A Surgeon in the Army of the Potomac 9780773575110

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a surgeon in the army of the potomac

mc gill-queen’s/associated medical services studies in the history of medicine, health, and s ociety series editors: s.o. freedman and j.t.h. connor Volumes in this series have financial support from Associated Medical Services, Inc. (ams). Associated Medical Services Inc. was established in 1936 by Dr Jason Hannah as a pioneer prepaid not-for-profit health-care organization in Ontario. With the advent of medicare, ams became a charitable organization supporting innovations in academic medicine and health services, specifically the history of medicine and health care, as well as innovations in health professional education and bioethics. 1 Home Medicine The Newfoundland Experience John K. Crellin 2 A Long Way from Home The Tuberculosis Epidemic among the Inuit Pat Sandiford Grygier 3 Labrador Odyssey The Journal and Photographs of Eliot Curwen on the Second Voyage of Wilfred Grenfell, 1893 Ronald Rompkey 4 Architecture in the Family Way Doctors, Houses, and Women, 1870–1900 Annmarie Adams 5 Local Hospitals in Ancien Régime France Rationalization, Resistance, Renewal, 1530–1789 Daniel Hickey 6 Foisted upon the Government? State Responsibilities, Family Obligations, and the Care of the Dependant Aged in Nineteenth-Century Ontario Edgar-André Montigny

7 A Young Man’s Benefit The Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Sickness Insurance in the United States and Canada, 1860–1929 George Emery and J.C. Herbert Emery 8 The Weariness, the Fever, and the Fret The Campaign against Tuberculosis in Canada, 1900–1950 Katherine McCuaig 9 The War Diary of Clare Gass, 1915–1918 Edited by Susan Mann 10 Committed to the State Asylum Insanity and Society in NineteenthCentury Quebec and Ontario James E. Moran 11 Jessi Luther at the Grenfell Mission Edited by Ronald Rompkey 12 Negotiating Disease Power and Cancer Care, 1900–1950 Barbara Clow 13 For Patients of Moderate Means A Social History of the Voluntary Public General Hospital in Canada, 1890–1950 David Gagan and Rosemary Gagan

14 Into the House of Old A History of Residential Care in British Columbia Megan J. Davies

23 Labour in the Laboratory Medical Laboratory Workers in the Maritimes, 1900–1950 Peter L. Twohig

24 Rockefeller Foundation Funding 15 St Mary’s and Medical Education in Toronto, The History of a London Teaching Montreal, and Halifax Hospital Marianne P. Fedunkiw E.A. Heaman 16 Women, Health, and Nation Canada and the United States since 1945 Edited by Georgina Feldberg, Molly Ladd-Taylor, Alison Li, and Kathryn McPherson

25 Push! The Struggle for Midwifery in Ontario Ivy Lynn Bourgeault 26 Mental Health and Canadian Society Historical Perspectives James Moran/ David Wright

17 The Labrador Memoir of Dr Henry 27 sars in Context Paddon, 1912–1938 Memory, History, and Policy Edited by Ronald Rompkey Edited by Jacalyn Duffin and Arthur 18 J.B. Collip and the Development Sweetman of Medical Research in Canada 28 Lyndhurst Extracts and Enterprise Canada’s First Rehabilitation Centre Alison Li for People with Spinal Cord Injuries, 19 The Ontario Cancer Institute 1945–1998 Successes and Reverses at Geoffrey Reaume Sherbourne Street 29 J. Wendell Macleod E.A. McCulloch Saskatchewan’s “Red Dean” Louis Horlick 20 Island Doctor John Mackieson and Medicine in Nineteenth-Century Prince Edward Island David A.E. Shephard 21 The Struggle to Serve A History of the Moncton Hospital, 1895 to 1953 W.G. Godfrey 22 An Element of Hope Radium and the Response to Cancer in Canada, 1900–1940 Charles Hayter

30 Who Killed the Queen? What Works and What to Fix in Canadian Health Care Holly Dressel 31 Healing the World’s Children Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Health in the Twentieth Century Edited by Cynthia Comacchio, Janet Golden, and George Weisz 32 A Canadian Surgeon in the Army of the Potomac Francis M. Wafer Edited by Cheryl A. Wells

A Surgeon in the Army of the Potomac FRANCIS M. WAFER

Edited by Cheryl A. Wells

McGill-Queen’s University Press Montreal & Kingston London Ithaca G

G

© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2008 isbn 978-0-7735-3381-3 Legal deposit second quarter 2008 Bibliothèque nationale du Québec Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free (100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free McGill-Queen’s University Press acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (bpidp) for our publishing activities. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Wafer, Francis M., 1830–1876 A surgeon in the Army of the Potomac / Francis M. Wafer ; edited by Cheryl A. Wells. (McGill-Queen’s/Associated Medical Services studies in the history of medicine, health, and society ; 32) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-7735-3381-3 1. Wafer, Francis M., 1830–1876. 2. United States – History – Civil War, 1861–1865 – Personal narratives, Canadian. 3. United States – History – Civil War, 1861–1865 – Medical care. 4. United States. Army – Surgeons – Biography. 5. Surgeons – Canada – Biography. 6. Physicians – Canada – Biography. I. Wells, Cheryl A., 1972– II. Title. III. Series. r464.w24a3 2008

973.7’75092

c2007–907322–0

Typeset by Jay Tee Graphics in 10/13 Sabon

Frontispiece: Francis M. Wafer, 1864 Courtesy Queen’s University Archives, Kingston, Ontario

In memory of two Canadian soldiers robert ralph ryan and alan mcpherson th

17 Duke of York’s Royal Canadian Hussars Second World War

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Contents

Illustrations xi Acknowledgments xiii Civil War Timeline xv Introduction xxiii 1 2 3 4 5 6

Joining the Army of the Potomac 3 The Spring Campaigns of 1863 16 The Gettysburg Campaign 30 After Gettysburg 59 Campaigns of 1864 91 Letters from Petersburg and Hatcher’s Run Epilogue 137 Appendix 149 Dramatis Personae 159 Notes 177 Bibliography 197 Index 215

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Illustrations

Portrait: Francis M. Wafer Map of Virginia

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Ruins of Fredericksburg

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2d Corps Field Hospital, Chancellorsville

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The Unburied Federal Dead at Bull Run

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Removing the Wounded St Patrick’s Day, 1864

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Removing the Wounded from the Wilderness

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Surgeons of the 2d Corps, 2d Division at Petersburg Grand View of Union Troops

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Tombstone of Francis M. Wafer

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edgments

Acknowledgments

Despite being born over one hundred years apart, Francis M. Wafer and I have more in common than first glance reveals. We were both born in Ontario as descendents of United Empire Loyalists. We share an Irish heritage. We both attended Queen’s University in Kingston. We both left Canada for professional reasons and went to the Republic. In doing so, we both became indebted to the extraordinary people we left at home and the extraordinary people we encountered in the United States. While Wafer’s Civil War journey took him into the Army of the Potomac, mine took me into the master’s and subsequently the doctoral program at the University of South Carolina. It was there strangely, and not at our alma mater, that I encountered Francis M. Wafer for the first time. While writing my master’s thesis on Canadians in the Civil War, I came across a citation to a manuscript collection held by the Queen’s University Archives in Kingston, Ontario. Through the generous support of my Gran, Florence M. Ryan, I was able to acquire a complete set of Francis M. Wafer’s writings. I finished my thesis, with the help of my exceptional director and friend Mark M. Smith, put Wafer’s writings in a box, and moved onto other projects. I only rediscovered Wafer in 2005 when a thorough cleaning of my office at the University of Wyoming revealed a neat pile of photocopies labelled “Important. Wafer. Do Not Throw Out!” From that time forward, I have reacquainted myself with the words and worlds of Francis M. Wafer and

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find myself gleefully indebted to a generous group of organizations, scholars, and friends. This project would not have been possible without the help provided by Paul Banfield and the staff at the Queen’s University Archives. I would also like to thank Duke University, Harvard University, the Library and Archives of Canada (lac) and in the United States, the New York State Archives, Notre Dame University, the Rochester Public Library, the United States Military History Institute, the University of Rochester, and the Virginia Historical Society for their help in securing materials and permissions. The anonymous reviewers at McGill-Queen’s University Press along with Jonathan Crago and Joan McGilvray offered thoughtful comments and encouraging advice, asked hard questions, help me focus and refocus the project, and were extraordinarily helpful in procuring photographs. Frank Gillespie of the Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York, was generous with his time and knowledge, as was Doug Bickerton of the Gananoque River Waterways Association in Gananoque, Canada. William J. Bauer, Jr, Michael Eamon, and Edward A. Janak iii deserve special thanks. Even when engaged in their own research, they kindly found the time to read this work in its entirety and to offer helpful suggestions, strong criticism, and insightful remarks that tremendously improved the project. Dr Jason Dylik was extremely kind to share his knowledge of nineteenth-century medicine and medical education. Jim Wafer also deserves my gratitude. Jim generously shared his family’s history and research with me. He was a wonderful source on the Wafer family and meeting him was a delightful and unexpected perk of the project. My own family has been tremendously supportive. My husband, Edward Janak iii, my parents, Heather and Arthur Wells, my sister, Terri Wells, my aunts and uncles, Janice and Tom King and Phil and Lori Wells, as well as my cousins, Andrew, James, and Laura Wells, have all contributed to this project and I thank them. My dear friend Jean Lapierre performed a critical service in securing the images in this work and for that and for everything I am grateful. In closing, I wish to thank and acknowledge an extraordinary woman. My friend Heather Jackson lost her battle with cancer in 2006. I had the privilege of working with Heather for twelve years. I think of her often and find comfort in her indomitable spirit, which continues to inspire me and all of us who had the remarkable good fortune to know her.

r Timeline

Civil War Timeline

1860 6 November: Without receiving a single vote from the South, Abraham Lincoln wins the 1860 presidential election. 20 December: South Carolina’s convention on secession votes to dissolve the bonds between the state and the Union.

1861 9 January: Mississippi secedes from the Union. Jefferson Davis resigns his seat in the United States Senate. 10 January: Florida secedes from the Union. 11 January: Alabama secedes from the Union. 19 January: Georgia secedes from the Union. 26 January: Louisiana secedes from the Union. 1 February: Texas secedes from the Union. 4 March: Chief Justice Roger B. Taney inaugurates Lincoln as the sixteenth president of the United States. 12 April: Confederate Pierre G.T. Beauregard attacks Robert Anderson’s Union garrison stationed at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.

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13 April: Anderson surrenders to Beauregard. The Confederates lower the Stars and Stripes from over Fort Sumter and replaced it with the flag of South Carolina’s Palmetto Guards. The war, for all intents and purposes, has started. 15 April: Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers to serve ninety days in the Union military. 17 April: Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers prompts Virginia to secede from the Union. 19 April: Union troops are attacked by a pro-Confederate mob in Baltimore, Maryland. Lincoln orders a blockade of southern ports for the duration of the war. 6 May: Arkansas and Tennessee secede from the Union and join the Confederacy. 13 May: Great Britain issues a Proclamation of Neutrality in the war. 20 May: North Carolina secedes from the Union and joins the Confederacy. 21 July: The Confederates defeat a stunned Union force at the Battle of Bull Run but fail to capture Washington and end the war. 27 July: Lincoln replaces Irwin McDowell with George B. McClellan as commander of the Department of the Potomac. 24 October: The western section of Virginia secedes from the state and joins the Union. 6 November: Citizens of the Confederacy elect a Confederate congress. Jefferson Davis is elected president. 8 November: Union naval captain Charles Wilkes boards the British vessel HMS Trent and removes two Confederate envoys bound for London. Britain demands an apology for this violation of neutrality and the return of the two envoys or else war will ensue. 27 December: The Trent affair is resolved and war avoided.

1862 8 March: Lincoln reorganizes his armies. He places McClellan in command of the Army of the Potomac and orders the start of the Peninsular campaign.

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6 May: McClellan’s procrastination stalls the Peninsular campaign. He awaits reinforcements near Williamsburg, Virginia. 1 June: General Robert E. Lee assumes command and defeats McClellan’s troops. Lee renames the fighting force the Army of Northern Virginia. 25 June–1 July: Lee engages McClellan near Richmond, Virginia, at the Seven Days’ Battle and forces McClellan to retreat towards Washington. 11 July: Lincoln names General Henry Halleck general in chief of Union forces. 29–30 August: The second battle of Bull Run replicates the outcome of the first. A numerically inferior Confederate army defeats the Union and forces the Federals retreat to their capital. 4–9 September: Hoping to gain European recognition and end the war, Lee’s Confederates drive north with McClellan’s forces in pursuit. 17 September: Although the Union army is aware of Lee’s battle plan for Antietam, McClellan fails to act appropriately. The battle, which is the bloodiest day of the war, results in a stalemate. McClellan permits Lee to escape across the Potomac. 22 September: Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, which frees only those slaves in areas or parts of areas in rebellion. 7 November: General Ambrose Burnside replaces McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac. 13 December: Burnside and the Army of the Potomac unsuccessfully attack the Confederates entrenched on Marye’s Heights, Virginia. The Union loses 12,653 men and the Confederacy 5,000 men during this battle known as Fredericksburg.

1863 1 January: The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect. The federal government permits AfricanAmerican military enlistment.

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25 January: Lincoln replaces Burnside with General Joseph Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac. 1–4 May: Lee’s Confederate forces hand the Union a devastating loss at Chancellorsville. The Army of the Potomac retreats. 10 May: The Confederacy is devastated when General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson dies from complications resulting from the wounds he received at Chancellorsville. 3 June: Lee launches his second invasion of the North. 27 June: Lincoln replaces Hooker with General George G. Meade as commander of the Army of the Potomac. 30 June: Confederate general James Pettigrew’s brigade arrives in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, searching for shoes but finding the enemy instead. 1 July: The Confederates began reconnaissance in order to determine the size of the Union force. Despite Lee’s orders to avoid a general engagement, Confederate forces instigate one. The Confederates are victorious at the end of the first day, having made the Federals to retreat to Cemetery Hill. 2 July: Delays in organizing and implementing result in a failure for the Confederacy. 3 July: In an attempt to win the engagement, Lee orders Generals George Pickett and James Pettigrew to pierce Meade’s centre line. Their men are slaughtered and Gettysburg emerges as the costliest battle of the war with 23,089 Union men and 20,451 Confederates missing, wounded, or dead. 4 July: Grant takes Vicksburg from the Confederates, gaining control over the Mississippi River and cutting the Confederacy in half. 13–16 July: New York City erupts into chaos as draft riots break out. 23 July: McClellan follows Lee into Virginia and orders General William H. French to stop Lee from retreating through Wapping Heights. French’s attempts are unsuccessful and Lee’s army escapes into the Luray Valley.

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14 October: Confederate general A.P. Hill launches an unauthorized attack on Union forces retreating from Bristoe Station. Hill and his men retreat to the Rappahannock. 7 November: The Union attacks Confederate troops at Rappahannock Station and forces Lee to retreat south of the Rapidan. 27 November–2 Meade attempts to strike the Confederate army December: encamped south of the Rapidan. Lee fortifies along Mine Run. Meade fails to attack, arguing that Lee’s line is too strong, and the Union retreats.

1864 6–7 February: Federal forces cross the Rapidan and engage Confederate troops at Morton’s Ford, Virginia. The Federals withdraw north of the river. 10 March: Lincoln replaces Hooker with Grant as commander in chief. General William Sherman replaces Grant in the western theatre. 5–6 May: Lee attacks Grant’s army in the Wilderness, the land around Chancellorsville. Lee orders an attack on Grant’s exposed right flank. Fierce fighting results in 17,666 Federal and 7,500 Confederate soldiers missing, wounded, or killed before the Federals withdraw. 10 May: Federal forces unsuccessfully attempt to break through Confederate lines near Spotsylvania Court House. 11 May: Union general Philip Sheridan defeats the Confederate cavalry under General J.E.B. Stuart at Yellow Tavern, Virginia. Stuart is fatally wounded. 12 May: Fighting resumes near Spotsylvania Court House but the federal forces remain unable to break the Confederate line. 18–19 May: Federals again launch an unsuccessful assault aimed at breaking Lee’s line near Spotsylvania Court House. Grant withdraws towards the Po River.

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3 June: Grant unsuccessfully attacks Lee’s forces at Cold Harbor. This is Lee’s last great victory of the war. 15 June: Grant plans to occupy Petersburg and Richmond. Both sides dig in for a ten-month battle. 2 September: Sherman captures Atlanta and destroys most of the city. 8 November: Lincoln hands McClellan an overwhelming defeat in the presidential election. Andrew Johnson, a Tennessee Democrat, is elected vice-president. 15–16 Decem-ber: Hood’s Army of Tennessee is destroyed by the Federals at Nashville, 21 December: Leaving a path of death and destruction, Sherman reaches Savannah and gives the city, on 22 December to Lincoln as a Christmas gift.

1865 3 February: Lincoln and Stephens engage in an unsuccessful peace conference at Hampton Roads, Virginia. 4 March: The chief justice inaugurates Lincoln for a second term as president. 25 March: Lee, desperate to break through Grant’s forces at Petersburg, launches an unsuccessful attack. 2 April: Grant breaks Lee’s line at Petersburg. Davis orders the evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond. The Confederate government flees south, leaving Richmond to looters. 9 April: Lee surrenders his Army of Northern Virginia to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Grant offers Lee extraordinarily generous terms, which Lee accepts. Grant permits Lee’s men to keep their weapons and horses; Grant supplies them and allows them to return to their homes as free men. 14 April: In Washington, John Wilkes Booths shoots President Lincoln. Lincoln dies the following day. 16 April: Vice-President Andrew Johnson is inaugurated as president.

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18 April: Johnston surrenders to Sherman near Durham, North Carolina. Sherman offers Johnston terms as generous as those given to Lee by Grant. Johnston and Sherman hammer out an all-encompassing peace. 26 April: Union forces kill John Wilkes Booth. Johnston surrenders to Sherman after rejecting their peace accord. 4 May: Lincoln’s funeral procession travels from Washington to Springfield, Illinois, where he is buried. 10 May: Federals capture Davis and the Confederate government near Irwinville, Georgia. 26 May: The last Confederate army, the Army of the Trans-Mississippi, surrenders to the Union. 18 December: The United States Congress ratifies the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery.

1866 2 April: President Andrew Johnson officially declares an end to the Civil War.

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Map of Virginia, 1862. Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia Libraries

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Introduction

In the wee hours of 12 April 1861, most citizens of Charleston, South Carolina, including Mary Chesnut, slept fitfully at best. Four o’clock loomed and with it the potential bombardment of Fort Sumter by Confederate forces. Mary lay in her bed awaiting the appointed hour. St Michael’s Church bells chimed four a.m. yet silence reigned. “At half-past four,” Chesnut heard “the heavy booming of a cannon” and “sprang out of bed.”1 The city hummed with excitement as Charlestonians of all stripes gathered on their rooftops and piazzas, in the city’s streets and parks, in church spires and courtyards, and along the waterfront. The sky flashed with shells and the windows rattled as Confederate general Pierre G.T. Beauregard bombarded Union general Robert Anderson’s federal garrison at Fort Sumter. Thirty-three hours into the bombardment, Anderson surrendered. The Confederates lowered the Stars and Stripes from Sumter’s flagpole and replaced it with the flag of South Carolina’s Palmetto Guard. South Carolina celebrated. Noted English correspondent William Howard Russell observed that Charleston “present[ed] some such aspect[s] of those in Paris in the last revolution. Secession flags waved out of all the windows,” church bells peeled, and salvos were fired.2 Residents held victory balls and danced the secession two-step in celebrations throughout the state. In the words of Charlestonian Emma Holmes, there was “universal rejoicing” at Sumter’s fall.3

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Celebrations in the North also greeted Sumter’s fall but diverged from southern celebrations over the meaning of Sumter. For the Confederacy, the fall of Sumter inaugurated a new nation and opened the door to an independent future. In the North, however, Elizabeth Cady Stanton spoke for many when she described the event as “a simultaneous chorus for freedom for every nation that has ever fought for liberty on her soil.”4 Others greeted the news less positively. James Russell Lowe noted that “[r]ebellion smells no sweeter because its called secession,” while Charles J. Stille somberly reflected that “nothing is left but an appeal to force.”5 President Lincoln clearly agreed with Stille and prepared for war by issuing a call for 75,000 volunteers to serve a three-month term in the Union army. While the enlistment response overwhelmed his demand, Lincoln’s call complicated things. To Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee, it smacked of aggression towards the South and led them to leave the Union for the Confederacy. War appeared likely. Lincoln’s inaugural address made it clear that “the momentous issue of civil war” hinged on the actions of his “dissatisfied fellow-countrymen.” The government, he pledged, “will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors.”6 With the stage set, two nations waited for Confederate president Jefferson Davis’s decision. Over a thousand miles away on the second concession in Pittsburgh Township, near Kingston, Canada West, the Wafer family awoke on 13 April 1861 to a day like any other.7 Peter and Elizabeth Wafer had married on 7 October 1828 and in the intervening twentythree years raised eight children on the hundred-acre farm inherited from their Loyalist ancestors. In 1861 the family consisted of thirtyone-year-old Francis Moses, twenty-nine-year-old Catherine, twentythree-year-old John, twenty-one-year-old Maria, eighteen-year-old Maggie, fifteen-year-old Elizabeth, and eleven-year-old Agnes. Sadly, the family’s third son, Peter, had died at the age of three on 8 October 1849. Peter and Elizabeth raised their remaining children as good Roman Catholics and faithfully attended Kingston’s St Mary’s Cathedral.8 Although all of the children helped with the farm by tending the crops, livestock, and garden plot, Francis Moses also attended medical college at Queen’s University in Kingston. In 1861 Wafer was studying chemistry and anatomy at the university and clinical surgery and medicine at Kingston General Hospital.9 On 13 April Peter, Elizabeth, John, Catherine, Maggie, Maria, Elizabeth, and Agnes tended to the morning’s chores while Francis continued his

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studies. All remained oblivious to the momentous events unfolding in the American republic. Later that day, the evening edition of the Kingston Daily Whig carried news of Sumter’s fall. Buried on the paper’s second page, a simple headline stated that “the ball has opened: war is inaugurated.”10 Despite the newspaper’s apparent indifference, the war elicited great concern from the British North American colonies. Prior to Sumter’s fall, American newspapers screamed for the annexation of Canada. The New York Herald declared that “absorbing Canada” would offset a loss of the southern states, while the New York Times argued for the inevitability of such a merger.11 Lincoln’s choice for secretary of state, William Henry Seward, intensified rather than soothed concerns north of the border for Seward openly dreamed of annexing British North America. Amidst rumours of annexation attempts and impending war, public opinion in British North America divided over events in the American republic. Some believed that “the North ha[d] as noble a cause to fight for as any for which blood has even been shed,” while others, like Sir John A. Macdonald, praised “the gallant defence that is being made by the Southern Republic.”12 Others went further in their proclamations. The citizens of St Andrews, New Brunswick, hosted “a pro-Confederate street parade” while the citizens of Montreal decorated Notre Dame Street with “seven Secesh flags” on the Fourth of July.13 David B. Bridgeford of Canada West, Robert A. McLeod of Nova Scotia, and Valery Thibodeau of Canada East did more than wave secessionist flags. They chose sides and enlisted in the Confederate forces while Norman Wade of Nova Scotia, William Drake of Prince Edward Island, and John Campbell of Canada West, along with tens of thousands of their countrymen, enlisted in the Union army.14 Rumours of war almost became reality with the Trent affair. In May of 1861, the British government declared neutrality in the American conflict and, in doing so, granted the Confederacy de facto recognition as a nation along with the rights of a belligerent power. France, Russia, and Austria followed suit. In November 1861 Jefferson Davis sent two diplomatic envoys, James Mason and John Slidell, to Europe to secure recognition of the Confederacy. The pair left from Charleston, slipped through the Union blockade, and arrived in Havana, Cuba. Once in Havana, they boarded the British Steamer HMS Trent for the final leg of their voyage. On 8 November Captain Charles Wilkes of the USS San Jacinto fired on the British vessel, boarded it, and

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removed Mason and Slidell. Initially, the North cheered Wilkes as a hero. The New York Times “advocated that a second Independence Day be declared in Wilkes’s honour, and the City of Boston presented him with a jeweled sword.”15 The mood sobered as the British expressed their outrage at such a violation of sovereignty. Prime Minister Henry John Temple Palmerston issued an ultimatum to Lincoln demanding the release of Mason and Slidell as well as an official apology. Simultaneously, Palmerston prepared for war by fortifying the British North American border and mobilizing the British fleet. For Canadians fighting in the Civil War, the notion of war with Britain proved problematic. Canadian H.W. Blanchard trembled “for the fate of my own dear Canada” in the event of a war between the Union and Great Britain; he feared that “Canada West would be[come] one big battle field.”16 Samuel Heck of Brockville, Canada West, also feared war with England and declared that in such a circumstance he “could never raise an arm against my native land. I have enlisted in the American army. I am not a Yankee.”17 Richard Ruston was not a Yankee either and no doubt spoke for many when he declared “that should the worst happen he must find some way to escape the necessity of taking up arms against his native country.”18 Circumstances intervened to prevent Ruston from discovering such means. Fearing a twofront war, Lincoln acquiesced to Palmerton’s demands and avoided war. British North Americans, however, remained intensely concerned over annexation and uneasy over events to the south even as they waited for one big offensive battle to end the war, restore some form of order to the American Union, and settle the issue of annexation. With public pressure mounting and the three-month enlistments lapsing, Lincoln ordered General Irvin McDowell to design a battle plan to sack Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy. McDowell hesitated and requested more time to perfect “the discipline and organization of the volunteers, who had not yet been formed into brigades.”19 Lincoln declined and insisted that the campaign move forward. McDowell’s plan called for his army of thirty thousand to engage Beauregard’s twenty thousand Confederates gathered at Manassas railroad junction. Simultaneously, McDowell charged Union general Robert Patterson with preventing Confederate general Joseph Johnston from reinforcing Beauregard’s forces. Although brilliant in theory, implementation of this plan proved disastrous. McDowell’s unruly, unorganized, and untrained troops marched sluggishly towards Manassas, taking five days to cover the

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twenty-three miles. An unrelenting press complicated the situation. In Washington and perhaps Richmond, little secrecy surrounded McDowell’s impending military campaign. The press encouraged folks to go to the battlefields and witness the imminent Union victory. On 21 July 1861, as men clad in shades of blue, grey, and butternut faced off on the soil of Virginia, prepared to fight to the death, Washington’s elite gathered above the battlefield. Fortified with picnic baskets overflowing with French champagne, Russian caviar, and other luxuries, they settled in to watch the Union destroy the Confederacy and capture Richmond. Events on the battlefield took a different turn. By late afternoon, the Union line resembled “a confused swarm of men, like bees, running away as fast as their legs could carry them, with all order and organization abandoned.”20 Pandemonium ruled and, in the ensuing “wild panic,” troops and spectators alike scurried for safety in a world turned chaotic.21 For the wounded, however, safety proved elusive. Union doctors possessed neither the training nor the experience to deal with battle wounds or their accompanying diseases on such a vast scale. When war broke out 114 doctors served the sixteen thousand members of the Union’s peacetime army. Twenty-four doctors resigned to join the Confederacy while three resigned and refused to join either side. Many of the remaining eighty-seven doctors “were incapacitate for all duty, and one-half were unfitted for service in the field ... These officers [had been] scattered at isolated points on the frontier, without access to books, having no contact with their professional brethren in civil life, and with very little opportunity, while their duties confined them to the medical care of a single company of soldiers, of improving themselves in a knowledge of that science which is perhaps of all others the most progressive ... The conditions of things by which the surgeons of the army were surrounded before the war, was necessarily towards complete stagnation in respect of everything which could stimulate a true professional zeal.”22 The lack of a field hospital system, ambulance corps, “war-ready infrastructure for medical supply and distribution,” and a miniscule budget compounded the problems facing the Union Medical Corps.23 The swelling of the Union ranks following Lincoln’s call for volunteers meant that more army doctors were needed, yet there were no federal guidelines or national system for recruiting or licensing doctors. Instead, the Union military complex required that each regiment provide its own surgeons. Consequently, army surgeons ranged from

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men with formal medical training to complete incompetents appointed for political purposes. Formally trained civilian doctors who enlisted in the Union army were as unprepared as antebellum army doctors were. Although the number of medical schools increased during the antebellum period, the quality of education failed to improve. Most medical schools “were merely diploma mills whose main raison d’être was to make money for their faculty, not to graduate skilled physicians.”24 The entrance requirements were hardly rigorous. Entrance into Harvard University’s medical program hinged on payment of a modest matriculation fee and the passage of the applicant’s twentyfirst birthday.25 Once in the program, students learned their medicine through books and lectures and often emerged with a medical degree within months of registration. Students lacked hands-on training. Most states, with the exception of Massachusetts after 1834 and New York after 1854, banned the dissection of human cadavers on religious grounds, believing that “the soul, as well as the body, was imperilled” by dissection. As a result the nation’s medical schools failed to offer particularly effective surgical training programs; “learning by watching was the practical result.”26 Most American medical education programs lagged behind those of Europe and the British North American colonies largely in quality and technology. At the Medical College of Queen’s University, for example, students learned by doing. In addition to attending lecture courses, students participated in mandatory surgical and dissection classes and emerged with a medical degree, normally, in three to four years.27 Moreover, European-trained doctors possessed more knowledge. They were intimately familiar with “stethoscopes, thermometers, syringes, ophthalmoscopes [and] laryngoscopes,” whereas very few American doctors had seen such equipment, “let alone used” it.28 European course work stressed the ties between “[s]ystematic laboratory research” and “clinical practice,” American schools did not. The introduction of anesthesia in 1846 increased surgical training programs in Europe but had little impact on American medical education. There remained few surgeons in antebellum America and few complicated surgeries were performed. For most surgeons, the first time they picked up a scalpel was on the battlefield.29 Not surprisingly in the chaos of battle, most opted for amputation rather than sophisticated but time-consuming surgical attempts to save limbs.30 While some Civil War surgeons attended medical school, others manipulated the patronage system to secure appointments. In 1862,

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for example, “the governor of Indiana sought to put through an appointee, without examination, whose sole qualifications were a term of service in the field hospital as a hospital steward and one year of reading in a doctor’s office.”31 More egregious, however, was the discovery in July 1861 that “one surgeon and one assistant, father and son, who were appointed by the colonel [of a volunteer regiment, had] ... not been examined by any medical board ... the former was a barber ... and an occasional cupper and lecher, and had no medical degree. The son’s medical education was also doubtful.”32 Such appointments doubtless contributed to the distressing reputation of surgeons and certainly to the nature of the treatment meted out to soldiers wounded at the battle of Bull Run. Ill prepared to face the unprecedented chaos resulting from the battles Union surgeons of all stripes struggled to accommodate and treat the wounded.33 Wretched and primitive battlefield conditions hampered the efficiency of the Medical Corps. Doctors were as unused to surgery as they were to the conditions in which they were to perform it. Dr Barnes of the 28th New York Volunteers lamented that he was forced to set up his headquarters “under a tree in a little ravine.” Even though Barnes hung his sash “on the tree to signify that the place was under the Charge of a surgeon,” the Rebels “pour[ed] in musket-balls, and projectiles” making the place “unsafe for the wounded.” Barnes went in search of ambulances and found it strangely difficult to procure any.34 Indeed, “an incompetent Union Surgeon General, accustomed to a small pre-war frontier army, decided to wait until there was actual fighting before preparing for casualties. None of the wounded reached Washington in an ambulance the day of the battle. At that time, Union ambulances were under the authority of the Quartermaster Department rather than the Medical Department and their hired civilian drivers, fearing for their own safety, abandoned the field.”35 The Union wounded faced two choices: either die on the battlefield or walk to Washington. Assistant Surgeon D.S. Magruder recalled, “It took some of the wounded three days to return on their own. Some walked the distance with half their jaws shot away, legs badly mauled, broken arms, head wounds, and many other injuries,” only to discover in Washington that “the medical service wasn’t prepared to handle such a large group.” Clearly, the first year of the war was “a medical disaster.”36 Francis M. Wafer remained isolated from the medical if not military disasters of the Civil War. While he undoubtedly knew local boys who

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had been killed in the war, Wafer’s world remained largely undisturbed by the conflict. Local dynamics centred on religion, ethnicity, family, and gender informed Wafer’s world far more than the stunning events playing out in the American republic. Prior to the 1820s, Kingston was defined by a Loyalist legacy and staunch ties to Britain, in addition to its military and educational institutions. The Irish influx of the 1820s altered the city so much that by the 1860s a “vibrant, yet divided Irish population ... far outnumbered both the Scottish and Loyalist elements.”37 According to scholar Donald Akenson, the Irish situation in Kingston diverged from that of Boston. In the American context, Irish Catholics immigrated mainly to urban ethnic ghettos. In Canada West, however, Irish Protestants overwhelmingly settled in urban centres while the few immigrating Irish Catholics settled in the countryside. Consequently, Akenson argues, Irish Catholics in Canada West escaped the ghettoization, pauperization, and rigid class structure that shaped the American Irish Catholic experience.38 Although Irish Catholics in Kingston often climbed the class ladder, the process of assimilation proved difficult. The general population viewed Irish Catholics “as something less than a blessing” while the Protestant Irish labelled them “scapegoats,” thus creating palpable ethnic and religious tensions.39 Irish Protestants easily assimilated into mainstream culture but in doing so created a new identity for themselves, namely, “Orange Irish.”40 The Orange Irish identity coalesced around the creation and opening of Orange Order lodges. A militant Protestant group steeped in anti-Catholicism and anti-Republicanism, the Orange Order dominated the political, economic, and social life of Canada West by the 1840s. The existence of eighteen Orange lodges in the 1860s reflected the movement’s continued growth and rising popularity. Increased violence against Irish Catholics accompanied increased Orange membership. The Orange Order frequently clashed with Irish Catholics in bloody street battles during the annual Orange parade. Although Wafer’s family immigrated long before the Irish influx of the 1820s, he grew up in an ethnically and religiously charged atmosphere that designated him as inferior to Irish Protestants and certainly to the general population. His negative childhood environment helped shape the man he became. In a letter to his brother John, dated 20 March 1864 and sent from Morton’s Ford, Virginia, Wafer mused, “Although I am far from relations not so of friends. [I t]hink [I] am safe in asserting I have more friends here (influential ones too)

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than ever I could have made at home, owing perhaps to the strong national & religious prejudices that exist, as well as being fostered in Canada.”41 Clearly, the difficulty of being Irish Catholic in British North America weighed on Wafer and informed his identity. Gender roles and familial expectations also shaped Wafer’s world. From birth, society and family moulded Wafer into “appropriate patterns of masculinity” based on social mores and norms.42 In short, Wafer’s life held certain innate expectations drawn from the cult of masculinity. In nineteenth-century Canada West, that meant that men and women occupied separate spheres and embodied different attributes. The male sphere “encompassed the field, the workshop, the tavern, and civic affairs,” while the female sphere comprised the “house, the garden, the family, and the church.”43 Self-control, rationality, and temperance characterized ideal manhood while emotion, compassion, and purity defined womanhood. Religion, morality, loyalty to the Crown, and defence of British North America underscored both ideals. The attributes and realms of both genders intersected in the household following marriage. From pulpits to newspapers, belief in the “redeeming qualities of married life and the importance of being husbands and fathers” reverberated throughout British North America.44 Although a duty, marriage also carried certain requirements. “Because Catholics were a minority in English Canada – and not an especially powerful one,” the Church discouraged intermarriage between Catholics and Protestants by implementing a series of difficult and rigorous requirements.45 British North Americans understood the preference for marriage within their faith. Age became another qualification of marriage. By the late 1850s, twenty-five stood as the average age for native-born men to marry while twenty-two signalled the start of old age for unmarried women.46 Social norms and familial expectations dictated that Wafer marry, raise a family, inherit his father’s land and, upon his father’s death, head the family. Peter Wafer suffered from alcoholism accompanied by bouts of violent behaviour and because of this, Francis coopted the paternal role of protector and provider from his father. A letter of 9 June 1864 to his sister Maggie indicated Wafer’s fatherly concern over her proper role at home and her frustration. Although women occupied the private sphere, Peter, suffering from financial constraints, proposed putting Maggie to work in the fields. Appalled by the violation of societal norms that this would entail, Wafer offered to “pay from [his] pocket” a hired

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man to work in the fields, thus saving his sister’s reputation.47 While Wafer clearly embraced his paternal role, he rejected some aspects of his fate. A letter to his brother John in October 1864 suggests that Wafer’s bachelorhood resulted from poor health rather than lack of interest in the opposite sex. Indeed, Wafer urged John to “inform all the girls who you think would be fools enough to wait for me to marry at once even should they find nothing more than a tailor.”48 Wafer also diverged from his predestined career path when he abandoned the family farm. Beginning in 1854, he “drift[ed] from the soil” and spent the next three years touring the United States. He returned and farmed for the following four years before deciding, at the unusually advanced age of thirty, to pursue medicine. He enrolled in the Medical College of Queen’s University in 1861. As in the Republic, doctors in British North America were a mixed lot and suffered from a mixed reputation. As early as 1795, the medical community of Upper Canada attempted to institute controls over medical licensing in order to separate legitimate practitioners from “quacks.” In 1818 the Medical Board of Upper Canada assumed the “responsibility for the examination and granting of licenses to qualified applicants.” The predominately rural and isolated nature of Upper Canada made enforcement of standard medical practices difficult at best. With only ten licensed doctors in 1822 to serve a population of one hundred thousand, common folks turned to alternative medicine and local “doctors who may or may not have had training.”49 Consequently, in the early nineteenth century “the practice of medicine was the domain of both the layperson and the professional, both male, and female,” with medical treatment based on science and home remedies.50 The 1830s marked the start of the medical community’s renewed drive to professionalize. Designed to combat the profession’s poor reputation, debunk public misconceptions about “modern medicine,” and produce homegrown practitioners while simultaneously increasing the number of doctors in British North America, the University of Toronto Medical College opened its doors in 1834 followed by the Medical College of Queen’s University in 1854. Both modelled themselves on European schools and introduced their students to European medical discoveries and technologies, including the use of microscopy and anaesthetics. While American medical schools remained hesitant to embrace surgery, British North American institu-

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tions saw anaesthetics as an opportunity to improve their surgical skills and enhance their knowledge. The substantial rise in social status experienced by newly minted doctors was rarely accompanied by riches. Throughout the nineteenth century, medicine remained a poor and uncertain profession. More than half of all doctors failed to establish successful practices.51 Medicine did, however, allow doctors to rise above their family’s social status and travel in circles that had previously been closed to them. Wafer’s writings suggest that this may well have been what lured him into medicine. Writing to his sister from Morton’s Ford in 1864, Wafer remained “sanguine that we can yet win a name for our house that will put all slanderous howling to flight.”52 Medicine perhaps offered Wafer just such as chance. Consequently through 1861 and on into 1862, Wafer remained steadfast in his dedication to his medical studies and isolated from the events of the Civil War. In the Republic, however, battles raged. The newly formed 108th New York Infantry experienced its baptism by fire at the battle of Antietam.53 Fresh from a victory at Second Bull Run, Confederate general Robert E. Lee invaded Maryland. For Lee, the fate of his nation and the possibility of European recognition hinged on his success and emancipation on his failure. From 4 to 7 September, the Army of Northern Virginia crossed the Potomac above Washington with General George B. McClellan and his Army of the Potomac in dogged pursuit. The Confederate failure to oust the Federals from Harper’s Ferry complicated Lee’s plan and forced him to divide his forces, sending General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson to Harper’s Ferry. This along with a stroke of bad luck plagued Lee. On 13 September Private Barton Mitchell of the 27th Indiana discovered Lee’s battle plans wrapped around three cigars at a campground recently occupied by Confederate general A.P. Hill; the plans were conveyed to General McClellan. When Lee learned that McClellan possessed his orders, he carried on regardless. Incredibly, McClellan failed to capitalize on this advantage and dallied. Lee made his stand at Sharpsburg near Antietam Creek on 15 September. With Jackson’s return on the sixteenth, the Union and the Confederacy prepared for the opening of battle on the seventeenth. With battle lines drawn, the deadliest day of the war unfolded. By dawn of the eighteenth, it was clear that a stalemate had been reached. Lee moved his troops across the Potomac leaving 27,000 men wounded or dead in his wake.

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Despite the overwhelming carnage, the Union Medical Corps had improved its operations since Bull Run. McClellan appointed Charles S. Tripler as medical director of the Army of the Potomac in August 1861 and charged him with reorganizing and improving the corps. This was no easy task and Tripler spent the vast majority of his time trying to determine “which regiments had medical officers or even which regiments were present.”54 He attempted to improve the quality of doctors enlisting in the Union army by requiring potential surgeons to pass a series of mandatory examinations. Although Tripler’s reforms resulted in partial success, McClellan’s Peninsular campaign highlighted its failings. McClellan launched the campaign in March 1862 with the aim of capturing Richmond and ending the war. Beginning on 17 March, the Union navy transported the Army of the Potomac to Fort Monroe on the peninsula between the James and York rivers. On 4 April McClellan began his campaign, but plagued by procrastination (“the slows” as Lincoln called it), squandered the opportunity to end the war.55 The Army of the Potomac engaged the Confederacy’s Army of the Peninsula and the Army of Northern Virginia in a campaign that ended with 36,463 Union and Confederate casualties. Scrambling to care for the wounded, Tripler had to contend with a lack of ambulances, medicine, tents, and supplies resulting from miscoordination and miscommunication between the Medical Corps and the Quartermaster Corps. Twenty-four hours passed before the Medical Corps secured ambulances to transport the wounded from the field to the hospitals. At least six hundred Union wounded had to be abandoned to the enemy because of the shortage of ambulances. Tripler outlined the problems and challenges faced by the Army of the Potomac Medical Corps as well as his frustration in his official report to us Surgeon General William A. Hammond. “I find it impossible,” Tripler wrote, “to secure either transportation or subsistence for the men thrown upon my hands without tedious delays and unnecessary suffering. Time, which is so valuable to me now, is taken up and wasted in endeavors, too often unsuccessful, to get together ambulances and wagons to have these trains properly and economically conducted, to have boats prepared and in position, to procure buildings for hospitals, to get subsistence for the sick and wounded, and, in short, doing the duty assigned to quartermasters and subsistence officers ... At all events, I protest beforehand against the Medical Department being held responsible for evils they have no means of

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obviating.”56 Ultimately, the obstacles proved insurmountable and Tripler resigned in July 1862. With Jonathan Letterman replacing Tripler, the Medical Corps underwent a vast reorganization. Hammond and Letterman instituted “an innovative system of care ... Stretcher bearers now removed the wounded from the firing line and took them to regimental assistant surgeons located just behind the front lines. These surgeons triaged the wounded, stopped bleeding, administered opiates, and dress wounds. Trained ambulance attendants then moved the wounded to field hospitals set up in existing buildings or tents just beyond the artillery range.”57 Letterman assigned each regiment a surgeon, two assistant surgeons, and three male nurses. The Letterman system clearly improved conditions for the wounded. The quality of surgeons and the skills they possessed continued to plague the Army of the Potomac. At Antietam, the sheer carnage and volume of wounded tested the Letterman system and the endurance of the Union Medical Corps. Letterman spent the day before the battle giving directions to the “medical directors of corps to form their hospitals as far as possible by divisions, and at such a distance in the rear of the line of battle as to be secure from the shot and shell of the enemy; to select the houses and barns most easy of access, and such as were well supplied with hay or straw and water; when circumstances would permit, to designate barns as preferable in all cases to houses, as being at that season of the year well provided with straw, better ventilated, and enabling the medical officers with more facility to attend to a greater number of wounded, and to have all the hospital supplies taken to such points as were selected.”58 He organized ambulances and trained stretcher bearers to transport the wounded to the railroad and then to general hospitals. The wounded however, outstripped Letterman’s preparations. So vast was the carnage that one Union sergeant wrote to his father that “on some portions of the field they are lying so that you can step from body to body without touching the ground.”59 The rain of shells and iron trapped thousands of wounded on the field. When the booming of cannons stopped, the air filled with the pleading cries of the wounded. Lying between the lines in no man’s land; some waited days for treatment; many died before it arrived. Others who had been rescued from battle lay in barns, houses, schools, churches, and outbuildings. Things were no better for those who reached hospitals. J. Franklin Dyer operated from Hoffman House hospital where “the wounded were fast coming in, and in an hour there were five hundred

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there” with only a few surgeons to help them. Indeed, the hospital had “seven surgeons, of whom three or four each day are unfit for duty, on account of the severe labor of the past fortnight.” The problem was further compounded by the fact that “those surgeons who visited the army soon after the battle ... did not seem willing to remain and dress stumps.”60 George Templeton Strong of the us Sanitation Commission61 summed up the hospital conditions thus: “It was fearful to see Gustave Dore’s pictures embodied in shivering, agonizing, suppurating flesh and blood.”62 The blood, limbs, and entrails of the wounded drenched the floors and stained the crude operating tables and garments of the surgeons, who operated at a frenzied pace as thousands of wounded awaited treatment. All the while more injured arrived, disease spread, and putrid odours fouled the air. Under such circumstances, proper burials rarely occurred. Edward King Wightman of the Ninth New York Volunteers arrived on the battlefield on 20 September 1862 to discover that the Union dead “still lay unburied, horribly mangled, and lying in every conceivable attitude.”63 Thousands more lay “in rows – in piles – in heaps – the dead of the brute and of the human race mingled in mass.”64 The dead lay, in the words of Union general Alpheus Williams, “thick as autumn leaves.”65 Andrew Boyd of the 108th New York Infantry noted in his diary that he saw members of his company “burying the dead” and “it was a sight that [he] pray[ed] to God [he] may never see again.” Accordingly, men dug ditches “about seven feet wide and two or three rods long” and placed the dead “side by side, then cover[ed] them with straw.”66 The dead as well as the living suffered from such an arrangement. The Medical Corps encouraged Abner Doubleday’s division to move its camp from Dunker’s Church as the “multitude of human bodies, many buried in a state of putrefactions, and the carcasses of dead horses deposited a title below the surface of the earth” contaminated the wells as well as the air.67 The Army of the Potomac, including the 108th New York, spent six weeks dithering before it set off again, this time marching towards Fredericksburg. On 7 November Lincoln punished McClellan for his failure to capture Lee at Antietam by replacing him with Ambrose E. Burnside. Burnside, anxious to prove his worth, reorganized the army into three grand divisions and launched an aggressive new campaign. Instead of going into winter quarters, the Army of the Potomac set out to cross the Rappahannock, capture Fredericksburg, march on Richmond, and end the war. The condition of the Army of Northern

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Virginia favoured Burnside’s plan. Following Antietam, Lee split his army, sending Jackson to the Shenandoah Valley and James Longstreet to Culpepper. While Burnside and Lee strategized, Letterman prepared for the forthcoming battle. Prior to the battle he reported that “as many hospital wagons as were required were sent over and the organization of each hospital commenced. So earnestly did the medical officers enter upon the discharge of their duties that the hospitals were in readiness with officers, attendants, guards, instruments, dressings, stimulants, food, candles, etc ... Mattresses and beds were procured from the dwellings ... All the tents were left standing and others on hand for use, should they be wanted.”68 Miscommunication waylaid Burnside’s pontoons for a week, time enough for Lee to reunite his forces and dig in along the Rappahannock. On 11 December Burnside crossed the Rappahannock and prepared to engage Lee. In Fredericksburg, Federals ruthlessly looted the town. On the morning of 13 December Burnside engaged his enemy with disastrous results. More than thirteen thousand Union troops died in the engagement, most of them victims of an ill-conceived frontal attack on Marye’s Heights. Lee once again escaped and the Union once again tasted the bitter fruit of defeat at the hands of a numerically inferior army. On the medical front, Letterman’s system reportedly ran like clockwork. Surgeon Charles O’Leary, medical director of the Sixth Corps, reported that during the engagements of the 13th, the ambulances being guided and governed with perfect control and with a precision rare even in military organizations, the wounded were brought without any delay or confusion to the hospitals of their respective divisions. Not a single item provided for the organization of the field-hospitals suffered the slightest derangement, and the celerity with which the wounded were treated, and the system pervading the whole Medical Department, from the stations in the field selected by the assistant surgeons with the regiments to the wards where the wounded were transferred from the hands of the surgeons to be attended by the nurses, afforded the most pleasing contrast to what we had hitherto seen during the war.69 John W. Haley of the Seventeenth Maine Infantry offered a different perspective on the treatment of the wounded. It was difficult to sleep

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following the battle for “our ears [were] constantly saluted with the cries of the wounded left on the field to the mercy of weather and Rebels ... These wretched men lay crying, groaning, and begging for water and help in the most agonizing manner, and we unable to rescue them.”70 Likewise, Walt Whitman reported meeting a soldier wounded at Fredericksburg who had lain “the succeeding two days and nights helpless on the field ... his company and regiment had been compell’d to leave him to his fate ... at the end of some fifty hours he was brought off, with other wounded under a flag of truce.”71 Although the system functioned appropriately and medical care consistently improved over the course of the war, the improvements were a matter of degree as Whitman’s discovery illustrates. While medical treatment slowly improved, popular perceptions of Civil War surgeons continued to decline during the course of the war. Soldiers complained persistently about surgeons and their skills. Colonel David Watson Rowe reported that at Fredericksburg, “the hospitals were a harrowing sight ... Downstairs, upstairs, every room full. Surgeons with their coats off and sleeves rolled up above the elbows, sawed off limbs, administered anesthetics. They took off a leg or an arm in a twinkling, after a brief consultation. It seemed to be, in case of doubt – off with his limb.” John England of the Ninth New York Infantry shared Rowe’s concern. England was shocked to discover that the surgeons “thought no more of [the wounded] than a pack of used up maimed dogs and treated [them] no better; and hundreds are stiff and cold in death to-day, who would be living and might recover if properly treated and attended.”72 Robert Knox Sneden of the Fortieth New York Infantry complained that the surgeons did not “know their business any more than a drug clerk. The consequence is that they perform the most bungling of operations, while many of the suffers have soon died, passing through their unskillful hands. They were mere butchers!”73 Edward G. Abbott of the Second Massachusetts Infantry echoed Snedon’s sentiments. He characterized his regimental surgeon as “a jackass – a fool – an ignorant man – three quarters of the sickness could have been prevented by a good physician.”74 The Union military leadership conceded that problems were rife among Union surgeons, fifty of whom were ultimately court-martialled for incompetence.75 Although Letterman acknowledged the problems in the Medical Corps, he urged the public not to paint all surgeons with the same brush: such “sweeping denunciations against a class of men who will favorably compare with the military surgeons of any country,

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because of the incompetency and short-comings of a few, are wrong, and do injustice to a body of men who have labored faithfully and well.”76 In short, argued Letterman, many surgeons covered themselves with glory and honourably served the cause and their patients. Such pleas did little, however, to rescue the reputations of Civil War surgeons. Reputations of all stripes continued to decline in the aftermath of the Union’s disastrous losses at Antietam and Fredericksburg. Soldiers lost faith. Army morale sank to unprecedented lows. John W. Haley wrote graphically of the conditions in camp: “Short rations, bog water to drink, malaria inhaled with every breath, homesickness, and, added to all this, an incompetent surgeon. Is it any wonder that we are being swept off at the rate of two per day? ... Most of us have lost our courage and expectation of reaching home, or even dying on the battlefield – a fate less cruel than dying here by inches.”77 For some soldiers, military life proved too gruelling and horrific. By January 1863, the Army of the Potomac suffered one hundred desertions a day. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and Burnside’s ill-fated Mud March did little to raise army morale. If anything, morale plummeted to unheard-of depths. Many soldiers shared the opinion of Francis Pierce of the 108th New York, who wrote: “I will not jeopardize my life or become an invalid for life to restore 3,000,000 brutes to freedom ... Formerly when a rebel on picket or any other place asked me ‘What are you fighting for? I could answer proudly, for the restoration of the Union – now when one asks me I have to hang my head or else answer, for the nigger.”78 While the Emancipation Proclamation forced soldiers to question their motives and the direction of the war, Burnside’s Mud March forced soldiers to confront the futility of their plight and consider the possibility of defeat. With Lee’s troops ensconced along the Rappahannock, Burnside opted to conduct a winter campaign rather than retire to quarters. Burnside hoped that by crossing the Rappahannock and engaging Lee’s men, the Union could gain a decisive victory, capture Richmond, and end the war. Five weeks after the Union’s disastrous defeat at Fredericksburg, Burnside’s men marched towards the Rappahannock. Nature, however, intervened. According to Union soldier Edward King Wrightman, “a furious storm of wind and rain arose ... soaking the troops who were already in motion, muddying the roads, sticking the artillery and the ammunition and provision trains, and at length completely blocking our grand flank movement.”79 Burnside’s men were

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taunted and mocked by the Confederates, compounding their frustration and low morale. Confederates “plowed the areas around their fords to assure the production of mud”80 or displayed crudely painted signs bearing insulting messages such as “Burnside’s stuck in the mud. Why don’t you come over?”81 or “This way to Richmond.”82 Burnside’s disastrous campaign ended with most of the Union equipment and men covered in mud and cloaked in humiliation and degradation. On 25 January 1863 Lincoln replaced Burnside with General Joseph Hooker. Hooker “took command of perhaps the saddest, angriest, most grumblely army that ever marched under America’s postrevolutionary flag.”83 As Dayton E. Flint of the Fifteenth New Jersey Infantry put it: “The Army of the Potomac is no more an army. Its patriotism has oozed out through the pores opened by the imbecility of its leaders, and the fatigues and disappointments of a fruitless winter campaign.”84 Lincoln charged Hooker with the daunting task of raising the morale of the army, curbing desertions, and winning the war. Hooker responded by improving the army’s general health and reorganizing its military structure. Hooker placed Letterman in charge of tidying up the unsanitary and unhealthy conditions of camp life. With Hooker’s support, Letterman altered the men’s physical environment as well as their diet. He “mandated the rotation of campsites, improvement of drainage ditches, removal of latrines from living areas and the vicinity of water supplies.”85 He also demanded that the army standardize its housing. As it stood, “the men were left to burrow and shelter themselves as well as they were able; in some cases they occupied the log huts constructed by the enemy when he held this portion of the country ... in other instances, they excavate the earth, from six to eighteen inches, and over this built a pen of logs, two or three feet high, and covered by the shelter tent or brush and direct ... They are hot-beds of low forms of fever.” Letterman recommended “that all troops that are using such huts be directed at once to discontinue their use” and that “huts covered by canvas, the covering be removed at least twice a week, if the weather will permit and that the men ... be compelled to hang their bedding in the open air every clear day.” With these physical changes secured, Letterman turned his attention to the dietary needs of the men. He ordered that the troops be issued “fresh potatoes ... three times and onions twice a week, and fresh bread at all times when possible. When onions are not to be procured, a double allowance of potatoes should be issued.” Success greeted Letterman’s innovations.

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Typhoid fever decreased by twenty-eight percent and diarrhea by thirty-two percent, while scurvy virtually disappeared. Under Letterman, the army slowly regained its “favorable state of health.”86 With Letterman attending to the health of the army, Hooker tackled organization and morale. He implemented whiskey rations, successfully reduced the desertion rate by tying attendance to furloughs, and built corps spirit through the implementation of corps badges. He also altered the form of the army. Hooker combined the cavalry into a single corps, replaced Burnside’s grand divisions with eight corps, and introduced new commanders including Major General Oliver Otis Howard.

While Hooker and Letterman successfully restored vitality and spirit to the Army of the Potomac, Francis Wafer successfully completed the 1861–62 sessions at the medical college of Queen’s University and enrolled for 1862–63. Wafer studied practical anatomy, dissection, forensic and state medicine, pharmacy, obstetrics, and chemistry, thus making him better trained and educated than most Union doctors.87 By the 1863 session break, Wafer’s dedication to his profession drew him south and into the American conflict. It was not the people he met on his three-year tour of the Republic, his opposition to slavery, or even the politics of the time that encouraged him to violate British law and enlist in the Union. He enlisted because recruiters in Kingston offered him the opportunity to hone his surgical skills for the six or seven months between medical school sessions as an assistant surgeon for the Union army.88 For this purely practical reason, Wafer enlisted in the 108th New York Infantry Regiment. Wafer’s involvement in the Civil War lasted two years rather than the six or seven months he had anticipated. Some time after 1865, he produced a fascinating memoir, which provides the centrepiece of this work. Based on “memoranda [hastily] taken at the time,” the memoir brims with the sights, sounds, tastes, textures, and nuances of the Civil War.89 He vividly recounts the ennui of camp life, the chaos of military campaigns, the horror of battle, the chilling fear induced by screaming shells and vicious bullets, the gut-wrenching moans, childlike cries, and foul stench of the wounded, and the primitive conditions and awesome responsibilities of surgeons. Though he witnessed the “darkest pages in the annals of human misery,” Wafers refrains from moralizing over the war’s “vexatious political questions.”90 While criticizing the

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Confederates for their callous treatment of the wounded, Wafer harbours no animosity towards the enemy as a collective whole. He had, after all, joined the Union to refine his surgical skills, which may account for his forbearance towards the Rebels. Wafer’s memoir differs in several ways from those of most Civil War surgeons. Diaries, like those of surgeons E.P. Burton, J. Franklin Dryer, Daniel Holt, William M. McPheeter, and William H. Smith, provide intimate impressions of events and people recorded for private reflection and consumption.91 Memoirs, on the other hand, were explicitly constructed for public consumption.91 Wafer’s memoir, however, was “by no means intended for the public eye” but rather for private consumption by a select group of close friends. For, as he wrote, his “principal object [was to give my] immediate friends a faithful [account] of [my] share, in those important [transactions, and also] to render a small tribute to the [gallantry and] tenacious pernicious courage of fallen comrades [and chiefs] as well as to record the deeds of some [of those] yet living to some of whom [I am] under [many obligations] for their kind offices in the dark [and] doubtful days, when the reality for true friends [could be] appreciated. Should those duties be but performed, [my] present object [will be attained.]”93 The omitted details of Wafer’s 1864 furlough to Kingston offer further confirmation of the manuscript’s intended audience. “As these notes are merely intended for the eyes of friends,” he wrote, “I need not mention how my leave was spent.”94 The intended audience of close friends and comrades likely contributed to his decision to transcribe his notes taken in the moment into a memoir written after the fact. His declining health afforded him the time and perhaps another motivation. In many ways, Wafer’s memoir reads like that of a dying man attempting to secure his place in history. The memoir therefore needs to be read with a critical eye – a grain of salt, so to speak. Because the genre affords historical distance through which to interpret the past, writers may present themselves and others in ways that are softened by the passage of time. Although Wafer’s account of events and contemporaries is remarkably nuanced and detailed, there is no way of knowing the extent to which his impending death influenced his recollections nor which details he may have altered, since his hastily taken memoranda have been lost along with the last year of his memoir. Luckily, letters written between Wafer and his family survived. Like the Civil War letters of Doctors Junius N. Bragg, John Bennitt, and

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George W. Peddy, Wafer’s letters provide an intimate and immediate glimpse into his life.95 Describing the activities of friends and family, the racial climate of British North America and its tense relationship with the Republic, and the details of military campaigns and his patients, Wafer’s letters complement his memoirs. Inserted into the memoir in chronological order, these letters become increasingly important after May 1864, as they are the only remaining record of his experiences. Because Wafer completed his memoirs after the war, there is substantial duplication between the letters and the memoir. For the sake of clarity, I have deleted sections of the letters to avoid such repetition; the deleted sections appear in appendices at the conclusion of this work. For similar reasons I have deleted words that were repeated or crossed out. I have made a number of additions to complement the text. Because Wafer’s world was as familiar to him as it is unfamiliar to us, he offers little by way of explanation of the people, places, and things he encounters. I have included a timeline, map, annotations, images, and dramatis personae to flesh out and explain Wafer’s world to the modern reader. Introductory paragraphs at the beginning of each chapter act as touchstones contextualizing Wafer’s wartime experiences. Transcribing Wafer’s experiences proved more difficult in some sections than in others. In places, fire, inkblots, and coffee have so badly damaged Wafer’s writings as to destroy his original words. I have deleted indecipherable words and placed missing words or parts of words in square brackets. Quotations and words within square brackets indicate the substitution of Wafer’s words with those of other Civil War soldiers in the hope of reflecting Wafer’s intentions. Otherwise, the manuscript and letters remain as Wafer wrote them and reflect his grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, style, subtitles, spelling, and other idiosyncrasies. Wafer’s writings offer much more than the reflections of a veteran Civil War surgeon reaching the twilight of his life. His astonishingly rich recollections of medical conditions and campaigns in the Army of the Potomac, his vivid depictions of surgeries, amputations, and deaths, and his sympathetic treatment of his patients contribute to a small but growing body of medical writings about the war. Moreover, his is one of the few first-hand accounts by a Civil War surgeon born and bred in the British North American colonies.96 Most works dealing with British North American participation in the Civil War develop along three distinct paths. From the end of the Civil

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War until the present, historians have largely focused on the dizzying debates surrounding enrollment numbers. Historians variously claim that fifteen thousand to one hundred thousand British North Americans fought for the Union.97 Other scholars like Greg Marquis, Adam Mayers, and Robin Winks investigate the influence of the Civil War on British North Americans and on the formation of the Dominion of Canada through a blend of political and social history.98 Primary sources provide the third path. Scholars glean most sources from newspapers and enlistment rolls. There are only a handful of published letter and diary collections, among them Lois Darroch’s Four Went to the Civil War (1959) and Charles McDowell’s Ever True, edited by Lisa Saunders (2004).99 A substantial number of Civil War participants who were born in British North America, people like Sarah Emma Edmonds and Robert Knox Snedon, moved to the Republic, naturalized, wrote accounts of the war, and remained in the United States.100 Apart from William Charles Archibald’s 1910 memoir,101 few sizeable accounts of the war written by British North Americans who returned home following the conflict have surfaced. The publication of Wafer’s writings helps to fill a critical gap in the historiography of British North America and the Civil War, Civil War medicine, and nineteenth-century social and military history.102

a surgeon in the army of the potomac

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tings he Army of a of Canadian the Potomac Surgeon

1 Joining the Army of the Potomac

I would beg to inform those into the hands of whom this Manuscript may fall that [my] reminiscences of the late campaigns are by no means intended for the public eye, as the writer does not presume to give a complete description [of] what transpired, not only in the Army of the Potomac, but he does not pretend even to record [every]thing his own Corps (the Second), performed [during] the time of his being attached to it. Indeed, [if a person] placed in the position of Regimental [Sur]geon, attempt[ed] this, he would frequently, [I think], write much, the veracity of which, [in the] least, would be doubtful. For the most part, [what] is here written is compiled from memoranda [hastily] taken at the time. Nor does the [writer intend] to add to those, anything beyond what [he was witness] to, except the statements of some of [the officers] immediately connected with him, & [whose evidence] he has learned through acquaintance [to confide] in. It will be also his study to avoid as [much as] possible the vexatious political questions involved in the war, his principal object [being to give] his immediate friends a faithful [account] of his share, in those important [transactions, and also] to render a small tribute to the [gallantry and] tenacious pernicious courage of fallen comrades [and chiefs] as well as to record the deeds of some [of those] yet living to some of whom he is under [many obligations] for their kind offices in the dark [and] doubtful days, when the reality for true friends [could

4

The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

Ruins of Fredericksburg. Stereopticon image, courtesy of the Library of

be] appreciated. Should those duties be but performed, his present object [will be attained.] [The] month of March 1863, found the Army [of the] Potomac (with the exception of the Nin[th] Burnsides) lying in winter quarters on the [nort]h side of the Rappahannock & along the line of the [rai]lroad 15 miles in length between Fredericksburg & [Acquia Creek, Virginia] which latter place was the Army[‘s] base of [sup]plies. The place is on the Potomac about 70 miles from Washington. The army was being rap[idly] increased & reorganized & many important [improvements] being made in its commission & [in other] departments under the command of Major [Genera]l Joseph Hooker, to whose capability in making reforms it is generally conceded the nation [and army] were much indebted. The army was not [how]ever, well quartered in a sanitary point [of view]. This was perhaps in a great measure owing [to the] very hasty

Joining the Army of the Potomac

5

Congress, Washington, dc

construction of the huts the weather [having] been very severe at that time, as well as [the] utter inexperience of not only many men, but [also of] whole regiments recruited in large cities. [It has] frequently been observed, in the American [army] that even the skilled mechanic, is far [inferior to] the farming population, in making himself comfortable in the shortest possible space of time, with [the] only tool at his disposal, viz. an axe. Often in the absence of a better wall to exclude cold winds, this want was too often supplied by either digging a hole in the earth, or else p[iling] up a bank, & sometimes by both those me[thods combined]. Thus making what some Medi[cal] men [have] learned to call fever pens. The army too, [was more] or less depressed in spirits, which not [even] furloughs & leaves of absences could dispel [nor was] this to be wondered at. They had fought [at] Richmond during the whole preceding year [with the most] preserving gallantry, and [still] the

6

The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

[desired object seemed as far away as ever]. The shot-perforated steeples of Fredericksburg too laid full in view of the camp, reminding all who might look towards them, of the bloody reverse to their arms, received there, on the fatal 13th December past.1 The same month of the year already stated, [March 1863], found the winter session closing in the Medical School of Queens College, Kingston C[anada] W[est]. The army Medical Staff, as well as other departments being recruited & reorganized, it was open to all Medical Students, who might be able to pass the necessary examination. Many students of Canadian schools availed themselves of this privilege, in order to profit by the new & extensive field thrown open for the study of Practical Surgery. For this purpose as well as, a strong desire to see something of the reality of war, I decided on entering the army, if an appointment was at all attainable, for at least the six or seven idle months, to ensue, before the next session of the College. With those intentions, on the 9th March, 1863, I bade farewell to friends & Kingston & took the stage that was supposed to connect at Cape Vincent, [New York], with the evening trains to Watertown, then on to Rome and N York.2 It was a most stormy beginning to a long & doubtful journey & to a person more superstitious, it would certainly, look ominous & unpropitious. A violent southwest wind filled the track with snow (which was as deep as the horses bellies), faster than the few sleighs travelling could keep it open. To go at any gait above a walk, was simply impossible. Consequently, about five hours were consumed in crossing [&] after much floundering & enduring of cold, I arrived in Cape Vincent at a late hour at night, only about two hours too late for the train, & glad to accept the shelter of the little hotel attached to the railway station, with the expectation of getting a train at 4 o’clock [the] next morning. Taking the promised train [the] next morning at the appointed hour, the next day was spent in making a very pleasant journey through the state, although the day was sharp & frosty, but bright & cheerful compared to the stormy lake. The twilight found me in the capital.

albany During my stay here I lodged in a rather, unassuming house, called the Tremont House. It seemed to have rather fallen into neglect as the late landlord, a German, had lately died, the house being now but indiffer-

Joining the Army of the Potomac

7

ently kept by his widow. However it being moderate in charges & retired in comparison to a large hotel, it suited my present purpose. Next day, March 11th, I presented myself at the Surgeon Generals office, of the State of New York, waiving the usual formal & routine manner of applying by letter, as such a course would involve much delay. The Surgeon General was then, a Dr J[ohn] V[an] P[elt] Quackenbush, under the administration of Governor Horatio Seymour. Finding Dr Quackenbush in his office, I at once made my business known to him. At the same time, I told him what school I was from, & showed him a recommendation, which I had forgotten to mention Professor Horatio Yates kindly furnished me, although being but a student of two years standing. The Doctor received me very courteously, although my application was an informal one. He informed me that I being a foreign student, it would be necessary for me to hold a Diploma from some American school of Medicine, or Medical society. He at the same time told me that such a Society existed in connection with the University of Albany, of which he Dr Quackenbush, was a Professor. This was called the New York State Medical Society. He also directed me where to find the President and Censors of their Society, telling me that could I obtain a Diploma on their examination I would be then eligible to be examined for the appointment of AssistantSurgeon. This seemed to me, to be, a bold stride for a student of two years. However, as I did not come thus far, to be intimidated from my purpose, by the mere prospect of difficulties & as I also believed that should I fail, it would at least be a good exercise for me, it being a popular belief among Medical Students that any subject on which they may fail to satisfactorily [pass] at one examination they are sure to have it well studied up for the next. Besides, I by no means felt so diffident before those strange Professors as I would before those of my own College, nor so anxious lest I should be rejected. That same evening, I called up one of the Censors, a Dr [Barent P.] Staats. I found him a very affable & courteous gentleman. He examined me in Chemistry & the Practice of Medicine & gave me a Certificate to the effect that my examination was satisfactory in those branches. The next day, Mar[ch] 12th, I called on the other Censor, a Dr [James.] McNaughton, I found him every inch a Scotsman, as far as being severe & exacting but nevertheless a gentleman. His examination was principally confined to Materia Medica, Anatomy & Surgery.3 Suffice to say he gave me a certificate of proficiency in those branches

8

The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

also. My next step was to call upon the President of the Society & produce my certificates. He informed me that the Principal of the Society, & whose signature it was necessary to have, was then absent in Utica but he promised to fill out the blank Diploma, & forward it to Utica for signature, & in the meantime he furnished me with a note to the Surgeon General, that my Diploma awaited me thus making [me] eligible to apply for office. In two days afterward, he handed to me a neat Diploma, written on parchment in classical Latin. The graduation fee was $16. This gentleman a Dr [Sylvester D. Willard], I am sorry to learn, is since deceased. On the same day, 12th I again went up to the Surgeon General’s office & was there presented with writing materials, a sufficiency of foolscap, & sixteen printed questions including all the principal branches of Medicine. About one half of those, I was able to answer fully & well, of the remainder perhaps I have said enough. Indeed, some of them, to be satisfactorily answered, would require more time even from a person of more pretensions than me than was left of that day. However after writing seven hours, answering some fully & attempting them all, I handed in my paper, & it being after dark, I went to my lodging & got some refreshments. On calling [the] next day, I was almost surprised at receiving a recommendation to the Governor for appointment as [an ] Assistant Surgeon to the 108th [New York] Infantry, with an order, (after I had written & signed a letter of acceptance) to report to the Surgeon General of the us Army, Brig Genl [William Alexander] Hammond, for duty. On enquiring where the 108th ny was I learned it was in the army of the Potomac. So I saw at a glance there was an eventful future before me, knowing so well what that army had already suffered, as well as, having some foreboding of what would be required of it at the opening of the spring. I well recollect that the same evening on which I received my commission, as I walked up the city, to attend to purchasing a uniform, & at the same time brooding on the vague & uncertain future, feeling much like expecting the steps I had taken when a brassband came out on the balcony of a theatre & struck up the rollicking and popular air of Dixie land. Trifling as it may appear, after this moment, it seemed as if nothing could deter me from going straight to the aforesaid place & feeling all the imaginary importance of one that feels certain he is “going where glory [a]waits him.” But I suppose such being human nature, our being affected by trifles while pondering over grave subjects is at least pardonable.

Joining the Army of the Potomac

9

On the evening of the 14th March after writing a letter home & another to a fellow student Dr [Samuel H.] Fee, donning the uniform of a staff Lieutenant, I took the evening train on the Hudson River road. The next morning at sunrise arrived in the city of

new york The day of the week happening to be Sunday, I could proceed no further until evening. The day being cold & disagreeable was mostly spent at the Merchant’s Hotel [on] Courtland St. So I saw, nothing of the city more than, could be seen on my way to church & back. New York however, is like most other American cities very quiet on Sunday.4 That same evening I took the 7 o’clock train South. Although procuring a ticket through to Washington, I had only got my baggage checked to Philadelphia, not knowing there would be any difficulty in getting it rechecked. But in trying to find my trunk on the arrival of the train, at a late hour at night I soon discovered that in the change of cars which takes place here, the baggage checked through is transferred packed up in crates without unpacking. The porters attending to this first. So before my trunk could be rescued from the baggage car, the train had left. Then there was nothing for it but to remain that night in

philadelphia Remaining for the night in a Hotel near the station called the “Union” or some such name, about 8 am [the] next morning I took a hack for conveyance to the Baltimore depot, which is at the most south[ern] extremity of the city. But little could be seen of the city in this drive, which seemed to lead me mostly through the private portion. Never in any place did I see such a similarity between private residences. Whole blocks seemed to be built on the same plan, which, for the most part consisted of two story houses or red brick with quoins of white stone. The door & window jambs frequently being of the same material. All exposed woodwork too, was invariabl[y] white. The impression they gave was one of the stud[ied] plainness, neatness & cleanliness. Arrived at the depot in good time. I took the next train & continued my journey through Pennsylvania, a portion of Delaware, & Maryland, noting the powerful fury across the Susquehanna, where a Steamer takes on the whole train, three cars abreast, ferrys them over with the

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

greatest ease & discharges again on the banks on the other side of the river, without disturbing a single passenger. Arriving at

baltimore the locomotive was switched off & the cars were drawn through the city by horses, most splendid specimens of their kind. The city was now quiet as could be wished although being so violent when the first troops were being sent out to the war.5 But it was evident from the number of troops guarding the railroad both in this vicinity & along the whole line to Washington, that there were many in Maryland not to be trusted. Of course as my journey was continued without a halt I could see but little of this fine old city that bears the name of its noble founder. An hour or two more brought me to

washington Where I arrived at an early hour on a bright & beautiful evening. The temperature felt like Apr[il] at home, although the air was tempered with a slight chill, owing to the thawing of a light frost of snow, which had taken place the previous eve. This same snow merely sufficient to cover the ground, I had omitted to remark, was the only snow left in Philadelphia. At N York on the day previous although the earth was frozen, there was none, while the sides of the streets in Albany were walled in by huge banks [of snow], shovelled out of the way. Taking the first omnibus, marked United States hotel, I took up my quarters at a house of the same name on Pennsylvania Avenue. I there had the luck to meet two officers of my regiment, who were just leaving the service, a Captain [Bryce A.] Cox & a Lieutenant [William W.] Bloss. They gave me the first definite instruction, [on] how or where to proceed to find my regiment, learning that it was encamped some two miles to the right of Falmouth, which is nearly opposite Fredericksburg & that it belonged to the 2 Corps, then commanded by Genl [Darius N.] Couch & the 3d Division, commanded by Genl [William H.] French & the 2d Brigade by Brig Genl William Hays. I here too had the pleasure of being introduced to Col [Charles J.] Powers, then commanding the regiment, who was also on his way to the front. Next day March 17th, I reported for duty at the Surgeon Generals Dr Hammonds office, & obtained an order for transportation, from the

Joining the Army of the Potomac

11

Chief Quartermaster[, Rufus Ingalls,] & prepared to go to the front. The evening being long & lonely in a strange place, I decided on visiting some of the theatres of which there are at least four or five in the city. On asking which was the best one, my informant probably consulting his own taste, told me a place called the Canterbury, was by far the best. I went but found it was a mere popular place of amusement for furloughed soldiers & officers on leaves of absence & fast young men generally. The performances, were almost confined to ballet dancing, singing popular army songs & negro drolleries. Probably although those amusements were of a low character, they served the purpose, of keeping up the spirits of soldiers better than more grave & moral ones, such as tragedies. Like all cities I had previously passed through, merely as a person on a journey, I learned but little of Washington, but visiting it several times subsequently, my opinions are reserved until I relate those visits. Next morning Mar 18th, at an early hour the hotel omnibus conveyed me to the floor of sixth street on the Potomac River, where a steamer was in waiting, which conveyed all passengers to Acquia Creek daily, who had leave to go to the front. The passage down the river being accomplished about 2 pm. A train running to near Falmouth, 15 miles, was soon crowded with passengers, principally soldiers. Nothing but box freight cars were at the disposal of the passengers. Those were soon so literally packed with soldiers I preferred with many more, to ride upon the top. The weather being mild, this would not be an unpleasant place, were it not that the wind being ahead, drove the yet hot cinders from the chimney of the locomotive, fair onto the clothing & sometimes upon the exposed parts of the bodies of the passengers. So that during this journey one was convulsively sensible of a smell of burning wool, & the oaths of a soldier as he delved his hand continuously into his bosom or down his back exploring for a hot cinder, which probably he would find, about the time it became cool enough to be harmless. I was now fairly in the camp of a great army, as the lines of tents, piles of Commissary, supplies, forage & flaunting colors gave ample evidence. Near the terminus, the marks of an abandoned camp became visible. This had been the winter quarters of Burnsides Corps, which was lately detached & sent out west to Tennessee. Arriving at the terminus of this road, three miles were yet between me and camp, & the whole country intervening was in the condition of a mill pond when the water is nearly drained off. The chief difficulty with pedestrians, was to retain possession of their boots [given that]

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

the mud was of such a depth & consistency [as to trap their boots]. Therefore taking all the baggage I had brought from Washington, in my hand (a carpet bag) the search for my regiment was commenced on foot, enquiring as I went. The rout [went] for some distance over some high hillocks, with which this county (Stafford) abounds. Fredericksburg lay full in view & the holes in the houses & steeples could be seen with the naked eye. Although the walk was a tiresome one it was scarcely felt, the surrounding scenes were so novel to me. Passing near Hazards Rhode Island battery, which was unlimbered behind a strong Redan & looked point blank into Fredericksburg, the old village of Falmouth came suddenly into view. It was strangely nestled at the termination of a deep ravine, on the river bank. It can scarcely be seen from any direction except from the Fredericksburg side, until it is approached to within 200 yards, as there is a short bend in the ravine immediately above the village. This same ravine gradually expands upwards into a more open valley of some extent, traversed thoroughly by a brook. On the ridges on both sides, overlooking this valley were encamped the 2d Corps. After plodding up this valley through the mud for nearly 1½ hours, a cluster of tents among some straggling pines, on a slight elevation was pointed out to me as the 108th regiment. I was none too soon, for night was setting in fast, when I came up & enquired for the Surgeons tent, a soldier soon showed me where Dr [Owen] Munson the Surgeon, and Dr [William Smith] Ely Asst Surgeon [were], finding them at supper, [I told them] who I was & my business were soon made known. They welcomed & invited me to supper, which invitation was at once accepted, as having eaten nothing since morning, my walk had given me a good appetite. The same evening I was introduced to the principal officers. The history of the 108th ny Volunteers previous to my joining it I cannot give in full but in substance as follows. The regiment was called into the field on the Presidents second call for 600,000 men [on 1 July 1862]. It was recruited in Rochester City & Munroe County. The regiment was raised with a rapidity almost unprecedented. It was mustered in to the us Service on the 18th August 1862. Its field & staff officers were Col [Oliver H.] Palmer, Leiut Col Ch[arle]s J. Powers, Maj [George B.] Force, Capt Marvin Williams, Surgeon John Whitbeck, Asst Surgeons Thomas Arner & William S. Ely, Chaplain [James] Nicholson. It went into action but one month after being recruited on the memorable field of Antietam. There Major Force fell here while leading his men

Joining the Army of the Potomac

13

against one of the enemys rifle pits.6 The regiment was highly spoken of, as behaving with marked good conduct although in a great measure undrilled & undisciplined. After [Confederate general Robert E.] Lees retreat across the Potomac, the regiment was encamped for nearly a month on Bolivar heights, which is the elevated land immediately in the rear of Harpers Ferry near the confluence of the Shenandoah with the Potomac. Here it suffered much from sickness, such as Camp Diarrhea, & Typhoid fever, the invariable consequences of men being transferred suddenly from home, to participate in the fatiguing & excitement incident[al] to camp life, & campaigning. Marching from Harpers Ferry during the month of November up Loudon Valley, the eastern base of the “blue ridge” & down the north bank of the Rappahannock to Falmouth, there across to Belle Plains in the Potomac. Here again it went into camp, & the weather being unusually severe, the locality a bad one, the mens energies taxed by building corduroy roads & other labor, besides the inexperience of many, in making themselves comfortable, under adverse circumstances, all endured to preparing many more victims for disease.7 From Belle Plains the regiment was marched to the attack on Fredericksburg under [Ambrose Everett] Burnside the result of which is so well known. Frenchs Division to which it belonged was one of the Divisions that attacked directly in front. Being withdrawn from the town by night after having suffered disheartening losses, the men were taken into camp at the place where I found them in March, [18]63. They had gone into camp but temporarily, expecting to soon move again. Such a move actually took place, as Burnside attempted to make a flank movement in the month of January but was forestalled by the adverse weather & the impassibility of the river. The Division to which the 108th was attached was not disturbed, better for them it had been consequently the men spent that severe winter in those miserable apologies for quarters, when at no time during their service, did they require such careful housing seeing it was their first winter in the field. The Typhoid fever & Diarrhea of a Typhoid form, held sway that winter in the camps of raw troops. The 108th, although [not] the greatest sufferers, yet lost many from those diseases. At the time my connection with the regiment took place, although there was yet much sickness, it had entirely abated in fatality. At the same time important changes were taking place in the officers [&] the command. Col Palmer had resigned, he had been pointed out to me in the Governors office in Albany but I did not know

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

he was out of the service. Lieutenant Cha[rle]s J. Power was promoted to Colonel. Capt Francis E. Pierce to Lieut-Colonel, Capt Harmon S. Hogoboom to Major, Drs [John F.] Whitbeck & [Thomas] Arner also resigned the latter through ill health (since deceased) & Chaplain [James] Nicholson. Those vacancies, were filled as follows Dr Owen Munson as Surgeon [of the] 5th NY [was] made Surgeon [of the 108th & the office of Assistant-Surgeon] that by Dr Arners [departure was vacant] was filled by myself, thus leaving me junior Medical officer. The next who was shortly after appointed, was a Mr Thomas G. Grassie of Massachusetts [as chaplain]. The time spent in camp from my joining my command until the opening of the spring operations was to me very monotonous.8 Having but little duty to perform, there being so many Medical officers present. On the 20th March I was mustered in to the us Service although my commission bore [the] date of the 13th. The mustering officer was a Lieutenant Field, an artillery officer. It would thus appear that at that time there were no Commissary of Muster attached to Division staffs as subsequently there were. The ensuing month was spent by me in assisting Dr Ely on the sick call, which was at 7 am in the morning & walking about the camp, when I would get tired of reading. I knew of no acquaintance of mine in the army except Ch[arly] Brownley of Kingston, and he was on duty some distance away, acting Asst Surgeon, & assigned to an engineer Corps. A horse, equipment, blankets, etc. were to be provided for campaigning. Those items involved a good deal of outlay. Horses were scarce & hard to be obtained at any price. It would perhaps have been better for me to have brought one from home, but when I left there, my destination was unknown. However, I purchased a horse from an Asst Surgeon who was going out of the service. The horse & equipments, which were new, cost me but $90, which was very cheap here. Although being but a small [animal] about 14 ½ hands high & in poor condition yet he provided a good & useful one & became afterwards a great favorite with myself and the regiment. I called him “Joe Hooker” which he was not long in learning.9 At this time in the army mounted officers below the rank of Major were allowed but forage for one horse so that of an Asst Surgeon tried to carry sufficient to keep him comfortable, including some grain for one horse, it all made quite a load for one horse. The forage for a horse is 12 lbs oats or corn & 14 lb hay, no hay being issued on the march. Often there may be no issue for three days or more rendering it prudent to carry it yourself. Towards the middle of April the army was reviewed by President Lincoln, after which, daily activity in

Joining the Army of the Potomac

15

every department indicated an approaching move. The field hospitals were generally broken up & the worst cases sent to the rear. A few days previous to opening of the campaign I was detailed to accompany the sick of the Division, on a train to Acquia Creek, to be taken thence to Washington by boat. Exerting myself much [in] getting the sick removed from the cars to the steamers, becoming much heated, & drinking large qualities of bad water, then sitting on the roof of a car on my return to Falmouth, the next day I became much indisposed, this being the most proper term for the condition I was in, seeing I was not confined to bed yet too sick to eat or take much exercise. It seemed to be a state of debility of the functions of digestion from exhaustion. I struggled hard with nature for to try & keep on duty through the coming struggle, knowing that as I was making my debut in the army, many would attribute my remaining in the rear to cowardice.10 In this condition, I went on my first [campaign].

tings ng Campaigns of a Canadian of 1863 Surgeon

2 The Spring Campaigns of 1863

I

In the spring of 1861, northern newspaper headlines bumptiously predicted a great victory and quick end to the silliness brought about by southern secession. Two years later, the North had yet to secure a major victory in the eastern theatre of the war. Although gaining impressive victories in the western theatre at Fort Henry, Fort Donaldson, Nashville, and New Orleans among other places, the elusive eastern victory contributed to growing public malaise over the war effort. Whipped by the Rebels at Bull Run, second Bull Run, and Fredericksburg, and earning a stalemate at Antietam, General Hooker desperately needed an offensive victory to reinvigorate the war effort and belief in the indivisibility of the Union. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia spent the early months of 1863 much as it had the closing month of 1862, ensconced in astonishingly strong defensive positions along the ridge line of the Rappahannock’s northeastern bank and across from the encampments of the Army of the Potomac. There the Confederates fortified their position by building a series of trenches and earthworks stretching twenty-five miles along the river. Despite this strong position and the victories enjoyed by the Confederacy, army and civilian morale suffered. On the homefront, shortages of basic goods and rapid inflation eroded enthusiasm for the war and led some citizens to riot. In Atlanta, Georgia, Salisbury, North Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia, mobs rioted for bread and demanded relief. The same supply

The Spring Campaigns of 1863

17

problems that plagued the nation’s civilians plagued the army. Short of supplies and exhausted from the privations of their winter quarters, deserters from the Army of Northern Virginia rivalled in number and surpassed those of the Union prior to Hooker’s arrival. Aware of the need to crush the Union, Lee promised Davis that he would attack the Army of the Potomac had it not already been attacked before 1 May. Simultaneously, Hooker finalized a campaign to dislodge Lee from his strong defensive position and force the Army of Northern Virginia into battle. Having heard of Longstreet’s absence from Lee, Hooker sought to use the 130,000 troops in his Army of the Potomac to crush the 60,000 troops under Lee’s command. Accordingly, he charged his 10,000-strong cavalry with cutting communication lines between Lee and Richmond. He ordered a third of his army to cross the Rappahannock beyond Lee’s left flank, another third to feign an attack on Fredericksburg in order to lure Lee out into the open, and the remainder of his forces to attack Lee’s flank. A brilliant plan in theory, it stumbled in its execution. Wretched weather delayed Hooker’s campaign until late April, giving Lee time to ascertain Hooker’s true intentions, send for Longstreet, prepare to defend his flank, and ignore the failed attack on Fredericksburg. I

campaign in the wilderness Bodies of Cavalry [were] being mov[ed] to the right for several day[s]. Orders, by no means unexpected, came to our regiment on the evening of April 26th to be ready to move [the] next morning. It was a solemn night in the 2d Corps although activity prevailed, as the numerous lights kept burning & moving about until a late hour plainly told. The music of the bands that at other times seemed so stirring & cheerful, now, to my imagination assumed a tone & measure of plaintive melancholy. about 8 am on apr 27 th, my regt fell in & took its place in the Brigade, & slowly marching to the right, taking the Warrenton road for a mile or two, & then leaving the road by filing to the left & taking an unfrequented road through a dense second growth of pine. This road let more direct[ly] towards the Rappahannock. We had not marched more than four miles when the Brigade came to a halt, massed, & stacked arms. The day which had been fine now gave signs of being a wet one, & towards noon, while we still were halted, rain set in & con-

18

The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

tinued during the day. Although no order was issued, to that effect, the men quickly set up their shelter tents, and we remained in this position the remainder of the day & night. During the afternoon a pontoon train was moving to the front, with some difficulty, this new & infrequented road cutting up badly. [On April] 28th, [we were] still in same place [for] another week. april 29 th about 8 am the regiment was detached, marched some 2 or 3 miles to Banks ford on the river, furnished with entrenching tools & set to work to cut a road up the steep hill leading from the bank of the river. They worked here until the road was completed, late in the afternoon. Very few of the enemy appeared, but enough apparently to learn what we were doing for had they been disposed to annoy us nothing would have been more easy. The road completed, we joined the Division – the march up the river was continued, over corduroyed roads, that led through hilly pine barrens. The evening too set in rainy, & [the regiment] went into bivouac, wet & uncomfortable a little after nightfall, a few miles from United States ford. apr 30 th. Was a showery morning. The column was soon again in motion, we halted in a field, about a mile from the ford. The troops were massed by Brigade & the guns parked, while the engineer Corps was laying a bridge of pontoons over the river. We lay here from about 11 am until 2 pm, when we fell in & marched to the river. The north bank being very steep, a narrow road was cut in the face or brow of the hill similar to the one we had cut the previous day. This road was now occupied by the artillery. The infantry was made to file to the right & descend at a place so steep, that it was with much difficulty that, not only horses, but men kept their footing. I managed to make the descent however without leaving my saddle. The day having cleared up & the earth drying rapidly marching became more pleasant, while under the cheering glow of the sinking sun, the column with solemn tread, rumbling like distant thunder over the bridge, crossed the stream once more, that was already rendered historical. The crossing here was without opposition as far as we were concerned, the cavalry having cleared the way by making a flank movement & crossing higher up. Having crossed the river, we were halted for a short time, probably to allow the column to close up, then near sunset again fell in & continued the march without a halt through a huge forest of timber. The night was pretty dark in the woods & there were many waterpools in the flat road from the recent rain, which it was difficult to avoid in the darkness, causing much skattering & straggling of the troops. We met a

The Spring Campaigns of 1863

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few squads of prisoners, going to the rear under guard. After a march of this sort for about 5 or 6 miles, we came to a halt in an open space of about 30 acres, with a farmhouse in the centre. In this house Genl Couch established his head quarters, & here we bivouacked for the night. This was hardly a mile from the plank road, & was a portion of the field of

chancellorsville friday, may 1 st all on this road remained quiet until towards noon,

when we fell in & marched towards Fredericksburg, striking the plank road at Chancellor house & after making about three miles we were halted in a small field surrounded by woods, in which a battery of iron guns were drawn up in line. Those guns, it was understood we were supporting. Here we remained for perhaps as hour, during which I first heard sounds of conflict. Some guns, apparently ours, were slowly & deliberately pounding away at something, about a mile in advance. At the expiration of this time mentioned, we were suddenly marched back to where we had left & there remained during the day & night. It was said the enemy was advancing in front. saturday, may 2 d, the morning broke clear & beautiful & scarcely any one seemed to realize he was on a battlefield, so still was everything around. Although the troops had retired on their arms the previous night & had been kept under arms during the day, yet all were quiet until about 4 pm, when a few straggling musket shots were heard to the right & in front. Those were very soon followed by volleys of musketry, which soon increased with a roar. Artillery too freely mixed in & we could distinctly hear cheering or rather yells, which some recognized as that of the enemy. This seemed to be all taking place about a mile in front but nothing could be seen from our position but a few shells that happened to burst high in air. Most of them around me listened in silence except our Chaplain [Grassie]. He seemed to become unusually excited frequently exclaiming “we are beating them!” “It is the 11th Corps fighting & they are commanded by a good man, General [Oliver Otis] Howard, & he is sure to beat them.” But we were not kept long in suspense for soon a loud rumbling noise mixed with the jingling of chains came from the direction of Chancellor House & soon also a long string of supply waggons appeared from the woods, the mules on a gallop, & among them were gun limbers separated from their guns, beef cattle running wild, &

20

The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

Second Corps Field Hospital, Chancellorsville, 1863. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

many men of all branches of the service, some bareheaded but all unarmed. This mixed crowd of course seemed to have but one object in view viz, to put all possible distance between themselves & the sounds of battle. While looking at the stampede, much amused at many of the ludicrous sights which such cases afford, a sound struck my ear like the rapid flight of a pigeon, soon increasing into a dull rushing scream. All around looked alarmed, but myself & the Chaplain, as something heavy went crashing in to the woods in the rear. Neither of us knew what it was until we heard the word “a shell” uttered by several at once. This was followed by others, one killing a horse of the ambulance train close by and another ricochetting from the ground within a few feet of the regiment bounding over the men’s heads. The 11th Corps had been attacked in flank by Stonewall Jackson & routed & now their artillery had opened on the fugitives & for the purpose of preventing reinforcements from coming up. There was now almost a pause in the musketry, night was approaching & dark clouds arose suddenly from the southwest emitting flashes of lightning & volleys of thunder, which strangely multiplied with the sound of the battle, when an order came for the brigade to advance. Then for the first time I felt

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that in a few moments I would be literally “Staring Death in the face.” According to existing orders my duty was near my regiment. Surgeon Munson had gone to the rear. When shelling, he was privileged to do this or he was on an operating board. Dr Ely was also on the board but he preferred this evening to remain with me. For a very short time after receiving the order all were moving to the double quick down the road towards Chancellor House. The enemys guns, were trained on this road, but as it was getting dark the aim was uncertain, most of them crashing harmlessly through the tree tops, some however came so near that their burning fuzes lit up the now darkening air. Between the field in which we had been massed for the last two days & that in which Chance[llors] house was in, there was a piece of woods about a quarter of a mile wide through which the road led. When the Brigade emerged from the woods, in the open in [which] stood the last house mentioned & about 300 yds from it, it was formed in line of battle across the road in order to check the enemy’s advance in pursuit of the 11th Corps. There was not that much musketry firing when the Brigade halted, myself & Dr Ely looked as well as darkness would permit for a suitable place, to dress wounds. We found a short distance in the rear, a few more Surgeons of the Brigade & commenced to dress. All the officers’ horses were now sent to the rear. We were here but a short time when, we became aware, that the troops were being moved away in front of us, & the place fast becoming deserted. The artillery fire too was increasing & many men & horses going to the rear. The Surgeons who were with us, now left us for the rear also. Dr Ely said we had better go too. I went with him for a short distance, when I concluded my orders required me to find my regiment, if possible. Telling Ely my intention he also accompanied me to the front & we commenced, a search in the darkness for the command. Fighting now ceased for the time & after some wandering, we found the Brigade. I was on the move & after meandering through the woods & changing position several times, we came to a halt about 9 pm, on the right of the road by which we had advanced, & about midway in the woods, before referred to. A line of battle was formed, & here a stand was made in the battle of the next morning. But two Divisions of the Second Corps, were here engaged, the third which held the right of the road in front of Chancellor house & the first held the left of the same line. There was a Division, the 2d opposite Fredericksburg with the 6th Corps under the command of Genl [John] Sedgwick. Our Brigade, which then con-

22

The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

sisted of the 108th ny, 14th Conn, 12th nj, & 130th Penn, occupied the woods mentioned. There was another line of battle in front, principally I believe of the 3d Corps. The troops lay down on the leaves & slept until about midnight when a few stray shots in the skirmish line, was quickly followed by tremendous volleys of musketry, which seemed very close & well sustained for about half an hour, when it almost as suddenly died away. The enemy had made a night attack but were repulsed. Not only did our men reply to theirs with close fire of musketry, but the artillery generally opened with shells. The effect was awfully good as the guns awoke the echoes of the woods & lit up the midnight darkness with their broad flashes. The fiery arc of the shells too could be plainly traced by their burning fuzes [as] they flew over the heads of the front line & the tree tops, straight into the enemys lines. This over, we again laid down, & for myself slept soundly until daybreak. sunday, may 3 d. No sooner was it light enough to see a man a few yards off, then the enemy commenced the battle in earnest. The musketry broke out in the same place, as the previous evening, only in greater volume & accompanied by tremendous yelling. Now too the attack was supported by heavy artillery fire. The enemy troops [ad]vancing in our front were Jacksons Corps, he himself being mortally wounded in the night attack of the previous evening. For nearly half an hour, no musket shots reached our position, but the shells from their guns swept through the woods thickly, some of them cutting down trees in close proximity to us. After about half an hour of steady rolling of musketry & pounding of artillery, the fire somewhat slackened & great numbers of men could be seen finding their way to the rear, some wounded, others dripping with perspiration & blackened with gunpowder. They were not running however, or panic stricken, but looked like men whose commands had been completely disorganized. About this time some bullets came among us, & I noticed one pop through one of our mens canteens & let the water out. The Surgeons orderly who carried the Medicine & dressing case now began to look for a more sheltered situation. Dr Ely called him back, but he did not seem to notice the call but hurried to the rear. Ely followed him calling “George! George!” Waiting some time & not seeing either return, I went after them to see if possible the cause of their delay, as I had no dressings to use should I require them, all being in the case. I failed however to find either during that day in the confusion which followed. The front line being broken by heavy musketry of the enemy

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they advanced without a halt against the Second [Corps]. This line was now placed in a most trying position. The remnant of the first line which had fought it out to the last extremity, now came powering back on their supports, the enemys line of battle following close by. For the second line to fire in this position was simply impossible without involving the line of friends, so the fugitives had to be [allowed to] pass through, which in itself broke & demoralized the remaining troops who stood firm to a great extent. As for our Brigade, while it was first beginning to encounter the advancing enemy in front, it was found the line of the latter here completely overlapped their right flank. On this flank too was a regiment which was now placed under fire for the first time, the 12th nj. Although the troops afterwards proved themselves on many a field, to be “second to none” & the men here even fought well it was impossible for them to sustain such an attack of veteran troops long. The regiment was doubled up & thrown back upon the remainder of the Brigade communicating to it their confusion. Here the horse of Brig Genl William Hays fell & the Genl becoming entrapped in the trappings was captured with one of his aides, the only friend who saw the occurrence. The command devolved on Col Powers, but he was not for some time after made aware of this the fate of the Genl being unknown. Consequently the Brigade having no commander, each Colonel ordered his regiment out of the difficulty as he might be able & the regiment had to fall back behind their guns & reform their lines, the latter a chance to open & check the enemys advance. The commander seemed to have foreseen this choice of restoring the day & had drawn up the artillery along the near side of the field in which Genl Couchs head quarters was, & rallied & reformed [the] infantry in rear of the guns in the edge of the [field.] Thus far I have been speaking of the 3d [Division] alone. The 1st Division had a fierce combat [&] saved their guns with some difficulty. [Men of the] Brigade drawing them off by hand. Of course [it be]came necessary for it to assume the same position as the 3d Division. The enemy after halting, [closing] up their line & gathering their strength for a [great] effort made another charge, but as soon as their line emerged from the wood into the open referred to before, they were met by volleys of canister & small arms, [&] repulsed with great slaughter. No attempt in great force was afterward made by the enemy to carry the position & this was the limit of the rebels success in our front.

