IN THE BANKS AT FREDERICKSBURG.
I. BY GEORGE E. SMITH, PRIVATE, CO. E, 2d WISCONSIN VOLUNTEERS.
eneral W. F. Smith, in his article on “ Frank-lin’s Left Grand Division” [p. 137], makesmention of a round shot that ripped open a sol-dier’s knapsack and distributed his clothing andcards. It was not a round shot, but the second“ bolt ” that came from the Whitworth gun that the“ Johnnies” had run in on our flank. And althoughwe were surprised and dumfounded at this attackfrom a new arm that appeared to take in aboutfive miles of our line, the boys could not foregotheir little joke ; so when that column of cards wasthrown some twenty feet in the air, on all sidescould be heard the cry, “ Oh, deal me a hand! ”
Three other shots in that battle did queer work.Ours was the last brigade (the “Iron Brigade”under Meredith) to cross on the pontoons, and wecame to a halt upon the river-bank, for a few mo-ments, before going into position among the bigcotton-wood trees at the Bernard House. We hadbeen paid off that day, and the gamblers began toplay at cards the moment we halted. A man whowas about to “straddle” a “fifty-cent blind” hadhis knapsack knocked from under him by a solidshot, and he “ straddled ” half a dozen soldiers,who were covered with a cart-load of dirt. Thiswas the first shot from the “ Johnnies ” on our left.Their second passed over the river and struck apaymaster’s tent. The struggle between the pay-master and the stragglers for possession of theflying greenbacks was both exciting and ridiculous.
The next day, December 13th, our officers andthe enemy’s batteries kept us on the jump. Dur-ing a moment’s halt, behind a slight rise of ground,we lay down. A soldier facing to the rear was inearnest conversation with a comrade. Suddenlyhe made a terrific leap in air, and from the spotof ground on which he had been sitting a solidshot scooped a wheelbarrow-load of dirt. It wasa clear case of premonition, for the man couldgive no reason for having jumped.
General Smith also speaks of the veterans’ridicule of the bounty men. The 24th Michigan became part of our brigade shortly after Antie-tam, and we were told they were mostly bountymen. [See below.] We made unmerciful sport ofthem, but never a joke or word of abuse did I hearafter the 24th had shown its mettle in the battleof Fredericksburg .
On the evening of December 14tli, GeneralDoubleday wanted our regiment (the 2d Wiscon-sin ) to go on picket and make an effort to stop thefiring upon the picket-line, for the shots of theConfederates covered the whole field, and no onecould get any rest. We had not been in the picket-line more than twenty minutes before we made abargain with the “ Rebs,” and the firing ceased,and neither they nor ourselves pretended to keepunder cover. But at daylight the 24th Michigan came to relieve us. Before they were fairly inline they opened fire upon the Confederates with-out the warning we had agreed to give. We yelledlustily, but the rattle of musketry drowned thesound, and many a confiding enemy was hit. Thisirritated the Confederates, who opened a savagefire, and the 24th Michigan were put upon theirgood behavior; it was with difficulty a generalengagement was prevented. All that day, untilabout 4 o’clock, the picket-firing was intense; i*was abruptly ended by a Confederate challenginga Oth Wisconsin man to a fist-light in the mid-dle of the turnpiko. The combatants got theattention of both picket-lines, who declared thefight a “ draw.” They ended the matter with acoffee and tobacco trade and an agreement to dono more firing at picket-lines, unless an advanceshould bo ordered. It was this agreement thatenabled Lieutenant Rogers to save a long picket-line that was to have been sacrificed when we fedback.
S ince Private Smith, above, mentions the 24thMichigan as “bounty men,” let me state thatin July, 1862, a war meeting held in Detroit topromote enlistments under Lincoln’s call for300,000 men was broken up by the disturbancecreated by a large number of Confederate refugeesfrom Windsor, Canada , with the aid of some anti-war men here. To wipe out the unexpected insult,a second war meeting was held, which resolved toraise immediately an entire regiment,— the 24thMichigan, — in Wayne County alone, in addition toits regular quota; and within 20 days said regimentwas recruited and mustered, 1027 strong. Not aman of us received a cent of State or county bounty.Eacli man, however, did receive, in advance, onemonth’s pay and $25 of the regular $100 govern-ment bounty promised to all soldiers enlisting fortwo years; 673 of the men who were credited toDetroit received sums varying from $25 to $50apiece as a gratuity from patriotic friends, whilethe remaining 354 of us never received a cent.
Assigned to the “ Iron Brigade,” our regimentshared its hardships till the spring of 1865, whe®its remnant was sent to guard conscripts at Spring-field, Ill., and formed the escort at President Lin-coln’s funeral. At Gettysburg it suffered probablyas great a loss as any regiment of its size. One otthe first infantry regiments to engage the enemyin the first day’s fight, it went into that battle wiid*28 officers and 468 men; total, 496. It lost tbM'day 24 officers and 339 men ; total, 363, of whiej 1number 272, or about 55 per cent, of the commandwere killed and wounded ; 91 were taken prisoners)over a third of whom died in Southern prisons ’twice that day was its entire color-guard shot down)and only 3 officers and 95 men were left to responat roll-call. General Wadsworth thus commendeits conduct on that day: “Colonel Morrow, the onlyfault I find with you is that you fought the 2dtMichigan too long, but God only knows what won* 'have become of us had you not held the ground “ slong as you did.”