9Th New York Heavy Artillery in Battles of Monocacy and Cedar Creek - Case Study Example

9Th New York Heavy Artillery in Battles of Monocacy and Cedar Creek By Recruit and Organization "We are coming Father Abraham three hundred thousand more"i CITATION Roe99 \l 1033 The cry answered President Abraham Lincolns call for 300,000 more men to enlist for three years or the war issued July 2, 1862. The Second Cayuga and Wayne Regiment was the tentative title of the new regiment. The recruiting area of the regiment encompassed the 25th Senatorial District. The regiment established Camp Halleck named for Henry Wager Halleck, Chief of Staff and a native of Oneida County. CITATION Roe99 \l 1033 The regiment went into camp with ten companies in August 1862. Joseph Welling was appointed Colonel of the new regiment August 12, 1862. CITATION Roe99 \l 1033 The regiment mustered into the U.S. Volunteer Service September 8-9 1862 and designated the 138th New York Volunteer Infantry September 29, 1862. The regiment left Auburn for Washington D.C. September 12, 1862. They were assigned to the Defenses of Washington. December 9, 1862 the regiment redesignated the Ninth New York Heavy Artillery. The regiment needed to recruit three more companies as Civil War artillery regiments had twelve companies in three battalions. The War Department redesignated the Twenty-second New York Volunteer Battery as Company M, 9th New York Heavy Artillery February 5, 1863. CITATION Roe99 \l 1033 Company L recruited in Albany. March 1864 General Ulysses S. Grant became General-in-Chief of the Union Armies. He embarked on an aggressive campaign to destroy General Robert E. Lees Army of Northern Virginia. This strategy was war of attrition, kill or capture the enemy until they ran out of replacements. This strategy also meant large numbers of Union soldiers fell in the contest. Grants need for replacements brought him to the troops in the Washington defenses. The heavy artillery regiments in the forts had thousands of men to replace the Army of the Potomac losses. Grant ordered a number of regiments to the front; the Ninth New York Heavy Artillery among them. May 18, 1864 the regiment, with 2,000 officers and men board transports at Alexandria, Virginia and sail down the Potomac River to Belle Plain Landing at the mouth of Potomac Creek, Virginia. Three companies of the regiment escorted a supply train to Fredericksburg. The remainder of Ninth set on the May 20 bound for Fredericksburg and Spottsylvania Court House. The rout passed through a barren countryside its resources exhausted by the long occupation of the contending armies. The regiment halted on Stafford Heights across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg. May 26, 1864 the regiment caught up with the army and was assigned to the Sixth Army Corps Third Division and the Second Brigade. They followed their brigade to the scene of their first fight at Cold Harbor. The regiment fought its action and earned grudging respect from the veteran comrades. The Sixth Corps arrived in front of Petersburg June 16, 1864, but was destined to remain here a short time as urgent orders sent them to defend Washington from Confederate attack. Monocacy Robert E. Lee realizing that it was only a matter of time before Grants persistent attacks ground his army down. He summoned Lieutenant General Jubal Early and directed him to take his II Corps north through the Shenandoah Valley and threaten Washington. Lee hoped that Earlys presence in the Shenandoah would result in Grants army being stripped for reinforcements to defend the Yankee capital and allow him to crush the remainder of the Army of the Potomac. Washington at this time had few available troops to man the extensive line of forts girding the capital. The bulk consisted of untrained 100 days volunteers with little training, convalescents, dismounted cavalry, and the Marines and sailors of the Washington Navy Yard and Marine Barracks. Grant sent Major General Philip Sheridan north to command the troops in Washington and ordered the Sixth Corps to Washington as reinforcements. Early in the meanwhile drove the Union troops under Major General David Hunter out of the valley and into Western Virginia. He pushed north crossed the Potomac River, and turned south to menace the capital from the Maryland side. Troops ordered from Baltimore gathered at Frederick, Maryland. The Monocacy River flowed through the town. Major General Lew Wallace commanded the Hodgepodge army gathered to stop Earlys advance on the capital. The Third Division, Sixth Corps arrived in Baltimore July 8, 1864 and boarded cars for Frederick to reinforce Wallaces force on the Monocacy. Wallace moved his troops to the east side of the river. The east side of the river was a series of bluffs commanding the west side of the river. The Ninth New York with its division arrives late in the afternoon and takes up position. Earlys army passed through Frederick, halted to assess the situation, and rested his troops. July 9, Colonel Seward directed