we were taken in a mule wagon to the Seminary Hospital situated on a hill about one mile and a half from Corinth.
We were put in a comfortable tent and lay there unmolested until the 3rd, when early in the morning heavy firing was heard and continued all day. We learned that the cannon had been attacked by the rebels consisting of Price, Breckinridge, Van Dorn and one other commander. In the afternoon we had to move down under the hill, we being right in the range of the guns should they open fire in that direction at night. We were ordered to have everything packed so as to leave at a moment’s notice. At about 12 o’clock at night we were ordered out on the road, while the tents were struck and cots piled. Presently the teams began driving in and loading men and cots. At last our turn came, but not until the rebs had opened fire on the town with three guns throwing shells. We had to pass under the fire. The shells whistled over our heads in every direction, while off went the mules as fast as they could trot. It certainly was a rough ride. They drove us through town and left us on the east of it about ½ mile. By this time it was nearly day-light and the guns used by the rebs throwing shells were taken. About 9 o’clock the engagement became general. The noise of the musketry, occasionally broken in upon by the loud peal of artillery, made it truly terrific. The fight lasted about three hours, when the rebs were obliged to skedaddle.
All of this time we had heard nothing from the Battery. We supposed that it had been engaged, when at 12 o’clock Dr. Miller came around and told us that the Battery had been engaged that morning, and had been taken and retaken, but he could not give us a list of the casualties. We heard nothing more from the Battery until to-day, G. M. Spencer came with a list of casualties. He informed us that the sick and wounded were gathered in a company hospital about a quarter of a mile to the south. We remained in the general hospital until…
Bunker Hill, Va., October 5, 1862.
The army was never so quiet as now, the general impression prevailing that we contemplate no advance upon the enemy and that he contemplates none upon us. We are lying quiet to gather in our absentees and recover from the losses which we have sustained in the active work of the last sixty days. When this is accomplished winter will probably have set in, and the work of this year closed. I fear our troops are to suffer much from want of clothing, and that our supplies will prove greatly inadequate for our wants.
Whilst the army has been apparently idle, I have been unusually busy during the last week. Everybody seems to be making application for something, and my office is crowded with business. I do scarcely any writing, leaving it all to my clerk, Mr. Figgat. If I undertook to do the writing, my eyes would not last long. But as it is, I think I shall be able to do my work without injury. My office is one of much importance and responsibility, and I trust I may be able to fill it without suffering injury to my sight. I think, Love, if this war lasts much longer, you will get to be a pretty good farmer. It really seems as if it would last forever. Both parties seem getting used to it, and the signs of peace and quiet are less, if anything, now than this time last year.
I heartily wish I were at home with you and our dear little boys. It is the wish of many thousands of my comrades who have left loved wives and children at home to mourn their absence and grieve over the danger and hardships to which they are exposed. God grant that we may all soon be gratified—that the fervent prayer for our return may soon be answered. When we do, I think it will be with a more grateful appreciation of the blessings which we were accustomed every day to enjoy.
Now, darling, I will bid you good-bye. Think of me often and cherish the fond love which has marked our intercourse thus far through life as our greatest source of happiness.
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The office which General Paxton held at this time was that of Acting Assistant Adjutant-General on Jackson’s staff. The following letter from General Jackson shows the esteem in which he was at this time held by that officer.
Headquarters V. District
September 23, 1862.
General: I respectfully recommend that Maj. E. F. Paxton be appointed Brigadier-General and assigned to the command of the brigade lately under Brigadier-General C. L. Winder. Last year he was major of the 27th Regt. of the brigade and ranked all the officers at present in the brigade, except three. Upon the reorganization of the Volunteer Regiment, Major Paxton was not retained. As he served under me in the line, and at various times I assigned important duties to him, and as for several months he has been my A. A. A. General, my opportunities for judging of his qualifications have been remarkably good; and there is no officer under the grade proposed whom I can recommend with such confidence for promotion to a Brigadier-Generalcy.
I am, General, your obt. servant,
T. J. Jackson,
Major-General.
To Genl. S. Cooper,
Adjt. & Insp.-Gen’l C. S. A.
Home of Robert E. Lee. Used as headquarters by Samuel P. Heintzelman from 10 September to 8 December 1862.
Robert Knox Sneden Diary. (Wikipedia)
Sunday, October 5.—A very warm day. I spent it in reading and talking to the patients. One died, named James Murray, member of the Thirty-second Alabama Regiment . We have a number of that regiment in the hospital—it either is or was stationed here.
October 5.—Colonel Egan, in command of the Fortieth New-York regiment, crossed the Potomac at Nolan’s Ferry, on a reconnoitring expedition, and proceeded to Leesburgh, Va., where he captured a rebel wagon-train containing the personal effects and official papers of the rebel Gen. Longstreet, and a quantity of army supplies. Several fine horses, beef-cattle, and a caisson filled with ammunition, were also captured.
—General Crittenden’s corps left Bardstown, Ky., in pursuit of the retreating rebel army under General Bragg.—Union troops made a landing at Fort Point, near Galveston, Texas, but did not permanently occupy the island.—Richmond Dispatch, October25.
—The rebel forces under General Price, in full retreat from Corinth, pursued and harassed by the National forces under Gens. Ord and Hurlbut, reached the Hatchie River, where they made a stand. The Unionists attacked them, and, after seven hours’ hard fighting, the rebels broke and retreated in disorder, leaving their dead and wounded, and losing four hundred prisoners and two batteries.
—Scott’s rebel cavalry, at Frankfort, Ky., cut one span of the bridge leading to South-Frankfort, took all the paper and ink belonging to the State printer, and left for the South.—A Union force, under the command of Col. Bruce, attacked a party of rebels, six miles north of Glasgow, Ky., killing and capturing a few, and taking a number of horses and cattle.
—Jacksonville, Fla., was occupied by the Union forces under General Brannan.