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

The losses in our regiment were not numerous but sufficiently numerous for the number present. On the evening of the 2d, a shell passed through Co. i killing or mortally wounding five men, & on the 3d several were killed & wounded & some captured. Capt Byron [P.] Thrasher, a promising young officer had his thigh [wounded] & died in Washington [on 31 May 1863] of his wound.1 The regiment went into action scarcely numbering 350, at this time the rolls bore but a trifle over 400 all left out of upwards of 950 [who] had left [Rochester as members of the 108th New York.] Not only were they thus depleted by the battles of Antietam & Fredericksburg & disease, but many had been discharged through physical disability contacted in the fields by having constitutions inadequate to the hardships of a soldiers life. The remainder of this day I spent in the temporary field hospitals made of pine boughs supported on fork sticks driven into the ground. Yet many poor fellows had not even this temporary shelter from the hot sun, worse still in the last advance of the enemy, they had opened their guns on the road near which the hospital was & the shells for a time fell thick & fast among the wounded. All who were able dragged themselves beyond. The remaining badly wounded were removed to [a place] further in the rear, near a Sawmill as soon [as cir]cumstances would permit. This night I was [call]ed to watch the wounded from midnight until morning relieving another Surgeon at that hour. [My] duty was [a] lonely & solemn one, & besides as I [went] on the campaign sick, the late [hours], fatigue, excitement, & in a great measure want of proper nourishment had well nigh prostrated me. We may well imagine too the sights & sounds here were not of a character to cheer the most unfeeling. Of course little could be done during the hours of darkness more than attend to their more pressing wants, such as see that none suffer from thirst, keep their wounds cooled with water or administer an Anodyne to those who were suffering much pain.2 Many although not complaining betrayed their suffering by their hurried & laborious breathing, but were stifling their agony with the stern fortitude of soldiers. Many too lay around who had ended their struggle since night had set in, their calm ghostly features being painfully distinct even in the darkness. monday, may 4 th. Passed quietly in our front, the men being employed in entrenching their position with temporary breastworks. On this day the enemy massed his forces in front of Genl Sedgwick, who had crossed at Fredericksburg with the 6th Corps & the 2d Division of the 2d & carried Maryes heights by a brilliant charge. The conflict

The Spring Campaigns of 1863

25

here continued, with but little intermission during the day. We could easily hear the prolonged & steady pounding of the guns all day while the troops in our part of the line remained quietly in their position. Why no diversion in favor of Genl Sedgwick was made in our front still remains inexplicable to many officers.3 I have as yet conversed with [many] on the subject, as all feel confident they were quite able to dispose of the enemy force in our front at that time, believing it was mostly withdrawn to overwhelm Sed[gwick]. The result of all this however, was that Sed[gwick], though defending himself skillfully and stubborn[nly] was prevented from forming a junction with [the] main force on the south of the river. Consequent[ly he] was outnumbered & compelled to withdraw his [force] across the river which he did in a creditable [man]ner, his guns being brought over at Banks ford & up [the] road which our regiment had cut on the 29th April. Nothing worthy [of] the name of fighting occurred in [our] vicinity this day, although there was much firing on the picket line especially during the night, [when] there were several false alarms resulting in little [more] than heavy volleys of musketry. This day most of o[ur] wounded were sent over the river. That night as I was yet quite sick, I slept at the field hospital, a Corpl [Christopher F.] Stevenson, an officer of the 8th nj, was mortally wounded by a blade through the abdomen. Had I [been] near him, that I might be able to give him a drink occasionally or change his position. The place was too open for lights such as we had (candles) to be kept burning. His conditions could only be known by my feeling his pulse. Towards midnight not hearing him breath[e] as usual, I reached over & felt for his hand from where I lay & found he had departed. Some perhaps would have removed to another place but as I was then almost indifferent to life or death myself & saw nothing repulsive in the inanimate form by my side so I slept by it soundly until morning. tuesday may 5 th was passed in almost perfect quiet in front, a few distant cannon were heard towards the left. The day seems to have been mostly spent on both sides in burying the dead & caring for the wounded. Our remaining wounded in our hands were sent across the river & mostly to large field hospitals along the line of the Acquia Creek railroad. A new road was cut through the woods from our rear to the ford by which we had crossed the river & towards evening orders were issued for the Surgeons at field hospitals to join their regiments. [Near] sunset a tremendous storm set in accompany[ed by] thunder. The rain fell in torrents & at the same [time] was extremely cold. In

26

The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

the midst of all this [& in fe]eble health I should saddle my horse, having [as yet] no regular servant, & the poor animal too was [near]ly as debilitated as myself. At the opening of the battle I had sent him to the rear with the other regimental horses in charge of Dr Ely’s negro boy. Those in charge of the horses it appears never stopped until they placed themselves between themselves & the sound at the guns. About two days afterwards they were inclined to return, my horse being nearly starved & the saddle bags em[p]tied of anything to eat for myself, as I had left all I had brought with me in there in some bread & boiled ham. Before I succeeded in saddling [my horse], the remainder of the party had somewhat got the start of me so, I had to find my way as best I could to the regiment & as darkness had now set in, this was not easy, as its position lay some distance from any road, & in the thick woods. But persevering on through wind & rain, scratching my face & tearing the lining from my coat in the tangled brush, & inquiring my way I succeeded in straying in to the regiment. Dismounting & sheltering myself a little from the storm behind a tree, Col Pierce, who was in command of the regt accidentally ran against me, & was somewhat surprised to find me here. He told me Drs Munson & Ely had been there some time previous & on learning the troops were going to fall back, they had immediately went to the rear. He was much displeased at their conduct in abandoning me in my sickness, Col Pierce, who treated me in the most friendly manner through out all our acquaintance, now told me that the troops were to be withdrawn, & advised me in my feeble health it would be best for me to get across the river before the crowd become to great, knowing there would be much straggling in the darkness & he seemed to apprehend some fighting before, the troops could be recrossed. I thanked him & took his advice by trying to find my way to the road again & after some time succeeded in falling in with a battery that was moving to the river which I followed for some time. The guns were being taken through the woods by the new road with some difficulty often running [a]foul of trees in the darkness. But when these halts would occur I would have to wait in the rain until they would restart besides being frequently crowded from the road. So I came to a determination of trying to find my way through alone. Passing the battery & following some stragglers, I succeeded in reaching the ford at a late hour at night. Here a vast crowd of men all armed had already assembled, & the order was for all the guns to cross first. Many halts had to be made to repair the bridge which was being strained much by the now rapidly rising river. Sitting

The Spring Campaigns of 1863

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in my saddle here for several long hours I felt the time was approaching when I could no longer remain there from sheer exhaustion & exposure to the cold storm. If I dismounted, there was no place to sit or lie, every foot was occupied besides mud was knee deep & the crowd too was fast becoming so great, that it would soon be impossible to escape from it in any direction. An effort must be made to leave that press at all hazards, so after much labor in trying to crowd my horse towards the moving column I reached the line of sentries & telling one I was a Surgeon ordered over the river on duty he passed me & there was no more difficulty but [to] fall in with a battery as an artillery officer. Crossing the dark, roaring stream, which threatened every moment to snap the cables that held the pontoon in place I arrived at the road cut up the side of the steep precipice. Here a team was struck fast in the side of the hill & after waiting some time in rear for it to be started, I succeeded in passing it by making my horse climb the side of the hill, which he did with the surefootedness & agility of a cat, though weak he appeared. Arriving at the top of the hill overhanging the river I decided on going no further without my regiment believing that honor at least required this, beside, both myself & horse required rest. So groping my way into a thicket of pines I found an old wigwam of pine built by some men at some time on picket. This though not keeping out any rain, yet was some shelter from the cold wind so there I unsaddled & tied my horse to a tree unpacked a buffalo robe I carried & a rubber blanket & rolling up in the former & covering myself with the latter I slept away the remainder of the night. wednesday, may 6 th. Awakening at daybreak, the weather was still wet & cold & going out to the road which was a short distance from where I passed the night was agreeably surprised to find the regiment passing. I saddled my horse at once & followed on & soon overtook them in a field where we had passed the night of the 29th April, they were getting coffee. One of our privates offered me a cup of warm coffee which I most gratefully accepted. The troops continued their march through a drizzling cold rain, by a more frequented road than that by which we advanced & arrived in their old camps the same evening. Here we found Dr Ely & the Chaplain they having arrived the evening before. Dr Munson had continued his retrograde movement still further several miles, he being apparently under the impression that some great disaster had taken place. Why the army so soon recrossed the river I have never heard satisfactorily explained for as far as my observation went I saw nothing

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

amounting to defeat.4 Tis true some ground was lost in the beginning of the action but the enemys advance was completely repulsed & the men seemed cheerful confident & ready to fight again. Doubtless one great occasion for pursuing this course, was the vague & uncertain nature of the position, for Genl [Charles P.] Stoneman having gone on a raid upon the enemy, communications which was successful, Genl Hooker was unapprised of this up to his withdrawal of the army, not hearing from Stoneman. Little could be learned of the enemys real position or movements, owing to the flat & densely woody country, the whole of this almost impenetrable wilderness being familiar to them. However the recrossing was effected in good time for the army were no sooner on the north side then the river rose so rapidly it became impossible to keep the stream bridged. The night selected too was favorable, as the enemy could not know what was going on for the rain & darkness & indeed had they known it would have been difficult to molest the retiring troops seriously before morning. As it was nearly all were across before there was any attempt at pursuit. When such an advance was made [the] next morning a sufficient number of guns were in commanding position on the north bank to render pursuit a costly experiment. on may 7 th I received an order detailing me on duty at Potomac Creek field hospital some five miles from camp, on the railroad. Although being much in want of some rest, I complied with the order at once. It proved a fortunate change, finding at the hospital better food, quarters & proper medicines, a rapid improvement in my health took place & when I returned to my regiment one month afterwards, it was completely restored. This hospital was in a very good locality as regards water & railroad facilities for receiving supplies & comfort for the sick from our base. Each Army Corps had such a hospital at that time. Our Corp were divided into Divisions, the whole being under Dr [Justin] Dwinelle of the 106th Penn. Our Division in charge of Asst Surgeon Baker of the 24th ny. At first there was more duty imposed on me than I could well perform, some sixty or seventy sick & wounded to prescribe for & dress besides assisting at all capital operations but Dr Baker soon after relieved me the charge of the sick & gave me four wards of wounded & now the surgical cases being my own choice. Most of the wounds here were either of so slight a character as to promise a speedy return to duty or so severe as to make their transportation to [a] general hospital dangerous but the latter were by far the more numerous. Many too were mortally injured their death being but a

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question of time among the latter were two fine young soldiers of the 108th ny. Sargt Fred Ristow Co. i & Alex MacCullough Co. j. Ristow shot through the lungs lived about ten days. MacCullough although the right anterior lobe of the brain was torn up by a bullet lived two weeks. There were but three wounded officers remaining in our Division these being placed in my charge. One of these Capt [George] Bronson of the 14th Conn had his right arm resected at the shoulder. Men of his apparent strength mostly recovered [from] such wounds, but he being a man of a peculiar nervous & irritable temperament it soon became evident his chances for life were few. However, he lingered some three weeks. His wife a most amiable lady & brother were present. This circumstance much increased my anxiety in regard to the termination & rendered his death more painful for me to witness. The mortality among the wounded brought immediately from the field was not great but the case was far different with some who had fell into the hands of the enemy & were reclaimed under a flag of truce after about a week on the field. Many of those poor fellows were in a pitiable condition through want & neglect & they for the most part seemed resigned to their fate feeling it a blessing to, be permitted to die among their comrades. It is but just to add those men seldom complained of unkindness from the enemy but frequently expressed their gratitude especially to the Surgeons. Their combined testimony would indicate that the rebels had more wounded of their own than they could well provide for the carnage had been so great, besides it was a patent fact that they never had equal facilities with us, in providing for the wounded.

tysburg tings of Campaign a Canadian Surgeon

3 The Gettysburg Campaign

I

Chancellorsville, wrote Confederate general James Longstreet, was “General Lee’s most brilliant achievement.”1 Lee’s outnumbered ragamuffin Army of Northern Virginia defeated Hooker through a combination of audacity and skill. In the face of Hooker’s campaign, Lee, still missing Stuart, boldly split his army in thirds. He sent General Early below Fredericksburg, General Jackson to turn Hooker’s right flank, and Generals Anderson and McLaw to face the bulk of Hooker’s men. A daring strategy but justified, in the opinion of Confederate soldier Randolph McKim, by the fact “that the density of the forest growth made it possible to screen the march of General Jackson around Hooker’s right rear,” and because “Lee possessed in Stonewall Jackson a lieutenant who was so brilliantly qualified to execute it with celerity, with resoluteness, and with skill.”2 In the final analysis, Lee prevailed and Hooker scurried back across the Rappahannock, failing yet again to secure a decisive Union victory in the eastern theatre. Confederate victory, however, came at a price. Twenty-four thousand Union and Confederate soldiers lay dead or wounded. Sadly, Stonewall Jackson lay among them. Accidentally wounded by his own men, Jackson died on 10 May 1863, sending paralyzing waves of grief across the Confederacy. James Longstreet spoke for many when he noted that with Jackson’s death, “the dark clouds of the future began to lower about the Confederates.”3 In what is perhaps Lee’s most

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famous statement of the war, he summed up what Jackson meant to the cause of southern independence. “Such an executive officer” as Jackson “the sun never shone on. I have but to show him my design, and I know that if it can be done it will be done. No need for me to send or watch him. Straight as a needle to the pole he advances to the execution of my purpose.” With Jackson’s death, Lee had indeed “lost [his] right arm” and perhaps the Confederacy.4 Northerners also connected the death of Jackson with the fate of the Confederacy and future of the war. General Governeur K. Warren admitted to rejoicing “at Stonewall Jackson’s death as a gain to our cause.”5 General Oliver Otis Howard echoed the sentiment: “Providentially for us, [Chancellorsville] was the last battle that [Jackson] waged against the American Union. For, in bold planning, in energy of execution, which he had the power to diffuse, in indefatigable activity and moral ascendancy, Jackson stood head and shoulders above his confreres, and after his death Lee could not replace him.”6 Indeed, “[i]n the death of Stonewall Jackson, the rebels have lost by far their greatest military leader.”7 While the Confederacy reeled from the shock of Jackson’s death, the Union scrambled to explain its disastrous defeat at Chancellorsville. To many, such as General Darius Couch, blame rested squarely on Hooker’s shoulders. Hooker underestimated Lee and made a series of critical tactical errors, among them eliminating the cavalry from the battle. Others blamed the Union’s defeat on the collapse of Howard’s Eleventh Corps and the cowardly nature of the Germans who comprised its majority. Regardless of blame, the situation following Chancellorsville remained as it had been before the battle. The Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia faced each other across the Rappahannock. Although devastated by the loss of Jackson, Lee prepared to build on his strategic victory at Chancellorsville and invade the North. Jefferson Davis, however, “did not like [the prospect] of movement north,” which might threaten the security of Richmond.8 Moreover, Davis urged Lee to split his army and send some men west to defend Vicksburg against Grant’s bombardment. Lee countered that a northern invasion would alleviate the supply problems facing the Confederacy. A venture into Maryland would allow the army to requisition supplies, animals, and foodstuffs while simultaneously relieving Virginia of that burden. Moreover, Lee argued, a successful northern invasion might annihilate the Army of the Potomac and end the war

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or at least result in British intervention to end the war. Convinced, Davis grudgingly granted Lee permission for his northern campaign and on Wednesday, 3 June 1863, Lee’s army marched from the Rappahannock. Such movement could not help but catch the eyes of the Army of the Potomac. Two days after Lee’s departure “Hooker reacted by sending infantry Major General John Sedgwick’s Sixth Corps ... across ... the Rappahannock” to investigate. Simultaneously, Hooker telegraphed Lincoln. Lincoln, not wishing for another Chancellorsville, instructed Hooker to engage Lee only if Lee “crossed over to the north bank of the Rappahannock.”9 I

gettysburg All was quiet in camp for about three weeks when one evening to the amazement of all, heavy guns were heard at Fredericksburg & for about two hours kept up a constant booming. It all however, did not amount to much. It seems Genl Hooker began to have some intimation of the covert movements of Lee & he crossed some troops below Fredericksburg under cover of a heavy fire of artillery to try to learn if the enemy were withdrawing their forces. On June 7th after being one month at Potomac Creek hospital, I received an order to rejoin my regiment, which was complied with forthwith. I had my horse saddled, & took leave of my patients which leave taking was in some cases quite painful to me as I had become attached to some of those poor fellows on account of their patient endurance & gratitude for every little attention in their behalf. One of those especially named Frank Pinkerton of the 12th ny shed tears. He was one of those men reclaimed under flag of truce. His arm or hand had been clumsily amputated & through subsequent neglect & exposure had become eryspelatous to the shoulder.10 How the poor man fared after I left I have not been able to learn. Joining my regt I found them all well & in a pleasant camp in a shady pine forest. Indeed well chosen & tasteful camps being general in the Army of the Potomac. Some visitors to the camp – probably of that class called horror-seekers – went home apparently quite shocked that soldiers should enjoy their temporary repose & they raised the decisive cry at home that, “Hooker’s army is in summer bowers.” Although it was obvious a great movement was at hand, it was also just as plain that our movements were governed by those of the enemy. One extremely quiet & monotonous week being spent in camp, on the

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13th June we received orders to be ready to move [the] next morning. It was known now generally that the main portion of Lees army was moving northward but his plans as yet were undeveloped. During the day of June 14th, the 2d Corps – being I believe one of the last to move took up its march northward on the Stafford road. On the morning of that day I was ordered to take charge of the Division picket, so knowing I should join my regiment elsewhere I packed up for a march, & taking with me my servant & orderly with [the] hospital knapsack, I reported for the picket Head Qrs on the Warrenton road, about 2 miles from camp. The Division picket was under the command of Lieut Col [E.H.] Kevins 14th Ind v. [Indiana Volunteers]. The day was quietly passed with the exception of a few cannon shots up the river said to have been fired by the enemy at some of our moving troops. At nightfall Col Kevins received orders to draw off the picket line quietly at 10 o’clock & join the Division. Their movement must necessarily begin at [the] river which was several miles away, consequently it was about 11 o’clock when a low rustling sound was heard approaching as the line doubled up on it self & as the head of the little column approached [the] post – the officer in command gave the order in a low tone to “fall in.” For several miles we felt our way cautiously through a very broken country & when we began to hope we were near the main road, an officer said to belong to the Division staff brought an order to Col Kevins to replace the picket line. The order was obeyed at once but with much grumbling on the part of the soldiers who now had to thread their way back again through the tangled brushwood in the darkness of a moonless night. I had been at the house which was the picket head qrs little more than an hour & understood the line was all reposted to the river where the order to withdraw was repeated. Day was breaking when the picket reached the Stafford Court House road. Here we joined the pickets of the other Divisions & took up our march for Stafford ch where we joined the Corps which had halted about 9 o’clock. After about an hours rest the march resumed under a very hot sun & over dusty roads. We crossed & halted at Acquia Creek Run about 5 pm & bivouacked for the night. It was a most welcome halt for the men particularly those who had been on picket & marching all night. The creek, which was about five feet deep for the remainder of the crossing, was perfectly alive with bathers who soon washed away both the affects & memory of their hot & dusty march. june 16 th. We continued our march through a tremendous[ly] hot sun & dusty roads, many men falling out. We arrived at Dumfries about

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noon & halted some 2 or 3 hours to ration the troops & resumed our march crossing Wolf Run shoals on Occoquan Creek & bivouacking on the north bank at sunset. This days march was a long & hot one & here again the men enjoyed a good bathing place june 17 th. Another hot day & a long march – we crossed the Orange & Alexander railroad near Fairfax Station & went into camp about 6 pm, & about a mile from the railroad. This days march was as very severe as the first few days march after having been long in camp invariably is. Many of the men had blistered feet besides the heat of the sun & the choking dust was unendurable yet had to be endured. june 18 th & 19 th. We lay in camp near Fairfax Stn resting the troops, getting up supplies & sending away the sick by rail. Here on the evening of the 19th, I was detailed to go in charge of an ambulance train containing 36 sick to the Station about 3 miles. We were intercepted by a supply train & it was not until a late hour that we arrived at the Station. More delay occurring at the Station in finding a Medical officer to transfer the last of [the] sick to night was setting in before I commenced my return. Not knowing what was taking place in camp I did not order the Sergeant in charge of the train of ambulances to wait for me consequently they went on at a smart pace. I soon found myself alone in a dark wooded road a cloudy dark night setting in & the road in such condition that a faster gait then a walk was impossible. As I had time for reflection I began to be unimpressed with the true nature of my position – seeing the road too quite deserted, I more than suspected the troops had marched & although fully confident of being able to reach the camp that night yet a feeling of loneliness crept over me as I began to recall to memory the tales frequently told of guerrillas hanging on the line of march & robbing & murdering all who fell into their hands, & indeed those tales were not groundless for many men known to have straggled in this same march, have never since been heard of while some were said to have been found murdered. Soon after entering the woody part of the road I just discerned two figures furtively moving in a contrary direction to mine. I[t] was just twilight & raining & they appeared like soldiers with rubber thrown over their shoulders. However, as they seemed to avoid the main road as they were moving through a piece of lately burned woods some ten rods from the road & believing they looked suspicious I thought it would be prudent to preserve a bold front."11 So I accordingly hailed them like a person of authority with “Who goes there.” One made a momentary

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halt & answered. Of this answer I was not very certain but construed it into “Pennsylvania reserves” & as I knew those troops were on duty at the Station I had just left & as my object was more to appear brave than to molest the men, all parties went on their ways, I making the best time, a walking horse was capable of making to our old camp. Arriving at the former camp, seeing anything was out of the question. All too was, still as the grave to the sense of hearing, except some rustling noise occasionally in the woods – which I then suspected was a broken down & abandoned horse. Nothing being left of it but to try & follow on. I moved in the direction of the road leading through camp dismounted & searched the ground cautiously for marks of hoofs & wheels these could be plainly traced but their direction was not obvious to my sight but feeling certain this movement was in the same direction as heretofore I slowly followed the track judging by the sound of my horses feet whether I was right proceeding this way for about a mile I became aware of approaching a house which stood some twenty yards from the road surrounded by some small trees & as I came near the gateway that led to the house, something like a horse appeared between the two posts. All was perfectly dark & quiet in the building. Before I could discover what the figure really was & when within some five yards of it a mounted man without speaking a word bounded into the road before me riding as if his horse was well trained, it breaking from a dead halt into a gallop at the will of his rider. He galloped on without a halt in the direction of my march into a wood through which the road led some 100 yds off & the clatter of his horses feet ceased entirely as soon as he entered this wood. When I first saw him, seeing he was apparently much startled, I quickly thought he might be someone of our cavalry that had straggled & was afraid of being recognized & consequently hailed him by telling him to “hold on” until I came up, but as he did not seem to notice my call before reaching the wood I concluded he had thought better of it & would be there found waiting for me. So somewhat reassured I entered the woods & hailed him by saying “where are you comrade[?]” No answer was made but probably an unavoidable movement of his horses foot [told me] that he was lurking in the bush but a few yards from the road. Letting him know I was aware of his presence I again called out “don’t be afraid comrade if you are left behind.” “Come along with us & you will have company” using the word us to cover my loneliness & weakness from detection if possible. But he making no answer I decided him to be an outlaw so I believe the most prudent course to be

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in placing as much space as possible between myself & such a skulking character. The darkness was such in this wood that I could not see my horses ears, & could only pursue my journey by letting the animal have his own way & sometimes the wet pine boughs would brush me in the face. I expected momentarily that pursuit would be made as soon as my prowling enemy would discover that I was not followed by any support. I too was unarmed – with the exception of the small dress sword worn by the Medical Staff, scarcely as valuable a weapon as a stout stick. However no pursuit was made & if intended, probably the thick darkness, my bold & defiant assumed manner, & ignorance of the manner in which I was armed, combined in deterring those parties from such an attempt. My horse following the road soon brought me into an open place where the road was bounded by fences & a person could also see a few yards ahead & permitting me to get on comfortably about a mile – when the road suddenly became lost in another the direction of which was about [at a] right-angle to the one I had been travelling. It was now about impossible to tell whether the track led to [the] right or [the] left in the darkness – but – I had instinctively kept the points of the compass in my mind accordingly I turned to the right. Here the road was yet bounded by fences & was easy to follow but soon coming to a place where the fence was removed from the left side of the road I passed this gap unconcernedly – not suspecting it was more than a place accidentally thrown down but at this very point the Corps had broken from the road & marched straight across the country & the road I followed soon ended again in a woods & this again soon became narrowed & I soon became conscious of it being obstructed with fallen trees but persevering on in hopes it would lead to some open[ing] from whence I might be able to see camp fires. It was followed until I found I was not upon any track whatever but blindly groping through a thick & wet forest. Quickly deciding that further attempts to get out of the “wilderness” for the night were futile. A thunderstorm now set in & the lightening plainly showed me I was completely lost in the woods. Dropping my horse’s bridle for a second or two to adjust a rubber poncho on my shoulders so great was the noise in the woods & the darkness that I neither seen nor heard my horse move for a few steps ahead. Now lifting up my head to seize his head with some alarm, I found no horse there. Nor did a momentary flash of lightening show where he was probably because I was not then looking in the right direction. Turning around a little & just then despairing of ever seeing him again another flash of lightening revealed the poor

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animal standing patiently before me his side within two feet of my face. Next time I seized the bridle. I had no intention of repeating the late experiment again of letting go [of] my horse for any purpose. All immediate dread of guerillas had vanished from my mind & I then believed that no mortal could find me so taking a small box of steamed oysters, which were opened with my pocket knife, & a piece of bread from my saddle bags, I managed to make a comfortable supper even amid the full roar of the storm. Then wrapping my bridle around my arm & sitting down against the root of a tree, I listened for any sound such as wheels or drums that might direct me [the] next morning. But I listened in vain, & with occasional snatches of sleep so I passed this eventful night. It may be easily imagined I was early astir [the] next morning. After some searching I found & commenced to retrace the road I had travelled. The morning was fine & clear but I did not much enjoy it as I now really felt the lonely & unprotected nature of my condition knowing well this move would in day light be obvious to any marauder who might chance to cross my way. The heavy rain of the night had washed out every vestige of wheels or footprints. So it was only after an hours search that I decided on taking the side back throug[h] the field already mentioned. Pursuing this & soon coming to a house & finding a man just after rising I ventured to inquire of him, when his description of the column that had passed the previous evening satisfied me I was on the right course. Half an hour more brought me in sight of the tents of the Corps where it was encamped around Centreville. Never before or since were tents such a joyous sight to me. The Corps had not marched at all during the evening more then 5 or 6 miles & I had succeeded in tracing them fully halfway from their former camp – when I missed the road in the manner described. When I came into camp there were many questions to answer as to how the night was spent. Those were generally answered humorously although I did not feel the joke of the affair myself. So ends my adventures & this lesson was not lost on me for it effectively taught me to be cautious in becoming separated from our troops in an enemy country. june 20 th. The morning of this day found the Corps at Centreville. This is a small village on the turnpike road about 30 miles from Washington. It is a military position of some importance commanding the road & surrounding country as well as the valley of Cubs run for several miles. After the battle of Bull Run, it was occupied by the rebels during the ensuing winter. They constructed a railroad from Manassas

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The Unburied Federal Dead at Bull Run, 1863. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

junction to this place & strongly fortified the position also. About 10 o’clock we fell in & took up our march along the Warrenton Turnpike crossing Bull Run & the battlefield the same evening & going into camp at Gainesville on the Manassas railroad, a march of some 14 miles. The only bridge being destroyed previous & a temporary one was constructed for the guns & trains & the infantry forded the stream – which at that point is not of great depth except in freshets yet by the steepness of its banks is impossible for artillery. The field of Bull Run would hardly be taken for a battlefield – had the dead been decently interred, but the bodies that came under my notice were never recovered from the place they fell. The only attempt at burial being the mere hiding of the body by heaping some earth upon it with a shovel where it lay. In many cases now this earth partially or wholly removed either by the weather or by prowling animals the ghastly skeletons exposed & in some cases scattered about dismembered. The officers of the rebel army too often, be it said, to their everlasting infamy

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neglected to bury the Federal dead who fell into their hands in a decent manner.12 We cannot too strongly reprobate the savage nature that can pursue our enemy beyond life. The men marched by this spectacle glowering & solemn & with evident emotion many doubtlessly vowing a deep revenge which they knew not was being so near accord[ed]. We lay at Gainesville in camp some three days. The surrounding country is generally levied & fertile & must have been a wealthy settlement before the war. During our stay here the Manassas railroad was repaired & supplies brought up. Heavy bodies of cavalry were moving towards the blue ridge & we could frequently hear the sound of heavy skirmishing with the rebel cavalry who were hovering about to mask the plans of Genl Lee. But Genl Pleasanton defeated their cavalry at Aldie & completely developed the fact that most of the rebel army had invaded Maryland & Pennsylvania.13 We left camp at Gainesville on June 25th & bivouacked that night at a place called Gum Springs near the turnpike road leading from Alexandria to Leesburg. This day we crossed another portion of the Bull Run battlefield near a place called Groveton. The road led through a piece of open oak woods which had been the scene of a most murderous conflict every tree was torn with bullets & I saw a ramrod driven hard & fired into a tree where it had been fired from a musket. Remains of bodies were scattered through the woods in many places which no attempt had even been made to bury their skeletons still partially enveloped in the shreds of blue cloth & one of our officers found a skeleton hanging doubled over a fences no portion touching the ground where the man must have been killed obviously in the act of climbing the fence – or else his body was placed there through inhuman sport. Next day june 26 th. We crossed the Potomac at Edwards Ferry on a pontoon bridge. It was a late hour when we crossed & the days march was long & it was with weary limbs & heavy eyes the Corps went into its late bivouac on the north bank. The next two days were spent on the march to Frederick City which came into view on the evening of the 28th. We halted for two or three hours within sight of the city. The regiment was then detached from the Division & sent three miles westward near a place called Buckeystown & it bivouacked in a clump of woods on the side of the road that led through a beautiful country. It seemed to be apprehended that Stuarts rebel cavalry were hovering around &

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consequently the detaching of small bodies of troops to guard all the roads [was made]. june 29 th. The 2d Corps made a march of about 35 miles to the vicinity of Uniontown, Md with all its artillery & trains. The march was much talked of for some time as the “famous march of the 2d Corps.” The 108th ny on account of being detached had to march three or four miles before joining the Corps. The Brigade too to which it was attached was detailed to guard the wagon train & the men being compelled to march most of the day parallel & on the same road as the wagons which crowded them much, it rendered their march peculiarly distressing. This day led us through some of the finest agricultural country & scenery perhaps in the United States. The valley of the Monocacy. The troops were marched until a very late hour & my brigade was much divided & broken up by the train. The men in my regiment becoming gradually less by falling out through exhaustion – there were at 11 pm so few men around the colors that Col Powers deemed it advisable to halt until morning to collect his [men] which he did without further orders bivouacking in wood by the road side. Next day 30th. We made but a few miles of a leisurely march, passing through Union in “columns by Company,” bands playing & colors unfurled, going into camp & resting for the remainder of the day & night – which rest all gratefully enjoyed. july 1 st at about 8 am we fell in & marched leisurely to Taneytown, halted, sent out a picket detail & everything indicated a rest for the remainder of the day, in fact, the Colonel received an order to that effect. The halt was made about 11 am & as all were making themselves comfortable for the day about 1 pm, the order suddenly came to “fall in” which was promptly obeyed, & with scarcely a halt the Corps crossed the state line into Pennsylvania, near sunset, & shortly after passed through some artillery limbered up & parked. The horses & equipment spattered with mud & the men & guns blackened with gunpowder plainly told they had been in action. They were of the 11th Corps. Guns were plainly audible in front. We bivouacked at a late hour two miles from GETTYSBURG

As already stated the 3d Corps arrived on the field or near it on the night of July 1st, 1863. The 1st & 11th Corps having the advance of the army had struck quite unexpectedly the main rebel force on this day &

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had been roughly handled. Maj Genl [John] Reynolds, commanded the 1st Corps, was killed. These two Corps although outnumbered, contested the ground stoutly & fell back in good order to the line of slightly elevated ground just south of Gettysburg where the final battle was fought. There they checked the enemys advance for the day. The elevated land spoken of was a low ridge, for the most part but slightly elevated above the plain, two points excepted – the one Cemetery Hill – which was immediately in rear of the town & overlooked it to a considerable extent – the other a high stony peak covered with trees called Roundtop. This hill was the highest point on the field & covered the extreme left of our line. It was about two miles from Gettysburg. The right of our line was resting on, or partially covered by a succession of high woody hills. The general form of the line was cresentric, or, rather horseshoe shape[d] – of which Cemetery Hill was the centre & most advanced point. On this was Evergreen Cemetery – one of the principal burial places of the town. The length of this line or a rough estimate was about five miles. It was crossed by two highways – the Taneytown Road & the Baltimore Turnpike – both which roads diverged at a considerable angle from the town. On an opposite line of ridges but scarcely so elevated & about 1 1/4 miles distant, the main rebel line rested. Their line was shaped much like the other but of greater extent – about eight miles. They also occupied the town in great force on the morning of the 2d July. Early on the morning of the 2d also the 2d Corps took position on the left centre & the 3d Division being the right Division & connecting with the 1st Corps at Cemetery Hill – close up to the town. The Emmitsburg Road was nearly parallel to our line & about 200 yds in front. About 7 am my regiment was posted in support of a battery 1st us artillery commanded by Lieut [George A.] Woodruff. This battery was planted in a clump of trees about one quarter of a mile left of Cemetery hill. On this spot this battery & the 108th fought it out to the end. About the same hour – a thin straggling line of men in brown slowly advanced through a wheatfield about 3/4 of a mile in our front. These were the enemys skirmishers. The 39th ny of our Division had already been thrown out as skirmishers & soon came within range of the enemy – when both halted took cover, & firing at each other without much result for several hours. Of course what took place in our immediate front is spoken of distinctly as skirmishing was now general along the whole front of our centre especially in the town where the enemy had good cover. Woodruffs battery threw an occasional shell into the

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woods beyond as any movement of troops was discovered but the enemy never replied until commencing their attack. Shortly before noon the enemys skirmishers, in our front being gradually reinforced, made a dash upon ours & drove the 39th ny upon their supports – the latter losing many men in killed wounded, and captured.14 The regt was relieved by the 1st Del now of our brigade, as it had replaced the 130 Penn which was mustered out of service. The 1st Del checked any further [advance] of their skirmishers – but could not succeed in dislodging them from an orchard & farm buildings they had taken from the 39th ny. But a party of volunteers of the 12th nj proffered their services to drive out the enemy & burn those buildings which they accomplished. Thus passed the time until about 3 o’clock pm when the sound of artillery suddenly burst from the enemys right about a mile from our position. Several batteries unknown to be there then opened their fire simultaneously. They were immediately replied to from our left & the roar of cannon in a moment shook the fields. At first their fire was directed against our left – but in a few minutes one of their batteries directed its fire against our centre – although its position was on their right. This was probably done because they did not wish just then to unmask their batteries in the centre. The missiles from this battery mostly flew over our heads, falling further to the right. Under cover of this fire their infantry soon advanced in line of battle against the 3d Corps which held our left. From our position we could not only hear the fusillade & cheering but could plainly see the opposing lines advance & point their fire unremittingly into each other, as the country was there quiet open & somewhat beneath our position. The 3d Corps was, as has since been admitted, advanced too far from the general line & had very severe fighting this day & lost some ground or fell back to a much better position near Roundtop hill. This point covering our left, the enemy put forth their full strength to gain – but the 3d Corps rallying & being also reinforced – the position was held & the enemy repulsed completely although the battle raged fiercely about Roundtop until sunset. Soon after their attack on our left their artillery had opened all along the line more or less. Woodruffs battery replied spitefully to those batteries in our front & of course our regiment came in for its full share of shot & shell aimed at Woodruffs guns. Their skirmish line too in our front contained so many sharpshooters who kept up a continual stream of bullets upon the battery. Col Powers being absent sick, Col Pierce commanded. He ordered the men to lie

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down in rear of the battery to avoid the fire as much as possible. At one time there were some indications of the enemy making a dash on the guns & the line was all closed up more compact. Col Pierce ordered the men to fix bayonets & move up closer to the guns which they did smiling & eager for a fray. Although we were lying yet it was impossible to escape the continual showers of missiles aimed at the battery. While we lay thus, a shell with its fuze burning passed between the heads of myself & Col Pierce – the burning fuze slightly singing my left whisker as it passed – one at the same time burst directly over my head the hot flash plainly felt on my face – while another ricochetted from the ground within three feet of me throwing the gravel onto my back – where some laid until it was removed by my hand. In a short time shrieks & groans were heard around us – above the volleying thunder of the battery & the screaming & bursting of shells. The brave men of the battery under the command of their heroic little Lieutenant were working their guns like Titans, many of them falling – one I saw whose face was partially swept away by a shell. He clung to his gun for a few moments uttering unearthly screams & when he could no longer support himself through weakness fell & expired. One of our men was rolling on the ground in agony – a piece of shell having struck him in the hip. Lieut [A.D.J.] McDonald sprang to his feet with a cry – a ball having passed through his shoulder. Lieut [Robert] Evans rolled over in the agonies of death, shot in the brain. Myself & orderly Charles Dickson now had to get to our feet – & [with] one of the men assisting we moved the wounded man a few yards in the rear where by stooping low behind a low heap of field boulders there was some slight shelter from the storm. Here I examined [Evans’s] wound & found the bullet had struck just in front of the ear & passed out behind tearing up one of the most vital points of the brain. He expired on my knee in about twenty minutes. It was said he was from Toronto, C[anada] W[est]. Lieut MacDonald lived after the operation of resection was performed on his shoulder. He hailed from Kingston, C[anada] W[est] but I was then such a short time in the regiment that I knew but little of these officers. Near sunset the fire gradually slackened on the left & centre but, broke out with a renewed fury on our right – no general attack having been made on our centre this day. At dark the rebel right & centre became perfectly quiet, but their attempts on our right became more persistent in proportion to this calm. Reinforcements were sent over to the right where the 11th & 12th Corps were hard pressed; among

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those sent from our Division was the 7th [West] Va. This regiment was exposed to & repulsed this evening in a charge [against] the 7th Va rebel regiment, which was considered a remarkable incident.15 The battle being continued here until 10 o’clock at night the enemy failing to make any impression on our lines abandoned their attempts here for the night for to mass their strength here for a desperate attempt [the] next morning. About 10 o’clock all firing ceasing, the rattle of firearms was succeeded by sounds not so exciting but more melancholy the familiar creaking of ambulances collecting the wounded – for which the night was favorable – a beautiful moonlight one. Having shown Lieut [John S.] Sullivan, 7th [West] Va in charge of our Divisions ambulance train any wounded I knew not already removed I then tried to obtain a little rest – which I much needed as the excitement of spending the day under fire was followed by much depression. No fires were permitted to be lit consequently a cup of coffee which [I] would have be[een] so grateful [for] was not to be had, however I was more fortunate than many. Col Pierces men had brought him some warm coffee from the rear which the Colonel generously shared with me. As I had earl[ier] in the day sent my horse to the rear & with him my blankets tied in the saddle I was glad to accept a soldiers piece of tent to lie on & so slept soundly until morning. On the morning of the memorable july 3 d. Cannonading commenced on our right at 4 am. This was soon followed by the most close & well sustained musketry fire occasionally mixed with cheers indicating charges of infantry. The 12th Corps under General [Henry Warner] Slocum was hotly engaged with large masses of the enemy (said to be Jacksons Old Corps) who were making superhuman efforts to turn our right flank. [The fighting] here continued with but little in[termission f]or fully five hours. There were no in[fantry] engaged at any other portion of the line but [the enemy] frequently opened in many places which was promptly responded to by our artillery. [A little af]ter 9 o’clock am a column of troops came rapidly marching up the Taneytown road from our [rear – said to] be a portion of the 6th Corps just arrived [on the field.] They filed sharp to the right about half a mile in rear of our line & moved straight on [towards the] sounds of battle. This column had not [long disap]peared behind the belt [of] woods that hid [the right from] our view when the roar of musketry [suddenly in]creased with vigorous cheers. This [rapidly] died away & about 10 am the enemy abandoned their long & bloody struggle for the Baltimore

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Turnpike. For several hours following the field was comparatively quiet excepting the enemy firing [several] guns from different batteries apparently with no other purpose then to get range of certain [portions] of our position & their sharpshooters who occupied the steeples of Gettysburg were very active ke[eping] up a continual fire upon the men who served the [guns] upon Cemetery Hill & although the range was long many casualties occurred from their bullets. Although the third day of battle was well advanced & thousands had fallen to rise no more – yet both sides held nearly the same ground they held at the commencement & the final grand struggle for death or supremacy was to take place within the next few hours & decide the fate of the nation. The most illiterate men in the Federal army seemed to be conscious of this fact & seemed to be impressed with the belief that this battle lost – all was lost – the turning point of the war had arrived & apparently had determined by a sort of mutual instinct to fight it out manfully to the bitter end. Thus in awful & solemn suspense the army waited for those long hours for the coming trial. There has been some difference between [even my] acquaintances as to the time the next [assault began] but as I am as free to have confidence [in my mem]ory as others, I fix the time at 2 pm.16 A[fter a short] time of most oppressive & ominous stillness some trees in the edge of the woods that covere[d the rebel pos]ition were suddenly cut down when nu[merous bat]teries which they had concealed opened at [once upon] our centre. It has been estimated that up[wards of 80] guns opened at this moment all concentrated upon the position which was chiefly held by [the 2d Corps. When] this cannonade commenced & for th[e remainder] of the day, I was at a small stone far[m house on] the Taneytown road – about half a mile [in rear of the] regiment & near the centre or focus of the [curve] which our line formed at this point.17 The concentrated [fire] of the enemys guns naturally converged to this place giving me ample opportunity to judge its effects. Our artillerymen sprang to their posts at once & replied with more than their usual pluck & spirit but it soon became evident that they were being [rapidly] overpowered worsted & fairly battered out of [sight]. I could plainly see their caissons being frequently blown up, although the explosions of these could not be heard in the general crash yet the sudden bursting up of fleecy cloud[s] of smoke invariably told the story. The horses rolled in heaps everywhere tangled in their harness with their dying struggles – wheels knocked off gun carriages & artillerists going to the rear or laying on the ground bleeding in

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every direction. The few large oaks that hung over Woodruffs battery were torn in splinters, their limbs dropping in some cases on men of the 108th ny. Several batteries had concentrated their fire on this battery in order to silence it, but although nearly all the horses were destroyed & one gun of the six dismounted yet the gallant commander fought them until he had not a round of ammunition left except a few rounds of canister shot only viable at short range for which it was reserved. Although every gun in our line that could be brought to bear on the rebel batteries replied at once – yet the enemy persevered in directing their fire against the centre – consequently its whole weight came crushing on the 2d Corps & all other troops that were hurried up to reinforce this part of the line. It has been estimated that more than 200 guns were now in action on both sides. The sights & sounds now became awfully & indescribably grand. No distinction between the explosions was very long or appreciable & sometimes, whole volleys of cannons were quite distinct. About this time, Genl [Winfield Scott] Hancock was actively engaged, preparing his line for the impending attack. A shell tearing through a board fence close to the General drove a splinter with great force into his thigh, the splinter carrying a rusty nail, which lodged in the wound. The wound was of such a painful character that he had to leave the field. Genl [John] Gibbon succeeded him but he also was wounded & thrown out of fight before the battle ended. This terrible cannonade lasted more than one hour & a half & to one who was under it – it seemed miraculous that life could existed within its range & so the enemy thought evidently by their subsequent behaviour & indeed I am not disposed to question their sagacity on this occasion no more than theirs.18 The fire of our guns was plainly becoming feebler either through being overpowered or else because their ammunition was blown up & expended & many empty caissons – when sufficient horses were found alive, [they] were sent to the rear to obtain ammunition from the train. Those moving to the rear somewhat rapidly through the heavy fire looked like a flight & discouraged many who did not know the cause. But a sight better calculated to reassure us now met our eyes. A portion of the troops of the 6th Corps who had gone in to the assistance of Genl Slocum in the morning, now moved rapidly across to the left centre. It was truly a sublime sight to look [at these] men as they moved up to the front at the double quick step – reeking with perspiration & under one of the most scathing fires that ever mortal man endured for at this point the inces-

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sant shriek of shells through the air – their dull beating sound as they ricochetted from the earth – which their blows made tremble perceptibly related to the sharp explosions of their bursting & the humming of the spreading fragments vied with the thunder of the guns themselves. What was never before witnessed by me was seen in those men, that is men who had fallen out of the column through fatigue & other causes, finding their way to the front without their officers – determined to be in their places as soon as their strength would permit their glistening eyes & firmly compressed lips bespeaking their fearful & earnest purpose. No less soul stirring was it to see the reserve artillery go into action. Right up the Taneytown Road they came – passing like a hurricane within a few yards of me – their horses at the top of their speed & the wheels not touching the stony road at times for more than a rod. Often too, some poor fellow, falling from his saddle by a piece of shell to lie for the time uncared for. But unchecked by anything as they charged through the iron storm disappearing in the thick smoke that now hung over the line of battle. Nor were they there any too soon as events began to thicken at the front. The enemy fire somewhat slackened about 3 1/2 pm & a line of battle appeared emerging from the woods immediately in front of the 2d Corps. It was their first Corps, [James] Longstreets. On they came in solemn grandeur formed in several lines deep, their line gay with battle flags, across the open plain more than half a mile of which was fully exposed to the fire of our artillery. Their guns now again opened over the heads of their charging line & they advanced like men who expected but trifling opposition. The ground over which this charge was made was level & exposed – yet their line did not suffer much from our guns until it came so near that it became necessary for their gunners to slacken their fire lest they should injure their infantry & elevate their pieces so as to aid their attack somewhat by throwing shells over the heads of both combatants. The line maintained the most perfect order until reaching the Emmitsburg road although our guns were now all opened upon them with canister shot. This road was bounded on both sides, in our front, by straight rail fence, the double post of which were firmly planted in the earth. These could not be thrown down without taking them slowly to pieces consequently they had to climb those two fences & reform in the open field which gently sloped up to our position. Our line of infantry which had lain flat under what slight cover some piles of rails & stones gathered from the fields afforded in order to escape observation & to avoid as much as possible the storm of iron poured upward

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on them – now simultaneously rose to their feet – reminding one of the British guards at Waterloo, & indeed Brig Genl Alex[ander] Hayes commanding our Division used the Dukes expression modified by saying to his men “up Vols, & at them!”19 The musketry at once broke into a crashing roll that [drowned] for the time the fearful whizz of the canister, but through all this Longstreets Corps still essayed to advance & return the fire. They did not disturb the line of our Division at any point although some of their dead were found within 15 yds of our line, but succeeded for a moment in penetrating the 2d Division stuck some of their battle flags in the gun carriages & attempted in one case at least to drag off a gun & were actually rolling it down the slope. But the infantry promptly rallied & reformed behind the guns & finally repulsed them. Their officers now made many superhuman attempts to reform their line & compel their men to advance & capture the artillery. Their determination was evident in their frequent attempts to advance against Woodruffs battery. As before mentioned the ammunition of the battery being expended to some rounds of canister & the guns rolled back out of view. A portion of the guns were now again placed in position by hand, some men of the 108th assisting for very few men of the battery were now fit for duty. Lieut Woodruff poured in his remaining rounds of canister with terrible energy & just as this too, was about expended, this noble artillery officer fell mortally wounded, an irreparable loss to his country & the military profession. The rebel officers after making forlorn & desperate attempts to rally their men found all their efforts [in] vain, for the men opposed to them stood immovable & resolute as the ground on which they fought. Their line begun to break into hopeless & despairing squads of men – many of whom ran in & surrendered. The enemys commanders, seeing this now reopened their artillery indiscriminately upon friend & foe. Whether this was done in a clumsy attempt to cover the retreat or to punish their men who surrendered remains to be explained. The latter suspicion has been espoused by some of the prisoners stating that they were threatened to be fired upon by artillery if they broke. But this course probably prevented our line from making any counter charge & permitted more of their men to escape from the field. But the day was won. The elite of the Confederacy the finest Corps of their principal army – their hope & pride, led by their best lieutenant & under the eye of their first chieftain drifted broken & hopeless across the fields – artillery thundering in their rear mingled with the cheers of the victors. No attempts at pursuit were made [as] there were no

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Ambulance Crew Removing the Wounded. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

reserve force[s] in sufficient force to undertake it, beside the enemys batteries had opened generally & none of our officers knew how soon an attack might be made at some other point & prepared themselves accordingly until the day was too far spent to attack. The 108th here suffered terribly which was chiefly owing to their exposure to all that artillery fire directed at the battery, which they supported for two whole days. Sixteen of their number died on the field & upwards of 70 wounded, making the casualties more than one third the whole number [that] went into action. Among those killed on the second day were Lieuts D[ayton T.] Card, & [Carl V.] Amiet [of] Co. i. Among the wounded were Capt [John R.] Fellman, Co. i, who lost a leg & Lieut [John L.] Graham, Co. k, who received a wound of the cranium which took him out of service.20 As for myself, I spent a portion of the day with my regiment but going back with one of our wounded, Sergt, now Lieut [Alfred B.]

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Hadley, to a temporary hospital.21 I found more then enough to do for the remainder of the day. This temporary hospital was merely a place where some Surgeons who were on duty on the field, assembled to apply light dressings to the wounded & superintend the removal of the wounded in ambulances to the operating hospital further in the rear. It was a small stone farmhouse on the Taneytown road a little more than a quarter of a mile in rear of our line & as before remarked the focus of the last great artillery attack by the enemy. For a while it seemed here as if a mans being unhurt was perfectly inconsistent with the tremendous shower of iron, which fell around & by this locality. The outbuildings, fences & fruit trees were completely torn to pieces. The roof of the house was torn up & the stone wall broken in at one place & the stones thrown upon the floor. It was about the commencement of this cannonade that an orderly came to the house in search of a Surgeon for Genl Hancock. I did not hear this but my orderly told me afterward that our Surgeon refused to go & that the man went away threatening to report all those Surgeons present.22 They were no doubt terrified by the fire, but indeed I think the open field was quite as safe as the house. I have always much regretted that I did not properly understand how matters stood with the Genl then, not only because my name might be mentioned among those who refused to go out, but because I would have been glad to have an opportunity to render service to the gallant leader of the 2d Corp. While the heavy cannonade lasted it became impossible for Surgeons to do anything – but patiently await the result. The hum of fragments of shells around us was incessant & no one knew the moment he would be struck down. All were anxious too to know the result of the battle – as from our position, it sometimes looked doubtful whether any amount of heroism could bear the pressure & for several hours every man almost that one would see, was bloody either with his own blood or that of a comrade. When the final charge was made every movement of our line of battle was lost to me in smoke – through which an occasional glimpse was caught of bayonets sparkling or battle flags of either side waving, falling, or rising again. In the midst of this a large & quite regular column of the enemy – emerged from the thickest cloud of the smoke & moved rapidly down the road towards our rear. I for the moment believed with others that our line was penetrated & am not sure but the exclamation escaped me aloud “Are they invincible” knowing the tenacity with which our men were fighting. My first impulse was for to escape, but after a moments reflection I decided on remaining a

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prisoner, in hopes that I might possibly be able to render some assistance to the numerous wounded that would be left of ours. I was about to tell my orderly to make his escape when I caught sight through the smoke, as the column came nearer, of a few blue uniforms. A second look revealed almost a whole Brigade of prisoners taken from Longstreets Corps being sent to the rear under a very light guard. The knowledge of this column being prisoners – with the tremendous cheering of our men in the line, now told the true state of affairs. As soon as the firing had abated a little, the wounded began to arrive in vast numbers & in the course of an hour fully a quarter of an acre about the house where I was – was pretty thickly covered with victims of the struggle the greater number of the enemy, many of these officers of high rank. The enemys wounded were loudest by far in their outcries for help. I have found this to be invariably the case on subsequent occasions. This I am not prepared to explain ... unless it be that, they had no confidence in our humanity & dreaded willful neglect – but I can confidently & earnestly assert that I have never seen any distinction in their treatment – more than attending to our own first, which is our duty. It soon became impossible to do much for this large & helpless mass. The few bandages in our Medical Knapsacks were already exhausted. We found many homespun linen sheets in the house these were torn into strips & made a good substitute while they lasted. Our assistants exhausted the only well there giving them water, as that & some Morphine to those who, were in much pain was all we could do for them until [they were] removed to the large field hospital. This could not be done that night although the Ambulance train worked unceasingly all night through a violent storm of rain that set in at nightfall. But rain, unless very cold, never injures [the] wounded – quite the reverse – although the exposure looks cruel to unprofessional persons. Night coming on I sought for a place to rest being completely exhausted, & being thankful as well as surprised to find myself alive & uninjured amongst the tons of iron thrown around me. Climbing into the garret of the house & finding a corner under a part of the roof not so badly torn up as to let rain through, [I found] a bedstead & tick upon which a pile of dried apples had been emptied. Scraping a trench through the apples with my hands & laying myself in this I slept soundly until sunrise [the] next morning, July 4th. july 4 th was a rainy day throughout, succeeding a stormy & wet night. The army remained nearly in the same position during the day & the time was spent by all who could be spared in caring for the

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wounded & burying the dead. The enemy kept a strong skirmishing line in our front, which was very active in firing at every living object within possible range. Our stretcher bearers had removed most of their wounded from our front during the night but some unfortunates had escaped observation, or were in the hurry of the occasion considered too hopelessly injured to remove. On our men attempting to remove these during the day they were deliberately fired at by the enemys sharpshooters. Consequently they were doomed to lie there another day by the recklessness or barbarity of their comrades – as I cannot well apply milder terms to such conduct because the stretcher bearers vocation is always known by the mode of carrying the stretcher on the fields, that is carried open when empty looking when far away like a long & narrow white flag, if clean. Why Genl [George G.] Meade did not pursue on this day or advance, it is not for me to determine.23 I can merely give some reasons for his not so doing. In the first place he had learned that he could bid Lees defiance in his present position & found it profitable to allow the latter to take the initiative. The army required at least a few hours rest & future inspection of the enemys position showed that they were well prepared to make any sudden advance on our part, a great sacrifice of life, as such an advance should be direct, the shape of the country nor the roads not permitting of flank movements.24 He Lee had in fact commenced his retreat on the night of the 3d & it was quietly continued under cover of the storm during the 4th & at nightfall on the same day his rear guard followed the line of retreat to the Potomac. Although the night was wet, it was one of rest & as such appreciated by the weary Army of the Potomac. july 5 th broke a drizzly & foggy morning, & no signs of an enemy in our front. Much of the forenoon was spent in burying their dead & removing their abandoned wounded. During the afternoon the Corps moved out on the Baltimore turnpike a few miles in our rear & bivouacked for the night remaining here for the next day & night apparently waiting the arrival of supplies. The weather remained showery & disagreeable. On the 7th we took up our march southward in the direction we had come before the battle, reaching Taneytown early & going into bivouac for the remainder of the day & night & drawing rations. On the 8th we resumed our march towards Fredericktown[, Maryland] through a most tremendous rainstorm, the roads being ankle deep in water everywhere, but towards night the weather improved & we biv-

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ouacked that night in a beautiful country within sight of Frederick. We here received the welcome news of the surrender of Vicksburg. july 9 th. Marched through the city of Frederick in column by company, music playing, & colors flying. Although many sympathizers with the rebellion were known to be here, yet, the reception given the army on this occasion by the citizens was most cheering & enthusiastic & indeed the loyal portion of them might well look upon the army as truly their deliverers. In our marches through Maryland this conduct of the people was most remarkable. Never, not even in the loyal Northern states have I seen the same friendly welcome to the troops, evidently not treating them as inferiors but as gallant brethren, in whom they placed their hope & trust in the hour of danger. It was refreshing to the mind as well as body to see the many young & beautiful ladies, daughters of wealthy farmers, standing at their fathers gates attended by a group of black girls, all busily engaged holding out buckets of pure cold water & sometimes pies cakes & milk as long as those supplies lasted, to the thirsty & tired soldiers, who, though rude elsewhere became gentlemen, in the presence of their lovely benefactresses. Passing through the city & taking the road leading to the base of the mountains we halted at the foot of the mountain for about two hours with some indications of going into camp, when the order suddenly came to fall in & the march was continued up the mountain through a pass called “Cramptons Gap,” bivouacking at a late hour among the cultivated fields on the western slope of this mountain ridge, which is a continuation southward of the principal ridge of the Alleghanies, or the “Blue Ridge.” This evening at the eastern base of the mountain, we saw one of those spectacles produced by war, more repulsive then the horrors of the battlefield. A spy named Richardson had been seized & summarily executed, by hanging on a tree. The body was left hanging & [with] the weather being warm, it was rapidly decomposing & as the troops had to march close by it – it made a most disgusting sight. It was now evident from our movements that we were trying to head off Genl Lee in his retreat but owing to the mountainous nature of the country, it was necessary to make a large circuit in order to do this which circumstance relieved him from pressure on his flank & gave him time to choose a position to cover his crossing the river. On the 10th we continued our march to near Keedysville Md & continued to throw out skirmishers & take positions as if for battle, but with no result more than to find a small picket of the enemy in the woods who after firing a few straggling shots retired. Some shells that were thrown

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into the woods by our guns elicited no reply. About 9 in the evening of the next day 11th, we got into column & moved down the Hagerstown Turnpike & halted on the road for the night. The next day after countermarching a mile or two, we formed a line of battle west of the turnpike in a field of wheat during another heavy rainstorm. Here we remained during the next day 13th straightening our line & building breastworks as if for battle. Everyone now expected a battle at any moment & why an advance was not made I, not setting myself up as the historian of the period but am recounting what I understood leave to those in authority to explain.25 It was generally understood there that Genl Lee was fairly brought to bay that the river was most unusually swelled by the late rains & that the pontoon train on which he invaded Maryland had been destroyed by our troops. Consequently the destruction of his army was regarded as almost certain by most of our officers – but at the same time it was believed they would defend their chosen position with desperation & that all attacks upon their crescentric line with its flanks most effectively protected by the river would involve a tremendous sacrifice of life. During those moments & deliberations, Lee was most actively engaged ferrying over supplies & surplus baggage by means of canal boats, swimming over captured stock, & constructing a pontoon bridge out of whatever materials came to hand. This was at a place called Falling Waters in Maryland. Therefore this bridge being completed – the end of the dark & stormy night of the 13th, saw most of the rebel enemy south of the Potomac in advance of our pickets on the morning of the 14th found no enemy & a portion of Genl [Alfred] Pleasantons cavalry following up found about 1500 of their rear guard which they captured after a brisk skirmish which the enemy seeing cut away their bridge & there the rebel army made their second escape after defeat across the Potomac. On the morning of July the 14th, we fell in & marched towards the river. The sun came out excessively hot & the copious exhalation from the over saturated earth, made the air oppressive to breathe. About a mile brought us to the rebel line just abandoned. A most admirable position it was at the point we crossed it. I was fortified by nature. It consisted of a series of low granite spurs projecting from three to seven feet above the surrounding surface. These rocky spurs were studded with & shaded by sufficient timber to mask all movements beyond & for more than half a mile in front the ground sloped away towards our late position, a perfect plain, affording the most perfect range for missiles of any description. It required

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but little military experience to see plainly that any attempt to force their line at this point at least would be attended with great carnage. The soldiers who were heretofore loud in their denunciations of the slow deliberations of their commanders – seemed now to appreciate the prudence of the latter, in not leading them against certain destruction. We halted at this spot for about half an hour & during this time could see the smoke & hear the guns of our cavalry – who were engaged with the enemy rear at Falling Waters. We were then hastily marched forward over a road marked by traces of the hasty flight of Lee towards the sound of the guns. But those soon entirely ceased & after marching until about 5 pm went into bivouac for the night which was another wet one near the northern portion of the battlefield of Antietam. Next morning the 15th, the march was resumed early crossing the battlefield at Sharpsburg, this once pretty village showing many signs still of the conflict in that vicinity the previous year. We crossed Antietam creek near its mouth at an ironworks called after the name of the creek, on which it was situated, next struck the line of the canal, & followed it back to a point opposite Harpers Ferry & bivouacked. A part of this day too in the afternoon had been showery & disagreeable. july 16th we fell in & marched along the line of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad some two miles southward then struck off to the left about a mile & went in to camp for two days south of & at the base of Maryland Heights. The enemy had destroyed the canal & the railroad bridge over the Potomac but the road was yet in running order to this point & by this means the army was during those two or three days, rapidly supplied with full rations & clothing, they being badly in need of the last. july 18 th we fell in at 6 am & once more recrossed the Potomac on a pontoon bridge just above the railroad bridge passing through the town & crossing the Shenandoah on a suspension bridge, marching up Loudon valley – east of the Blue Ridge up which we marched until 3 pm when we halted & went into bivouac for the remainder of the day & night. The vicinity of Harpers Ferry presents some of the boldest scenery on this continent. Here the Shenandoah joins the Potomac & united in one their waters are poured in a series of foaming rapids between two opposite mountains – the one Maryland Heights, the other Loudon Heights on the Virginia side – seeming as if the united force of the river had in the lapse of ages cut their way through this immense range of hills. But like many other remarkable distortions of

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the earths surface it is quite evident here that some mighty convulsion of nature had assisted the water in dividing the rocks the strata of which especially on the Maryland side is thrown nearly in a vertical position. The town, which is a very old one for an American [town], is situated on the deltoid piece of high land at the confluence of the rivers must have been a beautiful spot before the war, but now it was not in a condition likely to give a stranger a favorable impression being nearly deserted by all but those too miserable to get away & the streets redolent of every odour but a pleasant one. No part of its once extensive armory was left but some crumbling walls & an immense stack of burned gun barrels bent into every conceivable shape. The splendid iron bridge across the Potomac for the use of railroad cars was in ruin – all its wooden flooring having been destroyed by fire & the wrought iron work bent out of shape from the same cause. The place is one of those especially celebrated for being often in the possession of both contending parties during the war.26 It was too regarded as one of the strongest places on the line of the Potomac before the war, but this idea has been I believe, like many others exploded. The position is generally regarded by military men now as untenable, if the heights on either side be occupied by an enemy with artillery. During the 19th & 20th, we continued our march up the valley by short stages halting at 4 pm on the 20th near Bloomfield & remaining in camp – all [the] next day, [the] 21st. The weather had now changed from being continually rainy to excessive heat & marching became very severe. At 11 pm on the 22, we marched out of camp keeping the same course as previously until 7 the same evening when we went into bivouac near Ashleys gap, for the night. On the morning of the 23d, the march was resumed at 5 am & continued into Manassas Gap until 11 am when we halted for an hour & made coffee then moved forward about a mile & halted in a luxurious field of grass near a village on the line of the railroad called Markham. We here formed a line & put up tents as if going into regular camp & all were preparing to make themselves comfortable for the night. The 5th Corps was in the meantime moving up the gap in the same direction. At 5 pm we were suddenly got under arms & marched rapidly without a halt until 9 in the evening, through an extremely broken country interspersed with many springs – making every valley wet & boggy sharp angular granite rocks projecting from the ground everywhere making it difficult for man or horse to keep their footing. The sound of distant cannon could be heard during the whole march until near the time of our halting. About dark

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the discharges became fewer & finally ceased when we began to meet wounded soldiers going to the rear. One of those lying wounded in the grass hailed from a Pennsylvania regiment, on enquiring the Corps to which we belonged, suddenly cheered up & cried out “give them heck! Boys for you have a good field to fight on if you can only get them to stand.” Coming to a halt on the side of a very steep hill we quietly rested for the remainder of the night. Genl Lee had here, shown some disposition to fight & Genl [Fransico B.] Spinolas brigade of the 3d Corps coming up with his rear, the enemy made a stand but was quickly driven from his position before our reinforcements came up. Genl Spinola was wounded in the foot & was obliged to quit the field. This was called the battle of Wapping Heights.27 Yet hardly deserving the name of a battle, nevertheless highly creditable to the few troops engaged. On the morning of the 24th, daylight revealed Lees rear guard disappearing in the distance. He had succeeded by making a show of battle in drawing four of our army Corps into the gap & then made good his escape in the night. The troops had move to retrace their steps for a days march in order to continue their movement on his left flank, thus giving him so much the start as to render all future attempts to head him off from Richmond fruitless. After remaining on the field with all being quietly except a few distant cannon shots exchanged with our pursuing cavalry, we marched back again to the place we had rested on the day previous & halted for the night. We were roused by the reveille at 3 on the 25th & resumed our march at 5 passing out of Manassas Gap & in the direction of Warrenton through intensely hot sun. Being separated from our train, rations were out & this march was made on a ration of fresh beef. After a march of 16 miles we halted for the night at 4 pm near Whiteplains – where we found our supply train. We got our shelter tents pitched barely in time to provide against a heavy rain & thunderstorm that continued most of the evening. On the 26th reveille at 4 am & the march to Warrenton continued where we arrived at 12m marching through the town in columns by company, band playing. Warrenton, although a small town, was before the war a place of some aristocratic pretensions by reason of mineral springs in its vicinity which were much visited by wealthy Southerners during the summer months.28 The evening of the 26th at 3½ pm found us at or within 3 miles of the Orange & Alexandria railroad near Warrenton Junction. Here we went into camp for the three following days during which time a

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detachment of men, under two officers were sent home on duty at the recruiting rendezvous of Elmira[, New York].29 Several officers also went on sick leave among them Dr Munson. The first mail we received since the 16th arrived here. At 5 in the evening of the 30th, we fell in & marched until 10 at night southward to a small place called Elktown on a creek called Elkrun & bivouacked south of the railroad some 6 or 7 miles.

tings ttysburg of a Canadian Surgeon

4 After Gettysburg: 1863

The battle of Gettysburg, wrote Private John W. Haley of the 17th Maine Regiment, was “a trifle more to our taste than the Peninsula, Fredericksburg, or Chancellorsville. This new experience” of defeat for the Army of Northern Virginia “must be demoralizing ... It was a foregone conclusion that success here for Lee would have meant the downfall of the Union; his defeat means a Rebel collapse.”1 Indeed Lee risked everything at Gettysburg, “his splendid army, the fate of Richmond, and perhaps even the Confederacy itself – on a campaign aimed at destroying the Federal army. He ... lost the bet” and with it the possibility of European recognition and an end to the war.2 Confederate reaction to the defeat was surprisingly mixed. Some Confederates, like Napier Bartlett, “shed tears at the way in which ... dreams of liberty had ended at Gettysburg.”3 Others, like Brigadier General John Brown Gordon, lamented that “if I had had Stonewall Jackson at Gettysburg, I would have won that fight, and a complete victory there would have given us Washington and Baltimore, if not Philadelphia, and would have established the independence of the Confederacy.”4 In the aftermath of Gettysburg, the Confederacy profoundly felt the loss of Jackson. Not all Confederates, however, considered Gettysburg a demoralizing defeat. Randolph McKim reported that it was a “great mistake to suppose that the army of Lee was at all shaken or demoralized by the battle. It was on the contrary as full of fight as ever.”5 North Carolinian Louis Leon claimed that I

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while the Confederacy had failed to push “the enemy out of their strong position” this did not constitute defeat. The Union “lost as many in killed and wounded as we have,” he mused. “We have taken more prisoners from them than they have from us. If that is not the case, why did they lay still” on the 4th “and see our army going to the rear? An army that has gained a great victory follows it up while its enemy is badly crippled; but Meade, their commander, knew he has had as much as he gave, at least if not more.”6 Meade’s failure to crush Lee at Gettysburg also raised eyebrows in the North. Lincoln seethed that Meade had the Confederates “within [his] grasp ... We had only to stretch forth our hands and they were ours. And nothing I could say or do could make the Army move ... Our Army held the war in the hollow of their hands and they would not close it.”7 The rank and file of the Union army shared Lincoln’s frustration and outrage over Meade’s inaction. Charles N. Maxwell of the 3d Maine noted that “all were chagrined at the escape of Lee. All were anxious to make an attack, preferring to fight him here to Virginia.”8 While the Army of Northern Virginia, “already crippled of its pride,” retreated into Virginia, it was “met by the despairing news of another defeat at Vicksburg”, Longstreet reported, “which meant that the Mississippi was free to the Federals from its source to the Gulf.”9 Grant succeeded in cutting the Confederacy in half. On the heels of defeat at Gettysburg, the Confederate nation appeared short-lived. With one-third of his army dead or wounded at Gettysburg, Lee set about rebuilding the Army of Northern Virginia. On 7 July the Union began a dogged pursuit, resulting in little more than a few skirmishes with Lee’s army. In October Lee crossed the Rapidan in an unsuccessful attempt to turn Meade’s right flank. In November Meade made a futile attempt to turn Lee’s right flank and send him scurrying to the safety of Richmond. In the aftermath, the Army of Northern Virginia retreated to winter quarters on the west side of the Rapidan while the Army of the Potomac settle on the east side. A stalemate ensued, punctuated by few engagements. I

hospitalization and recovery [july] 31 st. Marched at 8 am & halted at 12 m near a place called

Morrisville, which is within a few miles of Kellys ford on the Rappahannock. Here we remained for the remainder of the day & night. August

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2d marched at 6 am about 10 miles taking the same direction we came passing through Elktown & halting some three miles eastward at [a] small Stone church called Bristoeburg Church. Our brigade alone made these movements, the Corps now being broken up into brigades & dispersed throughout the country along the line of railroad & going into camp. The weather had now become so intolerably hot that it became absolutely necessary to rest the troops & many fell sick of fever & bowel diseases. The old Stone church was turned into a hospital for the sick of the brigade, for which by its coolness it was well adapted. Here Dr Ely having applied for an appointment in the us Volunteer Staff of Surgeons, was ordered to Washington for examination leaving me in sole charge of the regiment for about a week. About the same time while bathing in a small creek in company with Col Pierce, I caught a severe cold which rapidly developed [into] Pleurite inflammation.10 Never before had bathing any bad effect on me but probably it was chiefly on account of the weather being so excessively hot making the brook water comparatively to the heat a great change in temperature. Besides I was already much debilitated too by irregular living & want of rest of mind & body. I succeeded in combating the inflammatory stage of the complaint successfully, but still remained quite sick from the effects so much so that some mornings I had to prescribe for my sick men lying on my bed. Dr Ely however returned on the 17th [of August] & relieved me from further care or duty & on the 19 as we moved camp about 5 miles to near Elktown, I managed to ride my horse on the march but not without much pain. The brigade remained in this camp near Elktown until the middle of September with one exception. Then the Division marched out to the line of the Rappahannock on the 1st Sept to support some cavalry movement & returned the 3d without any fighting. Several regiments were in the latter part of August sent from the Division to New York to quell riots.11 None of those however were from our brigade. Col Powers who had been absent on sick leave since July 30th here joined us his health restored. Although now being able to walk about a little & attend sick call yet but little general improvement took place in my health & should a campaign commence I well knew I was unable to bear the fatigue of a march. Reasoning thus I decided on applying for a sick leave on the 19th August. My application was approved only after being delayed until the 7th September when I began to feel much better but as I was far from well & the order was to report at Georgetown for treatment I availed myself of the opportunity

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to obtain some relaxation & change of living & perhaps leave to visit home. Accordingly on the evening of the 7th Sept I took ambulance to Warrenton junction 7 miles from hence by rail arriving in Washington at 10 pm same evening, sleeping at the United States Hotel where I had left my trunk six months previous. I reported [the] next day 8th at the officer hospital at Georgetown which was under the charge of Surgeon [H.W.] Ducachet, us Vols. This hospital which was a young ladies Seminary previous to the war is very pleasantly located & kept at the moderate charge of $11 dollar per diem for board & treatment. Seventeen days were spent in Washington either in the hospital or viewing the city & the public institutions. After 10 am each day a pass was granted to the patients who were convalescent by the Surgeon in charge. This pass expired at 9 pm & it was customary with the provost guard that patroled the city [that] should they find an officer out after the expiration of his pass, the officer in command took his name & rank & reported the same at the office of the Provost Marshall General while at the same time he ordered the delinquent to report at the same office next day. On reporting at this office the individual was generally ordered to report at the Convalescent Camp across the river, a lonely monotonous place that every one detested. Or in default of reporting he was mostly placed under arrest & courtmartialed for the offence. The vices of a Capital during war have always been notorious. Nor could Washington boast of immunity from any of them during the years of the Civil War.12 It was the resort of all the adepts in iniquity from all parts of the continent that could possibly evade justice. Their victims were invariably men on leave from the army who having for a time escaped the hardships & restrictions of the service & for the most part having their minds but in a season of relaxation & enjoyment often became an easy prey to their seducers. Consequently a person so situated as me having no friends in the city had nothing for it but to wander about alone & see what he could if he wished to avoid being victimized or get his name into disgrace for the names of every officer brought before a courtmartial was published in the Army & Navy Gazette.13 It does not take long to see all that is external in the city. There is but one street worth mentioning – Pennsylvania Avenue. All other streets seem to be byways to get to the Avenue. But this Avenue from its magnificent breadth & extent is sufficient to make a city in itself. Perhaps there are not many grander urban scenes, than one mile of the eastern end of this street with the Capitol at one end & the treasury buildings at the other. The principal buildings are the us trea-

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sury department, the Presidents house commonly called the White House, the Post Office, Smithsonian Institute [sic], Patent Office, & Capitol. Those I visited in succession but found the Smithsonian Institute the most profitable for study & seeing an immense collection of real curiosities. This Institute is a magnificent museum, founded & endowed by the will of a gentleman whose name it bears. The fund by which it is maintained was by him exclusively devoted to the propagation of science in every form. Besides its splendid collections of curiosities from all parts of the earth, it contained a fine lecture hall where scientific lectures were regularly delivered but none of which I was fortunate as to hear. I[t] was with great regret I since learned this fine institution has been partially destroyed by fire with most of its contents.14 There are some terrific pieces of sculpture & paintings in the rotunda of the Capitol but the scenes all taken from early American history, have been so frequently rendered in the form of woodcuts in every American geography & other elementary schoolbooks, that one loses interest in the work of art through extreme familiarity with the scene. The magnificent hospitals around Washington being mostly far from the centre of the city, my health did not permit me to visit more than [the hospitals] of Armory Square & Lincoln, the first in the city. The other one mile east of the Capitol. The attention & many comforts furnished to sick & wounded soldiers might well tempt many to regret that their diseases were curable so much preferable were those homes for the sick not only to duty in the field but doubtless often times to the mens own homes. The churches of the city, though quite numerous & some of them tasteful buildings – are far inferior in magnificence to what a stranger would naturally expect to find in a Capital. The theatres at this time were quite numerous, as they were among the most powerful means to draw profit from the military, for many of those who at home cared but little for such amusements would while here separate from the society of friends, grasp at any opportunity of whiling away the evenings. At some of the theatres too the performances were of rather low description but of course the conductor of those institutions had to pander to the taste of their patrons something ludicrous being more to the soldiers fancy. As for tragedy he might see it in reality at the front almost any day. About the 20th September it began to be rumored in Washington that the army was again in motion. This news along with the fact that my health was much improved, impressed me with the belief that I could no longer honor-

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ably remain absent from my command. I would wished to have visited home but had tried repeatedly in vain to obtain leave. The Surgeon in charge told me that neither the state of my health nor my comparatively short servitude in the army entitled me to it. However I thought different on the grounds that during my convalescence my time might as well be spent at home as elsewhere. When my request was refused in this respect, I asked to be discharged from the hospital. Surgeon Ducachet referred me to the Asst Surgeon in charge of my ward, a Dr [Robert] Stephenson. The Doctor remonstrated with me on my expressing my wish to go to the field telling me that there was still a large quantity of fluid in the right Pleural cavity & that it would be positively dangerous for me to expose myself to the chances of a relapse. But as this was not the first time for Doctors to disagree I insisted on being discharged on the grounds that I would improve much faster in a more healthy air of the field & where the excitement would divert my mind from brooding over my sickness. The fact was, I scarcely believed my own theory, but had become heartily tired of the city & was eager to join my comrades in the approaching campaigns where life was more exciting. on the 21 st sept , I had the good fortune to meet Col Pierce in the city. He had also come on sick leave but like myself was able to go about. He did not know I was in hospital supposing I had got leave to go home. In his company the remaining days of my stay passed off more pleasantly. We visited the Navy Yard & Smithsonian Institute in company & intended to review all that was worth seeing in Washington, had not the news of the moving of the army hastened my departure. On Friday 25th, I prepared to start [the] next day for the grim front. In the morning of the Sunday previous I received communion & attended Mass in the little church in Georgetown & attended Vespers in the same place in the evening, knowing it would or might be long before I would again hear church bells. The same evening I received my discharge from the hospital & removed my valise to the Ebbitts House, where Col Pierce was staying as he expected leave to go home & which he succeeded in obtaining. It was only there I learned the proper time for my obtaining leave was before reporting at the hospital, as very few succeeded in getting leave after reporting there. It was well understood to be the policy of the Surgeon in charge, to keep the hospital as near full of patients as possible. On Sat 26th I breakfasted with Col Pierce, wrote & mailed a letter home, & at the same time expressed home a Photograph of myself in the army uniform, lest I in

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the chances of war should never see home in person. Bidding the Colonel good bye I took a hack for Maryland Avenue, & took the cars at 10½ am arriving at Alexandria at 11 changed cars there & leave for Culpeper at 12 arriving there at 5½ pm. This was now the base of the army. It is an old town I should judge that might have contained two thousand inhabitants before the war but now although quite lately falling into the possession of our troops it was no exception to most Virginian towns during this period, being generally depopulated. Culpeper, or Fairfax as it is called by some, being the seat of justice of Culpeper County it is reasonably called Culpeper Court House. In arriving here I was yet fully seven or eight miles from the front of the Second Corps & learned to my chagrin that no train went any further except an occasional supply train to the 2d Corps depot at Mitchells Station four miles away. Even this train did not leave until [the] next day. As night was fast approaching I was about decided on staying somewhere in the town for the night but of two officers of our brigade who were with me Capt [Joshua L.] Hays of the 14th Ind (at that time in the 1st brigade) and Lieut [Frederick B.] Doten, Quartermaster of the 14th Conn Vols, Capt Hays overruled us asserting that as we had no authority to remain in the city we would at once be arrested by the provost guard. Had I been alone or left to my own opinion I would not have scrupled to go boldly to the Provost Marshal & state my case asking permission to remain over night & I doubt not he would have reviewed my case favorably. As for Lieut Doten he seemed to be entirely led by Hays. Not wishing to be behind them in energy I consulted to go with them & try to reach the front by walking along the railroad. Hays, had a servant boy with him he made carry his valise. I & Doten each hired a darkey from the group of contrabands lounging about the depot to carry ours & in company with a private soldier of the 12th nj we started our journey. Before proceeding a mile Hays who had been so anxious to reach the front began to show signs of indecision & spoke doubtfully of being able to reach the front that night. The negroes too began to be dissatisfied at placing too great a distance between themselves & the town. When Doten asked his man a question which seems never to have occurred to him when hiring him that is whether he was willing to go all the way Cuffee objected. Doten paid him of[f] with 25 cents. Mine of course wished to follow suit. He was also discharged. Darkness had now set in & we were a mile out of the town. I now proposed that as the whole party were five in number & there were but three valises we proceed as we had begun. But they seemed to have lost all decision