Lieutenant Fish commanded Company B to hold the covered bridge at all hazard. Captain Anson Wood commanded Company M crossed the bridge and moved forward as skirmishers. The Confederate skirmishers fired on Woods company, and the men lay down and returned fire. Another Captain had a thin line of skirmishers, possibly Captain Brown of the First Regiment Potomac Home Guard Brigade, CITATION Roe99 \l 1033 and asked Wood to move up on his line; Wood complied, when the other Captain and his men left the field. Wood later stated in his report that "never received any orders. . .any source. . .fought my part of the battle untrammeled". CITATION Roe99 \l 1033 The Confederate reinforcements appeared and the line advanced, while trying to outflank the right of Woods line. Wood changed front to defeat the attempt and retired to the railroad. Wood and part of the country crossed the river, and parts of the company commanded by Lieutenant Parrish, escaped down the river. The remainder of the Ninth rested on the brow of the hill until late afternoon when they were forward to a cornfield, whose fence made an "excellent rest for their guns". CITATION Roe99 \l 1033 The regiment poured volleys into the cornrows as the Confederate infantry pushed forward. The regiment successfully held their post, and confidently expected to remain here. Orders arrived announcing the left of the line turned and the regiment to withdraw. The retreat began at 4:00 p.m. and the Wallace escaped with the survivors of the days fighting. This ended the Battle of Monocracy. Cedar Creek General Early reached the outskirts of Washington on 12 July 1864 and his troops skirmished with the defenders of Fort Stevens. The remainder of the Sixth Corps arrived in Washington, marched through the city, pitched into Early, and drove him off. Early recrossed the Potomac and remained in the Valley menacing Washington and gathering supplies for Lees Army. The state affairs existed because of divided command; the Shenandoah Valley area lay in three different departments, Middle, Shenandoah, and Kanawha. Grant exasperated at lack of coordination disbanded the Shenandoah, Kanawha and Middle Departments and created the Middle Military Division with Sheridan in command. Sheridan brought two cavalry divisions from the Army of the Potomac. The Eighth Corps joined the Sixth Corps and Nineteenth Corps brought around from Louisiana. Grant ordered Sheridan to destroy the Shenandoah as a source of supply. Sheridan fought a series of actions that shattered Earlys army and drove him down the Valley. He halted his army along the banks of Cedar Creek, near Middletown, Virginia. Early, however, regrouped and reinforced and determined to attack Sheridans camps along the Creek. The army camped with the Eighth Corps held the left of the line, the Nineteenth Century on the right slightly farther North protected by earthworks. And the Sixth Corps at right angles to the Nineteenth. CITATION Roe99 \l 1033 The Second Division held the right of the line. Reconnaissance carried out by cavalry and infantry reported no enemy near the army. CITATION Roe99 \l 1033 Early marched his army forward and pulled up short of the Creek and organized for battle. The Confederate troops shivered in the cold light of the dawn. The order forward given, Earlys men attacked. The firing from the pickets roused the camps. Earlys tidal wave rolled over the Union troops. The Eighth Corps first, followed by the Nineteenth, The Sixth Corps checked the Confederate advance; they were unable to rally the troops of the other corps and gave ground slowly. The Second Brigade found itself isolated as troops to either side gave way, and the brigade must withdraw or surrounded. The Ninth New Heavy Artillery covered the withdrawal. The Adjutant of the 122nd Ohio Volunteers reported the Ninth moved "they marched like a militia regiment on parade... frequently halted, dressed, faced about and fire" CITATION Roe99 \l 1033 The Sixth Corps halted Earlys attack. Hungry Confederate troops looted the abandoned camps for the interrupted breakfast of the Yankees. This delay proved fatal. The delay allowed the scattered troops to reorganize. Sheridan absent in Winchester, galloped up, surveyed the situation, and attacked. The assault routed the badly disorganized Confederates and drove them form the Valley, capturing all Earlys wagons, guns, recaptured Union guns and freed many prisoners. The day ended the Ninth New York returned to their camps and waited for orders. Works Cited Department, U.S. War. Civilwarhom. 9 December 2010 . Pond, George E. The Shenandoah Valley In 1864. New York: Charles Scribners, 1881 . New York State Assembly. New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center. 21 October 2000. 9 December 2010 . Roe, Alfred Seelye. The Ninth New York Heavy Artillery, History of Oreganizations, Service in the Defenses of Washington, Marches, Camps, Battles, and Muster-out with Accounts of Life in a Rebel Prison and Personal Experiences. Worcester: private publish, 1899. Read More