The Sword and Gun 1

The Sword and Gun 1

The Sword and Gun

A History of the 37th Wis. Volunteer Infantry

 

Author: R. C. Eden

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

 

 

Preface 5

History--Chapter I 7

Chapter II 17

Chapter III 39

Table of Gain and Loss 69

Roster and Muster Rolls 70

List of Deaths 110

Final Roster 117

L'Envoi 118

 

 

 

 

PREFACE.

 

 

I have attempted, in this small volume, to give a true and impartial

history of the brief but glorious career of our Regiment. Though

called into the field at a late hour, the services of the Regiment

have been arduous and severe, in the extreme, and, participating,

as it has done, in the last closing scenes of the rebellion, it has

shared in the honor and glory of winding up the secession movement.

 

These memoirs have been mostly compiled from memory, with the

assistance of the regimental and company records, and the

reminiscences of my brother officers.

 

For the literary excellence of the work, I claim no merit, as I have

not endeavored to accomplish more than the title of the work sets

forth: a plain "History of the 37th Regiment Wisconsin Volunteer

Infantry." As such a record, it may, I hope, be kindly received among

those whose deeds it sets forth; further than that I care little for

its fate.

 

A few years, and the scenes of this rebellion will become misty and

indistinct, through the veil of years; a few more, and it will have

become a matter of history, minor details and incidents being lost

and absorbed in the great broad facts of the period. Then, the author

has a hope, a vain one if you will, but springing from the pardonable

vanity of a parent in the offspring of his brain, that such records

as this will be prized as this generation is passing away, and those

who have shared in the stirring events of the time it treats of, may,

 

---- dying, mention it within their wills,

Bequeathing it, as a rich legacy,

Unto their issue.

[_Julius Cæsar, Act III, Scene 2._

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER I.

 

 

In the spring of 1864, a call having been made by the President for

500,000 fresh troops, his Excellency, James T. Lewis, issued an order

for the raising of a regiment to be designated the 37th Wisconsin

Volunteer Infantry.

 

To Sam. Harriman, of Somerset, St. Croix county, Captain of company

A, 30th Wisconsin, was entrusted the charge of raising this regiment,

and a commission as Colonel issued to him on the 7th of March.

 

The work of recruiting was immediately entered into with vigor, and,

on the 13th of April, 1864, the first company, (company, B, Capt. R.

C. Eden,) was mustered into the service of the United States, at the

rendezvous at Madison, by Capt. T. T. Brand, "for three years, unless

sooner discharged." On the afternoon of the same day, company C,

Capt. John Green, was also mustered in by the same officer, followed

on the 12th of the same month by company D, Capt. Alvah Nash, on the

16th by company A, Capt. S. Stevens, on the 18th by company E, Capt.

Frank A. Cole, on the 19th by company F, Capt. E. Burnett, on the 3d

of May by company G, Capt. W. W. Heller, and company H, Capt. Frank

T. Hobbs, on the 5th of May by company K, Capt. A. A. Burnett, and on

the 6th of the same month by company I, Capt. Geo. A. Beck.

 

On the 28th of April, companies A, B, C, D, E, and F left Camp

Randall, under command of Major Kershaw, and proceeded to

Washington, where they arrived on the 1st of May, and were encamped

on Arlington Heights, in the neighborhood of the Long Bridge.

Colonel Harriman accompanied the regiment as far as Chicago, from

which place he returned to Madison, to superintend the organization

of the four remaining companies. The journey was accomplished in

safety and without the occurrence of any noteworthy incident. On the

17th, the detachment was joined by companies H and I, and arms and

accoutrements being at once issued to the men, the instruction of

the regiment in the manual and battalion drill was at once proceeded

with, with vigor. Lieut. Col. Doolittle, having joined the regiment

at Chicago, assumed the command then and there, taking charge of the

disciplining and instructing of the eight companies, of which it was

then composed.