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& resolution & were wasting time in idle speculation. Leaving them deliberating I with the 12th New Jersey boy who volunteered to help me moved slowly on for about 300 yds thinking they would soon follow me hearing them coming I halted for about a quarter of an hour. Not wishing them to think I had deserted them told the boy to wait & returned to them. I found they had come to the strange decision of bivouacking in a willow swamp on the side of the railroad. This I could not afford to share with them as my health would not warrant such exposure as the night was cold & I had not any blankets with me not speaking of the sudden change from comfortable quarters. Provoked at their want of firmness I decided on proceeding on at all hazards & revived as their parting request that I should inform their friends in the regiments of the “bad fix” they were in & desire those to send horses for them. So with my soldier comrade, I continued my dreary tramp along the road carrying the heavy valise between us, not meeting a soul after starting nor knowing that we might run into some of the enemys prowling bands. It was a glad sight for to see lights ahead about 10 at night & shortly after we reached the Corps wagon train, which was parked about Mitchells Station. Here I decided to stay for the remainder of the night I was so fortunate as to find our Quartermaster, Lieut [Joseph S.] Harris, with his wall tent pitched & which he was not long inviting me to share & which I gratefully accepted after asking for & obtaining quarters for the boy who accompanied & assisted me. Next morning 27th, I found Dr Munsons servant at the train with the Doctors horses, one of which I borrowed & soon found my regiment some three miles away. They were on the right of the Corps which was holding the line of the Rapidan, its right resting near the battlefield of Cedar Mountain which was fought on the 9th of August the preceding year between the commanders of [Richard S.] Ewell and [Thomas J.] Jackson (rebel) and [Nathaniel] Banks and [John] Pope Union.15 The army, which had been moving as reported had now apparently come to a deadlock. While both armies lay quietly in summer quarters, Lee had silently reinforced [General Braxton] Bragg in the west with Longstreets Corps now recruited & reorganized after its drubbing at Gettysburg by the 2d Corps. Lee almost at the same time fell back to a stronger defensive position on the Rapidan & Genl Meade perceiving this followed up at once. But the key to those movements was soon discovered by the advance of Bragg in making an attempt to retake Chattanooga. Here he attacked the Union forces on the memorable field

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of Chickamauga & the army of [William S.] Rosecrans lost some ground by the impetuous attacks of Longstreets Corps, who said they came out there to show Braggs men how to fight. This attack however failed in its object the position was held by the ability of Genl [George H.] Thomas. The 11th & 12th Corps of the Army of the Potomac were at once dispatched to the assistance of Rosecrans. The 11th had passed through Washington the night before I left it & I had met the 12th on their way as I returned to my regiment. The remaining corps of the army now held the line of the north side of the Rapidan, & the army of Lee the other watching each other jealously day & night, & remained in this position with but little change or occurring of any important event until about the 10th October. My regiment had seen no hard service since my leaving them. In the advance across the Rappahannock their Corps merely followed up the Cavalry from which the enemy rapidly retired across the Rapidan & the boys seemed to have enjoyed themselves heartily during the movement as this took place through a country that had not been occupied by troops for more than a year consequently, although marauding was not encouraged yet it was almost impossible to prevent the soldiers who tired of the army [food &] neglected no opportunity to enjoy a meal of poultry & fresh vegetables, from helping themselves to articles of food, unless this was punished with death which looked like too severe a punishment for appropriating provisions that would otherwise surely be a source of supply for their enemies to carry on the war. At the same time any personal violence towards the peaceful inhabitants found at their homes was invariably punished in the most summary manner. On my joining the regiment Dr Ely had just received an order to report for duty at Washington as Assistant Surgeon of us Volunteers. This order he at once obeyed for he was exceedingly tired of the field & as Dr Munson was still on leave it left me at once in the sole charge of the regiment. On the evening of October 5th, we received orders to pack up & be ready to move that evening but we did not move out of camp until 7 on the morning of the 6th. There were various guesses as to our destination. Some said it would be a move against the enemy others thought we would follow the 11th & 12th Corps to Tennessee. The belief in the latter prediction was much strengthened when we took up our march to the rear passing over the battlefield of Cedar Mountain through Culpeper & went into camp a mile east of the town at 3 pm. Here we went into camp for three days & speculations were as rife as ever as to the cause of the movement but all failed

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to foresee the turn affairs were about to take. Every usual sign certainly looked like nothing more than a change of camp of the Corps as it was relieved in its picket-duty on the Rapidan by the 6th Corps & whether subsequent movements of the enemy were brought about by the supposed retreat of a portion of our troops or whether his plans for an aggressive movement happened to be at the time mattered I am unable to determine. It is highly probable though that he heard about, then learned of the withdrawal of the 11th & 12th Corps & upon seeing the retrograde movement of the 2d supposed it was about to follow suit & was thus led to advance against the army while thus weakened. on saturday oct 10th while all seemed to look to a lengthy enjoyment of the beautiful autumn weather in a clean & well located camp orders suddenly came at 10 am to pack & be ready to move at once at 11½ we fell in & moved out about three miles west of Culpeper where we lay the remainder of the day & night – the brigade being formed in mass. During this movement we passed through a portion of the 3d Corps which was also massed under arms near Culpeper. Here we learned that the enemys cavalry having appeared in force on our right flank that morning a regiment from the 3d Corps, the 120th ny had been ordered forward to support our cavalry. This regiment had been cut off & mostly captured by a much superior force & now for the remainder of the day the whole army seemed to be awaiting the result of reconnaissances & further developments of the enemy. oct 11 th at 2 o’clock in the morning we were quietly aroused with orders to be ready to march forthwith. We fell in at once but it was 5 o’clock before we commenced our movement towards the Rappahannock. The day was clear with a cool fresh breeze blowing & there had been sufficient rain the previous evening to lay all dust. In fact one of the best days for a long march & indeed it was fortunate for the army in this long & hurried march, for we continued this with scarcely a halt crossing the river on a pontoon bridge about noon & going into bivouac for the night near Bealton Station, making in my estimation about 25 miles & though this march was long & rapid it was nevertheless pleasant owing to the fineness of the weather & the animation of the scene as several army corps could be seen at once over the very open country between Culpeper & the river. Not less than three parallel dense columns of infantry artillery & wagon trains could be seen while between these rattled & [roared] numerous trains of cars moving all surplus supplies & rolling stocks to the rear. Nor were they too hasty, for night found Culpeper in possession of the enemy. We lay in

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bivouac until noon on the 12th when we fell in & moved back & recrossed the Rappahannock forming [a] line of battle just beyond the river. Here occurred though perfectly entirely unpremeditated, one of the grandest military spectacles ever seen on the continent in actual warfare. The eye could take in fully four miles square of perfectly open country excepting a very thin strip of woods near the river. In the centre was the 3d Corps massed in several heavy lines while on either flank a corps was moving forward by the flank so as to show a front to an enemy at any moment & while the cavalry skirmished some two miles in front, the bursting shells being plainly visible, all those masses of infantry were moving simultaneously forward as if to attack, as undoubtedly they would had there been anything to attack. All this fine display it is hardly necessary to say ended in smoke, for after moving pompously forward for about two miles no enemy were found, all that made their appearance retired at once before our cavalry & the troops came to a halt for the evening. Whether Lees superior generalship had intentionally allured Genl Meade forward again or whether the latter general in ignorance of Lees real intentions had decided on giving battle, I leave for those better posted to determine.16 But certain it was the very movement of all others to favor Lees plans. He had first demonstrated on our right then on Meade falling back to avoid having his flank turned. Lee followed quickly up in such force as to lead Meade apparently to believe that the movement on his right was a first & turned about & offered Lee battle while the latter was marching with all speed to gain our rear & thus gained one days march. It now became plainly evident that Lee with his principal force was pushing with all speed to gain the line of Bull Run & the fortified position of Centreville almost between us & Washington while his cavalry hung on our trains. The troops fell in rapidly & silently at 1 o clock on the 13th recrossed the river & arrived at our bivouac ground of the previous night near Bealton long before daybreak where we halted until sunrise, the sky in the mean time being frequently lit up by surplus ammunition being burned in order to lighten transportation. At sunrise we moved up the road to Sulphur Springs about 3 miles northeast of Bealton where we halted until noon in the road made coffee & rested during which great activity prevailed among the cavalry numerous squads moving up & down the road continually. We understood they had met with some reverse. It now became known that the Corps was the rear of the army in retrograde movement & that moreover while the other Corps were

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hurrying to reach Centreville before Lee the Second Corps had to guard the immense trains of the whole army which was estimated at forty miles in length the cavalry in the meantime moving parallel with the train. About noon we fell in [&] moved back about a mile on this road & struck off to the left throwing out flankors marching rapidly towards Warrenton junction in a northernly direction crossed the Warrenton railroad & came to a halt at nightfall between Warrenton & Catletts Station. The troops gave way to the right & stacked arms leaving the road open for the 3d Corps which were moving past most of the night. The 2d had crossed their line of march & it now became necessary to halt & let the 3d get fairly ahead to avoid further confusion. As we came to a halt we could hear the rattle of carbines on our left & slightly in advance showing the enemys cavalry were closely dogging all our movements. We spent the night which was a cold one lying around the campfires in a heavy woods. Next morning Oct 14th, we were early on the move. The morning was one of beautiful autumn’s mornings of the South & the sun rose on one of the most glorious & eventful days in the history of the fighting Second Corps.

skirmish at auburn mills and battle of bristoe station Hardly had the head of the column got under motion than a cannon shot broke the stillness of the morning which was soon followed by more mixed with the popping of skirmishers rifles. These sounds caused us to move to the front with more celerity that is if any one could tell where the front was, for our division had just descended a hill into a woody ravine traversed by a small stream I believe a portion of Cedar Run & as we crossed this it became evident by the rattle of small arms on our left & rear that the enemy occupied the woody ridge we had just left. At the same time the sound of musketry thickened not only in our front or in the direction we were marching – but also on our right & one of our batteries (McKnights 12th ny independent) had got into position somewhat on our left front & was exchanging compliments rapidly with the enemy & as the shorter shells from either side went yelling over our heads we could not tell which was from friend or foe as the position of the Division was at that time in a sort of amphitheatre surrounded by a succession of knolls more or less woody. In fact it was plain to the most ordinary person that we were fairly sur-

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rounded & things began to look like the 2d Corps being annihilated or going to Richmond en masse. But the rebel cavalry General [J.E.B.] Stuart, who led this attack had evidently blundered against a greater force than he expected to find for finding his cavalry confronted & repulsed by infantry everywhere he seemed to fully understand his blunder for in less than half an hour his cavalry were non est as far as regards intercepting our march nor did he any more attempt this but seemed to content himself with watching our movements & picking up stragglers.17 Had my position not been such a dangerous one I would have been much amused here at the terror of our noncombatants including hospital attendants, servants, & numerous men that manage to keep out of most fights to be found in an army. This class of persons having no rear to run to had to remain under fire, many for the first time, & their efforts to find some cover became exceedingly ludicrous many remained in the out of the way places they had crawled afraid to venture out until captured by the enemys cavalry (no great loss). The enemy not expecting such resistance suffered considerably in this attack. They left among other officers mortally wounded a Col [Thomas] Ruffin I believe of a prominent N Carolina family. In the course of an hour we were again on the move, our wounded being in the meantime dressed & sent ahead in ambulances. No casualty occurred in my regiment. We reached Catletts Station about 11 am where we halted in mass for about two hours. We were afterwards informed by prisoners that during this halt the enemy were hovering about in great force but dare not attack but as soon as we commenced to move they followed up & continued to annoy the rear which was brought up by the 1st Division. It was often necessary for portions of this Division to face about & skirmish with them not only to repel their attacks but what was of more importance to delay them, in order to give our wagon train time to get out of the way. While halted here & as I was separated from my regiment a few [men] were resting under a tree with none within speaking distance of me but my hospital steward & some unarmed attendants [when] an unarmed horseman rode out of a thicket near me. He was dressed as an ordinary infantry soldier & was well mounting. Coming directly up to me, he began making enquiry as to whether I had seen our head quarter wagon pass, on telling him I did not he seemed to be dissatisfied with the answer & seemed very anxious to know whether they were in front or rear. I directed him to our Division headquarters for information towards which he pretended to go. In the

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meantime, I began to see something in his manner that led me to suspect him for one of the enemys scouts. Walking over to Col Powers I told him my suspicions & pointing out the man as he rode away. He treated the matter lightly saying he did not believe him to be anything more than a straggling servant or groom. But I not satisfied determined to watch his movements & followed him at a distance to see if he would search for Division head quarters. As I followed the direction he was going I fell in with Genl [Joshua T.] Owens commanding our 2d Brigade. To him I told my opinion of the man but while speaking to the Genl he had already disappeared among some trees. The Genl at once dispatched two mounted orderlies in that direction & in about half an hour they returned & reported that they could find no such person. In all probability he had become suspicious & suddenly withdrew by some route best known to himself. About a week afterwards I met the same mysterious individual. Then he was moving in a contrary direction to our march. Seeing him thus again moving boldly through our troops I was for a moment ashamed of my suspicions. At that time too my regiment was some distance away & I was hurrying to catch up with them. Besides I, being unarmed, was perfectly powerless to arrest a man on a fleet horse & doubtlessly carrying concealed weapons. I saw nor heard no more of him but doubt not to this day he was one of the many active & intelligent spies of the enemy that were known to be frequently inside our lines. At 1 pm we again took up our line of march along the railroad & hardly had we marched an hour before the distant sound of cannon become audible. For some time this was believed by those around me to be in the rear caused by skirmishers of the 1st Division, our rear guard, with the enemy. But we were soon convinced that some of the sounds at least were in the advance. The truth was fighting was going on in both directions Genl A.P. Hills rebel Corps had marched parallel with us since morning & the head of their column [Brigadier-General Henry] Heth’s division, had [now come] in[to] full view of our wagon train which could be seen on the heights above Brentsville hardly three miles off. As our Division crossed Kettle Run, about two miles from Bristoe Station we could plainly see both the smoke & the flashes of our cavalry batteries as they endeavored to hold the position until our infantry got up. We were attacked on the left flank as the Corps marched parallel with & on the right of the railroad. The second Division which had the advance did not arrive on the field a moment to

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soon, for Heths rebel Division had formed [a] line of battle & was moving rapidly forward to take possession of the railroad ditches & embankments which are here high & deep. For within a mile of the field, the men of our Brigade had advanced on the “double quick.” Many were unable to continue this rate of marching & had to stop running & walk in order to catch breath. Consequently the regiments went into action in any order you please but military. But no time could be lost to “close up” if the railroad was to be gained in time. Waiting for sometime on the slow movements of our tired men who were lagging behind I found the distance widening between me & the main bulk of my command. So patience being exhausted I gave my excited horse the rein & was soon on the scene of action. A crowd of stragglers who had preferred the line of railroad on the march & who at the advance of the enemy had taken refuge in the ditches – now came running in for fear of capture but they were soon picked up by our advancing line of battle & borne forward into the fight under strange officers (So much for straggling). Our officers were trying to keep all the men they were able to get up in some sort of line & with them they were now charging across the open field that lay between the highway & railroad. Although they were on a run & gasping for breath, they managed to keep up a crackling volley of exploding percussion caps as each man snapped one on his tube to ensure its being free. This although sounding childish showed plainly that mischief was intended on their part. Genl Warren, who then commanded the Corps now came by with his staff all dismounted rallying & encouraging all stragglers & loiters the Genl exclaiming as he passed me “To the railroad ditch men” “Quick! Quick!” But Genl Alex Hayes commanding the Division as soon as he got possession of this & under its cover gave his men a little time to close up in line & take breath dashed across the road with his whole Division & charged the relief infantry which was advancing about 300 yds from the railroad over a field partly open & partly covered with a low copse. The cavalry battery which had done good service but could hardly hold its own against the concentrated fire of two batteries opened on it was now relieved. Hazard’s battery b 1st ri artillery crossed Broad Run & unlimbered near Bristoe Station & in rear of the 2nd Division which was now advancing against the enemys left. The invincible [William] Arnold now came on the scene too with his splendid battery the horses spurred into a race with time itself laying flat or stripping the low under growth of pine that covered some parts of the

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field or sparks of fire following the track of the wheels, as the impetuous commander rushed his guns to the front & unlimbered on a splendid position overlooking the field a hill near the railroad culvert that crosses Broad Run. Arnold opened at once & the effects of his fire became obvious in the hurried & confused movements of the enemy. I could plainly see the shells from his battery bursting fair in the rebel line of infantry, the masses of men breaking up & spreading in every direction from the explosion similar to a shoal of fish into which a stone would be dropped. They could be plainly seen also making desperate attempts to “limber up” a battery which our batteries were fast knocking to pieces, some of the horses falling at every round. They did not succeed however in getting it off for their infantry were already giving away before the charge of our Division. Their battery being opposite that part of the line occupied by our 3d Brigade was seized by [Union] regiments. Immediately after a ludicrous procession came down the hill towards our line, five guns drew partly by soldiers & partly by the few living horses found in harness. On every horse a solder was mounted beating the poor frightened animals right & left with their rifles & all but the horses yelling like Indians. The enemys attempt to reach the train was completely frustrated as he was everywhere driven back with heavy loss & was obliged to withdraw out of range of our guns, but a fierce artillery duel was maintained at long range until sunset. Pursuit of their retiring force would be folly, as thus the distance between the train & the troops assigned to guard it would be increased leaving it exposed to a dash of their cavalry. In the charge of the 3d Division, the 108th had 14 men wounded & one killed on the field. Our men were mostly wounded in the legs by reason of their part of the line of battle advancing through a dense copse which the enemy occupied & on the advance of our men they laid low until they could see the lower extremities of the men those coming in view first on account of the brushwood hiding their bodies. In this case they invariably fired at the part first seen from their recumbent position & then fell back & watched their chances for another shot & as our line made but slow progress through this dense tangle, they were enabled to injure many of our men before being finally driven out. As for myself I had some narrow escapes from rifle bullets that were coming over the railroad in great numbers & also shells. Indeed I was one of a party that had the honor of monopolizing the attention of one of the enemys guns. For as myself & Dr [Alvin] Satterthwaite of the 12th nj was sitting in our

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saddles looking at the progress of the fight with some of our attendants around us who were mounted on our pack horses, we soon become aware of shells passing very close over our heads. This we wondered at for sometime as Arnold had just then began to pitch into them in earnest & they had more than sufficient use for their ammunition elsewhere. After enduring several rounds in our anxiety to witness the struggle going on – we became convinced that one particular gun was playing upon our party & after one fuze shell burst fire over my head & another percussion shell passed between me & Dr Satterthwaite struck the ground & burst a few yards beyond us – we decided on taking ourselves out of view of the gunners. The only reason we could assign for their particular attention to us was that they mistook our party for a General & his mounted staff & hard pressed as they were yet could not resist the temptation to have a fling at who they conceived to be “big fish.” I must confess the advantage gained to their cause would be questionable, had they wiped out the whole party. The Surgeons had now too something to do other than looking on – for the wounded were fast coming to the rear. The Surgeon in Chief of Division d [Isaac] Scott after a difficult search to find a place near water & out of range of artillery at the same time & suitable for an operating & dressing hospital at last fixed on a barn just across Kettle Run & about 11 miles in the rear or east of the field. Here the Surgeons of the Division assembled & had not more than fairly commenced operations than the rattle of carbines was heard in a wood within little more than a quarter of a mile of the hospital. The enemys cavalry taking advantage of the engagement of the infantry had made a detour & were now coming in on our rear & were within one mile of & in full view of the train at Brentsville. But they were well watched by our cavalry as the firing indicated nor did they attempt a dash on the train when they found their movements were known. But we all thought on account of the proximity of the fighting it would be judicious to remove our hospital which we did forthwith loading up our wounded in the ambulances. As the Surgeons mounted & fell in the rear they gathered up the rifles brought back to the hospital by wounded men & in some cases threw the rifles with the ammunition into the creek. Others carried them with them & I added a few rounds of ammunition to my pockets in case. The Surgeons after this changed their positions twice trying to keep out of the reach of the rebel cavalry & out of range of their artillery in front at the same time. For all this time the thunder of battle went on.

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About sunset orders were received by the Surgeons to report to their regiments at once. This order of course was not difficult to comply with, our circumstance excepted. No ambulances were present but those that had been detailed to follow the Brigades on the march all the others were now with the train nor could they come so far from the train without risking capture. As the few ambulances present became rapidly filled & were as rapidly driven away – the poor fellows unable to walk naturally looking up to their Surgeon for assistance in their extremity became clamorous for to get a place in the ambulances. This was not I found so easy for in my finding a vacant place & then with my own hands helping some of my worst wounded through crowds that perhaps I would have the mortification to find the place occupied. This indeed was repeated several times before I succeeded in getting all my men on. In this I was much assisted by Dr D[avid] W. Maull Surgeon in Chief of [the] Brigade, who when he saw me making strenuous exertions to find places for my wounded kindly lent me his aid – for which I was often indebted to him on many occasions. When I seen all safely loaded I started for my regiment with pride & the highest degree of gratification that I could say not one of the 108th was left on the field – for very few regiments engaged but left more or less [of their wounded on the field] for want of transportation. Had this been the case with any of my men – it would have grieved me much for here most of our wounded were as true boys as ever lit a cartridge in fire & among them was Capt Samuel Porter with a bad flesh wound of the leg. It was now dark & it was with some difficulty we groped our way to our separate commands. I found mine just behind the railroad near where we went into action & under orders to be ready to move at short notice. We moved silently from the field at a late hour at night – marching along the line of the railroad as far as Manassas Junction – then striking obliquely to the left crossing Bull Run at Blackburns Ford & halting just beyond the ford. It was then far advanced in the morning of the 15th & all were but too glad to have the privilege of lying on the ground until dawn. The moving of the Corps from the field was itself a delicate movement for it was no secret among our officers that the rebel Corps that attacked us though badly repulsed was now largely reinforced & in the isolated position of our Corps – it would have been very injudicious to let daybreak show our weakness. But the object of the Corps was more fully accomplished. The train was safely placed in rear of our new line & in the centre of this line the Corps now took its place & “threw down the gauntlet” to all comers after marching twenty

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five miles fighting two battles & skirmishing almost the whole distance in one day. The morning of Oct[ober] 15th found the Army of the Potomac in [a] line of battle on Bull Run & we all excepted a third trial of the fortunes of war on this historical field. It might be inferred that the army would naturally be doubtful of success owing to former serious reverses here.18 So too I then thought. But soon found I was mistaken as far as my experience went I heard no expression of doubt as to the result even among my most intimate friends. But the same undying & stubborn determination to “fight it out” wherever their leaders chose to order [appeared] more prominent than ever. There was also every indication of battle. The ominous stillness that usually precedes one was especially painful because we well knew the enemy were advancing cautiously in force. Lee had completely failed to read our rear & obtain a footing on Centreville Heights & also I believe to capture a single wagon – unless those accidentally broken & abandoned. The great question was now whether he would give battle since Genl Meade had taken position & offered him the grape.19 The whole forenoon & afternoon up to two o’clock was unbroken by any sound of strife except an occasionally gun from our cavalry on the flanks fixed at reconnoitering parties of that of the enemy. About this hour the crack of rifles in the heavy timbered bottom on the southern side of the run in our front, told the enemy had thrown out his skirmishers & his had rebuked ours. Shortly after cannonading became pretty general on our left. About 3 o’clock some new dispositions were made in our part of the line in anticipation of an attack of the enemy about then as I was scanning the field narrowly to see if there were any indication of immediate attack, I noticed two mounted men barely emerged from the pine covered a ridge about 1200 yds in our left front. They merely showed the forward position of their horses & their own bodies from the foliage I called the attention of Major [Theodore Grenville] Ellis commanding 14 Conn Vols – who after looking at them with a field glass said he believed them to be rebel cavalrymen. I thought different believing them to be from their manner & bearing officers of high rank reconnoitering the position. Our speculations were cut short by their disappearing again suddenly & immediately a white puff of smoke arose from where they disappeared followed by the report of a field piece & the familiar whirr of a solid shot. This was nearly over our position but was not aimed at it. The Major exhorted his men many of whom were recruits to be ready & behave like men – for we expected the iron would soon be plunging among us. This how-

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ever they did not attempt. They were now directing their attention to some support wagons that were brought up to ration the troops. Those weapons were near Genl Warrens head quarters about 1/4 one quarter of a mile in rear & slightly to the left of our brigade. Quicker than I could describe it two batteries unlimbered & opened upon them & in twenty minutes made them glad to limber up & leave after getting one of their guns dismounted & several horses killed. Their battery did no harm that I am aware of beyond knocking over a wagon & making the frightened teamsters & mules to scamper out of range but Genl Warren & staff had several narrow escapes. There was no more artillery practice in our front, but skirmishing was unremittingly kept up almost amounting to vollies but neither party tried to do more than hold their own position. Nor were their many casualties here. On the left though it was different both maintained a heavy cannonade until night closed on the field. As far as I could learn there was nothing worthy of the name of a fight took place this day except among the cavalry. Lee however used the day to the best advantage to skirmish for position & feel our lines thoroughly from flank to flank. On the morning of the 16th it was found the enemy had disappeared from our immediate front but our Generals seemed to be mystified as to Lees real intention but it seemed very plain that the expected great battle was not to come off on this field at least. The day was a very wet & stormy one & no sounds of fighting could be heard except a few distant cannon shots in the direction of the Bull Run – hills telling that our cavalry were on the alert after Lee to see if it was his intention to pass our right flank & continue his advances northward. The 17th & 18th we spent quietly lying in camp or rather in line as formed when a battle was expected. The troops were being rationed and preparation made for an advance on the 18th. Many cavalry & some infantry advanced through our position on the same evening but we did not move forward until daybreak on the morning of the 19th. Lee had evidently fallen back covering his movement by a feint of moving towards the Potomac above our position. Whether he was falling back to his former position or to one in which he intended to draw Genl Meade out of his position was not yet determined. But a general advance discovered that he had abandoned all the country north of the Rappahannock except the fortified position on the north end of the ruins of the railroad bridge. at daybreak on oct 1 9th the Corps advanced in columns marching by Manassas Junction – almost retracing our steps on the previous

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backward movement – recrossed Broad Run – halted within sight of the field of Bristoe Station & threw out skirmishers, as if the proximity of an enemy was apprehended. None however, were found but the whole field was [dimpled] by skirmishers rifle pits. We now again moved forward as far as a stony ridge a mile in rear of the battlefield – which had been occupied by the enemy during the engagement & subsequently as a camp. On this ridge we halted early in the afternoon – remaining in bivouac for the remainder of the day & night. I visited the field in company with Capt [Joseph] Deverell Co. k. The Captain wished to search for the body of a man of his company Corpl Irivng Arms who was the only man killed from our regt in the late fight. We found a grave near the spot he fell supposed to be his – but we had no implement with us sufficient to remove the earth. The field did not bear many marks of the late struggle as the enemy had carefully buried all the dead. Most of them killed judging by the boards placed over them belonged to the 15th & 48th N Carolina rebel regiments.20 The graves seemed to me to be remarkably few for such an engagement but this may be explained by a report which I heard to the effect that as a mounted officer was leaping his horse over what seemed to be one of the usual small curtains of earth thrown up for protection to the men serving guns in action, one of the horses feet removed the earth to such an extent as to bare a corpse & on further examination those works proved to be trenches of dead. Whether this report be true or not in every particular this I know that no earthworks were [dug] during the fight although one had been in position near the spot as the numerous dead horses strewn on the ground from the fire of Arnold’s guns testified. On this afternoon 19th [there] were frequently cavalry encounters with the enemys rear as he fell back towards the river – the artillery sometimes being in such volume as to make many believe an engagement was in progress. We were early on the move on the morning of the 20th continuing our march by a rather circuitous rout passing near Gainesville through Greenwich, halting & bivouacking at a late hour near the scene of the skirmish at Auburn Mills. Here we remained in camp during the 21st & 22d. I visited the house that we had used as a temporary operating hospital at the time of the fight on the 14th. It was inhabited by an elderly gentleman named [Cyrus] McCormick. He had been an inventor of improvements in mill machinery & agricultural implements, rather rare for a southern gentleman & I believe his name is familiar in the patent office at Washington. He was too a man that seemed to take a

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lively interest in the politics of both the past & present times & said he was well acquainted with President [Andrew] Jackson who had staid at his house. This old gentlemans present political views maybe worth mentioning if he be taken as a representative of public opinion among his class, which he claimed to be. The principal peculiarity of those views were that he upheld the superiority of monarchical institutions to republican, with great pertinacity & plausibility of arguement. During the early part of the day on Oct 23 we moved about five miles & went into camp on the south side of the Warrenton branch railroad & about three miles from that town. Here we remained until Nov 7th putting up log huts as the weather had become very wet & cold. This long halt at a season of the year usually favorable for campaigning in Virginia, was rendered unavoidable on account of Genl Lee in his falling back completely destroying the railroad from Bristoe Station to the Rappahannock. Large groups of men were now employed in restoring it recruits coming out constant drill going on & a large depot of supplies collecting at Warrenton Junction. Few however seemed to think that offensive operations would so soon recommence. The movement which now followed was probably intend to press Lee with all available force but was prevented from being directly followed up either by the adverse weather that soon after set in or some unforeseen circumstance best known to the General commanding. Certainly the advance was not checked by any resistance of the enemy.

fall campaign of 1863 rappahannock at 10½ pm on the evening of nov 6 th we received orders to be

ready to move at daybreak & [the] next morning a beautiful & clear autumn one we were again in motion. The soldiers looked back reluctantly at the snug huts they were leaving to exchange for the open & now frosty air combined with the apprehension that weighs upon men who know that they are about to encounter peril that seems more imminent in proportion to its indefinable & uncertain nature. The movement was directed towards two points principally Kellys Ford & Rappahannock Station against the former the 3d Corps had the advance followed by the 2d. Against the latter position the 6th Corps led. After a disagreeable march on account of the dusty nature of the roads & high wind, combined with its great rapidity we arrived in sight of Kellys ford about sunset. The 3 Corps had already crossed the river after a spirited skirmish in which Birneys division captured some

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prisoners. This Division was now in [a] line of battle on the opposite side their skirmishers engaged with those of the enemy in the woods a short distance in front. [J. Henry] Sleepers 10th Mass battery was in position on the north side & engaged in shelling the woods beyond the river. During the afternoon we had become aware of a heavy & well maintained cannonade towards the railroad bridge. This was the engagement of a position of the 6th Corps, which resulted in the capture & occupation of all the field works commanding the bridge & the enemys final abandonment of the line of that river. Here the position was a much more difficult one to carry than that of Kellys Ford, not only because it was well fortified but on account of a great portions of those fortifications being on the north side completely commanding the approaches to the bridge. There was complete range for the enemys artillery – their being no cover whatever from it unless a very thin woods fully a mile away. The space between this woods & the batteries was almost perfectly clear & level & traversed obliquely by a deep & wide water course containing much water & mud & quite difficult for a line of battle to scramble through under fire. We had marched over this ground some time previous. Consequently I knew it well & could fully appreciate the difficulty & danger of advancing across it under fire from field works. Wishing too that the gallant troops who carried it should [be given] their full [measure] of praise for it certainly was one of the most brilliant actions among the many of the 6th Corps. We bivouacked on the north side of the river for the night & were under arms [the] next morning at daybreak. The enemy had fallen back & completely abandoned the line of the river during the night. We crossed about 9 am then halting about an hour to let the 1st Corps pass resumed our march towards Brandy Station where we arrived about sunset & went into bivouac. The fighting during the day was confined to the cavalry advances whose guns we could occasionally hear encountering the rear of the enemy as he again fell back south of the Rapidan. This night was a very cold one the country was extremely open & exposed to a piercing north wind & where our division lay, there [was] more wood than sufficient to make coffee, [but it] was not convenient. The ground too was frozen hard on which we had to lie. In the morning the peaks of the blue ridge could be seen white with snow. From this night I date the commencement of years of bad health. [The n]ext morning we moved a few miles southward & went into camp again where we remained until the 26th. For some days previous

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to this date we were under orders to hold ourselves in readiness to march at short notice, but the movement was apparently delayed through excessive rainy weather. We left camp at 7 am & marched to Germanna Ford on the Rapidan which we crossed unopposed on a pontoon bridge at 4 pm. There were many extensive breastworks created here by the enemy but for purposes well known to himself they were abandoned on our approach. After crossing we marched about three miles & halted for the night which was a very cold one but fortunately we were in woods affording wood & shelter. [The n]ext morning, 27th we were early under arms & moving rapidly up the Fredericksburg & Orange Court House turnpike. Being detailed on duty with the division ambulance corps – I do not know exactly when our advance struck the enemy – but when the ambulance train was ordered to halt & I joined the regiment it was 12 o’clock. Our 1st brigade was already formed in line across the turnpike & skirmishing at a point called Robinsons Tavern. Being unemployed I now sauntered towards our skirmish line on the right of the road. Here I found some men of our second division crouching in the long weeds that covered the waste field here. Not seeing any enemy I walked up quite close to our line – when their skirmishers from the opposite wood opened fired upon me. One bullet cut the weeds near my legs & another whizzed uncomfortably near my head. Our men arose & replied at once when the enemy ceased after a few shots exchanged. This slight & fitful sort of skirmishing continued in our front during the whole day. The enemy made no determined resistance & Genl Meade was waiting impatiently for the arrival of Genl French with the 3d Corps. The Genl waited here the whole day, most of the time in the saddle surrounded by his staff & accompanied by four British officers who came out to witness the operations.21 He frequently betrayed great nervousness & anxiety inquiring not only from every aid that arrived but from any person near him if “he heard from Gen French.” I saw precisely the same scene the previous evening when we were waiting for several hours before crossing the river when he was also detained by the tardy movements of Genl French who was crossing the river higher up. Towards night we heard a heavy cannonade far on the right towards the river. This was the first heard from French, who it appears was delayed by finding the river more difficult than expected to cross, the next day took a wrong road & instead of connecting with the right of the 2d Corps struck a large body of the enemy & fought the battle of Locust Grove the guns from which we heard.22

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[the n]ext day, 28 th the Corps advanced some two miles without

any effective opposition to the bank of Mine Run – a small stream a tributary of the Rapidan. It was quite fordable but was bonded by a wide marshy bottom. The opposite slope was strongly fortified with earthworks by the enemy & here they seemed determined to make a stand. The day was fearfully wet & cold, & the troops had nothing for it but the cold drenching rain from above & the slimy mud beneath for to rest upon. Nothing occurred in the way of fighting in our front beyond the artillery exchanging a few shots with that of the enemy who here first used guns against our Corps in this movement & here & there the picket lines popping at each other as they occupied the opposite side of the marshy creek bottom. Early in the morning of the 29th [the] Corps was withdrawn from the front & moved to the left reaching a plank road leading from Fredericksburg to the Orange & Alexander railroad. This road we reached about 1 pm halting for about three hours then moved rapidly up the road on the enemys right flank. Several fresh groves & other marks here gave evidence of a well contested battlefield. This fighting had taken place the day before I believe between Stuart’s rebel cavalry & ours as we heard the guns but did not then know the cause. We had not marched more than an hour up this road when our advance (the 1st division) struck the enemys outposts – heavy skirmishing at once commenced. The Corps was formed in line & advanced when the enemy withdrew their skirmishers & commenced shelling the woods in which we were advancing from guns within a strong line of earthworks. Our artillery fired a few rounds in reply but darkness soon put an end to the skirmishing. Indeed it would appear that the enemy was taken by surprise & that Genl Warren could have attacked that evening with advantage but he was unsupported except [by] the 3d division of the 6th Corps & his Corps was besides totally unconnected with the enemy on his right. The troops formed a line across an uncompleted railroad running nearly parallel or alignly with the plank road built fires threw up some rifle pits & breastworks & rested for the night which was very cold. The troops were quietly aroused cooked their breakfast & were under arms & in line of battle at 5 on the morning of the 30th. The fires on which the men cooked & the groups around them could hardly excite much attention as these were kept up all night owing to the cold which kept many from lying down at all. Many cases of men perishing on picket were reported though none came under my

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observation. As for the enemy in our immediate front they were too actively employed to suffer much cold. They could be plainly heard all night giving orders in a loud voice talking also with the almost incessant sound of hundreds of axes as they slashed the timber in front of their works preparing for our expected attack.23 A valley or rather a slight depression in the land lay about midway between the enemys works & the ridge on which our line of the previous evening was formed. In this the line of battle was formed nearly parallel to that of the rebels. They apparently paid not the least attention to our movements though these could scarcely escape their notice as the ground was frozen so hard that the least movement of men on horses caused a tremendous clattering. The order of Warrens command was 1st division on the right next 2d then the 3d one over the old railroad dividing the right of our division from the left of the 2d. In our left & forming the extreme left of our infantry line was the 3d division of the 6th Corps. It seemed to be generally understood that the works in our front were to be changed at 7 am. This hour was now fast approaching & a gloomier hour never appeared in prospect to men as it promised to be to at least Genl Warrens command. A cold north wind swept the fields. The men were halted & could not take any exercise. Here they stood their teeth chattering & their benumbed hands scarcely able to clutch the cold rifles to which they clung more from stern necessity than choice even with the bravest. Day had now broken too & the awful preparations of the enemy to receive them were plainly visible some found a fire a hundred yards away. Long red lines of earthworks above which could be seen in many places the wheels of the gunners that were intended to vomit forth their showers of canister shot at the proper moment. Whenever timber had grown in their front – this was followed with the tops towards us & the branches cut of some distance from the trunks leaving sharp points projecting – making it difficult for a man to get through even when at his leisure & unexposed to danger. The men were ordered to unsling & pile their knapsacks. This of itself was ominous looking to them & reminded them that something desperate was to be attempted. Seven o’clock came & all remained quiet. The suspense seem horrible to many among all classes & ranks. It being impossible to keep the men standing in line on account of the cold, they were permitted to walk about after stacking their arms. Some would [wander] through the thin belt of wood in front on to the edge of a slight knoll that

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covered our right & leisurely survey the [fortif]ications in front prepared for them then coming back [shaking their] heads gloomily making some remark to the effect that this would be the last battle of themselves or commands yet [they] would show no sign of the “white feather.”24 Some would perpetuate some grim joke on the consequences peculiar to old soldiers such as marking out with a stick on the ground the dimensions of their own bodies for a grave while others were eloquent in their encouragement of departing comrades. I heard a blondhaired boy – a recruit of the 14th Conn say to an old soldier of the same regiment who said the regiment “could never get the rebels out of their works” “why yes they can yell them out of it the regiment wont flinch.” Walking about like many others to keep my blood from completely stagnating I crossed the old railroad bank into the 2d division when [a] ludicrous sight met me. The men had found at some [place] in the vicinity a great number of piled dried hides. These they had turned into practical use by sitting down on the ground & placing the hides on their edges, as they were quite stiff, between themselves & the north wind, the tails of the hides too were stiff & bent in all fantastic forms & as the brushes on the ends of them fluttered in the wind it gave the whole the appearance of vitality. Unfortunately owing to the inventor of gunpowder they could not put them to the same use as our forefathers. About half past eight artillery firing commenced far on our right. Everyone seemed to be sure it was the signal for attack but yet no order came for advancing. This desultory cannonade in the distance continued until 4 in the afternoon accompanied by some firing from the opposing skirmishing lines but not a shot in our front except a few shot from batteries in rear of our line in reply a few shells that were thrown from the extreme left of [the] rebel line apparently from cavalry guns. The longer we were kept in suspense the more difficult it seemed to be & the anguish of those long hours can never be erased [from] my recollection not for myself alone but for those men many of whom had become more than brothers, As for myself I was at liberty to seek a place of safety prior to the commencement of the action. Indeed there [was] no safety within a mile once [the battle] would commence. I believed I was seeing many of my tried friends for the last time & preferred to remain near in order to [render what] little assistance would be possible in case of their being wounded. About four o’clock Genl Warren rode along the line apparently much agitated & in deep thought. It soon became known that he had

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refused to attack on daylight revealing to him the general strength of the enemys position & our Genl Meade reconnoitering it he approved Warrens judgment. His opinion too was held by many then officers of experience & Warrens whole command felt grateful to their Genl for his caution in avoiding useless slaughter. The relief felt by all on finding the decision of the commander of the army can be better imagined than described. Men began to look cheerful again at the prospect of a few hours more of life or at least a fair fight for us. The troops maintained their position in our part of the line undisturbed until dark set with the exception of one shell thrown by the enemy as a challenge, when they moved back to the ridge they had occupied on the evening before resting there for the night which [was] perfect[ly] quiet all along our front. We remained here all day in camp on an elevated ridge of land overlooking the enemys position both armies remaining apparently quiet again this evening we “fell in” quietly, left our fires burning & marched rapidly to the rear along the Fredericksburgh plank road – recrossed the Rapidan at 3 next morning [November 31st] on a pontoon bridge – halted a short time & continued on march to our last camp – which we reached at nightfall. This march was a most severe one having continued without halt for twelve hours. Many fell out of the ranks & laid down in the woods to fall asleep – although the provost guards worked [diligently]. The consequence of this was that the enemys cavalry came up in the morning & captured hundreds before they awoke from their profound sleep. Others who were able to reach the river before being overtaken found the bridge (which was between Germanna & Elys fords) withdrawn. Those last though in sufficient numbers to make a successful stand against cavalry had no officers among them & being stragglers from all the battalions in the Corps were without [direction] & were also capture. Consequently, the 2d Corps lost as many as if it had a sharp engagement. It was an unusually severe night [on] duty for myself. Very soon after the falling back commenced when the several regiments composing the Brigade were more or less mixed “pelemele,”25 one of the muskets of the 12th N Jersey (when well loaded with ball & buckshot) exploded accidentally & the ball passed through the fleshy part of the hip of a Sergeant of ours named H[enry B.] Smith – the buckshot lodging in his thigh. The man fell [more or] less in the road. After finding his wounds were not [life threatening] & waiting in vain for ambulances to come up (they being in the rear) I tried to get him on some of the

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caissons of a battery that [was] passing but all being darkness & confusion was not [successful in getting him on] any of them. Indeed it was scarcely possible to [gain their] attention under such circumstances. I asked him [if he could get on] his horse. This was difficult for the poor fellow – owing [to his] wound & [the] heat, [he] first said he could not [get on his horse]. My [plan] was to stay by him until all our troops were past then abandon [him] to capture in order to save myself & two hospital men who [were] with me – he at last consented. We then lifted him on the horse & following the line of march slowly walking by his side for [many] miles when we had the good fortune to find two ambulance wagons of the 6th Corps halted in the side of the road, [both looked] fine & empty. The Sergeant in charge of the ambulances at once took him in charge on my representing the case to him as I had no control in the matter when the ambulances were not of my Corps. After having dressed Smith’s wounds by the light of the fire & left him comfortable, myself & men continued our march among troops strange to us – as by this time our regiment was miles in advance. The moon had now risen so that we could see our way well enough to “double quick it” occasionally & managed to find our regiment about daybreak. Having as I have said reached our former camp on the evening of the 2d December we remained here for three days & thus ended the “Mine Run campaign.”

camp at stevensburgh, virginia on the morning of saturday dec 5 th we advanced four miles

[along] the Rapidan near the remains of an old village called Stevensburgh, lying on the plank road leading from Culpeper c h to Germanna Ford. Here we went into camp & lived comfortably for the remainder of the month nearly. We seemed now fairly established in winter quarters & Sutlers & Sanitary Commission supplies came up & leaves of absences were granted freely of which Col Powers & Mr Grassie availed themselves. Orders having been given that our Brigades – being advanced of the main body of the Corps to the support of the cavalry, we broke up our camp with many regrets on Sunday 7th December & marched four miles to within one mile [of the] Rapidan & went into camp near a rocky [ridge] called [Stone Mountain]. The change was one of the most disagreeable [a man in] active service is frequently compelled to endure, reaching our new camping ground – a storm [blew in] & it

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started to rain & [thunder]. Everybody was half knee-deep in mud & [attempted] to find shelter themselves from the inclement weather [but had] to endure in open tents. But in about a [week we were] well hutted & the officers purchased small stores from the Sutlers & things once more assumed a comfortable [state]. About a fortnight of very cold weather, [the Rapidan was sufficiently] frozen to bear horses & wagons & covered by [a layer of snow]. Then the weather became mild & temperate & [camp became] dry & clean & life became tolerable but no sooner [did the regiment settle into camp than soldiers began to request] leave[s] [for] home[, most of which were granted] as the frequent leaves of absence [illustrated]. Plainly told, comfort[s] could be had from the Commission & Sutlers [if you were] willing to pay for the supplies of the former – pork – tea – sugar brown & white – biscuits fresh & warm from the government bakers [were] at reasonable prices but [other goods] consisting of eggs, potted meats, fruits, etc were [available above] retail prices. The time too could be passed pleasantly enough. The officers wives were granted twenty days leave to visit their husbands. Many of those ladies brought sidesaddles & many riding parties were daily formed to visit the surrounding country & points of interest in the camp. In fact everything took on a gala appearance & one might easily forget for the time that he was in the field with a large army or rather in our brigade, or on outpost duty with the cavalry videttes of the opposing forces in full view in our front lining both sides of the Rapidan & not knowing the hour or even minute that a fight would commence. About the 16th Jany Leiut [John] Kenleyside & a small detail of men left the camp amidst the cheers of their comrades to go home on recruiting service in the hope of recruiting the small remnants of [available men,] which was never realized. The 1st Del, Vols having four years service reenlisted almost [every] man & [after] a long leave of absence, according to special [leave], [they returned to] camp at Stevensburgh. The remaining [men], fifty recruits had not gone home. However my duties were light [&] pleasant but I now began to fear [that I would not live] to see home again.

 Hd Qrs 108th ny Vols Camp near Stevensburgh, Va Jany 9th, 64. Dear Brother,

After Gettysburg

89

Your [letter] of the 3d came to hand last evening [the] 8th. [I a]m thankful to hear once more you are all well & happy to inform you my health & spirits are excellent. As I anticipated in my last [letter], we have moved Camp, about three miles. This we did on Sunday 27th Dec. We are now in plain view of the enemy’s lines on the Rapidan. But all is quiet, at present. [I a]m doubtful whether this winter will be as peaceable as last. The stream is small, & cavalry raids, may occur any hour. [I a]m at present tenting alone. Surgeon [Owen] Munson, remained in charge of the sick in hospital in our former camp, the weather, being considered too severe to remove them yet. Chaplain [Thomas G.] Grassie is on [a] leave of absence. Your sympathy for my sufferings during the holidays, though appreciable, is nevertheless wasted, at least so you would say, had you been here during those times. The 108th are no friendless outcasts, or “city scum.” Their homes, nearly all lie, in Monroe County, near Rochester in the finest portion of the State. Consequently, they have numerous & thrifty friends who availed themselves of the Express lines to remember their sons & brothers in the shape of sundry boxes stuffed with almost every imaginable food thing that the “gals” at home know how to invent. Not least among these were the remains of many Democratic turkeys, that a few days previous had trilled & gobbled in the Genesee Valley. Somehow whenever a box arrives, if it is for an enlisted man, he shortly afterward presents himself at the Doctor’s tent with his tin plate loaded with the contents & a broad grin of satisfaction on his face. If the recipient be an officer, a messenger arrives requesting the Doctor’s presence, reason not stated. [The] Doctor attends the summons, perhaps someone sick, No! Another box [is] opened. So you see, on which side the danger lies. Of course, I must at least taste of everything, which alone is no small task. Besides those windfalls, the Sutler furnishes all the delicacies of the season, at a price, at least less than, it is in Richmond. You must have pretty white weather up at your house. It is at least blue enough here for my taste. Here is the last month from my Diary Dec 9th, clear & cold, 10th clear, chilly, 11th cloudy, moderate, 12th cloudy, mild, 13th heavy & cold rain throughout day & night, 14th windy & showery, 15th clear & colder, 16th cloudy, moderate, 17th day & night rainy cold & disagreeable, 18th cloudy, damp, chilly, 19th cloudy, windy, cold, 20th clear & cold, 21st cloudy & cold, 22d clear & cold, 23d chilly ground white with snow for first time this season, passed

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off before night, 24th & 25th, 26th, cloudy & cold, 27th day & night extremely wet & cold, 28th day & night wet & cold, 29th day cold & damp, 30th cold & damp, 31st extremely cold with heavy rain. Jan 1, 64 morning fine grows cold at night, 2d clear & biting cold, 3d clear & cold, 4th cold & stormy snows four inches, 5th milder snow, partly melts, 6th cold & cloudy, 7 cold, cloudy snows at night 4 inches, which is still lying & ice on still ponds sufficient to bear a man. The time of leaves of absence of New York soldiers, is yet limited to ten days but Lieut-Col Pierce, who is in command of the [R]egt (Col Powers is commanding the Brigade) says he will recommend me for fifteen days, wherever I think fit to apply. I do not wish to take my leave too early if I did, the winter would seem long after I returned to duty. However I have decided (God willing) to see you early in the next month, probably in its first week. [Y]ou need scarcely write again, in the meantime, unless you have something of importance, to communicate. I had intended, to forward a Railroad Ticket, to enable either Maria or Maggy to meet me in Washington, & see some of the principal cities going homeward. But I must abandon this project, on account of the uncertainty of my departure, the inclemency of the season & their inexperience in travel, although the latter objection would be laughed at, by an American girl. I hope this is my last letter until I am enabled to tell you my experience, in a more direct manner. Once more, give the assurances of my kindest regards, to all our friends, while I ever remain your affectionate Son & Brother, Francis Moses Wafer md

tings ns ofof 1864 a Canadian Surgeon

5 Campaigns of 1864

I

At the beginning of 1864 there was silence in all theatres of war. In the eastern theatre, Lee and Meade continued their standoff, each man anxious to go on the offensive but each, having learned from the foolhardiness of Burnside’s disastrous winter campaign of 1862, understandably leery. In the Union elections loomed and discontent with the war effort, initially expressed in the New York City draft riots, simmered beneath the nation’s surface. In the Confederacy, supply problems plagued Lee and desperation gripped the homefront and the army. In February of 1864, Meade resumed his offensive and ordered a cavalry raid, supported by the infantry, on Richmond. Meade charged the bulk of the Army of the Potomac with distracting Lee from Meade’s true intentions by repeatedly crossing the Rapidan. Instead of reaching Richmond, Meade’s men unsuccessfully clashed with Lee’s troops at Morton’s Ford and retreated back across the Rapidan. In March Lincoln elevated Grant, the victor at Fort Donaldson, Fort Henry, and most importantly Vicksburg, to the rank of lieutenant general and placed him in command of all Union forces. Expectations ran high. “With Lieutenant General Grant at the head of military affairs,” declared the Sacramento Daily Union, “our people have renewed hope for the Spring Campaign” and a victorious end to the war.1 History, however, compounded Grant’s difficulties in trying to

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end the war. The Union had suffered defeat in every major campaign in the eastern theatre, with the exception of a stalemate at Antietam and a victory at Gettysburg. In order to rectify the situation Grant set about reorganizing the army and restructuring the path to victory. Grant reorganized the Army of the Potomac, which had been depleted by massive losses at Gettysburg, into five corps, eliminating the 1st and 3d Corps over the vocal objections of many of the soldiers. Moreover, he maintained that the war could not be won in one mighty offensive victory. Instead, he opted for concerted action from his troops. Accordingly, Grant ordered General William T. Sherman to move into Georgia and engage General Joseph Johnston’s Army of Tennessee. Simultaneously, Grant instructed General Franz Sigel to move his men into the Shenandoah Valley and continue towards Richmond while General Benjamin Butler and the Army of the James secured the area known as the Bermuda Hundred in preparation for an attack on Richmond. Grant charged the Army of the Potomac with perhaps the most difficult task, namely, crushing Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia and capturing Richmond. As Grant explained to Meade: “Lee’s army will be your objective. Where he goes, there you will go also.”2 Lee possessed his own agenda. Plagued by the defeats at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, outnumbered by the Army of the Potomac two to one, and suffering from massive supply problems, Lee desperately needed to win the war and preserve the Confederacy. The army, he informed President Davis, was “not in a condition and never, [has] been ... to invade the enemy’s country with a prospect of permanent benefit. We can claim to embarrass him to some extent and thus prevent his undertaking anything of magnitude against us.” 3 Because Lee understood the unlikelihood of overall victory resulting from a single battle, he embraced this notion of attrition. He wished to exhaust the Union in spirit and finances and in doing so eventually destroy the enemy. A policy of attrition, however, did not preclude offensive action against the Army of the Potomac. Once aware of Meade’s impending spring campaign, Lee recommended to Davis that the Army of Northern Virginia “move right against the enemy on the Rappahannock.”4 Accordingly, Lee ordered Generals Longstreet and Beauregard to Richmond in case Union forces attacked the capital while he organized his army for battle with Meade’s men. And so opened the campaigns of 1864. I

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morton’s ford reconnaissance and fight [o]n the [5 th of] febr uary, I sent in an application for [a] leave of

absence [to] H[ea]d Qu[arters] & was waiting, happy as a child for [Christmas morning] when alas at five am on the morning of [February 6th] orders were received to be ready to march [at a moments notice.5 The] order fell upon the camp like an unexpected blow but [the men did] not [dwell on] it – pack[ing] up – was the business now. At the appointed hour the Brigade fell in & moved slowly & solemnly out of camp towards the river. I was fortunately [spared] the pains that must have been felt by the ladies who [despaired] of their husbands. Near the river we joined the two Corps of our Division (the 1st & 3d) – also the 2d Corps [was held] in our rear as support. We halted partially concealed in a piece of [woods] except the third Brigade which advance[d] to the river leisurely as if [to go on] to pickets. The four regiments dashed forward through the [frigid] water [&] rushed up the opposite bank. The enemys pickets on the riverbank seemed to have been completely surprised as after firing in fear, scattering shots, almost every man in front of our line surrendered. The enemys pickets reserves fell back under shelter of their batteries, which now opened at about [a] thousand yrds on our advance troop. Our men advanced about half a mile steadily during the skirmishes under shelter then halted & took up a position [covering] the enemys batteries by a swell in the ground. In the meantime our brigade & the first [division] had followed up their comrades to the riverbank & halted while the pioneers were cutting a [passage]way through each of the steep banks to the level of the water.6 I had just received my orders for the day, which were to take [care of the wounded] of my brigade on the fields. I too well knew that [we would have to cross the] river & go into the thick of the fight. But now “[forward] march” was the word & into the [frigid] wintery water [of the Rapidan the men went]. On our first movement the enemy [response was] to unleash their artillery. Since our men were protected by a slight swell in the ground, little harm was done. The men [stepped more] lively than [before as we] struggled up the steep [bluffs to find] ourselves on an elevated ridge of about two hundred yards [from the enemy and] completely covered [by] their guns. Lieut Col Pierce who [was in] command of the Regt ordered us to cross this ridge at the “double quick” & in single file. I watched with what kind of interest one [new to battle would have,] each puff of smoke as it burst from their gun muzzles & each [shell] as it came

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screaming through the air, or skipping over the [field]. [Me] & my horse both instinctively cringed into the smallest possible [position although] going on the trot all the while. One shell struck about fifty yards [to] our right, another struck closer & ricochetted over us & two passed clean over our line when we reached a lower [ledge,] fortunately without losing [a man] but the 12th nj the next regt after us re[ceived] two shells right through their line – one taking a mans arm with it.7 It was now fully half past one o clock & advancing until we formed a junction with our 3d Brig – we halted under cover of the same swell in the ground until sunset. The 2d Divis still remained on the north side of the river as well as our artillery. Our skirmishers were lying down about a hundred yards in advance & very close to those of the enemy, both spent the afternoon in the usual manner, that is watching for a shot at each other & this occurred often enough as some of ours being carried in wounded attested thus not leaving me idleness at least to claim of. Occasionally they would throw a few shells, viz the enemy, as to provoke a response but they would be immediately replied to by a battery of three inch rifles of ours on the river bank. There was heavy cannonading up the river towards night but I believe this was the [artillery] battery of our cavalry which was making a feint at crossing at [another] point. There was an old tobacco barn on an exposed hill about 100 yards from the left of our regiment. The men who [carried their] comrades from the skirmish line persisted in [carrying the] wounded there (probably through being accustomed [to] finding [shelter] on the field at some kind of a building) & then I [prepared] to leave my slight shelter & go to this barn. I found a Surgeon from another brigade [and] helped [him] with some of his wounded there as well as some of mine. It was nightfall & the enemys guns opened fire savagely on this [building]. I had just removed a splinter of shell from the scalp of a [soldier] of the 1st Del & advised the other Surgeon & all those men [to] move away – when a shell struck & burst in a muck [heap] in the [barnyard] a few feet from me, covering me from head to foot with dirt but [I] kept my eyes clean by winking instinctively at the right time.8 The enemy open [fired and their shells] which [destroyed the] rim [of] earthworks about eight hundred yards [away in] earnest. The field was now covered with bursting shells & the first thing I [did] was to secure my [horse] which had to be left tied to a cherry tree by my man, when the fire [became] heavy in order to shelter himself. My horse “Joe Hooker” was making circles round the tree as far as his bridle would let him – neighing or rather

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screaming frantically this being his habit when he found himself alone under fire. When he saw me coming he changed his tone, & expressed his feelings to me as plain as if he spoke the best English. On untying him calling his name & patting his neck, he became thoroughly pacified. The 14th Connecticut were advancing under a heavy fire which was replied to by our guns on the banks. The regiment charged a position held by the enemy in a farm house garden & buildings – found the place swarming with the enemy & a sharp fight commenced. Wounded began to come in frequently & [quickly.] I was attending to their cases & sending the [worst cases to the rear], all the while [trying] to avoid the rifle bullets which where whistling [fast &] thick amongst the bursting shells. I heard just in front of me the sharp click that tells of a rifle bullet striking bone. There was [little light,] the evening being dark & cloudy, but what came from the bullets & their fuzes as they flew through the air. A group of men [brought a solider,] apparently dead & carried him towards me – at the [time whispered] the name of Col Pierce. It was the Col, a bullet [struck the] side of the face below the left eye – ploughed up his [check] & lodged in the cavity of the eye. The Col was not dead yet however but cried out to the men with all the force [of] life [in] him “Good bye boys, I’ve got it right in the brain. Close up men – stand up to them – keep the old flag flying.” On examining him by the sense of feeling I found the bullet had partly displaced – the eyeball which [it] pressed partly from its place & he now commenced to suffer intensely after recovering from the first shock but I had extracted the bullet in a few minutes gave him a dose of morphine & a stimulant sent him to the rear feeling more comfortable.9 A few minutes after the Col was struck – the 108th were ordered to advance to the support of the 14th Conn which was maintaining a hand-to-hand fight for the farm & premises.10 The battalion went in at the double & the 7th [West] Va Vols were up the river bank in splendid order to the attack & our guns on the north side done good services on the enemys flank. A sharp & close fight followed – but it was of short duration – the enemy giving ground & taking shelter under their guns. The fight had now ended excepting an occasional shell from either side & in half an hour all was still but the pickets kept firing at the flashes of each others rifles most of the night. It was near 7 o’clock [when] the troops fell back to their position during the day & laid down [to] escape the straggling shots from the picket line. Feeling very weary I [wrapped] myself in my cloak & laid on the ground with

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the bridle on my [arm and] was soon asleep in spite of whizzing of the bullets. Having in the mean time been relieved by the 2d Divis, our Divis, fell back quietly across the river about 1 o’clock next morning. We recrossed near the same place of crossing but this time on a bridge formed by the pioneers taking advantage of an island in the stream – spanning each branch with two trees & covering them with rails. This rail bridge I managed to ride over on my surefooted little horse – rather than try [to cross] the deep & muddy ford. All the troops were withdrawn before daybreak & returned to their former camps. This ended the movement which seemed to have been ordered to discover if the enemy was in force on the Rapidan. [Meade] having obtained that [Lee] was withdrawing troops to the west [as was] the case of Longstreets Corps in the September previous [prepared for a flanking movement on the banks of the river]. [Meade “was all ready to move when informed from Washington that the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps, under Hooker” were to be] withdrawn from under the eyes of the army [and “sent to Tennessee to retrieve, if possible the defeat of”] Rosecrans’s army at Chickamauga.11 The camp that had been so gay only a day previous was now shrouded in gloom & melancholy in fact it had been made the temporary field hospital. The ladies present were hidden from sight in their tents some of them by the side of mutilated husbands carried bleeding from the fight to them. On the whole it had been a day of trial for those [ladies] as the whole of the advance & attack could be seen from the eminence [on] which the camp stood & as the chief encounter had taken place after dark – they being compelled to look upon at the flashing of the guns – the fiery course of the shells – their bursting – listening to their thunder – with the cheer of the constants all added to the novelty & horror of their situation.12 The 108th had not suffered heavily – their loss being six wounded – the main loss had fallen upon the 14th Conn, being 113 the greater number captured by falling into an ambush.13 After taking a short sleep I fell to work among the wounded who were being removed as fast as possible to the winter field hospital of the Corps – about five miles to the rear. To this hospital I was ordered in the afternoon of the 8th to report for duty where I found Dr [Frederick A.] Dudley of the 14th Conn in charge of our division. We worked in company & soon got through the most [horrible] part of our work & had the satisfaction to find the wounded well supplied with everything needful – which indeed was always the [case] during my service. Thanks to the Sanitary & Christian Commission.

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Our cases of wounded were mostly severe – one of which is worthy of special mention viz Henry [J.] Clows Corps & Co. b, 108th who was shot through the left side of the abdomen. I had seen him on the field shortly after he fell & after learning the gravity of his wound & giving him Morphine & Whiskey had sent him to the rear expecting to never see him alive again. But on the contrary I found him cheerful & hopeful. All his food discharged through his wounds for eighteen days. The opinions of myself & Dr Dudley were very unfavorable to him. Although I expressed a hope that if it were possible for any man to survive [such] an injury that man was Clow – because I reminded him [of his injuries] of Chancellorsville being shot through both legs [above the knee and in ] the face – going about on crutches in a weeks [time and] waking about & in tolerable health. In fact he was numbered among a squad of men returned today by some stupidity or oversight of some Surgeon in one of the field hospitals & actually joined his regiment in the following August before Petersburg, Va. Then I at once made out his certificate for discharge I meet him in Rochester in June 1865 – looking quite well.

leave of absence in the evening of feb 11 th I was delighted to find my leave of

absence for 15 days returned approved. Returning to camp the same night I found Col Pierce so far improved as to take sick leave. The next morning the Col, despising an ambulance wagon, rode out of camp as the reveille was beating in company with myself & Capt [William H.] Andrews the regiment greeting us with three veteran cheers. Of course we took off our hats & responded to it. We rode to the [railroad] station of the Corps – “Brandy Station” – sent back our horses to our men & took the train for Washington – arriving at 3:30 pm. There we received our last two months pay from Maj [Franklin B.] Hutchinson our Paymaster & here I parted with the Colonel as he did not take the same route home. Left Washington at 7:15 pm & arrived in N York at 7:30 am the next day. After making some necessary purchases left the city at 10:30 am arriving in Albany at 5 pm. As I wished to stop here a few hours I did not [take] another [train] until 11 in the evening, which left me in Rome at 3 o clock the next morning Friday. Here I learned to my chagrin there was no passenger train going to Watertown until 4 o clock [the] next morning. Here I spent Friday chafing more with impatience than praying. Finally reached Kingston

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& joined friends at 1 pm next day Feb 15th losing three of my precious fifteen days in traveling at my own expense. As those notes are merely intended for the eyes of friends, I need not mention how my leave was spent but certain it was very short to me & them.

return to duty from first leave of absence on the evening of friday the 26 th feb I once more took a long

leave of friends & home & took the stage for Cape Vincent at 3 pm. This time my leaving was entirely devoid of the novelty & adventure of the first & the prospect had nothing attractive in it to me beyond the firm determination to see the end of the war or of myself the latter looked with my experience, the most probably. I had sedulously kept from my friends as much as possible that knowledge of the dangers my service exposed me to. Had they saw what was likely to be before me in the same colors as myself – they would have considered me a most determined suicide. Taking the cars that same evening at Cape Vincent, until nearing Albany next morning at daybreak when the sleeping car (which I was in) & the one in front of it ran off the rail. The engine was stopped immediately & as the speed had not been high nobody was seriously hurt but quite a ridiculous scene took place in the sleeping car. When the wheels commenced bounding on the crossties I had just left my berth – had got on one boot & was getting into the second. I commenced to stagger forward – having been propelled by some one from behind – going forward in a bent position still holding on to the half worn boot. I charged some one in the rear that seemed to be in a similar position, with my head he returned the compliment on the next one in front of him & so we all tumbled in a heap against the front door of the car – the crash of broken glasses telling we had come to a final halting place. After some delay a train came out from Albany & transferred the passengers & our baggage safe to the city. Left Albany 9:15 am & reached N York at 2:30 pm then took sleeping car at Jersey City at 7 pm & reached Washington next morning at daybreak on the 27th. Remained in Washington all day & slept at Metropolitan Hotel. Next day left for the front by railway at 9:45 am & arrived at Brandy Station & walked five miles to camp – leaving my valise – until I could send it by some of our teamsters going down with the supply train. I found the camp all quiet as it had been without interruption during my absence.

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camp at stoney mountain, va “st patrick’s day in the morning” The gaiety of the camp had rather increased than aborted – owing to the presence of more ladies – who with all the pertinacity of their sex – set military orders & such at defiance by staying in camp in many cases more than forty instead of twenty days the usual term of their leave. Little blame to them however as too many of them met their husbands now for the last time on earth – or to see them return to their homes mere wrecks of humanity. On the approach of St Patrick’s Day the numerous Irish officers of the Corps especially the gallant “Irish Brigade” (the 1st Brig of our 1st Divis,) were busy getting up amusements for the day. I have said Irish officers but this would be far short of the truth – as the excitement seemed to pervade all nationalities alike & none more than the gallant Brig Genl Judson Kilpatrick commanding the cavalry division encamped near us. Those amusements took the form of horse races – footraces – catching the soaped pig etc.14 The 17 March dawned a most lovely day even for this latitude. A gay party left our camp mounted of ladies & officers – we were perhaps near having a sorrowful accident on our way. Mrs Grassie our Chaplains wife insisted on riding Col Pierces mare – a fine spirited animal & now very idle without [Pierce to ride her]. All went well until the party (riding about two miles to the racecourse) broke into a spirited canter. The mare feeling the light weight & hand – soon found she was master of the situation & acted accordingly taking leave of the whole party before anyone was aware of the true state of things. As she flew past me (I knowing the danger of trying to run down & catch her) held up & called out to Mrs Grassie to keep her seat firmly [in the saddle] & [her hands] on the bridle both which she did bravely (although a very inexperienced equestrian) after making about half a mile at railroad time. When we came up with her – she was very pale & out of breath – but otherwise none the worse & rode on to the races. The field was a splendid one & had been the site of the old Culpeper racecourse – frequented by many of the former Virginia gentlemen who always have been eminently a horse racing gentry. The vicinity was covered by an immense crowd drawn from every army Corps & rank in the army of the Potomac. There was a grand stand erected for the ladies & the most prominent officers present. The course was a circle of a half a mile with four hurdles & four ditches in it. The ditches dug the breadth of the course – eight feet wide & two deep – the hurdles were

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St Patrick’s Day in the Army of the Potomac, 1864. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

four feet high & made of poles – filled in with pine boughs. The prizes (which were subscribed by officers) were sharply competed for many heavy falls resulted but “nobody killed” “all fun in wartime.” I do not remember who was the greatest winner but heard Genl Kilpatrick claim that the cavalry had the best of it. The footraces followed in which the infantry soldiers claimed the palm – all the races for men & horse were over the hurdles & ditches – or more properly in most cases through them – as towards the last those became pretty well flattened down & less formidable. But the unfortunate porker chosen for soaping was a very poor representative of his race in fact the long presence of either if any was very unfavorable to the complete development of any animal clean or unclean. As it was I believe there are few even among the giants of the pig family [which] could make a successful charge through the army of eager soldiers waiting impatiently to get their hands soaped & then get knocked down & trampled on. However piggy was brought out to see who would have the honor of being his owner & the signal being given a general rush was made for the wretched animal – the result was a pile of soldiers three to four deep & the only means of suspecting the existence of a fourfooted animal in this animated heap was a session of

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half smothered squeals. When some order could be restored there was many claimants for the [porker] & the only way of decoding the strife was to make those try it again & keep back the crowd. At last the officers managing affairs were compelled to award it to somebody to stop the uproar. I believe it was given to the man who had the most soap & dirt on him, one of the Irish brigade. The crowd at last broke up & we rode towards camp to the soul stirring strains of “St Patrick’s Day in the Morning.” All apparently were pleased with the days sport comprising many fastidious persons who would consider it immoral & degrading to witness such sports in civil life. It passed the time in camp – the monotony hardly relieved by the review of our brigade by Genl Alex Hayes – the review of the Corps by Genl [John] Gibbon, & the review of the army of Genl Grant who now took command & also the review of the Division by Genl Hancock.

 Hd Qrs 108th New York Vols Mortons Ford, Va. March 20th, 1864 Dear Brother, Your [letter] of the 13th [was] just received in this evenings mail. [I] was beginning to feel the time of your response long. But better late than not at all. [If] you realize[d] the value a soldier sets upon the meanest letter, you would be more prompt in writing. Health excellent, indeed I believe you would not know me since I made my escape from your _______ climate living in houses & sleeping upon those _________ feather beds [is] enough to kill any solider. Without joking I was a candidate for sick leave when I returned to camp. No wonder after what I had just passed through. First came the battle of the 6th Feb where in searching for our wounded at night I became heated then laid down in our line, to rest with the bridle on my arm, fell asleep & got chilled.15 Next four days operating & dressing in field hospital. Then a long journey & the only treatment for my cold to apply more cold & that of the Canadian kind. Then another journey not taking into account the condition & excitement. I think I escaped well, when I complained of nothing worse than “railroad on the brain.” All has been quiet since my arrival, except some trifling alarm owing to some increased activity among the enemys pickets. We have packed up twice. We expect “something to be done” now. The new Lieut-General U.S. Grant it is said will remain with the Army of the Potomac in the coming

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campaigns. Have passed my time since pretty agreeably under the circumstances. The camp has been quite lively owing to the presence of so many ladies who have been just ordered home for fear of a movement. The weather is lovely & the splendid bands of the Brigade make the whole surrounding air warble with their music at guard mounting at 9 in the morning & dress parade at sunset besides their frequent serenades of ladies & popular officers [in the] fine evenings. [I h]ave several times been one of a party of officers & ladies riding out for pleasure & to visit the towns of Culpeper & Coney Mountain. Of course you will not tell any of the girls I have been acting “beau cavalier” but much is [the] etiquette when an officer himself on duty wishes his lady to ride out, he can ask me to attend her when it would be deemed most impolite to refuse. We had a jolly time on St Patrick’s Day. Gen[eral Joshua] Owens commanding the 3d Brigade of our Division, calling for three cheers for the Union which it needless to say were responded to with a will, & the band, strange to say playing “America,” which of course is “God Save the Queen.”16 [I] saw Father [William] Corby, Chaplain of the 88th ny on the field, enjoying the sport highly. There are now two priests with the Irish Brigade the other being Father [Thomas] Willet of the 69th ny. [I] rode over today three miles to Mass. Palm[s] being distributed, a sprig of which I enclose, a species of “dwarf or red cedar.” You will find at the American Express office $151 one hundred & fifty one dollars of spare money I send you for safe keeping, might have sent much more but did not think it prudent for in the event of active operations we may be long without seeing the Paymaster. The Company collects no charges on this end of the line so you will have to pay them, you had better use some of the enclosed money for this purpose, it being their own currency. Wish you had sent me a legal form for the power of Attorney required must attempt something of that kind, but do detest to attempt legal formalities. Forgot to inform you when I was home that a detail from our regiment came with me for the purpose of recruiting & carrying with them the remains of the battle flag of the regt. Some lines on which you will find enclosed. This flag was made by a bunch of silken rags bound to a staff which has also been splintered.17 It would no longer bear unfurling being pierced by many bullet holes, so weakening it that the wind completed its destruction. It was sent home with the intention of saving the remains of so valu-

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able a relic & obtaining a new one. Its battle roll in order would be Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Auburn [Mills], Bristoe Station, Blackburns Ford, Robinsons Tavern, Mine Run & Mortons Ford. All but the two first I have witnessed. When last I heard from Col Pierce he was reported doing well & I hope he may be able to again resume his command. [I h]ave little to do but study at present, our boys are mostly in good health & spirits while the graves of other commands multiply, no headboard here least the figure 108. Could I have my wish, this state would long continue, though a very childish wish for the army. Yet [I] cannot help feeling that those brave fellows have passed through fire so often they deserve some respite. Neither can I reconcile myself to losing one of them no more than if he were a relation. It is this feeling that attaches me to the regiment & nothing would please me better than to be able to see them safely home in Rochester. There being nothing worthy of note to record I find myself scribbling away at perhaps what may not interest you much. Neither am I in a mood to write seriously or sensibly. But in the meantime, I would wish to be remembered to my many friends whom I was obliged to leave so abruptly, including first W[illia]m Hickey’s family, not only on account of my spending the last of my leave so agreeably among them, but, through a just appreciation of their worth as friends. Also my good father & Mother while in town Mr & Mrs Royce, our kind & gentle cousins Kernehans with Maggie & Willy McLaughlin & Charley, Joe & Kitty Franklin. Two big kisses to each of the gals but mind don’t take them yourself, you young rascal. Must not omit our own worthy neighbors [the] Vanhorns reassure them of my regard. You must in future try to consider my absence as virtually necessary. The probabilities are that I will for the future be mostly separate from you all. But you should remember we cannot be children for lifetime. You will generally find the best & most enterprising families the most separated. The worst consequences often ensue from people of one family trying to live where there is no room for expansion. Although I am far from relations, not so of friends. [I t]hink [I] am safe in asserting I have more friends here (influential ones too) than ever I could have made at home, owing perhaps to the strong national & religious prejudices that exist, as well as being fostered in Canada. Such a state of things, or at least a modification of them, existed in this country some time past but it received its death blow in this war.18

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The questions are not now “who are you” or “what is your country or religion” but “do you know how to do your duty” next “will you do it under all circumstances.” [I am h]oping to soon hear of an improvement in Mothers health, as well as a good report from you all before long, I will conclude this rather incoherent letter, by soliciting your prayers, that I may be enabled to do my duty in the coming struggle, in a manner worthy of your ever Affectionate Son & Brother, Francis Moses Wafer md

 preparations for campaigns of 1864 on the night of the 22 d mar snow fell to the depth of 15 inches

which only disappeared a the end of three days followed by heavy and cold rains which continued with bitter intermission until the 3d of April – when snow could be seen covering the peaks of the Blue Ridge. The weather finally cleared up about the 7th April. Genl Grant had now taken the old army of the Potomac under his personal supervision & set to work with all his energy to reorganize it & bring it to the highest standard of efficiency. The 1st & 3d Army Corps, cancelled & consolidated with the 2d 5th & 6th, two divisions of the 3d forming a 3d Division of the 2d. The utmost activity prevailed in every department & nothing left undone to render this army capable to meet the trial of fire & blood through which it had soon to press. There was much dissatisfaction among the troops of all rank belonging to the consolidated Corps – that portion of the 3d assigned to our Corps especially were highly indignant & when ordered to wear the trefoil the badge of the 2d Corps – some went so far as to refuse others sewed it upon the seat of their pants by way of derision.19 Some of the Corps proper myself among the number slyly remarked [that] the badges on those best were put where the enemy was most likely to see them. The matter was finally compromised by letting them wear their own badge (the diamond) as the distinctive badge of that division of the 2d Corps. The camp had once more put on its most warlike aspect towards the end of April – all the ladies & visitors – sutlers & noncombatants generally were ordered to leave the field & a settled gloom (concealed of course but well understood) had taken possession of the minds the least reflective – trying in vain doubtless to penetrate the mystic future, in regard to their own lots as well as those dear

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to them at home. These were two powerful & fully equipped armies – properly speaking of the same nation – with the same or similar laws & government – watching each other defiantly across the line of separation (a mere rivulet) both ready for the collision both waiting for the other to strike first & both confident of victory.20 Death hardly an afterthought & so about two weeks labored past in this terrible suspense. On the afternoon of Monday May 2d a reddish brown cloud of immense extent – heighth & density was observed coming from the Blue Ridge towards the camp. To those who had not lived in this latitude (being the greater number northern men) – this was a novelty – to those intimate with such phenomena it was at once recognized as a mass of earth or dust raised by a tornado.21 A distant & indescribable roar was soon heard which soon became as loud as many trains of railroad cars in motion. Horses jerked at their halters – stamped & neighed – men were silent & awestricken. On it came nearer – all involuntarily gazing at the novel sight – the sun yet shining on the mass of red dust gave the appearance to me of an enormous & uncontrollable wave tinged with blood. But Presto! The wind burst upon us with a crash that was positively deafening & with a force I had no idea of hencetofore. All those who found nothing near them to hold by lost their feet at once. This was at once followed by a true shower of (not dust) but earth & small stones in heavy masses – to open the eyes was impossible without being temporarily blinded. All tents not held by hands disappeared in the nearest piece of woods – the log huts blown to pieces – the logs rolling & bounding over the earth until they met some solid obstruction – empty barrels too which formed to top of the chimneys of the men’s huts – seemed to have taken life & gone mad – skipping – rolling – bounding & racing to see which could reach the woods first. The first movement was to seize our tents (the most highly prized property of the soldiers) & hold on to them with might & main. Even this did not keep them upright – but rather saved us the trouble of searching for them after the storm abated – as those had to who failed to do this & in some cases half a mile away or more. The fury of the tornado was over in twenty minutes. This was followed by a dash of rain – but the whole terminated in a mild showery evening. The evening was spent in repairing damages & sheltering ourselves as well as we could – the chief mischief was the loss of papers – some important documents were never seen again making some extra work for clerks. All this was however forgotten almost as quick as it passed – for men minds were now occupied by far more grave & important affairs.

