Three years in the Sixth Corps

The following pages are offered to my old comrades of the Sixth Corps, with the hope that they may pleasantly recall the many varied experiences of that unparalleled body of men. If much has been omitted which should have been written, or if anything has been said which should have been left out, I rely upon the generosity of brave men to treat with leniency the failings they may detect.

I have endeavored to present without exaggeration or embellishment of imagination, a truthful picture of army life in all its vicissitudes; its marches, its battles, its camps, and the sad scenes when the victims of war languish in hospitals. The story is written mostly from extensive notes taken by myself amid the scenes described; but official reports and letters from officers have been used freely in correcting these notes, and gathering fresh material. The narrative commences with the experiences of my own regiment; then when that regiment became a part of Smith's division, its incidents and history includes the whole. From the organization of the Sixth Corps to the close of the rebellion, I have endeavored without partiality to give the story of the Corps. If I have failed to do justice to any of the noble troops of the Corps, it has been from no want of desire to give to each regiment the praise due to it.

I cannot close without acknowledging my many obligations to the numerous friends, officers and soldiers of the Corps, and others who have favored me with their assistance. I take especial pleasure in acknowledging the kindness of Miss Emily Sedgwick, sister of our lamented commander; Vermont's honored son, Major-General L. A. Grant, Major-General Thomas H. Neill, Colonel James B. McKean, Colonel W. B. French, Chaplain Norman Fox, and Mr. Henry M. Myers. I am also indebted to the friends of Samuel S. Craig for the use of his diary, extending from the early history of the Army of the Potomac, to the death of the talented young soldier in the Wilderness.

The engravings are nearly all from sketches taken by myself on the ground, the others are from the pencil of the well known artist, Captain J. Hope, and all have been submitted to his finishing touch. Mr. Ferguson has executed the wood cuts in a style creditable to his art.

The typographical portion of the work has been done in a style of beauty and finish for which the work of Weed, Parsons and Company is so well known.

18 North Pearl Street, Albany, N. Y.

September 5, 1866.

[Illustration]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

1. Portrait of General Sedgwick.

2. Illustrated Title Page.

3. The Old Church at Hampton.

4. The Quaker at Newport News.

5. Charge of the Vermonters at Lee's Mills.

6. Charge of Hancock's Brigade at Williamsburgh.

7. Charge of the Seventy-seventh New York at Mechanicsville.

8. Portrait of Colonel James B. McKean.

9. Charge of the Sixth Corps at Burkettsville.

10. White Oak Church, Va.

11. Storming Fredericksburgh Heights by Howe's Division.

12. "What'll Ole Missus do Now?"

13. Church Call.

14. Battle of Fort Stevens.

15. "Why Don't he Come?"

16. "Going Norf."

17. Diagram of the Charge of the Sixth Corps, April 2, 1865.

CONTENTS.

Chapter I.

A New Regiment goes to the War.

Organization of the Seventy-seventh N. Y. V.--Departure from Saratoga--Greetings by the way--New emotions--The noble dead--On board the Knickerbocker--At New York--Presentation of flags--Beauties of monopoly--Hospitality of Philadelphia--Incidents on the route--Arrival at Washington--In camp.

Chapter II.

Army Life at Washington.