 

On the 28th of May, orders were received for the regiment to prepare

for the field, and to be ready to march by the next morning. The

comfortable "wedge" and "wall" tents in which men and officers had

been luxuriating and gaining their first experience of camp life

were, accordingly, turned in to the Regimental Quartermaster, and the

fragmentary and disjointed dwellings, known to the polite world as

shelter tents, or _tentes d'abri_, but known amongst soldiers as _pup

tents_, were issued in their stead. All extra baggage was disposed

of, and the comforts of civilized life bid adieu to, "for three years

unless sooner discharged."

 

At daylight, on the morning of the 29th, we took up our line of

march for Alexandria, thus entering on our first campaign. The

morning was sunny and clear, and as the sun gained power, became

unpleasantly warm, and a source of no little distress to men unused

to marching and the encumbrance of gun, knapsack and accoutrements,

as ours were. About ten o'clock, we arrived in the suburbs of

Alexandria, where we rested for an hour or two, awaiting orders as to

our further disposition.

 

The transports on which we were to embark for White House Landing,

on the Pamunkey River, the then base of supplies of the Army of

Virginia, had arrived the night previous and were then engaged in

taking on board a large herd of cattle, which was to form part of

their live freight, and we were accordingly ordered into camp on

the banks of the river where we remained till 5 o'clock on the

afternoon of the 30th. The work of embarking the troops was then

commenced, and our Regiment was divided into three divisions, which

were distributed as follows: Companies B and E were assigned to the

propeller _S. Cloud_, under command of Capt. Eden, of company B; the

propeller _Andrew Harder_ carried companies A, C, D and F, under

command of Lieut. Col. Doolittle, while Capt. Hobbs took command of

the remainder of the detachment on board of the _Charles Osgood_.

 

With the exception of the _Harder's_ grounding on a sand bank just

above Mt. Vernon, and nearly involving the _Cloud_, which came to

her assistance, in a like catastrophe, no incident, unpleasant or

otherwise, occurred to mar the tranquility of our passage down the

Potomac.

 

We made a pleasant run down Chesapeake Bay, and the morning of

the second of June found us, after a close escape from grounding

on York Spit,--a long narrow point of sand off the mouth of York

River,--preparing to anchor off Yorktown to wait for a pilot to

conduct us up the intricate navigation of the York and Pamunkey

Rivers. The original intention had been for us to follow up the

_Harder_, the only vessel in the squadron that carried a government

pilot, but owing to her neglecting to display a proper signal, during

the night, we had lost sight of her and were consequently left to our

own resources.

 

Our preparations for anchoring were yet in course of completion when

the pilot was seen, coming out of Yorktown, and the squadron was

again headed up the York River. About noon we passed West Point,

an insignificant collection of small dwellings, situated on a long

point of land between the York and Pamunkey rivers, and just at their

junction. From this point to White House Landing the Pamunkey is,

perhaps, as crooked a river as can be found in the United States. The

channel, however, is straight and deep, running between low, flat

marshes occasionally relieved with high, steep banks and well wooded

bluffs, capital points for guerrilla operations.

 

Rumors were rife as to the exploits of these gentry, in this

neighborhood, and the several divisions of the detachment received

orders to load, many of them then performing that operation for the

first time. The size of our squadron, however, and the presence of

several "tin-clads" and "double enders," those "restless wanderers

of the _deeps_" and shallows, tended no doubt to awe the bushwhackers

and keep them on their best behavior.

 

At any rate the Thirty-Seventh passed along, unmolested and

unmolesting, except when an insubordinate recruit would insist on

trying the range of Springfield or (contraband) Colt on sundry and

divers vagabond members of the porcine tribe, that seemed to lead

an aimless and unsatisfactory life, on the banks of the Pamunkey.

And so the long summer's day passed away, with the hot perpendicular

rays of the sun shining down on our bare decks, unchecked by awning

or shelter of any kind, frying the pitch out of the deck seams and

reducing the tar in the rigging to the consistency of molasses and

leaving about as pleasant an impression on the incautious hands of

those who ventured to touch strand or stay. But "all things come

to an end," says the wise man, and so even will a long hot summer

day, if it is passed on board a crowded transport, with a scarcity

of standing, sitting or lying room, a still greater scarcity of

drinkable water, and an utter absence of anything at all approaching to comfort.