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 Head Qus,108th ny Vols Morton’s Ford va. May 2d, 64 Dear Sister, Your kind & affectionate letter was received in last night’s mail. [I a]m thankful to hear from home so often more so when letters contain such cheerful news – as mine have of late. This is as it should be while there are so many of you at home to write. All quiet here yet but it is the quietness of tigers that are watching which will make the first spring. You should fret less & pray more for me. I promise you to keep out of unnecessary danger but hope to go wherever duty calls. You have but little cause to be dispirited – more especially while Father is sober, of which circumstance I am proud & happy to hear. I would expect you will show all the daughterly love & obedience possible to him to encourage him in persevering to overcome the vile habit that has long kept me & all of you in comparative obscurity. I am sanguine that we can yet win a name for our house that will put all slanderous howling to flight. [I a]m not surprised Dear Sister that one of you should be a little discontented in the very limited society enjoyed at home but better have a few friends than many enemies which is a frequent consequence of much company. We have all inherited more or less importance & petulance & should all remember it is one of the greatest faults of our family, which I trust you have the sense to understand. If a severe & morose temper is so unpardonable in a man who has to encounter so many difficulties in his commerce with the world, how much more so in a lady & a Catholic, for to be one ( you must be both) and of all the fine qualities that adorn either gentleness – both in speech & deportment – is the first great required & now your pardon Sister for such a long lecture, of course I did not mean you deserved it all. You must not be the less cheerful, because I am absent for a short time. It is time to accustom yourself to my absence for it is highly improbable we will even live long in one house again. You will not feel the time long at least until I see you again. Whenever any innocent amusement is within your reach, enjoy it, if it does not interfere with duty. And in the meantime be as forbearing as possible to all your unfortunate beaux for I have been a beau, & now know they deserve pity more than reproof. I am sure you will treat them kind. When you think of me,

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– & if you can see, or know, or hear of, ever at all [of] one good girl just let you big brother hear of it some way, some time, or somehow, will you & tell her if she will only wait ever so long I will ___ guess I better not say it. No more today but hoping always to hear good & cheerful news from you all. I remain your ever affectionate brother, Francis Moses Wafer md

 march to the battlefield of wilderness next evening, may 3 d orders arrived for the men to pull down their

huts & camp in the usual shelter tent of active service. Whether this was a ruse or for the purpose of facilitating the final breaking of camp [I] am unable to say however it was done in a short time – hardly was it completed – when the order came to “pack up & be ready to march at short notice.” The long expected moment had come – when we were to leave our comfortable cantonments & go once more to seek among Virginian hills & swamps whatever “Glory on the grave.” All was now activity – nevertheless few words were heard – all seeming while working hard to prefer communing with their own thoughts. An incident may give a fair understanding of prevailing feelings. I & Chaplain Grassie – who messed together, having packed up & being ready for mounting & it being now dark & our tents being stored, I felt a desire to say a parting prayer in the place which had been our home so long – for privacy I slipped into the unroofed log hut that had served for a messroom. Here a faint light from some expiring embers in the rude fireplace revealed to me [Chaplain] Grassie on his knee in a corner. My first impulse was to leave him alone but the second was to fulfill the duty I came to perform – which was a short but most earnest prayer. I hope although being of different creeds – that we were both heard. At 9 o’clock the final moving order came – which was to join the Regiments lately added to our Brigade under the new consolidation viz the 7th W Va, 4th O[hio] & 8th O[hio]. We found them in marching order & halted to meet us at Stevensburg four miles to the left on the plank road leading from Culpeper c h to Germanna Ford. It was now midnight – we continued our march throughout the remainder of the night & next day until 11 am crossing the Rapidan at 7 am, halting half

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an hour to rest crossing the battle field of Chancellorsville, bivouacking on that part of the field occupied during this battle for the remainder of the day & following night. During the afternoon, I embraced the opportunity the halt afforded to visit that past field where the 11th Corps had been repulsed by Stonewall Jacksons Corps. It was a generally received opinion, even in our army, that this Corps had either not fought well or allowed itself to be surprised. Possibly the latter may be partially true but Oh! What an emphatic denial the sights here gave to the former assertion. Yes! The poor fellows had fought until the showers of lead had stretched them on the ground in whole ranks. As they had not been buried but merely had a little earth shoveled over their remains when they fell the great number & regularity of which showed to the observer familiar with such sights that those brave children of lands beyond the Rhine had not – belied their reputation as warlike men nor betrayed their trust as soldiers to the flag they had sworn to defend.22 Honor to their memory they now reek but little what the garrulous coward imputes. But why meditate here – tomorrow is to be a day of courage, we must forget even those brave souls for the present in a few hours tens of thousands of their comrades’ corpses will be cold & stiff in death almost on the same field for the most ignorant know we are here “to fight” & that we are at this moment confronting an enemy desperately bent on the same purpose.

battle of the wilderness on the memorable morning of the 5 th may 1864, we recom-

menced our march southward crossing the Fredericksburg & Orange c h plank road, halting at 10 am. at a place known as “Todds Tavern.” The men were formed in [a] line of battle & ordered to rest on their arms but they would not rest, although the day was hot but instinctively commenced their usual employment when halted in face of an enemy viz to build breastworks of logs & earth. But their instinct was not at fault for about 12 o’clock we commenced to hear scattering fire from the carbines of the cavalry advance – mixed with the occasional bark of a field piece. In the course of another hour we were countermarched about a mile & halted in the road. A few more cannon shots & the burning of some shells somewhat nearer & the cavalry picket fell back pelemele upon us. About another quarter of an hour elapsed – the Division (which was the leading one on the march this day) resting on its arms. An Aide galloped up “fall in” “forward march” was the word & we

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countermarched rapidly northward again – taking the first road to the left which led through a dense wood. An occasional shot from our guns in advance was now plainly audible. Those shots seemed to be rallying signals as we moved directly towards them passing in rear of them. They were the guns of our first Division drawn up in a small open space but “double quick” was now the order. It was now three o’clock – the crashing fire of muskets burst out directly in advance mixed with cheers. Our first Division forming the centre on the line of march & our 3d bringing up the rear were charged in flank – the enemy attacking in force & with great determination & enthusiasm. Forward went our Division – doubling past the rear of the 1st & 3d [Divisions] & taking position on the right resting on the Fredericksburgh & Orange c h plank road & for a short time we had nothing to do but repel skirmishers – the enemy was throwing out to feel their way preparatory to a grand dash. Finding we were soon to have serious work I looked for my orderly that carried the Surgeon’s field knapsack. He was leading a pack-horse & had been unable to keep up with our rapid advance & I was compelled to ride a mile back to meet him. Then for a moment I considered what I should next do – first I had my choice to go back to a place of safety where the Chief Surgeon of the Corps would establish his field hospital but I felt a great historical day had arrived & I preferred for the present (at least until work became pressing at the hospital) to follow the fortune of my battalion. Then I & my orderly George Vaughn exchanged looks full of meaning. He had lately been assigned to the duty & (being an Hospital attendant) had never been in action. I knew he had a wife & some small children at home. This reflection made me decide to not take him into [the fight] so I shouldered the knapsack myself & sent him to find the field hospital – with the other attendants giving him my horses in charge. Then making my way on foot back to the right where my Division was taking up position – I had to pass in rear of our Divisions engaged [troops] through a shower of half spent bullets. Although I could see no fighting on account of the thick undergrowth that covered the field yet the woods, a few hundred yards on my left, was now swarming with combatants – engaged [in] hand to hand [combat] – for in order for men to fight it was absolutely necessary before they could see each other to be within speaking distance. They seemed to be pouring their fire into each other with a fury perfectly hellish, the woods was all one continuous blaze & roar – while from time to time – wild savage & defiant cheers rose above the infernal uproar. I had now reached the right

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Removing the Wounded from the Wilderness, 1864. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

of the battle line of our 3d Division which it will be remembered was made up of a portion of the canceled 3d Corps many remains of cutup regiments were slowly falling back black with powder & exhausted by their efforts & the heat of the day. Officers were trying (not to rally them) but to half & collect them in order – one mounted officer I heard say “Steady men” “Halt” & “Close up” “You know who wears the diamond” (their badge). Here too I reencountered Genl Hancock coolly riding about among those groups – speaking kindly & encouragingly to them & setting them to work to build log breastworks. Having reached the rear of my regiment (which I found on the extreme right of the Corps but not yet engaged) the Chaplain met me & told me he was in search of me as Brevet-Brig Genl [Samuel Sprigg] Carroll Col of the 8th Ohio – commanding our Brigade was wounded. We joined the regiment & made inquiries for the General but could not learn where to find him in those thick woods. However he soon came walking along the line encouraging each battalion as he passed carrying his arm in a sling. I stopped & spoke to him – looking at his wound. I found he had received a rifle bullet through the fleshy part near the shoulder. It was already roughly bandaged – but he utterly refused to have anything more done to it or to go to the rear but told me I must

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not stay there as it would soon be too hot & advised me to take up some sheltered position as near as possible. This like many orders was easier to give than to carry out as the land for almost any distance around was perfectly flat & the only spot I could find worthy of the name of cover was a large old fallen tree about one hundred yards in rear of the Brigade. Here I stopped until darkness set in – halting & dressing all the wounded I could see walking or being carried to the rear. The Asst Surgeon of the 10th ny joined & assisted me (I have forgotten his name).23 My Brigade had but one encounter during this evening. It was with a body of the enemy that stole close upon them in the thick undergrowth. Our pickets fired their warning shots & fell back on their battle line. Our troops laid perfectly still on the leafy ground – the enemys line first came insight of the 12th nj & this regiment at once poured a close volley of their ball & buckshot into them – which had the effect of confining their operation to skirmishing for the remainder of the day at that part of the line. But on other parts of the field how different? A terrific battle was proceeding on our far right – where the 5th & 6th Corps were engaged – the musketry was indistinct – but the artillery spoke out in grand & rolling volleys. Besides that – on the left & centre of the 2d Corps – one of the bloodiest if not protracted struggles ever fought at the rifles’ muzzle was going on. This long May afternoon (at least from 3 to 8 pm) the ringing volleys of musketry scarcely ceased for a moment. The continuous roar & crackle ran up & down the line – like trains of blasts set on fire – now warning of some point followed by the wild & bloodcurdling yells of the enemy – as some part of our line was literally “shot away” then the deep Britishlike cheer of our troops – followed by another thundering outburst of musketry from both sides – as fresh battalions on brigade rushed forward to reclaim the lost ground then again the same act repeated many times over at different points of this line swimming in fire & blood, now a general & long sustained crash along the whole line meet with the battle cry of both armies – the earth shiver[ed] under ones feet – although hardly a shot from a field piece is heard – the frightful turmoil propagates itself through the wooded tract until every tree seems to have a voice if one withdraws their attention a moment from those sounds he is conscious of a distant & sustained rumble – which he cannot define – but it seems to be in the air overhead & resembles the sound of hundreds of railway trains driven at full speed on some aerial railway that he can hardly persuade himself has no existence. There is not a nocturnal cloud in the sky but the sun has

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long disappeared – in the thick masses of grey smoke – that rolls up cloud after cloud from this tessestmal hell. The 2d Corps covered the plank – the main line of march through this country. He, Genl Lee, has attacked our army in flank as it marched. It makes a half wheel to the right & confronts its enemy. He throws his best troops on the plank road at the point he imagines to be our centre with the object of cutting us in two. At the same time he attacks our right furiously – with the object of either turning our right flank or preventing relief coming to our centre. Consequently the guarding of this post of honor fell upon the 2d Corps alone during this terrible day – & guard it they did but too well for at nightfall the flower of the veteran 2d were stretched dead or bleeding on the ghastly field. Night came at last the combatants laid down where they had fought – no ground being apparently gained on either side. The ninth Corps under Burnside having been in camp beyond the Rappahannock had not come up but marched the whole of this night in order to come to the relief of the 2d in expectation of the battle being renewed [the] next morning. The ambulance Corps now commenced their sad but benign duty for the night. After the night had become quite dark & all fighting ceased except a straggling shot on the picket line, I sought the field hospital – which I found about a mile & a half in the rear – reaching it about midnight being too much exhausted to work any longer after swallowing a cup of coffee my orderly prepared [for] me I laid down on the earth & slept until daybreak. Next morning finding the wounded of the Division pretty well cared for by the Surgeons who had been at hospital from the opening of the battle – I started for the front. The fighting had commenced at sunrise but not so fierce as the preceding day – I found the Corps had advanced about a mile the enemy falling back before them without much resistance. Our troops appeared to have been drawn forward intentionally by the enemy for they suddenly came upon heavy masses of fresh troops – who poured a close & deadly fire into them as they emerged from the woods. The whole Corps fell back & rallied on their first line. Our Brigade was badly handled & the 108th was one of its battalions that suffered the most. The regiment came back literally covered with blood – either of their own or that of their wounded comrades – nearly all of which they had managed to carry off but several dead & hopelessly wounded were left on the field – among the former I learned with great sorrow was a fine young man – who had been my orderly on the field of Gettysburgh & several other

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battles, Charles B. Dickson, Co. a. Col Powers was shot through the left lung & almost every Captain was wounded.24 Having got my wounded on the way to the field hospital I followed them & set to work – leaving the Corps rallied & reformed to receive an expected attack from the enemy. They had not long to wait it was now 8 o’clock – about 9 the enemy again advanced in force on our left & centre – still contending for the plank road. But the 9th Corps had now got up to the relief of the exhausted 2d. A most terrific battle ensued – fought on a larger scale than the preceding day – but it was impossible that it could exceed the former in fury. After lasting for one hour – the enemy move[d &] left the field temporarily in our possession – but to bring up fresh troops & muster all their available strength for another grand & last effort at half past 4 o’clock pm. This supreme effort had been anticipated [as] log breastworks had been built – with orders for the troops to abandon them on the first attack of the enemy & to fall back & reform in the woods within easy range of those breastworks – while guns were trained down the line so as to enfilade it.25 Sure enough on they came & fell into the troops – driving in our skirmishers & making a dash at the line carrying the log fence easily & advancing beyond after what they doubtless conceived to be a retreating enemy – but the remains of the 9th & 2d were ripe for revenge – for now the guns opened with canister double shotted & the whole line of our troops charged & engaged the over confident enemy – who after a fierce & stubborn resistance of half an hour left their dead & counted on the field & all remained quiet in front for the day. All [the] next day, the 5th I spent in [the] field hospital among the wounded – all of which that the corps Ambulance train could accommodate were sent overland to Acquia Creek on the Potomac. Towards evening reports began to circulate at the hospital that our right was turned. This was not however believed generally as they had no fighting in our front during the day & on our right merely a few distant cannon shots. However about nightfall orders were received by all the Surgeons & the assistants to join their regiments at once – one surgeon only being detailed to remain with the wounded of each Division. The order was given with the information that the enemys cavalry was in our rear. In ten minutes we had saddles packed & were moving to the front & soon learned not a moment too soon – being scarcely out of sight in the woods – when their cavalry rode in capturing the hospital & Ambulance train – which they however did not keep long in custody – having far more important work on their hands. I have never learned why they were permit-

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ted to ride about thus in our rear – without any opposition, probably because our cavalry was occupied at some distant point. I found my regiment in bivouac a short distance in rear of the scene of the late action & all slept undisturbed here for the night. On the morning of the 8th we marched at 6 am about 5 miles to the left & halted about 9 o’clock & formed a line on [the] ground that had the preceding days been the scene of a battle – as the trees were greatly scarred & some of the enemy’s dead lay on the field.

battle of the po river About 2 pm., the Corps moved to the left & took up another position – where we remained for the night. Heavy skirmishing had been going on all day apparently between cavalry but towards night the 6th Corps on our left became hotly engaged & fighting continued until darkness put a stop to it. Next morning at 7 we moved about a mile further to the left & halting – the regiment was ordered on the picket line except Co h, with the colors that remained with the Brigade – which moved a mile still further to left – heavy skirmishing going on all day & one of our batteries kept firing on a distant wagon train of the enemys – that seemed to be making its way southward. About 6 pm heavy fighting commenced on our right in which a part of the 5th & 6th Corps were engaged. The latter Corps this day was unfortunate in losing its chief, the heroic Major Genl John Sedgwick – one of the abler & best officers in this army. Darkness again bringing operations to a close – the whole of the 2d Corps moved up on the right of the 6th crossing the river Po on a temporary bridge & bivouacked for the night – the skirmishers keeping up a constant fire in the woods – a few hundred yards in front of us the whole night long. Genl Lee had chosen the Wilderness for his battle field & as I have already said attacked the Army of the Potomac in flank while on the march – hence he was enabled to inflict great loss on it – but utterly failed to penetrate any part of this line of steel. Tis true his first blows delivered at unexpected points told heavily on it but Grant, having once discovered the object & plan of the Southern chief it became a fair trial of stubborn pluck & endurance. Both armies were fresh from camp – both in the most robust state of physical health & met with all the eagerness & confidence of two young giants – each defying his enemy. The Confederates fought (to say the least) like very tigers but then they had lions to counter with. Indeed the furious charges at the

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Wilderness – were Lees last efforts to assume the offensive on a large scale as he never again had such an army at his disposal. Genl Lee having failed in his first object – was not without resources – but drew back & prepared to take up another unequalled position for acting on the defensive – in the broken & wooded country about Spottsylvania Court House – intersected by five smaller streams – called respectively – the Mat – Ta – Po – NY & the common stream below the confluence of those is called the Mattatpony. Genl Grant devised his purpose & immediately commenced to move southward also parallel to the enemy – hence the series of severe skirmishes which continued from the 7th to the 10th May which culminated in another battle on the Po River where Lee again showed front. The morning of May 10th was opened with pretty sharp skirmishing on our right front – the enemy showing some disposition to take the offensive – at this point contending apparently for our position on the south of the river. This nearly closed about 8 o’clock & their attention seemed more directed to our centre. About this time some of our batteries commenced leisurely to shell their position in the centre – where they were throwing up works. Near noon – our division recrossed the river & advanced down its left bank. Having myself made some delay in following my regiment on this movement I took a wrong road in following it & rode into the troops of our 6th Corps at a point where hot skirmishing was going on. Retracing my steps I got to the rear of the 2d Corps & found my Brigade going into action in the centre. Learning a battle was probably at hand I rode to the rear to find where the Corps field hospital was established – finding our ambulance, I left my horse there & returned to the front on foot (a little more than a mile) when on reaching the line of the 7th [West] Va, one of the regiments of my Brigade – fighting had commenced pretty sharp – missiles flying about thickly – so that I was glad to avail myself of the shelter of some rude breastworks – the 7th was trying to cover themselves with in case of necessity. Artillery now opened & the fight became general – plenty of bullets came singing through the air or skipping on the earth & shells tore their way through the belt of woods in front of us – burst[ing] above our heads – cut[ting] down limbs & small trees – [splashing] the water & mud from a small brook in our faces. Our troops are being advanced to feel the enemys position – who contests the ground stubbornly – but near night a severe charge was made & repulsed – the enemy being strongly protected by fieldworks & slashed timber – as well as by the broken character of the ground. Genl Grant also attacked the whole extent of their line but

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was compelled to withdraw with less from almost every point & night once more gave a short truce to the wearied soldiers with the exception of the picket lines – who kept up such a sharp fire all night that it might almost be called a continuous fight. As the wounded had again begun to come in thick towards the middle of the afternoon & I being on the operating board was compelled to go to the Ambulance Hospital. This I did with some reluctance – after waiting for some time for a lull in the artillery firing – as on leaving the slight shelter on the reserve line of battle I was compelled to cross the field alone under fire from more than half a mile – but fortunately all safe though Dr A[lexander] Dougherty – our worthy Corps Med[ical] Director was not so lucky – receiving a rather severe contusion from a piece of shell while making the same traject. Having reached the Ambulance I found plenty of work until dark & was then detailed on duty as one of the officers of the night. My duties were to make continual rounds among the wounded of the Division attended by an orderly carrying a lantern & to attend to the immediate wants of the wounded as they came in from the field. I was relieved by another Surgeon at midnight. During all my watch the wounded were arriving from the field, many of whom had fell in the slashed timber abatis through which the troops had charged & being repulsed – no wounded could be removed before darkness set in & even then, nothing but great bravery of the stretcherbearers could withdraw them from their terrible position – on account of the fusiliers kept up through out the night but the enemy’s pickets.26 The poor 108th had again suffered terribly for such a small battalion – fully 5 per cent [of the regiment] – being dead or wounded, the latter generally severely.

hospital near spotsylvania court house following the battle of po river On this day also the Gallant Col Carroll – who had remained at the head of his Brigade for five days – with a bullet hole through his arm received another bullet through the elbow joint of the same arm – necessitating amputation near the shoulder. He had become so exhausted – by his heroic sufferings – that his recovery became doubtful – but luckily he finally recovered. This officers soul seemed to be in the battlefield even while completely under the influence of chloroform while we operated – he never ceased to rally & encourage his men & on recovery his only words were on seeing his right arm gone were “By

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– the 2d Corps have lost a good soldier!” “I would not care for it if it were not for my Bet” (he was a married man). On the whole this had been as painful a nights duty as ever I performed so many wounded came in – cold – drenched with rain – & in a dying state – one poor fellows case I can never forget – he was shot through the intestines – which protruded through the wound – he could still speak – seeing his life was short I informed him of this respecting his religion by his tongue I asked him would he like a Chaplain. He answered he would if possible – further stating he had been a Catholic. There was no Catholic Chaplain in our Division so I groped my way through woods & darkness to our first Division Ambulance hospital expecting to find Father Corby of the 88th New York – but he could not be found then & I was obliged to return without him & found my poor patient had departed. I finally laid down at 2 am & snatched three or four hours sleep. Next day was a busy one at the amputating table & preparing the wounded to be transported to general hospital by wagon train – as sufficient Ambulance wagons – could not now be spared for this duty. No fighting of any import occurred this day except the usual scattering fire of the pickets & an occasional shot exchanged by the artillery – apparently intended to say “We are here yet & not beaten either.” Much of this firing I heard was on account of a gun that had become fast[ened] in trees & abandoned of our batteries – it lay between the two picket lines & both sides wished to bring it in – the one to capture it – the other to save it. Consequently a continual fire was kept up – to keep any bold enough from making the attempt. Our men finally recovered it during the night. Otherwise both armies including the Medical Staff [would have] lost some rest which they much needed.

second battle near spotsylvania the day broke on the 12 th may – with all the too familiar sounds of

another close & bloody meeting of the two armies – whole volleys of artillery – the intervals being completely filled with the continuous roll of the infantry rifles – mixed with the usual cheers & yells of attack & defiance. The 2d Corps had been ordered to move during the night on the enemys right & to attack at dawn a point of his line – believed by our pioneers to be the salient in military parlance on that part of the line considered to be the key of his position. The movement broke up Lee’s fortified position but failed to route his army. Both the attack & defense are believed to have been the closest & bloodiest – for the number

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engaged of the whole war & perhaps of modern warfare. Fortunately it was very limited in extent for had it been [a] general [engagement] both armies [would] have been literally annihilated. The 2d Corps carried the [apex of the salient] at the first charge & held it – capturing some nineteen pieces of artillery & about five thousand infantry – including several famous officers.27 But this was merely the commencement of the battle. Genl Lee hurled mass after mass of his best troops forward to recover the coveted ground – they charged & recharged our line through perfect hailstorms of shell & canister from our guns at short range – engaged our infantry at the muzzle of the rifle – the firing line on either side actually resting their rifles crossed on the same low breastwork – pouring their fire in until all fell dead or wounded & were immediately replaced by others who fell upon the bodies of their comrades until the trench was for some extent piled four deep with bodies – all the badly wounded that fell being suffocated by their fallen comrades bodies. I was too busy to visit this part of the field after the action – but several of [our] own officers related to me that there was a poplar tree [about] twenty inches in diameter – standing by the breastworks cut away with rifle bullets until it fell. I was almost inclined to doubt the story did I not find it verified by a letter a Confederate Surgeon [wrote] & since by a field officer of the same army.28 And so this butchery continued with little intermission until half past two pm when the gallant but exhausted enemy [surrendered].

 Line of Battle, 2nd Divs 2nd ac, Hanover ch Va, May 31st, 64 Dear Sister, I received a letter from you on the 19th [of May] for which I feel grateful – but so few mails have arrived or left us of late that I have not had an opportunity to answer you & now that the attempt is made you are obliged to pay your own postage as I am out of stamps & [have] no means of getting any from Washington. Those few lines in pencil are merely intended to calm any apprehension you may have for my safety, as it is impossible for one in my position to describe many of the events that have passed here. [I ] am happy & thankful to state that my health at present is as good as usual – a report I could not have honestly made a few days ago as I have had very poor health indeed for about a fortnight – no definite sickness indeed but having lived well in camp – then suddenly

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going on marching rations besides being completely worn out through work – excitement – & want of regular sleep are some of the causes of my feeling poorly but I feel all right again & ready for anything. The present position of our Corps is a few miles left of Hanover Court House between the rivers Pamunkey & Chicahominy – about eleven miles from Richmond. Very heavy skirmishing & artillery fire are going on in front while I write – in fact this has continued daily since the afternoon of the 5th of May when the battle of the Wilderness commenced. Not only every day since [but] frequently all night has the roar & the thunder of artillery & the spiteful everlasting crack of rifles been grinding in our ears. Every foot of ground for (40) forty miles has been fought for. The enemy have been driven from their regular battlefields viz Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, & the North Anna River. He has now taken his stand on the fourth field in defense of Richmond. Have not heard from Col Powers for some time but when last I did [he] was [beginning] to recover. [Several] of the 108th are killed on the field & about one hundred wounded among the latter all its best officers, many of the wounds of the enlisted men will prove Mortal in this season. The wounded are all removed to General hospital [as] soon as their immediate wants are attended to. You must not be anxious – should you not hear from me as often as usual for owing to the frequent moving of the Army. Mails are very irregular. Neither should you at home write less often as I will get your letter some time. Will conclude by [encouraging] you to be happy & cheerful as you should be seeing you live in a country [rich] with peace. I can also assure you that although the darkest pages in the annals of human misery are continually open before me I manage to remain calm & helpful through all those trying times. Hoping dear sister this will find you all well & that I may soon hear from some of you I remain your affectionate brother, Francis M. Wafer md

 Field Hosp 2nd Corps near Cold Harbor Va June 9th, 64 Dear Sister, Your welcome letter of the 30th May reached me yesterday & was as usual a source of much gratification to me to hear once more

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that all is well at home – or at least as well as I could expect. Indeed I have had little cause for complaint in this campaign of not hearing from home often with the exception of the first week when mails were irregular but now that communication is fairly established I hope we will correspond at least every week. My health remains tolerable all things well considered – although probably you would be inclined to doubt my statement if you saw my thin & sunburned profile with a badly soiled uniform hung loosely upon it – but the very best here are in the same plight – not excepting Major Generals. We are yet in the same position from which I last wrote – the enemy are in trenches & so are our men there seems to be but little ground lost or gained lately – in fact it amounts to a siege – although we are 9 or 10 miles from Richmond. There has been no cessations of hostilities since we crossed the Rapidan. Nothing important is doing at present nor has [there] been for several days – except skirmishing which continues almost day & night. This Corps had a heavy fight on the 3d of June in which we lost in our Regt four killed & fourteen wounded. Among the latter was Capt Joseph Deverell commanding the regt, & among the former [Second] Lieut John J. Kenlingside whose photograph you have – he imprudently took a rifle in his hands & went into an exposed situation for the purpose of watching some of the enemy’s artillerymen to hinder them from firing their pieces. The enemys skirmishers saw & fired a volley at him – when he was pierced by three bullets & fell on the field a corpse at the early age of 22, a victim to his own reckless daring. Am sorry to hear of Father’s drinking again knowing what a difference of feeling it makes in our house but let us all try & hope for better times to come. The greatest danger in our house under such circumstances is his habits being a prime cause of impatience & despondency to everyone in the house – but you must all try & not let such feelings keep you down like a weight about your necks. I too well know there are many causes of dissatisfaction with your home – but wherever we may go we will find the same load to bear. I am much opposed as I always was to your working in the fields the more so as there is so much heavy work to do about the house, owing to the inconvenient manner of dividing & arranging almost everything – but in the meantime I am as powerless as willing to prevent it. All I can say is if [Father] will hire a man through harvest to [work in] your place he is welcome to pay him from my pocket whatever maybe

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the demands. I am surprised that Mother & all of you should be so anxious concerning me as I have frequently told you I am very little exposed to injury by the enemy – perhaps not more than many men in civil life are exposed to violent accidents – besides you should all [believe] as I do of myself – God’s will [will] be done & I have also the consolation that should I become disabled by sickness or wounds – there is no one depending on me directly for existence. The weather is hot here but apparently healthy. The crops – that is what is left of them by the contending armies, look well & are very forward – potatoes & apples are as large as butternuts & garden vegetables are mostly fit for plucking. They are plucked here however – whether fit or not. I must continue to write without stamps so you will have to pay dear for your letter. I wish you could take some of my money & buy about 20 ten-cent American postage stamps & send them to me. No more at present but I hope to remain here Sister your ever affectionate brother, Francis Moses Wafer, md

tings rom Petersburg of a Canadian andSurgeon Hatcher’s Run

6 Letters from Petersburg and Hatcher’s Run

I

At the battle of the Wilderness, a swatch of land “covered with a dense growth of dwarfed pines and scrub oaks, intertwined and interlaced by a profusion of vines, creepers, and briars,” Lee’s “Army of Northern Virginia ... once more demonstrated its tenacity. General Grant’s first battle as commander of the Union armies [showed] him to be no better than his predecessors.”1 In the words of Confederate general John Brown Gordon: “General Grant was the aggressor ... his purpose was to drive Lee before him; that this was not accomplished; that both armies camped on the field; that Lee only left it when Grant moved to another field and that both days ended with a Confederate victory.”2 Again, the Army of the Potomac failed to defeat Lee. Failure came at a terrible price. More than eighteen thousand Union troops lay dead or wounded in the Wilderness including the fatalities of Generals Wadsworth and Hays. Victory, however, also carried a price tag. “A strange fatality attended us,” wrote Lee’s aide-decamp Walter Taylor. “Jackson killed in the zenith of his successful career; Longstreet wounded when in the act of striking a blow that would have rivaled Chancellorsville in its result; and in each case the fire was from our own men. A blunder! Call it so; the Old Deacon would say that God willed it.”3 In addition to Longstreet, more than eleven thousand Confederates lay dead or wounded in the Wilderness. Yet unlike previous Union commanders, Grant did not

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withdraw to lick his wounds. Instead, “Grant pressed Lee relentlessly in an increasingly bloody war.”4 Soldiers of all stripes acknowledge that the battle of the Wilderness marked a turning point in the war. For Confederate Henry Kyd Douglas, the Wilderness confirmed his “conviction that the struggle ahead of us was a different character from any we had experience in the past” and indeed it was.5 Until May of 1864, the Union and the Confederacy conducted a war characterized as much by its inaction as its military campaigns. According to Confederate solider Constant C. Hanks, “two extremes: perfect idleness and laziness” and “the severest exercise” made up a soldier’s life.6 Grant’s decision to continue his campaign altered the erstwhile nature of soldiering. Indeed, Grant “was going to rip the throat out of the Army of Northern Virginia” even if it meant destroying “the Army of the Potomac to do it.”7 The battle of the Wilderness inaugurated a new phase in the war, a bloody phase of continual fighting. Fresh from the fighting in the Wilderness, Lee accurately predicted Grant’s next move. “Spottsylvania [sic],” Lee informed Gordon, “is now General Grant’s best strategic point. I am so sure of his next move that I have already made arrangements to march by the shortest practicable route, that we may meet him there.”8 The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac tangled for two weeks in the area around Spotsylvania Court House. The most intense fighting centred on the Confederate salient, or mule shoe, on 10 May. In the words of Maine soldier John Haley, ”All around the salient, was a seething bubbling roaring hell of hate and murder."9 Ohio soldier Thomas F. Galwey agreed for “of all the battles [he] took part in ‘Bloody Angle’ at Spotsylvania exceeded all the rest in stubbornness, ferocity, and in carnage.”10 Indeed, Meade lost four thousand men that day including the beloved General John Sedgwick. Although suffering from equally heavy losses, the loss of one man in particular stunned the Confederacy. Indeed “[n]o incident of mortality, since the fall of the great Jackson, has occasioned more painful regret than this. Major General J.E.B. Stuart, the model of Virginian cavaliers and dashing chieftain, whose name was a terror to the enemy, and as familiar as a household word in two continents, is dead – struck down by a bullet from the foe, and the whole Confederacy mourns him.”11 Lee, upon hearing of Stuart’s death, could “scarcely

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think of him without weeping.”12 The loss of Stuart “was possibly a greater loss to the Confederacy even than that of the swift-moving General ‘Stonewall’ Jackson,” for in Stuart the army lost its eyes and ears.13 From 7 May to 24 May, Grant lost thirty-five thousand men to death or injury yet failed to destroy Lee and the numerically inferior Army of Northern Virginia. Grant renewed his vow to crush the Confederacy, proposing “to fight it out on the line if it takes all summer,” which indeed it did.14 The continual skirmishing following Spotsylvania resulted in a deadlock on the North Anna River. The Army of the Potomac relocated along the Pamunkey River. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia head to Totopotomoy Creek, “the first natural barrier below the Pamunkey,” in order to place themselves between Grant’s advancing forces and Richmond.15 Sheridan and Hampton’s cavalry clash on 28 May evolved into the thirteen-day battle for Cold Harbor. Again, Grant’s failure to dislodge and defeat Lee resulted in a stalemate. Lee’s army “acted purely on the defensive, behind breastworks, or feebly on the offensive immediate in front of them,” Grant informed Halleck, and “without a greater sacrifice of human life than I am willing to make all cannot be accomplished that I have designed.”16 Having lost seven thousand men to the Confederacy’s fifteen hundred, Grant turned his attention to crossing the James River, outflanking Lee’s right, destroying Lee’s lines of communication at Petersburg, and ultimately fighting and defeating Lee in Richmond. Without Stuart to keep Lee abreast of Grant’s action, the Army of the Potomac successfully stole a march on Lee. Protected only by Beauregard’s fifty-four hundred troops, Lee ordered reinforcements to the city. Grant’s offensive met with unpleasant results. The Confederates defended the city from their trenches and in doing so were able to “cut [the Federals] down like hail cuts the grain and grass.”17 Grant lost ten thousand men in four days and the morale of the Army of the Potomac sank to an unprecedented level. Unwilling to face yet another defeat at the hands of Lee, Grant abandoned costly frontal assaults on the Confederates in favour of a siege. I

 In the field two miles from Petersburg, Va June 20th, 1864 Dear Brother,

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Surgeons of the Second Corps, 2d Division at Petersburg, 1864. Francis M. Wafer, third surgeon from the right in the back row. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

I received yours of the fifth last evening only – we have changed base so often that mails are very irregular indeed. Yet it is better to be contented with small favors, they being better than none. Your letter was written cheerful & spirited & was highly gratifying to me, for the good news it contained. Before this reaches you, two letters in pencil – one enclosing notes to you & Maria – the other to Maggie will probably have reached you. I have the happiness to report a continuance of good health to you the best in fact I have enjoyed for the season. You will doubtlessly hear sooner than I could write you from other sources of the movements of the Army. Let me simply state we are now upwards of eighty miles from our last winter quarters on the Rapidan having crossed in our march three large rivers the

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last & greatest being the James which river we crossed in Steamers on the 14th [of] June taking up our march & arriving before Petersburg next evening in the siege of which city the army is now engaged. The fighting is yet of the fiercest description no animal has been yet created that is savage enough to endure combat so long unless man. After repeated & desperate charges, often continued [in] the moonlight nights, our men have succeeded in carrying three of the outer lines of works. There seems to be nothing for it but to rush forward in line with the bayonet upon their formidable breastworks & carry by force of courage & determination every obstruction, while many gallant men never get halfway before they are disabled or a corpse. Our advance lines are now within about a mile of the city which is called the Key to Richmond. Since last writing our loss has been one officer Lieut [William] Dutton Co d badly wounded, one private killed & three wounded & Lieut [Solomon] Fatzer Co I & two privates captured. Two Army Corps have joined us containing many negro troops. Though I have been much prejudiced against them I must admit I am much pleased with their soldierly appearance & discipline. They also stand very high even in the estimation of the white troops for their gallant conduct under fire.18 It is 6 o’Clock pm. all is quiet at present at the front but for how long I know not, cannon have been thundering away throughout the whole line during the forenoon. The weather has been very dry but not excessively hot during the past month everywhere you may step is ankle deep in light sand so that if you look towards where a fight is in progress between the dust & smoke, you merely look at an impenetrable grey cloud, out of which emanates cheers bursting volleys of musketry & the appalling roar of cannons & explosion of shells. Since being limited & wishing to mail this tonight I must conclude this hurried answer expecting to hear from some of the girls soon ever remaining your affectionate brother Francis Moses Wafer md

 July 4th, 1864 Camp in the field near Petersburg Va Dear Sister

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Your welcome letter of the 25th June was received yesterday, 3d [July]. By it I am informed that there are two letters of mine written within the last fortnight that you have not yet received. Under such circumstances [it is no] wonder you are anxious to hear from me. [I h]ave frequently [recognized that] my letters were very slow in transmittal but [I] have not been able to account for the delay. I have willfully delayed writing for some time past as I daily expected a letter from home & deferred writing on that account. You will see by reference to [the] dates of our respective letters that yours reach me promptly & in due time with few exceptions but it is quite different from [0mine] & I have sometimes suspected they were submitted to government surveillance.19 There has been very little fighting for the past week on this line & none whatever in the 2d Corps. A regular siege is going on but this Corps is at present held in reserve. [It is] very true [that] the bursting of huge mortar shells & the earthquake roar of 100 pounder cannon from our batteries go on day & night, but they are some distance in front of our position but such sounds have long since ceased to rob anyone of an hours sleep unless he be a very chicken hearted individual. I purposely omit dilating on the prospects or positions of affairs here [and] did I do so, [it would] probably be to no purpose as you would find it difficult to understand. Let it suffice to say that all here are hopeful that the siege will result favorably to the Union arms. You have before now read of a heavy loss to the 2d Corps in prisoners. This is keenly felt by the members of the celebrated Corps. It was the most provoking to soldiers because most of the men [were] lost, about 2000 were cut off & captured with very little fighting besides this Corps never lost a gun or stand of colors until it came upon this unlucky field. Of the whole Corps the Brigade I belong to was the only one [that] suffered no loss – it being in the second line of [battle] in reserve at the time of the accident. The whole affair did not last more than twenty minutes. As I have already stated we have been some time lying inactive, well it is nearly time [for us to get into action]. I[t] was just two months yesterday since the campaign opened, since then we have had, or rather the combatants of their Corps have had, no rest except what they might get in the trenches watching their wily enemies. Whenever we marched or changed positions the movement was performed through fine sand, ankle deep, every step stirred up clouds of dust so thick a person could not see five rods consequently every

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individual & thing became one color, that is, of a dirty blanket.20 The only distinguishing marks between a column of niggers & one of white soldiers were the never failing white eyes of the darkie & I think his wool held more dust. Well thank Providence we are relieved from this for a while at least. We are now in a pleasant shady camp behind our rear line of entrenchments. There are no external signs whatever of the late onerous campaign, everything as gay as a “marriage bible.” From day break until 9 in the evening the melody of a hundred brass bands & other martial music discoursing the “first music of the day” is continually swelling & echoing through the stately pine forests & most effectively relieves the monotony of camp life to me at least for I never tire of good music. The weather has been fearfully hot & dry no rain falling for a month there are now a few signs of rain & the air is a little cooler but I believe there were many days when had any active operations been undertaken both rebs & Yankees instead of fighting would break for the nearest shade trees & lie down together. I can safely assure you my health is good even all our anxious Mother could wish for. Several of our wounded officers have returned to duty among whom is Col Pierce but he was not allowed to remain long with us. He was assigned to the command of the 1st Brigade of the Division. I have heard Col Powers is doing well under his wound & is likely to recover. I met Charly Brownley quite accidentally a few days ago. He looks well & is in “high feather” in expectation of going home soon as his regiments time of service expires about this time.21 He is attached to a cavalry regiment which it seems is kept during all this campaign scouting on the rear & flanks of the army. He informed me of what I have since seen stated in the papers that Capt Robert Ellerbeck of the 22 ny Cavalry, late of the 6th, is badly wounded in the leg & a prisoner. I am sorry W[illia]m McLaughlin is boating on account of the bad associations he is likely to meet.22 I confidently hope for himself & sisters welfare, he will be able to resist the many temptations to which he will be exposed. [P]oor Maggie must be very lonely. [G]ive her my affectionate remembrance with the same to all my cousins & friends. No more at present but I remain dear Sister Your Most Affectionate Brother, Francis Moses Wafer md



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Hd Qus 108th NY Vols Camp in the field near Mitchells Station, Va. September, 1864 Dear Brother I arrived safe, at my command on the evening of the 27th finding my regiment encamped near the battlefield of Cedar Mountain, of 1862. I found in Dr Elys possession two letters from you written on the 12th & 18th inst, while I was absent from camp in Washington.23 By those I see you had not received a letter I wrote, on the 7th of Sept, & up to which I added a postscript in Washington. I suppose you will have received one [before] this reaches you [&] another I wrote in Washington, on my departure to rejoin my Corps. I know, none of you, will feel flattered by the indifference expressed in those letters, concerning my obtaining leave to visit you. But such indifference does not exist in my case, as the only medical officer with the [regiment] viz Dr Ely was about to resign. I had an object in view in immediately rejoining the command, which I may be able to explain to you at a future time. At all events, nothing [is] lost [by a soldier] in military service by not being at his post whenever he is able. Those that wish to go home on every trivial occasion, particularly when they smell a coming battle, seldom or never have the confidence of their chiefs. The disease such gentlemen are afflicted with military doctors call “cannon fever, ” I feel quite well now, with the exception of a slight cold I caught on the cars coming out. I have provided myself with top boots, [a] rubber poncho, & in the city I feel quite confident to be able to face a fall campaign in the capricious climate of Virginia. I found my horse, Joe Hooker, feeling proud & dewey after his long rest. He hardly knew me when I came back, or else he was provoked, at the sight, of a pair of new spurs he saw upon my heels. Poor old Bucher, I think I see six battery men, detailed to hold him, when the guns of the battery he belongs to [begin to] fire, not speaking of the time when the rebel shells burst so near, as to scorch him with the broken pieces of metal humming around him, & solid shot ploughing up the ground, & throwing earth loads of dirt & gravel, over him.24 I see you did not yet acknowledge the receipt of Harper’s Weekly, which I sent to [the] Kingston Post Office with your address, perhaps, you have not enquired for them. There should be many numbers, there for you. You will have something to pay on the Photograph I sent you. They would not receive any

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money at this end of the Express line, & I had nothing to send you but green backs. You must only charge it to Wafer, Wafer, & Co. As I requested in my letter of the 25th, I would like [it if] you would send me some photographs, you need not be [worried] at the showy one I sent you. I would prefer some plain vignette “Carte de visite” size so that they may be placed in an Album, & carried uninjured. I got a dozen such struck off when in the city which I intend to exchange with the other officers of the regiment. I would also be happy to exchange with any friend, who maybe willing to send one of such to me. I wish to write you a confidential letter, concerning an individual well known to you & I & also, perhaps some other affairs for your perusal only, I mean Johnny. For the future any letters intended for to be read in common, to everybody, will be addressed to Maggy & you will not permit the reading of your private letter by anybody. We have beautiful September weather, out here, though the nights are as cold as I would expect at home. Of course, as I have frequently informed you, you must pardon me, not giving you any information concerning the movements, or prospects of the army. It being my duty to remain silent on these matters. All is quiet at present. With a firm trust in the God of battles to whom I humbly recommend you all, I remain Your Affectionate Brother, Francis Moses Wafer, md I am grateful to you Maggy for your flowers, which you say are from my plot. I hope you have taken good care of it, in my absence. Poor things! They looked sorrowful enough, in this climate, so uncongenial to flowers, for the last two or three years. As I said, they looked sorrowful yet there was no external proof of this for Lord knows, it would take hard squeezing to obtain any tears, from them. fmw

 108th ny Vols Head Qrs 108th ny Vols Before Petersburg Va Oct 11th, 64 Dear Brother, I have not heard from home since Sept 23d. This is the second time of my writing since. [I a]m expecting a letter this evening

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hoping to hear good news through it. This leaves me in excellent health as usual. All is quiet here at present that is there are no advances making on either side – though were you to be here for one night you might be under the impression [that] your “big brother” was prevaricating when he says all is quiet for hardly a night passes without the usual mortar practice, & siege guns throughout the day & all for the pickets they hardly ever stop their infernal popping day or night. We have again moved back to fort Morton and we form a part of its garrison. We have been here for the past week & the enemy have never succeeded in bursting a shell [near] or in the fort. Solid shot cannot penetrate it anywhere unless the practice was good enough to throw one through an embrasure or opening in the parapets for our guns to fire through. We all live in the Bombproofs viz, long ranges of buildings something like a large Roothouse half under ground. The walls are built [of] logs backed by several feet of earth, the roof being heavy logs laid crossways & also deeply covered with earth – three sides are closed [with] the end towards the rear being open. They are quite comfortable to live in their only fault being darkness. In these houses, I have learned to sleep although mortars ten inches in diameter & 32 pounder rifle guns may be talking in their own peculiar language within a few yards of me & indeed if an hour or two passes without the usual thunder I begin to feel lonely for want of the sublime music of saltpeter. The weather has become quite cool though dry & pleasant. [T]he weather seems to be much milder here than where I was at the same time a year ago. We were then near the Blue Ridge both Rebs & Yanks “double quicking it” to see which would first get possession of the fortifications of Centreville as if the __________ was after the whole crowd. The lines are so strong here that it seems as if nothing except such things as crows or cannon balls could cross them. There has been some important & successful operations on our flank in which our Division was not engaged. We could merely hear the sound of the cannon. The right & left wings of our enemy are over twenty miles apart. All this line being occupied by the armies of the Potomac & James. The right wing is about seven miles from Richmond fronting that city as well as Petersburg. If one or both of these cities do not fall soon we will be likely to winter here. I hope you will not be longing for me to come home for being removed at least one day’s journey further from home than I was last winter & if I can not obtain a longer

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leave than last year I do not feel disposed to go home merely to “railroad it” home then turn back to the front all to the tune of one hundred dollars. I know you Britishers do not value greenbacks much but I have no inclination to throw mine away. For after all misfortunes you folks ascribe to greenbacks my salary is worth at present, $1000, one thousand dollars in gold per annum. And my belief in the case is one of “fox & grapes” for those that decry the currency so much.25 Well, I find subjects to write on very scarce just now unless I “wax flowery” like some newspaper “penny a liner” & try & astonish the nation with “pen & ink” eloquence. Col Powers has not yet returned to duty. Lt Col Pierce is unwell & by my advice is going home on sick leave his health has been delicate since entering the army. I am fairly used to the army & consequently you may inform all the girls who you think would be fools enough to wait for me to marry at once even should they find nothing more than a tailor for it is questionable whether this war will leave the equivalent of that fraction of a man of your poor old but ever affectionate Brother, Francis M. Wafer md

 Head Qrs 108th ny Vols Before Petersburg, Va Oct 30, 64 My Dear Brother, I have not heard from you since [your last letter] of Oct 10th. I hasten to write this note before this day’s mail goes out to let you know that I am all [right in case] you might indulge in gloomy speculations as to my safety when you hear of the late fighting in which the 2d Corps was engaged. We [are back safely] in camp. It was as far as I can understand a sort of wildcat affair much like Reams Station in some of its features.26 Two divisions of the Corps viz, 2d & 3d cut loose from the army & started with some cavalry on the morning of Oct 27th [on] a sort of reconnaissance to the only railroad leading into Petersburg. About 8 am, our Brigade, which had the advance, struck the line of the enemy’s breastworks which protected their right flank. The Brigade countered with bayonet at once charging through a stream & up a hill in the face of a sharp fire. The loss here was not heavy in numbers but the Brigade lost two valuable officers. L[ieu]t Col [Frank J.] Spalter, commanding

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4th Ohio & Maj [Thomas A.] Smyth of the 1st Delaware. Col Spalter was shot through the head & killed on the spot. Maj Smyth was badly wounded shot through the right femoral artery & but for timely assistance would have soon bled to death. The two Divisions then continued their march through dense pine woods for several miles southwest of Petersburg to what is called the Boynton plank road where we struck a large force of the enemy strongly fortified near the railroad, skirmishing immediately commenced soon followed by heavy fighting which lasted until dark. In our advance we had got between a large force of the enemys cavalry & their infantry supports. They were engaged all afternoon with our cavalry on the left & made most frantic & desperate efforts to break through our line. Their infantry at the same time attacked us in great force in front & on the right flank. Their artillery threw shot & shell completely through or over our position into their own men both right & left. Indeed since Gettysburg or the assault on Petersburg I have not seen cast iron cheaper – it could be had anywhere for picking up. But all their attempts to cut us off or dislodge us were promptly repulsed & when night came the troops were withdrawn to their former encampments & bringing with [them] many prisoners. The loss in our regiment was four wounded one of whom Capt [Dwight A.] Ostrander Co a who commanded the regiment all the field officers being absent. He was shot through the right arm, three inches below the shoulder joint. The joint with about four inches of bone had to be removed. His wound is a dangerous one. No more at present from your affectionate brother, Francis M. Wafer, md

 Hd Qus 108th ny Vols Camp near Hatchers run, Va Feb 17, 1865 Dear Brother You were doubtless anxiously waiting to hear from me since the late fights. I should have written before but as you could learn nothing from me more than you daily read – I postponed writing hoping to get a letter from home before so doing but none has arrived as yet. The last letter from home came to hand in Jan 31st dated Jan 27th. It was from Maggie. The late operations were not a general move of the army although many out of the army seem to

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be under that impression. We understand it here as merely a reconnaissance in force to ascertain Lees strength & at the same time, prevent him from sending any reinforcements to those points that are hard pressed by [General William Tecumseh] Sherman & other Generals. There are also decided advantages gained by the movement such as gaining a better position in a military point of view & extending our line threatening the enemys communications – reducing him to the necessity of confronting our new position thus weakening his lines elsewhere. The campaign lasted in all nearly a week meaning by campaigning that we were in the open air for that period. The weather was very severe for the season & the changes from comfortable quarters to lying on the damp ground was – you may judge not an agreeable one. I saw none of the fighting more than to see a few cannon shot & shell expend their already diminished force in the rear. I was for that week acting “Surgeon in Chief” of Brigade as owing to the absence of one & sickness of another. I was senior Medical Officer present having charge of the Medical wagons & Brigade Ambulances. The losses in the 2d Corps were trifling although the enemy disputed the extension of our lines pertinaciously. The 2d had the fighting all their own way not withstanding Lees veterans made no less than two or three charges on their line. The 5th Corps suffered some loses which was as far as I can learn mainly attributable to advancing their line too far without their left being sufficiently covered thus exposing their flank to be taken in reverse. The Corps however established their new line where required, you will inform Capt [James A.] McKinleys friends that he is safe. Leaving his command was very roughly handled I made a specialty of visiting him immediately after the fight. There was no serious casualty in the 108th. Lieut now Capt [Theodore E.] Knapp was struck by a spent bullet cutting the cloth from the band of his cap & drawing blood from the scalp. It did not put him off duty. We are about completing new quarters but will scarcely be again so comfortable this winter as we were. The troops that were engaged in the late movements suffered much but endured it all with wonderful resignation, being in high hopes that by continually pressing the enemy, giving him no room to recover from [attacks,] the war will soon be brought to a successful termination. I see through the news that you are having a severe winter about the lakes for myself I have found it cold enough here but that is not to be wondered at

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since I am completely acclimated to Virginia. In regards to you visiting the army there is yet no prospect of a propitious time for such a visit as the number of citizens getting passes to the front are very limited. The army is not by any means so accessible as last winter seeing that there is a voyage of 280 miles by water from Washington to City Points then nearly twenty miles by rail to this Corps. It would be very inconvenient for a traveler of your experience to succeed in reaching the front at all unless I could meet you in Washington “on ordinary leave of absence” being required for this. Then it is doubtful whether you could cross the Canadian lines at present without a passport which has to be purchased.27 But I have heard the passport system was revoked – but of all this you can satisfy yourself by calling on the American Consul at Kingston during his office hours & making enquiry to get transportation from Washington to the front.28 The Provost Marshal at Washington must be applied to personally & all so applying are required to have legitimate & valid reasons for entering the lines of the army. Last winter application could be made direct to the Provost Marshal in the army line & a pass being obtained it could be sent in a letter to any friend but I have not heard that such papers have been granted this season. You can let me know in your next [letter] the result of your enquiry of the American Consul & whether you intend to come out & if so at what time you will be ready to start & I will then inform you where I can be met & send you some directions [on] how to proceed on your journey. As for going home myself – although it would be agreeable the leave of absence is so short & seeing I have no business to transact also my being so lately there it would be but an idle journey.29 In six months my regiment will have served three years & will be mustered out of services. It is probably that if I should then wish to leave the service I will be permitted to do so but will not attempt to decide until the time arrives (a period fraught with great events intervene). Many who are now ignorant of the great future will be then as wise as all the sages of antiquity. Yet while the coming time is bright with so many great events [it] will soon pass away. If you have not already written – write as soon as soon as possible on the receipt of this & let me know the general standing of affairs about home. Paper & ink is cheap & the practice of writing is itself beneficial to the writer so it will not, I think, be taxing you too much to take a review of affairs great & small public & private which not indeed passing any

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intrinsic value of their own may nevertheless interest me much in my peculiar position. It is invariably the case that little home occurrences are seemingly of most importance to us here as for the printer never of the times it comes to hand in due season besides as for great events are we not participators in & spectators of the greatest not only of the century but of History? I had forgotten to inform you that my health remains good although much tired of late. I only hope you are all bearing the bitter cold of Canada as well as I am bearing the Virginia climate – although probably were you to come here you should say I had but little to complain of in that particular. No more until I again hear from you even remaining, Your affectionate brother, fmw

e

Epilogue

By the beginning of 1865, the Confederate war effort lay in shambles. In the words of John A. Campbell, confederate assistant secretary of war, “There was no connection between the government in Richmond and the Trans-Mississippi Department; the defeat of the Army of Tennessee at Nashville had opened the West and the Southwest to invasion in every part; Sherman’s army had devastated Georgia and all the railroad communication in the South and South-west; the war on the part of the Confederates [was] limited to the defense of Richmond and its dependencies and even here Lee scrambled to hold on.”1 Desperation gripped the Confederacy, and in that desperation Davis endorsed two actions that might save his nation. First, he tried to solve the manpower problem facing the Confederate armies. While the North relied on immigration, a luxury foreign to the South, the Confederacy simply had no more bodies to fill the ranks. In late 1864 Davis introduced a controversial bill before the Confederate senate. It advocated the enlistment of slaves as soldiers. Although the expected controversy surrounded the proposal, the bill eventually became law on 13 March 1865. Second, Davis sought to cater to southern peace advocates by sending north a commission charged with ending the war and securing the future of the Confederacy. Comprising Vice-President Alexander Stephens, Assistant Secretary of War John C. Campbell, and Senator R.M.T. Hunter of Virginia, the commission met with Lincoln and

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Union secretary of state Seward aboard the River Queen anchored off Hampton Roads, Virginia, in February 1865. Lincoln offered generous terms. To secure peace, the Confederates had to abolish slavery with some compensation and acknowledge the indivisibility of the Union: in essence, abandon the notion of an independent slave-based Confederate nation. The peace conference failed spectacularly. General George E Pickett’s reaction reflected that of many Confederates. “On every side,” he recalled, “gloom, dissatisfaction and disappointment seem to have settled over all, men and officers alike, because of the unsuccessful termination of the Peace Conference ... Our commissioners knew that we were gasping our last gasp and that the Peace Conference was a forlorn hope ... Now, heaven help us, it will be war to the knife, with a knife no longer keen, the thrust of an arm no longer strong.”2 The fate of the Confederacy now lay in the hands of Lee and his vastly outnumbered half-starved tatterdemalion Army of Northern Virginia holding the line at Petersburg. But eleven months of continuous warfare took its toll. John W. Haley of the Seventeenth Maine yearned for an end to the war. He and his comrades in arms “were sick and tired of slaughter and blood when we know that a slight concession on both sides could have settled the matter long ago. If left to us privates, we’d make short work of it. Perhaps we can accomplish more by cakes and coffee than by bullets.”3 Confederate private Abel Crawford echoed Haley’s sentiments: it seemed to him that “the soldiers have become so tired of fighting that they are almost willing to give it up on any terms.”4 Grant hoped to accommodate such desires by uniting his forces with Sherman’s and crushing Lee between the two armies, thus forcing his surrender. Wise to Grant’s plan of action, Lee launched one last desperate offensive designed to contract Grant’s line and prevent his unification with Sherman. On 25 March Gordon launched an unsuccessful attempt to penetrate the Federal line at Fort Stedman. Lee, hoping to save the Confederacy, suggested to Davis that victory hinged on abandoning Petersburg and Richmond in order to allow Lee’s army to join that of Joseph Johnston in North Carolina and together battle Grant and Sherman. Davis proved unreceptive to the plan. Entrenched indefinitely in and around Petersburg, Lee ordered Pickett to hold Five Forks crossroad, the access route to Lee’s last supply line, at all costs. On 1 April Sherman and Pickett clashed and Five Forks fell to the Union. The following day Grant launched a general offensive against Lee. With victory unlikely, Lee telegraphed Secretary

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of War John C. Breckinridge and informed him of the Army of Northern Virginia’s withdrawal from Petersburg and its movement towards Appomattox. Lee also advised Breckenridge that “all preparations be made for leaving Richmond tonight.”5 By 3 April the Union army occupied the capital of the Confederacy. As Lee retreated towards Appomattox Grant followed, intent on winning the war for the Union. By 9 April Grant had Lee pinned at Appomattox. Outmanned and with few options, Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant. For all intents and purposes, the war was over. Although Wafer’s letters and memoirs end abruptly, he likely witnessed this historic event, renewed his acquaintance with his old friend James McKinley, who accompanied Grant to the surrender, and experienced the euphoria that swept the Union forces. In the words of John W. Haley of the Seventeenth Maine: General Meade’s “frenzy of joy was contagious, and we acted as if we had taken leave of our sense. We shouted, danced, sang, and wept. Bands played, drums beat, flags were unfurled, guns fired, and cannon boomed.”6 A very different scene unfolded in the Confederate camps. Confederate W.G. Hinson recalled: “Oh Horror of horrors! It flashed through the command. Lee has surrendered. My pencil almost refuses to write the disgrace. Many an iron souled veteran burst into tears, which could not have been rung by ‘the’ rack and were willing to sacrifice life at any moment for the cause.”7 The final surrender of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia took place on 11 April. Wafer and the remaining members of the 108th New York among others no doubt witnessed a scene similar to that described in the Missouri Republican: “No word was spoke except the words of command to stack arms which was done orderly and quietly, facing the line of federal troops. Human lips were pressed to iron muzzles of guns and the men turned from them as sadly and sorrowfully as if they were moving from the graves of their first born. We passed on in ever looking back to the national potter’s field where our young republic was buried.”8 Although Davis remained on the run and the Army of Tennessee, Army of the Trans-Mississippi, and the Confederacy’s Indian allies had yet to surrender, the Army of the Potomac began the slow process of disbanding that same day. Grant ordered the Second Corps, including Wafer and the 108th New York, to camp at Burkesville, Virginia. They arrived on 13 April. On 15 April news of Lincoln’s assassination reached the ears of the Second Corps. Private Henry Kauffman best

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Grand Review of Union Troops in Washington, dc, 1865. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

summed up the men’s reactions: “In the midst of all our rejoicing came to us the sad news of the assassination of our beloved President of our republic. Those news cast a deep gloom upon the entire army. Flags were put at half mast & prayers were made through out the day.”9 On 2 May the 108th New York Infantry departed for Rochester, New York, via Washington. On 23 May Wafer was probably among the eighty thousand troops who participated in the Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac by Grant and the new president, Andrew Johnson. With Union colours flying, thousands gathered along Pennsylvania Avenue, emitting a cacophony of Union marching songs, cheers, applause, and certainly sobs. Even the horror of Lincoln’s death faded on that day as

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the nation honoured the Union victory in the Civil War and, more importantly, acknowledged the contributions of the soldiers. Following the review, the men of the 108th mustered out on 28 May near Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia. On 31 May the citizens of Rochester greeted the regiment with brass bands, flags, and a parade.10 Wafer’s return to Kingston in July was less eventful. Although there is little doubt that his family and friends enthusiastically received him, the City of Kingston took little note of the war-weary veteran’s return. Great joy and greater sorrow characterized Wafer’s postbellum years. He returned to his medical studies at Queen’s University for the 1865–66 session, studying practical anatomy, Materia Medica and pharmacy, obstetrics, and diseases of women and children. Once again he attended lectures on the institutes of medicine. After successfully completing the year he enrolled in the 1866–67 session during which, in addition to his courses at Queen’s University, he attended classes on clinical medicine and surgery at Kingston General Hospital as well as courses on the principle and practice of surgery and lectures on the theory and practice of medicine at Kingston’s Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons.11 Wafer successfully finished medical school and matriculated on 20 March 1867, receiving his diploma from Queen’s University as a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. He entered into private practice with well-known Kingston surgeon and politician Michael Sullivan, first at 82 Princess Street and then at 123 King Street. In addition to his private practice, Wafer also served on the faculty of medicine at Queen’s University as well as on the staff of the Kingston General Hospital. In his spare time, Francis advocated for a separate Catholic school system, remained active in St Mary’s Catholic Church, and helped his father, Peter, run the family farm. While his professional life blossomed after the war, Wafer also experienced great personal joy. His beloved sister Maggie married James Patrick Daley on 17 November 1873. On 7 September 1874 the family welcomed Mary Elizabeth Daley into the world and her brother, John Patrick, on 31 December 1875. Wafer delighted in his niece and nephew, but marriage and a family of his own proved elusive as the after-effects of his war injuries worsened. When Wafer left for the war, he struck his professors Horatio and Octavius Yates as “a strong athletic young man of more than ordinary physical powers” blessed with “the enjoyment of perfect health, having

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no apparent constitutional or hereditary tendency” towards disease.12 Wafer’s wartime experience of harsh living conditions and exposure to the elements conspired with stress, poor diet, and intense labour to destroy his health. According to the 108th New York’s former commander Francis E. Pierce, Wafer began complaining of back pain in February 1865 following the battle of Morton’s Ford. His health continued to decline and his “pain and sickness seemed to increase all the time so that he would probably have been discharged for disability, if he had not been mustered out with the Regt.” The once-robust Wafer “was very much emaciated and very feeble when mustered out, and to appearances completely broken down, and ruined in health and constitution.”13 Wafer returned home with a tumour on his back that “gradually but constantly increased in size and was soon followed ... by another symmetrical tumor upon the opposite side: That said tumor rapidly increased in size and in November following his discharge had to be opened; profuse suppuration followed revealing two or more deep pelvic abscesses.”14 On 15 January 1866, he summoned Dr Horatio Yates to the Wafer farm. According to Yates, Wafer was in “a state of great emaciation and exhaustions from the effects of pelvis abscesses and their copious discharges, communicating with the surface by sinuses.”15 Wafer’s health improved enough to allow him to graduate from Queen’s University and engage in a medical career. By 1872, however, Wafer was “physically disabled to pursue the practice of his profession except to a very limited extent or to follow any active employment.”16 Consequently, in January 1873 Wafer hired an attorney, Francis Fitch of Watertown, New York, to file a federal pension application. Up until this point, Wafer “deferred applying for pension at first believing that said disability would end in death and afterward hoping as he began slightly to convalesce that he might fully recover.”17 While Fitch gathered affidavits from Wafer, Pierce, Wafer’s former wartime doctors Robert Stephenson and William S. Ely, his colleagues and former professors Octavius and Horatio Yates, and his partner, Michael Sullivan, the wisdom of his application crystallized. Wafer’s health continued its downward spiral and he spent nine months of 1873 bedridden while the tumours on either side of his spine continued to grow. Wafer likely wrote the memoir that forms the centrepiece of this work to occupy his time. Horatio Yates examined Wafer on 17 February 1874 and “found him in a feeble and anemic state with two open fistula discharging pus – one

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on either side.”18 An examination by New York doctor C.M. Johnson confirmed Yates’s observations. Johnson described Wafer as being forty-five years old, standing five feet nine inches tall, and weighing one hundred and twenty pounds. Johnson reported that the “canis of Illness ... are fistular openings upon each side of spine ... still discharging and several indications of former openings” were evident. Johnson officially recommended that a pension be awarded to Wafer as he was “disabled from manual labor and the disease [was] progressive.”19 While the Pension Office certainly took Johnson’s recommendation under consideration, the application hit a number of snags that slowed down its approval. Wafer’s military service record proved to be the largest obstacle for it did not reflect the immense pain and suffering that he had endured during the war. Wafer’s record revealed that with the exception of two furloughs and one medical leave of seventeen days, he consistently performed his job. Wafer argued that “he succeeded although at great personal inconvenience and pain in performing his duty until his discharge and was not in any Hospital as a patient on account of said disability or on the sick list as he doubtless would have been but for the fact that being a medical man he was able to treat himself.”20 With the issue of his health unresolved, another problem emerged with his application. On 18 October 1873 the Pension Office informed Fitch that there was no evidence that Wafer had ever mustered into the 108th New York Infantry. On 12 January 1874 Fitch was informed that evidence had been found and the situation rectified. A communiqué to Fitch of 1 December 1875 revealed another hitch in the process: the Pension Office believed that William S. Ely’s affidavit was forged. Ely rectified the situation in January 1876 by authenticating his signature. That same month a new wrinkle materialized. Dr Robert Stephenson, Wafer’ doctor during his stay at the Georgetown officer’s hospital, moved to Ireland following the war. Fitch contacted the postmaster, John Adams, of Cloug, County Antrim, searching for Stephenson. Although Adams acknowledged that Stephenson lived in the area, a paralytic stroke had left Stephenson in “very delicate health.” Consequently, Stephenson never submitted the affidavit to Fitch or the Pension Office, thus delaying the approval of Wafer’s application. The Pension Office finally awarded Wafer his due compensation in May 1876.21 Sadly Wafer’s “strong constitution” gave way on 9 April 1876.22 The Kingston community mourned the death of one of its own. The St Vincent de Paul Society held the meeting that had already

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been scheduled for 9 April in the vestry of St Mary’s Cathedral and dedicated it to the memory of Francis M. Wafer. The Society resolved that it has pleased Almighty God to remove from amongst us a most zealous and devoted member of the Society, the late Dr Wafer ... That the members of the St Vincent de Paul society desire on this painful occasion to give expression of their feelings of sincere sorrow and deep regret at the loss of one who not only endeared himself by his kind and genial disposition but merited their esteem and gratitude, on account of the great interest he at all times took in promoting the welfare of the Society, and especially cheerfully giving his professional services to the poor under their charge ... That we deeply sympathize with the family of the deceased and hereby condole with them in their affliction ... [and] [t]hat the members of this Society attend the funeral of the deceased in a body and that the Society have a Requiem Mass offered for the repose of his soul. The following morning at a meeting of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Drs Lavell and Sullivan passed a resolution honouring Wafer. Accordingly, that in the death of our late Colleague, Dr Francis M. Wafer, this College has sustained a severe loss; that it is with profound pleasure that we testify to the learning, ability, and zeal with which he successfully discharged the duties of teacher in this school; as also our admiration of that strict sense of honour and conscientious devotion to duty which marked his conduct to the profession and the community; and that we feel that his life humble as it was afforded a bright example of the successful cultivating of those virtues which had adorned the lives of the best men of the medical profession; and that we offer his family the assurance of our most sincere sympathy in their great affliction. Across town, the Alma Mater Society held a special meeting. Mr T.D. Cumberland and Mr W.A. Lang resolved “that this Society having heard with profound regret of the decease of Dr Wafer, one of its most esteemed members, hereby records its appreciation of his many sterling qualities and its deep sense of the loss it has sustained in his

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lamented death; and further, the Society desires to express its sympathy with his afflicted relatives in their bereavement.” At mid-morning on 10 April 1876, a black horse-drawn hearse arrived at Wafer’s King Street residence. Pallbearers removed his body from the parlour and loaded it onto the cortège. From there, the procession wound its way through the streets of Kingston. Members of the separate school board and St Vincent de Paul Society, professors of the Royal College, the faculty of the Medical College of Queen’s University, and his family followed Wafer’s body to the steps of St Mary’s Cathedral. Pallbearers Burns, McCullough, Hickey, R. Gardiner, Jason McManus, and T.H. McGuire conveyed his remains to the front of the church. The sheer number of people in attendance amazed Wafer’s parents, Peter and Elizabeth, his siblings, John, Maggie, Agnes, Maria, Martha, and Elizabeth, and his extended family. Father Twomey and Bishop Corbett performed the service. A full choir sung “a solemn Requiem Mass.” Afterwards the procession departed for a graveside service at St Mary’s Cemetery where Wafer was laid to rest.23 The fight for a federal pension continued after Wafer’s death. In 1883 his father, Peter, hired A.B. Webb, a lawyer based in Washington, dc, to pursue compensation from the Pension Office. Peter reasoned that Wafer had provided room and board for his parents for two months a year as well as clothing and medical attention, totalling an estimated two hundred dollars per annum. Wafer’s disability prevented the continuation of such contributions as well as Peter’s access to his son’s labour power on the family farm.24 The Pension Office required a listing of Peter’s property and income in order to ascertain how Wafer’s contribution, or lack thereof, affected the family. Affidavits from Peter, his son John, and neighbours Alexander Grant, Patrick O’Neil, and Robert Patterson revealed that in 1876 Peter was “too old and stiff” to run the hundred-acre farm, which only provided the family with an income of fifty dollars a year. Consequently, Peter allowed John the use of his farmland in exchange for financial support. Peter and Elizabeth moved in with John and his wife Catherine and were entirely dependent on their goodwill. In 1877 Catherine gave birth to the couple’s first child, a son named Francis Moses after his uncle. A year later, in 1878, Peter sold the farm for twenty-two hundred dollars to Robert Patterson and distributed some of the money amongst his children. He left himself a mere $690 with which he had to support his “two unmarried daughters until the whole thereof [was] exhausted” and he was “wholly without

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any means of [his] own.”25 On 28 January 1879, Peter’s wife, Elizabeth, died and later that same year John and Catherine welcomed their daughter Maggie. Unconvinced by Peter’s claim or reasoning, in May of 1885 the Pension Office asked to see the contract between Peter and John whereby John was allowed to use Peter’s land in exchange for supporting his father. John replied that it had been an oral agreement and that nothing existed in writing. Concerned that the Pension Office misunderstood the nature of the arrangement, John appealed to Wafer’s old attorney, Francis Fitch, for help. In June of 1885 Fitch helped John write a letter of clarification to the Pension Office explaining that his father had not “transferred the farm I own to me, with the verbal agreement that I would support him. This is a mistake. My farm came to me through my mother, having been received by her by inheritance from her people. My father, when my brother, Dr Francis M. Wafer died, owned another farm which he sold some two years thereafter for about 2200 [dollars] and has since had the money from same to live upon, and has not, I think exhausted all of it but it now appears probable that it will be insufficient to carry him through this life, and indeed, it would have been exhausted before this, no doubt, but for the aid I have given him.” John also unwisely revealed that had his father “retained the farm, it doubtless would have afforded him a reasonable support.”26 Peter’s attempt to gain a pension and John’s explanation of the situation clearly irritated Fitch, who wrote to the Pension Office to offer his version of events. Fitch acknowledged that Peter had incurred “the expenses of the son’s last fatal attack and burial” as the funeral “was on a scale that [the Pension O]ffice refused to recognize and pay expenses of.” However, Fitch claimed, Peter had experienced no hardship from such an outlay of funds for he “was quite a wealthy farmer and in very prosperous circumstances.” Fitch argued, moreover, that Peter’s current state did not entitle him to a pension. Fitch depicted Peter as “a man of independent means and not a suffer[er] in a pecuniary sense at all from the son’s death.” Francis had not contributed to his father’s livelihood; according to Fitch, “it was just the reverse, owing to the health of the son.”27 On 1 December 1887 the Pension Office, agreeing with Fitch’s version of events, rejected Peter Wafer’s claim on the grounds that “at the time of the soldier’s death the claimant did not depend on him for his support.” Moreover,

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Francis M. Wafer’s Tombstone, St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, Kingston, Ontario. Courtesy of Cheryl A. Wells, 2007

according to evidence on file, the claimant was still hale and hearty up to 1876; his farm of 100 acres yielded a crop estimated at 300 [dollars]. His family consisted of himself and wife and if he had not sold the farm, it would according to the son John, give him a reasonable support. If it didn’t, it does not appear that the soldier furnished such support. Being a doctor, he treated his parents without charge and when they visited with him, he did not charge them any board. Besides, he seems to have given the claimant occasional suits of clothing, which not dressy enough for the doctor, came in very well for the farmer. I do not think all this constitutes “contributing” within the meaning of the law.28

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Peter Wafer’s reaction to the news is unknown but it appears that he accepted the decision since there was no further correspondence between the Wafers and the Pension Office. Peter died on 20 June 1888 and was laid to rest with his wife Elizabeth and son Francis M. Wafer in Kingston’s St Mary’s Cemetery. Someone, most likely John, erected a humble white monument for his parents and brother. The marker is flanked on the left by the gravestone of Wafer’s friend and partner Michael Sullivan, and on the right by the gravestone of Wafer’s sister Maria and her husband, Charles Lyons. The elements have taken a toll on the monument much as they did on Wafer during the Civil War. The engraving, which once proudly declared that Francis M. Wafer, md was buried there, is rubbed smooth and rendered virtually unreadable. Yet under the stone rests an extraordinary man, a son, brother, cousin, author, and Canadian surgeon in the Army of the Potomac.

x

Appendix

Because Wafer wrote his memoir from hastily taken memoranda, his writings often duplicate portions of letters sent home, as with the letters of 14 March 1863, 25 March 1863, and 29 February 1864. In those letters, however, Wafer provides details that are not included in his memoir, so I give the letters here in chronological order. The appendix also contains a letter from one Dr Thomas Rowland, who details events in New Jersey and comments on the course of the war overall and the battle of Chancellorsville.

 Albany, [New York,] March 14th 1863 Dear Brother, Although you will be hardly expecting to hear from me so soon, while I have leisure I thought it advisable, to inform you of my luck & adventures in this city. I did not get further than Cape Vincent the day I left Kingston. The stage traveled so slow, by reason of the drifted road, that it missed the train. Consequently, I did not set out, until 5 o’clock [the] next morning, March 10th, arriving in Albany about 2 o’clock, the same day. This city being the seat of government of the State, I thought it prudent to make enquiries, before proceeding further. The result was, I found, that, those

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applying for commissions as assistant Surgeons could be admitted to examination immediately. This information obtained, I at once resolved to face the examination, & even should I fail I believed it would be at least a general exercise for me. The same afternoon, I obtained an interview with the Surgeon General of the State, where I was informed, that to obtain a commission, I should not only pass his examination, but I should be an md & Licentiate of the State. At the same time informing me there were two examiners or – Censors, as they are called, who granted certificates of qualification, to Students of foreign colleges. Nothing daunted, I presented myself, before the Senior of those gentlemen, a Dr Staats, who required me to appear before him at 9 o’clock, on the following evening March 11th when, he submitted me, to an oral examination in the branches of Chemistry & the Practice of Medicine, giving me a satisfactory certificate to his Colleague, a Dr McNaughton, provided, I should prove equally qualified in the other branches. I appeared before the latter Censors, at 9 o’clock, the following morning March 12th. He was an unyielding Scotchman, but a gentleman. After examining me successively in Anatomy, Materia Medica & Surgery, the result of which was he pronounced me satisfactory & signed my certificate, jointly with the other Censor. This certificate obtained for me a Diploma, or md, & a Licentiate of the State of New York. I might have now commenced Practice in any part of the North but while they thought me qualified for so doing, I preferred going to scout a little longer. I now lent my steps to the Surgeon General’s office in the State Arsenal, where I was shut up, watched, & submitted to a written examination including, all the medical branches. This examination, consisted of sixteen questions, some of which, one might have written upon ever since, provided they knew them, about a half of them I was well able to answer, & about the remainder, “enough said.” Suffice to say, after developing myself, in those I understood well, & attempting them all, of the writing for seven hours, I handed in my paper, & was told to call next day, March 13th for an answer. When those long hours had passed, I called & was notified, that I was found qualified, with a recommendation to Governor Seymour, for a commission as [an] assistant Surgeon, of the 108th Regt of New York Infantry. This document, now merely awaits the Governor’s signature, when I depart for the theatre of war I have

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no doubt, my examination here, will be commented upon in a sort of farce, my only answer to such persons is “let them try it.” For my own part, it will be long before those two days of trial, are [erased] from my memory. I may add for your information, that an Assistant Surgeon belongs to the Medical staff. His rank is that of a first Lieutenant. His pay is about $120 per month & if detailed on Hospital service, has no horse to furnish & if one is required it is fed by the government. If he requires servants, he is allowed pay for them, & has four rations a day & any allowances, he does not avail himself of the Government, gives him full credit for the same, & he draws their value in money, & I am told by those who have served, that there is no difficulty, in saving half the money viz $60. So now dear brother, seeing that I am about to go further, & perhaps stay longer, than I at first expected if my health be spared, you will be likely to see me next fall, even if it be on leave, you will hear from me at least monthly, & in the mean time be cheerful, as it avails naught to be otherwise, & if you must upon no pretext whatever think of leaving home. It is an imperative duty with you, as a Catholic, to remain with your sisters, & support your Mother in her declining years, & remember we all owe her a debt, that we never can repay, & for me, none of you [need] be concerned, or you should know I am in the same care everywhere I may go, for myself. I intend to pursue my destiny, courageously, with a firm hope in the world to come. I trust my behavior will be such under all circumstances that it will never shame you, & I would impress upon you, to remember, that there can be but one true misfortune, & that is to be at war, with the Author of all our happiness. No more at present, but once more Father, Mother, Brother, & Sisters & Cousins, an affectionate Good bye from your elder son, brother, & cousin Francis M. Wafer ps Saturday 6 o’clock, pm, Commissions, signed & accepted, uniform finished leave Albany at 9 o’clock for the Rappahannock, via New York, Philadelphia & Washington to join 108th Regt at camp near, Falmouth, Va, Adieu my northern home, Hurrah! For Dixie, fmw



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Camp near Falmouth March 25, 1863 Dear Brother, I left Albany on the same evening I wrote to you, & arrived in New York City [the] next morning [on] Sunday 15th. [With n]o train leaving for the south until [the] evening, I remained [in this] city that day & had the benefit & pleasure [of hearing] an excellent sermon, in the Cathedral. [In a] way [the Cathedral] seems to be the resort of the most [devoted] Catholics of New York where from the [entrance of the Cathedral I was] immediately conducted to a re[ar pew] by some ladies of the upper ten, I [understand that] officers were not often seen here. [I took the 7 o’clock train] south & arrived in Philadelphia [on the evening of March 15th] as I was tired from traveling the previous [day], it [was] advisable to rest until morning when [on March 16th I set off for Washing]ton where I arrived the same evening. [The next morning, March 17th was St] Patrick’s [Day but] business, unfortunately, prevented me from seeing how it was observed here, as I had to report myself for duty to the Surgeon General of the us Army & obtain a pass, from the Provost Marshal, to pass through the lines. This done I rested the remainder of the day & night, & left [the] next morning at 8 o Clock for the front by steamer, [on] the Potomac river as far as Acquia Creek Station, which is the base of operation of the army & through which they receive their supplies. The remainder of the journey 15 miles to Falmouth Station, within gunshot of Fredericksburg, was by Railroad right through the middle of the camp for [when] the train traveled slow, I had a fair opportunity to view the encampment & truly it is a sight to be remembered. [A] general description, the country is a succession of lofty hills, though not rocky. Those hills are intersected by deep ravines or gullies, through which generally runs a stream, or spring. In one of those vallies deeper than the others, runs the Rappahannock, an insignificant stream, not having the volume of the Gananoque river.1 [A]bout the sides of those hills & up to the very bank of the river, within speaking distance of the rebel pickets & over a space of about 15 miles square, was encamped the Army of the Potomac. [T]heir [camp] space is destitute of fences [and “the tramp of hundreds of thousands of feet ... had to a great extent obliterated the fields and farmlands.” They were] crossed, & cut up by roads [& the roads were crammed full] of baggage waggons, in every direction, ma[king it virtually im]possible to discover where the original

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[roads and fields were]. [Also] adding to this, the country is almost [barren] of all kinds of timber [for it was] used for huts & [shelters] during the winter. The houses [“had been burned or dismantled, with their farm buildings and outhouses. Those which had been preserved were often occupied by some officers or by some department of army work.”] [T]hose [families] who chose to [stay in the] ruins [“lived in extreme poverty, some glad to eke out an existence by rations supplied by the Union forces, or by washing the clothes of the soldiers encamped around them. Still harder, perhaps, was the condition of those living in the debatable land, subject in turn to the inroads of both the Union and Confederate Army” which could at any time make their houses] the headquarters of some general officer.2 I do not believe any [homes or farms] are destroyed, unless by accident, neither are orchards, cut down or destroyed [out of malice but rather out of necessity]. I soon arrive at Falmouth Station, & as the Regiment to which I am ordered lies 4 miles to the right, so I shoulder[ed] a carpet bag, (it being necessary to leave my trunk in Washington), & start[ed] on foot & enquire[ed] my way to the 108th [New York Infantry.] This is nothing [new] for I see the Colonel of [the] Regiment, who came out with me, doing the same thing as I walk[ed] over the hills to the right, Fredericksburg lies full in view bearing very few marks of the late dreadful fight except, a few shell holes, through some of the higher buildings, the little river looks as if one could wade through it but what a contrast each side of this little stream presents. On this side, whatever way one may look, the cluster of white tents appears, from nearly every eminence, floats the stars & stripes, while far & near, echoing through the hills comes the roll of drums mingled with crash of hundreds of brass bands, mellowed & softened, by distance, & upon every smooth piece of ground black masses of horses & footmen are drilling or doing picket duty. Upon the other side, the stars & bars, are nowhere to be seen, at least by the naked eye, not a tent & scarcely even a [horse but it is well] known, that upon any hostile demonstration [rebels will pour] from the ground in thousands, in fact it is [common knowledge that the Rebs have dug] into the sides of hills to form huts. [H]aving no [horse I] walk[ed to camp]. I arrived at the quarters of my Regiment [and immediately introduced] myself to Doctors Munson & Ely, the S[urgeon and the assistant] Surgeon & was hospitably received, by them [and by] the full number of Medical Staff

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also. The 108th were raised in Rochester at the second [calling by Lincoln] for 600000 more men. [It was mustered into service on August 10th, 1862] and [one month later] drilled to the field of Antietam where [the regiment first saw the elephant] though suffering scarcely [at Antietam] they have been in [the midst] of the fighting of Bolivar Heights & Fredericksburg, the consequence of which adding sickness, they are reduced to 400 effective men. Their present commander Col Powers, who has been promoted from Lieut [to] Colonel, [since] I c[a]me here, was born in Cobourg, C[anada] W[est]. I do not know his nationality or religion, but he seems to be a worthy officer. [F]our days ago, having some business to [conduct] with an officer, about a mile & a half from here, when I found I was in the vicinity of [General Thomas F.] Meagher’s celebrated Irish Brigade. Knowing they have a Catholic Chaplain, I resolved to make his acquaintance, at once, I soon found him the Rev Mr [William] Corby, making his pipe in his tent like a true soldier. He gave me an invitation to take dinner with him, which I accepted. He recounted to me with great satisfaction the sports they had in camp on St Patrick’s day consisting of horse, sack, foot, wheelbarrow & greased pig races, & also [mass] which was held in a chapel, tastefully formed of green boughs. This mass he told me was attended by many officers of the army, with many ladies, visiting their husbands at the time.3 He also recounted to me his experiences on the battlefield generally, & showed me the vestments presented to him for the occasion by the Regiment, which was the most valuable article of [clothing] I ever saw. The [vestment was a deep red and was, on the front, “richly embroidered with gold” in a] design consist[ing] of a vine [twined with flowers framing a gold cross beneath which was embroidered the letters ihs and on the back the flower twined vine was] surmounted by a lamb & cross all [embroidered in gold. The vestment was given by the regiment] with deep yielding [respect].4 My duty has been [rather light since I] came here. [W]hen the drum beats the [time of 7 o’]clock am, me & the other Assistant Surgeons [leave for the] hospital tents where we are met by [the hospital stewarts who depart] from their quarters every morning. [W]e [then tend to the patients] & the Hospital Stewarts, give them their medicines. [All totaled the rounds] lasts more than an hour. The Surgeon [in charge of the hospital spends most of his time] there in the regimental hospital [for we can] not tell how soon we may

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have busy times. [We are having] fine sunny weather, which will soon dry up the “[muddied] soil” so that the army can move. If you answer me promptly, I will be likely to receive it before we move, & [if] you hear of a battle, do not be alarmed at not hearing from me soon, as I may be too busy to write. Tent life agrees with me, as my health thank God, is rather improving every day. I am at present messing with the officers of the Medical staff, as they do not live so expensive[ly] as the field officers, most of them, receive contributions from home, which helps them much but of course I could not [rely on] any provisions from home, so far, at present. I wish I had brought a horse, even if it was expensive, for when we march I may feel the want of it, as it does not entail anymore expense for keeping this being deducted from our pay if we do not draw it. [T]he pay & ration of a servant is also allowed if we wish but I will, defer those affairs, until I become better established, you may write as often as you like. [My a]ddress [is] Francis M. Wafer, Asst Surgeon, 108th ny i Vols, Washington, dc. This address will bring it to camp. Yours, Francis M. Wafer

 Camden, nj, Aug 8th, 1863 Francis M. Wafer md Asst Surg 108th r ny Vol My dear Doctor: Excuse me for not writing an answer to your letter before this. I have just returned with my family from Blue Anchor, New Jersey where I have been spending part of the summer.5 I received your letter whilst there it having been forwarded to me by my Father. I hope that you have not had as warm weather as we have had and in fact it is pretty hot today though rain is threatening. I need not tell you that I was very much please[d] to hear from you for you are assured of that. I hope to have the pleasure of often hearing from you. You need not be surprised to hear of me coming back to the war really. I see nothing to do here and it will take a long time for me to get into a practice and I therefore think I may be with you once again. Do you often see Drs [Alvin] Satterthwaite and [Uriah] Gillman of the 12th nj? Give them my very best wishes by the by a lady called to see me this morning in relation to her husband his name was or is John F. Foster. He belonged to Capt [Charles K.]

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Horsfall’s Co of the 12th nj. She has not heard from him since the Battle of Chancellorsville only that he was missing. She called to see me for she thought he might have died in our hospitals. Will you mention the fact to Dr Satterthwaite? I think she will write to him in relation to the matter. Doc, I would like to pay you a visit but funds are scarce and Gold is so high you know as is also Green backs so high in fact that I can’t lay my hands on either. I have just finished writing a letter to Dr [William L.] Newell, our Surgeon. You remember him. He heard that I was going to return to the Army as [a] Surgeon, and he wanted me to give his friend Dr Soper a position as [an] Asst Surg. I believe I did not tell you in my previous letter that I lost all of my luggage. I had it between Washington & Philadelphia. I feel badly about it. I was not alone in my loss for 3 or 4 officers also lost theirs, the Quartermaster amongst the [bunch]. My pipe, the one that was made for me at the hospital, was in my valise. I would rather have that than any of the rest of the things lost. I was sorry to learn that you w[ere] in so much danger. I hope & trust that you will never get in as hot a place again but I am thankful to know that you got out safe & sound. Give my respects to Drs [Frederick J.] Owens & [Elias H.] Sabin when you see them also to Drs [Harry M.] McAbee & [Isaac] Scott, tell Dr McAbee I shall never forget him for his many kindnesses towards me also give my very best wishes to Dr [Alexander N.] Dougherty. I must say that I was very kindly treated by all the Surgeons I had [and] I in anyway became connected with whilst with the 2d Corps. I hope you may be as fortunate. I hope you hear regularly from your family and that they are all in good health and spirits for nothing made me so cheerful whilst in the army as to hear from home regularly. There is nothing new here at present. We are looking anxiously every day for news that Charleston[, South Carolina] is ours. I feel pretty confident that it will fall this time and no mistakes. The draft is complete in Philadelphia and no rioting. There will be no drafting in New Jersey for some time as the State is trying to make up her quota by volunteers. I hope that we will succeed, for it will be a proud thing for little Jersey if she can do so. Jersey City is paying a bounty of $850 to those who have been in service and will reenlist enough almost for a man to buy a house to give his wife, before he starts. Every thing is quiet and Copperheadism is below par. God grant that Meade will give the Rebs another dressing like the last and then we will

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look for Peace Soon. Excuse this scrawl. Dinner is ready. Hoping to hear from you soon believe me to remain truly yours, Thomas G. Rowand

 Hd Qrs 108th ny Vols Morton’s Ford Va Feb 29th 64 Dear Brother I once more address you from my tent in the 108th. Arrived yesterday at 5 pm safe & cheerful but somewhat travel weary but hope to rec[over] after a few days rest in this genial climate & the pure atmosphere of a tent. Found all well & pleased to see me except Mrs Grassie who was much disappointed as well as vexed because I did not fulfill my promise viz to bring Mrs Wafer, on to keep her company.6 Have heard Col Pierce is doing well at Rochester. Found on my arrival, a package addressed to me containing a beautiful new pair of cream colored Gants, a superb pair reaching halfway to my elbows, worth $5 five dollars. [I c]an’t say who is the donor, but suspect Col Pierce. But if the officers of the 108th don’t cease to shower so much kindness & attention upon your big brother, the chances are, they will spoil him yet. I left the Cape at 7 pm, the same evening I parted you, took a berth in a sleeping car at Watertown, being in much need of rest. Next morning 26th at daybreak, the Conductor shook us all in succession crying out at the same time “Albany.” After a due amount of groaning & grunting I rolled out of my berth, had got into one boot & was trying on the other stooping forward head to the front of the car, when all at once, the whole train with a vast amount of clanking, rumbling jolting & grinding came to a dead halt. The immediate consequences as far as regards myself were rather ludicrous. Forward went I head first, like an indignant sheep going into action, with a will, making a rear attack upon some individual, in nearly the same position as myself. When I last saw him, he was still going at a highly accelerated speed towards the front of the car apparently with the intention of retaliating upon the first one he met or ramming the whole end out of the car. Nobody hurt or frightened badly. The tender & passenger car, immediately in front of the one in which I was had run off the track, at the intersection of a siding within a mile of Albany. Some proposed to walk to the city, but after considering that we would lose the first train to New York, anyhow most of us

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decided to remain, until taken off. Luckily in the course of an hour, a train came down, & removed us. I left Albany at 9.30 am, arriving in New York, [the] same evening, crossed over the ferry to Jersey City & took the 7.30 train for the south. Took a sleeping berth, & knew nothing of what was passing until I arrived in Washington at sunrise on the 27th. When I left Albany, snow was falling & the air sharp & biting. At New York, cold & windy, but no snow, opened my eyes at Washington & found lovely spring weather, dust flying in clouds. I now write this in my open tent, no fire in my stove, neither have I the least inclination to have a fire made, so mild is the weather. But believe me this very fine weather, makes us feel little at ease, because we all know it is an excellent time for campaigning, & I may venture to predict it will soon be taken advantage of. Look out for stirring news before long. In the mean time none of you must be downcast at my long absence for such feelings, cannot in any way benefit me or you. I believe I shall be enabled to master all feeling of regret on my part although I have had to bear more than any of you as you will readily understand. Because each of you had to part with but one friend. While I leave Parents, Brother, & Sisters not only but many affectionate cousins & acquaintances, some of whom showered, many unfeigned signs of affection, friendship & regret at my departure, where I did not know before, such feeling existed. With all that a son & brother can feel regarding you all, I remain ever yours in affection Francis Moses Wafer, md ps Respecting the due in which Mr Gowe asserts there is an error. You will compare it with former deeds, & try to discern any discrepancy. If any exist it will be the duty of [James] Durand to correct them. You must be on your guard, for fraud. Ask Mr H[enry] Smith whether it is legal for me to sign the deed if sent to me by mail. fmw

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amiet, c arl v. Amiet enlisted on 18 July 1862 in Company i of the 108th New York Infantry for a term of three years. He was promoted to second lieutenant on 9 September 1862 and died at Gettysburg at the rank of first lieutenant.1 andrews, william h. Andrews, along with six other soldiers, left the 108th New York for Rochester, New York, on 12 February 1864 to recruit one hundred new members. Andrews remained in Rochester through May of 1864, missing the battle of the Wilderness. On 14 May 1864, he received orders to return to his regiment.2 arms, irving. Arms, a native of Middleville, Michigan, sustained wounds at the Battle of Chancellorsville. He died in action at Bristoe Station on 14 October 1863. However, according to at least one veteran, the unlucky man killed at the Battle of Bristoe Station was actually Charles Kenyon of Company k. Wafer and the Rochester Daily Union & American state that Irving Arms was the one mortality. Kenyon’s Civil War service record reveals that he enlisted at the age of twenty-seven on 16 August 1862 in Company k of the 108th New York. He apparently deserted sometime thereafter. Arms’s Civil War service records indicated that Wafer was correct.3 arner, thomas. Arner enlisted on 28 August 1862 to serve three years as an assistant surgeon to the 108th New York. He was “very popular in the

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regi[ment] and [had] many friends.” Generally regarded as a “hard worker,” the regiment was sorry to lose him when he was medically discharged on 13 January 1863.4 baker, dr. There is no evidence to support Wafer’s contention that a Dr Baker served as a surgeon in the 24th New York Infantry. bloss, william w. Bloss, an abolitionist, helped recruit Company a of the 108th New York Infantry in July of 1862. At the battle of Antietam, Bloss “received a buckshot wound in the face, destroying the right cartilage of the nose, and lacerating the lips and chin.” He recovered and rejoined the regiment at Bolivar Heights but “his health was too seriously shattered” for him to continue and he was mustered out on 14 March 1863 at the rank of second lieutenant. Bloss died on 3 September 1892 at Woodland Park, Illinois.5 bronson, george. Bronson was a resident of New Haven, Connecticut, until he enlisted in the 12th Connecticut on 31 October 1861. He died of wounds received at Chancellorsville.6 brownley, charles. Brownley was a neighbour of Wafer’s in Pittsburgh Township, Canada West, and a colleague at the medical college of Queen’s Univeristy. On 2 September 1861, Brownley enlisted in Company k of the 61st New York Infantry for a term of three years. Wounded in action at Antietam, his service record claims he died of his wounds in October of 1862. Clearly, Brownley’s death was recorded in error as Wafer reveals that Brownley transferred to the 6th New York Cavalry and the two men met again in 1864.7 cox, bryce a. On 18 August 1862, Cox enlisted for three years with Company c of the 108th New York. On 1 January 1863, he was promoted to first lieutenant and transferred to Company e. After he was injured at Antietam, Cox was granted a pass for a leave of absence. He was captured and charged with desertion on 3 April 1863 for altering his pass. Cox was dishonourably discharged and died in 1894.8 c ard, dayton t. Born on 22 July 1838 at Seneca Falls, New York, Card abandoned his career as a printer to enlist in Company h of the 108th New York for a three-year term. He fought at Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville and died at Gettysburg while defending Cemetery Hill on

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3 July 1863. He was “struck by a piece of shell in the breast, tearing it open, and carrying away a portion of his face.” At the time of his death, Card was the father of four small children and held the rank of second lieutenant.9 clow, henry j. A native of Hamlin, New York, Clow enlisted as a private in Company b of the 108th New York on 29 July 1862 at the age of eighteen. Due to the wounds he sustained at Chancellorsville and Morton’s Ford, he was discharged on 30 January 1865 while recovering at Lincoln General Hospital in Washington, dc.10 corby, william. Born in Detroit on 2 October 1833, Corby graduated from Notre Dame University in 1859 and accepted a professorship. He resigned his professorship to enter the Union army and served as chaplain of the Irish Brigade. He is best known for addressing the troops at Gettysburg. Following the war, he returned to Notre Dame University as vicepresident and was promoted to president in 1866. Corby died on 28 December 1897 of pneumonia.11 deverell, joseph. On 9 August 1862 at the age of thirty, Deverell enlisted for a three-year term with Company k of the 108th New York. In 1864 he was sent to Elmira, New York, to recruit men for the unit. On 12 April 1864, he was ordered to rejoin his unit. Deverell was wounded during the battle of Cold Mountain on 3 June 1864. On 11 October 1864 he was discharged due to his injury.12 dickson, charles. Dickson served as a hospital attendant for the 108th New York. A Confederate bullet ended his life instantly at the battle of the Wilderness. His family attempted to recover his body from a shipment of dead to Rochester only to discover that his regiment had been unable to recover his body as the Confederates had taken possession of the field. The family decided to erect a headstone in Rochester’s Mount Hope Cemetery. “Only the second line of his epitaph is discernible, which reads: ‘The form of our Charlie is sleeping’.”13 doten, frederick b. Until his enlistment on 1 August 1862 in the 14th Connecticut Volunteers, Doten, a native of Sheffield, Massachusetts, resided in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He was captured at the battle of Morton’s Ford and sent, along with six of his men, to Libby prison. He was released from military service on 1 May 1865 and spent the remainder of

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his life as a bank teller for the First National Bank of Chicopee, Massachusetts. Doten died on 9 April 1903.14 dougherty, alexander n. Dougherty enrolled in the 4th New Jersey Infantry on 17 August 1861 and was mustered out on 20 October 1865. He served as medical director of the Second Corps until his transfer to the Right Grand Division on 5 December 1862 where he served as medical director. He returned to the Second Corps in his previous capacity in 1863.15 duc achet, h.w. Ducachet served as “the medical officer in charge of the Officer’s Hospital in Georgetown.” He was later transferred to “Surgeon-in-Chief of the garrison of Washington.” He died of typhoid pneumonia on 11 October 1865 in Georgetown.16 dudley, frederick a. Dudley, an antebellum resident of New Haven, Connecticut, enlisted on 11 August 1862 and was mustered out on 31 May 1865. He served as a surgeon from April 1863 until he was wounded and captured at Gettysburg on 3 July 1863. He was paroled on 14 January 1865 and mustered out on 31 May 1865 along with his regiment.17 durant, james. Durant served as the Frontenac County registrar and served the City of Kingston, Canada West, from his offices on King Street.18 dutton, william. Dutton enlisted on 18 August 1862 for three years with Company d of the 108th New York. On 1 June 1863, he was promoted to first lieutenant. Wounded at Petersburg on 20 June 1864, doctors sent him to De Camp General Hospital on David’s Island, New York. He died of his wounds on 19 July 1864.19 dwinelle, justin. Dwinelle mustered in on 28 June 1861 as one of the 71st Pennsylvania Infantry’s assistant surgeons. He transferred to the 106th Pennsylvania Infantry in September of 1861. He was promoted to surgeon and served until 10 September 1864 at which time he was mustered out alongside a portion of his regiment.20 ellerbeck, robert e. Born in Canada, most likely in Kingston, Canada West, Ellerbeck enlisted in the 27th New York Infantry, Company e on 21 May 1861 in Rochester. He was discharged on 1 October 1861 because

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of a hernia. He re-enlisted in the 6th New York Cavalry on 24 October 1861 and was promoted from first sergeant to captain of Company g on 27 October 1862. He was absent without leave for July and August of 1863. The war department restored Ellerbeck’s command on 14 September 1863. He was captured during the battle of White Oak Swamp and imprisoned by the Confederacy.21 ellis, theodore grenville. Ellis, an antebellum resident of Hartford, Connecticut, gave up his profession as a civil engineer and enlisted in the 14th Connecticut Regiment on 18 June 1863. Following Lieutenant Colonel Perkins’s injury at the battle of Fredericksburg, Ellis took over command of the regiment. Over the course of the war, he rose to the rank of brigadier general and was mustered out on 31 May 1865.22 ely, william smith. Born in 1841, Ely graduated from the University of Rochester in 1861. He enlisted in the 108th New York as an assistant surgeon on 18 August 1862 for a term of three years. He served the regiment until September of 1863 when he was promoted to surgeon of the us Volunteers and assigned to Maryland’s Annapolis Hospital. On 20 January 1865 Ely was promoted to the rank of major and mustered out on 7 October 1865. In the postwar era, he became a renowned expert on tuberculosis. Ely died in 1911 and is buried in Rochester’s Mount Hope Cemetery.23 evans, robert. At the age of twenty-nine Evans abandoned his antebellum career as a miller to enlist for a term of three years in Company c of the 108th New York. At the time of his death at Gettysburg, he held the rank of second sergeant.24 fatzer, solomon. A native of Switzerland, Fatzer enlisted at the age of thirty-five on 31 July 1862 in Company i of the 108th New York for a term of three years. He remustered on 22 April 1864 and was promoted to second lieutenant on 18 May 1864 with rank from 3 July 1863. He was captured on 18 June 1864, paroled in March 1865, and granted a thirty-day leave of absence. Fatzer mustered out of military service on 17 May 1865 at the rank of first lieutenant.25 fee, samuel h. Born in Kingston, Canada West, in 1843, Fee was a classmate of Wafer’s at the medical college of Queen’s University. Fee graduated on 17 June 1862 and set up private practice at 94 Princess Street in Kingston.26

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f e l l m a n , j o h n r . Fellman enlisted on 14 July 1862 for a term of three years with Company i of the 108th New York. Due to his injury at Gettysburg, Fellman was honourably discharged on 22 April 1864. He spent the remainder of the war attached to the Veteran Reserve Corps.27 field, charles e. Field worked as a tinsmith before the war. He mustered into the 108th New York on 31 July 1862 at the age of twenty-two. He served as a private in Company b until he mustered out on 28 May 1865.28 force, george b. Born in New Jersey in 1831, Force moved to Michigan in 1858. When war erupted, he helped raise the 13th Michigan Volunteers. He was honourably discharged in 1862 due to illness. In August 1862 he enlisted in the 108th New York for a three-year term. He died of his wounds at the Battle of Antietam and became the first officer in the 108th to die in battle.29 foster, john f. A member of Company e of the 12th New Jersey Infantry, he died on the field at Chancellorsville on 3 May 1863.30 franklins. Charles and Isabella Franklin farmed on the third concession, lot fourteen, of Pittsburgh Township, Canada West. They had six children. The three that Wafer refers to are Charles, born in 1835, Joseph, born in 1840, and Catherine, nicknamed Kitty, born in 1844. The Wafers and the Franklins were related through Wafer’s mother’s family, the McLaughlins.31 gilman, uriah. Gilman enrolled in the 12th New Jersey on 20 August 1862 and served as an assistant surgeon until he was mustered out 4 June 1865.32 gowe, mr Gowe’s identity is unknown but, based on the context in which Wafer referred to him, he was likely a banker or some form of financial officer in the city of Kingston, Canada West. graham, john l. A native of Ireland, Graham enlisted on 28 July 1862 at the age of twenty-two to serve a term of three years with Company k of the 108th New York. He was promoted to second lieutenant on 19 February 1863. Following his injury at Gettysburg, he was honourably discharged on 14 November 1863.33

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grassie, thomas g. Born in Kildruming, Scotland, on 29 November 1831, Grassie moved to America in 1841. He joined the Army of the Potomac in February of 1863 and “was elected chaplain about April 1st, in place of Rev. James Nichols, who had been compelled by sickness to resign.” Grassie was mustered in on 1 May 1863 and faithfully served the 108th New York until his “discharge in January 1865, because of disease of his right eye, induced by malaria fever contracted on an expedition of the regiment to Deep Bottom.”34 hadley, alfred b. A native of Ovid, New York, Hadley enlisted at the age of eighteen on 22 July 1862. At the time of his injury at Gettysburg, he held the rank of sergeant. On 15 February 1865, he was transferred and promoted from Company e of the 108th New York to second lieutenant of Company b. He mustered out, along with his unit, in May of 1865.35 hammond, william alexander. Born in Annapolis, Maryland, on 28 August 1828, Hammond obtained a medical degree from New York University in 1848 and served as an assistant surgeon in the us army until 1860. In 1860 he resigned in order accept a teaching position at the University of Maryland. In 1862 General McClellan appointed Hammond surgeon general of the Union army at the rank of brigadier general. Hammond’s plans for revitalizing the Army Medical Corps repeatedly clashed with those of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Stanton managed to have Hammond dismissed from the military on charges of “ungentlemanly conduct.” Until his death in 1900 Hammond served as a distinguished doctor and “pioneer in the treatment of nervous and mental diseases.”36 harris, joseph s. Harris mustered into the 108th New York Infantry on 18 August 1862 at the age of sixty-two. He served as quartermaster from 1862 until he resigned on 11 January 1864 to join the second army corps.37 hays, joshua l. Born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, on 6 May 1880, Hays enlisted in the 14th Indiana Infantry, Company a, as a Corporal but rose to the rank of captain. He was wounded at Antietam and Gettysburg. Hays died on 20 March 1911 following an illness.38 hays, alexander. Hays, a native of Franklin, Pennsylvania, graduated from West Point in 1844 at the age of twenty-five. He served in the

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Mexican-American War and resigned from the military in 1848 to pursue a career in the iron industry. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Hays re-enlisted at the rank of colonel but was soon promoted to brigadier general of volunteers. He commanded at Gettysburg even though he was still recovering from a severe wound received at Second Manassas. He was killed by a Confederate sharpshooter on the morning of 5 May 1864 during the battle of the Wilderness.39 hays, william. Born on 9 May 1819 in Richmond, Virginia, Hays graduated from West Point in 1840 along with William T. Sherman, George H. Thomas, and Richard S. Ewell. He served in the Mexican-American and Seminole wars. Following the battle of Fredericksburg, he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers. Captured at Chancellorsville, he was paroled in time to command at Gettysburg. He spent the remainder of his life in the military. He died in February of 1875.40 hickey, william. Hickey’s identity is unknown. Judging by the context in which Wafer referred to him, he was likely a friend, neighbour, or cousin of Wafer’s in the Kingston area of Canada West. hogoboom, harman s. Born in Arcadia, New York, on 12 August 1834, Hogoboom graduated from law school in 1859. He was mustered into the 108th New York on 29 July 1862 and acquired the rank of major on 2 March 1863. He served at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg but was discharged on 7 August 1863 due to medical issues. In the postwar period, he moved west and engaged in mining and farming.41 horsfall, charles k. Horsfall enrolled in Company e of the 12th New Jersey Infantry on 22 August 1862 and died on the field at Gettysburg on 2 July 1863.42 hutchinson, franklin b. Born 31 July 1837 in Pennfield, New York, Hutchinson graduated from the University of Rochester in 1862. He served as second lieutenant of Company h of the 108th New York at Antietam and the Wilderness before becoming the paymaster. He spent the postwar era as a lawyer until his death in Rochester on 6 June 1919.43 ingalls, r ufus. Born 23 August 1818 in Denmark, Maine, Ingalls graduated from West Point in 1843 and served in the Mexican-American

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War. During the Civil War he served as chief quartermaster to the Army of the Potomac. In the postwar era, he served sixteen years as chief quartermaster to the Division of the Pacific and the Division of the Missouri. He retired fifteen months after his appointment as quartermaster general of the army in 1882 and died in New York City on 15 January 1893.44 kenleyside, john. A native of Scotland, Kenleyside worked as a carpenter before the war. In his nineteenth year, he enlisted as a substitute for L.E. Moore in Rochester, New York, on 20 July 1862 to serve three years in Company g of the 108th New York. In return for his service, he received a bounty of twenty-five dollars and “a suit of rubber clothing.” He mustered out on 31 December 1862 near Falmouth, Virginia, and was transferred to Company e on 13 February 1863. At the time of his death at Cold Harbor, he held the rank of second lieutenant.45 kernehans. Given the context in which Wafer refers to them, the Kernehans were likely friends, neighbours, or cousins of Wafer’s in the Kingston area of Canada West. kevins, e.h. Born in Green County, Indiana, on 16 April 1832, Kevins worked as a lawyer and politician in Bloomfield, Indiana. He enlisted in Company d of the 14th Indiana Volunteer Infantry in May of 1861. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 22 January 1863 and served until the battle of the Wilderness when he was reassigned as adjutant general of the Southern Division of the State of Indiana. Kevins died on 9 September 1909.46 kilpatrick, judson. A native of Deckertown, New Jersey, Kilpatrick graduated from West Point in May of 1861 at the age of twenty-five and immediately enlisted in the 5th New York Infantry at the rank of captain. He was wounded at the battle of Big Bethel and by June of 1863 had risen through the ranks to brigadier general of volunteers. In April of 1864, he was wounded during the opening of the Atlanta campaign but returned to witness the surrender of General Joseph Johnston’s army. He resigned his commission in 1865. He was appointed minister to Chile and died at his post in Santiago on 4 December 1881.47 knapp, theodore e. Knapp enlisted on 4 August 1862 for three years of service in Company b of the 108th New York. He was wounded at Antietam on 17 September 1862 but recovered. He was promoted to first

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lieutenant and transferred to Company k on 9 June 1864. His wound of February 1865 healed and he was promoted to captain. Knapp mustered out with his unit on 25 May 1865.48 maccullough, alex. Other than that he served in Company j of the 108th and died of wounds received at Chancellorsville, little is know of MacCullough. maull, david w. Born in Georgetown, Delaware, on 16 May 1863, Maull graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1853 and established a joint practice with his father in Wilmington, Delaware. He enlisted in the 1st Delaware Infantry, Company g in May 1861 and served until August 1861. He re-enlisted for three years and served as a surgeon until his promotion to surgeon in chief in 1864. During his time with the regiment, he “won the highest respect and affection of the men of the regiment” due to “his tender devotion” and “his prompt willingness to sacrifice his own personal ease and comfort to relieve suffering.” He resigned his position on 20 April 1865. In the postwar era, he served as the chief examining surgeon for Union pensioners. He died on 22 February 1896 and was buried at Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery in Wilmington, Delaware.49 m cabee, harry m. Born on 12 May 1827 in Pennsylvania, McAbee graduated from Cleveland’s medical college in 1857. He served as a surgeon for the 4th Ohio from 1 May 1861 until 16 September 1863. He was killed in a railroad accident near Cleveland, Ohio, in 1864.50 m ccormick, cyr us. The son of a renowned inventor, McCormick was born in Virginia on 15 February 1809. His early life was spent farming and observing his father’s inventing skill. In 1831 McCormick combined the two and invented a reaper, which, after a number of refinements, revolutionized American agriculture. Due to age and inclination, McCormick did not serve in the war but witnessed it nevertheless. His comments on the superiority of the monarchy may have derived from his 1851 visit to the industrial exhibition at London’s Crystal Palace. McCormick died in 1884 leaving a vast estate, a legacy of ingenuity, and a son to carry on the tradition.51 m cdonald, a.d.j. A lawyer from Kingston, Canada West, McDonald enlisted on 23 July 1862 in Company c of the 108th New York. An injury received at Gettysburg prevented him from serving his three-year term.

