Friday, May 6th.
We were aroused at half-past two o’clock this morning by an officer who brought us orders to leave the Headquarters Train and to report at Corps Headquarters at once, which order we instantly obeyed. Arriving at Gen. Warren’s headquarters, which were then at the Lacy House, in a commanding position upon a hill from which a view could be had of the dense woods upon all sides forming part of the Wilderness in which the troops of the Fifth Corps now lay in line of battle, we halted on the southerly slope, and, stacking arms, began to boil our coffee, the favorite occupation of the soldiers upon all occasions when a halt is ordered, expecting every moment to be ordered into the line. Soon Company E, which had been ordered up from the ammunition train, joined us, and from the strenuous efforts made to bring every available man to the front, and the anxiety apparent on the faces of the officers about Headquarters, we were convinced that a crisis was approaching. Before daylight the ball was opened by the skirmishers, and about half-past four the artillery, such as could be efficiently used, joined in the chorus. As the day dawned the firing increased all along the lines, and the pattering of the skirmishes was soon lost in the deep and terrible roll of the musketry of the main lines. I never listened to a sound more thrilling than that of this morning’s engagement. The loudest and longest peals of thunder were no more to be compared to it in depth and volume, than the rippling of a trout brook to the roaring of Niagara. The Sixth New York and other regiments of Heavy Artillery left in the defenses of Washington when we were ordered out, passed us this morning going forward to fill a gap in the line through which the enemy is momentarily expected to pour its charging columns, and to repel which all the reserved artillery has been in position in front of Headquarters with the guns shotted and the cannoneers at their posts. Fortunately, the weak spot is not discovered by our adversaries, but the crowds of wounded surging from the woods in every direction and hastening to the rear, bear terrible witness to the desperate valor of the combatants, and show a gradual but certain weakening of the lines. Here again I am compelled to bear the mortification of being asked by a staff officer what Battery I command, and upon pointing out my company of foot soldiers, hearing the officer add apologetically, “Ah, you are one of the Heavies.” I shall never cease to condemn in the strongest terms the action of the Government in enlisting us for one branch of the service and then, without our consent, transferring us to another.
About three o’clock P. M., we were ordered to the front, and with many speculations as to our destination, we fell in line and marched across an open field into the woods. Entering the low pines and underbrush through which roads had been cut for the passage of artillery and ambulances, we moved noiselessly along until we emerged from the pines in a hollow, and formed line of battle beside a little brook just in rear of several batteries of artillery, which, being in position, connected the extreme right of the Fifth Corps with the left of the Sixth. Here, stacking arms until the engineers should complete the breastworks on the left of the batteries, the men unslung their knapsacks, built their little fires and improved the time boiling their coffee. About seven o’clock, and while we were still busy at our hard-tack and coffee, the firing opened very briskly to the right, and soon a mounted staff officer dashed wildly down upon us, shouting at the top of his voice that the Sixth Corps had broken and was retreating before the victorious Rebs, who in a few minutes would be upon us also and “gobble us up,” closing his remarks by ordering us forward into the unfinished rifle-pit. Such information calmly and quietly conveyed to veterans far in the rear, would hardly inspire them with martial ardor. What, then, must be the effect on green troops on the front line with arms stacked and belts laid aside? As might have been expected, the result was well nigh disastrous, for nearly every man in the battalion, with the natural instinct of self-preservation, seized his knapsack and started on the double-quick for the rear. Fortunately, however, the officers were in the rear of the line, and, with the assistance of the non-commissioned officers and a few cool-headed private soldiers, by threats and prayers, by words and blows, finally restored order, and, forming the line, the battalion moved into the rifle-pits. Joe, one of my bodyguards, however, would have distinguished himself on this occasion by gallantly retreating and carrying away my sword and revolver, which I had taken off a few moments before the stampede commenced, had I not caught him just in time to save my property, though he himself disappeared. Notwithstanding the terrible forebodings of the mounted officer referred to, and who by this time had no doubt reported at Headquarters, the firing gradually died away, and, being assured by the engineers that there were two lines of battle in the woods in front of us, we laid down to pleasant dreams in the rifle-pits,
merely stationing a picket to guard our slumbers. General Wadsworth, and Lieut. Walker of our Sixth Corps battalion, were killed, and private Washington Covert, of my company, was wounded to-day.