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He was honourably discharged on 21 November 1863 at the rank of first lieutenant.52 m ckinley, james a. Born in Kingston, Canada West, in 1836, McKinley moved to Oswego, New York. He enlisted on 11 September 1862 for a three-year term with Company i of the 147th New York Infantry. He served as first lieutenant until his promotion to captain on 25 October 1863. He was mustered out on 7 June 1865 near Washington, dc.53 m claughlin, william and charley. William and Charley McLaughlin were, given the context in which Wafer mentions them, most likely his cousins through his mother’s side of the family. m cnaughton, james. Born in Kenmore, Scotland, in 1796, McNaughton graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh in 1816. The following year he moved to Albany, New York. In 1828 he joined the Albany County Medical Society and served as the organization’s president from 1848 until 1849. From 1840 until his death, he served as a professor of theory and practice at Albany Medical College and from 1869 until his death as the institution’s president. McNaughton died in Paris in 1874 of a heart attack.54 munson, owen. Munson served as an assistant surgeon to the 5th New York Infantry. He was captured at Saratoga Station in October of 1861 and paroled. He enlisted in the 108th New York on 17 February 1863 as a contract surgeon but due to ill health was forced to resign. He was honourably discharged on 30 April 1864. He died on 21 May 1868 in Washington, dc.55 newell, william l. Newell enrolled in the 24th New Jersey Infantry as a surgeon on 16 September 1862 and was mustered out on 29 June 1863.56 nichols, james. At the age of fifty, Nichols, or Nicholson as Wafer calls him, enlisted on 18 August 1862 to serve a three-year term as a chaplain of the 108th New York. Due to illness, however, he was discharged on 14 March 1863.57 ostrander, dwight h. Ostrander enlisted on 18 June 1862 for a three-year term with Company a of the 108th New York. He was promoted

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from private to sergeant on 20 November 1862, to second lieutenant on 6 February 1863, to first lieutenant on 1 May 1863, and to captain on 25 July 1864. Ostrander was wounded in action at Hatcher’s Run on 27 October 1864 and discharged on 17 April 1865 due to his injuries. He died on 2 November 1910 in Texas.58 owens, frederick j. Owens, a native of Vernon, Delaware, served an assistant surgeon for the 1st Delaware Infantry from 8 May 1863 until August 1864.59 owens, joshua t. A native of Wales, Owens moved to America in 1830 at the age of nine. He served in the Pennsylvania legislature from 1857 until 1859. He enlisted as a colonel and was quickly promoted through the ranks to brigadier general of volunteers in November 1862. Controversy surrounded his failure at Cold Harbor and he was mustered out in July of 1864. In the postwar era, he dabbled in law as well as journalism until his death in 1887.60 palmer, oliver h. Born on 5 October 1814 at Walworth, New York, Palmer was a lawyer during the antebellum era. On 28 July 1862, he entered Company f of the 108th New York at the rank of colonel. Due to his ill health, Palmer “asked to be relieved of his command ... and on the 6th of March, 1863 he took leave of his regiment.” Palmer succumbed to pneumonia on 2 February 1884.61 palmer, richard h. Palmer originally served as a hospital steward with the 170th New York Infantry. He enlisted as an assistant surgeon in the 10th New York Infantry on 30 April 1864 at the age of forty-eight. He died of disease in Brooklyn, New York, on 4 December 1864.62 pierce, francis e. Born in Fowlerville, New York, Pierce graduated from Rochester University in 1859 and spent much of the antebellum era as a teacher and administrator. In July 1862 he helped raise the 108th New York. With Powers’s resignation, Pierce was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 2 March 1863. At the battle of Morton’s Ford, he lost his left eye to a Confederate bullet but resumed command at the battle of the Wilderness.63 pinkerton, frank. Pinkerton enlisted in the 12th New York Infantry on 10 November 1861 at the age of thirty-one. He was charged with deser-

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tion in 1862. The situation was sorted out as he clearly fought and lost an arm in 1863.64 porter, samuel. Born on 16 August 1843 in Rochester, Porter enlisted in Company f of the 108th New York on 9 August 1862. He rose from the rank of second lieutenant to brevet-major by April 1865. He was wounded at Antietam, Gettysburg, Bristoe Station, and the Wilderness. He was mustered out on 28 May 1865 and died of a malaria-related illness on 7 March 1881.65 powers, charles j. A native of Coburg, Canada West, on 7 June 1833, Powers moved to the United States at the age of fifteen. He completed his education at the University of Toronto and Harvard College. Up until the war, he worked as a lawyer in Rochester and enlisted in the 13th New York Infantry. He proved himself at the Battle of Bull Run and with the formation of the 108th in 1862 was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel. Powers commanded troops at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Bristoe Station, and Mine Run among other important battles. He was disabled at the battle of the Wilderness when a bullet ruined his left arm. He continued his military career following the war and rose to the rank of brevetted major general. He died on 27 August 1882 and is buried in Rochester’s Mount Hope Cemetery.66 quackenbush, john van pelt. Born into an affluent New York family in 1819, Quackenbush spent his youth reading and studying. He graduated from William College in 1838 and Albany Medical College in 1842. Quackenbush served as secretary for the Medical Society of New York State in 1847 and president from 1852–53. In 1857 he joined the faculty at Albany Medical College as a specialist in midwifery and female diseases. He served as surgeon general of New York from 1863 to 1865. In the postwar, period he continued to be an active medical practitioner until his death in 1876.67 richardson. Richardson was a frequent visitor to the camps of the 108th New York Infantry. He was arrested in Frederick City after it was discovered that he had “sketches of the route the Union army wagon train was to move” in his boot. These sketches were to be delivered to Jeb Stuart. Richardson was hanged and “[c]uriosity seekers ... clipp[ed] off his garments until the body was entirely nude.”68

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ristow, frederich. A native of Germany, Ristow enlisted on 17 July 1862 at the age of twenty-one. He died on 19 May 1863 at a hospital near Potomac Creek of wounds he received at Chancellorsville on 3 May 1864.69 rowland, thomas g. Rowland enrolled as an assistant-surgeon in the 12th and 24th New Jersey Infantry on 16 September 1862. Following the battle of Chancellorsville, Rowland was “detailed for service at the Potomac Creek Hospital” but return to his regiment upon their move to Washington in early June of 1862. He was mustered out on 29 June 1863.70 royce, mr and mrs. The Royces were most likely John and his wife, Maggie, who were innkeepers in Kingston, Canada West.71 r uffin, thomas. Ruffin spent the antebellum era involved in the legal profession and in politics at the local and national levels. With the outbreak of war, he left the United States Congress in favour of the Confederate Congress. He enlisted in the 1st North Carolina Infantry and was mortally wounded at Bristoe Station; he died a prisoner of war on 13 October 1863.72 sabin, elias h. Sabin served an assistant surgeon in the 14th Connecticut Infantry until October of 1863.73 satterthwaite, alvin . Satterthwaite transferred from the 7th New York Infantry to the 12th New Jersey Infantry on 19 July 1862. He served as the regiment’s surgeon from September 1862 until he was mustered out on 4 June 1865.74 scott, isaac. Scott, a native of Parkersburgh, West Virginia, served as the 7th West Virginia Infantry’s surgeon until December 1864.75 sleeper, j. henry. A native of Boston, Sleeper enlisted at the age of twenty-three as a first lieutenant in the 1st Massachusetts. He was recognized for his bravery at First Bull Run and was quickly promoted. He was mustered into the 10th Massachusetts Battery on 22 September 1862 and took command of the regiment on 1 October 1862. He was wounded at Reams Station. On 27 February 1865 he resigned his commission as a brevet major and returned to civilian life. He died on 10 August 1891.76

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smith, henry. Smith was a barrister with offices located at the corner of Union and College streets in Kingston, Canada West.77 smith, henry b. A farmer from Chili, New York, Smith enlisted in Company h of the 108th New York for a three-year term beginning on 12 August 1862. He was wounded at Gettysburg. Smith was discharged with the rank of sergeant on 9 August 1864 due to the injury he sustained at Mine Run.78 smyth, thomas a. Born on 25 December 1832 in Cork County, Ireland, Smyth settled in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1858. With the outbreak of war, he joined the 24th Pennsylvania Volunteers. At the end of ninety days, he was mustered out of the 24th and promptly joined the 1st Delaware. He fought at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Auburn Mills, Bristoe Station, Hatcher’s Run, Ream’s Station, and Farmville where he was mortally wounded on 7 April 1865. He died early on the morning of the ninth and has the dubious distinction of being “the last general officer killed in the war.”79 soper, Dr. Soper’s identity is unknown as there is no record of a Dr Soper in the Union army. spalter, frank j. Spalter initially enlisted in the 4th Ohio Infantry and served from 5 June 1861 until 31 December 1862. He re-enlisted in the 4th Battalion of the Ohio Infantry.80 spinola, fransico b. Born on Long Island, New York, on 19 March 1821, Spinola was one of the few Union generals with no antebellum military experience. Spinola spent the antebellum period mired in politics. He served at the local, state, and national levels and was among the delegates at the 1860 Democratic National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina. In return for recruiting four regiments, he was promoted to brigadier general on 2 October 1862. He recovered from his wound at Manassas Gap. With the reorganization of the Army of the Potomac, Spinola was relieved of duty and resigned on 8 June 1865. He returned to his political ambitions and spent three terms as a member of Congress. He died early in his third term in 1890.81 staats, barent p. A descendant of one of New York’s founding families, Staats was born in 1796 in Rensselaer County. He spent most of his

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life in medicine and politics. He served as treasurer of the Albany County Medical Society in 1824, vice-president in 1829, and president from 1834 to1836 and was honoured in 1867 for being one of its oldest members. He also served as an alderman in Albany as well as mayor from 1842 to 1843. He died in 1871 and was remembered as having “generous sympathies, and strong attachments; strong sense of justice, and strict temperance.”82 stephenson, robert. Born in 1806, Stephenson returned to Ireland following the war.83 stevenson, christopher f. Little is know of Stevenson. He apparently served in both the 6th New Jersey Infantry and the 8th New Jersey as a corporal. sullivan, john s. The regiment that Sullivan was attached to seems to be under debate. While Wafer clearly states that it was the 7 West Virginia, Samuel Fiske states with equal clarity that Sullivan was a member of the 14th Indiana Infantry.84 thomas, george h. Born into a slaveholding family in Southampton, Virginia, in July of 1816, Thomas graduated from West Point in 1840 alongside William T. Sherman. Thomas opted, against his family’s wishes, to join the Union. He commanded Union forces at Bull Run, Shiloh, and Corinth, as well as at Chickamauga and during the Atlanta campaign. He continued his military career after the war, resigning in 1869. He died the following year due to a stroke induced by an earthquake.85 thrasher, byron p. Other than that he was a member of the 108th and died of wounds received at Chancellorsville, little is known of him. vanhorns. By 1863 the Vanhorn family operated three farms in Pittsburgh Township, Canada West. William, Sr, and Elizabeth operated the original family farm on the third concession, lot fourteen, where they raised fourteen children. At the time of Wafer’s letter, their sons John and William were also farming. John farmed lot fifteen on the third concession of Pittsburgh Township while William farmed lot fourteen on the first concession.86 vaughn, george w. Vaughn was born in 1840 in Northumberland County, Canada West. It is unlikely that Wafer knew that Vaughn was Canadian, given Wafer’s habit of identifying his fellow compatriots.87

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whitbeck, john . Whitbeck was a founding member of the Rochester Medical Society and served as the organization’s president from 1853 to 1859 and again with the organization’s resurrection in 1866. Whitbeck enlisted on 18 August 1862 at the rank of surgeon. He served at Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville, but “after less than a year’s service” he “tender[ed] his resignation on account of sickness.” Generally regarded as “unfeeling and unsympathetic,” Whitbeck was not well liked by the regiment. He was discharged on 6 January 1863 and died in Rochester, New York, in 1880.88 willard, sylvester d. Born in Wilton, Connecticut, on 19 June 1825, Willard graduated from Albany Medical College in 1848. From 1857 to his death, he served as secretary of the Medical Society of New York State, vice-president from 1856 to 1857, and president in 1858. Willard was a prolific pamphlet writer and medical advocate. During the war he volunteered his medical skills to the Army of the Potomac. In 1864 the surgeon general of New York appointed Willard to investigate the status of mental health patients in the State of New York. Although he died of typhoid on 2 April 1865, Willard’s Law, which passed in 1865, articulated his ideas about mental health. The law established a lunatic asylum in Utica, New York. The Willard Asylum for the Insane opened in 1869.89 willet, thomas. Oulette was born in 1820 in Canada East. When he enlisted as a chaplain in the 69th New York Infantry on 10 November 1861, Union officials anglicized his name to Willet. He resigned on 25 December 1862 only to re-enlist on 13 February 1864. He mustered out with his regiment on 30 June 1865 near Alexandria, Virginia. Given Wafer’s penchant for identifying other Canadians, it is unlikely that he was aware of Willet’s nativity.90 williams, marvin. Williams enlisted on 9 August 1862 for a threeyear term in Company h of the 108th New York. On 2 December 1862, he transferred to the 136th New York Infantry.91 woodr uff, george a. Born in Michigan on 27 May 1840, Woodruff graduated from West Point in 1857. He fought in the Peninsular campaign and the battles of Fair Oaks, Fredericksburg, Antietam, and Chancellorsville, among others. He was mortally wounded and died at Gettysburg on 4 July 1862.92

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yates, horatio. Born in Oswego, New York, on 11 February 1821, Yates moved to Kingston, Canada West, at the age of twelve. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania medical program in 1842 and settled in Kingston, Canada West, in 1843. Well respected, Yates was a founding member of the medical college of Queen’s University and went on to play an important role in the running of Kingston General Hospital until his death in 1882.93

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introduction 1 Chesnut, A Diary, 35. 2 Russell, My Diary, 56–7. 3 Holmes, The Diary, 29. 4 Stanton, Elizabeth, vol. 2, 89. 5 Cited in Atlantic Monthly 9 (December 1861): 238; Stille, Northern Interests, 39. 6 Cited in the New York Times, March 4, 1861. 7 On the Wafer farm see the Illustrated Historical Atlas, 48; Hughes and Ellsworth, eds., 1844 Assessment, 9. 8 Smithson, ed., 1851–1852 Census, 21; Francis M. Wafer Fonds, 1863–1867, Queen’s University Archives (hereafter qua). 9 Wafer, Medical School Records, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 10 Kingston Daily Whig, 13 April 1861. 11 New York Herald, 24 January 1861; New York Times, 2 February 1861. On British North American anxiety over annexation also see Hoy, Canadians, 368–70, 373–4; Macdonald, Canadian Public Opinion, 34–41; Marquis, In Armageddon’s Shadow, 262, 285; Winks, The Civil War Years, 4–5, 23–7, 31, 104. 12 Cited in the Toronto Globe, 2 September 1861; Creighton, John A. Macdonald, 369. 13 Cougle, Canadian Blood, 110; Unknown to Brother, 14 August 1862, Brockville Weekly Recorder. For an overview of British North American public opinion see

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Landon, “Canadian Opinion”; MacDonald, Canadian Public Opinion; Talman, “A Canadian View.” 14 Hoy, Canadians, 22–3; Higginson, “Hon. J. A. Andrews,” 2; Wade to Father, 20 September 1861, in Wade, “We Are On the Blockading Again,” 28; Semper, “Islanders in Blue and Grey,” 10; John Campbell to Father, 17 February 1862, mg 55/24, #393, Library and Archives of Canada (lac). On Wade also see Cousins, ed., “Letters of Norman Wade,” 126; Cousins, “A Nova Scotian,” 58. 15 Cited in Hoy, Canadians, 155. 16 H.W. Blanchard to Brother, 14 August 1862, Brockville Weekly Recorder, 9 September 1862. 17 Samuel Heck to Unknown, Brockville Weekly Recorder, 9 January 1862. 18 Richard Ruston to Sister, date unknown, reprinted in Jenkins, “British North Americans,” 101. 19 Charnwood, Abraham, 179. For similar statements see Ballard, The Military Genius, 49; Luthin, The Real Abraham Lincoln, 290; Sandburg, Abraham, vol. 1, 301. 20 Blackford, War Years, 34. 21 Gordon, Reminiscences, 60. 22 Stille, United States Sanitary Commission, 116. 23 Flannery, Civil War Pharmacy, 76. The entire Union medical budget consisted of “$241,000 of which over 80% had already been spent on medical stores.” Adams, Doctors, 5. 24 Smith, Swamp Doctor, xxii. 25 Peyton, “Tender Loving Care,” 106. 26 Blake, “Development,” 435; Blakely and Harrington, eds., Bones in the Basement, 323. See also Norwood, Medical Education, 399–400. 27 Wafer, Medical School Records, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 28 Brooks, Civil War Medicine, 22. 29 Flannery, Civil War Pharmacy, 71. 30 On amputations see Figg and Farrell-Beck, “Amputation in the Civil War; Wood, Doctor to the Front, xvi. 31 Adams, Doctors, 10. 32 Documents, no. 40, 33. Barbers, cuppers, and leechers, or lechers, were popular occupations prior to the professional development of medicine. In the middle ages, barbers, not physicians, conducted crude forms of surgery. Cupper refers to the practice of making small insertions in the skin and then placing a glass, sometimes heated, over the cuts to create suction, which then pulled the blood to the surface. Cupping was used to treated everything from “apoplexy and consumption, to enlarge prostate ... gout, measles, intoxication ... and lunacy.” Leechers placed leeches on the patients in order to suck

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out the disease. A good leech could suck out about an ounce of blood. With the expansion and evolution of the medical profession, barbers, cuppers, and lechers lost their legitimacy as medical practitioners and were, by the time of the Civil War, viewed negatively. Haller, American Medicine, 46. 33 During the war, there were eight categories of Union doctors: surgeons and assistant surgeons in the us army, surgeons and assistant surgeons of us volunteers, regimental surgeons and assistant surgeons, contract surgeons, medical officers of the veterans corps, acting staff surgeons, surgeons and assistant surgeons of us coloured troops, and civilian volunteers. Adams, Doctors, 47. 34 Cited in “Bayoneting Our Wounded,” Harpers Weekly, 17 August 1861, 525. 35 Bollet, Civil War Medicine, 2. 36 Denney, Civil War Medicine, 35. 37 Tulchinsky, ed., “Introduction,” To Preserve, 10. 38 Akenson, “Ontario,” 204–56. 39 Tulchinsky, ed., “Introduction,” To Preserve, 10. 40 Nicolson, “The Irish Experience,” 38. On Protestantism in Ontario see Westfall, Two Worlds. 41 Wafer to Dear Brother, 20 March 1864, Wafer Letters, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 42 Jackson, “The Cultural Politics of Masculinity,” 201. 43 Ward, Courtship, 64. 44 Morgan, Public Men, 149. 45 Ward, Courtship, 23. 46 Ibid., 53. 47 Wafer to Dear Sister, 9 June 1864, Wafer Letters, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 48 Wafer to Dear Brother, 11 October 1864, Wafer Letters, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 49 Busby, Doctors Can’t Cure, 61. 50 Ibid., 56–7. On the state of medicine in nineteenth-century Upper Canada see also Baehre, “The Medical Profession”; Canniff, The Medical Profession; Price, The Professionalization. 51 Baehre, “The Medicial Profession,” 104. 52 Wafer to Dear Sister, 2 May 1864, Wafer Letters, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 53 On the 108th at Antietam see Murray, Before the Appointed Time. 54 Bollet, Civil War Medicine, 16. 55 Williams, Lincoln, 177. 56 Cited in Otis and Huntington, Medical and Surgical History, 3, 2, 933.

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57 Bollet, Civil War Medicine, 3. 58 Washburn, Complete Military History, 107. 59 Cited in Wert, The Sword, 169–70. 60 Dyer, Journal, 40, 42. 61 Formed after the fall of Fort Sumter, the us Sanitation Commission acted independently from the Medical Corps. It focused on promoting clean, healthy conditions in camps, prisons, and hospitals as well as supplementing supplies, medical and otherwise. On the sanitation commission see Giesberg, Civil War Sisterhood; Maxwell, Lincoln’s Fifth Wheel. 62 Cited in the Mobile Daily Advertiser and Register, 2 October 1862. 63 Wightman, From Antietam, 38. 64 Wert, The Sword, 169. See also p. 159. 65 Cited in Linderman, Embattled Courage, 125. 66 Cited in Washburn, Complete Military History, 107. 67 Rochester Daily Advocate, 2 October 1862. 68 Otis and Huntington, eds., Medical and Surgical History, 101. 69 Letterman, Medical Recollections, 10–11. 70 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 59. 71 Whitman, “Specimen Days,” 153. 72 Colonel Rowe cited in Cowtan, Services of the Tenth, 169; England cited in Bruce, “Remember,” 348. 73 Sneden, Eye of the Storm, 72. 74 Edward G. Abbott to his father, 13 December 1862. Abbott Family Papers, Harvard University. 75 See Lowry, Tarnish Scalpels. 76 Cited in United States, Official Records (hereafter OR), series 1, vol. 19, Part I, 113. 77 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 62–3. 78 Pierce, “Civil War,” 167–8. 79 Wightman, From Antietam, 103. See also Haley, The Rebel Yell, 67; Watson, Letters, 50. 80 Furgurson, Chancellorsville, 17. See also Longstreet, From Manassas, 323; Watson, Letters, 50. 81 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 67. 82 McPherson, Battle Cry, 584. 83 Hennessy, “We Shall Make Richmond Howl,” 2. 84 Cited in Wert, The Sword, 214. 85 Hennessy, “We Shall Make Richmond Howl,” 10. 86 Letterman, Medical Recollections, 103, 104, 106, 105, 109. 87 Wafer, Medical School Records, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua.

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88 On 13 May 1861, Queen Victoria issued a Proclamation of Neutrality, which incorporated the Foreign Enlistment Act of 1819. The proclamation prohibited British subjects from enlisting in foreign military forces under penalty of imprisonment. 89 Wafer, Two Years, 1, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 90 Ibid. 91 Holt, A Surgeon’s Civil War; Dyer, Journal; Burton, Diary; McPheeter, I Acted; William Smith, Swamp Doctor. 92 For memoirs by Civil War surgeons see Brinton, Personal Memoirs; Craighill, Confederate Surgeon; Eugene, Recollections; Letterman, Medical Recollections; Wood, Doctor. 93 Wafer, Two Years, 1, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 94 Ibid., 95 95 Bragg, Letters; Bennitt, Letters; Peddy, Saddlebag. See also Black, Civil War Letters; Brackett, Surgeon; Burbank, Jerome; Child, Letters; Fordyce, Echoes; McGarity, Letters; Lauderdale, Wounded River; Watson, Letters. 96 Although there are letters, diaries, and accounts from British North Americans who served in the Civil War as soldiers as well as surgeons, they remain scattered in newspapers and tucked away in private collections and archives in Canada, the United States, and Great Britain. 97 Robertson, Soldiers, 28; Charlesworth, Candid, 10. Thomas Raddall states that ten thousand Nova Scotains fought in the war (Halifax, 208), while Ken Alexander and Avis Glaze argue that thirty thousand British North Americans of African descent enlisted in the Union cause (Towards Freedom, 79). According to Greg Marquis, the tiny island of Prince Edward Island provided two hundred men to the Union cause (“Soldiers,” 2). E.Z. Massicotte claims that forty thousand French Canadians fought for the Union (“Les Canadiens,” 538). Benjamin Gould places the total number of British North Americans fighting for the Union at 53, 532 (Investigation, 27), while Fred Landon puts the number close to forty thousand men (“Canadian Opinion,” 226). Wilfred Bovey places the number at forty-eight thousand (“Confederate Agents,” 57) while Lois Darroch suggests that figures are closer to fifty thousand men (“Canadians,” viii). Ella Lonn argues that fifty-three thousand British North Americans enlisted in the Union (Foreigners, 161). 98 Marquis, In Armageddon’s Shadow; Mayers, Dixie; Winks, The Civil War Years. 99 See also Fountain and Chipman, “An Essex County Soldier”; Cousins, ed., “Letters of Norman Wade”; Wade, “We Are Blockading Again.” 100 Edmonds, Memoirs; Sneden, Eye of the Storm. See also Braudaway, The Civil War; Kohl, Irish Green; Murphy, “The Diary.” 101 Archibald, Home-making.

182

Notes to pages xliv–14

102 Sections of Wafer’s writings appeared in the following: Gundy, ed. “A Queen’s Medical Student,” and “A Kingston Surgeon”; Rollins, ed., Pickett’s Charge.

chapter one 1 The 108th New York Infantry Regiment suffered the loss of ninety-two men, among them Charles D. Howell. Wounded in the thigh, Howell survived the battle only to develop lockjaw and die nine days later. He is buried in Rochester’s Mount Hope Cemetery along with other members of the 108th including John M. Davey and William S. Ely, and there are memorials to Charles B. Dickson and George B. Grover. See Walker, History of the 2nd Army Corps, 192; Reisem, Buried Treasures, 53, 151,113, 48, 13. On veterans of the 108th buried in Rochester-area cemeteries, see Washburn, A Complete Military History, 469–70. 2 Cape Vincent, New York, is located 27.3 kilometres from Kingston, Ontario, and 40.23 kilometres from Watertown, New York. Most likely, Wafer took the Cape Vincent to Rome Railroad. See “Rome and Watertown Railroad,” Pittsfield Sun, 25 September 1851. 3 Closely related to homoeopathy, Medica Materia primarily focused on the blending of herbs and natural substances to combat diseases. See Haller, American Medicine, 67–99. 4 On sound in the nineteenth century see Smith, Listening. On the Sabbath in nineteenth-century America see McCrossen, Holy Day. On Sabbath silence in Civil War camps see Wells, Civil War Time, 65. On the disruption of Sabbath silence during the war see ibid., 13–33, 64–6. 5 The Baltimore Riots occurred on 19 April 1861 when mobs attacked Union troops passing through the pro-southern city. See Brown, Baltimore & the Nineteenth April 1861. 6 In addition to Force, Lieutenants David B. Tarbox, Company b, and Robert Holmes, Company g, and 195 members of the 108th New York Infantry were lost at Antietam. See Washburn, A Complete Military History, 29–31; Marcotte, Where They Fell, 83. On the 108th and Antietam see Murray, Before. On casualties see McIntosh, History of Monroe, 57; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 386. 7 Named for the texture created by placing logs side by side, corduroy roads permitted the movement of troops and supplies over swampy areas. 8 On the monotonous nature of camp life see Tilney, My Life, 51; Wells, Civil War Time, 61. 9 Wafer named his horse after Union general Joseph Hooker. Aggressiveness, coolness in battle, and loyalty characterized Hooker, assets that perhaps Wafer saw in his mount.

Notes to pages 15–32

183

10 For a similar version of Wafer’s joining the 108th New York, see Appendix a.

chapter two 1 Phistere, New York, 131. On Thrasher’s injury see “From the 108th Regiment,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 9 and 11 May 1863; 3 May 1863, Father from Sam, and May 1863 Letter from Sam, Porter Family Papers, University of Rochester Archives [hereafter ura]. Among the wounded at Chancellorsville were Stephen Green, Company k, Nathan Parkhurst, Company a, Otto Gash, Company h, William C. Varny, Richardson, Company c, John O. Fee, Company a, George Washburn, Company d, and H[enry] Clow of Company b. See Washburn, Complete Military History, 45–6. 2 Nineteenth-century medical practitioners used anodyne to relieve pain. 3 Hooker issued Stoneman multiple and conflicting orders that prevented any accurate knowledge of Stoneman’s position and may have accounted for the failure of the Union to create a diversion in his favour. See Furguson, Chancellorsville, 255, 311, “Hancock’s,” 313. 4 Hooker expected Lee to retreat without risking battle. Instead, Lee assumed the offensive, a manoeuvre that made Hooker afraid for the safety of his army, thus resulting in his retreat. See Couch, “Outgeneraled,” 336; Trudeau, Gettysburg, 8–9. Others blame the cowardly actions of the 11th Corps. See Sears, Chancellorsville, 415; Trudeau, Gettysburg, 12–13. For a defence of the 11th Corps see Howard, “The Eleventh.” Hooker placed the blame in part on a lack of rations and on the “impenetrable thicket[s]” of the Wilderness that prevent troop movement. See Bates, “Hooker’s Comments,” 222.

chapter three 1 Longstreet, From Manassas, 328. 2 McKim, A Soldier’s Recollections, 128. 3 Longstreet, “Lee’s Invasion,” 245. 4 Cited in Freeman, Lee’s Lieutenants, 292. 5 Taylor, Gouverneur, 112. 6 Howard, “The Eleventh,” 190. 7 New York Tribune, 14 May 1863. 8 Trudeau, Gettysburg, 5. 9 Woodworth, Beneath a Northern Sky, 11, 12. 10 His shoulder became red, swollen, and septic due to a bacteria inflammation.

184

Notes to pages 34–52

11 A rod is a British measurement. It is equivalent to 16.5 linear feet, thus ten rods equals 165 feet. 12 For similar statements see Baxter, Gallant Fourteenth, 148; Fiske, Mr Dunn Browne, 101–2; Hirst, The Boys, 140; “Letters from the 108th and 140th Regiments,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 3 July 1863; Longacre, To Gettysburg, 158; Murphey, Four Years, 113–14; Page, History of the Fourteenth, 132; Seiser, Short Sketches, 178–9; Smith, comp., The Civil War, 168–9; Stewart, Camp, 354. 13 Occurring on 17 June 1863, Brigadier General Judson Kilpatrick’s Federals and Colonel Thomas Munford’s Confederates clashed at Aldie, Virginia, with inconclusive results. 14 The 39th New York Volunteers, also known as the Garibaldi Guards, lost thirty-five percent of their regiment at the battle of Gettysburg. See Pellicano, Conquer or Die, 107. 15 The current state of West Virginia split from Virginia in 1861 and subsequently entered the Union. Thus “Virginian” troops fighting for the Union are in fact West Virginian troops. 16 On the hour of the cannonade see Priest, Into the Fight, 189–93; Wells, Civil War Time, 46–7. 17 The stone farmhouse was Peter Frey’s house located “under the shadow of Cemetery Ridge.” It served as the primary station for the 108th New York. See Maust, Grappling with Death, 71. 18 On the duration of the cannonade see Priest, Into the Fight, 189–98; Wells, Civil War Time, 46–7. 19 At the battle of Waterloo in 1815, the Duke of Wellington motivated his troops by yelling, “Guards, get up & charge.” A British victory over the French resulted. See Gronow, Reminiscences, 71. 20 See also “Further List of Casualties,” Rochester Evening Express, 8 July 1863; “List of Casualties,” Rochester Evening Express, 9 July 1863; “The 108th Regiment,” Rochester Evening Express, 10 July 1863; “Casualties in 108th Regiment,” Rochester Evening Express, 11 July 1863; “Casualties in the 108th,” Rochester Union & Advertiser, 13 July 1863. 21 In addition to Hadley’s wound, J.D. Ansink of Company e and J. Brounell of Company e suffered injury while Cyrus Wickes of Company e and Charles Lecisur of Company k were killed. See New York Times, 6 July 1863. 22 The orderly was most likely Major William G. Mitchell. See Maust, Grappling with Death, 237. 23 Meade inherited command of the Army of the Potomac three days before the battle for Gettysburg. On 4 July Meade hesitated to pursue Lee out of fear that Lee’s apparent retreat was a feint designed to hide an offensive

Notes to pages 52–61

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maneuver on the part of the Confederacy. Inexperienced, cautious, and impeded by a steady rain, a weary army, and depleted ammunition, Meade opted, with the supported of his generals, to remain at Gettysburg on 4 July. See Coddington, Gettysburg, 537, 539, 540; Fremantle, Three Months, 274–6; Nevins, War, 3: 113, 115; United States, OR, series 1, vol. 27, 78; Swinton, Campaigns, 367; Wheeler, Witness, 256; Woodworth, Beneath a Northern Sky, 210. 24 For similar statements see Paris, History, vol. 3, 686. 25 At the council meeting of 12 July, Meade opted not to attack Lee for fear that the strength of Lee’s forces might crush the Army of the Potomac. See Hyde, ed., The Union Generals, 378. Other leaders identified the late hour of the council, poor weather, and a lack of reliable information as factors contributing to Meade’s decision. See ibid., 117, 118, 142. 26 Over the course of the war, Harper Ferry changed sides eight times. See Hearn, Six Years of Hell. 27 French’s Third Corps of the Army of the Potomac clashed with Anderson’s division of the Army of Northern Virginia with inconclusive results. 28 Also known as the Fauquier White Sulphur Springs, Americans flocked to Warrenton Springs in search of youth and health. See Billings, History, 118; Cooke, “The White Sulpher Springs,” 337–57. 29 According to the recollection of Francis Pierce, he sent three officers, Captains William H. Andrews, J. George Cramer, and Lieutenant Dwight Ostrander, to gather 526 conscripts. See Pierce, “Civil War,” 170.

chapter four 1 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 108. 2 Trudeau, Gettysburg, 551. 3 Quoted in Meltzer, Voices, 102. 4 Gordon, Reminiscences, 154. 5 McKim, A Soldier’s Recollection, 180–1. 6 Leon, Diary, 37–8. 7 Quoted in Coddington, Gettysburg, 572. 8 Post, ed., Soldiers’ Letters, 260. 9 Longstreet, From Manassas, 427. 10 Pleurite inflammation is an infection of the lung. Symptoms include chills, fevers, cough, and expulsion of fluid from the lungs. Without proper treatment, it could result in death. 11 In March 1863 Lincoln revised regulations for the draft. The new law required men from the ages of twenty to twenty-five and single men from the

186

Notes to pages 62–79

ages of thirty-five to forty-five to serve in the Union army when called upon. Following the first draft call on 11 July 1863, normalcy ruled New York City. Monday, 13 July opened with violence that lasted for five days as angry mobs destroyed government property, attacked members of the upper class, and terrorized African-Americans as initial rage over Lincoln’s draft became racialized. In total, mobs lynched eleven African-Americans, destroyed more than 1.5 million dollars in property, and killed more than one hundred people before the Union army managed to suppress the rebellion. In August the draft resumed and, fearing more riots, Lincoln sent soldiers to New York City to maintain order. On the riots see Bernstein, The New York City Draft Riots; Cook, The Armies of the Street. 12 On Washington, dc and vices during the Civil War see Lowry, The Civil War Bawdy House, The Story the Soldiers Wouldn’t Tell, 63–5, 73–5. 13 On 25 June 1863 John C. Rives received permission from the Union secretary of the navy, Gideon Wells, to begin publication of a military journal. The Army and Navy Gazette published “orders, reports, official papers, and current news” pertinent to the Union war effort and was funded in part by the War department. Welles, Diary, 343–4. 14 Founded in 1846, the Smithsonian Institution suffered a devastating fire on 24 January 1865. Caused by a “defective flue,” the fire destroyed the institution’s picture gallery and institutional archives. The museum and library, however, sustained minimal damage. Wafer makes a common mistake in referring to the Smithsonian “Institute.” See “Destructive Fire,” New York Times, 25 January 1865. 15 In early August 1862, Pope marched his army south in an attempt to capture the railroad junction at Gordonsville, Virginia, before invading Richmond. Lee dispatched Jackson to deal with Pope. Jackson and Banks clashed at Cedar Mountain on 9 August. Due to a countercharge launched by Hill, the Confederates repulsed the Federals and carried the day. 16 According to the Comte de Paris, Meade’s alteration of the Second Corps position encouraged Lee to attack. See Paris, History, vol. 3, 755. 17 The Latin term non est means non-existent. 18 The battle of Bull Run occurred on 21 July 1861 and resulted in a Confederate victory. Over a year later in August 1862, the Union and Confederacy again clashed on the field at Bull Run. The second battle of Bull Run ended with another Confederate victory and Union defeat. 19 The phrase “offered him the grape” refers to offering the enemy battle using grapeshot. 20 The 15th North Carolina Infantry lost 101 members while the 48th North Carolina lost 123 members. Fox, Regimental Losses, 570. During the Civil War,

Notes to pages 82–95

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the army identified remains by placing over them a board bearing the soldier’s regiment. See Neff, Honoring the Civil War Dead. 21 The British officers referred to were Lieutenant Colonel Earl and Lord Castle Cuff of the Grenadier Guards and Captains Peel and Stephenson of the Scotch Fusiliers. See Lyman, Meade’s Headquarters, 49. 22 Wafer is referring to Locust Grove, Virginia, which is located near Robinson’s Tavern, rather than to the battle of Locust Grove, Oklahoma, which occurred in July 1862. 23 For similar statements see Billings, History, 174; Longacre, To Gettysburg, 166. 24 White feather is a synonym for cowardice. 25 From medieval French, pelemele means in wild confusion.

chapter five 1 Brooks, Mr. Lincoln, 311. 2 United States, OR, series 1, vol. 33, part 2, 696. 3 Ibid., vol. 22, 1, 282–3. See also ibid., vol. 33, 1, 284–5. 4 Ibid., vol. 22, 1, 282. 5 Wafer applied to Lieutenant A. J. Wells, Acting Adjunct of the 108th New York, for a leave of absence of fifteen days “to visit friends who reside in La Salle Co, Illinois.” Wafer’s diary and subsequent travel, however, make it clear that Kingston, Canada West, was his intended destination. Most likely, Wafer feared that his application would be turned down if he revealed his real destination. See Francis M. Wafer, Civil War Service Record, New York State Archives (nysa). 6 Pioneer is a military term meaning engineer. 7 This wounded soldier could have been Isaac Buzby of Company c or J. Pixby of Company d as both suffered arm wounds at Morton’s Ford. See “The Army of the Potomac,” New York Times, 13 February 1864. 8 Six other members of the 1st Delaware were wounded. William Broughter and Benjamin Ogle of Company e, and Henry McCracken of Company b, were wounded in the leg. Henry Tindall of Company g and Isaac Wright of Company g were wounded in the arm, while Joseph Coyle of Company e suffered a shoulder wound. See New York Times, 13 February 1864. 9 George Vaughn and Jack Jewel assisted Wafer in caring for Pierce. Pierce survived but had his eye removed, recovered in Rochester, and returned to fight at the battle of the Wilderness where he was again wounded and sent to a hospital to recover. He rejoined the unit at Appomattox. Washburn, A Complete Military History, 156. On Pierce’s injury see “Lieut. Col. Pierce,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 25 February 1864.

188

Notes to pages 95–103

10 Following Pierce’s injury command of the 108th devolved to Captain Everett. “From the 108th,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 10 February 1864. 11 Goss, Recollections, 237. 12 For similar comments see Cowtan, Services, 238; Fiske, Mr. Dunn Browne, 223. 13 The six wounded from the 108th were John R. Chase, Company b, who was shot through the left shoulder; Henry J. Clow, Company b, who was shot through the abdomen; John O’Fee, Company a, who suffered from a bruised left arm; John H. Goodyear, Company f, who suffered from a wounded shoulder; George W. Provost, Company c, who endured an abrasion over his left eye; and Seley Meeker, Company f, whose ankle was fractured by a Union bullet. The Second Army Corps lost 254 men while the “nearly one-half of those killed, wounded, and missing belonged to the Fourteenth [Connecticut] Regiment.” In order, “Causalities of the 108th Regiment,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 12 February 1864; Page, History of the Fourteenth, 224. See also Fiske, Mr. Dunn Browne, 221, 223; New York Times, 13 February 1864. 14 During Wafer’s leave of absence, the regiment celebrated Washington’s birthday much as they did St Patrick’s Day, namely, engaged in sport. In the case of the former celebration, baseball was the sport of choice as Companies d and f challenged the other companies with J. H. Norton of the 14th Connecticut acting as umpire and the 108th challenging the 14th. Other members of the 108th occupied their time by reading, since the regiment possessed a library of nearly two hundred volumes. In order, “The 108th at Baseball,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 29 February 1864; “From the 108th Regiment,” Rochester Union & Advertiser, 2 February 1864. See also Fiske, Mr. Dunn Browne, 229. For a similar account of St Patrick’s Day in the Army of the Potomac see Conyngham, The Irish Brigade, 514–15. 15 This was the battle of Morton’s Ford. 16 In 1832 author Samuel F. Smith set the lyrics of “America,” also titled “My Country Tis of Thee,” to the tune of the English anthem, “God Save the Queen.” 17 According to a 1984 description of the flag, it was “swallow-tailed and measure[d] 17" x 30". Composed of red, white, and blue silk panels handstitched, and ‘108 N.Y.V.’ lettered in gold oil-based paint with black outlining, the [flag] ha[d] tow sets of silk tie bands secured to a reinforcing strip of white cloth for attachment to the guerdon lance.” Howard, “The 108th,” 10. See also Presentation of Flags, 123–4. 18 Despite Wafer’s comments, the Fenian Raids and the assassination of Thomas D’Arcy McGee created a backlash against the Irish. These events in combination with the continued rise of the Orange Order resulted in

Notes to pages 104–16

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discrimination against the Irish well into the twentieth century. In the United States, the New York draft riots contributed to xenophobia and nativism against the Irish. On the Irish in Canada see Currie, Canada. On the Fenian Raids see Neidhardt, Fenianism; Senior, The Fenians, Last Invasion. On the McGee assassination see Slattery, The Assassination. On the Orange Order see Bryan, Orange Parades; Haddick-Flynn, Orangeism. On prejudice against the Irish in the antebellum era see Dunne, Antebellum; Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White; Knobel, Paddy. During the Civil War see Mahon, New York’s Fighting Sixty-Ninth, 54. 19 A trefoil is a three-leaf clover that measures “an inch and seven-eighths each way.” In the case of the Second Corps, the trefoil was white. Badges were required to be worn on the soldier’s hat. In order, Billings, HardTack and Coffee, 258, 260, The History, 122. See also Tilney, My Life, 39; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 166. 20 The rivulet is most likely the Potomac River. 21 For similar statements on the tornado see Kepler, History of the Three, 161–2; Longacre, To Gettysburg, 180–1; Page, History of the Fourteenth, 232; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 64. 22 For similar statements on the condition of burials see Baxter, Gallant Fourteenth, 166; Billings, The History, 215; Blake, Three Years, 277; Fiske, Mr. Dunn Browne, 245; “From the 108th Regiment,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 28 May 1864; Goss, Recollections, 267; Hall, History of the Sixth, 182; Page, History of the Fourteenth, 234; Wilkeson, Recollections, 40–1. On the cowardly behaviour of the Eleventh Corps at Chancellorsville see Blake, Three Years, 178–80; Creighton, The Colors, 23, 25–7; Dyer, Journal, 76; Fiske, Mr. Dunn Browne, 76; May 7th, 1863, Dear Father from Sam, Porter Family Papers, ura. At Gettysburg see Fiske, Mr. Dunn Browne, 119–20. On redemption see Creighton, The Colors, 177. 23 Most likely Wafer is referring to Richard H. Palmer. 24 On casualties suffered by the 108th New York at the battle of the Wilderness see “Casualties in the 108th nyv up to the 6th inst,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 14 May 1864; “List of Casualties,” Rochester Daily Democrat, 14 May 1864; “List of Wounded,” Rochester Daily Democrat, 16 May 1864; “More of the Casualties,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 16 May 1864; “Further from the Wounded of our Regiments,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 17 May 1864. 25 Enfilade is a military term meaning to direct gunfire at the enemy in a way that exposes the enemy’s entire line. 26 Abatis is a defensive feature in which trees are cut, sharpened, and then laid parallel with the sharp end facing the enemy.

190

Notes to pages 118–28

27 Among those captured were Confederate generals George H. Steuart and Edward Johnson. For a general account of the capture of the salient see Kepler, History of the Three, 170; Matter, If It Takes All Summer, 183–97; Rhea, The Battles, 232–65. 28 Thomas T. Roche of Company l of the 16th Mississippi Infantry is the Confederate to when Wafer refers. Washburn, A Complete Military History, 73. For similar statements on the tree’s destruction see Baxter, Gallant Fourteenth, 168; Billings, The History, 239; Goss, Recollections, 295.

chapter six 1 Goss, Recollections, 144; Mahood, Alexander, 167. 2 Gordon, Reminiscences, 263. 3 Taylor, General Lee, 236–7. 4 Mahood, Alexander, 167. 5 Douglas, I Rode, 263. 6 Constant C. Hanks to Mother, 12 May 1862 Constant C. Hanks Papers, dua. 7 Priest, Victory, 229–30. 8 Gordon, Reminiscences, 269. 9 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 157. 10 Galwey, Valiant Hours, 112. 11 Unknown, “The Death,” 107. 12 Gordon, Reminiscences, 273. 13 Longstreet, From Manassas, 573. 14 Grant, Personal, 419. 15 Rhea, Cold Harbor, 61. 16 United States, OR, series 1, vol. 36, part 3, 598. 17 Robertson, ed., Civil War Letters, 444. 18 On African-American participation in the Civil War see Hargrove, Black Union; Mays, Black Americans; McPherson, Marching, The Negro; Smith, ed., Black Soldiers; Trudeau, Like Men. At Petersburg see Brown, The Negro, 265–73; Robertson, “From the Crater”; Trudeau, Like Men, 220–51. 19 The Union government censored public communications such as newspapers, telegraph communications, and prisoners’ correspondence. However, there is little evidence that the Union kept particular soldiers and their writings under surveillance. On censorship and the Union see Blondheim, “Public Sentiment”; Chandler, “Fighting Words”; Price, “Governmental Censorship,” 838–9. 20 Five rods equals 82.5 linear feet. 21 “High feather” means in good spirits.

Notes to pages 128–39

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22 Most likely his cousin William joined the us Navy. 23 On 5 September 1863, Dr R.O. Abbott ordered Wafer to Washington for treatment for his recurring pleurite inflammation. Francis M. Wafer, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 24 Old Bucher is likely a reference to Henry Bucher of Company b. See Anniversary &Annual Reunion, 72, rpl. 25 This is a reference to Aesop’s fable in which a fox, having failed to get the grapes hanging from a tree, deals with his loss by saying that the grapes are sour. In this case, Wafer suggests that the Canadian dislike of greenback currency stemmed from its unavailability rather than from any problem with the currency itself. On the greenback generally see Mitchell, A History; Unger, The Greenback. 26 On 25 August 1864, Union general Hancock’s Second Corps clashed with Confederate general Hill’s infantry and General Hampton’s cavalry. Hooker ordered the Second Corps to destroy Lee’s supply lines. Following intense yet disorganized fighting, the Confederacy handed Hancock his most severe defeat of the war, wounding or capturing upwards of three thousand Union troops. 27 In 1861, with increased Confederate activity in Canada, Secretary of State Seward required passports for all persons travelling into the United States. Seward revoked the requirement on 8 March 1865. See Shippee, CanadianAmerican Relations, 123–4; Winks, The Civil War Years, 130–6, 370. 28 Sylvanus B. Hance served as the American consul to Kingston from 1864 to 1874. 29 On 5 November 1864, Dr Satterthwaite diagnosed Wafer as having “acute dysentery” and recommended a leave of absence of twenty days. Satterthwaite also recommended “a change of climate and location ... to prevent loss of life or permanent disability.” Most likely Wafer went home to recover. He returned to the regiment on 4 December 1864. In order, Francis M. Wafer, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 140.

epilogue 1 Campbell, Reminiscences, 20. 2 Pickett, The Heart, 167–8. 3 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 196. 4 Abel H. Crawford to his Wife, 5 May 1865, Abel H. Crawford Letters, dua. 5 United States, OR, series 1, vol 46, part 3, 1378. 6 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 265. 7 Quoted in Power, Lee’s Miserables, 281.

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Notes to pages 139–52

8 Missouri Republican, 10 June 1886. 9 Kauffman, The Civil War, 105. 10 Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 31 May 1865. 11 In 1866 the medical faculty of Queen’s University separated from the university to form a new medical school, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. The university and the college issued separate degrees. The university reabsorbed the college in 1892. Francis M. Wafer, Medical School Records, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua; Spaulding, “Aspects,” 180. 12 Octavius Yates Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. See also Horatio Yates Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 13 Francis. E. Pierce Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 14 Francis M. Wafer Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 15 Horatio Yates Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 16 Ibid. 17 Francis M. Wafer Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 18 Horatio Yates Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 19 C.M. Johnson Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 20 Francis M. Wafer Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 21 Pension Office Correspondence, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 22 Horatio Yates, Francis M. Wafer Pension File. na. 23 “The Late Francis M. Wafer,” Daily News, 10 April 1876. 24 See Alexander Grant Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na; Robert Patterson Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na; John Wafer Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na; Peter Wafer Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 25 Peter Wafer Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. Peter gave $260 to his daughter Maria and her husband, Charles Lyons; $150 to Maggie and James Daley; $200 to his daughter Elizabeth; $500 to his daughter Elizabeth; and $400 to Agnes and her husband, F.C. Lachance. 26 John Wafer Letter to Pension Office, 1 June 1885, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 27 Francis Fitch Letter to Pension Office, 13 July 1885, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 28 Grounds for Reject, 1 December 1887, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na.

appendix 1 The Gananoque River is twenty-eight kilometres long and runs from Red Horse Lake to the St. Lawrence River, passing through the town of Gananoque, Ontario.

Notes to pages 153–62

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2 Tilney, My Life, 51. For similar comments see Fiske, Mr. Dunn Brown, 71. 3 For similar statements on the nature of St Patrick’s Day, 1863, see Bilby, Remember Fontenoy!, 74–6; Conyngham, The Irish, 372; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 118. 4 In order, Corby, Memoirs of a Chaplain Life,141; author’s observations of the vestment. The initials ihs represent the monogram of Jesus Christ and stands for Iesus Hominum Salvator, or Jesus Savior of men. 5 Blue Anchor is located on New Jersey’s Atlantic shore, roughly ninety miles from New York City. 6 Mrs Wafer could refer either to Francis’s mother, Elizabeth, or perhaps to the pressure he was under to marry and return to camp with a wife.

dramatis personae 1 Carl V. Amiet, Civil War Service Record, New York State Archives (nysa). 2 “Recruiting for 108th,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 18 February 1864; “Causalities,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 13 May 1864; “Wanted,” Rochester Evening Express, 9 May 1864; “Personal,” Rochester Daily Democrat, 14 May 1864. Also see “The 108th Regiment,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 22 February 1864. 3 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 59; “Casualties in the 108th,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 9 October 1863; Charles Kenyon, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Irving Arms, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 4 Thomas Arner, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Pierce, “Civil War,” 7 January 1863, 164. 5 William Bloss, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 6 Record of Service of Connecticut Men, 481; Goddard, Regimental Reminiscences, 12. 7 Pittsburgh Township Census, 1861, 3; Charles Brownley, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 8 Bryce A. Cox, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 25, 46. 9 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 235, 50, 51; Dayton T. Card, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 10 Henry J. Clow, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 11 Wilson and Fiske, eds., Appleton’s Cyclopaedia, vol. 4, 283. 12 Joseph Deverell, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 13 Reisem, Buried Treasures, 15; “Death of Charles Dickson,” Rochester Daily Democrat, 20 May 1864. 14 Record of Service of Connecticut Men, 552; Page, History of the Fourteenth, 222–4. 15 New Jersey Civil War Record, 12; Maust, Grappling with Death, 766.

194

Notes to pages 162–6

16 “Obituary,” Medical and Surgical Reporter, 278; Cox, ed., “List of Physicians,” 294. 17 Record of the Service of Connecticut Men, 552; Page, History of the Fourteenth, 374; Rutkow, ed., List, 75. See also Maust, Grappling with Death, 767. 18 Directory, 52; Lovell’s Directory, 485; Mitchell, 777. 19 William F. Dutton, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 20 Rutkow, List, 267, 271. On Dwinelle also see Justin Dwinelle Papers, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia. 21 Robert E. Ellerbeck, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Foster, Reminiscences, 141; Hall, History of the Sixth, 303; Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 27 June 1864. Also See Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 7 May 1863. 22 Page, History of the Fourteenth, 119; Record of Service of Connecticut Men, 552. See also Hirst, The Boys, 184. 23 William Smith Ely, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Reisem, Buried Treasures, 113. 24 Robert Evans, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 25 Solomon Fatzer, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 26 Census, 69; Queen’s Medical Faculty, Faculty Minutes, 29, qu; Sutherland’s General Directory, 129. 27 John A. Fellman, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 28 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 200; Charles E. Field, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 29 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 193. 30 New Jersey Civil War Record, 605. 31 Illustrated Historical Atlas, 48; Pittsburgh County Census, 18. See also Hayden-Luck, Canada Census, 19; Hughes, Pittsburgh Township 1844, 7; Hughes, Pittsburgh Township 1846, 11; Smithson, 1851–1852 Census, 31. 32 New Jersey Civil War Record, 585; John Wells, Alphabetical List, 182, 183. 33 John L. Graham, Civil War Service Record, nysa; “List of Casualties in the Late Battle,” Rochester Evening Express, 7 July 1863. 34 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 214. See also “Chaplain Grassie,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 15 May 1863. 35 Alfred B. Hadley, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 36 Warner, Generals in Blue, 201–2. 37 Joseph S. Harris, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 104. 38 Parke County Republican, 15 July 1863. 39 Warner, Generals in Blue, 223–4. On Hayes’s death see “Brig. Gen. Alexander Hays,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 10 May 1864.

Notes to pages 166–71

195

40 Warner, Generals in Blue, 224–5. 41 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 194. 42 New Jersey Civil War Record, 602. 43 Butterfield, “The University,” 18. Also see Anniversary and Annual Reunion, 84, Rochester Public Library. 44 Warner, Generals in Blue, 245–6. 45 John S. Kenleyside, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 46 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 212; Smith, comp., The Civil War, i. 47 Wagner, Generals in Blue, 266–7. 48 Theodore Knapp, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 49 Baldwin Springer Maull, John Maull, 68; Seville, History of the First, 142,149. See also Maust, Grappling with Death, 761. 50 John Wells, Alphabetical List, 293; Kepler, History of the Three, 192; Maust, Grappling with Death, 761. 51 Hutchinson, Cyrus Hall McCormick, v, 9, 74, 377. 52 A.D.J. McDonald, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 53 James A. McKinley, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Phistere, New York, vol. 5, 3,708. 54 Beebe, Albany, 72–4; Bi-Centennial History, 213; Beebe, Albany, 79. See also Dieffenbacher, This Green, 235. 55 Reynolds, Hudson-Mohawk, 148; United States OR, series 1, vol. 11, part 2, 2,383; Rutkow, ed., List, 213; Owen Munson, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Cox, ed., “List of Physicians,” 300; Phistere, New York, 68; Maust, Grappling with Death, 783. 56 New Jersey Civil War Record, 799. Also see Reeves, History of the Twenty-Fourth, 13; John Wells, Alphabetical List, 184. 57 James Nichols, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 104. 58 Dwight H. Ostrander, Civil War Service Records, nysa; Anniversary & Annual Reunion, 12. 59 Seville, History of the First, 77, 122. 60 Warner, Generals in Blue, 353–4. 61 Garrett, The Civil War Diary, 1, 18, Washburn, A Complete Military History, 188–9; Pierce, “Civil War,” 164. 62 Richard H. Palmer, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Cox, ed., “List of Physicians,” 300. 63 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 190–2, 194. 64 Frank Pinkerton, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 65 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 301, 441.

196

Notes to pages 171–6

66 Ibid., 190, 443, 400, 446. 67 “Obituary,” Medical and Surgical Reporter, 279; Cox, ed., “List of Physicians,” 295. 68 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 48. See also Billings, History, 100; “Hanging of a Spy,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 14 July 1863; Silliker, The Rebel Yell, 110. 69 Frederick Ristow, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 70 New Jersey Civil War Record, 799; Reeves, A History of the Twenty-Fourth, 35. 71 Hughes and Ellesworth, eds., Pittsburgh Township, 20. 72 Treese, ed., Biographical Directory, 1,763. 73 John Wells, Alphabetical List, 227. 74 New Jersey Civil War Record, 585; Rutkow, ed., List, 182. 75 Rutkow, ed., List, 293. 76 Billings, History, 27, 29, 470, 485. 77 Mitchell, 112. 78 Henry B. Smith, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 79 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 198–9. See also David Maull, Life. 80 Kepler, History of Three, 269. 81 Warner, Generals in Blue, 467–8. 82 Bi-Centennial History, 664, 210. 83 Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 84 Fiske, Mr Dunn Browne, 128. 85 Warner, Generals in Blue, 501–2. 86 Illustrated Historical, 48; Pittsburgh County Census, 21; Vanhorne, “The Vanhorne Family,” 15–18. See also Hayden-Luck, Canada Census, 15; Hughes, Pittsburgh Township 1844, 7, 1846, 6, 11; Smithson, 1851–1852 Census, 25. 87 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 321. 88 McIntosh, History of Monroe, 133; John F. Whitbeck, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 89 Wilson and Fiske, eds., Appleton’s Cyclopaedia, vol. 6, 516; Bi-Centennial History, 210; Dwyer, Homes, 44–5. See also Sprague, A Sermon; Bi-Centennial History, 215–16, 240–1. 90 Thomas Willet, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 91 Marvin Williams, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 92 Wilson and Fiske, eds., Appleton’s Cyclopaedia, vol. 6, 603. 93 Angus, Kingston General Hospital, vol. 1, 23–55; British Daily Whig, 11 March 1882; Travill, Medicine at Queen’s, 60–4.

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Index

Abbott, Edward G., xxxviii Acquia Creek, battle of, 4, 11, 15, 25, 33 Adams, John, 143 African Americans, 53, 65–6, 126, 128, 137, 186n11, 190n18 Akenson, Donald, xxx Albany, ny, 6–7, 10, 13 Alma Mater Society (Kingston, Canada West), 144–5 Amiet, Carl V., 159 ambulances, xxxiv–xxv, 34, 44, 51, 76, 86, 87, 97, 111, 113, 116 amputations, 29, 32, 49 Anderson, Robert, xxiii, 30 Andrews, William H., 97, 159 anesthesia, xxviii, xxxiii Antietam, Battle of, xxxiii, xxxv–xxxvii, xxxix, 12–13, 16, 24, 55, 92, 103, 154 Archibald, William Charles, xliv Arkansas, xxiv Arms, Irving, 79, 159

Army & Navy Gazette, 62 Army of Northern Virginia, 16–17, 92; at Antietam, xxxiii; at Fredericksburg, xxxvi–xxxvii; at Gettysburg, 30–1, 59–60; at Petersburg, 138–9; at Seven Days Battles, xxxiv; at the Wilderness, 122–4 Army of Tennessee, 92, 137, 139 Army of the James River, 92 Army of the Peninsula, xxxiv Army of the Potomac: xxxix, xliii, 3–4, 8, 16–17, 67–8, 139–40; at Antietam, xxxiii; at Bull Run, 77; at Fredericksburg, xxxiv–xxxvi; at Gettysburg, 31–2, 52, 60; under Grant, 92, 101, 104; under Hooker, xl–xli; under Meade, 91; at the Wilderness, 114, 122–3 Army of the Trans-Mississippi, 137, 139 Arner, Thomas, 12, 14, 159 Arnold, William, 73, 75, 79

216 Atlanta, GA, 16 Auburn Mills, battle of, 73, 103 Austria, xxv Baker, Dr, 28, 160 Baltimore & Ohio railroad, 55 Baltimore Riots, 182n5 Baltimore Turnpike, 41, 44–5, 52 Banks Ford, 18, 25 Banks, Nathaniel, 66 Barnes, Dr, xxix Bartlett, Napier, 59 bathing, 61 battlesounds, 19–20, 22, 25, 32, 45, 129; of animals, 74, 94–5, 105; of artillery, 42, 47–8, 53, 70, 73, 77, 83, 85, 117, 119; and aurality, 35 ; and cannons, 33, 46, 72, 82, 85, 108, 113, 126, 131, 134, 139; of guns, 55, 95, 108–9, 110, 115–16, 117, 126, 127, 131, 139; of shells, 93–4, 96, 126, 131; of soldiers, 43, 84, 95, 109, 110, 117; of weather, 105 Beauregard, Pierre G.T., xxiii, xxvi, 92, 124 Bennitt, John, xlii Bermuda Hundred, 92 Birney’s Division, 80–1 Blackburn’s Ford, Battle of, 76, 103 Blanchard, H.W., xxvi Bloss, William W., 10, 160 Blue Ridge Mountains, 104, 105 Bolivar Heights, battle of, 154 Boston, ma, xxvi, xxx Boyd, Andrew, xxxvi Bragg, Braxton, 66–7 Bragg, Junius N., xlii Breckinridge, John C., 139 Bridgeford, David B., xxv

Index Bristoe Station, battle of, 61, 72, 73, 79, 80, 103 Brockville, Canada West, xxvi Bronson, George, 29, 160 Brownley, Charles, 14, 128, 160 Bull Run, battle of, xxix, xxxiv, 16, 37–9, 69, 76–8, 186n18 Burnside Corps. See Ninth Corps Burnside, Ambrose E., xxxvi–vii, xxxix, xl–xli, 13, 91 Burton, E.P., xlii Butler, Benjamin, 92 Campbell, John A., xxv, 137 Card, Dayton T., 49, 160–1 Carroll, Samuel Sprigg, 110, 116 Cedar Mountain, Battle of, 66, 67, 129 Cemetery Hill. See Pennsylvania: and Cemetery Hill Chancellorsville, battle of, 19–29, 30–2, 59, 97, 103, 108, 122, 149, 156, 183n1 Charleston, sc, xxiii, xxv, 156 Chesnut, Mary, xxiii Chickahominy River, 119 Chickamaga, battle of, 67, 96 Clow, Henry J., 97, 161, 188n13 Cold Harbor, battle of, 124 Corby, William, 102, 117, 154, 161 Couch, Darius N., 10, 19, 23, 31 Cox, Bryce A., 10, 160 Crawford, Abel, 138 Cumberland, T.D., 144 Daley, James Patrick, 141 Daley, John Patrick, 141 Daley, Mary Elizabeth, 141 Darroch, Lois, xliv Davis, Jefferson, xxiv, xxv, 17, 31, 32, 92, 137–9

Index Delaware, 9 Deverell, Joseph, 79, 120, 161 diarrhea, xli, 13 Dickson, Charles B., 43, 113, 161, 182n1 disease, xxxvi, xli, 5, 13, 24, 64, 129, 185n10; See also diarrhea, fever pens, scurvy, typhoid fever Dore, Gustave, xxxvi Doten, Frederick B., 65, 161–2 Doubleday, Abner, xxxvi Dougherty, Alexander N., 116, 156, 162 Douglas, Henry Kyd, 123 draft, 91, 185n11 Drake, William, xxv Ducachet, H.W., 62, 64, 162 Dudley, Frederick A., 96–7, 162 Dunker’s Church, xxxvi Durant, James, 158, 162 Dutton, William, 126, 162 Dwinelle, Justin, 28, 162 Dyer, J. Franklin, xxxv, xlii Early, Jubal A., 30 Edmonds, Sarah Emma, xliv Eighth Ohio Regiment, 107, 110 Eighty-eighth New York Regiment, 117 Eleventh Corps, 19–21, 31, 43, 96, 108 Ellerbeck, Robert, 128, 162–163 Ellis, Theodore Grenville, 77, 163 Ely, William Smith, 12, 14, 21, 22, 26–7, 61, 67, 129, 142, 143, 153, 163, 182n1 Emancipation Proclamation, xxxix England, John, xxxviii Evans, Robert, 43, 163

217

Ewell, Richard S., 66 Fatzer, Solomon, 126, 163 Fee, Samuel H., 9, 163 Fellman, John R., 49, 164 fever pens, 5 Field, Charles E., 14, 164 Fifteenth New Jersey Infantry, xl Fifteenth North Carolina Regiment, 79 Fifth Corps, 56, 104, 110, 114, 134 First Brigade, 128 First Corps, 41, 81, 92–3, 104 First Delaware Division, 42, 88, 94, 133, 187n8 First Division, 23, 71–2, 84, 109 Fitch, Francis, 142, 143, 146 Flint, Dayton E., xl Force, George B., 12, 164 Foreign Enlistment Act of 1819 (Great Britain), 181n88 Fort Donaldson, 16 Fort Henry, 16, 91 Fort Monroe, xxxiv Fort Morton, 131 Fort Stedman, 138 Fort Sumter, xxiii–iv, xxv Fortieth New York Infantry, xxxviii Forty-eighth North Carolina Regiment, 79 Foster, John F., 155, 164 Fourteenth Connecticut Infantry, 22, 65, 77, 85, 95–6, 188n13 Fourteenth Indiana Volunteers, 33, 65 Fourth Division, 52, 60 Fourth Ohio Regiment, 107, 133 France, xxv Franklin, Charles, 103, 164 Franklin, Joe, 103, 164

218 Franklin, Kitty, 103, 164 Fredericksburg & Orange ch plank road, 108, 109 Fredericksburg, battle of, xxxvi–ix, 4, 6, 10, 12, 16–17, 19, 21, 24, 32, 59, 82–3, 86, 103, 154 French, William H., 10, 82 French’s Division, 13 Galwey, Thomas F., 123 Gananoque River, 152 Garibaldi Guards. See Thirty-ninth New York Volunteers Georgia, 92 Gettysburg, battle of, 40–58, 59–60, 92, 103, 112, 133, 184n23 Gibbons, John, 46, 101 Gillman, Uriah, 155, 164 Gordon, John Brown, 59, 122, 123, 138 Graham, John L., 49, 164 Grant, Alexander, 145 Grant, Ulysses S., 101; and Army of the Potomac, 104; at Gettysburg, 60, 91; at Petersburg, 138–40; at Po River, 114, 115–16; at Vicksburg, 31, 91; at the Wilderness, 122–4 Grassie, Mrs Thomas G., 99, 157 Grassie, Thomas G., 14, 19–20, 27, 87, 89, 99, 107, 110, 165 Hadley, Alfred B., 49–50, 165 Hagerstown Turnpike, 54 Haley, John W., xxxvii, xxxix, 59, 123, 138, 139 Halleck, Henry W., 124 Hammond, William A., xxxiv, xxxv, 8, 10, 165 Hampton, Wade, 124, 191n26

Index Hancock, Winfield Scott, 46, 50, 101, 110, 191n26 Hanks, Constant C., 123 Harper’s Weekly, 129 Harris, Joseph S., 66, 165 Harvard University, xxviii Havana, Cuba, xxv Hayes, Alexander, 48, 73, 101, 165–6 Hays, Joshua L., 65, 122, 165 Hays, William, 10, 23, 166 Hazard, John G., 12, 73 Hazards Rhode Island Battery, 12, 73 Heck, Samuel, xxvi Heth, Henry, 72–3 Hickey, William, 103, 166 Hill, A.P., xxxiii, 72, 191n26 Hinson, W.G., 139 HMS Trent, xxv Hogoboom, Harmon S., 14, 166 Holmes, Emma, xxiii Holt, Daniel, xlii Hooker, Joseph, xl–xli, 4, 16–17, 28, 30–2, 96, 183n3, 191n26 Horsfall, Charles K., 155–6, 166 hospitals. See medical care: in battlefield hospitals Howard, Oliver Otis, xli, 19, 31 Hudson River, 9 Hunter, R.M.T., 137 Hutchinson, Franklin B., 97, 166 immigration, xxx, 137 Indiana, xxix Ingalls, Rufus, 11, 166–7 Irish Brigade, 99, 101, 102 Irish Catholics, xxx, xxxi Irish Protestants, xxx, 188n18 Jackson, Andrew, 80

Index Jackson, Thomas “Stonewall,” xxxiii, xxxvii, 20, 22, 30–1, 44, 59, 123–4 Jackson, Thomas J., 66 James River, xxxiv, 124, 126, 131 Jewel, Jack, 187n9 Johnson, C.M., 143 Johnson, Andrew, 140 Johnson, Edward, 190n27 Johnston, Joseph, xxvi, 92, 138 Kauffman, Henry, 139–40 Kenleyside, John, 88, 120, 167 Kevins, E.H., 33, 167 Kilpatrick, Judson, 99–100, 167 Kingston, Canada West, xxx, xli, xlii, 6, 43, 97, 135, 141, 149 Kingston Daily Whig, xxv Kingston General Hospital, xxiv, 141 Knapp, Theodore E., 134, 167–8 Lang, W.A., 144 Lavell, Dr, 144 Lee, Robert E., 13, 16–17, 66–7, 91–2, 124, 134; at Antietam, xxxiii; at Centreville, 69–70, 77–8; at Fredericksburg, xxxvi, xxxvii; and Gettysburg campaign, 30–3, 39, 52–5, 57, 59–60, 183n4, 184n23; at Morton’s Ford, 96; at Po River, 117–18, and the Rappahannock, 80; and Richmond, 137–8; at the Wilderness, 112, 114, 115, 123 Leon, Louis, 59 Letterman, Jonathan, xxxv, xxxvii, xxxviii–xxxix, xl–xli Lincoln, Abraham, xxv, xxvi, 14, 32, 154; assassination of, 139–40; and peace negotiations, 137–8; war

219

preparations of, xxiv, xxvii; war strategies of, xxxiv, xxxvi, xl, 60 Longstreet, James, xxxvii, 17, 30, 47, 60, 92, 122 Longstreet’s Corps, 48, 51, 66–7, 96 Lowe, James Russell, xxiv Loyalists, xxiv, xxx Lyons, Charles, 148 MacCullough, Alex, 29, 168 Macdonald, John A., xxv Magruder, D. S., xxix Markham railroad, 56 Marquis, George, xliv Maryland, 9–10, 31, 39, 54, 56; and Baltimore, 10, 59; and Crampton’s Gap, 53; and Falling Waters, 54, 55; and Falmouth, 10, 11, 12, 13; and Fredericktown, 52–3; and Keedysville, 53; and Maryland Heights, xxxvii, 24, 55; and Sharpsburg, xxxiii, 55; and Uniontown, 40 Mason, James, xxv–xxvi Maull, David W., 76, 168 Maxwell, Charles N., 60 Mayers, Adam, xliv McAbee, Harry M., 156, 168 McClellan, George B., xxxiii, xxxiv, xxxvi McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign, xxxiv McCormick, Cyrus, 79 McDonald, A.D.J., 43, 168–9 McDowell, Charles, xliv McDowell, Irvin, xxvi, xxvii McKim, Randolph, 30, 59 McKinley, James A., 134, 139, 169 McKnight, George, 70 McLaughlin, Charley, 169

220 McLaughlin, Maggie, 103 McLaughlin, William, 103, 128, 169 McLaws, Lafayette, 30 McLeod, Robert A., xxv McNaughton, James, 7, 150, 169 McPheeter, William M., xlii Mead, George G., 66, 82, 91, 139, 156; at Centreville, 69, 77–8; at Fredericksburg, 86; and Gettysburg campaign, 52, 60, 184n23, 185n25; at Morton’s Ford, 96; and Spottsylvania, 123 Meagher, Thomas F., 154 medical care: by assistant surgeons, xxxv, 7, 8, 14; in battlefield hospitals, xxxiv–xxxvii, 15, 24–5, 28, 32, 50, 61–4, 71, 75, 87, 109, 113, 116, 156; by civilian doctors, xxviii; and incompetence, xxxiii–xxxix; by male nurses, xxxv; by regimental surgeons, 3; by surgeons, xxxv, 21, 25, 29, 50, 62, 64, 75–6, 94, 97, 109, 112, 134, 150–1, 154, 156, 178n32, 179n33, 181n96; See also amputations, ambulances, anesthesia, disease, medicines Medical Board of Upper Canada, xxxii Medical College of Queens University, xxviii, xxxii, xli, 6, 145 medicines, xxxiv, 28, 51, 95, 97, 116, 178n23, 183n2 Mile Run Campaign, 87 Mine Run, Battle of, 103 Missouri Republican, 139 Mitchell, Barton, xxxiii Montreal, xxv morale, 16–17, 44, 96, 99, 124, 138

Index Morton’s Ford, battle of, xxx, xxxiii, 91, 93–7, 103, 142 Mud March, xxxix Munson, Owen, 12, 14, 21, 26, 27, 58, 66, 67, 89, 153, 169 music, 17, 102, 139 Native Americans, 139 New Jersey: and Blue Anchor, 155; and Jersey City, 98, 156, 158 New Orleans, la, 16 New York Herald, xxv New York State Medical Society, 7 New York Times, xxv, xxvi New York: and Albany, 98, 149, 151, 157–8; and Cape Vincent, 6, 98, 149, 157; and draft riots, 91; and Elmira, 58; and Monroe County, 12, 89; and New York City, xxvii, 6, 9, 10, 97, 151, 152, 157–8; and Rochester, 12, 103, 140, 141, 154, 157; and Rome, 6; and Watertown, 6, 97 Newell, William L., 156, 169 Nichols, James, 12, 14, 169 Nicholson, James. See Nichols, James Ninth Corps, 4, 11, 112–13 Ninth New York Infantry, xxxviii Ninth New York Volunteers, xxxvi North Anna River, 119, 124 North Carolina, xxiv O’Leary, Charles, xxxvii O’Neil, Patrick, 145 odors, 56 One Hundred Eighth New York Infantry, xli, 8, 22, 24, 29, 89, 143, 150, 153, 182n1; and Antietam, xxxiii, xxxvi, xxxix, 12–13; at Broad Run, 74, 76; and

Index Gettysburg campaign, 40, 46, 48, 49; at Morton’s Ford, 95–6; at Petersburg, 139–40; at Po River, 116; at Spottsylvania, 119; at the Wilderness, 112 One Hundred Thirtieth Pennsylvania Infantry, 22, 42 One Hundred Twentieth New York Infantry, 68 Orange & Alexander Railroad, 34, 57, 83 Orange Court House Turnpike, 82 Orange Order, xxx Ostrander, Dwight H., 133, 169–70 Owens, Frederick J., 156, 170 Owens, Joshua T., 71–2, 102, 170 Palmer, Oliver H., 12–13, 170 Palmer, Richard H., 170 Palmerston, Henry John Temple, xxvi Pamunkey River, 119, 124 Paris, France, xxiii Patterson, Robert, xxvi, 145 Peddy, George W., xliii Pennsylvania, 9, 39; and Cemetery Hill, 41; and Emmitsburg Road, 41, 47; and Evergreen Cemetery, 41, 45; and Philadelphia, 9–10, 59, 151, 152, 156; and Roundtop, 41, 42; and Taneytown, 40, 41, 44, 45, 47, 50, 52; Woodruff’s Battery, 42, 46, 48 Pickett, George E., 138 Pierce, Francis E., 97, 99, 103, 132, th 157, 170; and 108 New York, xxxix, 14, 26, 61, 90, 142; at Morton’s Ford, 93, 95; and Gettysburg campaign, 42–4; at Petersburg, 128; in Washington, dc, 64–5

221

Pinkerton, Frank, 32, 170–1 Pittsburgh Township (Kingston, Canada West), xxiv Pleasanton, Alfred, 39, 54 Po River, Battle of, 114–16 Porter, Samuel, 76, 171 Potomac Creek, 28, 32 Potomac River, xxxiii, 11, 13, 39, 52–6, 77–8, 99, 113, 131, 152 th Powers, Charles J., 171; and 108 New York, 10, 12, 14, 23, 61, 87, 90, 154; at Bristoe Station, 71–2; and Gettysburg campaign, 40, 42; and the Wilderness, 113; and wounds, 119, 128, 132 Proclamation of Neutrality (Great Britain), 181n88 Quackenbush, John Van Pelt, 7, 171 Queen’s University, xxiv, 141 Rapidan River, 60, 66–7, 81–3, 86–9, 91, 96, 107, 120, 125 Rappahannock River, xxxvi–xxxvii, xxxix, 4, 13, 16–18, 27, 30–2, 60–1, 67–9, 78, 80, 92, 112, 151, 152 Reynolds, John, 41 Ristow, Fred, 29, 172 River Queen, 138 Robinson’s Tavern, battle of, 103 Roman Catholicism, xxiv Rosecrans, William S., 67, 96 Rowe, David Watson, xxxviii Rowland, Thomas G., 149, 155–7, 172 Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (Kingston), 141, 144, 145, 192n11 Royce, Mr and Mrs, 103, 172

222 Ruffin, Thomas, 71, 172 Russell, William Howard, xxiii Russia, xxv Ruston, Richard, xxvi Sabin, Elias H., 156, 172 Sacramento Daily Union, 91 Salisbury, nc, 16 Sanitary and Christian Commission, 96 sanitation, xl, 4, 15, 38, 39, 52, 87 Satterthwaite, Alvin, 74–5, 155–6, 172, 191n29 Saunders, Lisa, xliv Scott, Isaac, 75, 156, 172 scurvy, xli secessionism, xxv, 16 Second Bull Run, battle of, xxxiii, 16 Second Corps, 61, 65–8, 104, 120, 127, 132–3, 135, 139, 156; at Bristoe Station, 70–3, 78; at Chancellorsville, 21, 23–4; and Gettysburg campaign, 33, 36–7, 39–41, 45–7, 50; at Morton’s Ford, 93–4; at Po River, 114–15; at Rappahannock, 80, 82–4, 86–7; at Spottsylvania, 117–18; at the Wilderness, 110–13 Second Massachusetts Infantry, xxxviii Sedgwick, John, 21, 24, 25, 32, 114, 123 Seventeenth Maine Infantry, xxxvii, 59, 138, 139 Seventh West Virginia Infantry, 44, 95, 107, 115 Seward, William Henry, xxv, 138 Seymour, Horatio, 7, 150 Shenandoah River, 13, 55 Shenandoah Valley, xxxvii, 92

Index Sheridan, Philip, 124 Sherman, William T., 92, 134, 137, 138 Sigel, Franz, 92 Sixth Corps, xxxvii, 68, 104; at Chancellorsville, 21, 24; and Gettysburg campaign, 32, 44, 46; at Po River, 114–15; at Rappahannock, 80–1, 83–4, 87; at the Wilderness, 110 slavery, xli, 137, 138 Sleepers, J. Henry, 81, 172 Slidell, John, xxv–xxvi Slocum, Henry Warner, 44, 46 Smith, Henry B., 86–7, 158, 173 Smith, William H., xlii Smithsonian Institute [sic], 63, 64, 186n14 Smyth, Thomas A., 133, 173 Sneden, Robert Knox, xxxviii, xliv Soper, Dr, 156, 173 South Carolina Palmetto Guard, xxiii Spalter, Frank J., 132, 173 Spinola, Fransico B., 57, 173 Spottsylvania Court House, battle of, 115, 116–18, 119, 123–4 St Andrews, New Brunswick, xxv St Mary’s Cathedral (Kingston, Canada West), xxiv, 141, 145 St Michael’s Episcopal Church (Charleston, sc), xxiii St Vincent de Paul Society (Kingston, Canada West), 143–4, 145 Staats, Barent P., 7, 150, 173–4 Stafford Court House, 33 Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, xxiv Stephens, Alexander, 137 Stephenson, Robert, 64, 142, 143, 174

Index Steuart, George H., 190n27 Stevenson, Christopher F., 25, 174 Stille, Charles J., xxiv Stoneman, Charles P., 28, 183n3 Stonewall Jackson’s Corps, 108 Strong, George Templeton, xxxvi Stuart, J.E.B., 30, 39, 71, 83, 123–4 Sullivan, John S., 44, 174 Sullivan, Michael, 141, 142, 144, 148 Susquehanna River, 9–10 Sutlers and Sanitary Commission, 87–8, 89 Taylor, Walter, 122 Tennessee, xxiv, 11, 67, 96; and Chattanooga, 66; and Nashville, 16, 137 Tenth Massachusetts Battery, 81 Tenth New York Regiment, 110 Thibodeau, Valery, xxv Third Brigade, 93–4 Third Corps, 104; at Bristoe Station, 68–70, 74; at Chancellorsville, 22; and Gettysburg campaign, 40–2, 57; at Morton’s Ford, 92–3; at Rappahannock, 80, 82; at the Wilderness, 110 Third Division, 23, 41, 52, 83–4, 109–10 Third Maine Infantry, 60 Thirty-ninth New York Volunteers, 41–2, 184n14 Thomas, George H., 67, 174 Thrasher, Byron P., 24, 174 Toronto, Canada West, 43 Tremont House, 6–7 Trent affair, xxv–xxvi Tripler, Charles S., xxxiv, xxxv Twelfth Corps, 43, 96

223

Twelfth New Jersey Infantry, 22, 23, 42, 66, 74, 86, 94, 110 Twelfth New York, 32, 70 Twenty-eighth New York Volunteers, xxix Twenty-second New York Cavalry, 128 Twenty-seventh Indiana Regiment, xxxiii typhoid fever, xli, 13 Union doctors, xxvii Union Medical Corps, xxvii, xxix, xxxiv, xxxv, xxxvi, xxxviii, 6 Union Quartermaster Corps, xxix, xxxiv Union Surgeon General, xxix Union, John Pope, 66 United States Hotel, 62 University of Albany, 7 University of Toronto Medical College, xxxii US Navy Yard, 64 US Pension Office, 143, 145, 146–8 US Sanitation Commission, xxxvi, 180n61 US Treasury Department, 63 US Volunteer Staff of Surgeons, 61, 67 USS San Jacinto, xxv Utica, ny, 8 Vaughn, George W., 109, 174, 187n9 Vicksburg, Battle of, 31, 53, 60, 91 Virginia, xxiv, 31, 60, 136; and Alexandria, 39, 65; and Appomattox, 139; and Ashley’s Gap, 56; and Bailey’s Crossroads, 141; and Bealton Station, 68, 69; and

224 Bloomfield, 56; and Boynton plank road, 133; and Brandy Station, 81; and Brentsville, 72, 75; and Broad Run, 73–4, 79; and Buckeystown, 39; and Burkesville, 139; and Catlett’s Station, 71; and Cedar Run, 70; and Centreville, 37, 69–70, 77, 131; and Coney Mountain, 102; and Culpeper, xxxvii , 65, 67–8, 87, 102, 107; and Dumfries, 33–4; and Edwards Ferry, 39; and Elktown, 58, 61; and Ely’s Ford, 86; and Falmouth Station, 151, 152, 153; and Fairfax Station, 34; and Five Forks crossroad, 138; and Frederick City, 39; and Gainesville, 38–9, 79; and Georgetown, 61–2, 64; and Germanna Ford, 82, 86–7, 107; and Greenwich, 79; and Groveton, 39; and Gum Springs, 39; and Hampton Roads, 138; and Hanover Court House, 119; and Kelly’s Ford, 60, 80–1; and Kettle Run, 72, 75; and Leesburg, 39; and Locust Grove, 82; and Loudon Valley, 13, 55; and Manassas Junction, 37–9, 56, 57, 76, 78; and Mine Run, 83; Mitchell’s Station, 65–6; and Morrisville, 60; and Occoquan Creek, 34; and Petersburg, 97, 124, 126, 131, 132–3, 138–9; and Rappahannock Station, 80; and Reams Station, 132; and Richmond, xxvi–xxvii, xxxiv, xxxvi, xxxix, xl, 5, 16–17, 31, 59, 71, 91–2, 119, 120, 124, 126, 138; and Stevensburg, 88, 107; and Stoney Mountain, 87, 99–101;

Index and Sulphur Springs, 69; and Totopotomoy Creek, 124; and Warrenton Turnpike, 38, 57, 62, 70, 80; and Whiteplains, 57 Wade, Norman, xxv Wadsworth, James S., 122 Wafer, Agnes, xxiv, 145, 151 Wafer, Catherine, xxiv, 145, 146, 148 Wafer, Elizabeth (mother), xxiv, 145, 146, 151 Wafer, Elizabeth, xxiv, 145 Wafer, Francis Moses, xxiv, xxix–xxxiii, 148; and gender roles, xxxi; health of, 26–7, 66, 81, 101, 118, 120, 129, 131, 141–3, 145, 191n29; letters of, xliii, 88–90, 101–4, 106–7, 118–20, 124–36, 139, 149; medical training of, xli, 141 Wafer, Francis Moses (nephew), 145 Wafer, John, xxiv, xxx, xxxii, 88, 101, 124, 129, 130, 132, 133, 145, 146–7, 149, 152, 157 Wafer, Maggie, xxiv, xxxi, 90, 106, 118, 119, 125, 128, 130, 133, 141, 151 Wafer, Maggie (niece), 146 Wafer, Maria, xxiv, 90, 125, 126, 145, 148, 151 Wafer, Martha, 145 Wafer, Peter, xxiv, xxxi, 106, 120, 141, 145, 146–8 Wapping Heights, battle of, 57 Warren, Governeur K., 31, 73, 78, 83, 84–6 Washington, dc, xxvii, xxxiii, 4, 9–11, 15, 24, 37, 59, 62–4, 67, 69, 97–8, 118, 135, 140, 151–3, 158

Index Webb, A.B., 145 West Virginia, 184n15; and Harper’s Ferry, xxxiii, 13, 55 Whitbeck, John F., 12, 14, 175 Whitman, Walt, xxxviii Wilderness, battle of the, 108–14, 115, 119, 122–3 Wilkes, Charles, xxv Willard, Sylvester D., 8, 175 Willet, Thomas, 102, 175 Williams, Alpheus, xxxvi

225

Williams, Marvin, 12, 175 Winks, Robin, xliv Wolf Run, wv, 34 Woodruff, George A., 41, 48, 175 Wrightman, Edward King, xxxvi, xxxix Yates, Horatio, 7, 141, 142–3, 176 Yates, Octavius, 141, 142 York River, xxxiv

a surgeon in the army of the potomac

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30 Who Killed the Queen? What Works and What to Fix in Canadian Health Care Holly Dressel 31 Healing the World’s Children Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Health in the Twentieth Century Edited by Cynthia Comacchio, Janet Golden, and George Weisz 32 A Canadian Surgeon in the Army of the Potomac Francis M. Wafer Edited by Cheryl A. Wells

A Surgeon in the Army of the Potomac FRANCIS M. WAFER

Edited by Cheryl A. Wells

McGill-Queen’s University Press Montreal & Kingston London Ithaca G

G

© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2008 isbn 978-0-7735-3381-3 Legal deposit second quarter 2008 Bibliothèque nationale du Québec Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free (100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free McGill-Queen’s University Press acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (bpidp) for our publishing activities. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Wafer, Francis M., 1830–1876 A surgeon in the Army of the Potomac / Francis M. Wafer ; edited by Cheryl A. Wells. (McGill-Queen’s/Associated Medical Services studies in the history of medicine, health, and society ; 32) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-7735-3381-3 1. Wafer, Francis M., 1830–1876. 2. United States – History – Civil War, 1861–1865 – Personal narratives, Canadian. 3. United States – History – Civil War, 1861–1865 – Medical care. 4. United States. Army – Surgeons – Biography. 5. Surgeons – Canada – Biography. 6. Physicians – Canada – Biography. I. Wells, Cheryl A., 1972– II. Title. III. Series. r464.w24a3 2008

973.7’75092

c2007–907322–0

Typeset by Jay Tee Graphics in 10/13 Sabon

Frontispiece: Francis M. Wafer, 1864 Courtesy Queen’s University Archives, Kingston, Ontario

In memory of two Canadian soldiers robert ralph ryan and alan mcpherson th

17 Duke of York’s Royal Canadian Hussars Second World War

s

Contents

Illustrations xi Acknowledgments xiii Civil War Timeline xv Introduction xxiii 1 2 3 4 5 6

Joining the Army of the Potomac 3 The Spring Campaigns of 1863 16 The Gettysburg Campaign 30 After Gettysburg 59 Campaigns of 1864 91 Letters from Petersburg and Hatcher’s Run Epilogue 137 Appendix 149 Dramatis Personae 159 Notes 177 Bibliography 197 Index 215

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ons

Illustrations

Portrait: Francis M. Wafer Map of Virginia

iv

xxii

Ruins of Fredericksburg

4

2d Corps Field Hospital, Chancellorsville

20

The Unburied Federal Dead at Bull Run

38

Removing the Wounded St Patrick’s Day, 1864

49

100

Removing the Wounded from the Wilderness

110

Surgeons of the 2d Corps, 2d Division at Petersburg Grand View of Union Troops

140

Tombstone of Francis M. Wafer

147

125

edgments

Acknowledgments

Despite being born over one hundred years apart, Francis M. Wafer and I have more in common than first glance reveals. We were both born in Ontario as descendents of United Empire Loyalists. We share an Irish heritage. We both attended Queen’s University in Kingston. We both left Canada for professional reasons and went to the Republic. In doing so, we both became indebted to the extraordinary people we left at home and the extraordinary people we encountered in the United States. While Wafer’s Civil War journey took him into the Army of the Potomac, mine took me into the master’s and subsequently the doctoral program at the University of South Carolina. It was there strangely, and not at our alma mater, that I encountered Francis M. Wafer for the first time. While writing my master’s thesis on Canadians in the Civil War, I came across a citation to a manuscript collection held by the Queen’s University Archives in Kingston, Ontario. Through the generous support of my Gran, Florence M. Ryan, I was able to acquire a complete set of Francis M. Wafer’s writings. I finished my thesis, with the help of my exceptional director and friend Mark M. Smith, put Wafer’s writings in a box, and moved onto other projects. I only rediscovered Wafer in 2005 when a thorough cleaning of my office at the University of Wyoming revealed a neat pile of photocopies labelled “Important. Wafer. Do Not Throw Out!” From that time forward, I have reacquainted myself with the words and worlds of Francis M. Wafer and

xiv

Acknowledgments

find myself gleefully indebted to a generous group of organizations, scholars, and friends. This project would not have been possible without the help provided by Paul Banfield and the staff at the Queen’s University Archives. I would also like to thank Duke University, Harvard University, the Library and Archives of Canada (lac) and in the United States, the New York State Archives, Notre Dame University, the Rochester Public Library, the United States Military History Institute, the University of Rochester, and the Virginia Historical Society for their help in securing materials and permissions. The anonymous reviewers at McGill-Queen’s University Press along with Jonathan Crago and Joan McGilvray offered thoughtful comments and encouraging advice, asked hard questions, help me focus and refocus the project, and were extraordinarily helpful in procuring photographs. Frank Gillespie of the Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York, was generous with his time and knowledge, as was Doug Bickerton of the Gananoque River Waterways Association in Gananoque, Canada. William J. Bauer, Jr, Michael Eamon, and Edward A. Janak iii deserve special thanks. Even when engaged in their own research, they kindly found the time to read this work in its entirety and to offer helpful suggestions, strong criticism, and insightful remarks that tremendously improved the project. Dr Jason Dylik was extremely kind to share his knowledge of nineteenth-century medicine and medical education. Jim Wafer also deserves my gratitude. Jim generously shared his family’s history and research with me. He was a wonderful source on the Wafer family and meeting him was a delightful and unexpected perk of the project. My own family has been tremendously supportive. My husband, Edward Janak iii, my parents, Heather and Arthur Wells, my sister, Terri Wells, my aunts and uncles, Janice and Tom King and Phil and Lori Wells, as well as my cousins, Andrew, James, and Laura Wells, have all contributed to this project and I thank them. My dear friend Jean Lapierre performed a critical service in securing the images in this work and for that and for everything I am grateful. In closing, I wish to thank and acknowledge an extraordinary woman. My friend Heather Jackson lost her battle with cancer in 2006. I had the privilege of working with Heather for twelve years. I think of her often and find comfort in her indomitable spirit, which continues to inspire me and all of us who had the remarkable good fortune to know her.

r Timeline

Civil War Timeline

1860 6 November: Without receiving a single vote from the South, Abraham Lincoln wins the 1860 presidential election. 20 December: South Carolina’s convention on secession votes to dissolve the bonds between the state and the Union.

1861 9 January: Mississippi secedes from the Union. Jefferson Davis resigns his seat in the United States Senate. 10 January: Florida secedes from the Union. 11 January: Alabama secedes from the Union. 19 January: Georgia secedes from the Union. 26 January: Louisiana secedes from the Union. 1 February: Texas secedes from the Union. 4 March: Chief Justice Roger B. Taney inaugurates Lincoln as the sixteenth president of the United States. 12 April: Confederate Pierre G.T. Beauregard attacks Robert Anderson’s Union garrison stationed at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.

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Civil War Timeline

13 April: Anderson surrenders to Beauregard. The Confederates lower the Stars and Stripes from over Fort Sumter and replaced it with the flag of South Carolina’s Palmetto Guards. The war, for all intents and purposes, has started. 15 April: Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers to serve ninety days in the Union military. 17 April: Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers prompts Virginia to secede from the Union. 19 April: Union troops are attacked by a pro-Confederate mob in Baltimore, Maryland. Lincoln orders a blockade of southern ports for the duration of the war. 6 May: Arkansas and Tennessee secede from the Union and join the Confederacy. 13 May: Great Britain issues a Proclamation of Neutrality in the war. 20 May: North Carolina secedes from the Union and joins the Confederacy. 21 July: The Confederates defeat a stunned Union force at the Battle of Bull Run but fail to capture Washington and end the war. 27 July: Lincoln replaces Irwin McDowell with George B. McClellan as commander of the Department of the Potomac. 24 October: The western section of Virginia secedes from the state and joins the Union. 6 November: Citizens of the Confederacy elect a Confederate congress. Jefferson Davis is elected president. 8 November: Union naval captain Charles Wilkes boards the British vessel HMS Trent and removes two Confederate envoys bound for London. Britain demands an apology for this violation of neutrality and the return of the two envoys or else war will ensue. 27 December: The Trent affair is resolved and war avoided.

1862 8 March: Lincoln reorganizes his armies. He places McClellan in command of the Army of the Potomac and orders the start of the Peninsular campaign.

Civil War Timeline

xvii

6 May: McClellan’s procrastination stalls the Peninsular campaign. He awaits reinforcements near Williamsburg, Virginia. 1 June: General Robert E. Lee assumes command and defeats McClellan’s troops. Lee renames the fighting force the Army of Northern Virginia. 25 June–1 July: Lee engages McClellan near Richmond, Virginia, at the Seven Days’ Battle and forces McClellan to retreat towards Washington. 11 July: Lincoln names General Henry Halleck general in chief of Union forces. 29–30 August: The second battle of Bull Run replicates the outcome of the first. A numerically inferior Confederate army defeats the Union and forces the Federals retreat to their capital. 4–9 September: Hoping to gain European recognition and end the war, Lee’s Confederates drive north with McClellan’s forces in pursuit. 17 September: Although the Union army is aware of Lee’s battle plan for Antietam, McClellan fails to act appropriately. The battle, which is the bloodiest day of the war, results in a stalemate. McClellan permits Lee to escape across the Potomac. 22 September: Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, which frees only those slaves in areas or parts of areas in rebellion. 7 November: General Ambrose Burnside replaces McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac. 13 December: Burnside and the Army of the Potomac unsuccessfully attack the Confederates entrenched on Marye’s Heights, Virginia. The Union loses 12,653 men and the Confederacy 5,000 men during this battle known as Fredericksburg.

1863 1 January: The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect. The federal government permits AfricanAmerican military enlistment.

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25 January: Lincoln replaces Burnside with General Joseph Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac. 1–4 May: Lee’s Confederate forces hand the Union a devastating loss at Chancellorsville. The Army of the Potomac retreats. 10 May: The Confederacy is devastated when General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson dies from complications resulting from the wounds he received at Chancellorsville. 3 June: Lee launches his second invasion of the North. 27 June: Lincoln replaces Hooker with General George G. Meade as commander of the Army of the Potomac. 30 June: Confederate general James Pettigrew’s brigade arrives in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, searching for shoes but finding the enemy instead. 1 July: The Confederates began reconnaissance in order to determine the size of the Union force. Despite Lee’s orders to avoid a general engagement, Confederate forces instigate one. The Confederates are victorious at the end of the first day, having made the Federals to retreat to Cemetery Hill. 2 July: Delays in organizing and implementing result in a failure for the Confederacy. 3 July: In an attempt to win the engagement, Lee orders Generals George Pickett and James Pettigrew to pierce Meade’s centre line. Their men are slaughtered and Gettysburg emerges as the costliest battle of the war with 23,089 Union men and 20,451 Confederates missing, wounded, or dead. 4 July: Grant takes Vicksburg from the Confederates, gaining control over the Mississippi River and cutting the Confederacy in half. 13–16 July: New York City erupts into chaos as draft riots break out. 23 July: McClellan follows Lee into Virginia and orders General William H. French to stop Lee from retreating through Wapping Heights. French’s attempts are unsuccessful and Lee’s army escapes into the Luray Valley.

Civil War Timeline

xix

14 October: Confederate general A.P. Hill launches an unauthorized attack on Union forces retreating from Bristoe Station. Hill and his men retreat to the Rappahannock. 7 November: The Union attacks Confederate troops at Rappahannock Station and forces Lee to retreat south of the Rapidan. 27 November–2 Meade attempts to strike the Confederate army December: encamped south of the Rapidan. Lee fortifies along Mine Run. Meade fails to attack, arguing that Lee’s line is too strong, and the Union retreats.

1864 6–7 February: Federal forces cross the Rapidan and engage Confederate troops at Morton’s Ford, Virginia. The Federals withdraw north of the river. 10 March: Lincoln replaces Hooker with Grant as commander in chief. General William Sherman replaces Grant in the western theatre. 5–6 May: Lee attacks Grant’s army in the Wilderness, the land around Chancellorsville. Lee orders an attack on Grant’s exposed right flank. Fierce fighting results in 17,666 Federal and 7,500 Confederate soldiers missing, wounded, or killed before the Federals withdraw. 10 May: Federal forces unsuccessfully attempt to break through Confederate lines near Spotsylvania Court House. 11 May: Union general Philip Sheridan defeats the Confederate cavalry under General J.E.B. Stuart at Yellow Tavern, Virginia. Stuart is fatally wounded. 12 May: Fighting resumes near Spotsylvania Court House but the federal forces remain unable to break the Confederate line. 18–19 May: Federals again launch an unsuccessful assault aimed at breaking Lee’s line near Spotsylvania Court House. Grant withdraws towards the Po River.

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Civil War Timeline

3 June: Grant unsuccessfully attacks Lee’s forces at Cold Harbor. This is Lee’s last great victory of the war. 15 June: Grant plans to occupy Petersburg and Richmond. Both sides dig in for a ten-month battle. 2 September: Sherman captures Atlanta and destroys most of the city. 8 November: Lincoln hands McClellan an overwhelming defeat in the presidential election. Andrew Johnson, a Tennessee Democrat, is elected vice-president. 15–16 Decem-ber: Hood’s Army of Tennessee is destroyed by the Federals at Nashville, 21 December: Leaving a path of death and destruction, Sherman reaches Savannah and gives the city, on 22 December to Lincoln as a Christmas gift.

1865 3 February: Lincoln and Stephens engage in an unsuccessful peace conference at Hampton Roads, Virginia. 4 March: The chief justice inaugurates Lincoln for a second term as president. 25 March: Lee, desperate to break through Grant’s forces at Petersburg, launches an unsuccessful attack. 2 April: Grant breaks Lee’s line at Petersburg. Davis orders the evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond. The Confederate government flees south, leaving Richmond to looters. 9 April: Lee surrenders his Army of Northern Virginia to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Grant offers Lee extraordinarily generous terms, which Lee accepts. Grant permits Lee’s men to keep their weapons and horses; Grant supplies them and allows them to return to their homes as free men. 14 April: In Washington, John Wilkes Booths shoots President Lincoln. Lincoln dies the following day. 16 April: Vice-President Andrew Johnson is inaugurated as president.

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18 April: Johnston surrenders to Sherman near Durham, North Carolina. Sherman offers Johnston terms as generous as those given to Lee by Grant. Johnston and Sherman hammer out an all-encompassing peace. 26 April: Union forces kill John Wilkes Booth. Johnston surrenders to Sherman after rejecting their peace accord. 4 May: Lincoln’s funeral procession travels from Washington to Springfield, Illinois, where he is buried. 10 May: Federals capture Davis and the Confederate government near Irwinville, Georgia. 26 May: The last Confederate army, the Army of the Trans-Mississippi, surrenders to the Union. 18 December: The United States Congress ratifies the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery.

1866 2 April: President Andrew Johnson officially declares an end to the Civil War.

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Map of Virginia, 1862. Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia Libraries

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In the wee hours of 12 April 1861, most citizens of Charleston, South Carolina, including Mary Chesnut, slept fitfully at best. Four o’clock loomed and with it the potential bombardment of Fort Sumter by Confederate forces. Mary lay in her bed awaiting the appointed hour. St Michael’s Church bells chimed four a.m. yet silence reigned. “At half-past four,” Chesnut heard “the heavy booming of a cannon” and “sprang out of bed.”1 The city hummed with excitement as Charlestonians of all stripes gathered on their rooftops and piazzas, in the city’s streets and parks, in church spires and courtyards, and along the waterfront. The sky flashed with shells and the windows rattled as Confederate general Pierre G.T. Beauregard bombarded Union general Robert Anderson’s federal garrison at Fort Sumter. Thirty-three hours into the bombardment, Anderson surrendered. The Confederates lowered the Stars and Stripes from Sumter’s flagpole and replaced it with the flag of South Carolina’s Palmetto Guard. South Carolina celebrated. Noted English correspondent William Howard Russell observed that Charleston “present[ed] some such aspect[s] of those in Paris in the last revolution. Secession flags waved out of all the windows,” church bells peeled, and salvos were fired.2 Residents held victory balls and danced the secession two-step in celebrations throughout the state. In the words of Charlestonian Emma Holmes, there was “universal rejoicing” at Sumter’s fall.3

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Celebrations in the North also greeted Sumter’s fall but diverged from southern celebrations over the meaning of Sumter. For the Confederacy, the fall of Sumter inaugurated a new nation and opened the door to an independent future. In the North, however, Elizabeth Cady Stanton spoke for many when she described the event as “a simultaneous chorus for freedom for every nation that has ever fought for liberty on her soil.”4 Others greeted the news less positively. James Russell Lowe noted that “[r]ebellion smells no sweeter because its called secession,” while Charles J. Stille somberly reflected that “nothing is left but an appeal to force.”5 President Lincoln clearly agreed with Stille and prepared for war by issuing a call for 75,000 volunteers to serve a three-month term in the Union army. While the enlistment response overwhelmed his demand, Lincoln’s call complicated things. To Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee, it smacked of aggression towards the South and led them to leave the Union for the Confederacy. War appeared likely. Lincoln’s inaugural address made it clear that “the momentous issue of civil war” hinged on the actions of his “dissatisfied fellow-countrymen.” The government, he pledged, “will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors.”6 With the stage set, two nations waited for Confederate president Jefferson Davis’s decision. Over a thousand miles away on the second concession in Pittsburgh Township, near Kingston, Canada West, the Wafer family awoke on 13 April 1861 to a day like any other.7 Peter and Elizabeth Wafer had married on 7 October 1828 and in the intervening twentythree years raised eight children on the hundred-acre farm inherited from their Loyalist ancestors. In 1861 the family consisted of thirtyone-year-old Francis Moses, twenty-nine-year-old Catherine, twentythree-year-old John, twenty-one-year-old Maria, eighteen-year-old Maggie, fifteen-year-old Elizabeth, and eleven-year-old Agnes. Sadly, the family’s third son, Peter, had died at the age of three on 8 October 1849. Peter and Elizabeth raised their remaining children as good Roman Catholics and faithfully attended Kingston’s St Mary’s Cathedral.8 Although all of the children helped with the farm by tending the crops, livestock, and garden plot, Francis Moses also attended medical college at Queen’s University in Kingston. In 1861 Wafer was studying chemistry and anatomy at the university and clinical surgery and medicine at Kingston General Hospital.9 On 13 April Peter, Elizabeth, John, Catherine, Maggie, Maria, Elizabeth, and Agnes tended to the morning’s chores while Francis continued his

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studies. All remained oblivious to the momentous events unfolding in the American republic. Later that day, the evening edition of the Kingston Daily Whig carried news of Sumter’s fall. Buried on the paper’s second page, a simple headline stated that “the ball has opened: war is inaugurated.”10 Despite the newspaper’s apparent indifference, the war elicited great concern from the British North American colonies. Prior to Sumter’s fall, American newspapers screamed for the annexation of Canada. The New York Herald declared that “absorbing Canada” would offset a loss of the southern states, while the New York Times argued for the inevitability of such a merger.11 Lincoln’s choice for secretary of state, William Henry Seward, intensified rather than soothed concerns north of the border for Seward openly dreamed of annexing British North America. Amidst rumours of annexation attempts and impending war, public opinion in British North America divided over events in the American republic. Some believed that “the North ha[d] as noble a cause to fight for as any for which blood has even been shed,” while others, like Sir John A. Macdonald, praised “the gallant defence that is being made by the Southern Republic.”12 Others went further in their proclamations. The citizens of St Andrews, New Brunswick, hosted “a pro-Confederate street parade” while the citizens of Montreal decorated Notre Dame Street with “seven Secesh flags” on the Fourth of July.13 David B. Bridgeford of Canada West, Robert A. McLeod of Nova Scotia, and Valery Thibodeau of Canada East did more than wave secessionist flags. They chose sides and enlisted in the Confederate forces while Norman Wade of Nova Scotia, William Drake of Prince Edward Island, and John Campbell of Canada West, along with tens of thousands of their countrymen, enlisted in the Union army.14 Rumours of war almost became reality with the Trent affair. In May of 1861, the British government declared neutrality in the American conflict and, in doing so, granted the Confederacy de facto recognition as a nation along with the rights of a belligerent power. France, Russia, and Austria followed suit. In November 1861 Jefferson Davis sent two diplomatic envoys, James Mason and John Slidell, to Europe to secure recognition of the Confederacy. The pair left from Charleston, slipped through the Union blockade, and arrived in Havana, Cuba. Once in Havana, they boarded the British Steamer HMS Trent for the final leg of their voyage. On 8 November Captain Charles Wilkes of the USS San Jacinto fired on the British vessel, boarded it, and

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removed Mason and Slidell. Initially, the North cheered Wilkes as a hero. The New York Times “advocated that a second Independence Day be declared in Wilkes’s honour, and the City of Boston presented him with a jeweled sword.”15 The mood sobered as the British expressed their outrage at such a violation of sovereignty. Prime Minister Henry John Temple Palmerston issued an ultimatum to Lincoln demanding the release of Mason and Slidell as well as an official apology. Simultaneously, Palmerston prepared for war by fortifying the British North American border and mobilizing the British fleet. For Canadians fighting in the Civil War, the notion of war with Britain proved problematic. Canadian H.W. Blanchard trembled “for the fate of my own dear Canada” in the event of a war between the Union and Great Britain; he feared that “Canada West would be[come] one big battle field.”16 Samuel Heck of Brockville, Canada West, also feared war with England and declared that in such a circumstance he “could never raise an arm against my native land. I have enlisted in the American army. I am not a Yankee.”17 Richard Ruston was not a Yankee either and no doubt spoke for many when he declared “that should the worst happen he must find some way to escape the necessity of taking up arms against his native country.”18 Circumstances intervened to prevent Ruston from discovering such means. Fearing a twofront war, Lincoln acquiesced to Palmerton’s demands and avoided war. British North Americans, however, remained intensely concerned over annexation and uneasy over events to the south even as they waited for one big offensive battle to end the war, restore some form of order to the American Union, and settle the issue of annexation. With public pressure mounting and the three-month enlistments lapsing, Lincoln ordered General Irvin McDowell to design a battle plan to sack Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy. McDowell hesitated and requested more time to perfect “the discipline and organization of the volunteers, who had not yet been formed into brigades.”19 Lincoln declined and insisted that the campaign move forward. McDowell’s plan called for his army of thirty thousand to engage Beauregard’s twenty thousand Confederates gathered at Manassas railroad junction. Simultaneously, McDowell charged Union general Robert Patterson with preventing Confederate general Joseph Johnston from reinforcing Beauregard’s forces. Although brilliant in theory, implementation of this plan proved disastrous. McDowell’s unruly, unorganized, and untrained troops marched sluggishly towards Manassas, taking five days to cover the

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twenty-three miles. An unrelenting press complicated the situation. In Washington and perhaps Richmond, little secrecy surrounded McDowell’s impending military campaign. The press encouraged folks to go to the battlefields and witness the imminent Union victory. On 21 July 1861, as men clad in shades of blue, grey, and butternut faced off on the soil of Virginia, prepared to fight to the death, Washington’s elite gathered above the battlefield. Fortified with picnic baskets overflowing with French champagne, Russian caviar, and other luxuries, they settled in to watch the Union destroy the Confederacy and capture Richmond. Events on the battlefield took a different turn. By late afternoon, the Union line resembled “a confused swarm of men, like bees, running away as fast as their legs could carry them, with all order and organization abandoned.”20 Pandemonium ruled and, in the ensuing “wild panic,” troops and spectators alike scurried for safety in a world turned chaotic.21 For the wounded, however, safety proved elusive. Union doctors possessed neither the training nor the experience to deal with battle wounds or their accompanying diseases on such a vast scale. When war broke out 114 doctors served the sixteen thousand members of the Union’s peacetime army. Twenty-four doctors resigned to join the Confederacy while three resigned and refused to join either side. Many of the remaining eighty-seven doctors “were incapacitate for all duty, and one-half were unfitted for service in the field ... These officers [had been] scattered at isolated points on the frontier, without access to books, having no contact with their professional brethren in civil life, and with very little opportunity, while their duties confined them to the medical care of a single company of soldiers, of improving themselves in a knowledge of that science which is perhaps of all others the most progressive ... The conditions of things by which the surgeons of the army were surrounded before the war, was necessarily towards complete stagnation in respect of everything which could stimulate a true professional zeal.”22 The lack of a field hospital system, ambulance corps, “war-ready infrastructure for medical supply and distribution,” and a miniscule budget compounded the problems facing the Union Medical Corps.23 The swelling of the Union ranks following Lincoln’s call for volunteers meant that more army doctors were needed, yet there were no federal guidelines or national system for recruiting or licensing doctors. Instead, the Union military complex required that each regiment provide its own surgeons. Consequently, army surgeons ranged from

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men with formal medical training to complete incompetents appointed for political purposes. Formally trained civilian doctors who enlisted in the Union army were as unprepared as antebellum army doctors were. Although the number of medical schools increased during the antebellum period, the quality of education failed to improve. Most medical schools “were merely diploma mills whose main raison d’être was to make money for their faculty, not to graduate skilled physicians.”24 The entrance requirements were hardly rigorous. Entrance into Harvard University’s medical program hinged on payment of a modest matriculation fee and the passage of the applicant’s twentyfirst birthday.25 Once in the program, students learned their medicine through books and lectures and often emerged with a medical degree within months of registration. Students lacked hands-on training. Most states, with the exception of Massachusetts after 1834 and New York after 1854, banned the dissection of human cadavers on religious grounds, believing that “the soul, as well as the body, was imperilled” by dissection. As a result the nation’s medical schools failed to offer particularly effective surgical training programs; “learning by watching was the practical result.”26 Most American medical education programs lagged behind those of Europe and the British North American colonies largely in quality and technology. At the Medical College of Queen’s University, for example, students learned by doing. In addition to attending lecture courses, students participated in mandatory surgical and dissection classes and emerged with a medical degree, normally, in three to four years.27 Moreover, European-trained doctors possessed more knowledge. They were intimately familiar with “stethoscopes, thermometers, syringes, ophthalmoscopes [and] laryngoscopes,” whereas very few American doctors had seen such equipment, “let alone used” it.28 European course work stressed the ties between “[s]ystematic laboratory research” and “clinical practice,” American schools did not. The introduction of anesthesia in 1846 increased surgical training programs in Europe but had little impact on American medical education. There remained few surgeons in antebellum America and few complicated surgeries were performed. For most surgeons, the first time they picked up a scalpel was on the battlefield.29 Not surprisingly in the chaos of battle, most opted for amputation rather than sophisticated but time-consuming surgical attempts to save limbs.30 While some Civil War surgeons attended medical school, others manipulated the patronage system to secure appointments. In 1862,

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for example, “the governor of Indiana sought to put through an appointee, without examination, whose sole qualifications were a term of service in the field hospital as a hospital steward and one year of reading in a doctor’s office.”31 More egregious, however, was the discovery in July 1861 that “one surgeon and one assistant, father and son, who were appointed by the colonel [of a volunteer regiment, had] ... not been examined by any medical board ... the former was a barber ... and an occasional cupper and lecher, and had no medical degree. The son’s medical education was also doubtful.”32 Such appointments doubtless contributed to the distressing reputation of surgeons and certainly to the nature of the treatment meted out to soldiers wounded at the battle of Bull Run. Ill prepared to face the unprecedented chaos resulting from the battles Union surgeons of all stripes struggled to accommodate and treat the wounded.33 Wretched and primitive battlefield conditions hampered the efficiency of the Medical Corps. Doctors were as unused to surgery as they were to the conditions in which they were to perform it. Dr Barnes of the 28th New York Volunteers lamented that he was forced to set up his headquarters “under a tree in a little ravine.” Even though Barnes hung his sash “on the tree to signify that the place was under the Charge of a surgeon,” the Rebels “pour[ed] in musket-balls, and projectiles” making the place “unsafe for the wounded.” Barnes went in search of ambulances and found it strangely difficult to procure any.34 Indeed, “an incompetent Union Surgeon General, accustomed to a small pre-war frontier army, decided to wait until there was actual fighting before preparing for casualties. None of the wounded reached Washington in an ambulance the day of the battle. At that time, Union ambulances were under the authority of the Quartermaster Department rather than the Medical Department and their hired civilian drivers, fearing for their own safety, abandoned the field.”35 The Union wounded faced two choices: either die on the battlefield or walk to Washington. Assistant Surgeon D.S. Magruder recalled, “It took some of the wounded three days to return on their own. Some walked the distance with half their jaws shot away, legs badly mauled, broken arms, head wounds, and many other injuries,” only to discover in Washington that “the medical service wasn’t prepared to handle such a large group.” Clearly, the first year of the war was “a medical disaster.”36 Francis M. Wafer remained isolated from the medical if not military disasters of the Civil War. While he undoubtedly knew local boys who

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had been killed in the war, Wafer’s world remained largely undisturbed by the conflict. Local dynamics centred on religion, ethnicity, family, and gender informed Wafer’s world far more than the stunning events playing out in the American republic. Prior to the 1820s, Kingston was defined by a Loyalist legacy and staunch ties to Britain, in addition to its military and educational institutions. The Irish influx of the 1820s altered the city so much that by the 1860s a “vibrant, yet divided Irish population ... far outnumbered both the Scottish and Loyalist elements.”37 According to scholar Donald Akenson, the Irish situation in Kingston diverged from that of Boston. In the American context, Irish Catholics immigrated mainly to urban ethnic ghettos. In Canada West, however, Irish Protestants overwhelmingly settled in urban centres while the few immigrating Irish Catholics settled in the countryside. Consequently, Akenson argues, Irish Catholics in Canada West escaped the ghettoization, pauperization, and rigid class structure that shaped the American Irish Catholic experience.38 Although Irish Catholics in Kingston often climbed the class ladder, the process of assimilation proved difficult. The general population viewed Irish Catholics “as something less than a blessing” while the Protestant Irish labelled them “scapegoats,” thus creating palpable ethnic and religious tensions.39 Irish Protestants easily assimilated into mainstream culture but in doing so created a new identity for themselves, namely, “Orange Irish.”40 The Orange Irish identity coalesced around the creation and opening of Orange Order lodges. A militant Protestant group steeped in anti-Catholicism and anti-Republicanism, the Orange Order dominated the political, economic, and social life of Canada West by the 1840s. The existence of eighteen Orange lodges in the 1860s reflected the movement’s continued growth and rising popularity. Increased violence against Irish Catholics accompanied increased Orange membership. The Orange Order frequently clashed with Irish Catholics in bloody street battles during the annual Orange parade. Although Wafer’s family immigrated long before the Irish influx of the 1820s, he grew up in an ethnically and religiously charged atmosphere that designated him as inferior to Irish Protestants and certainly to the general population. His negative childhood environment helped shape the man he became. In a letter to his brother John, dated 20 March 1864 and sent from Morton’s Ford, Virginia, Wafer mused, “Although I am far from relations not so of friends. [I t]hink [I] am safe in asserting I have more friends here (influential ones too)

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than ever I could have made at home, owing perhaps to the strong national & religious prejudices that exist, as well as being fostered in Canada.”41 Clearly, the difficulty of being Irish Catholic in British North America weighed on Wafer and informed his identity. Gender roles and familial expectations also shaped Wafer’s world. From birth, society and family moulded Wafer into “appropriate patterns of masculinity” based on social mores and norms.42 In short, Wafer’s life held certain innate expectations drawn from the cult of masculinity. In nineteenth-century Canada West, that meant that men and women occupied separate spheres and embodied different attributes. The male sphere “encompassed the field, the workshop, the tavern, and civic affairs,” while the female sphere comprised the “house, the garden, the family, and the church.”43 Self-control, rationality, and temperance characterized ideal manhood while emotion, compassion, and purity defined womanhood. Religion, morality, loyalty to the Crown, and defence of British North America underscored both ideals. The attributes and realms of both genders intersected in the household following marriage. From pulpits to newspapers, belief in the “redeeming qualities of married life and the importance of being husbands and fathers” reverberated throughout British North America.44 Although a duty, marriage also carried certain requirements. “Because Catholics were a minority in English Canada – and not an especially powerful one,” the Church discouraged intermarriage between Catholics and Protestants by implementing a series of difficult and rigorous requirements.45 British North Americans understood the preference for marriage within their faith. Age became another qualification of marriage. By the late 1850s, twenty-five stood as the average age for native-born men to marry while twenty-two signalled the start of old age for unmarried women.46 Social norms and familial expectations dictated that Wafer marry, raise a family, inherit his father’s land and, upon his father’s death, head the family. Peter Wafer suffered from alcoholism accompanied by bouts of violent behaviour and because of this, Francis coopted the paternal role of protector and provider from his father. A letter of 9 June 1864 to his sister Maggie indicated Wafer’s fatherly concern over her proper role at home and her frustration. Although women occupied the private sphere, Peter, suffering from financial constraints, proposed putting Maggie to work in the fields. Appalled by the violation of societal norms that this would entail, Wafer offered to “pay from [his] pocket” a hired

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man to work in the fields, thus saving his sister’s reputation.47 While Wafer clearly embraced his paternal role, he rejected some aspects of his fate. A letter to his brother John in October 1864 suggests that Wafer’s bachelorhood resulted from poor health rather than lack of interest in the opposite sex. Indeed, Wafer urged John to “inform all the girls who you think would be fools enough to wait for me to marry at once even should they find nothing more than a tailor.”48 Wafer also diverged from his predestined career path when he abandoned the family farm. Beginning in 1854, he “drift[ed] from the soil” and spent the next three years touring the United States. He returned and farmed for the following four years before deciding, at the unusually advanced age of thirty, to pursue medicine. He enrolled in the Medical College of Queen’s University in 1861. As in the Republic, doctors in British North America were a mixed lot and suffered from a mixed reputation. As early as 1795, the medical community of Upper Canada attempted to institute controls over medical licensing in order to separate legitimate practitioners from “quacks.” In 1818 the Medical Board of Upper Canada assumed the “responsibility for the examination and granting of licenses to qualified applicants.” The predominately rural and isolated nature of Upper Canada made enforcement of standard medical practices difficult at best. With only ten licensed doctors in 1822 to serve a population of one hundred thousand, common folks turned to alternative medicine and local “doctors who may or may not have had training.”49 Consequently, in the early nineteenth century “the practice of medicine was the domain of both the layperson and the professional, both male, and female,” with medical treatment based on science and home remedies.50 The 1830s marked the start of the medical community’s renewed drive to professionalize. Designed to combat the profession’s poor reputation, debunk public misconceptions about “modern medicine,” and produce homegrown practitioners while simultaneously increasing the number of doctors in British North America, the University of Toronto Medical College opened its doors in 1834 followed by the Medical College of Queen’s University in 1854. Both modelled themselves on European schools and introduced their students to European medical discoveries and technologies, including the use of microscopy and anaesthetics. While American medical schools remained hesitant to embrace surgery, British North American institu-

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tions saw anaesthetics as an opportunity to improve their surgical skills and enhance their knowledge. The substantial rise in social status experienced by newly minted doctors was rarely accompanied by riches. Throughout the nineteenth century, medicine remained a poor and uncertain profession. More than half of all doctors failed to establish successful practices.51 Medicine did, however, allow doctors to rise above their family’s social status and travel in circles that had previously been closed to them. Wafer’s writings suggest that this may well have been what lured him into medicine. Writing to his sister from Morton’s Ford in 1864, Wafer remained “sanguine that we can yet win a name for our house that will put all slanderous howling to flight.”52 Medicine perhaps offered Wafer just such as chance. Consequently through 1861 and on into 1862, Wafer remained steadfast in his dedication to his medical studies and isolated from the events of the Civil War. In the Republic, however, battles raged. The newly formed 108th New York Infantry experienced its baptism by fire at the battle of Antietam.53 Fresh from a victory at Second Bull Run, Confederate general Robert E. Lee invaded Maryland. For Lee, the fate of his nation and the possibility of European recognition hinged on his success and emancipation on his failure. From 4 to 7 September, the Army of Northern Virginia crossed the Potomac above Washington with General George B. McClellan and his Army of the Potomac in dogged pursuit. The Confederate failure to oust the Federals from Harper’s Ferry complicated Lee’s plan and forced him to divide his forces, sending General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson to Harper’s Ferry. This along with a stroke of bad luck plagued Lee. On 13 September Private Barton Mitchell of the 27th Indiana discovered Lee’s battle plans wrapped around three cigars at a campground recently occupied by Confederate general A.P. Hill; the plans were conveyed to General McClellan. When Lee learned that McClellan possessed his orders, he carried on regardless. Incredibly, McClellan failed to capitalize on this advantage and dallied. Lee made his stand at Sharpsburg near Antietam Creek on 15 September. With Jackson’s return on the sixteenth, the Union and the Confederacy prepared for the opening of battle on the seventeenth. With battle lines drawn, the deadliest day of the war unfolded. By dawn of the eighteenth, it was clear that a stalemate had been reached. Lee moved his troops across the Potomac leaving 27,000 men wounded or dead in his wake.

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Despite the overwhelming carnage, the Union Medical Corps had improved its operations since Bull Run. McClellan appointed Charles S. Tripler as medical director of the Army of the Potomac in August 1861 and charged him with reorganizing and improving the corps. This was no easy task and Tripler spent the vast majority of his time trying to determine “which regiments had medical officers or even which regiments were present.”54 He attempted to improve the quality of doctors enlisting in the Union army by requiring potential surgeons to pass a series of mandatory examinations. Although Tripler’s reforms resulted in partial success, McClellan’s Peninsular campaign highlighted its failings. McClellan launched the campaign in March 1862 with the aim of capturing Richmond and ending the war. Beginning on 17 March, the Union navy transported the Army of the Potomac to Fort Monroe on the peninsula between the James and York rivers. On 4 April McClellan began his campaign, but plagued by procrastination (“the slows” as Lincoln called it), squandered the opportunity to end the war.55 The Army of the Potomac engaged the Confederacy’s Army of the Peninsula and the Army of Northern Virginia in a campaign that ended with 36,463 Union and Confederate casualties. Scrambling to care for the wounded, Tripler had to contend with a lack of ambulances, medicine, tents, and supplies resulting from miscoordination and miscommunication between the Medical Corps and the Quartermaster Corps. Twenty-four hours passed before the Medical Corps secured ambulances to transport the wounded from the field to the hospitals. At least six hundred Union wounded had to be abandoned to the enemy because of the shortage of ambulances. Tripler outlined the problems and challenges faced by the Army of the Potomac Medical Corps as well as his frustration in his official report to us Surgeon General William A. Hammond. “I find it impossible,” Tripler wrote, “to secure either transportation or subsistence for the men thrown upon my hands without tedious delays and unnecessary suffering. Time, which is so valuable to me now, is taken up and wasted in endeavors, too often unsuccessful, to get together ambulances and wagons to have these trains properly and economically conducted, to have boats prepared and in position, to procure buildings for hospitals, to get subsistence for the sick and wounded, and, in short, doing the duty assigned to quartermasters and subsistence officers ... At all events, I protest beforehand against the Medical Department being held responsible for evils they have no means of

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obviating.”56 Ultimately, the obstacles proved insurmountable and Tripler resigned in July 1862. With Jonathan Letterman replacing Tripler, the Medical Corps underwent a vast reorganization. Hammond and Letterman instituted “an innovative system of care ... Stretcher bearers now removed the wounded from the firing line and took them to regimental assistant surgeons located just behind the front lines. These surgeons triaged the wounded, stopped bleeding, administered opiates, and dress wounds. Trained ambulance attendants then moved the wounded to field hospitals set up in existing buildings or tents just beyond the artillery range.”57 Letterman assigned each regiment a surgeon, two assistant surgeons, and three male nurses. The Letterman system clearly improved conditions for the wounded. The quality of surgeons and the skills they possessed continued to plague the Army of the Potomac. At Antietam, the sheer carnage and volume of wounded tested the Letterman system and the endurance of the Union Medical Corps. Letterman spent the day before the battle giving directions to the “medical directors of corps to form their hospitals as far as possible by divisions, and at such a distance in the rear of the line of battle as to be secure from the shot and shell of the enemy; to select the houses and barns most easy of access, and such as were well supplied with hay or straw and water; when circumstances would permit, to designate barns as preferable in all cases to houses, as being at that season of the year well provided with straw, better ventilated, and enabling the medical officers with more facility to attend to a greater number of wounded, and to have all the hospital supplies taken to such points as were selected.”58 He organized ambulances and trained stretcher bearers to transport the wounded to the railroad and then to general hospitals. The wounded however, outstripped Letterman’s preparations. So vast was the carnage that one Union sergeant wrote to his father that “on some portions of the field they are lying so that you can step from body to body without touching the ground.”59 The rain of shells and iron trapped thousands of wounded on the field. When the booming of cannons stopped, the air filled with the pleading cries of the wounded. Lying between the lines in no man’s land; some waited days for treatment; many died before it arrived. Others who had been rescued from battle lay in barns, houses, schools, churches, and outbuildings. Things were no better for those who reached hospitals. J. Franklin Dyer operated from Hoffman House hospital where “the wounded were fast coming in, and in an hour there were five hundred

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there” with only a few surgeons to help them. Indeed, the hospital had “seven surgeons, of whom three or four each day are unfit for duty, on account of the severe labor of the past fortnight.” The problem was further compounded by the fact that “those surgeons who visited the army soon after the battle ... did not seem willing to remain and dress stumps.”60 George Templeton Strong of the us Sanitation Commission61 summed up the hospital conditions thus: “It was fearful to see Gustave Dore’s pictures embodied in shivering, agonizing, suppurating flesh and blood.”62 The blood, limbs, and entrails of the wounded drenched the floors and stained the crude operating tables and garments of the surgeons, who operated at a frenzied pace as thousands of wounded awaited treatment. All the while more injured arrived, disease spread, and putrid odours fouled the air. Under such circumstances, proper burials rarely occurred. Edward King Wightman of the Ninth New York Volunteers arrived on the battlefield on 20 September 1862 to discover that the Union dead “still lay unburied, horribly mangled, and lying in every conceivable attitude.”63 Thousands more lay “in rows – in piles – in heaps – the dead of the brute and of the human race mingled in mass.”64 The dead lay, in the words of Union general Alpheus Williams, “thick as autumn leaves.”65 Andrew Boyd of the 108th New York Infantry noted in his diary that he saw members of his company “burying the dead” and “it was a sight that [he] pray[ed] to God [he] may never see again.” Accordingly, men dug ditches “about seven feet wide and two or three rods long” and placed the dead “side by side, then cover[ed] them with straw.”66 The dead as well as the living suffered from such an arrangement. The Medical Corps encouraged Abner Doubleday’s division to move its camp from Dunker’s Church as the “multitude of human bodies, many buried in a state of putrefactions, and the carcasses of dead horses deposited a title below the surface of the earth” contaminated the wells as well as the air.67 The Army of the Potomac, including the 108th New York, spent six weeks dithering before it set off again, this time marching towards Fredericksburg. On 7 November Lincoln punished McClellan for his failure to capture Lee at Antietam by replacing him with Ambrose E. Burnside. Burnside, anxious to prove his worth, reorganized the army into three grand divisions and launched an aggressive new campaign. Instead of going into winter quarters, the Army of the Potomac set out to cross the Rappahannock, capture Fredericksburg, march on Richmond, and end the war. The condition of the Army of Northern

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Virginia favoured Burnside’s plan. Following Antietam, Lee split his army, sending Jackson to the Shenandoah Valley and James Longstreet to Culpepper. While Burnside and Lee strategized, Letterman prepared for the forthcoming battle. Prior to the battle he reported that “as many hospital wagons as were required were sent over and the organization of each hospital commenced. So earnestly did the medical officers enter upon the discharge of their duties that the hospitals were in readiness with officers, attendants, guards, instruments, dressings, stimulants, food, candles, etc ... Mattresses and beds were procured from the dwellings ... All the tents were left standing and others on hand for use, should they be wanted.”68 Miscommunication waylaid Burnside’s pontoons for a week, time enough for Lee to reunite his forces and dig in along the Rappahannock. On 11 December Burnside crossed the Rappahannock and prepared to engage Lee. In Fredericksburg, Federals ruthlessly looted the town. On the morning of 13 December Burnside engaged his enemy with disastrous results. More than thirteen thousand Union troops died in the engagement, most of them victims of an ill-conceived frontal attack on Marye’s Heights. Lee once again escaped and the Union once again tasted the bitter fruit of defeat at the hands of a numerically inferior army. On the medical front, Letterman’s system reportedly ran like clockwork. Surgeon Charles O’Leary, medical director of the Sixth Corps, reported that during the engagements of the 13th, the ambulances being guided and governed with perfect control and with a precision rare even in military organizations, the wounded were brought without any delay or confusion to the hospitals of their respective divisions. Not a single item provided for the organization of the field-hospitals suffered the slightest derangement, and the celerity with which the wounded were treated, and the system pervading the whole Medical Department, from the stations in the field selected by the assistant surgeons with the regiments to the wards where the wounded were transferred from the hands of the surgeons to be attended by the nurses, afforded the most pleasing contrast to what we had hitherto seen during the war.69 John W. Haley of the Seventeenth Maine Infantry offered a different perspective on the treatment of the wounded. It was difficult to sleep

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following the battle for “our ears [were] constantly saluted with the cries of the wounded left on the field to the mercy of weather and Rebels ... These wretched men lay crying, groaning, and begging for water and help in the most agonizing manner, and we unable to rescue them.”70 Likewise, Walt Whitman reported meeting a soldier wounded at Fredericksburg who had lain “the succeeding two days and nights helpless on the field ... his company and regiment had been compell’d to leave him to his fate ... at the end of some fifty hours he was brought off, with other wounded under a flag of truce.”71 Although the system functioned appropriately and medical care consistently improved over the course of the war, the improvements were a matter of degree as Whitman’s discovery illustrates. While medical treatment slowly improved, popular perceptions of Civil War surgeons continued to decline during the course of the war. Soldiers complained persistently about surgeons and their skills. Colonel David Watson Rowe reported that at Fredericksburg, “the hospitals were a harrowing sight ... Downstairs, upstairs, every room full. Surgeons with their coats off and sleeves rolled up above the elbows, sawed off limbs, administered anesthetics. They took off a leg or an arm in a twinkling, after a brief consultation. It seemed to be, in case of doubt – off with his limb.” John England of the Ninth New York Infantry shared Rowe’s concern. England was shocked to discover that the surgeons “thought no more of [the wounded] than a pack of used up maimed dogs and treated [them] no better; and hundreds are stiff and cold in death to-day, who would be living and might recover if properly treated and attended.”72 Robert Knox Sneden of the Fortieth New York Infantry complained that the surgeons did not “know their business any more than a drug clerk. The consequence is that they perform the most bungling of operations, while many of the suffers have soon died, passing through their unskillful hands. They were mere butchers!”73 Edward G. Abbott of the Second Massachusetts Infantry echoed Snedon’s sentiments. He characterized his regimental surgeon as “a jackass – a fool – an ignorant man – three quarters of the sickness could have been prevented by a good physician.”74 The Union military leadership conceded that problems were rife among Union surgeons, fifty of whom were ultimately court-martialled for incompetence.75 Although Letterman acknowledged the problems in the Medical Corps, he urged the public not to paint all surgeons with the same brush: such “sweeping denunciations against a class of men who will favorably compare with the military surgeons of any country,

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because of the incompetency and short-comings of a few, are wrong, and do injustice to a body of men who have labored faithfully and well.”76 In short, argued Letterman, many surgeons covered themselves with glory and honourably served the cause and their patients. Such pleas did little, however, to rescue the reputations of Civil War surgeons. Reputations of all stripes continued to decline in the aftermath of the Union’s disastrous losses at Antietam and Fredericksburg. Soldiers lost faith. Army morale sank to unprecedented lows. John W. Haley wrote graphically of the conditions in camp: “Short rations, bog water to drink, malaria inhaled with every breath, homesickness, and, added to all this, an incompetent surgeon. Is it any wonder that we are being swept off at the rate of two per day? ... Most of us have lost our courage and expectation of reaching home, or even dying on the battlefield – a fate less cruel than dying here by inches.”77 For some soldiers, military life proved too gruelling and horrific. By January 1863, the Army of the Potomac suffered one hundred desertions a day. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and Burnside’s ill-fated Mud March did little to raise army morale. If anything, morale plummeted to unheard-of depths. Many soldiers shared the opinion of Francis Pierce of the 108th New York, who wrote: “I will not jeopardize my life or become an invalid for life to restore 3,000,000 brutes to freedom ... Formerly when a rebel on picket or any other place asked me ‘What are you fighting for? I could answer proudly, for the restoration of the Union – now when one asks me I have to hang my head or else answer, for the nigger.”78 While the Emancipation Proclamation forced soldiers to question their motives and the direction of the war, Burnside’s Mud March forced soldiers to confront the futility of their plight and consider the possibility of defeat. With Lee’s troops ensconced along the Rappahannock, Burnside opted to conduct a winter campaign rather than retire to quarters. Burnside hoped that by crossing the Rappahannock and engaging Lee’s men, the Union could gain a decisive victory, capture Richmond, and end the war. Five weeks after the Union’s disastrous defeat at Fredericksburg, Burnside’s men marched towards the Rappahannock. Nature, however, intervened. According to Union soldier Edward King Wrightman, “a furious storm of wind and rain arose ... soaking the troops who were already in motion, muddying the roads, sticking the artillery and the ammunition and provision trains, and at length completely blocking our grand flank movement.”79 Burnside’s men were

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taunted and mocked by the Confederates, compounding their frustration and low morale. Confederates “plowed the areas around their fords to assure the production of mud”80 or displayed crudely painted signs bearing insulting messages such as “Burnside’s stuck in the mud. Why don’t you come over?”81 or “This way to Richmond.”82 Burnside’s disastrous campaign ended with most of the Union equipment and men covered in mud and cloaked in humiliation and degradation. On 25 January 1863 Lincoln replaced Burnside with General Joseph Hooker. Hooker “took command of perhaps the saddest, angriest, most grumblely army that ever marched under America’s postrevolutionary flag.”83 As Dayton E. Flint of the Fifteenth New Jersey Infantry put it: “The Army of the Potomac is no more an army. Its patriotism has oozed out through the pores opened by the imbecility of its leaders, and the fatigues and disappointments of a fruitless winter campaign.”84 Lincoln charged Hooker with the daunting task of raising the morale of the army, curbing desertions, and winning the war. Hooker responded by improving the army’s general health and reorganizing its military structure. Hooker placed Letterman in charge of tidying up the unsanitary and unhealthy conditions of camp life. With Hooker’s support, Letterman altered the men’s physical environment as well as their diet. He “mandated the rotation of campsites, improvement of drainage ditches, removal of latrines from living areas and the vicinity of water supplies.”85 He also demanded that the army standardize its housing. As it stood, “the men were left to burrow and shelter themselves as well as they were able; in some cases they occupied the log huts constructed by the enemy when he held this portion of the country ... in other instances, they excavate the earth, from six to eighteen inches, and over this built a pen of logs, two or three feet high, and covered by the shelter tent or brush and direct ... They are hot-beds of low forms of fever.” Letterman recommended “that all troops that are using such huts be directed at once to discontinue their use” and that “huts covered by canvas, the covering be removed at least twice a week, if the weather will permit and that the men ... be compelled to hang their bedding in the open air every clear day.” With these physical changes secured, Letterman turned his attention to the dietary needs of the men. He ordered that the troops be issued “fresh potatoes ... three times and onions twice a week, and fresh bread at all times when possible. When onions are not to be procured, a double allowance of potatoes should be issued.” Success greeted Letterman’s innovations.

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Typhoid fever decreased by twenty-eight percent and diarrhea by thirty-two percent, while scurvy virtually disappeared. Under Letterman, the army slowly regained its “favorable state of health.”86 With Letterman attending to the health of the army, Hooker tackled organization and morale. He implemented whiskey rations, successfully reduced the desertion rate by tying attendance to furloughs, and built corps spirit through the implementation of corps badges. He also altered the form of the army. Hooker combined the cavalry into a single corps, replaced Burnside’s grand divisions with eight corps, and introduced new commanders including Major General Oliver Otis Howard.

While Hooker and Letterman successfully restored vitality and spirit to the Army of the Potomac, Francis Wafer successfully completed the 1861–62 sessions at the medical college of Queen’s University and enrolled for 1862–63. Wafer studied practical anatomy, dissection, forensic and state medicine, pharmacy, obstetrics, and chemistry, thus making him better trained and educated than most Union doctors.87 By the 1863 session break, Wafer’s dedication to his profession drew him south and into the American conflict. It was not the people he met on his three-year tour of the Republic, his opposition to slavery, or even the politics of the time that encouraged him to violate British law and enlist in the Union. He enlisted because recruiters in Kingston offered him the opportunity to hone his surgical skills for the six or seven months between medical school sessions as an assistant surgeon for the Union army.88 For this purely practical reason, Wafer enlisted in the 108th New York Infantry Regiment. Wafer’s involvement in the Civil War lasted two years rather than the six or seven months he had anticipated. Some time after 1865, he produced a fascinating memoir, which provides the centrepiece of this work. Based on “memoranda [hastily] taken at the time,” the memoir brims with the sights, sounds, tastes, textures, and nuances of the Civil War.89 He vividly recounts the ennui of camp life, the chaos of military campaigns, the horror of battle, the chilling fear induced by screaming shells and vicious bullets, the gut-wrenching moans, childlike cries, and foul stench of the wounded, and the primitive conditions and awesome responsibilities of surgeons. Though he witnessed the “darkest pages in the annals of human misery,” Wafers refrains from moralizing over the war’s “vexatious political questions.”90 While criticizing the

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Confederates for their callous treatment of the wounded, Wafer harbours no animosity towards the enemy as a collective whole. He had, after all, joined the Union to refine his surgical skills, which may account for his forbearance towards the Rebels. Wafer’s memoir differs in several ways from those of most Civil War surgeons. Diaries, like those of surgeons E.P. Burton, J. Franklin Dryer, Daniel Holt, William M. McPheeter, and William H. Smith, provide intimate impressions of events and people recorded for private reflection and consumption.91 Memoirs, on the other hand, were explicitly constructed for public consumption.91 Wafer’s memoir, however, was “by no means intended for the public eye” but rather for private consumption by a select group of close friends. For, as he wrote, his “principal object [was to give my] immediate friends a faithful [account] of [my] share, in those important [transactions, and also] to render a small tribute to the [gallantry and] tenacious pernicious courage of fallen comrades [and chiefs] as well as to record the deeds of some [of those] yet living to some of whom [I am] under [many obligations] for their kind offices in the dark [and] doubtful days, when the reality for true friends [could be] appreciated. Should those duties be but performed, [my] present object [will be attained.]”93 The omitted details of Wafer’s 1864 furlough to Kingston offer further confirmation of the manuscript’s intended audience. “As these notes are merely intended for the eyes of friends,” he wrote, “I need not mention how my leave was spent.”94 The intended audience of close friends and comrades likely contributed to his decision to transcribe his notes taken in the moment into a memoir written after the fact. His declining health afforded him the time and perhaps another motivation. In many ways, Wafer’s memoir reads like that of a dying man attempting to secure his place in history. The memoir therefore needs to be read with a critical eye – a grain of salt, so to speak. Because the genre affords historical distance through which to interpret the past, writers may present themselves and others in ways that are softened by the passage of time. Although Wafer’s account of events and contemporaries is remarkably nuanced and detailed, there is no way of knowing the extent to which his impending death influenced his recollections nor which details he may have altered, since his hastily taken memoranda have been lost along with the last year of his memoir. Luckily, letters written between Wafer and his family survived. Like the Civil War letters of Doctors Junius N. Bragg, John Bennitt, and

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George W. Peddy, Wafer’s letters provide an intimate and immediate glimpse into his life.95 Describing the activities of friends and family, the racial climate of British North America and its tense relationship with the Republic, and the details of military campaigns and his patients, Wafer’s letters complement his memoirs. Inserted into the memoir in chronological order, these letters become increasingly important after May 1864, as they are the only remaining record of his experiences. Because Wafer completed his memoirs after the war, there is substantial duplication between the letters and the memoir. For the sake of clarity, I have deleted sections of the letters to avoid such repetition; the deleted sections appear in appendices at the conclusion of this work. For similar reasons I have deleted words that were repeated or crossed out. I have made a number of additions to complement the text. Because Wafer’s world was as familiar to him as it is unfamiliar to us, he offers little by way of explanation of the people, places, and things he encounters. I have included a timeline, map, annotations, images, and dramatis personae to flesh out and explain Wafer’s world to the modern reader. Introductory paragraphs at the beginning of each chapter act as touchstones contextualizing Wafer’s wartime experiences. Transcribing Wafer’s experiences proved more difficult in some sections than in others. In places, fire, inkblots, and coffee have so badly damaged Wafer’s writings as to destroy his original words. I have deleted indecipherable words and placed missing words or parts of words in square brackets. Quotations and words within square brackets indicate the substitution of Wafer’s words with those of other Civil War soldiers in the hope of reflecting Wafer’s intentions. Otherwise, the manuscript and letters remain as Wafer wrote them and reflect his grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, style, subtitles, spelling, and other idiosyncrasies. Wafer’s writings offer much more than the reflections of a veteran Civil War surgeon reaching the twilight of his life. His astonishingly rich recollections of medical conditions and campaigns in the Army of the Potomac, his vivid depictions of surgeries, amputations, and deaths, and his sympathetic treatment of his patients contribute to a small but growing body of medical writings about the war. Moreover, his is one of the few first-hand accounts by a Civil War surgeon born and bred in the British North American colonies.96 Most works dealing with British North American participation in the Civil War develop along three distinct paths. From the end of the Civil

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War until the present, historians have largely focused on the dizzying debates surrounding enrollment numbers. Historians variously claim that fifteen thousand to one hundred thousand British North Americans fought for the Union.97 Other scholars like Greg Marquis, Adam Mayers, and Robin Winks investigate the influence of the Civil War on British North Americans and on the formation of the Dominion of Canada through a blend of political and social history.98 Primary sources provide the third path. Scholars glean most sources from newspapers and enlistment rolls. There are only a handful of published letter and diary collections, among them Lois Darroch’s Four Went to the Civil War (1959) and Charles McDowell’s Ever True, edited by Lisa Saunders (2004).99 A substantial number of Civil War participants who were born in British North America, people like Sarah Emma Edmonds and Robert Knox Snedon, moved to the Republic, naturalized, wrote accounts of the war, and remained in the United States.100 Apart from William Charles Archibald’s 1910 memoir,101 few sizeable accounts of the war written by British North Americans who returned home following the conflict have surfaced. The publication of Wafer’s writings helps to fill a critical gap in the historiography of British North America and the Civil War, Civil War medicine, and nineteenth-century social and military history.102

a surgeon in the army of the potomac

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tings he Army of a of Canadian the Potomac Surgeon

1 Joining the Army of the Potomac

I would beg to inform those into the hands of whom this Manuscript may fall that [my] reminiscences of the late campaigns are by no means intended for the public eye, as the writer does not presume to give a complete description [of] what transpired, not only in the Army of the Potomac, but he does not pretend even to record [every]thing his own Corps (the Second), performed [during] the time of his being attached to it. Indeed, [if a person] placed in the position of Regimental [Sur]geon, attempt[ed] this, he would frequently, [I think], write much, the veracity of which, [in the] least, would be doubtful. For the most part, [what] is here written is compiled from memoranda [hastily] taken at the time. Nor does the [writer intend] to add to those, anything beyond what [he was witness] to, except the statements of some of [the officers] immediately connected with him, & [whose evidence] he has learned through acquaintance [to confide] in. It will be also his study to avoid as [much as] possible the vexatious political questions involved in the war, his principal object [being to give] his immediate friends a faithful [account] of his share, in those important [transactions, and also] to render a small tribute to the [gallantry and] tenacious pernicious courage of fallen comrades [and chiefs] as well as to record the deeds of some [of those] yet living to some of whom he is under [many obligations] for their kind offices in the dark [and] doubtful days, when the reality for true friends [could

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

Ruins of Fredericksburg. Stereopticon image, courtesy of the Library of

be] appreciated. Should those duties be but performed, his present object [will be attained.] [The] month of March 1863, found the Army [of the] Potomac (with the exception of the Nin[th] Burnsides) lying in winter quarters on the [nort]h side of the Rappahannock & along the line of the [rai]lroad 15 miles in length between Fredericksburg & [Acquia Creek, Virginia] which latter place was the Army[‘s] base of [sup]plies. The place is on the Potomac about 70 miles from Washington. The army was being rap[idly] increased & reorganized & many important [improvements] being made in its commission & [in other] departments under the command of Major [Genera]l Joseph Hooker, to whose capability in making reforms it is generally conceded the nation [and army] were much indebted. The army was not [how]ever, well quartered in a sanitary point [of view]. This was perhaps in a great measure owing [to the] very hasty

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5

Congress, Washington, dc

construction of the huts the weather [having] been very severe at that time, as well as [the] utter inexperience of not only many men, but [also of] whole regiments recruited in large cities. [It has] frequently been observed, in the American [army] that even the skilled mechanic, is far [inferior to] the farming population, in making himself comfortable in the shortest possible space of time, with [the] only tool at his disposal, viz. an axe. Often in the absence of a better wall to exclude cold winds, this want was too often supplied by either digging a hole in the earth, or else p[iling] up a bank, & sometimes by both those me[thods combined]. Thus making what some Medi[cal] men [have] learned to call fever pens. The army too, [was more] or less depressed in spirits, which not [even] furloughs & leaves of absences could dispel [nor was] this to be wondered at. They had fought [at] Richmond during the whole preceding year [with the most] preserving gallantry, and [still] the

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

[desired object seemed as far away as ever]. The shot-perforated steeples of Fredericksburg too laid full in view of the camp, reminding all who might look towards them, of the bloody reverse to their arms, received there, on the fatal 13th December past.1 The same month of the year already stated, [March 1863], found the winter session closing in the Medical School of Queens College, Kingston C[anada] W[est]. The army Medical Staff, as well as other departments being recruited & reorganized, it was open to all Medical Students, who might be able to pass the necessary examination. Many students of Canadian schools availed themselves of this privilege, in order to profit by the new & extensive field thrown open for the study of Practical Surgery. For this purpose as well as, a strong desire to see something of the reality of war, I decided on entering the army, if an appointment was at all attainable, for at least the six or seven idle months, to ensue, before the next session of the College. With those intentions, on the 9th March, 1863, I bade farewell to friends & Kingston & took the stage that was supposed to connect at Cape Vincent, [New York], with the evening trains to Watertown, then on to Rome and N York.2 It was a most stormy beginning to a long & doubtful journey & to a person more superstitious, it would certainly, look ominous & unpropitious. A violent southwest wind filled the track with snow (which was as deep as the horses bellies), faster than the few sleighs travelling could keep it open. To go at any gait above a walk, was simply impossible. Consequently, about five hours were consumed in crossing [&] after much floundering & enduring of cold, I arrived in Cape Vincent at a late hour at night, only about two hours too late for the train, & glad to accept the shelter of the little hotel attached to the railway station, with the expectation of getting a train at 4 o’clock [the] next morning. Taking the promised train [the] next morning at the appointed hour, the next day was spent in making a very pleasant journey through the state, although the day was sharp & frosty, but bright & cheerful compared to the stormy lake. The twilight found me in the capital.

albany During my stay here I lodged in a rather, unassuming house, called the Tremont House. It seemed to have rather fallen into neglect as the late landlord, a German, had lately died, the house being now but indiffer-

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7

ently kept by his widow. However it being moderate in charges & retired in comparison to a large hotel, it suited my present purpose. Next day, March 11th, I presented myself at the Surgeon Generals office, of the State of New York, waiving the usual formal & routine manner of applying by letter, as such a course would involve much delay. The Surgeon General was then, a Dr J[ohn] V[an] P[elt] Quackenbush, under the administration of Governor Horatio Seymour. Finding Dr Quackenbush in his office, I at once made my business known to him. At the same time, I told him what school I was from, & showed him a recommendation, which I had forgotten to mention Professor Horatio Yates kindly furnished me, although being but a student of two years standing. The Doctor received me very courteously, although my application was an informal one. He informed me that I being a foreign student, it would be necessary for me to hold a Diploma from some American school of Medicine, or Medical society. He at the same time told me that such a Society existed in connection with the University of Albany, of which he Dr Quackenbush, was a Professor. This was called the New York State Medical Society. He also directed me where to find the President and Censors of their Society, telling me that could I obtain a Diploma on their examination I would be then eligible to be examined for the appointment of AssistantSurgeon. This seemed to me, to be, a bold stride for a student of two years. However, as I did not come thus far, to be intimidated from my purpose, by the mere prospect of difficulties & as I also believed that should I fail, it would at least be a good exercise for me, it being a popular belief among Medical Students that any subject on which they may fail to satisfactorily [pass] at one examination they are sure to have it well studied up for the next. Besides, I by no means felt so diffident before those strange Professors as I would before those of my own College, nor so anxious lest I should be rejected. That same evening, I called up one of the Censors, a Dr [Barent P.] Staats. I found him a very affable & courteous gentleman. He examined me in Chemistry & the Practice of Medicine & gave me a Certificate to the effect that my examination was satisfactory in those branches. The next day, Mar[ch] 12th, I called on the other Censor, a Dr [James.] McNaughton, I found him every inch a Scotsman, as far as being severe & exacting but nevertheless a gentleman. His examination was principally confined to Materia Medica, Anatomy & Surgery.3 Suffice to say he gave me a certificate of proficiency in those branches

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

also. My next step was to call upon the President of the Society & produce my certificates. He informed me that the Principal of the Society, & whose signature it was necessary to have, was then absent in Utica but he promised to fill out the blank Diploma, & forward it to Utica for signature, & in the meantime he furnished me with a note to the Surgeon General, that my Diploma awaited me thus making [me] eligible to apply for office. In two days afterward, he handed to me a neat Diploma, written on parchment in classical Latin. The graduation fee was $16. This gentleman a Dr [Sylvester D. Willard], I am sorry to learn, is since deceased. On the same day, 12th I again went up to the Surgeon General’s office & was there presented with writing materials, a sufficiency of foolscap, & sixteen printed questions including all the principal branches of Medicine. About one half of those, I was able to answer fully & well, of the remainder perhaps I have said enough. Indeed, some of them, to be satisfactorily answered, would require more time even from a person of more pretensions than me than was left of that day. However after writing seven hours, answering some fully & attempting them all, I handed in my paper, & it being after dark, I went to my lodging & got some refreshments. On calling [the] next day, I was almost surprised at receiving a recommendation to the Governor for appointment as [an ] Assistant Surgeon to the 108th [New York] Infantry, with an order, (after I had written & signed a letter of acceptance) to report to the Surgeon General of the us Army, Brig Genl [William Alexander] Hammond, for duty. On enquiring where the 108th ny was I learned it was in the army of the Potomac. So I saw at a glance there was an eventful future before me, knowing so well what that army had already suffered, as well as, having some foreboding of what would be required of it at the opening of the spring. I well recollect that the same evening on which I received my commission, as I walked up the city, to attend to purchasing a uniform, & at the same time brooding on the vague & uncertain future, feeling much like expecting the steps I had taken when a brassband came out on the balcony of a theatre & struck up the rollicking and popular air of Dixie land. Trifling as it may appear, after this moment, it seemed as if nothing could deter me from going straight to the aforesaid place & feeling all the imaginary importance of one that feels certain he is “going where glory [a]waits him.” But I suppose such being human nature, our being affected by trifles while pondering over grave subjects is at least pardonable.

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On the evening of the 14th March after writing a letter home & another to a fellow student Dr [Samuel H.] Fee, donning the uniform of a staff Lieutenant, I took the evening train on the Hudson River road. The next morning at sunrise arrived in the city of

new york The day of the week happening to be Sunday, I could proceed no further until evening. The day being cold & disagreeable was mostly spent at the Merchant’s Hotel [on] Courtland St. So I saw, nothing of the city more than, could be seen on my way to church & back. New York however, is like most other American cities very quiet on Sunday.4 That same evening I took the 7 o’clock train South. Although procuring a ticket through to Washington, I had only got my baggage checked to Philadelphia, not knowing there would be any difficulty in getting it rechecked. But in trying to find my trunk on the arrival of the train, at a late hour at night I soon discovered that in the change of cars which takes place here, the baggage checked through is transferred packed up in crates without unpacking. The porters attending to this first. So before my trunk could be rescued from the baggage car, the train had left. Then there was nothing for it but to remain that night in

philadelphia Remaining for the night in a Hotel near the station called the “Union” or some such name, about 8 am [the] next morning I took a hack for conveyance to the Baltimore depot, which is at the most south[ern] extremity of the city. But little could be seen of the city in this drive, which seemed to lead me mostly through the private portion. Never in any place did I see such a similarity between private residences. Whole blocks seemed to be built on the same plan, which, for the most part consisted of two story houses or red brick with quoins of white stone. The door & window jambs frequently being of the same material. All exposed woodwork too, was invariabl[y] white. The impression they gave was one of the stud[ied] plainness, neatness & cleanliness. Arrived at the depot in good time. I took the next train & continued my journey through Pennsylvania, a portion of Delaware, & Maryland, noting the powerful fury across the Susquehanna, where a Steamer takes on the whole train, three cars abreast, ferrys them over with the

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

greatest ease & discharges again on the banks on the other side of the river, without disturbing a single passenger. Arriving at

baltimore the locomotive was switched off & the cars were drawn through the city by horses, most splendid specimens of their kind. The city was now quiet as could be wished although being so violent when the first troops were being sent out to the war.5 But it was evident from the number of troops guarding the railroad both in this vicinity & along the whole line to Washington, that there were many in Maryland not to be trusted. Of course as my journey was continued without a halt I could see but little of this fine old city that bears the name of its noble founder. An hour or two more brought me to

washington Where I arrived at an early hour on a bright & beautiful evening. The temperature felt like Apr[il] at home, although the air was tempered with a slight chill, owing to the thawing of a light frost of snow, which had taken place the previous eve. This same snow merely sufficient to cover the ground, I had omitted to remark, was the only snow left in Philadelphia. At N York on the day previous although the earth was frozen, there was none, while the sides of the streets in Albany were walled in by huge banks [of snow], shovelled out of the way. Taking the first omnibus, marked United States hotel, I took up my quarters at a house of the same name on Pennsylvania Avenue. I there had the luck to meet two officers of my regiment, who were just leaving the service, a Captain [Bryce A.] Cox & a Lieutenant [William W.] Bloss. They gave me the first definite instruction, [on] how or where to proceed to find my regiment, learning that it was encamped some two miles to the right of Falmouth, which is nearly opposite Fredericksburg & that it belonged to the 2 Corps, then commanded by Genl [Darius N.] Couch & the 3d Division, commanded by Genl [William H.] French & the 2d Brigade by Brig Genl William Hays. I here too had the pleasure of being introduced to Col [Charles J.] Powers, then commanding the regiment, who was also on his way to the front. Next day March 17th, I reported for duty at the Surgeon Generals Dr Hammonds office, & obtained an order for transportation, from the

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Chief Quartermaster[, Rufus Ingalls,] & prepared to go to the front. The evening being long & lonely in a strange place, I decided on visiting some of the theatres of which there are at least four or five in the city. On asking which was the best one, my informant probably consulting his own taste, told me a place called the Canterbury, was by far the best. I went but found it was a mere popular place of amusement for furloughed soldiers & officers on leaves of absence & fast young men generally. The performances, were almost confined to ballet dancing, singing popular army songs & negro drolleries. Probably although those amusements were of a low character, they served the purpose, of keeping up the spirits of soldiers better than more grave & moral ones, such as tragedies. Like all cities I had previously passed through, merely as a person on a journey, I learned but little of Washington, but visiting it several times subsequently, my opinions are reserved until I relate those visits. Next morning Mar 18th, at an early hour the hotel omnibus conveyed me to the floor of sixth street on the Potomac River, where a steamer was in waiting, which conveyed all passengers to Acquia Creek daily, who had leave to go to the front. The passage down the river being accomplished about 2 pm. A train running to near Falmouth, 15 miles, was soon crowded with passengers, principally soldiers. Nothing but box freight cars were at the disposal of the passengers. Those were soon so literally packed with soldiers I preferred with many more, to ride upon the top. The weather being mild, this would not be an unpleasant place, were it not that the wind being ahead, drove the yet hot cinders from the chimney of the locomotive, fair onto the clothing & sometimes upon the exposed parts of the bodies of the passengers. So that during this journey one was convulsively sensible of a smell of burning wool, & the oaths of a soldier as he delved his hand continuously into his bosom or down his back exploring for a hot cinder, which probably he would find, about the time it became cool enough to be harmless. I was now fairly in the camp of a great army, as the lines of tents, piles of Commissary, supplies, forage & flaunting colors gave ample evidence. Near the terminus, the marks of an abandoned camp became visible. This had been the winter quarters of Burnsides Corps, which was lately detached & sent out west to Tennessee. Arriving at the terminus of this road, three miles were yet between me and camp, & the whole country intervening was in the condition of a mill pond when the water is nearly drained off. The chief difficulty with pedestrians, was to retain possession of their boots [given that]

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

the mud was of such a depth & consistency [as to trap their boots]. Therefore taking all the baggage I had brought from Washington, in my hand (a carpet bag) the search for my regiment was commenced on foot, enquiring as I went. The rout [went] for some distance over some high hillocks, with which this county (Stafford) abounds. Fredericksburg lay full in view & the holes in the houses & steeples could be seen with the naked eye. Although the walk was a tiresome one it was scarcely felt, the surrounding scenes were so novel to me. Passing near Hazards Rhode Island battery, which was unlimbered behind a strong Redan & looked point blank into Fredericksburg, the old village of Falmouth came suddenly into view. It was strangely nestled at the termination of a deep ravine, on the river bank. It can scarcely be seen from any direction except from the Fredericksburg side, until it is approached to within 200 yards, as there is a short bend in the ravine immediately above the village. This same ravine gradually expands upwards into a more open valley of some extent, traversed thoroughly by a brook. On the ridges on both sides, overlooking this valley were encamped the 2d Corps. After plodding up this valley through the mud for nearly 1½ hours, a cluster of tents among some straggling pines, on a slight elevation was pointed out to me as the 108th regiment. I was none too soon, for night was setting in fast, when I came up & enquired for the Surgeons tent, a soldier soon showed me where Dr [Owen] Munson the Surgeon, and Dr [William Smith] Ely Asst Surgeon [were], finding them at supper, [I told them] who I was & my business were soon made known. They welcomed & invited me to supper, which invitation was at once accepted, as having eaten nothing since morning, my walk had given me a good appetite. The same evening I was introduced to the principal officers. The history of the 108th ny Volunteers previous to my joining it I cannot give in full but in substance as follows. The regiment was called into the field on the Presidents second call for 600,000 men [on 1 July 1862]. It was recruited in Rochester City & Munroe County. The regiment was raised with a rapidity almost unprecedented. It was mustered in to the us Service on the 18th August 1862. Its field & staff officers were Col [Oliver H.] Palmer, Leiut Col Ch[arle]s J. Powers, Maj [George B.] Force, Capt Marvin Williams, Surgeon John Whitbeck, Asst Surgeons Thomas Arner & William S. Ely, Chaplain [James] Nicholson. It went into action but one month after being recruited on the memorable field of Antietam. There Major Force fell here while leading his men

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against one of the enemys rifle pits.6 The regiment was highly spoken of, as behaving with marked good conduct although in a great measure undrilled & undisciplined. After [Confederate general Robert E.] Lees retreat across the Potomac, the regiment was encamped for nearly a month on Bolivar heights, which is the elevated land immediately in the rear of Harpers Ferry near the confluence of the Shenandoah with the Potomac. Here it suffered much from sickness, such as Camp Diarrhea, & Typhoid fever, the invariable consequences of men being transferred suddenly from home, to participate in the fatiguing & excitement incident[al] to camp life, & campaigning. Marching from Harpers Ferry during the month of November up Loudon Valley, the eastern base of the “blue ridge” & down the north bank of the Rappahannock to Falmouth, there across to Belle Plains in the Potomac. Here again it went into camp, & the weather being unusually severe, the locality a bad one, the mens energies taxed by building corduroy roads & other labor, besides the inexperience of many, in making themselves comfortable, under adverse circumstances, all endured to preparing many more victims for disease.7 From Belle Plains the regiment was marched to the attack on Fredericksburg under [Ambrose Everett] Burnside the result of which is so well known. Frenchs Division to which it belonged was one of the Divisions that attacked directly in front. Being withdrawn from the town by night after having suffered disheartening losses, the men were taken into camp at the place where I found them in March, [18]63. They had gone into camp but temporarily, expecting to soon move again. Such a move actually took place, as Burnside attempted to make a flank movement in the month of January but was forestalled by the adverse weather & the impassibility of the river. The Division to which the 108th was attached was not disturbed, better for them it had been consequently the men spent that severe winter in those miserable apologies for quarters, when at no time during their service, did they require such careful housing seeing it was their first winter in the field. The Typhoid fever & Diarrhea of a Typhoid form, held sway that winter in the camps of raw troops. The 108th, although [not] the greatest sufferers, yet lost many from those diseases. At the time my connection with the regiment took place, although there was yet much sickness, it had entirely abated in fatality. At the same time important changes were taking place in the officers [&] the command. Col Palmer had resigned, he had been pointed out to me in the Governors office in Albany but I did not know

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

he was out of the service. Lieutenant Cha[rle]s J. Power was promoted to Colonel. Capt Francis E. Pierce to Lieut-Colonel, Capt Harmon S. Hogoboom to Major, Drs [John F.] Whitbeck & [Thomas] Arner also resigned the latter through ill health (since deceased) & Chaplain [James] Nicholson. Those vacancies, were filled as follows Dr Owen Munson as Surgeon [of the] 5th NY [was] made Surgeon [of the 108th & the office of Assistant-Surgeon] that by Dr Arners [departure was vacant] was filled by myself, thus leaving me junior Medical officer. The next who was shortly after appointed, was a Mr Thomas G. Grassie of Massachusetts [as chaplain]. The time spent in camp from my joining my command until the opening of the spring operations was to me very monotonous.8 Having but little duty to perform, there being so many Medical officers present. On the 20th March I was mustered in to the us Service although my commission bore [the] date of the 13th. The mustering officer was a Lieutenant Field, an artillery officer. It would thus appear that at that time there were no Commissary of Muster attached to Division staffs as subsequently there were. The ensuing month was spent by me in assisting Dr Ely on the sick call, which was at 7 am in the morning & walking about the camp, when I would get tired of reading. I knew of no acquaintance of mine in the army except Ch[arly] Brownley of Kingston, and he was on duty some distance away, acting Asst Surgeon, & assigned to an engineer Corps. A horse, equipment, blankets, etc. were to be provided for campaigning. Those items involved a good deal of outlay. Horses were scarce & hard to be obtained at any price. It would perhaps have been better for me to have brought one from home, but when I left there, my destination was unknown. However, I purchased a horse from an Asst Surgeon who was going out of the service. The horse & equipments, which were new, cost me but $90, which was very cheap here. Although being but a small [animal] about 14 ½ hands high & in poor condition yet he provided a good & useful one & became afterwards a great favorite with myself and the regiment. I called him “Joe Hooker” which he was not long in learning.9 At this time in the army mounted officers below the rank of Major were allowed but forage for one horse so that of an Asst Surgeon tried to carry sufficient to keep him comfortable, including some grain for one horse, it all made quite a load for one horse. The forage for a horse is 12 lbs oats or corn & 14 lb hay, no hay being issued on the march. Often there may be no issue for three days or more rendering it prudent to carry it yourself. Towards the middle of April the army was reviewed by President Lincoln, after which, daily activity in

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every department indicated an approaching move. The field hospitals were generally broken up & the worst cases sent to the rear. A few days previous to opening of the campaign I was detailed to accompany the sick of the Division, on a train to Acquia Creek, to be taken thence to Washington by boat. Exerting myself much [in] getting the sick removed from the cars to the steamers, becoming much heated, & drinking large qualities of bad water, then sitting on the roof of a car on my return to Falmouth, the next day I became much indisposed, this being the most proper term for the condition I was in, seeing I was not confined to bed yet too sick to eat or take much exercise. It seemed to be a state of debility of the functions of digestion from exhaustion. I struggled hard with nature for to try & keep on duty through the coming struggle, knowing that as I was making my debut in the army, many would attribute my remaining in the rear to cowardice.10 In this condition, I went on my first [campaign].

tings ng Campaigns of a Canadian of 1863 Surgeon

2 The Spring Campaigns of 1863

I

In the spring of 1861, northern newspaper headlines bumptiously predicted a great victory and quick end to the silliness brought about by southern secession. Two years later, the North had yet to secure a major victory in the eastern theatre of the war. Although gaining impressive victories in the western theatre at Fort Henry, Fort Donaldson, Nashville, and New Orleans among other places, the elusive eastern victory contributed to growing public malaise over the war effort. Whipped by the Rebels at Bull Run, second Bull Run, and Fredericksburg, and earning a stalemate at Antietam, General Hooker desperately needed an offensive victory to reinvigorate the war effort and belief in the indivisibility of the Union. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia spent the early months of 1863 much as it had the closing month of 1862, ensconced in astonishingly strong defensive positions along the ridge line of the Rappahannock’s northeastern bank and across from the encampments of the Army of the Potomac. There the Confederates fortified their position by building a series of trenches and earthworks stretching twenty-five miles along the river. Despite this strong position and the victories enjoyed by the Confederacy, army and civilian morale suffered. On the homefront, shortages of basic goods and rapid inflation eroded enthusiasm for the war and led some citizens to riot. In Atlanta, Georgia, Salisbury, North Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia, mobs rioted for bread and demanded relief. The same supply

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problems that plagued the nation’s civilians plagued the army. Short of supplies and exhausted from the privations of their winter quarters, deserters from the Army of Northern Virginia rivalled in number and surpassed those of the Union prior to Hooker’s arrival. Aware of the need to crush the Union, Lee promised Davis that he would attack the Army of the Potomac had it not already been attacked before 1 May. Simultaneously, Hooker finalized a campaign to dislodge Lee from his strong defensive position and force the Army of Northern Virginia into battle. Having heard of Longstreet’s absence from Lee, Hooker sought to use the 130,000 troops in his Army of the Potomac to crush the 60,000 troops under Lee’s command. Accordingly, he charged his 10,000-strong cavalry with cutting communication lines between Lee and Richmond. He ordered a third of his army to cross the Rappahannock beyond Lee’s left flank, another third to feign an attack on Fredericksburg in order to lure Lee out into the open, and the remainder of his forces to attack Lee’s flank. A brilliant plan in theory, it stumbled in its execution. Wretched weather delayed Hooker’s campaign until late April, giving Lee time to ascertain Hooker’s true intentions, send for Longstreet, prepare to defend his flank, and ignore the failed attack on Fredericksburg. I

campaign in the wilderness Bodies of Cavalry [were] being mov[ed] to the right for several day[s]. Orders, by no means unexpected, came to our regiment on the evening of April 26th to be ready to move [the] next morning. It was a solemn night in the 2d Corps although activity prevailed, as the numerous lights kept burning & moving about until a late hour plainly told. The music of the bands that at other times seemed so stirring & cheerful, now, to my imagination assumed a tone & measure of plaintive melancholy. about 8 am on apr 27 th, my regt fell in & took its place in the Brigade, & slowly marching to the right, taking the Warrenton road for a mile or two, & then leaving the road by filing to the left & taking an unfrequented road through a dense second growth of pine. This road let more direct[ly] towards the Rappahannock. We had not marched more than four miles when the Brigade came to a halt, massed, & stacked arms. The day which had been fine now gave signs of being a wet one, & towards noon, while we still were halted, rain set in & con-

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

tinued during the day. Although no order was issued, to that effect, the men quickly set up their shelter tents, and we remained in this position the remainder of the day & night. During the afternoon a pontoon train was moving to the front, with some difficulty, this new & infrequented road cutting up badly. [On April] 28th, [we were] still in same place [for] another week. april 29 th about 8 am the regiment was detached, marched some 2 or 3 miles to Banks ford on the river, furnished with entrenching tools & set to work to cut a road up the steep hill leading from the bank of the river. They worked here until the road was completed, late in the afternoon. Very few of the enemy appeared, but enough apparently to learn what we were doing for had they been disposed to annoy us nothing would have been more easy. The road completed, we joined the Division – the march up the river was continued, over corduroyed roads, that led through hilly pine barrens. The evening too set in rainy, & [the regiment] went into bivouac, wet & uncomfortable a little after nightfall, a few miles from United States ford. apr 30 th. Was a showery morning. The column was soon again in motion, we halted in a field, about a mile from the ford. The troops were massed by Brigade & the guns parked, while the engineer Corps was laying a bridge of pontoons over the river. We lay here from about 11 am until 2 pm, when we fell in & marched to the river. The north bank being very steep, a narrow road was cut in the face or brow of the hill similar to the one we had cut the previous day. This road was now occupied by the artillery. The infantry was made to file to the right & descend at a place so steep, that it was with much difficulty that, not only horses, but men kept their footing. I managed to make the descent however without leaving my saddle. The day having cleared up & the earth drying rapidly marching became more pleasant, while under the cheering glow of the sinking sun, the column with solemn tread, rumbling like distant thunder over the bridge, crossed the stream once more, that was already rendered historical. The crossing here was without opposition as far as we were concerned, the cavalry having cleared the way by making a flank movement & crossing higher up. Having crossed the river, we were halted for a short time, probably to allow the column to close up, then near sunset again fell in & continued the march without a halt through a huge forest of timber. The night was pretty dark in the woods & there were many waterpools in the flat road from the recent rain, which it was difficult to avoid in the darkness, causing much skattering & straggling of the troops. We met a

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few squads of prisoners, going to the rear under guard. After a march of this sort for about 5 or 6 miles, we came to a halt in an open space of about 30 acres, with a farmhouse in the centre. In this house Genl Couch established his head quarters, & here we bivouacked for the night. This was hardly a mile from the plank road, & was a portion of the field of

chancellorsville friday, may 1 st all on this road remained quiet until towards noon,

when we fell in & marched towards Fredericksburg, striking the plank road at Chancellor house & after making about three miles we were halted in a small field surrounded by woods, in which a battery of iron guns were drawn up in line. Those guns, it was understood we were supporting. Here we remained for perhaps as hour, during which I first heard sounds of conflict. Some guns, apparently ours, were slowly & deliberately pounding away at something, about a mile in advance. At the expiration of this time mentioned, we were suddenly marched back to where we had left & there remained during the day & night. It was said the enemy was advancing in front. saturday, may 2 d, the morning broke clear & beautiful & scarcely any one seemed to realize he was on a battlefield, so still was everything around. Although the troops had retired on their arms the previous night & had been kept under arms during the day, yet all were quiet until about 4 pm, when a few straggling musket shots were heard to the right & in front. Those were very soon followed by volleys of musketry, which soon increased with a roar. Artillery too freely mixed in & we could distinctly hear cheering or rather yells, which some recognized as that of the enemy. This seemed to be all taking place about a mile in front but nothing could be seen from our position but a few shells that happened to burst high in air. Most of them around me listened in silence except our Chaplain [Grassie]. He seemed to become unusually excited frequently exclaiming “we are beating them!” “It is the 11th Corps fighting & they are commanded by a good man, General [Oliver Otis] Howard, & he is sure to beat them.” But we were not kept long in suspense for soon a loud rumbling noise mixed with the jingling of chains came from the direction of Chancellor House & soon also a long string of supply waggons appeared from the woods, the mules on a gallop, & among them were gun limbers separated from their guns, beef cattle running wild, &

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Second Corps Field Hospital, Chancellorsville, 1863. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

many men of all branches of the service, some bareheaded but all unarmed. This mixed crowd of course seemed to have but one object in view viz, to put all possible distance between themselves & the sounds of battle. While looking at the stampede, much amused at many of the ludicrous sights which such cases afford, a sound struck my ear like the rapid flight of a pigeon, soon increasing into a dull rushing scream. All around looked alarmed, but myself & the Chaplain, as something heavy went crashing in to the woods in the rear. Neither of us knew what it was until we heard the word “a shell” uttered by several at once. This was followed by others, one killing a horse of the ambulance train close by and another ricochetting from the ground within a few feet of the regiment bounding over the men’s heads. The 11th Corps had been attacked in flank by Stonewall Jackson & routed & now their artillery had opened on the fugitives & for the purpose of preventing reinforcements from coming up. There was now almost a pause in the musketry, night was approaching & dark clouds arose suddenly from the southwest emitting flashes of lightning & volleys of thunder, which strangely multiplied with the sound of the battle, when an order came for the brigade to advance. Then for the first time I felt

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that in a few moments I would be literally “Staring Death in the face.” According to existing orders my duty was near my regiment. Surgeon Munson had gone to the rear. When shelling, he was privileged to do this or he was on an operating board. Dr Ely was also on the board but he preferred this evening to remain with me. For a very short time after receiving the order all were moving to the double quick down the road towards Chancellor House. The enemys guns, were trained on this road, but as it was getting dark the aim was uncertain, most of them crashing harmlessly through the tree tops, some however came so near that their burning fuzes lit up the now darkening air. Between the field in which we had been massed for the last two days & that in which Chance[llors] house was in, there was a piece of woods about a quarter of a mile wide through which the road led. When the Brigade emerged from the woods, in the open in [which] stood the last house mentioned & about 300 yds from it, it was formed in line of battle across the road in order to check the enemy’s advance in pursuit of the 11th Corps. There was not that much musketry firing when the Brigade halted, myself & Dr Ely looked as well as darkness would permit for a suitable place, to dress wounds. We found a short distance in the rear, a few more Surgeons of the Brigade & commenced to dress. All the officers’ horses were now sent to the rear. We were here but a short time when, we became aware, that the troops were being moved away in front of us, & the place fast becoming deserted. The artillery fire too was increasing & many men & horses going to the rear. The Surgeons who were with us, now left us for the rear also. Dr Ely said we had better go too. I went with him for a short distance, when I concluded my orders required me to find my regiment, if possible. Telling Ely my intention he also accompanied me to the front & we commenced, a search in the darkness for the command. Fighting now ceased for the time & after some wandering, we found the Brigade. I was on the move & after meandering through the woods & changing position several times, we came to a halt about 9 pm, on the right of the road by which we had advanced, & about midway in the woods, before referred to. A line of battle was formed, & here a stand was made in the battle of the next morning. But two Divisions of the Second Corps, were here engaged, the third which held the right of the road in front of Chancellor house & the first held the left of the same line. There was a Division, the 2d opposite Fredericksburg with the 6th Corps under the command of Genl [John] Sedgwick. Our Brigade, which then con-

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

sisted of the 108th ny, 14th Conn, 12th nj, & 130th Penn, occupied the woods mentioned. There was another line of battle in front, principally I believe of the 3d Corps. The troops lay down on the leaves & slept until about midnight when a few stray shots in the skirmish line, was quickly followed by tremendous volleys of musketry, which seemed very close & well sustained for about half an hour, when it almost as suddenly died away. The enemy had made a night attack but were repulsed. Not only did our men reply to theirs with close fire of musketry, but the artillery generally opened with shells. The effect was awfully good as the guns awoke the echoes of the woods & lit up the midnight darkness with their broad flashes. The fiery arc of the shells too could be plainly traced by their burning fuzes [as] they flew over the heads of the front line & the tree tops, straight into the enemys lines. This over, we again laid down, & for myself slept soundly until daybreak. sunday, may 3 d. No sooner was it light enough to see a man a few yards off, then the enemy commenced the battle in earnest. The musketry broke out in the same place, as the previous evening, only in greater volume & accompanied by tremendous yelling. Now too the attack was supported by heavy artillery fire. The enemy troops [ad]vancing in our front were Jacksons Corps, he himself being mortally wounded in the night attack of the previous evening. For nearly half an hour, no musket shots reached our position, but the shells from their guns swept through the woods thickly, some of them cutting down trees in close proximity to us. After about half an hour of steady rolling of musketry & pounding of artillery, the fire somewhat slackened & great numbers of men could be seen finding their way to the rear, some wounded, others dripping with perspiration & blackened with gunpowder. They were not running however, or panic stricken, but looked like men whose commands had been completely disorganized. About this time some bullets came among us, & I noticed one pop through one of our mens canteens & let the water out. The Surgeons orderly who carried the Medicine & dressing case now began to look for a more sheltered situation. Dr Ely called him back, but he did not seem to notice the call but hurried to the rear. Ely followed him calling “George! George!” Waiting some time & not seeing either return, I went after them to see if possible the cause of their delay, as I had no dressings to use should I require them, all being in the case. I failed however to find either during that day in the confusion which followed. The front line being broken by heavy musketry of the enemy

The Spring Campaigns of 1863

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they advanced without a halt against the Second [Corps]. This line was now placed in a most trying position. The remnant of the first line which had fought it out to the last extremity, now came powering back on their supports, the enemys line of battle following close by. For the second line to fire in this position was simply impossible without involving the line of friends, so the fugitives had to be [allowed to] pass through, which in itself broke & demoralized the remaining troops who stood firm to a great extent. As for our Brigade, while it was first beginning to encounter the advancing enemy in front, it was found the line of the latter here completely overlapped their right flank. On this flank too was a regiment which was now placed under fire for the first time, the 12th nj. Although the troops afterwards proved themselves on many a field, to be “second to none” & the men here even fought well it was impossible for them to sustain such an attack of veteran troops long. The regiment was doubled up & thrown back upon the remainder of the Brigade communicating to it their confusion. Here the horse of Brig Genl William Hays fell & the Genl becoming entrapped in the trappings was captured with one of his aides, the only friend who saw the occurrence. The command devolved on Col Powers, but he was not for some time after made aware of this the fate of the Genl being unknown. Consequently the Brigade having no commander, each Colonel ordered his regiment out of the difficulty as he might be able & the regiment had to fall back behind their guns & reform their lines, the latter a chance to open & check the enemys advance. The commander seemed to have foreseen this choice of restoring the day & had drawn up the artillery along the near side of the field in which Genl Couchs head quarters was, & rallied & reformed [the] infantry in rear of the guns in the edge of the [field.] Thus far I have been speaking of the 3d [Division] alone. The 1st Division had a fierce combat [&] saved their guns with some difficulty. [Men of the] Brigade drawing them off by hand. Of course [it be]came necessary for it to assume the same position as the 3d Division. The enemy after halting, [closing] up their line & gathering their strength for a [great] effort made another charge, but as soon as their line emerged from the wood into the open referred to before, they were met by volleys of canister & small arms, [&] repulsed with great slaughter. No attempt in great force was afterward made by the enemy to carry the position & this was the limit of the rebels success in our front.

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The losses in our regiment were not numerous but sufficiently numerous for the number present. On the evening of the 2d, a shell passed through Co. i killing or mortally wounding five men, & on the 3d several were killed & wounded & some captured. Capt Byron [P.] Thrasher, a promising young officer had his thigh [wounded] & died in Washington [on 31 May 1863] of his wound.1 The regiment went into action scarcely numbering 350, at this time the rolls bore but a trifle over 400 all left out of upwards of 950 [who] had left [Rochester as members of the 108th New York.] Not only were they thus depleted by the battles of Antietam & Fredericksburg & disease, but many had been discharged through physical disability contacted in the fields by having constitutions inadequate to the hardships of a soldiers life. The remainder of this day I spent in the temporary field hospitals made of pine boughs supported on fork sticks driven into the ground. Yet many poor fellows had not even this temporary shelter from the hot sun, worse still in the last advance of the enemy, they had opened their guns on the road near which the hospital was & the shells for a time fell thick & fast among the wounded. All who were able dragged themselves beyond. The remaining badly wounded were removed to [a place] further in the rear, near a Sawmill as soon [as cir]cumstances would permit. This night I was [call]ed to watch the wounded from midnight until morning relieving another Surgeon at that hour. [My] duty was [a] lonely & solemn one, & besides as I [went] on the campaign sick, the late [hours], fatigue, excitement, & in a great measure want of proper nourishment had well nigh prostrated me. We may well imagine too the sights & sounds here were not of a character to cheer the most unfeeling. Of course little could be done during the hours of darkness more than attend to their more pressing wants, such as see that none suffer from thirst, keep their wounds cooled with water or administer an Anodyne to those who were suffering much pain.2 Many although not complaining betrayed their suffering by their hurried & laborious breathing, but were stifling their agony with the stern fortitude of soldiers. Many too lay around who had ended their struggle since night had set in, their calm ghostly features being painfully distinct even in the darkness. monday, may 4 th. Passed quietly in our front, the men being employed in entrenching their position with temporary breastworks. On this day the enemy massed his forces in front of Genl Sedgwick, who had crossed at Fredericksburg with the 6th Corps & the 2d Division of the 2d & carried Maryes heights by a brilliant charge. The conflict

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here continued, with but little intermission during the day. We could easily hear the prolonged & steady pounding of the guns all day while the troops in our part of the line remained quietly in their position. Why no diversion in favor of Genl Sedgwick was made in our front still remains inexplicable to many officers.3 I have as yet conversed with [many] on the subject, as all feel confident they were quite able to dispose of the enemy force in our front at that time, believing it was mostly withdrawn to overwhelm Sed[gwick]. The result of all this however, was that Sed[gwick], though defending himself skillfully and stubborn[nly] was prevented from forming a junction with [the] main force on the south of the river. Consequent[ly he] was outnumbered & compelled to withdraw his [force] across the river which he did in a creditable [man]ner, his guns being brought over at Banks ford & up [the] road which our regiment had cut on the 29th April. Nothing worthy [of] the name of fighting occurred in [our] vicinity this day, although there was much firing on the picket line especially during the night, [when] there were several false alarms resulting in little [more] than heavy volleys of musketry. This day most of o[ur] wounded were sent over the river. That night as I was yet quite sick, I slept at the field hospital, a Corpl [Christopher F.] Stevenson, an officer of the 8th nj, was mortally wounded by a blade through the abdomen. Had I [been] near him, that I might be able to give him a drink occasionally or change his position. The place was too open for lights such as we had (candles) to be kept burning. His conditions could only be known by my feeling his pulse. Towards midnight not hearing him breath[e] as usual, I reached over & felt for his hand from where I lay & found he had departed. Some perhaps would have removed to another place but as I was then almost indifferent to life or death myself & saw nothing repulsive in the inanimate form by my side so I slept by it soundly until morning. tuesday may 5 th was passed in almost perfect quiet in front, a few distant cannon were heard towards the left. The day seems to have been mostly spent on both sides in burying the dead & caring for the wounded. Our remaining wounded in our hands were sent across the river & mostly to large field hospitals along the line of the Acquia Creek railroad. A new road was cut through the woods from our rear to the ford by which we had crossed the river & towards evening orders were issued for the Surgeons at field hospitals to join their regiments. [Near] sunset a tremendous storm set in accompany[ed by] thunder. The rain fell in torrents & at the same [time] was extremely cold. In

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

the midst of all this [& in fe]eble health I should saddle my horse, having [as yet] no regular servant, & the poor animal too was [near]ly as debilitated as myself. At the opening of the battle I had sent him to the rear with the other regimental horses in charge of Dr Ely’s negro boy. Those in charge of the horses it appears never stopped until they placed themselves between themselves & the sound at the guns. About two days afterwards they were inclined to return, my horse being nearly starved & the saddle bags em[p]tied of anything to eat for myself, as I had left all I had brought with me in there in some bread & boiled ham. Before I succeeded in saddling [my horse], the remainder of the party had somewhat got the start of me so, I had to find my way as best I could to the regiment & as darkness had now set in, this was not easy, as its position lay some distance from any road, & in the thick woods. But persevering on through wind & rain, scratching my face & tearing the lining from my coat in the tangled brush, & inquiring my way I succeeded in straying in to the regiment. Dismounting & sheltering myself a little from the storm behind a tree, Col Pierce, who was in command of the regt accidentally ran against me, & was somewhat surprised to find me here. He told me Drs Munson & Ely had been there some time previous & on learning the troops were going to fall back, they had immediately went to the rear. He was much displeased at their conduct in abandoning me in my sickness, Col Pierce, who treated me in the most friendly manner through out all our acquaintance, now told me that the troops were to be withdrawn, & advised me in my feeble health it would be best for me to get across the river before the crowd become to great, knowing there would be much straggling in the darkness & he seemed to apprehend some fighting before, the troops could be recrossed. I thanked him & took his advice by trying to find my way to the road again & after some time succeeded in falling in with a battery that was moving to the river which I followed for some time. The guns were being taken through the woods by the new road with some difficulty often running [a]foul of trees in the darkness. But when these halts would occur I would have to wait in the rain until they would restart besides being frequently crowded from the road. So I came to a determination of trying to find my way through alone. Passing the battery & following some stragglers, I succeeded in reaching the ford at a late hour at night. Here a vast crowd of men all armed had already assembled, & the order was for all the guns to cross first. Many halts had to be made to repair the bridge which was being strained much by the now rapidly rising river. Sitting

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in my saddle here for several long hours I felt the time was approaching when I could no longer remain there from sheer exhaustion & exposure to the cold storm. If I dismounted, there was no place to sit or lie, every foot was occupied besides mud was knee deep & the crowd too was fast becoming so great, that it would soon be impossible to escape from it in any direction. An effort must be made to leave that press at all hazards, so after much labor in trying to crowd my horse towards the moving column I reached the line of sentries & telling one I was a Surgeon ordered over the river on duty he passed me & there was no more difficulty but [to] fall in with a battery as an artillery officer. Crossing the dark, roaring stream, which threatened every moment to snap the cables that held the pontoon in place I arrived at the road cut up the side of the steep precipice. Here a team was struck fast in the side of the hill & after waiting some time in rear for it to be started, I succeeded in passing it by making my horse climb the side of the hill, which he did with the surefootedness & agility of a cat, though weak he appeared. Arriving at the top of the hill overhanging the river I decided on going no further without my regiment believing that honor at least required this, beside, both myself & horse required rest. So groping my way into a thicket of pines I found an old wigwam of pine built by some men at some time on picket. This though not keeping out any rain, yet was some shelter from the cold wind so there I unsaddled & tied my horse to a tree unpacked a buffalo robe I carried & a rubber blanket & rolling up in the former & covering myself with the latter I slept away the remainder of the night. wednesday, may 6 th. Awakening at daybreak, the weather was still wet & cold & going out to the road which was a short distance from where I passed the night was agreeably surprised to find the regiment passing. I saddled my horse at once & followed on & soon overtook them in a field where we had passed the night of the 29th April, they were getting coffee. One of our privates offered me a cup of warm coffee which I most gratefully accepted. The troops continued their march through a drizzling cold rain, by a more frequented road than that by which we advanced & arrived in their old camps the same evening. Here we found Dr Ely & the Chaplain they having arrived the evening before. Dr Munson had continued his retrograde movement still further several miles, he being apparently under the impression that some great disaster had taken place. Why the army so soon recrossed the river I have never heard satisfactorily explained for as far as my observation went I saw nothing

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amounting to defeat.4 Tis true some ground was lost in the beginning of the action but the enemys advance was completely repulsed & the men seemed cheerful confident & ready to fight again. Doubtless one great occasion for pursuing this course, was the vague & uncertain nature of the position, for Genl [Charles P.] Stoneman having gone on a raid upon the enemy, communications which was successful, Genl Hooker was unapprised of this up to his withdrawal of the army, not hearing from Stoneman. Little could be learned of the enemys real position or movements, owing to the flat & densely woody country, the whole of this almost impenetrable wilderness being familiar to them. However the recrossing was effected in good time for the army were no sooner on the north side then the river rose so rapidly it became impossible to keep the stream bridged. The night selected too was favorable, as the enemy could not know what was going on for the rain & darkness & indeed had they known it would have been difficult to molest the retiring troops seriously before morning. As it was nearly all were across before there was any attempt at pursuit. When such an advance was made [the] next morning a sufficient number of guns were in commanding position on the north bank to render pursuit a costly experiment. on may 7 th I received an order detailing me on duty at Potomac Creek field hospital some five miles from camp, on the railroad. Although being much in want of some rest, I complied with the order at once. It proved a fortunate change, finding at the hospital better food, quarters & proper medicines, a rapid improvement in my health took place & when I returned to my regiment one month afterwards, it was completely restored. This hospital was in a very good locality as regards water & railroad facilities for receiving supplies & comfort for the sick from our base. Each Army Corps had such a hospital at that time. Our Corp were divided into Divisions, the whole being under Dr [Justin] Dwinelle of the 106th Penn. Our Division in charge of Asst Surgeon Baker of the 24th ny. At first there was more duty imposed on me than I could well perform, some sixty or seventy sick & wounded to prescribe for & dress besides assisting at all capital operations but Dr Baker soon after relieved me the charge of the sick & gave me four wards of wounded & now the surgical cases being my own choice. Most of the wounds here were either of so slight a character as to promise a speedy return to duty or so severe as to make their transportation to [a] general hospital dangerous but the latter were by far the more numerous. Many too were mortally injured their death being but a

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question of time among the latter were two fine young soldiers of the 108th ny. Sargt Fred Ristow Co. i & Alex MacCullough Co. j. Ristow shot through the lungs lived about ten days. MacCullough although the right anterior lobe of the brain was torn up by a bullet lived two weeks. There were but three wounded officers remaining in our Division these being placed in my charge. One of these Capt [George] Bronson of the 14th Conn had his right arm resected at the shoulder. Men of his apparent strength mostly recovered [from] such wounds, but he being a man of a peculiar nervous & irritable temperament it soon became evident his chances for life were few. However, he lingered some three weeks. His wife a most amiable lady & brother were present. This circumstance much increased my anxiety in regard to the termination & rendered his death more painful for me to witness. The mortality among the wounded brought immediately from the field was not great but the case was far different with some who had fell into the hands of the enemy & were reclaimed under a flag of truce after about a week on the field. Many of those poor fellows were in a pitiable condition through want & neglect & they for the most part seemed resigned to their fate feeling it a blessing to, be permitted to die among their comrades. It is but just to add those men seldom complained of unkindness from the enemy but frequently expressed their gratitude especially to the Surgeons. Their combined testimony would indicate that the rebels had more wounded of their own than they could well provide for the carnage had been so great, besides it was a patent fact that they never had equal facilities with us, in providing for the wounded.

tysburg tings of Campaign a Canadian Surgeon

3 The Gettysburg Campaign

I

Chancellorsville, wrote Confederate general James Longstreet, was “General Lee’s most brilliant achievement.”1 Lee’s outnumbered ragamuffin Army of Northern Virginia defeated Hooker through a combination of audacity and skill. In the face of Hooker’s campaign, Lee, still missing Stuart, boldly split his army in thirds. He sent General Early below Fredericksburg, General Jackson to turn Hooker’s right flank, and Generals Anderson and McLaw to face the bulk of Hooker’s men. A daring strategy but justified, in the opinion of Confederate soldier Randolph McKim, by the fact “that the density of the forest growth made it possible to screen the march of General Jackson around Hooker’s right rear,” and because “Lee possessed in Stonewall Jackson a lieutenant who was so brilliantly qualified to execute it with celerity, with resoluteness, and with skill.”2 In the final analysis, Lee prevailed and Hooker scurried back across the Rappahannock, failing yet again to secure a decisive Union victory in the eastern theatre. Confederate victory, however, came at a price. Twenty-four thousand Union and Confederate soldiers lay dead or wounded. Sadly, Stonewall Jackson lay among them. Accidentally wounded by his own men, Jackson died on 10 May 1863, sending paralyzing waves of grief across the Confederacy. James Longstreet spoke for many when he noted that with Jackson’s death, “the dark clouds of the future began to lower about the Confederates.”3 In what is perhaps Lee’s most

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famous statement of the war, he summed up what Jackson meant to the cause of southern independence. “Such an executive officer” as Jackson “the sun never shone on. I have but to show him my design, and I know that if it can be done it will be done. No need for me to send or watch him. Straight as a needle to the pole he advances to the execution of my purpose.” With Jackson’s death, Lee had indeed “lost [his] right arm” and perhaps the Confederacy.4 Northerners also connected the death of Jackson with the fate of the Confederacy and future of the war. General Governeur K. Warren admitted to rejoicing “at Stonewall Jackson’s death as a gain to our cause.”5 General Oliver Otis Howard echoed the sentiment: “Providentially for us, [Chancellorsville] was the last battle that [Jackson] waged against the American Union. For, in bold planning, in energy of execution, which he had the power to diffuse, in indefatigable activity and moral ascendancy, Jackson stood head and shoulders above his confreres, and after his death Lee could not replace him.”6 Indeed, “[i]n the death of Stonewall Jackson, the rebels have lost by far their greatest military leader.”7 While the Confederacy reeled from the shock of Jackson’s death, the Union scrambled to explain its disastrous defeat at Chancellorsville. To many, such as General Darius Couch, blame rested squarely on Hooker’s shoulders. Hooker underestimated Lee and made a series of critical tactical errors, among them eliminating the cavalry from the battle. Others blamed the Union’s defeat on the collapse of Howard’s Eleventh Corps and the cowardly nature of the Germans who comprised its majority. Regardless of blame, the situation following Chancellorsville remained as it had been before the battle. The Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia faced each other across the Rappahannock. Although devastated by the loss of Jackson, Lee prepared to build on his strategic victory at Chancellorsville and invade the North. Jefferson Davis, however, “did not like [the prospect] of movement north,” which might threaten the security of Richmond.8 Moreover, Davis urged Lee to split his army and send some men west to defend Vicksburg against Grant’s bombardment. Lee countered that a northern invasion would alleviate the supply problems facing the Confederacy. A venture into Maryland would allow the army to requisition supplies, animals, and foodstuffs while simultaneously relieving Virginia of that burden. Moreover, Lee argued, a successful northern invasion might annihilate the Army of the Potomac and end the war

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or at least result in British intervention to end the war. Convinced, Davis grudgingly granted Lee permission for his northern campaign and on Wednesday, 3 June 1863, Lee’s army marched from the Rappahannock. Such movement could not help but catch the eyes of the Army of the Potomac. Two days after Lee’s departure “Hooker reacted by sending infantry Major General John Sedgwick’s Sixth Corps ... across ... the Rappahannock” to investigate. Simultaneously, Hooker telegraphed Lincoln. Lincoln, not wishing for another Chancellorsville, instructed Hooker to engage Lee only if Lee “crossed over to the north bank of the Rappahannock.”9 I

gettysburg All was quiet in camp for about three weeks when one evening to the amazement of all, heavy guns were heard at Fredericksburg & for about two hours kept up a constant booming. It all however, did not amount to much. It seems Genl Hooker began to have some intimation of the covert movements of Lee & he crossed some troops below Fredericksburg under cover of a heavy fire of artillery to try to learn if the enemy were withdrawing their forces. On June 7th after being one month at Potomac Creek hospital, I received an order to rejoin my regiment, which was complied with forthwith. I had my horse saddled, & took leave of my patients which leave taking was in some cases quite painful to me as I had become attached to some of those poor fellows on account of their patient endurance & gratitude for every little attention in their behalf. One of those especially named Frank Pinkerton of the 12th ny shed tears. He was one of those men reclaimed under flag of truce. His arm or hand had been clumsily amputated & through subsequent neglect & exposure had become eryspelatous to the shoulder.10 How the poor man fared after I left I have not been able to learn. Joining my regt I found them all well & in a pleasant camp in a shady pine forest. Indeed well chosen & tasteful camps being general in the Army of the Potomac. Some visitors to the camp – probably of that class called horror-seekers – went home apparently quite shocked that soldiers should enjoy their temporary repose & they raised the decisive cry at home that, “Hooker’s army is in summer bowers.” Although it was obvious a great movement was at hand, it was also just as plain that our movements were governed by those of the enemy. One extremely quiet & monotonous week being spent in camp, on the

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13th June we received orders to be ready to move [the] next morning. It was known now generally that the main portion of Lees army was moving northward but his plans as yet were undeveloped. During the day of June 14th, the 2d Corps – being I believe one of the last to move took up its march northward on the Stafford road. On the morning of that day I was ordered to take charge of the Division picket, so knowing I should join my regiment elsewhere I packed up for a march, & taking with me my servant & orderly with [the] hospital knapsack, I reported for the picket Head Qrs on the Warrenton road, about 2 miles from camp. The Division picket was under the command of Lieut Col [E.H.] Kevins 14th Ind v. [Indiana Volunteers]. The day was quietly passed with the exception of a few cannon shots up the river said to have been fired by the enemy at some of our moving troops. At nightfall Col Kevins received orders to draw off the picket line quietly at 10 o’clock & join the Division. Their movement must necessarily begin at [the] river which was several miles away, consequently it was about 11 o’clock when a low rustling sound was heard approaching as the line doubled up on it self & as the head of the little column approached [the] post – the officer in command gave the order in a low tone to “fall in.” For several miles we felt our way cautiously through a very broken country & when we began to hope we were near the main road, an officer said to belong to the Division staff brought an order to Col Kevins to replace the picket line. The order was obeyed at once but with much grumbling on the part of the soldiers who now had to thread their way back again through the tangled brushwood in the darkness of a moonless night. I had been at the house which was the picket head qrs little more than an hour & understood the line was all reposted to the river where the order to withdraw was repeated. Day was breaking when the picket reached the Stafford Court House road. Here we joined the pickets of the other Divisions & took up our march for Stafford ch where we joined the Corps which had halted about 9 o’clock. After about an hours rest the march resumed under a very hot sun & over dusty roads. We crossed & halted at Acquia Creek Run about 5 pm & bivouacked for the night. It was a most welcome halt for the men particularly those who had been on picket & marching all night. The creek, which was about five feet deep for the remainder of the crossing, was perfectly alive with bathers who soon washed away both the affects & memory of their hot & dusty march. june 16 th. We continued our march through a tremendous[ly] hot sun & dusty roads, many men falling out. We arrived at Dumfries about

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noon & halted some 2 or 3 hours to ration the troops & resumed our march crossing Wolf Run shoals on Occoquan Creek & bivouacking on the north bank at sunset. This days march was a long & hot one & here again the men enjoyed a good bathing place june 17 th. Another hot day & a long march – we crossed the Orange & Alexander railroad near Fairfax Station & went into camp about 6 pm, & about a mile from the railroad. This days march was as very severe as the first few days march after having been long in camp invariably is. Many of the men had blistered feet besides the heat of the sun & the choking dust was unendurable yet had to be endured. june 18 th & 19 th. We lay in camp near Fairfax Stn resting the troops, getting up supplies & sending away the sick by rail. Here on the evening of the 19th, I was detailed to go in charge of an ambulance train containing 36 sick to the Station about 3 miles. We were intercepted by a supply train & it was not until a late hour that we arrived at the Station. More delay occurring at the Station in finding a Medical officer to transfer the last of [the] sick to night was setting in before I commenced my return. Not knowing what was taking place in camp I did not order the Sergeant in charge of the train of ambulances to wait for me consequently they went on at a smart pace. I soon found myself alone in a dark wooded road a cloudy dark night setting in & the road in such condition that a faster gait then a walk was impossible. As I had time for reflection I began to be unimpressed with the true nature of my position – seeing the road too quite deserted, I more than suspected the troops had marched & although fully confident of being able to reach the camp that night yet a feeling of loneliness crept over me as I began to recall to memory the tales frequently told of guerrillas hanging on the line of march & robbing & murdering all who fell into their hands, & indeed those tales were not groundless for many men known to have straggled in this same march, have never since been heard of while some were said to have been found murdered. Soon after entering the woody part of the road I just discerned two figures furtively moving in a contrary direction to mine. I[t] was just twilight & raining & they appeared like soldiers with rubber thrown over their shoulders. However, as they seemed to avoid the main road as they were moving through a piece of lately burned woods some ten rods from the road & believing they looked suspicious I thought it would be prudent to preserve a bold front."11 So I accordingly hailed them like a person of authority with “Who goes there.” One made a momentary

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halt & answered. Of this answer I was not very certain but construed it into “Pennsylvania reserves” & as I knew those troops were on duty at the Station I had just left & as my object was more to appear brave than to molest the men, all parties went on their ways, I making the best time, a walking horse was capable of making to our old camp. Arriving at the former camp, seeing anything was out of the question. All too was, still as the grave to the sense of hearing, except some rustling noise occasionally in the woods – which I then suspected was a broken down & abandoned horse. Nothing being left of it but to try & follow on. I moved in the direction of the road leading through camp dismounted & searched the ground cautiously for marks of hoofs & wheels these could be plainly traced but their direction was not obvious to my sight but feeling certain this movement was in the same direction as heretofore I slowly followed the track judging by the sound of my horses feet whether I was right proceeding this way for about a mile I became aware of approaching a house which stood some twenty yards from the road surrounded by some small trees & as I came near the gateway that led to the house, something like a horse appeared between the two posts. All was perfectly dark & quiet in the building. Before I could discover what the figure really was & when within some five yards of it a mounted man without speaking a word bounded into the road before me riding as if his horse was well trained, it breaking from a dead halt into a gallop at the will of his rider. He galloped on without a halt in the direction of my march into a wood through which the road led some 100 yds off & the clatter of his horses feet ceased entirely as soon as he entered this wood. When I first saw him, seeing he was apparently much startled, I quickly thought he might be someone of our cavalry that had straggled & was afraid of being recognized & consequently hailed him by telling him to “hold on” until I came up, but as he did not seem to notice my call before reaching the wood I concluded he had thought better of it & would be there found waiting for me. So somewhat reassured I entered the woods & hailed him by saying “where are you comrade[?]” No answer was made but probably an unavoidable movement of his horses foot [told me] that he was lurking in the bush but a few yards from the road. Letting him know I was aware of his presence I again called out “don’t be afraid comrade if you are left behind.” “Come along with us & you will have company” using the word us to cover my loneliness & weakness from detection if possible. But he making no answer I decided him to be an outlaw so I believe the most prudent course to be

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in placing as much space as possible between myself & such a skulking character. The darkness was such in this wood that I could not see my horses ears, & could only pursue my journey by letting the animal have his own way & sometimes the wet pine boughs would brush me in the face. I expected momentarily that pursuit would be made as soon as my prowling enemy would discover that I was not followed by any support. I too was unarmed – with the exception of the small dress sword worn by the Medical Staff, scarcely as valuable a weapon as a stout stick. However no pursuit was made & if intended, probably the thick darkness, my bold & defiant assumed manner, & ignorance of the manner in which I was armed, combined in deterring those parties from such an attempt. My horse following the road soon brought me into an open place where the road was bounded by fences & a person could also see a few yards ahead & permitting me to get on comfortably about a mile – when the road suddenly became lost in another the direction of which was about [at a] right-angle to the one I had been travelling. It was now about impossible to tell whether the track led to [the] right or [the] left in the darkness – but – I had instinctively kept the points of the compass in my mind accordingly I turned to the right. Here the road was yet bounded by fences & was easy to follow but soon coming to a place where the fence was removed from the left side of the road I passed this gap unconcernedly – not suspecting it was more than a place accidentally thrown down but at this very point the Corps had broken from the road & marched straight across the country & the road I followed soon ended again in a woods & this again soon became narrowed & I soon became conscious of it being obstructed with fallen trees but persevering on in hopes it would lead to some open[ing] from whence I might be able to see camp fires. It was followed until I found I was not upon any track whatever but blindly groping through a thick & wet forest. Quickly deciding that further attempts to get out of the “wilderness” for the night were futile. A thunderstorm now set in & the lightening plainly showed me I was completely lost in the woods. Dropping my horse’s bridle for a second or two to adjust a rubber poncho on my shoulders so great was the noise in the woods & the darkness that I neither seen nor heard my horse move for a few steps ahead. Now lifting up my head to seize his head with some alarm, I found no horse there. Nor did a momentary flash of lightening show where he was probably because I was not then looking in the right direction. Turning around a little & just then despairing of ever seeing him again another flash of lightening revealed the poor

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animal standing patiently before me his side within two feet of my face. Next time I seized the bridle. I had no intention of repeating the late experiment again of letting go [of] my horse for any purpose. All immediate dread of guerillas had vanished from my mind & I then believed that no mortal could find me so taking a small box of steamed oysters, which were opened with my pocket knife, & a piece of bread from my saddle bags, I managed to make a comfortable supper even amid the full roar of the storm. Then wrapping my bridle around my arm & sitting down against the root of a tree, I listened for any sound such as wheels or drums that might direct me [the] next morning. But I listened in vain, & with occasional snatches of sleep so I passed this eventful night. It may be easily imagined I was early astir [the] next morning. After some searching I found & commenced to retrace the road I had travelled. The morning was fine & clear but I did not much enjoy it as I now really felt the lonely & unprotected nature of my condition knowing well this move would in day light be obvious to any marauder who might chance to cross my way. The heavy rain of the night had washed out every vestige of wheels or footprints. So it was only after an hours search that I decided on taking the side back throug[h] the field already mentioned. Pursuing this & soon coming to a house & finding a man just after rising I ventured to inquire of him, when his description of the column that had passed the previous evening satisfied me I was on the right course. Half an hour more brought me in sight of the tents of the Corps where it was encamped around Centreville. Never before or since were tents such a joyous sight to me. The Corps had not marched at all during the evening more then 5 or 6 miles & I had succeeded in tracing them fully halfway from their former camp – when I missed the road in the manner described. When I came into camp there were many questions to answer as to how the night was spent. Those were generally answered humorously although I did not feel the joke of the affair myself. So ends my adventures & this lesson was not lost on me for it effectively taught me to be cautious in becoming separated from our troops in an enemy country. june 20 th. The morning of this day found the Corps at Centreville. This is a small village on the turnpike road about 30 miles from Washington. It is a military position of some importance commanding the road & surrounding country as well as the valley of Cubs run for several miles. After the battle of Bull Run, it was occupied by the rebels during the ensuing winter. They constructed a railroad from Manassas

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The Unburied Federal Dead at Bull Run, 1863. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

junction to this place & strongly fortified the position also. About 10 o’clock we fell in & took up our march along the Warrenton Turnpike crossing Bull Run & the battlefield the same evening & going into camp at Gainesville on the Manassas railroad, a march of some 14 miles. The only bridge being destroyed previous & a temporary one was constructed for the guns & trains & the infantry forded the stream – which at that point is not of great depth except in freshets yet by the steepness of its banks is impossible for artillery. The field of Bull Run would hardly be taken for a battlefield – had the dead been decently interred, but the bodies that came under my notice were never recovered from the place they fell. The only attempt at burial being the mere hiding of the body by heaping some earth upon it with a shovel where it lay. In many cases now this earth partially or wholly removed either by the weather or by prowling animals the ghastly skeletons exposed & in some cases scattered about dismembered. The officers of the rebel army too often, be it said, to their everlasting infamy

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neglected to bury the Federal dead who fell into their hands in a decent manner.12 We cannot too strongly reprobate the savage nature that can pursue our enemy beyond life. The men marched by this spectacle glowering & solemn & with evident emotion many doubtlessly vowing a deep revenge which they knew not was being so near accord[ed]. We lay at Gainesville in camp some three days. The surrounding country is generally levied & fertile & must have been a wealthy settlement before the war. During our stay here the Manassas railroad was repaired & supplies brought up. Heavy bodies of cavalry were moving towards the blue ridge & we could frequently hear the sound of heavy skirmishing with the rebel cavalry who were hovering about to mask the plans of Genl Lee. But Genl Pleasanton defeated their cavalry at Aldie & completely developed the fact that most of the rebel army had invaded Maryland & Pennsylvania.13 We left camp at Gainesville on June 25th & bivouacked that night at a place called Gum Springs near the turnpike road leading from Alexandria to Leesburg. This day we crossed another portion of the Bull Run battlefield near a place called Groveton. The road led through a piece of open oak woods which had been the scene of a most murderous conflict every tree was torn with bullets & I saw a ramrod driven hard & fired into a tree where it had been fired from a musket. Remains of bodies were scattered through the woods in many places which no attempt had even been made to bury their skeletons still partially enveloped in the shreds of blue cloth & one of our officers found a skeleton hanging doubled over a fences no portion touching the ground where the man must have been killed obviously in the act of climbing the fence – or else his body was placed there through inhuman sport. Next day june 26 th. We crossed the Potomac at Edwards Ferry on a pontoon bridge. It was a late hour when we crossed & the days march was long & it was with weary limbs & heavy eyes the Corps went into its late bivouac on the north bank. The next two days were spent on the march to Frederick City which came into view on the evening of the 28th. We halted for two or three hours within sight of the city. The regiment was then detached from the Division & sent three miles westward near a place called Buckeystown & it bivouacked in a clump of woods on the side of the road that led through a beautiful country. It seemed to be apprehended that Stuarts rebel cavalry were hovering around &

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consequently the detaching of small bodies of troops to guard all the roads [was made]. june 29 th. The 2d Corps made a march of about 35 miles to the vicinity of Uniontown, Md with all its artillery & trains. The march was much talked of for some time as the “famous march of the 2d Corps.” The 108th ny on account of being detached had to march three or four miles before joining the Corps. The Brigade too to which it was attached was detailed to guard the wagon train & the men being compelled to march most of the day parallel & on the same road as the wagons which crowded them much, it rendered their march peculiarly distressing. This day led us through some of the finest agricultural country & scenery perhaps in the United States. The valley of the Monocacy. The troops were marched until a very late hour & my brigade was much divided & broken up by the train. The men in my regiment becoming gradually less by falling out through exhaustion – there were at 11 pm so few men around the colors that Col Powers deemed it advisable to halt until morning to collect his [men] which he did without further orders bivouacking in wood by the road side. Next day 30th. We made but a few miles of a leisurely march, passing through Union in “columns by Company,” bands playing & colors unfurled, going into camp & resting for the remainder of the day & night – which rest all gratefully enjoyed. july 1 st at about 8 am we fell in & marched leisurely to Taneytown, halted, sent out a picket detail & everything indicated a rest for the remainder of the day, in fact, the Colonel received an order to that effect. The halt was made about 11 am & as all were making themselves comfortable for the day about 1 pm, the order suddenly came to “fall in” which was promptly obeyed, & with scarcely a halt the Corps crossed the state line into Pennsylvania, near sunset, & shortly after passed through some artillery limbered up & parked. The horses & equipment spattered with mud & the men & guns blackened with gunpowder plainly told they had been in action. They were of the 11th Corps. Guns were plainly audible in front. We bivouacked at a late hour two miles from GETTYSBURG

As already stated the 3d Corps arrived on the field or near it on the night of July 1st, 1863. The 1st & 11th Corps having the advance of the army had struck quite unexpectedly the main rebel force on this day &

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had been roughly handled. Maj Genl [John] Reynolds, commanded the 1st Corps, was killed. These two Corps although outnumbered, contested the ground stoutly & fell back in good order to the line of slightly elevated ground just south of Gettysburg where the final battle was fought. There they checked the enemys advance for the day. The elevated land spoken of was a low ridge, for the most part but slightly elevated above the plain, two points excepted – the one Cemetery Hill – which was immediately in rear of the town & overlooked it to a considerable extent – the other a high stony peak covered with trees called Roundtop. This hill was the highest point on the field & covered the extreme left of our line. It was about two miles from Gettysburg. The right of our line was resting on, or partially covered by a succession of high woody hills. The general form of the line was cresentric, or, rather horseshoe shape[d] – of which Cemetery Hill was the centre & most advanced point. On this was Evergreen Cemetery – one of the principal burial places of the town. The length of this line or a rough estimate was about five miles. It was crossed by two highways – the Taneytown Road & the Baltimore Turnpike – both which roads diverged at a considerable angle from the town. On an opposite line of ridges but scarcely so elevated & about 1 1/4 miles distant, the main rebel line rested. Their line was shaped much like the other but of greater extent – about eight miles. They also occupied the town in great force on the morning of the 2d July. Early on the morning of the 2d also the 2d Corps took position on the left centre & the 3d Division being the right Division & connecting with the 1st Corps at Cemetery Hill – close up to the town. The Emmitsburg Road was nearly parallel to our line & about 200 yds in front. About 7 am my regiment was posted in support of a battery 1st us artillery commanded by Lieut [George A.] Woodruff. This battery was planted in a clump of trees about one quarter of a mile left of Cemetery hill. On this spot this battery & the 108th fought it out to the end. About the same hour – a thin straggling line of men in brown slowly advanced through a wheatfield about 3/4 of a mile in our front. These were the enemys skirmishers. The 39th ny of our Division had already been thrown out as skirmishers & soon came within range of the enemy – when both halted took cover, & firing at each other without much result for several hours. Of course what took place in our immediate front is spoken of distinctly as skirmishing was now general along the whole front of our centre especially in the town where the enemy had good cover. Woodruffs battery threw an occasional shell into the

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woods beyond as any movement of troops was discovered but the enemy never replied until commencing their attack. Shortly before noon the enemys skirmishers, in our front being gradually reinforced, made a dash upon ours & drove the 39th ny upon their supports – the latter losing many men in killed wounded, and captured.14 The regt was relieved by the 1st Del now of our brigade, as it had replaced the 130 Penn which was mustered out of service. The 1st Del checked any further [advance] of their skirmishers – but could not succeed in dislodging them from an orchard & farm buildings they had taken from the 39th ny. But a party of volunteers of the 12th nj proffered their services to drive out the enemy & burn those buildings which they accomplished. Thus passed the time until about 3 o’clock pm when the sound of artillery suddenly burst from the enemys right about a mile from our position. Several batteries unknown to be there then opened their fire simultaneously. They were immediately replied to from our left & the roar of cannon in a moment shook the fields. At first their fire was directed against our left – but in a few minutes one of their batteries directed its fire against our centre – although its position was on their right. This was probably done because they did not wish just then to unmask their batteries in the centre. The missiles from this battery mostly flew over our heads, falling further to the right. Under cover of this fire their infantry soon advanced in line of battle against the 3d Corps which held our left. From our position we could not only hear the fusillade & cheering but could plainly see the opposing lines advance & point their fire unremittingly into each other, as the country was there quiet open & somewhat beneath our position. The 3d Corps was, as has since been admitted, advanced too far from the general line & had very severe fighting this day & lost some ground or fell back to a much better position near Roundtop hill. This point covering our left, the enemy put forth their full strength to gain – but the 3d Corps rallying & being also reinforced – the position was held & the enemy repulsed completely although the battle raged fiercely about Roundtop until sunset. Soon after their attack on our left their artillery had opened all along the line more or less. Woodruffs battery replied spitefully to those batteries in our front & of course our regiment came in for its full share of shot & shell aimed at Woodruffs guns. Their skirmish line too in our front contained so many sharpshooters who kept up a continual stream of bullets upon the battery. Col Powers being absent sick, Col Pierce commanded. He ordered the men to lie

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down in rear of the battery to avoid the fire as much as possible. At one time there were some indications of the enemy making a dash on the guns & the line was all closed up more compact. Col Pierce ordered the men to fix bayonets & move up closer to the guns which they did smiling & eager for a fray. Although we were lying yet it was impossible to escape the continual showers of missiles aimed at the battery. While we lay thus, a shell with its fuze burning passed between the heads of myself & Col Pierce – the burning fuze slightly singing my left whisker as it passed – one at the same time burst directly over my head the hot flash plainly felt on my face – while another ricochetted from the ground within three feet of me throwing the gravel onto my back – where some laid until it was removed by my hand. In a short time shrieks & groans were heard around us – above the volleying thunder of the battery & the screaming & bursting of shells. The brave men of the battery under the command of their heroic little Lieutenant were working their guns like Titans, many of them falling – one I saw whose face was partially swept away by a shell. He clung to his gun for a few moments uttering unearthly screams & when he could no longer support himself through weakness fell & expired. One of our men was rolling on the ground in agony – a piece of shell having struck him in the hip. Lieut [A.D.J.] McDonald sprang to his feet with a cry – a ball having passed through his shoulder. Lieut [Robert] Evans rolled over in the agonies of death, shot in the brain. Myself & orderly Charles Dickson now had to get to our feet – & [with] one of the men assisting we moved the wounded man a few yards in the rear where by stooping low behind a low heap of field boulders there was some slight shelter from the storm. Here I examined [Evans’s] wound & found the bullet had struck just in front of the ear & passed out behind tearing up one of the most vital points of the brain. He expired on my knee in about twenty minutes. It was said he was from Toronto, C[anada] W[est]. Lieut MacDonald lived after the operation of resection was performed on his shoulder. He hailed from Kingston, C[anada] W[est] but I was then such a short time in the regiment that I knew but little of these officers. Near sunset the fire gradually slackened on the left & centre but, broke out with a renewed fury on our right – no general attack having been made on our centre this day. At dark the rebel right & centre became perfectly quiet, but their attempts on our right became more persistent in proportion to this calm. Reinforcements were sent over to the right where the 11th & 12th Corps were hard pressed; among

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those sent from our Division was the 7th [West] Va. This regiment was exposed to & repulsed this evening in a charge [against] the 7th Va rebel regiment, which was considered a remarkable incident.15 The battle being continued here until 10 o’clock at night the enemy failing to make any impression on our lines abandoned their attempts here for the night for to mass their strength here for a desperate attempt [the] next morning. About 10 o’clock all firing ceasing, the rattle of firearms was succeeded by sounds not so exciting but more melancholy the familiar creaking of ambulances collecting the wounded – for which the night was favorable – a beautiful moonlight one. Having shown Lieut [John S.] Sullivan, 7th [West] Va in charge of our Divisions ambulance train any wounded I knew not already removed I then tried to obtain a little rest – which I much needed as the excitement of spending the day under fire was followed by much depression. No fires were permitted to be lit consequently a cup of coffee which [I] would have be[een] so grateful [for] was not to be had, however I was more fortunate than many. Col Pierces men had brought him some warm coffee from the rear which the Colonel generously shared with me. As I had earl[ier] in the day sent my horse to the rear & with him my blankets tied in the saddle I was glad to accept a soldiers piece of tent to lie on & so slept soundly until morning. On the morning of the memorable july 3 d. Cannonading commenced on our right at 4 am. This was soon followed by the most close & well sustained musketry fire occasionally mixed with cheers indicating charges of infantry. The 12th Corps under General [Henry Warner] Slocum was hotly engaged with large masses of the enemy (said to be Jacksons Old Corps) who were making superhuman efforts to turn our right flank. [The fighting] here continued with but little in[termission f]or fully five hours. There were no in[fantry] engaged at any other portion of the line but [the enemy] frequently opened in many places which was promptly responded to by our artillery. [A little af]ter 9 o’clock am a column of troops came rapidly marching up the Taneytown road from our [rear – said to] be a portion of the 6th Corps just arrived [on the field.] They filed sharp to the right about half a mile in rear of our line & moved straight on [towards the] sounds of battle. This column had not [long disap]peared behind the belt [of] woods that hid [the right from] our view when the roar of musketry [suddenly in]creased with vigorous cheers. This [rapidly] died away & about 10 am the enemy abandoned their long & bloody struggle for the Baltimore

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Turnpike. For several hours following the field was comparatively quiet excepting the enemy firing [several] guns from different batteries apparently with no other purpose then to get range of certain [portions] of our position & their sharpshooters who occupied the steeples of Gettysburg were very active ke[eping] up a continual fire upon the men who served the [guns] upon Cemetery Hill & although the range was long many casualties occurred from their bullets. Although the third day of battle was well advanced & thousands had fallen to rise no more – yet both sides held nearly the same ground they held at the commencement & the final grand struggle for death or supremacy was to take place within the next few hours & decide the fate of the nation. The most illiterate men in the Federal army seemed to be conscious of this fact & seemed to be impressed with the belief that this battle lost – all was lost – the turning point of the war had arrived & apparently had determined by a sort of mutual instinct to fight it out manfully to the bitter end. Thus in awful & solemn suspense the army waited for those long hours for the coming trial. There has been some difference between [even my] acquaintances as to the time the next [assault began] but as I am as free to have confidence [in my mem]ory as others, I fix the time at 2 pm.16 A[fter a short] time of most oppressive & ominous stillness some trees in the edge of the woods that covere[d the rebel pos]ition were suddenly cut down when nu[merous bat]teries which they had concealed opened at [once upon] our centre. It has been estimated that up[wards of 80] guns opened at this moment all concentrated upon the position which was chiefly held by [the 2d Corps. When] this cannonade commenced & for th[e remainder] of the day, I was at a small stone far[m house on] the Taneytown road – about half a mile [in rear of the] regiment & near the centre or focus of the [curve] which our line formed at this point.17 The concentrated [fire] of the enemys guns naturally converged to this place giving me ample opportunity to judge its effects. Our artillerymen sprang to their posts at once & replied with more than their usual pluck & spirit but it soon became evident that they were being [rapidly] overpowered worsted & fairly battered out of [sight]. I could plainly see their caissons being frequently blown up, although the explosions of these could not be heard in the general crash yet the sudden bursting up of fleecy cloud[s] of smoke invariably told the story. The horses rolled in heaps everywhere tangled in their harness with their dying struggles – wheels knocked off gun carriages & artillerists going to the rear or laying on the ground bleeding in

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every direction. The few large oaks that hung over Woodruffs battery were torn in splinters, their limbs dropping in some cases on men of the 108th ny. Several batteries had concentrated their fire on this battery in order to silence it, but although nearly all the horses were destroyed & one gun of the six dismounted yet the gallant commander fought them until he had not a round of ammunition left except a few rounds of canister shot only viable at short range for which it was reserved. Although every gun in our line that could be brought to bear on the rebel batteries replied at once – yet the enemy persevered in directing their fire against the centre – consequently its whole weight came crushing on the 2d Corps & all other troops that were hurried up to reinforce this part of the line. It has been estimated that more than 200 guns were now in action on both sides. The sights & sounds now became awfully & indescribably grand. No distinction between the explosions was very long or appreciable & sometimes, whole volleys of cannons were quite distinct. About this time, Genl [Winfield Scott] Hancock was actively engaged, preparing his line for the impending attack. A shell tearing through a board fence close to the General drove a splinter with great force into his thigh, the splinter carrying a rusty nail, which lodged in the wound. The wound was of such a painful character that he had to leave the field. Genl [John] Gibbon succeeded him but he also was wounded & thrown out of fight before the battle ended. This terrible cannonade lasted more than one hour & a half & to one who was under it – it seemed miraculous that life could existed within its range & so the enemy thought evidently by their subsequent behaviour & indeed I am not disposed to question their sagacity on this occasion no more than theirs.18 The fire of our guns was plainly becoming feebler either through being overpowered or else because their ammunition was blown up & expended & many empty caissons – when sufficient horses were found alive, [they] were sent to the rear to obtain ammunition from the train. Those moving to the rear somewhat rapidly through the heavy fire looked like a flight & discouraged many who did not know the cause. But a sight better calculated to reassure us now met our eyes. A portion of the troops of the 6th Corps who had gone in to the assistance of Genl Slocum in the morning, now moved rapidly across to the left centre. It was truly a sublime sight to look [at these] men as they moved up to the front at the double quick step – reeking with perspiration & under one of the most scathing fires that ever mortal man endured for at this point the inces-

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sant shriek of shells through the air – their dull beating sound as they ricochetted from the earth – which their blows made tremble perceptibly related to the sharp explosions of their bursting & the humming of the spreading fragments vied with the thunder of the guns themselves. What was never before witnessed by me was seen in those men, that is men who had fallen out of the column through fatigue & other causes, finding their way to the front without their officers – determined to be in their places as soon as their strength would permit their glistening eyes & firmly compressed lips bespeaking their fearful & earnest purpose. No less soul stirring was it to see the reserve artillery go into action. Right up the Taneytown Road they came – passing like a hurricane within a few yards of me – their horses at the top of their speed & the wheels not touching the stony road at times for more than a rod. Often too, some poor fellow, falling from his saddle by a piece of shell to lie for the time uncared for. But unchecked by anything as they charged through the iron storm disappearing in the thick smoke that now hung over the line of battle. Nor were they there any too soon as events began to thicken at the front. The enemy fire somewhat slackened about 3 1/2 pm & a line of battle appeared emerging from the woods immediately in front of the 2d Corps. It was their first Corps, [James] Longstreets. On they came in solemn grandeur formed in several lines deep, their line gay with battle flags, across the open plain more than half a mile of which was fully exposed to the fire of our artillery. Their guns now again opened over the heads of their charging line & they advanced like men who expected but trifling opposition. The ground over which this charge was made was level & exposed – yet their line did not suffer much from our guns until it came so near that it became necessary for their gunners to slacken their fire lest they should injure their infantry & elevate their pieces so as to aid their attack somewhat by throwing shells over the heads of both combatants. The line maintained the most perfect order until reaching the Emmitsburg road although our guns were now all opened upon them with canister shot. This road was bounded on both sides, in our front, by straight rail fence, the double post of which were firmly planted in the earth. These could not be thrown down without taking them slowly to pieces consequently they had to climb those two fences & reform in the open field which gently sloped up to our position. Our line of infantry which had lain flat under what slight cover some piles of rails & stones gathered from the fields afforded in order to escape observation & to avoid as much as possible the storm of iron poured upward

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on them – now simultaneously rose to their feet – reminding one of the British guards at Waterloo, & indeed Brig Genl Alex[ander] Hayes commanding our Division used the Dukes expression modified by saying to his men “up Vols, & at them!”19 The musketry at once broke into a crashing roll that [drowned] for the time the fearful whizz of the canister, but through all this Longstreets Corps still essayed to advance & return the fire. They did not disturb the line of our Division at any point although some of their dead were found within 15 yds of our line, but succeeded for a moment in penetrating the 2d Division stuck some of their battle flags in the gun carriages & attempted in one case at least to drag off a gun & were actually rolling it down the slope. But the infantry promptly rallied & reformed behind the guns & finally repulsed them. Their officers now made many superhuman attempts to reform their line & compel their men to advance & capture the artillery. Their determination was evident in their frequent attempts to advance against Woodruffs battery. As before mentioned the ammunition of the battery being expended to some rounds of canister & the guns rolled back out of view. A portion of the guns were now again placed in position by hand, some men of the 108th assisting for very few men of the battery were now fit for duty. Lieut Woodruff poured in his remaining rounds of canister with terrible energy & just as this too, was about expended, this noble artillery officer fell mortally wounded, an irreparable loss to his country & the military profession. The rebel officers after making forlorn & desperate attempts to rally their men found all their efforts [in] vain, for the men opposed to them stood immovable & resolute as the ground on which they fought. Their line begun to break into hopeless & despairing squads of men – many of whom ran in & surrendered. The enemys commanders, seeing this now reopened their artillery indiscriminately upon friend & foe. Whether this was done in a clumsy attempt to cover the retreat or to punish their men who surrendered remains to be explained. The latter suspicion has been espoused by some of the prisoners stating that they were threatened to be fired upon by artillery if they broke. But this course probably prevented our line from making any counter charge & permitted more of their men to escape from the field. But the day was won. The elite of the Confederacy the finest Corps of their principal army – their hope & pride, led by their best lieutenant & under the eye of their first chieftain drifted broken & hopeless across the fields – artillery thundering in their rear mingled with the cheers of the victors. No attempts at pursuit were made [as] there were no

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Ambulance Crew Removing the Wounded. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

reserve force[s] in sufficient force to undertake it, beside the enemys batteries had opened generally & none of our officers knew how soon an attack might be made at some other point & prepared themselves accordingly until the day was too far spent to attack. The 108th here suffered terribly which was chiefly owing to their exposure to all that artillery fire directed at the battery, which they supported for two whole days. Sixteen of their number died on the field & upwards of 70 wounded, making the casualties more than one third the whole number [that] went into action. Among those killed on the second day were Lieuts D[ayton T.] Card, & [Carl V.] Amiet [of] Co. i. Among the wounded were Capt [John R.] Fellman, Co. i, who lost a leg & Lieut [John L.] Graham, Co. k, who received a wound of the cranium which took him out of service.20 As for myself, I spent a portion of the day with my regiment but going back with one of our wounded, Sergt, now Lieut [Alfred B.]

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Hadley, to a temporary hospital.21 I found more then enough to do for the remainder of the day. This temporary hospital was merely a place where some Surgeons who were on duty on the field, assembled to apply light dressings to the wounded & superintend the removal of the wounded in ambulances to the operating hospital further in the rear. It was a small stone farmhouse on the Taneytown road a little more than a quarter of a mile in rear of our line & as before remarked the focus of the last great artillery attack by the enemy. For a while it seemed here as if a mans being unhurt was perfectly inconsistent with the tremendous shower of iron, which fell around & by this locality. The outbuildings, fences & fruit trees were completely torn to pieces. The roof of the house was torn up & the stone wall broken in at one place & the stones thrown upon the floor. It was about the commencement of this cannonade that an orderly came to the house in search of a Surgeon for Genl Hancock. I did not hear this but my orderly told me afterward that our Surgeon refused to go & that the man went away threatening to report all those Surgeons present.22 They were no doubt terrified by the fire, but indeed I think the open field was quite as safe as the house. I have always much regretted that I did not properly understand how matters stood with the Genl then, not only because my name might be mentioned among those who refused to go out, but because I would have been glad to have an opportunity to render service to the gallant leader of the 2d Corp. While the heavy cannonade lasted it became impossible for Surgeons to do anything – but patiently await the result. The hum of fragments of shells around us was incessant & no one knew the moment he would be struck down. All were anxious too to know the result of the battle – as from our position, it sometimes looked doubtful whether any amount of heroism could bear the pressure & for several hours every man almost that one would see, was bloody either with his own blood or that of a comrade. When the final charge was made every movement of our line of battle was lost to me in smoke – through which an occasional glimpse was caught of bayonets sparkling or battle flags of either side waving, falling, or rising again. In the midst of this a large & quite regular column of the enemy – emerged from the thickest cloud of the smoke & moved rapidly down the road towards our rear. I for the moment believed with others that our line was penetrated & am not sure but the exclamation escaped me aloud “Are they invincible” knowing the tenacity with which our men were fighting. My first impulse was for to escape, but after a moments reflection I decided on remaining a

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prisoner, in hopes that I might possibly be able to render some assistance to the numerous wounded that would be left of ours. I was about to tell my orderly to make his escape when I caught sight through the smoke, as the column came nearer, of a few blue uniforms. A second look revealed almost a whole Brigade of prisoners taken from Longstreets Corps being sent to the rear under a very light guard. The knowledge of this column being prisoners – with the tremendous cheering of our men in the line, now told the true state of affairs. As soon as the firing had abated a little, the wounded began to arrive in vast numbers & in the course of an hour fully a quarter of an acre about the house where I was – was pretty thickly covered with victims of the struggle the greater number of the enemy, many of these officers of high rank. The enemys wounded were loudest by far in their outcries for help. I have found this to be invariably the case on subsequent occasions. This I am not prepared to explain ... unless it be that, they had no confidence in our humanity & dreaded willful neglect – but I can confidently & earnestly assert that I have never seen any distinction in their treatment – more than attending to our own first, which is our duty. It soon became impossible to do much for this large & helpless mass. The few bandages in our Medical Knapsacks were already exhausted. We found many homespun linen sheets in the house these were torn into strips & made a good substitute while they lasted. Our assistants exhausted the only well there giving them water, as that & some Morphine to those who, were in much pain was all we could do for them until [they were] removed to the large field hospital. This could not be done that night although the Ambulance train worked unceasingly all night through a violent storm of rain that set in at nightfall. But rain, unless very cold, never injures [the] wounded – quite the reverse – although the exposure looks cruel to unprofessional persons. Night coming on I sought for a place to rest being completely exhausted, & being thankful as well as surprised to find myself alive & uninjured amongst the tons of iron thrown around me. Climbing into the garret of the house & finding a corner under a part of the roof not so badly torn up as to let rain through, [I found] a bedstead & tick upon which a pile of dried apples had been emptied. Scraping a trench through the apples with my hands & laying myself in this I slept soundly until sunrise [the] next morning, July 4th. july 4 th was a rainy day throughout, succeeding a stormy & wet night. The army remained nearly in the same position during the day & the time was spent by all who could be spared in caring for the

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wounded & burying the dead. The enemy kept a strong skirmishing line in our front, which was very active in firing at every living object within possible range. Our stretcher bearers had removed most of their wounded from our front during the night but some unfortunates had escaped observation, or were in the hurry of the occasion considered too hopelessly injured to remove. On our men attempting to remove these during the day they were deliberately fired at by the enemys sharpshooters. Consequently they were doomed to lie there another day by the recklessness or barbarity of their comrades – as I cannot well apply milder terms to such conduct because the stretcher bearers vocation is always known by the mode of carrying the stretcher on the fields, that is carried open when empty looking when far away like a long & narrow white flag, if clean. Why Genl [George G.] Meade did not pursue on this day or advance, it is not for me to determine.23 I can merely give some reasons for his not so doing. In the first place he had learned that he could bid Lees defiance in his present position & found it profitable to allow the latter to take the initiative. The army required at least a few hours rest & future inspection of the enemys position showed that they were well prepared to make any sudden advance on our part, a great sacrifice of life, as such an advance should be direct, the shape of the country nor the roads not permitting of flank movements.24 He Lee had in fact commenced his retreat on the night of the 3d & it was quietly continued under cover of the storm during the 4th & at nightfall on the same day his rear guard followed the line of retreat to the Potomac. Although the night was wet, it was one of rest & as such appreciated by the weary Army of the Potomac. july 5 th broke a drizzly & foggy morning, & no signs of an enemy in our front. Much of the forenoon was spent in burying their dead & removing their abandoned wounded. During the afternoon the Corps moved out on the Baltimore turnpike a few miles in our rear & bivouacked for the night remaining here for the next day & night apparently waiting the arrival of supplies. The weather remained showery & disagreeable. On the 7th we took up our march southward in the direction we had come before the battle, reaching Taneytown early & going into bivouac for the remainder of the day & night & drawing rations. On the 8th we resumed our march towards Fredericktown[, Maryland] through a most tremendous rainstorm, the roads being ankle deep in water everywhere, but towards night the weather improved & we biv-

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ouacked that night in a beautiful country within sight of Frederick. We here received the welcome news of the surrender of Vicksburg. july 9 th. Marched through the city of Frederick in column by company, music playing, & colors flying. Although many sympathizers with the rebellion were known to be here, yet, the reception given the army on this occasion by the citizens was most cheering & enthusiastic & indeed the loyal portion of them might well look upon the army as truly their deliverers. In our marches through Maryland this conduct of the people was most remarkable. Never, not even in the loyal Northern states have I seen the same friendly welcome to the troops, evidently not treating them as inferiors but as gallant brethren, in whom they placed their hope & trust in the hour of danger. It was refreshing to the mind as well as body to see the many young & beautiful ladies, daughters of wealthy farmers, standing at their fathers gates attended by a group of black girls, all busily engaged holding out buckets of pure cold water & sometimes pies cakes & milk as long as those supplies lasted, to the thirsty & tired soldiers, who, though rude elsewhere became gentlemen, in the presence of their lovely benefactresses. Passing through the city & taking the road leading to the base of the mountains we halted at the foot of the mountain for about two hours with some indications of going into camp, when the order suddenly came to fall in & the march was continued up the mountain through a pass called “Cramptons Gap,” bivouacking at a late hour among the cultivated fields on the western slope of this mountain ridge, which is a continuation southward of the principal ridge of the Alleghanies, or the “Blue Ridge.” This evening at the eastern base of the mountain, we saw one of those spectacles produced by war, more repulsive then the horrors of the battlefield. A spy named Richardson had been seized & summarily executed, by hanging on a tree. The body was left hanging & [with] the weather being warm, it was rapidly decomposing & as the troops had to march close by it – it made a most disgusting sight. It was now evident from our movements that we were trying to head off Genl Lee in his retreat but owing to the mountainous nature of the country, it was necessary to make a large circuit in order to do this which circumstance relieved him from pressure on his flank & gave him time to choose a position to cover his crossing the river. On the 10th we continued our march to near Keedysville Md & continued to throw out skirmishers & take positions as if for battle, but with no result more than to find a small picket of the enemy in the woods who after firing a few straggling shots retired. Some shells that were thrown

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into the woods by our guns elicited no reply. About 9 in the evening of the next day 11th, we got into column & moved down the Hagerstown Turnpike & halted on the road for the night. The next day after countermarching a mile or two, we formed a line of battle west of the turnpike in a field of wheat during another heavy rainstorm. Here we remained during the next day 13th straightening our line & building breastworks as if for battle. Everyone now expected a battle at any moment & why an advance was not made I, not setting myself up as the historian of the period but am recounting what I understood leave to those in authority to explain.25 It was generally understood there that Genl Lee was fairly brought to bay that the river was most unusually swelled by the late rains & that the pontoon train on which he invaded Maryland had been destroyed by our troops. Consequently the destruction of his army was regarded as almost certain by most of our officers – but at the same time it was believed they would defend their chosen position with desperation & that all attacks upon their crescentric line with its flanks most effectively protected by the river would involve a tremendous sacrifice of life. During those moments & deliberations, Lee was most actively engaged ferrying over supplies & surplus baggage by means of canal boats, swimming over captured stock, & constructing a pontoon bridge out of whatever materials came to hand. This was at a place called Falling Waters in Maryland. Therefore this bridge being completed – the end of the dark & stormy night of the 13th, saw most of the rebel enemy south of the Potomac in advance of our pickets on the morning of the 14th found no enemy & a portion of Genl [Alfred] Pleasantons cavalry following up found about 1500 of their rear guard which they captured after a brisk skirmish which the enemy seeing cut away their bridge & there the rebel army made their second escape after defeat across the Potomac. On the morning of July the 14th, we fell in & marched towards the river. The sun came out excessively hot & the copious exhalation from the over saturated earth, made the air oppressive to breathe. About a mile brought us to the rebel line just abandoned. A most admirable position it was at the point we crossed it. I was fortified by nature. It consisted of a series of low granite spurs projecting from three to seven feet above the surrounding surface. These rocky spurs were studded with & shaded by sufficient timber to mask all movements beyond & for more than half a mile in front the ground sloped away towards our late position, a perfect plain, affording the most perfect range for missiles of any description. It required

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but little military experience to see plainly that any attempt to force their line at this point at least would be attended with great carnage. The soldiers who were heretofore loud in their denunciations of the slow deliberations of their commanders – seemed now to appreciate the prudence of the latter, in not leading them against certain destruction. We halted at this spot for about half an hour & during this time could see the smoke & hear the guns of our cavalry – who were engaged with the enemy rear at Falling Waters. We were then hastily marched forward over a road marked by traces of the hasty flight of Lee towards the sound of the guns. But those soon entirely ceased & after marching until about 5 pm went into bivouac for the night which was another wet one near the northern portion of the battlefield of Antietam. Next morning the 15th, the march was resumed early crossing the battlefield at Sharpsburg, this once pretty village showing many signs still of the conflict in that vicinity the previous year. We crossed Antietam creek near its mouth at an ironworks called after the name of the creek, on which it was situated, next struck the line of the canal, & followed it back to a point opposite Harpers Ferry & bivouacked. A part of this day too in the afternoon had been showery & disagreeable. july 16th we fell in & marched along the line of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad some two miles southward then struck off to the left about a mile & went in to camp for two days south of & at the base of Maryland Heights. The enemy had destroyed the canal & the railroad bridge over the Potomac but the road was yet in running order to this point & by this means the army was during those two or three days, rapidly supplied with full rations & clothing, they being badly in need of the last. july 18 th we fell in at 6 am & once more recrossed the Potomac on a pontoon bridge just above the railroad bridge passing through the town & crossing the Shenandoah on a suspension bridge, marching up Loudon valley – east of the Blue Ridge up which we marched until 3 pm when we halted & went into bivouac for the remainder of the day & night. The vicinity of Harpers Ferry presents some of the boldest scenery on this continent. Here the Shenandoah joins the Potomac & united in one their waters are poured in a series of foaming rapids between two opposite mountains – the one Maryland Heights, the other Loudon Heights on the Virginia side – seeming as if the united force of the river had in the lapse of ages cut their way through this immense range of hills. But like many other remarkable distortions of

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the earths surface it is quite evident here that some mighty convulsion of nature had assisted the water in dividing the rocks the strata of which especially on the Maryland side is thrown nearly in a vertical position. The town, which is a very old one for an American [town], is situated on the deltoid piece of high land at the confluence of the rivers must have been a beautiful spot before the war, but now it was not in a condition likely to give a stranger a favorable impression being nearly deserted by all but those too miserable to get away & the streets redolent of every odour but a pleasant one. No part of its once extensive armory was left but some crumbling walls & an immense stack of burned gun barrels bent into every conceivable shape. The splendid iron bridge across the Potomac for the use of railroad cars was in ruin – all its wooden flooring having been destroyed by fire & the wrought iron work bent out of shape from the same cause. The place is one of those especially celebrated for being often in the possession of both contending parties during the war.26 It was too regarded as one of the strongest places on the line of the Potomac before the war, but this idea has been I believe, like many others exploded. The position is generally regarded by military men now as untenable, if the heights on either side be occupied by an enemy with artillery. During the 19th & 20th, we continued our march up the valley by short stages halting at 4 pm on the 20th near Bloomfield & remaining in camp – all [the] next day, [the] 21st. The weather had now changed from being continually rainy to excessive heat & marching became very severe. At 11 pm on the 22, we marched out of camp keeping the same course as previously until 7 the same evening when we went into bivouac near Ashleys gap, for the night. On the morning of the 23d, the march was resumed at 5 am & continued into Manassas Gap until 11 am when we halted for an hour & made coffee then moved forward about a mile & halted in a luxurious field of grass near a village on the line of the railroad called Markham. We here formed a line & put up tents as if going into regular camp & all were preparing to make themselves comfortable for the night. The 5th Corps was in the meantime moving up the gap in the same direction. At 5 pm we were suddenly got under arms & marched rapidly without a halt until 9 in the evening, through an extremely broken country interspersed with many springs – making every valley wet & boggy sharp angular granite rocks projecting from the ground everywhere making it difficult for man or horse to keep their footing. The sound of distant cannon could be heard during the whole march until near the time of our halting. About dark

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the discharges became fewer & finally ceased when we began to meet wounded soldiers going to the rear. One of those lying wounded in the grass hailed from a Pennsylvania regiment, on enquiring the Corps to which we belonged, suddenly cheered up & cried out “give them heck! Boys for you have a good field to fight on if you can only get them to stand.” Coming to a halt on the side of a very steep hill we quietly rested for the remainder of the night. Genl Lee had here, shown some disposition to fight & Genl [Fransico B.] Spinolas brigade of the 3d Corps coming up with his rear, the enemy made a stand but was quickly driven from his position before our reinforcements came up. Genl Spinola was wounded in the foot & was obliged to quit the field. This was called the battle of Wapping Heights.27 Yet hardly deserving the name of a battle, nevertheless highly creditable to the few troops engaged. On the morning of the 24th, daylight revealed Lees rear guard disappearing in the distance. He had succeeded by making a show of battle in drawing four of our army Corps into the gap & then made good his escape in the night. The troops had move to retrace their steps for a days march in order to continue their movement on his left flank, thus giving him so much the start as to render all future attempts to head him off from Richmond fruitless. After remaining on the field with all being quietly except a few distant cannon shots exchanged with our pursuing cavalry, we marched back again to the place we had rested on the day previous & halted for the night. We were roused by the reveille at 3 on the 25th & resumed our march at 5 passing out of Manassas Gap & in the direction of Warrenton through intensely hot sun. Being separated from our train, rations were out & this march was made on a ration of fresh beef. After a march of 16 miles we halted for the night at 4 pm near Whiteplains – where we found our supply train. We got our shelter tents pitched barely in time to provide against a heavy rain & thunderstorm that continued most of the evening. On the 26th reveille at 4 am & the march to Warrenton continued where we arrived at 12m marching through the town in columns by company, band playing. Warrenton, although a small town, was before the war a place of some aristocratic pretensions by reason of mineral springs in its vicinity which were much visited by wealthy Southerners during the summer months.28 The evening of the 26th at 3½ pm found us at or within 3 miles of the Orange & Alexandria railroad near Warrenton Junction. Here we went into camp for the three following days during which time a

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detachment of men, under two officers were sent home on duty at the recruiting rendezvous of Elmira[, New York].29 Several officers also went on sick leave among them Dr Munson. The first mail we received since the 16th arrived here. At 5 in the evening of the 30th, we fell in & marched until 10 at night southward to a small place called Elktown on a creek called Elkrun & bivouacked south of the railroad some 6 or 7 miles.

tings ttysburg of a Canadian Surgeon

4 After Gettysburg: 1863

The battle of Gettysburg, wrote Private John W. Haley of the 17th Maine Regiment, was “a trifle more to our taste than the Peninsula, Fredericksburg, or Chancellorsville. This new experience” of defeat for the Army of Northern Virginia “must be demoralizing ... It was a foregone conclusion that success here for Lee would have meant the downfall of the Union; his defeat means a Rebel collapse.”1 Indeed Lee risked everything at Gettysburg, “his splendid army, the fate of Richmond, and perhaps even the Confederacy itself – on a campaign aimed at destroying the Federal army. He ... lost the bet” and with it the possibility of European recognition and an end to the war.2 Confederate reaction to the defeat was surprisingly mixed. Some Confederates, like Napier Bartlett, “shed tears at the way in which ... dreams of liberty had ended at Gettysburg.”3 Others, like Brigadier General John Brown Gordon, lamented that “if I had had Stonewall Jackson at Gettysburg, I would have won that fight, and a complete victory there would have given us Washington and Baltimore, if not Philadelphia, and would have established the independence of the Confederacy.”4 In the aftermath of Gettysburg, the Confederacy profoundly felt the loss of Jackson. Not all Confederates, however, considered Gettysburg a demoralizing defeat. Randolph McKim reported that it was a “great mistake to suppose that the army of Lee was at all shaken or demoralized by the battle. It was on the contrary as full of fight as ever.”5 North Carolinian Louis Leon claimed that I

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while the Confederacy had failed to push “the enemy out of their strong position” this did not constitute defeat. The Union “lost as many in killed and wounded as we have,” he mused. “We have taken more prisoners from them than they have from us. If that is not the case, why did they lay still” on the 4th “and see our army going to the rear? An army that has gained a great victory follows it up while its enemy is badly crippled; but Meade, their commander, knew he has had as much as he gave, at least if not more.”6 Meade’s failure to crush Lee at Gettysburg also raised eyebrows in the North. Lincoln seethed that Meade had the Confederates “within [his] grasp ... We had only to stretch forth our hands and they were ours. And nothing I could say or do could make the Army move ... Our Army held the war in the hollow of their hands and they would not close it.”7 The rank and file of the Union army shared Lincoln’s frustration and outrage over Meade’s inaction. Charles N. Maxwell of the 3d Maine noted that “all were chagrined at the escape of Lee. All were anxious to make an attack, preferring to fight him here to Virginia.”8 While the Army of Northern Virginia, “already crippled of its pride,” retreated into Virginia, it was “met by the despairing news of another defeat at Vicksburg”, Longstreet reported, “which meant that the Mississippi was free to the Federals from its source to the Gulf.”9 Grant succeeded in cutting the Confederacy in half. On the heels of defeat at Gettysburg, the Confederate nation appeared short-lived. With one-third of his army dead or wounded at Gettysburg, Lee set about rebuilding the Army of Northern Virginia. On 7 July the Union began a dogged pursuit, resulting in little more than a few skirmishes with Lee’s army. In October Lee crossed the Rapidan in an unsuccessful attempt to turn Meade’s right flank. In November Meade made a futile attempt to turn Lee’s right flank and send him scurrying to the safety of Richmond. In the aftermath, the Army of Northern Virginia retreated to winter quarters on the west side of the Rapidan while the Army of the Potomac settle on the east side. A stalemate ensued, punctuated by few engagements. I

hospitalization and recovery [july] 31 st. Marched at 8 am & halted at 12 m near a place called

Morrisville, which is within a few miles of Kellys ford on the Rappahannock. Here we remained for the remainder of the day & night. August

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2d marched at 6 am about 10 miles taking the same direction we came passing through Elktown & halting some three miles eastward at [a] small Stone church called Bristoeburg Church. Our brigade alone made these movements, the Corps now being broken up into brigades & dispersed throughout the country along the line of railroad & going into camp. The weather had now become so intolerably hot that it became absolutely necessary to rest the troops & many fell sick of fever & bowel diseases. The old Stone church was turned into a hospital for the sick of the brigade, for which by its coolness it was well adapted. Here Dr Ely having applied for an appointment in the us Volunteer Staff of Surgeons, was ordered to Washington for examination leaving me in sole charge of the regiment for about a week. About the same time while bathing in a small creek in company with Col Pierce, I caught a severe cold which rapidly developed [into] Pleurite inflammation.10 Never before had bathing any bad effect on me but probably it was chiefly on account of the weather being so excessively hot making the brook water comparatively to the heat a great change in temperature. Besides I was already much debilitated too by irregular living & want of rest of mind & body. I succeeded in combating the inflammatory stage of the complaint successfully, but still remained quite sick from the effects so much so that some mornings I had to prescribe for my sick men lying on my bed. Dr Ely however returned on the 17th [of August] & relieved me from further care or duty & on the 19 as we moved camp about 5 miles to near Elktown, I managed to ride my horse on the march but not without much pain. The brigade remained in this camp near Elktown until the middle of September with one exception. Then the Division marched out to the line of the Rappahannock on the 1st Sept to support some cavalry movement & returned the 3d without any fighting. Several regiments were in the latter part of August sent from the Division to New York to quell riots.11 None of those however were from our brigade. Col Powers who had been absent on sick leave since July 30th here joined us his health restored. Although now being able to walk about a little & attend sick call yet but little general improvement took place in my health & should a campaign commence I well knew I was unable to bear the fatigue of a march. Reasoning thus I decided on applying for a sick leave on the 19th August. My application was approved only after being delayed until the 7th September when I began to feel much better but as I was far from well & the order was to report at Georgetown for treatment I availed myself of the opportunity

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to obtain some relaxation & change of living & perhaps leave to visit home. Accordingly on the evening of the 7th Sept I took ambulance to Warrenton junction 7 miles from hence by rail arriving in Washington at 10 pm same evening, sleeping at the United States Hotel where I had left my trunk six months previous. I reported [the] next day 8th at the officer hospital at Georgetown which was under the charge of Surgeon [H.W.] Ducachet, us Vols. This hospital which was a young ladies Seminary previous to the war is very pleasantly located & kept at the moderate charge of $11 dollar per diem for board & treatment. Seventeen days were spent in Washington either in the hospital or viewing the city & the public institutions. After 10 am each day a pass was granted to the patients who were convalescent by the Surgeon in charge. This pass expired at 9 pm & it was customary with the provost guard that patroled the city [that] should they find an officer out after the expiration of his pass, the officer in command took his name & rank & reported the same at the office of the Provost Marshall General while at the same time he ordered the delinquent to report at the same office next day. On reporting at this office the individual was generally ordered to report at the Convalescent Camp across the river, a lonely monotonous place that every one detested. Or in default of reporting he was mostly placed under arrest & courtmartialed for the offence. The vices of a Capital during war have always been notorious. Nor could Washington boast of immunity from any of them during the years of the Civil War.12 It was the resort of all the adepts in iniquity from all parts of the continent that could possibly evade justice. Their victims were invariably men on leave from the army who having for a time escaped the hardships & restrictions of the service & for the most part having their minds but in a season of relaxation & enjoyment often became an easy prey to their seducers. Consequently a person so situated as me having no friends in the city had nothing for it but to wander about alone & see what he could if he wished to avoid being victimized or get his name into disgrace for the names of every officer brought before a courtmartial was published in the Army & Navy Gazette.13 It does not take long to see all that is external in the city. There is but one street worth mentioning – Pennsylvania Avenue. All other streets seem to be byways to get to the Avenue. But this Avenue from its magnificent breadth & extent is sufficient to make a city in itself. Perhaps there are not many grander urban scenes, than one mile of the eastern end of this street with the Capitol at one end & the treasury buildings at the other. The principal buildings are the us trea-

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sury department, the Presidents house commonly called the White House, the Post Office, Smithsonian Institute [sic], Patent Office, & Capitol. Those I visited in succession but found the Smithsonian Institute the most profitable for study & seeing an immense collection of real curiosities. This Institute is a magnificent museum, founded & endowed by the will of a gentleman whose name it bears. The fund by which it is maintained was by him exclusively devoted to the propagation of science in every form. Besides its splendid collections of curiosities from all parts of the earth, it contained a fine lecture hall where scientific lectures were regularly delivered but none of which I was fortunate as to hear. I[t] was with great regret I since learned this fine institution has been partially destroyed by fire with most of its contents.14 There are some terrific pieces of sculpture & paintings in the rotunda of the Capitol but the scenes all taken from early American history, have been so frequently rendered in the form of woodcuts in every American geography & other elementary schoolbooks, that one loses interest in the work of art through extreme familiarity with the scene. The magnificent hospitals around Washington being mostly far from the centre of the city, my health did not permit me to visit more than [the hospitals] of Armory Square & Lincoln, the first in the city. The other one mile east of the Capitol. The attention & many comforts furnished to sick & wounded soldiers might well tempt many to regret that their diseases were curable so much preferable were those homes for the sick not only to duty in the field but doubtless often times to the mens own homes. The churches of the city, though quite numerous & some of them tasteful buildings – are far inferior in magnificence to what a stranger would naturally expect to find in a Capital. The theatres at this time were quite numerous, as they were among the most powerful means to draw profit from the military, for many of those who at home cared but little for such amusements would while here separate from the society of friends, grasp at any opportunity of whiling away the evenings. At some of the theatres too the performances were of rather low description but of course the conductor of those institutions had to pander to the taste of their patrons something ludicrous being more to the soldiers fancy. As for tragedy he might see it in reality at the front almost any day. About the 20th September it began to be rumored in Washington that the army was again in motion. This news along with the fact that my health was much improved, impressed me with the belief that I could no longer honor-

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ably remain absent from my command. I would wished to have visited home but had tried repeatedly in vain to obtain leave. The Surgeon in charge told me that neither the state of my health nor my comparatively short servitude in the army entitled me to it. However I thought different on the grounds that during my convalescence my time might as well be spent at home as elsewhere. When my request was refused in this respect, I asked to be discharged from the hospital. Surgeon Ducachet referred me to the Asst Surgeon in charge of my ward, a Dr [Robert] Stephenson. The Doctor remonstrated with me on my expressing my wish to go to the field telling me that there was still a large quantity of fluid in the right Pleural cavity & that it would be positively dangerous for me to expose myself to the chances of a relapse. But as this was not the first time for Doctors to disagree I insisted on being discharged on the grounds that I would improve much faster in a more healthy air of the field & where the excitement would divert my mind from brooding over my sickness. The fact was, I scarcely believed my own theory, but had become heartily tired of the city & was eager to join my comrades in the approaching campaigns where life was more exciting. on the 21 st sept , I had the good fortune to meet Col Pierce in the city. He had also come on sick leave but like myself was able to go about. He did not know I was in hospital supposing I had got leave to go home. In his company the remaining days of my stay passed off more pleasantly. We visited the Navy Yard & Smithsonian Institute in company & intended to review all that was worth seeing in Washington, had not the news of the moving of the army hastened my departure. On Friday 25th, I prepared to start [the] next day for the grim front. In the morning of the Sunday previous I received communion & attended Mass in the little church in Georgetown & attended Vespers in the same place in the evening, knowing it would or might be long before I would again hear church bells. The same evening I received my discharge from the hospital & removed my valise to the Ebbitts House, where Col Pierce was staying as he expected leave to go home & which he succeeded in obtaining. It was only there I learned the proper time for my obtaining leave was before reporting at the hospital, as very few succeeded in getting leave after reporting there. It was well understood to be the policy of the Surgeon in charge, to keep the hospital as near full of patients as possible. On Sat 26th I breakfasted with Col Pierce, wrote & mailed a letter home, & at the same time expressed home a Photograph of myself in the army uniform, lest I in

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the chances of war should never see home in person. Bidding the Colonel good bye I took a hack for Maryland Avenue, & took the cars at 10½ am arriving at Alexandria at 11 changed cars there & leave for Culpeper at 12 arriving there at 5½ pm. This was now the base of the army. It is an old town I should judge that might have contained two thousand inhabitants before the war but now although quite lately falling into the possession of our troops it was no exception to most Virginian towns during this period, being generally depopulated. Culpeper, or Fairfax as it is called by some, being the seat of justice of Culpeper County it is reasonably called Culpeper Court House. In arriving here I was yet fully seven or eight miles from the front of the Second Corps & learned to my chagrin that no train went any further except an occasional supply train to the 2d Corps depot at Mitchells Station four miles away. Even this train did not leave until [the] next day. As night was fast approaching I was about decided on staying somewhere in the town for the night but of two officers of our brigade who were with me Capt [Joshua L.] Hays of the 14th Ind (at that time in the 1st brigade) and Lieut [Frederick B.] Doten, Quartermaster of the 14th Conn Vols, Capt Hays overruled us asserting that as we had no authority to remain in the city we would at once be arrested by the provost guard. Had I been alone or left to my own opinion I would not have scrupled to go boldly to the Provost Marshal & state my case asking permission to remain over night & I doubt not he would have reviewed my case favorably. As for Lieut Doten he seemed to be entirely led by Hays. Not wishing to be behind them in energy I consulted to go with them & try to reach the front by walking along the railroad. Hays, had a servant boy with him he made carry his valise. I & Doten each hired a darkey from the group of contrabands lounging about the depot to carry ours & in company with a private soldier of the 12th nj we started our journey. Before proceeding a mile Hays who had been so anxious to reach the front began to show signs of indecision & spoke doubtfully of being able to reach the front that night. The negroes too began to be dissatisfied at placing too great a distance between themselves & the town. When Doten asked his man a question which seems never to have occurred to him when hiring him that is whether he was willing to go all the way Cuffee objected. Doten paid him of[f] with 25 cents. Mine of course wished to follow suit. He was also discharged. Darkness had now set in & we were a mile out of the town. I now proposed that as the whole party were five in number & there were but three valises we proceed as we had begun. But they seemed to have lost all decision

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& resolution & were wasting time in idle speculation. Leaving them deliberating I with the 12th New Jersey boy who volunteered to help me moved slowly on for about 300 yds thinking they would soon follow me hearing them coming I halted for about a quarter of an hour. Not wishing them to think I had deserted them told the boy to wait & returned to them. I found they had come to the strange decision of bivouacking in a willow swamp on the side of the railroad. This I could not afford to share with them as my health would not warrant such exposure as the night was cold & I had not any blankets with me not speaking of the sudden change from comfortable quarters. Provoked at their want of firmness I decided on proceeding on at all hazards & revived as their parting request that I should inform their friends in the regiments of the “bad fix” they were in & desire those to send horses for them. So with my soldier comrade, I continued my dreary tramp along the road carrying the heavy valise between us, not meeting a soul after starting nor knowing that we might run into some of the enemys prowling bands. It was a glad sight for to see lights ahead about 10 at night & shortly after we reached the Corps wagon train, which was parked about Mitchells Station. Here I decided to stay for the remainder of the night I was so fortunate as to find our Quartermaster, Lieut [Joseph S.] Harris, with his wall tent pitched & which he was not long inviting me to share & which I gratefully accepted after asking for & obtaining quarters for the boy who accompanied & assisted me. Next morning 27th, I found Dr Munsons servant at the train with the Doctors horses, one of which I borrowed & soon found my regiment some three miles away. They were on the right of the Corps which was holding the line of the Rapidan, its right resting near the battlefield of Cedar Mountain which was fought on the 9th of August the preceding year between the commanders of [Richard S.] Ewell and [Thomas J.] Jackson (rebel) and [Nathaniel] Banks and [John] Pope Union.15 The army, which had been moving as reported had now apparently come to a deadlock. While both armies lay quietly in summer quarters, Lee had silently reinforced [General Braxton] Bragg in the west with Longstreets Corps now recruited & reorganized after its drubbing at Gettysburg by the 2d Corps. Lee almost at the same time fell back to a stronger defensive position on the Rapidan & Genl Meade perceiving this followed up at once. But the key to those movements was soon discovered by the advance of Bragg in making an attempt to retake Chattanooga. Here he attacked the Union forces on the memorable field

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of Chickamauga & the army of [William S.] Rosecrans lost some ground by the impetuous attacks of Longstreets Corps, who said they came out there to show Braggs men how to fight. This attack however failed in its object the position was held by the ability of Genl [George H.] Thomas. The 11th & 12th Corps of the Army of the Potomac were at once dispatched to the assistance of Rosecrans. The 11th had passed through Washington the night before I left it & I had met the 12th on their way as I returned to my regiment. The remaining corps of the army now held the line of the north side of the Rapidan, & the army of Lee the other watching each other jealously day & night, & remained in this position with but little change or occurring of any important event until about the 10th October. My regiment had seen no hard service since my leaving them. In the advance across the Rappahannock their Corps merely followed up the Cavalry from which the enemy rapidly retired across the Rapidan & the boys seemed to have enjoyed themselves heartily during the movement as this took place through a country that had not been occupied by troops for more than a year consequently, although marauding was not encouraged yet it was almost impossible to prevent the soldiers who tired of the army [food &] neglected no opportunity to enjoy a meal of poultry & fresh vegetables, from helping themselves to articles of food, unless this was punished with death which looked like too severe a punishment for appropriating provisions that would otherwise surely be a source of supply for their enemies to carry on the war. At the same time any personal violence towards the peaceful inhabitants found at their homes was invariably punished in the most summary manner. On my joining the regiment Dr Ely had just received an order to report for duty at Washington as Assistant Surgeon of us Volunteers. This order he at once obeyed for he was exceedingly tired of the field & as Dr Munson was still on leave it left me at once in the sole charge of the regiment. On the evening of October 5th, we received orders to pack up & be ready to move that evening but we did not move out of camp until 7 on the morning of the 6th. There were various guesses as to our destination. Some said it would be a move against the enemy others thought we would follow the 11th & 12th Corps to Tennessee. The belief in the latter prediction was much strengthened when we took up our march to the rear passing over the battlefield of Cedar Mountain through Culpeper & went into camp a mile east of the town at 3 pm. Here we went into camp for three days & speculations were as rife as ever as to the cause of the movement but all failed

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to foresee the turn affairs were about to take. Every usual sign certainly looked like nothing more than a change of camp of the Corps as it was relieved in its picket-duty on the Rapidan by the 6th Corps & whether subsequent movements of the enemy were brought about by the supposed retreat of a portion of our troops or whether his plans for an aggressive movement happened to be at the time mattered I am unable to determine. It is highly probable though that he heard about, then learned of the withdrawal of the 11th & 12th Corps & upon seeing the retrograde movement of the 2d supposed it was about to follow suit & was thus led to advance against the army while thus weakened. on saturday oct 10th while all seemed to look to a lengthy enjoyment of the beautiful autumn weather in a clean & well located camp orders suddenly came at 10 am to pack & be ready to move at once at 11½ we fell in & moved out about three miles west of Culpeper where we lay the remainder of the day & night – the brigade being formed in mass. During this movement we passed through a portion of the 3d Corps which was also massed under arms near Culpeper. Here we learned that the enemys cavalry having appeared in force on our right flank that morning a regiment from the 3d Corps, the 120th ny had been ordered forward to support our cavalry. This regiment had been cut off & mostly captured by a much superior force & now for the remainder of the day the whole army seemed to be awaiting the result of reconnaissances & further developments of the enemy. oct 11 th at 2 o’clock in the morning we were quietly aroused with orders to be ready to march forthwith. We fell in at once but it was 5 o’clock before we commenced our movement towards the Rappahannock. The day was clear with a cool fresh breeze blowing & there had been sufficient rain the previous evening to lay all dust. In fact one of the best days for a long march & indeed it was fortunate for the army in this long & hurried march, for we continued this with scarcely a halt crossing the river on a pontoon bridge about noon & going into bivouac for the night near Bealton Station, making in my estimation about 25 miles & though this march was long & rapid it was nevertheless pleasant owing to the fineness of the weather & the animation of the scene as several army corps could be seen at once over the very open country between Culpeper & the river. Not less than three parallel dense columns of infantry artillery & wagon trains could be seen while between these rattled & [roared] numerous trains of cars moving all surplus supplies & rolling stocks to the rear. Nor were they too hasty, for night found Culpeper in possession of the enemy. We lay in

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bivouac until noon on the 12th when we fell in & moved back & recrossed the Rappahannock forming [a] line of battle just beyond the river. Here occurred though perfectly entirely unpremeditated, one of the grandest military spectacles ever seen on the continent in actual warfare. The eye could take in fully four miles square of perfectly open country excepting a very thin strip of woods near the river. In the centre was the 3d Corps massed in several heavy lines while on either flank a corps was moving forward by the flank so as to show a front to an enemy at any moment & while the cavalry skirmished some two miles in front, the bursting shells being plainly visible, all those masses of infantry were moving simultaneously forward as if to attack, as undoubtedly they would had there been anything to attack. All this fine display it is hardly necessary to say ended in smoke, for after moving pompously forward for about two miles no enemy were found, all that made their appearance retired at once before our cavalry & the troops came to a halt for the evening. Whether Lees superior generalship had intentionally allured Genl Meade forward again or whether the latter general in ignorance of Lees real intentions had decided on giving battle, I leave for those better posted to determine.16 But certain it was the very movement of all others to favor Lees plans. He had first demonstrated on our right then on Meade falling back to avoid having his flank turned. Lee followed quickly up in such force as to lead Meade apparently to believe that the movement on his right was a first & turned about & offered Lee battle while the latter was marching with all speed to gain our rear & thus gained one days march. It now became plainly evident that Lee with his principal force was pushing with all speed to gain the line of Bull Run & the fortified position of Centreville almost between us & Washington while his cavalry hung on our trains. The troops fell in rapidly & silently at 1 o clock on the 13th recrossed the river & arrived at our bivouac ground of the previous night near Bealton long before daybreak where we halted until sunrise, the sky in the mean time being frequently lit up by surplus ammunition being burned in order to lighten transportation. At sunrise we moved up the road to Sulphur Springs about 3 miles northeast of Bealton where we halted until noon in the road made coffee & rested during which great activity prevailed among the cavalry numerous squads moving up & down the road continually. We understood they had met with some reverse. It now became known that the Corps was the rear of the army in retrograde movement & that moreover while the other Corps were

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hurrying to reach Centreville before Lee the Second Corps had to guard the immense trains of the whole army which was estimated at forty miles in length the cavalry in the meantime moving parallel with the train. About noon we fell in [&] moved back about a mile on this road & struck off to the left throwing out flankors marching rapidly towards Warrenton junction in a northernly direction crossed the Warrenton railroad & came to a halt at nightfall between Warrenton & Catletts Station. The troops gave way to the right & stacked arms leaving the road open for the 3d Corps which were moving past most of the night. The 2d had crossed their line of march & it now became necessary to halt & let the 3d get fairly ahead to avoid further confusion. As we came to a halt we could hear the rattle of carbines on our left & slightly in advance showing the enemys cavalry were closely dogging all our movements. We spent the night which was a cold one lying around the campfires in a heavy woods. Next morning Oct 14th, we were early on the move. The morning was one of beautiful autumn’s mornings of the South & the sun rose on one of the most glorious & eventful days in the history of the fighting Second Corps.

skirmish at auburn mills and battle of bristoe station Hardly had the head of the column got under motion than a cannon shot broke the stillness of the morning which was soon followed by more mixed with the popping of skirmishers rifles. These sounds caused us to move to the front with more celerity that is if any one could tell where the front was, for our division had just descended a hill into a woody ravine traversed by a small stream I believe a portion of Cedar Run & as we crossed this it became evident by the rattle of small arms on our left & rear that the enemy occupied the woody ridge we had just left. At the same time the sound of musketry thickened not only in our front or in the direction we were marching – but also on our right & one of our batteries (McKnights 12th ny independent) had got into position somewhat on our left front & was exchanging compliments rapidly with the enemy & as the shorter shells from either side went yelling over our heads we could not tell which was from friend or foe as the position of the Division was at that time in a sort of amphitheatre surrounded by a succession of knolls more or less woody. In fact it was plain to the most ordinary person that we were fairly sur-

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rounded & things began to look like the 2d Corps being annihilated or going to Richmond en masse. But the rebel cavalry General [J.E.B.] Stuart, who led this attack had evidently blundered against a greater force than he expected to find for finding his cavalry confronted & repulsed by infantry everywhere he seemed to fully understand his blunder for in less than half an hour his cavalry were non est as far as regards intercepting our march nor did he any more attempt this but seemed to content himself with watching our movements & picking up stragglers.17 Had my position not been such a dangerous one I would have been much amused here at the terror of our noncombatants including hospital attendants, servants, & numerous men that manage to keep out of most fights to be found in an army. This class of persons having no rear to run to had to remain under fire, many for the first time, & their efforts to find some cover became exceedingly ludicrous many remained in the out of the way places they had crawled afraid to venture out until captured by the enemys cavalry (no great loss). The enemy not expecting such resistance suffered considerably in this attack. They left among other officers mortally wounded a Col [Thomas] Ruffin I believe of a prominent N Carolina family. In the course of an hour we were again on the move, our wounded being in the meantime dressed & sent ahead in ambulances. No casualty occurred in my regiment. We reached Catletts Station about 11 am where we halted in mass for about two hours. We were afterwards informed by prisoners that during this halt the enemy were hovering about in great force but dare not attack but as soon as we commenced to move they followed up & continued to annoy the rear which was brought up by the 1st Division. It was often necessary for portions of this Division to face about & skirmish with them not only to repel their attacks but what was of more importance to delay them, in order to give our wagon train time to get out of the way. While halted here & as I was separated from my regiment a few [men] were resting under a tree with none within speaking distance of me but my hospital steward & some unarmed attendants [when] an unarmed horseman rode out of a thicket near me. He was dressed as an ordinary infantry soldier & was well mounting. Coming directly up to me, he began making enquiry as to whether I had seen our head quarter wagon pass, on telling him I did not he seemed to be dissatisfied with the answer & seemed very anxious to know whether they were in front or rear. I directed him to our Division headquarters for information towards which he pretended to go. In the

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meantime, I began to see something in his manner that led me to suspect him for one of the enemys scouts. Walking over to Col Powers I told him my suspicions & pointing out the man as he rode away. He treated the matter lightly saying he did not believe him to be anything more than a straggling servant or groom. But I not satisfied determined to watch his movements & followed him at a distance to see if he would search for Division head quarters. As I followed the direction he was going I fell in with Genl [Joshua T.] Owens commanding our 2d Brigade. To him I told my opinion of the man but while speaking to the Genl he had already disappeared among some trees. The Genl at once dispatched two mounted orderlies in that direction & in about half an hour they returned & reported that they could find no such person. In all probability he had become suspicious & suddenly withdrew by some route best known to himself. About a week afterwards I met the same mysterious individual. Then he was moving in a contrary direction to our march. Seeing him thus again moving boldly through our troops I was for a moment ashamed of my suspicions. At that time too my regiment was some distance away & I was hurrying to catch up with them. Besides I, being unarmed, was perfectly powerless to arrest a man on a fleet horse & doubtlessly carrying concealed weapons. I saw nor heard no more of him but doubt not to this day he was one of the many active & intelligent spies of the enemy that were known to be frequently inside our lines. At 1 pm we again took up our line of march along the railroad & hardly had we marched an hour before the distant sound of cannon become audible. For some time this was believed by those around me to be in the rear caused by skirmishers of the 1st Division, our rear guard, with the enemy. But we were soon convinced that some of the sounds at least were in the advance. The truth was fighting was going on in both directions Genl A.P. Hills rebel Corps had marched parallel with us since morning & the head of their column [Brigadier-General Henry] Heth’s division, had [now come] in[to] full view of our wagon train which could be seen on the heights above Brentsville hardly three miles off. As our Division crossed Kettle Run, about two miles from Bristoe Station we could plainly see both the smoke & the flashes of our cavalry batteries as they endeavored to hold the position until our infantry got up. We were attacked on the left flank as the Corps marched parallel with & on the right of the railroad. The second Division which had the advance did not arrive on the field a moment to

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soon, for Heths rebel Division had formed [a] line of battle & was moving rapidly forward to take possession of the railroad ditches & embankments which are here high & deep. For within a mile of the field, the men of our Brigade had advanced on the “double quick.” Many were unable to continue this rate of marching & had to stop running & walk in order to catch breath. Consequently the regiments went into action in any order you please but military. But no time could be lost to “close up” if the railroad was to be gained in time. Waiting for sometime on the slow movements of our tired men who were lagging behind I found the distance widening between me & the main bulk of my command. So patience being exhausted I gave my excited horse the rein & was soon on the scene of action. A crowd of stragglers who had preferred the line of railroad on the march & who at the advance of the enemy had taken refuge in the ditches – now came running in for fear of capture but they were soon picked up by our advancing line of battle & borne forward into the fight under strange officers (So much for straggling). Our officers were trying to keep all the men they were able to get up in some sort of line & with them they were now charging across the open field that lay between the highway & railroad. Although they were on a run & gasping for breath, they managed to keep up a crackling volley of exploding percussion caps as each man snapped one on his tube to ensure its being free. This although sounding childish showed plainly that mischief was intended on their part. Genl Warren, who then commanded the Corps now came by with his staff all dismounted rallying & encouraging all stragglers & loiters the Genl exclaiming as he passed me “To the railroad ditch men” “Quick! Quick!” But Genl Alex Hayes commanding the Division as soon as he got possession of this & under its cover gave his men a little time to close up in line & take breath dashed across the road with his whole Division & charged the relief infantry which was advancing about 300 yds from the railroad over a field partly open & partly covered with a low copse. The cavalry battery which had done good service but could hardly hold its own against the concentrated fire of two batteries opened on it was now relieved. Hazard’s battery b 1st ri artillery crossed Broad Run & unlimbered near Bristoe Station & in rear of the 2nd Division which was now advancing against the enemys left. The invincible [William] Arnold now came on the scene too with his splendid battery the horses spurred into a race with time itself laying flat or stripping the low under growth of pine that covered some parts of the

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field or sparks of fire following the track of the wheels, as the impetuous commander rushed his guns to the front & unlimbered on a splendid position overlooking the field a hill near the railroad culvert that crosses Broad Run. Arnold opened at once & the effects of his fire became obvious in the hurried & confused movements of the enemy. I could plainly see the shells from his battery bursting fair in the rebel line of infantry, the masses of men breaking up & spreading in every direction from the explosion similar to a shoal of fish into which a stone would be dropped. They could be plainly seen also making desperate attempts to “limber up” a battery which our batteries were fast knocking to pieces, some of the horses falling at every round. They did not succeed however in getting it off for their infantry were already giving away before the charge of our Division. Their battery being opposite that part of the line occupied by our 3d Brigade was seized by [Union] regiments. Immediately after a ludicrous procession came down the hill towards our line, five guns drew partly by soldiers & partly by the few living horses found in harness. On every horse a solder was mounted beating the poor frightened animals right & left with their rifles & all but the horses yelling like Indians. The enemys attempt to reach the train was completely frustrated as he was everywhere driven back with heavy loss & was obliged to withdraw out of range of our guns, but a fierce artillery duel was maintained at long range until sunset. Pursuit of their retiring force would be folly, as thus the distance between the train & the troops assigned to guard it would be increased leaving it exposed to a dash of their cavalry. In the charge of the 3d Division, the 108th had 14 men wounded & one killed on the field. Our men were mostly wounded in the legs by reason of their part of the line of battle advancing through a dense copse which the enemy occupied & on the advance of our men they laid low until they could see the lower extremities of the men those coming in view first on account of the brushwood hiding their bodies. In this case they invariably fired at the part first seen from their recumbent position & then fell back & watched their chances for another shot & as our line made but slow progress through this dense tangle, they were enabled to injure many of our men before being finally driven out. As for myself I had some narrow escapes from rifle bullets that were coming over the railroad in great numbers & also shells. Indeed I was one of a party that had the honor of monopolizing the attention of one of the enemys guns. For as myself & Dr [Alvin] Satterthwaite of the 12th nj was sitting in our

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saddles looking at the progress of the fight with some of our attendants around us who were mounted on our pack horses, we soon become aware of shells passing very close over our heads. This we wondered at for sometime as Arnold had just then began to pitch into them in earnest & they had more than sufficient use for their ammunition elsewhere. After enduring several rounds in our anxiety to witness the struggle going on – we became convinced that one particular gun was playing upon our party & after one fuze shell burst fire over my head & another percussion shell passed between me & Dr Satterthwaite struck the ground & burst a few yards beyond us – we decided on taking ourselves out of view of the gunners. The only reason we could assign for their particular attention to us was that they mistook our party for a General & his mounted staff & hard pressed as they were yet could not resist the temptation to have a fling at who they conceived to be “big fish.” I must confess the advantage gained to their cause would be questionable, had they wiped out the whole party. The Surgeons had now too something to do other than looking on – for the wounded were fast coming to the rear. The Surgeon in Chief of Division d [Isaac] Scott after a difficult search to find a place near water & out of range of artillery at the same time & suitable for an operating & dressing hospital at last fixed on a barn just across Kettle Run & about 11 miles in the rear or east of the field. Here the Surgeons of the Division assembled & had not more than fairly commenced operations than the rattle of carbines was heard in a wood within little more than a quarter of a mile of the hospital. The enemys cavalry taking advantage of the engagement of the infantry had made a detour & were now coming in on our rear & were within one mile of & in full view of the train at Brentsville. But they were well watched by our cavalry as the firing indicated nor did they attempt a dash on the train when they found their movements were known. But we all thought on account of the proximity of the fighting it would be judicious to remove our hospital which we did forthwith loading up our wounded in the ambulances. As the Surgeons mounted & fell in the rear they gathered up the rifles brought back to the hospital by wounded men & in some cases threw the rifles with the ammunition into the creek. Others carried them with them & I added a few rounds of ammunition to my pockets in case. The Surgeons after this changed their positions twice trying to keep out of the reach of the rebel cavalry & out of range of their artillery in front at the same time. For all this time the thunder of battle went on.

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About sunset orders were received by the Surgeons to report to their regiments at once. This order of course was not difficult to comply with, our circumstance excepted. No ambulances were present but those that had been detailed to follow the Brigades on the march all the others were now with the train nor could they come so far from the train without risking capture. As the few ambulances present became rapidly filled & were as rapidly driven away – the poor fellows unable to walk naturally looking up to their Surgeon for assistance in their extremity became clamorous for to get a place in the ambulances. This was not I found so easy for in my finding a vacant place & then with my own hands helping some of my worst wounded through crowds that perhaps I would have the mortification to find the place occupied. This indeed was repeated several times before I succeeded in getting all my men on. In this I was much assisted by Dr D[avid] W. Maull Surgeon in Chief of [the] Brigade, who when he saw me making strenuous exertions to find places for my wounded kindly lent me his aid – for which I was often indebted to him on many occasions. When I seen all safely loaded I started for my regiment with pride & the highest degree of gratification that I could say not one of the 108th was left on the field – for very few regiments engaged but left more or less [of their wounded on the field] for want of transportation. Had this been the case with any of my men – it would have grieved me much for here most of our wounded were as true boys as ever lit a cartridge in fire & among them was Capt Samuel Porter with a bad flesh wound of the leg. It was now dark & it was with some difficulty we groped our way to our separate commands. I found mine just behind the railroad near where we went into action & under orders to be ready to move at short notice. We moved silently from the field at a late hour at night – marching along the line of the railroad as far as Manassas Junction – then striking obliquely to the left crossing Bull Run at Blackburns Ford & halting just beyond the ford. It was then far advanced in the morning of the 15th & all were but too glad to have the privilege of lying on the ground until dawn. The moving of the Corps from the field was itself a delicate movement for it was no secret among our officers that the rebel Corps that attacked us though badly repulsed was now largely reinforced & in the isolated position of our Corps – it would have been very injudicious to let daybreak show our weakness. But the object of the Corps was more fully accomplished. The train was safely placed in rear of our new line & in the centre of this line the Corps now took its place & “threw down the gauntlet” to all comers after marching twenty

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five miles fighting two battles & skirmishing almost the whole distance in one day. The morning of Oct[ober] 15th found the Army of the Potomac in [a] line of battle on Bull Run & we all excepted a third trial of the fortunes of war on this historical field. It might be inferred that the army would naturally be doubtful of success owing to former serious reverses here.18 So too I then thought. But soon found I was mistaken as far as my experience went I heard no expression of doubt as to the result even among my most intimate friends. But the same undying & stubborn determination to “fight it out” wherever their leaders chose to order [appeared] more prominent than ever. There was also every indication of battle. The ominous stillness that usually precedes one was especially painful because we well knew the enemy were advancing cautiously in force. Lee had completely failed to read our rear & obtain a footing on Centreville Heights & also I believe to capture a single wagon – unless those accidentally broken & abandoned. The great question was now whether he would give battle since Genl Meade had taken position & offered him the grape.19 The whole forenoon & afternoon up to two o’clock was unbroken by any sound of strife except an occasionally gun from our cavalry on the flanks fixed at reconnoitering parties of that of the enemy. About this hour the crack of rifles in the heavy timbered bottom on the southern side of the run in our front, told the enemy had thrown out his skirmishers & his had rebuked ours. Shortly after cannonading became pretty general on our left. About 3 o’clock some new dispositions were made in our part of the line in anticipation of an attack of the enemy about then as I was scanning the field narrowly to see if there were any indication of immediate attack, I noticed two mounted men barely emerged from the pine covered a ridge about 1200 yds in our left front. They merely showed the forward position of their horses & their own bodies from the foliage I called the attention of Major [Theodore Grenville] Ellis commanding 14 Conn Vols – who after looking at them with a field glass said he believed them to be rebel cavalrymen. I thought different believing them to be from their manner & bearing officers of high rank reconnoitering the position. Our speculations were cut short by their disappearing again suddenly & immediately a white puff of smoke arose from where they disappeared followed by the report of a field piece & the familiar whirr of a solid shot. This was nearly over our position but was not aimed at it. The Major exhorted his men many of whom were recruits to be ready & behave like men – for we expected the iron would soon be plunging among us. This how-

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ever they did not attempt. They were now directing their attention to some support wagons that were brought up to ration the troops. Those weapons were near Genl Warrens head quarters about 1/4 one quarter of a mile in rear & slightly to the left of our brigade. Quicker than I could describe it two batteries unlimbered & opened upon them & in twenty minutes made them glad to limber up & leave after getting one of their guns dismounted & several horses killed. Their battery did no harm that I am aware of beyond knocking over a wagon & making the frightened teamsters & mules to scamper out of range but Genl Warren & staff had several narrow escapes. There was no more artillery practice in our front, but skirmishing was unremittingly kept up almost amounting to vollies but neither party tried to do more than hold their own position. Nor were their many casualties here. On the left though it was different both maintained a heavy cannonade until night closed on the field. As far as I could learn there was nothing worthy of the name of a fight took place this day except among the cavalry. Lee however used the day to the best advantage to skirmish for position & feel our lines thoroughly from flank to flank. On the morning of the 16th it was found the enemy had disappeared from our immediate front but our Generals seemed to be mystified as to Lees real intention but it seemed very plain that the expected great battle was not to come off on this field at least. The day was a very wet & stormy one & no sounds of fighting could be heard except a few distant cannon shots in the direction of the Bull Run – hills telling that our cavalry were on the alert after Lee to see if it was his intention to pass our right flank & continue his advances northward. The 17th & 18th we spent quietly lying in camp or rather in line as formed when a battle was expected. The troops were being rationed and preparation made for an advance on the 18th. Many cavalry & some infantry advanced through our position on the same evening but we did not move forward until daybreak on the morning of the 19th. Lee had evidently fallen back covering his movement by a feint of moving towards the Potomac above our position. Whether he was falling back to his former position or to one in which he intended to draw Genl Meade out of his position was not yet determined. But a general advance discovered that he had abandoned all the country north of the Rappahannock except the fortified position on the north end of the ruins of the railroad bridge. at daybreak on oct 1 9th the Corps advanced in columns marching by Manassas Junction – almost retracing our steps on the previous

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backward movement – recrossed Broad Run – halted within sight of the field of Bristoe Station & threw out skirmishers, as if the proximity of an enemy was apprehended. None however, were found but the whole field was [dimpled] by skirmishers rifle pits. We now again moved forward as far as a stony ridge a mile in rear of the battlefield – which had been occupied by the enemy during the engagement & subsequently as a camp. On this ridge we halted early in the afternoon – remaining in bivouac for the remainder of the day & night. I visited the field in company with Capt [Joseph] Deverell Co. k. The Captain wished to search for the body of a man of his company Corpl Irivng Arms who was the only man killed from our regt in the late fight. We found a grave near the spot he fell supposed to be his – but we had no implement with us sufficient to remove the earth. The field did not bear many marks of the late struggle as the enemy had carefully buried all the dead. Most of them killed judging by the boards placed over them belonged to the 15th & 48th N Carolina rebel regiments.20 The graves seemed to me to be remarkably few for such an engagement but this may be explained by a report which I heard to the effect that as a mounted officer was leaping his horse over what seemed to be one of the usual small curtains of earth thrown up for protection to the men serving guns in action, one of the horses feet removed the earth to such an extent as to bare a corpse & on further examination those works proved to be trenches of dead. Whether this report be true or not in every particular this I know that no earthworks were [dug] during the fight although one had been in position near the spot as the numerous dead horses strewn on the ground from the fire of Arnold’s guns testified. On this afternoon 19th [there] were frequently cavalry encounters with the enemys rear as he fell back towards the river – the artillery sometimes being in such volume as to make many believe an engagement was in progress. We were early on the move on the morning of the 20th continuing our march by a rather circuitous rout passing near Gainesville through Greenwich, halting & bivouacking at a late hour near the scene of the skirmish at Auburn Mills. Here we remained in camp during the 21st & 22d. I visited the house that we had used as a temporary operating hospital at the time of the fight on the 14th. It was inhabited by an elderly gentleman named [Cyrus] McCormick. He had been an inventor of improvements in mill machinery & agricultural implements, rather rare for a southern gentleman & I believe his name is familiar in the patent office at Washington. He was too a man that seemed to take a

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lively interest in the politics of both the past & present times & said he was well acquainted with President [Andrew] Jackson who had staid at his house. This old gentlemans present political views maybe worth mentioning if he be taken as a representative of public opinion among his class, which he claimed to be. The principal peculiarity of those views were that he upheld the superiority of monarchical institutions to republican, with great pertinacity & plausibility of arguement. During the early part of the day on Oct 23 we moved about five miles & went into camp on the south side of the Warrenton branch railroad & about three miles from that town. Here we remained until Nov 7th putting up log huts as the weather had become very wet & cold. This long halt at a season of the year usually favorable for campaigning in Virginia, was rendered unavoidable on account of Genl Lee in his falling back completely destroying the railroad from Bristoe Station to the Rappahannock. Large groups of men were now employed in restoring it recruits coming out constant drill going on & a large depot of supplies collecting at Warrenton Junction. Few however seemed to think that offensive operations would so soon recommence. The movement which now followed was probably intend to press Lee with all available force but was prevented from being directly followed up either by the adverse weather that soon after set in or some unforeseen circumstance best known to the General commanding. Certainly the advance was not checked by any resistance of the enemy.

fall campaign of 1863 rappahannock at 10½ pm on the evening of nov 6 th we received orders to be

ready to move at daybreak & [the] next morning a beautiful & clear autumn one we were again in motion. The soldiers looked back reluctantly at the snug huts they were leaving to exchange for the open & now frosty air combined with the apprehension that weighs upon men who know that they are about to encounter peril that seems more imminent in proportion to its indefinable & uncertain nature. The movement was directed towards two points principally Kellys Ford & Rappahannock Station against the former the 3d Corps had the advance followed by the 2d. Against the latter position the 6th Corps led. After a disagreeable march on account of the dusty nature of the roads & high wind, combined with its great rapidity we arrived in sight of Kellys ford about sunset. The 3 Corps had already crossed the river after a spirited skirmish in which Birneys division captured some

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prisoners. This Division was now in [a] line of battle on the opposite side their skirmishers engaged with those of the enemy in the woods a short distance in front. [J. Henry] Sleepers 10th Mass battery was in position on the north side & engaged in shelling the woods beyond the river. During the afternoon we had become aware of a heavy & well maintained cannonade towards the railroad bridge. This was the engagement of a position of the 6th Corps, which resulted in the capture & occupation of all the field works commanding the bridge & the enemys final abandonment of the line of that river. Here the position was a much more difficult one to carry than that of Kellys Ford, not only because it was well fortified but on account of a great portions of those fortifications being on the north side completely commanding the approaches to the bridge. There was complete range for the enemys artillery – their being no cover whatever from it unless a very thin woods fully a mile away. The space between this woods & the batteries was almost perfectly clear & level & traversed obliquely by a deep & wide water course containing much water & mud & quite difficult for a line of battle to scramble through under fire. We had marched over this ground some time previous. Consequently I knew it well & could fully appreciate the difficulty & danger of advancing across it under fire from field works. Wishing too that the gallant troops who carried it should [be given] their full [measure] of praise for it certainly was one of the most brilliant actions among the many of the 6th Corps. We bivouacked on the north side of the river for the night & were under arms [the] next morning at daybreak. The enemy had fallen back & completely abandoned the line of the river during the night. We crossed about 9 am then halting about an hour to let the 1st Corps pass resumed our march towards Brandy Station where we arrived about sunset & went into bivouac. The fighting during the day was confined to the cavalry advances whose guns we could occasionally hear encountering the rear of the enemy as he again fell back south of the Rapidan. This night was a very cold one the country was extremely open & exposed to a piercing north wind & where our division lay, there [was] more wood than sufficient to make coffee, [but it] was not convenient. The ground too was frozen hard on which we had to lie. In the morning the peaks of the blue ridge could be seen white with snow. From this night I date the commencement of years of bad health. [The n]ext morning we moved a few miles southward & went into camp again where we remained until the 26th. For some days previous

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to this date we were under orders to hold ourselves in readiness to march at short notice, but the movement was apparently delayed through excessive rainy weather. We left camp at 7 am & marched to Germanna Ford on the Rapidan which we crossed unopposed on a pontoon bridge at 4 pm. There were many extensive breastworks created here by the enemy but for purposes well known to himself they were abandoned on our approach. After crossing we marched about three miles & halted for the night which was a very cold one but fortunately we were in woods affording wood & shelter. [The n]ext morning, 27th we were early under arms & moving rapidly up the Fredericksburg & Orange Court House turnpike. Being detailed on duty with the division ambulance corps – I do not know exactly when our advance struck the enemy – but when the ambulance train was ordered to halt & I joined the regiment it was 12 o’clock. Our 1st brigade was already formed in line across the turnpike & skirmishing at a point called Robinsons Tavern. Being unemployed I now sauntered towards our skirmish line on the right of the road. Here I found some men of our second division crouching in the long weeds that covered the waste field here. Not seeing any enemy I walked up quite close to our line – when their skirmishers from the opposite wood opened fired upon me. One bullet cut the weeds near my legs & another whizzed uncomfortably near my head. Our men arose & replied at once when the enemy ceased after a few shots exchanged. This slight & fitful sort of skirmishing continued in our front during the whole day. The enemy made no determined resistance & Genl Meade was waiting impatiently for the arrival of Genl French with the 3d Corps. The Genl waited here the whole day, most of the time in the saddle surrounded by his staff & accompanied by four British officers who came out to witness the operations.21 He frequently betrayed great nervousness & anxiety inquiring not only from every aid that arrived but from any person near him if “he heard from Gen French.” I saw precisely the same scene the previous evening when we were waiting for several hours before crossing the river when he was also detained by the tardy movements of Genl French who was crossing the river higher up. Towards night we heard a heavy cannonade far on the right towards the river. This was the first heard from French, who it appears was delayed by finding the river more difficult than expected to cross, the next day took a wrong road & instead of connecting with the right of the 2d Corps struck a large body of the enemy & fought the battle of Locust Grove the guns from which we heard.22

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[the n]ext day, 28 th the Corps advanced some two miles without

any effective opposition to the bank of Mine Run – a small stream a tributary of the Rapidan. It was quite fordable but was bonded by a wide marshy bottom. The opposite slope was strongly fortified with earthworks by the enemy & here they seemed determined to make a stand. The day was fearfully wet & cold, & the troops had nothing for it but the cold drenching rain from above & the slimy mud beneath for to rest upon. Nothing occurred in the way of fighting in our front beyond the artillery exchanging a few shots with that of the enemy who here first used guns against our Corps in this movement & here & there the picket lines popping at each other as they occupied the opposite side of the marshy creek bottom. Early in the morning of the 29th [the] Corps was withdrawn from the front & moved to the left reaching a plank road leading from Fredericksburg to the Orange & Alexander railroad. This road we reached about 1 pm halting for about three hours then moved rapidly up the road on the enemys right flank. Several fresh groves & other marks here gave evidence of a well contested battlefield. This fighting had taken place the day before I believe between Stuart’s rebel cavalry & ours as we heard the guns but did not then know the cause. We had not marched more than an hour up this road when our advance (the 1st division) struck the enemys outposts – heavy skirmishing at once commenced. The Corps was formed in line & advanced when the enemy withdrew their skirmishers & commenced shelling the woods in which we were advancing from guns within a strong line of earthworks. Our artillery fired a few rounds in reply but darkness soon put an end to the skirmishing. Indeed it would appear that the enemy was taken by surprise & that Genl Warren could have attacked that evening with advantage but he was unsupported except [by] the 3d division of the 6th Corps & his Corps was besides totally unconnected with the enemy on his right. The troops formed a line across an uncompleted railroad running nearly parallel or alignly with the plank road built fires threw up some rifle pits & breastworks & rested for the night which was very cold. The troops were quietly aroused cooked their breakfast & were under arms & in line of battle at 5 on the morning of the 30th. The fires on which the men cooked & the groups around them could hardly excite much attention as these were kept up all night owing to the cold which kept many from lying down at all. Many cases of men perishing on picket were reported though none came under my

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observation. As for the enemy in our immediate front they were too actively employed to suffer much cold. They could be plainly heard all night giving orders in a loud voice talking also with the almost incessant sound of hundreds of axes as they slashed the timber in front of their works preparing for our expected attack.23 A valley or rather a slight depression in the land lay about midway between the enemys works & the ridge on which our line of the previous evening was formed. In this the line of battle was formed nearly parallel to that of the rebels. They apparently paid not the least attention to our movements though these could scarcely escape their notice as the ground was frozen so hard that the least movement of men on horses caused a tremendous clattering. The order of Warrens command was 1st division on the right next 2d then the 3d one over the old railroad dividing the right of our division from the left of the 2d. In our left & forming the extreme left of our infantry line was the 3d division of the 6th Corps. It seemed to be generally understood that the works in our front were to be changed at 7 am. This hour was now fast approaching & a gloomier hour never appeared in prospect to men as it promised to be to at least Genl Warrens command. A cold north wind swept the fields. The men were halted & could not take any exercise. Here they stood their teeth chattering & their benumbed hands scarcely able to clutch the cold rifles to which they clung more from stern necessity than choice even with the bravest. Day had now broken too & the awful preparations of the enemy to receive them were plainly visible some found a fire a hundred yards away. Long red lines of earthworks above which could be seen in many places the wheels of the gunners that were intended to vomit forth their showers of canister shot at the proper moment. Whenever timber had grown in their front – this was followed with the tops towards us & the branches cut of some distance from the trunks leaving sharp points projecting – making it difficult for a man to get through even when at his leisure & unexposed to danger. The men were ordered to unsling & pile their knapsacks. This of itself was ominous looking to them & reminded them that something desperate was to be attempted. Seven o’clock came & all remained quiet. The suspense seem horrible to many among all classes & ranks. It being impossible to keep the men standing in line on account of the cold, they were permitted to walk about after stacking their arms. Some would [wander] through the thin belt of wood in front on to the edge of a slight knoll that

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covered our right & leisurely survey the [fortif]ications in front prepared for them then coming back [shaking their] heads gloomily making some remark to the effect that this would be the last battle of themselves or commands yet [they] would show no sign of the “white feather.”24 Some would perpetuate some grim joke on the consequences peculiar to old soldiers such as marking out with a stick on the ground the dimensions of their own bodies for a grave while others were eloquent in their encouragement of departing comrades. I heard a blondhaired boy – a recruit of the 14th Conn say to an old soldier of the same regiment who said the regiment “could never get the rebels out of their works” “why yes they can yell them out of it the regiment wont flinch.” Walking about like many others to keep my blood from completely stagnating I crossed the old railroad bank into the 2d division when [a] ludicrous sight met me. The men had found at some [place] in the vicinity a great number of piled dried hides. These they had turned into practical use by sitting down on the ground & placing the hides on their edges, as they were quite stiff, between themselves & the north wind, the tails of the hides too were stiff & bent in all fantastic forms & as the brushes on the ends of them fluttered in the wind it gave the whole the appearance of vitality. Unfortunately owing to the inventor of gunpowder they could not put them to the same use as our forefathers. About half past eight artillery firing commenced far on our right. Everyone seemed to be sure it was the signal for attack but yet no order came for advancing. This desultory cannonade in the distance continued until 4 in the afternoon accompanied by some firing from the opposing skirmishing lines but not a shot in our front except a few shot from batteries in rear of our line in reply a few shells that were thrown from the extreme left of [the] rebel line apparently from cavalry guns. The longer we were kept in suspense the more difficult it seemed to be & the anguish of those long hours can never be erased [from] my recollection not for myself alone but for those men many of whom had become more than brothers, As for myself I was at liberty to seek a place of safety prior to the commencement of the action. Indeed there [was] no safety within a mile once [the battle] would commence. I believed I was seeing many of my tried friends for the last time & preferred to remain near in order to [render what] little assistance would be possible in case of their being wounded. About four o’clock Genl Warren rode along the line apparently much agitated & in deep thought. It soon became known that he had

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refused to attack on daylight revealing to him the general strength of the enemys position & our Genl Meade reconnoitering it he approved Warrens judgment. His opinion too was held by many then officers of experience & Warrens whole command felt grateful to their Genl for his caution in avoiding useless slaughter. The relief felt by all on finding the decision of the commander of the army can be better imagined than described. Men began to look cheerful again at the prospect of a few hours more of life or at least a fair fight for us. The troops maintained their position in our part of the line undisturbed until dark set with the exception of one shell thrown by the enemy as a challenge, when they moved back to the ridge they had occupied on the evening before resting there for the night which [was] perfect[ly] quiet all along our front. We remained here all day in camp on an elevated ridge of land overlooking the enemys position both armies remaining apparently quiet again this evening we “fell in” quietly, left our fires burning & marched rapidly to the rear along the Fredericksburgh plank road – recrossed the Rapidan at 3 next morning [November 31st] on a pontoon bridge – halted a short time & continued on march to our last camp – which we reached at nightfall. This march was a most severe one having continued without halt for twelve hours. Many fell out of the ranks & laid down in the woods to fall asleep – although the provost guards worked [diligently]. The consequence of this was that the enemys cavalry came up in the morning & captured hundreds before they awoke from their profound sleep. Others who were able to reach the river before being overtaken found the bridge (which was between Germanna & Elys fords) withdrawn. Those last though in sufficient numbers to make a successful stand against cavalry had no officers among them & being stragglers from all the battalions in the Corps were without [direction] & were also capture. Consequently, the 2d Corps lost as many as if it had a sharp engagement. It was an unusually severe night [on] duty for myself. Very soon after the falling back commenced when the several regiments composing the Brigade were more or less mixed “pelemele,”25 one of the muskets of the 12th N Jersey (when well loaded with ball & buckshot) exploded accidentally & the ball passed through the fleshy part of the hip of a Sergeant of ours named H[enry B.] Smith – the buckshot lodging in his thigh. The man fell [more or] less in the road. After finding his wounds were not [life threatening] & waiting in vain for ambulances to come up (they being in the rear) I tried to get him on some of the

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caissons of a battery that [was] passing but all being darkness & confusion was not [successful in getting him on] any of them. Indeed it was scarcely possible to [gain their] attention under such circumstances. I asked him [if he could get on] his horse. This was difficult for the poor fellow – owing [to his] wound & [the] heat, [he] first said he could not [get on his horse]. My [plan] was to stay by him until all our troops were past then abandon [him] to capture in order to save myself & two hospital men who [were] with me – he at last consented. We then lifted him on the horse & following the line of march slowly walking by his side for [many] miles when we had the good fortune to find two ambulance wagons of the 6th Corps halted in the side of the road, [both looked] fine & empty. The Sergeant in charge of the ambulances at once took him in charge on my representing the case to him as I had no control in the matter when the ambulances were not of my Corps. After having dressed Smith’s wounds by the light of the fire & left him comfortable, myself & men continued our march among troops strange to us – as by this time our regiment was miles in advance. The moon had now risen so that we could see our way well enough to “double quick it” occasionally & managed to find our regiment about daybreak. Having as I have said reached our former camp on the evening of the 2d December we remained here for three days & thus ended the “Mine Run campaign.”

camp at stevensburgh, virginia on the morning of saturday dec 5 th we advanced four miles

[along] the Rapidan near the remains of an old village called Stevensburgh, lying on the plank road leading from Culpeper c h to Germanna Ford. Here we went into camp & lived comfortably for the remainder of the month nearly. We seemed now fairly established in winter quarters & Sutlers & Sanitary Commission supplies came up & leaves of absences were granted freely of which Col Powers & Mr Grassie availed themselves. Orders having been given that our Brigades – being advanced of the main body of the Corps to the support of the cavalry, we broke up our camp with many regrets on Sunday 7th December & marched four miles to within one mile [of the] Rapidan & went into camp near a rocky [ridge] called [Stone Mountain]. The change was one of the most disagreeable [a man in] active service is frequently compelled to endure, reaching our new camping ground – a storm [blew in] & it

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started to rain & [thunder]. Everybody was half knee-deep in mud & [attempted] to find shelter themselves from the inclement weather [but had] to endure in open tents. But in about a [week we were] well hutted & the officers purchased small stores from the Sutlers & things once more assumed a comfortable [state]. About a fortnight of very cold weather, [the Rapidan was sufficiently] frozen to bear horses & wagons & covered by [a layer of snow]. Then the weather became mild & temperate & [camp became] dry & clean & life became tolerable but no sooner [did the regiment settle into camp than soldiers began to request] leave[s] [for] home[, most of which were granted] as the frequent leaves of absence [illustrated]. Plainly told, comfort[s] could be had from the Commission & Sutlers [if you were] willing to pay for the supplies of the former – pork – tea – sugar brown & white – biscuits fresh & warm from the government bakers [were] at reasonable prices but [other goods] consisting of eggs, potted meats, fruits, etc were [available above] retail prices. The time too could be passed pleasantly enough. The officers wives were granted twenty days leave to visit their husbands. Many of those ladies brought sidesaddles & many riding parties were daily formed to visit the surrounding country & points of interest in the camp. In fact everything took on a gala appearance & one might easily forget for the time that he was in the field with a large army or rather in our brigade, or on outpost duty with the cavalry videttes of the opposing forces in full view in our front lining both sides of the Rapidan & not knowing the hour or even minute that a fight would commence. About the 16th Jany Leiut [John] Kenleyside & a small detail of men left the camp amidst the cheers of their comrades to go home on recruiting service in the hope of recruiting the small remnants of [available men,] which was never realized. The 1st Del, Vols having four years service reenlisted almost [every] man & [after] a long leave of absence, according to special [leave], [they returned to] camp at Stevensburgh. The remaining [men], fifty recruits had not gone home. However my duties were light [&] pleasant but I now began to fear [that I would not live] to see home again.

 Hd Qrs 108th ny Vols Camp near Stevensburgh, Va Jany 9th, 64. Dear Brother,

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Your [letter] of the 3d came to hand last evening [the] 8th. [I a]m thankful to hear once more you are all well & happy to inform you my health & spirits are excellent. As I anticipated in my last [letter], we have moved Camp, about three miles. This we did on Sunday 27th Dec. We are now in plain view of the enemy’s lines on the Rapidan. But all is quiet, at present. [I a]m doubtful whether this winter will be as peaceable as last. The stream is small, & cavalry raids, may occur any hour. [I a]m at present tenting alone. Surgeon [Owen] Munson, remained in charge of the sick in hospital in our former camp, the weather, being considered too severe to remove them yet. Chaplain [Thomas G.] Grassie is on [a] leave of absence. Your sympathy for my sufferings during the holidays, though appreciable, is nevertheless wasted, at least so you would say, had you been here during those times. The 108th are no friendless outcasts, or “city scum.” Their homes, nearly all lie, in Monroe County, near Rochester in the finest portion of the State. Consequently, they have numerous & thrifty friends who availed themselves of the Express lines to remember their sons & brothers in the shape of sundry boxes stuffed with almost every imaginable food thing that the “gals” at home know how to invent. Not least among these were the remains of many Democratic turkeys, that a few days previous had trilled & gobbled in the Genesee Valley. Somehow whenever a box arrives, if it is for an enlisted man, he shortly afterward presents himself at the Doctor’s tent with his tin plate loaded with the contents & a broad grin of satisfaction on his face. If the recipient be an officer, a messenger arrives requesting the Doctor’s presence, reason not stated. [The] Doctor attends the summons, perhaps someone sick, No! Another box [is] opened. So you see, on which side the danger lies. Of course, I must at least taste of everything, which alone is no small task. Besides those windfalls, the Sutler furnishes all the delicacies of the season, at a price, at least less than, it is in Richmond. You must have pretty white weather up at your house. It is at least blue enough here for my taste. Here is the last month from my Diary Dec 9th, clear & cold, 10th clear, chilly, 11th cloudy, moderate, 12th cloudy, mild, 13th heavy & cold rain throughout day & night, 14th windy & showery, 15th clear & colder, 16th cloudy, moderate, 17th day & night rainy cold & disagreeable, 18th cloudy, damp, chilly, 19th cloudy, windy, cold, 20th clear & cold, 21st cloudy & cold, 22d clear & cold, 23d chilly ground white with snow for first time this season, passed

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off before night, 24th & 25th, 26th, cloudy & cold, 27th day & night extremely wet & cold, 28th day & night wet & cold, 29th day cold & damp, 30th cold & damp, 31st extremely cold with heavy rain. Jan 1, 64 morning fine grows cold at night, 2d clear & biting cold, 3d clear & cold, 4th cold & stormy snows four inches, 5th milder snow, partly melts, 6th cold & cloudy, 7 cold, cloudy snows at night 4 inches, which is still lying & ice on still ponds sufficient to bear a man. The time of leaves of absence of New York soldiers, is yet limited to ten days but Lieut-Col Pierce, who is in command of the [R]egt (Col Powers is commanding the Brigade) says he will recommend me for fifteen days, wherever I think fit to apply. I do not wish to take my leave too early if I did, the winter would seem long after I returned to duty. However I have decided (God willing) to see you early in the next month, probably in its first week. [Y]ou need scarcely write again, in the meantime, unless you have something of importance, to communicate. I had intended, to forward a Railroad Ticket, to enable either Maria or Maggy to meet me in Washington, & see some of the principal cities going homeward. But I must abandon this project, on account of the uncertainty of my departure, the inclemency of the season & their inexperience in travel, although the latter objection would be laughed at, by an American girl. I hope this is my last letter until I am enabled to tell you my experience, in a more direct manner. Once more, give the assurances of my kindest regards, to all our friends, while I ever remain your affectionate Son & Brother, Francis Moses Wafer md

tings ns ofof 1864 a Canadian Surgeon

5 Campaigns of 1864

I

At the beginning of 1864 there was silence in all theatres of war. In the eastern theatre, Lee and Meade continued their standoff, each man anxious to go on the offensive but each, having learned from the foolhardiness of Burnside’s disastrous winter campaign of 1862, understandably leery. In the Union elections loomed and discontent with the war effort, initially expressed in the New York City draft riots, simmered beneath the nation’s surface. In the Confederacy, supply problems plagued Lee and desperation gripped the homefront and the army. In February of 1864, Meade resumed his offensive and ordered a cavalry raid, supported by the infantry, on Richmond. Meade charged the bulk of the Army of the Potomac with distracting Lee from Meade’s true intentions by repeatedly crossing the Rapidan. Instead of reaching Richmond, Meade’s men unsuccessfully clashed with Lee’s troops at Morton’s Ford and retreated back across the Rapidan. In March Lincoln elevated Grant, the victor at Fort Donaldson, Fort Henry, and most importantly Vicksburg, to the rank of lieutenant general and placed him in command of all Union forces. Expectations ran high. “With Lieutenant General Grant at the head of military affairs,” declared the Sacramento Daily Union, “our people have renewed hope for the Spring Campaign” and a victorious end to the war.1 History, however, compounded Grant’s difficulties in trying to

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end the war. The Union had suffered defeat in every major campaign in the eastern theatre, with the exception of a stalemate at Antietam and a victory at Gettysburg. In order to rectify the situation Grant set about reorganizing the army and restructuring the path to victory. Grant reorganized the Army of the Potomac, which had been depleted by massive losses at Gettysburg, into five corps, eliminating the 1st and 3d Corps over the vocal objections of many of the soldiers. Moreover, he maintained that the war could not be won in one mighty offensive victory. Instead, he opted for concerted action from his troops. Accordingly, Grant ordered General William T. Sherman to move into Georgia and engage General Joseph Johnston’s Army of Tennessee. Simultaneously, Grant instructed General Franz Sigel to move his men into the Shenandoah Valley and continue towards Richmond while General Benjamin Butler and the Army of the James secured the area known as the Bermuda Hundred in preparation for an attack on Richmond. Grant charged the Army of the Potomac with perhaps the most difficult task, namely, crushing Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia and capturing Richmond. As Grant explained to Meade: “Lee’s army will be your objective. Where he goes, there you will go also.”2 Lee possessed his own agenda. Plagued by the defeats at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, outnumbered by the Army of the Potomac two to one, and suffering from massive supply problems, Lee desperately needed to win the war and preserve the Confederacy. The army, he informed President Davis, was “not in a condition and never, [has] been ... to invade the enemy’s country with a prospect of permanent benefit. We can claim to embarrass him to some extent and thus prevent his undertaking anything of magnitude against us.” 3 Because Lee understood the unlikelihood of overall victory resulting from a single battle, he embraced this notion of attrition. He wished to exhaust the Union in spirit and finances and in doing so eventually destroy the enemy. A policy of attrition, however, did not preclude offensive action against the Army of the Potomac. Once aware of Meade’s impending spring campaign, Lee recommended to Davis that the Army of Northern Virginia “move right against the enemy on the Rappahannock.”4 Accordingly, Lee ordered Generals Longstreet and Beauregard to Richmond in case Union forces attacked the capital while he organized his army for battle with Meade’s men. And so opened the campaigns of 1864. I

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morton’s ford reconnaissance and fight [o]n the [5 th of] febr uary, I sent in an application for [a] leave of

absence [to] H[ea]d Qu[arters] & was waiting, happy as a child for [Christmas morning] when alas at five am on the morning of [February 6th] orders were received to be ready to march [at a moments notice.5 The] order fell upon the camp like an unexpected blow but [the men did] not [dwell on] it – pack[ing] up – was the business now. At the appointed hour the Brigade fell in & moved slowly & solemnly out of camp towards the river. I was fortunately [spared] the pains that must have been felt by the ladies who [despaired] of their husbands. Near the river we joined the two Corps of our Division (the 1st & 3d) – also the 2d Corps [was held] in our rear as support. We halted partially concealed in a piece of [woods] except the third Brigade which advance[d] to the river leisurely as if [to go on] to pickets. The four regiments dashed forward through the [frigid] water [&] rushed up the opposite bank. The enemys pickets on the riverbank seemed to have been completely surprised as after firing in fear, scattering shots, almost every man in front of our line surrendered. The enemys pickets reserves fell back under shelter of their batteries, which now opened at about [a] thousand yrds on our advance troop. Our men advanced about half a mile steadily during the skirmishes under shelter then halted & took up a position [covering] the enemys batteries by a swell in the ground. In the meantime our brigade & the first [division] had followed up their comrades to the riverbank & halted while the pioneers were cutting a [passage]way through each of the steep banks to the level of the water.6 I had just received my orders for the day, which were to take [care of the wounded] of my brigade on the fields. I too well knew that [we would have to cross the] river & go into the thick of the fight. But now “[forward] march” was the word & into the [frigid] wintery water [of the Rapidan the men went]. On our first movement the enemy [response was] to unleash their artillery. Since our men were protected by a slight swell in the ground, little harm was done. The men [stepped more] lively than [before as we] struggled up the steep [bluffs to find] ourselves on an elevated ridge of about two hundred yards [from the enemy and] completely covered [by] their guns. Lieut Col Pierce who [was in] command of the Regt ordered us to cross this ridge at the “double quick” & in single file. I watched with what kind of interest one [new to battle would have,] each puff of smoke as it burst from their gun muzzles & each [shell] as it came

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screaming through the air, or skipping over the [field]. [Me] & my horse both instinctively cringed into the smallest possible [position although] going on the trot all the while. One shell struck about fifty yards [to] our right, another struck closer & ricochetted over us & two passed clean over our line when we reached a lower [ledge,] fortunately without losing [a man] but the 12th nj the next regt after us re[ceived] two shells right through their line – one taking a mans arm with it.7 It was now fully half past one o clock & advancing until we formed a junction with our 3d Brig – we halted under cover of the same swell in the ground until sunset. The 2d Divis still remained on the north side of the river as well as our artillery. Our skirmishers were lying down about a hundred yards in advance & very close to those of the enemy, both spent the afternoon in the usual manner, that is watching for a shot at each other & this occurred often enough as some of ours being carried in wounded attested thus not leaving me idleness at least to claim of. Occasionally they would throw a few shells, viz the enemy, as to provoke a response but they would be immediately replied to by a battery of three inch rifles of ours on the river bank. There was heavy cannonading up the river towards night but I believe this was the [artillery] battery of our cavalry which was making a feint at crossing at [another] point. There was an old tobacco barn on an exposed hill about 100 yards from the left of our regiment. The men who [carried their] comrades from the skirmish line persisted in [carrying the] wounded there (probably through being accustomed [to] finding [shelter] on the field at some kind of a building) & then I [prepared] to leave my slight shelter & go to this barn. I found a Surgeon from another brigade [and] helped [him] with some of his wounded there as well as some of mine. It was nightfall & the enemys guns opened fire savagely on this [building]. I had just removed a splinter of shell from the scalp of a [soldier] of the 1st Del & advised the other Surgeon & all those men [to] move away – when a shell struck & burst in a muck [heap] in the [barnyard] a few feet from me, covering me from head to foot with dirt but [I] kept my eyes clean by winking instinctively at the right time.8 The enemy open [fired and their shells] which [destroyed the] rim [of] earthworks about eight hundred yards [away in] earnest. The field was now covered with bursting shells & the first thing I [did] was to secure my [horse] which had to be left tied to a cherry tree by my man, when the fire [became] heavy in order to shelter himself. My horse “Joe Hooker” was making circles round the tree as far as his bridle would let him – neighing or rather

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screaming frantically this being his habit when he found himself alone under fire. When he saw me coming he changed his tone, & expressed his feelings to me as plain as if he spoke the best English. On untying him calling his name & patting his neck, he became thoroughly pacified. The 14th Connecticut were advancing under a heavy fire which was replied to by our guns on the banks. The regiment charged a position held by the enemy in a farm house garden & buildings – found the place swarming with the enemy & a sharp fight commenced. Wounded began to come in frequently & [quickly.] I was attending to their cases & sending the [worst cases to the rear], all the while [trying] to avoid the rifle bullets which where whistling [fast &] thick amongst the bursting shells. I heard just in front of me the sharp click that tells of a rifle bullet striking bone. There was [little light,] the evening being dark & cloudy, but what came from the bullets & their fuzes as they flew through the air. A group of men [brought a solider,] apparently dead & carried him towards me – at the [time whispered] the name of Col Pierce. It was the Col, a bullet [struck the] side of the face below the left eye – ploughed up his [check] & lodged in the cavity of the eye. The Col was not dead yet however but cried out to the men with all the force [of] life [in] him “Good bye boys, I’ve got it right in the brain. Close up men – stand up to them – keep the old flag flying.” On examining him by the sense of feeling I found the bullet had partly displaced – the eyeball which [it] pressed partly from its place & he now commenced to suffer intensely after recovering from the first shock but I had extracted the bullet in a few minutes gave him a dose of morphine & a stimulant sent him to the rear feeling more comfortable.9 A few minutes after the Col was struck – the 108th were ordered to advance to the support of the 14th Conn which was maintaining a hand-to-hand fight for the farm & premises.10 The battalion went in at the double & the 7th [West] Va Vols were up the river bank in splendid order to the attack & our guns on the north side done good services on the enemys flank. A sharp & close fight followed – but it was of short duration – the enemy giving ground & taking shelter under their guns. The fight had now ended excepting an occasional shell from either side & in half an hour all was still but the pickets kept firing at the flashes of each others rifles most of the night. It was near 7 o’clock [when] the troops fell back to their position during the day & laid down [to] escape the straggling shots from the picket line. Feeling very weary I [wrapped] myself in my cloak & laid on the ground with

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the bridle on my [arm and] was soon asleep in spite of whizzing of the bullets. Having in the mean time been relieved by the 2d Divis, our Divis, fell back quietly across the river about 1 o’clock next morning. We recrossed near the same place of crossing but this time on a bridge formed by the pioneers taking advantage of an island in the stream – spanning each branch with two trees & covering them with rails. This rail bridge I managed to ride over on my surefooted little horse – rather than try [to cross] the deep & muddy ford. All the troops were withdrawn before daybreak & returned to their former camps. This ended the movement which seemed to have been ordered to discover if the enemy was in force on the Rapidan. [Meade] having obtained that [Lee] was withdrawing troops to the west [as was] the case of Longstreets Corps in the September previous [prepared for a flanking movement on the banks of the river]. [Meade “was all ready to move when informed from Washington that the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps, under Hooker” were to be] withdrawn from under the eyes of the army [and “sent to Tennessee to retrieve, if possible the defeat of”] Rosecrans’s army at Chickamauga.11 The camp that had been so gay only a day previous was now shrouded in gloom & melancholy in fact it had been made the temporary field hospital. The ladies present were hidden from sight in their tents some of them by the side of mutilated husbands carried bleeding from the fight to them. On the whole it had been a day of trial for those [ladies] as the whole of the advance & attack could be seen from the eminence [on] which the camp stood & as the chief encounter had taken place after dark – they being compelled to look upon at the flashing of the guns – the fiery course of the shells – their bursting – listening to their thunder – with the cheer of the constants all added to the novelty & horror of their situation.12 The 108th had not suffered heavily – their loss being six wounded – the main loss had fallen upon the 14th Conn, being 113 the greater number captured by falling into an ambush.13 After taking a short sleep I fell to work among the wounded who were being removed as fast as possible to the winter field hospital of the Corps – about five miles to the rear. To this hospital I was ordered in the afternoon of the 8th to report for duty where I found Dr [Frederick A.] Dudley of the 14th Conn in charge of our division. We worked in company & soon got through the most [horrible] part of our work & had the satisfaction to find the wounded well supplied with everything needful – which indeed was always the [case] during my service. Thanks to the Sanitary & Christian Commission.

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Our cases of wounded were mostly severe – one of which is worthy of special mention viz Henry [J.] Clows Corps & Co. b, 108th who was shot through the left side of the abdomen. I had seen him on the field shortly after he fell & after learning the gravity of his wound & giving him Morphine & Whiskey had sent him to the rear expecting to never see him alive again. But on the contrary I found him cheerful & hopeful. All his food discharged through his wounds for eighteen days. The opinions of myself & Dr Dudley were very unfavorable to him. Although I expressed a hope that if it were possible for any man to survive [such] an injury that man was Clow – because I reminded him [of his injuries] of Chancellorsville being shot through both legs [above the knee and in ] the face – going about on crutches in a weeks [time and] waking about & in tolerable health. In fact he was numbered among a squad of men returned today by some stupidity or oversight of some Surgeon in one of the field hospitals & actually joined his regiment in the following August before Petersburg, Va. Then I at once made out his certificate for discharge I meet him in Rochester in June 1865 – looking quite well.

leave of absence in the evening of feb 11 th I was delighted to find my leave of

absence for 15 days returned approved. Returning to camp the same night I found Col Pierce so far improved as to take sick leave. The next morning the Col, despising an ambulance wagon, rode out of camp as the reveille was beating in company with myself & Capt [William H.] Andrews the regiment greeting us with three veteran cheers. Of course we took off our hats & responded to it. We rode to the [railroad] station of the Corps – “Brandy Station” – sent back our horses to our men & took the train for Washington – arriving at 3:30 pm. There we received our last two months pay from Maj [Franklin B.] Hutchinson our Paymaster & here I parted with the Colonel as he did not take the same route home. Left Washington at 7:15 pm & arrived in N York at 7:30 am the next day. After making some necessary purchases left the city at 10:30 am arriving in Albany at 5 pm. As I wished to stop here a few hours I did not [take] another [train] until 11 in the evening, which left me in Rome at 3 o clock the next morning Friday. Here I learned to my chagrin there was no passenger train going to Watertown until 4 o clock [the] next morning. Here I spent Friday chafing more with impatience than praying. Finally reached Kingston

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& joined friends at 1 pm next day Feb 15th losing three of my precious fifteen days in traveling at my own expense. As those notes are merely intended for the eyes of friends, I need not mention how my leave was spent but certain it was very short to me & them.

return to duty from first leave of absence on the evening of friday the 26 th feb I once more took a long

leave of friends & home & took the stage for Cape Vincent at 3 pm. This time my leaving was entirely devoid of the novelty & adventure of the first & the prospect had nothing attractive in it to me beyond the firm determination to see the end of the war or of myself the latter looked with my experience, the most probably. I had sedulously kept from my friends as much as possible that knowledge of the dangers my service exposed me to. Had they saw what was likely to be before me in the same colors as myself – they would have considered me a most determined suicide. Taking the cars that same evening at Cape Vincent, until nearing Albany next morning at daybreak when the sleeping car (which I was in) & the one in front of it ran off the rail. The engine was stopped immediately & as the speed had not been high nobody was seriously hurt but quite a ridiculous scene took place in the sleeping car. When the wheels commenced bounding on the crossties I had just left my berth – had got on one boot & was getting into the second. I commenced to stagger forward – having been propelled by some one from behind – going forward in a bent position still holding on to the half worn boot. I charged some one in the rear that seemed to be in a similar position, with my head he returned the compliment on the next one in front of him & so we all tumbled in a heap against the front door of the car – the crash of broken glasses telling we had come to a final halting place. After some delay a train came out from Albany & transferred the passengers & our baggage safe to the city. Left Albany 9:15 am & reached N York at 2:30 pm then took sleeping car at Jersey City at 7 pm & reached Washington next morning at daybreak on the 27th. Remained in Washington all day & slept at Metropolitan Hotel. Next day left for the front by railway at 9:45 am & arrived at Brandy Station & walked five miles to camp – leaving my valise – until I could send it by some of our teamsters going down with the supply train. I found the camp all quiet as it had been without interruption during my absence.

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camp at stoney mountain, va “st patrick’s day in the morning” The gaiety of the camp had rather increased than aborted – owing to the presence of more ladies – who with all the pertinacity of their sex – set military orders & such at defiance by staying in camp in many cases more than forty instead of twenty days the usual term of their leave. Little blame to them however as too many of them met their husbands now for the last time on earth – or to see them return to their homes mere wrecks of humanity. On the approach of St Patrick’s Day the numerous Irish officers of the Corps especially the gallant “Irish Brigade” (the 1st Brig of our 1st Divis,) were busy getting up amusements for the day. I have said Irish officers but this would be far short of the truth – as the excitement seemed to pervade all nationalities alike & none more than the gallant Brig Genl Judson Kilpatrick commanding the cavalry division encamped near us. Those amusements took the form of horse races – footraces – catching the soaped pig etc.14 The 17 March dawned a most lovely day even for this latitude. A gay party left our camp mounted of ladies & officers – we were perhaps near having a sorrowful accident on our way. Mrs Grassie our Chaplains wife insisted on riding Col Pierces mare – a fine spirited animal & now very idle without [Pierce to ride her]. All went well until the party (riding about two miles to the racecourse) broke into a spirited canter. The mare feeling the light weight & hand – soon found she was master of the situation & acted accordingly taking leave of the whole party before anyone was aware of the true state of things. As she flew past me (I knowing the danger of trying to run down & catch her) held up & called out to Mrs Grassie to keep her seat firmly [in the saddle] & [her hands] on the bridle both which she did bravely (although a very inexperienced equestrian) after making about half a mile at railroad time. When we came up with her – she was very pale & out of breath – but otherwise none the worse & rode on to the races. The field was a splendid one & had been the site of the old Culpeper racecourse – frequented by many of the former Virginia gentlemen who always have been eminently a horse racing gentry. The vicinity was covered by an immense crowd drawn from every army Corps & rank in the army of the Potomac. There was a grand stand erected for the ladies & the most prominent officers present. The course was a circle of a half a mile with four hurdles & four ditches in it. The ditches dug the breadth of the course – eight feet wide & two deep – the hurdles were

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St Patrick’s Day in the Army of the Potomac, 1864. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

four feet high & made of poles – filled in with pine boughs. The prizes (which were subscribed by officers) were sharply competed for many heavy falls resulted but “nobody killed” “all fun in wartime.” I do not remember who was the greatest winner but heard Genl Kilpatrick claim that the cavalry had the best of it. The footraces followed in which the infantry soldiers claimed the palm – all the races for men & horse were over the hurdles & ditches – or more properly in most cases through them – as towards the last those became pretty well flattened down & less formidable. But the unfortunate porker chosen for soaping was a very poor representative of his race in fact the long presence of either if any was very unfavorable to the complete development of any animal clean or unclean. As it was I believe there are few even among the giants of the pig family [which] could make a successful charge through the army of eager soldiers waiting impatiently to get their hands soaped & then get knocked down & trampled on. However piggy was brought out to see who would have the honor of being his owner & the signal being given a general rush was made for the wretched animal – the result was a pile of soldiers three to four deep & the only means of suspecting the existence of a fourfooted animal in this animated heap was a session of

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half smothered squeals. When some order could be restored there was many claimants for the [porker] & the only way of decoding the strife was to make those try it again & keep back the crowd. At last the officers managing affairs were compelled to award it to somebody to stop the uproar. I believe it was given to the man who had the most soap & dirt on him, one of the Irish brigade. The crowd at last broke up & we rode towards camp to the soul stirring strains of “St Patrick’s Day in the Morning.” All apparently were pleased with the days sport comprising many fastidious persons who would consider it immoral & degrading to witness such sports in civil life. It passed the time in camp – the monotony hardly relieved by the review of our brigade by Genl Alex Hayes – the review of the Corps by Genl [John] Gibbon, & the review of the army of Genl Grant who now took command & also the review of the Division by Genl Hancock.

 Hd Qrs 108th New York Vols Mortons Ford, Va. March 20th, 1864 Dear Brother, Your [letter] of the 13th [was] just received in this evenings mail. [I] was beginning to feel the time of your response long. But better late than not at all. [If] you realize[d] the value a soldier sets upon the meanest letter, you would be more prompt in writing. Health excellent, indeed I believe you would not know me since I made my escape from your _______ climate living in houses & sleeping upon those _________ feather beds [is] enough to kill any solider. Without joking I was a candidate for sick leave when I returned to camp. No wonder after what I had just passed through. First came the battle of the 6th Feb where in searching for our wounded at night I became heated then laid down in our line, to rest with the bridle on my arm, fell asleep & got chilled.15 Next four days operating & dressing in field hospital. Then a long journey & the only treatment for my cold to apply more cold & that of the Canadian kind. Then another journey not taking into account the condition & excitement. I think I escaped well, when I complained of nothing worse than “railroad on the brain.” All has been quiet since my arrival, except some trifling alarm owing to some increased activity among the enemys pickets. We have packed up twice. We expect “something to be done” now. The new Lieut-General U.S. Grant it is said will remain with the Army of the Potomac in the coming

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campaigns. Have passed my time since pretty agreeably under the circumstances. The camp has been quite lively owing to the presence of so many ladies who have been just ordered home for fear of a movement. The weather is lovely & the splendid bands of the Brigade make the whole surrounding air warble with their music at guard mounting at 9 in the morning & dress parade at sunset besides their frequent serenades of ladies & popular officers [in the] fine evenings. [I h]ave several times been one of a party of officers & ladies riding out for pleasure & to visit the towns of Culpeper & Coney Mountain. Of course you will not tell any of the girls I have been acting “beau cavalier” but much is [the] etiquette when an officer himself on duty wishes his lady to ride out, he can ask me to attend her when it would be deemed most impolite to refuse. We had a jolly time on St Patrick’s Day. Gen[eral Joshua] Owens commanding the 3d Brigade of our Division, calling for three cheers for the Union which it needless to say were responded to with a will, & the band, strange to say playing “America,” which of course is “God Save the Queen.”16 [I] saw Father [William] Corby, Chaplain of the 88th ny on the field, enjoying the sport highly. There are now two priests with the Irish Brigade the other being Father [Thomas] Willet of the 69th ny. [I] rode over today three miles to Mass. Palm[s] being distributed, a sprig of which I enclose, a species of “dwarf or red cedar.” You will find at the American Express office $151 one hundred & fifty one dollars of spare money I send you for safe keeping, might have sent much more but did not think it prudent for in the event of active operations we may be long without seeing the Paymaster. The Company collects no charges on this end of the line so you will have to pay them, you had better use some of the enclosed money for this purpose, it being their own currency. Wish you had sent me a legal form for the power of Attorney required must attempt something of that kind, but do detest to attempt legal formalities. Forgot to inform you when I was home that a detail from our regiment came with me for the purpose of recruiting & carrying with them the remains of the battle flag of the regt. Some lines on which you will find enclosed. This flag was made by a bunch of silken rags bound to a staff which has also been splintered.17 It would no longer bear unfurling being pierced by many bullet holes, so weakening it that the wind completed its destruction. It was sent home with the intention of saving the remains of so valu-

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able a relic & obtaining a new one. Its battle roll in order would be Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Auburn [Mills], Bristoe Station, Blackburns Ford, Robinsons Tavern, Mine Run & Mortons Ford. All but the two first I have witnessed. When last I heard from Col Pierce he was reported doing well & I hope he may be able to again resume his command. [I h]ave little to do but study at present, our boys are mostly in good health & spirits while the graves of other commands multiply, no headboard here least the figure 108. Could I have my wish, this state would long continue, though a very childish wish for the army. Yet [I] cannot help feeling that those brave fellows have passed through fire so often they deserve some respite. Neither can I reconcile myself to losing one of them no more than if he were a relation. It is this feeling that attaches me to the regiment & nothing would please me better than to be able to see them safely home in Rochester. There being nothing worthy of note to record I find myself scribbling away at perhaps what may not interest you much. Neither am I in a mood to write seriously or sensibly. But in the meantime, I would wish to be remembered to my many friends whom I was obliged to leave so abruptly, including first W[illia]m Hickey’s family, not only on account of my spending the last of my leave so agreeably among them, but, through a just appreciation of their worth as friends. Also my good father & Mother while in town Mr & Mrs Royce, our kind & gentle cousins Kernehans with Maggie & Willy McLaughlin & Charley, Joe & Kitty Franklin. Two big kisses to each of the gals but mind don’t take them yourself, you young rascal. Must not omit our own worthy neighbors [the] Vanhorns reassure them of my regard. You must in future try to consider my absence as virtually necessary. The probabilities are that I will for the future be mostly separate from you all. But you should remember we cannot be children for lifetime. You will generally find the best & most enterprising families the most separated. The worst consequences often ensue from people of one family trying to live where there is no room for expansion. Although I am far from relations, not so of friends. [I t]hink [I] am safe in asserting I have more friends here (influential ones too) than ever I could have made at home, owing perhaps to the strong national & religious prejudices that exist, as well as being fostered in Canada. Such a state of things, or at least a modification of them, existed in this country some time past but it received its death blow in this war.18

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The questions are not now “who are you” or “what is your country or religion” but “do you know how to do your duty” next “will you do it under all circumstances.” [I am h]oping to soon hear of an improvement in Mothers health, as well as a good report from you all before long, I will conclude this rather incoherent letter, by soliciting your prayers, that I may be enabled to do my duty in the coming struggle, in a manner worthy of your ever Affectionate Son & Brother, Francis Moses Wafer md

 preparations for campaigns of 1864 on the night of the 22 d mar snow fell to the depth of 15 inches

which only disappeared a the end of three days followed by heavy and cold rains which continued with bitter intermission until the 3d of April – when snow could be seen covering the peaks of the Blue Ridge. The weather finally cleared up about the 7th April. Genl Grant had now taken the old army of the Potomac under his personal supervision & set to work with all his energy to reorganize it & bring it to the highest standard of efficiency. The 1st & 3d Army Corps, cancelled & consolidated with the 2d 5th & 6th, two divisions of the 3d forming a 3d Division of the 2d. The utmost activity prevailed in every department & nothing left undone to render this army capable to meet the trial of fire & blood through which it had soon to press. There was much dissatisfaction among the troops of all rank belonging to the consolidated Corps – that portion of the 3d assigned to our Corps especially were highly indignant & when ordered to wear the trefoil the badge of the 2d Corps – some went so far as to refuse others sewed it upon the seat of their pants by way of derision.19 Some of the Corps proper myself among the number slyly remarked [that] the badges on those best were put where the enemy was most likely to see them. The matter was finally compromised by letting them wear their own badge (the diamond) as the distinctive badge of that division of the 2d Corps. The camp had once more put on its most warlike aspect towards the end of April – all the ladies & visitors – sutlers & noncombatants generally were ordered to leave the field & a settled gloom (concealed of course but well understood) had taken possession of the minds the least reflective – trying in vain doubtless to penetrate the mystic future, in regard to their own lots as well as those dear

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to them at home. These were two powerful & fully equipped armies – properly speaking of the same nation – with the same or similar laws & government – watching each other defiantly across the line of separation (a mere rivulet) both ready for the collision both waiting for the other to strike first & both confident of victory.20 Death hardly an afterthought & so about two weeks labored past in this terrible suspense. On the afternoon of Monday May 2d a reddish brown cloud of immense extent – heighth & density was observed coming from the Blue Ridge towards the camp. To those who had not lived in this latitude (being the greater number northern men) – this was a novelty – to those intimate with such phenomena it was at once recognized as a mass of earth or dust raised by a tornado.21 A distant & indescribable roar was soon heard which soon became as loud as many trains of railroad cars in motion. Horses jerked at their halters – stamped & neighed – men were silent & awestricken. On it came nearer – all involuntarily gazing at the novel sight – the sun yet shining on the mass of red dust gave the appearance to me of an enormous & uncontrollable wave tinged with blood. But Presto! The wind burst upon us with a crash that was positively deafening & with a force I had no idea of hencetofore. All those who found nothing near them to hold by lost their feet at once. This was at once followed by a true shower of (not dust) but earth & small stones in heavy masses – to open the eyes was impossible without being temporarily blinded. All tents not held by hands disappeared in the nearest piece of woods – the log huts blown to pieces – the logs rolling & bounding over the earth until they met some solid obstruction – empty barrels too which formed to top of the chimneys of the men’s huts – seemed to have taken life & gone mad – skipping – rolling – bounding & racing to see which could reach the woods first. The first movement was to seize our tents (the most highly prized property of the soldiers) & hold on to them with might & main. Even this did not keep them upright – but rather saved us the trouble of searching for them after the storm abated – as those had to who failed to do this & in some cases half a mile away or more. The fury of the tornado was over in twenty minutes. This was followed by a dash of rain – but the whole terminated in a mild showery evening. The evening was spent in repairing damages & sheltering ourselves as well as we could – the chief mischief was the loss of papers – some important documents were never seen again making some extra work for clerks. All this was however forgotten almost as quick as it passed – for men minds were now occupied by far more grave & important affairs.

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 Head Qus,108th ny Vols Morton’s Ford va. May 2d, 64 Dear Sister, Your kind & affectionate letter was received in last night’s mail. [I a]m thankful to hear from home so often more so when letters contain such cheerful news – as mine have of late. This is as it should be while there are so many of you at home to write. All quiet here yet but it is the quietness of tigers that are watching which will make the first spring. You should fret less & pray more for me. I promise you to keep out of unnecessary danger but hope to go wherever duty calls. You have but little cause to be dispirited – more especially while Father is sober, of which circumstance I am proud & happy to hear. I would expect you will show all the daughterly love & obedience possible to him to encourage him in persevering to overcome the vile habit that has long kept me & all of you in comparative obscurity. I am sanguine that we can yet win a name for our house that will put all slanderous howling to flight. [I a]m not surprised Dear Sister that one of you should be a little discontented in the very limited society enjoyed at home but better have a few friends than many enemies which is a frequent consequence of much company. We have all inherited more or less importance & petulance & should all remember it is one of the greatest faults of our family, which I trust you have the sense to understand. If a severe & morose temper is so unpardonable in a man who has to encounter so many difficulties in his commerce with the world, how much more so in a lady & a Catholic, for to be one ( you must be both) and of all the fine qualities that adorn either gentleness – both in speech & deportment – is the first great required & now your pardon Sister for such a long lecture, of course I did not mean you deserved it all. You must not be the less cheerful, because I am absent for a short time. It is time to accustom yourself to my absence for it is highly improbable we will even live long in one house again. You will not feel the time long at least until I see you again. Whenever any innocent amusement is within your reach, enjoy it, if it does not interfere with duty. And in the meantime be as forbearing as possible to all your unfortunate beaux for I have been a beau, & now know they deserve pity more than reproof. I am sure you will treat them kind. When you think of me,

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– & if you can see, or know, or hear of, ever at all [of] one good girl just let you big brother hear of it some way, some time, or somehow, will you & tell her if she will only wait ever so long I will ___ guess I better not say it. No more today but hoping always to hear good & cheerful news from you all. I remain your ever affectionate brother, Francis Moses Wafer md

 march to the battlefield of wilderness next evening, may 3 d orders arrived for the men to pull down their

huts & camp in the usual shelter tent of active service. Whether this was a ruse or for the purpose of facilitating the final breaking of camp [I] am unable to say however it was done in a short time – hardly was it completed – when the order came to “pack up & be ready to march at short notice.” The long expected moment had come – when we were to leave our comfortable cantonments & go once more to seek among Virginian hills & swamps whatever “Glory on the grave.” All was now activity – nevertheless few words were heard – all seeming while working hard to prefer communing with their own thoughts. An incident may give a fair understanding of prevailing feelings. I & Chaplain Grassie – who messed together, having packed up & being ready for mounting & it being now dark & our tents being stored, I felt a desire to say a parting prayer in the place which had been our home so long – for privacy I slipped into the unroofed log hut that had served for a messroom. Here a faint light from some expiring embers in the rude fireplace revealed to me [Chaplain] Grassie on his knee in a corner. My first impulse was to leave him alone but the second was to fulfill the duty I came to perform – which was a short but most earnest prayer. I hope although being of different creeds – that we were both heard. At 9 o’clock the final moving order came – which was to join the Regiments lately added to our Brigade under the new consolidation viz the 7th W Va, 4th O[hio] & 8th O[hio]. We found them in marching order & halted to meet us at Stevensburg four miles to the left on the plank road leading from Culpeper c h to Germanna Ford. It was now midnight – we continued our march throughout the remainder of the night & next day until 11 am crossing the Rapidan at 7 am, halting half

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an hour to rest crossing the battle field of Chancellorsville, bivouacking on that part of the field occupied during this battle for the remainder of the day & following night. During the afternoon, I embraced the opportunity the halt afforded to visit that past field where the 11th Corps had been repulsed by Stonewall Jacksons Corps. It was a generally received opinion, even in our army, that this Corps had either not fought well or allowed itself to be surprised. Possibly the latter may be partially true but Oh! What an emphatic denial the sights here gave to the former assertion. Yes! The poor fellows had fought until the showers of lead had stretched them on the ground in whole ranks. As they had not been buried but merely had a little earth shoveled over their remains when they fell the great number & regularity of which showed to the observer familiar with such sights that those brave children of lands beyond the Rhine had not – belied their reputation as warlike men nor betrayed their trust as soldiers to the flag they had sworn to defend.22 Honor to their memory they now reek but little what the garrulous coward imputes. But why meditate here – tomorrow is to be a day of courage, we must forget even those brave souls for the present in a few hours tens of thousands of their comrades’ corpses will be cold & stiff in death almost on the same field for the most ignorant know we are here “to fight” & that we are at this moment confronting an enemy desperately bent on the same purpose.

battle of the wilderness on the memorable morning of the 5 th may 1864, we recom-

menced our march southward crossing the Fredericksburg & Orange c h plank road, halting at 10 am. at a place known as “Todds Tavern.” The men were formed in [a] line of battle & ordered to rest on their arms but they would not rest, although the day was hot but instinctively commenced their usual employment when halted in face of an enemy viz to build breastworks of logs & earth. But their instinct was not at fault for about 12 o’clock we commenced to hear scattering fire from the carbines of the cavalry advance – mixed with the occasional bark of a field piece. In the course of another hour we were countermarched about a mile & halted in the road. A few more cannon shots & the burning of some shells somewhat nearer & the cavalry picket fell back pelemele upon us. About another quarter of an hour elapsed – the Division (which was the leading one on the march this day) resting on its arms. An Aide galloped up “fall in” “forward march” was the word & we

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countermarched rapidly northward again – taking the first road to the left which led through a dense wood. An occasional shot from our guns in advance was now plainly audible. Those shots seemed to be rallying signals as we moved directly towards them passing in rear of them. They were the guns of our first Division drawn up in a small open space but “double quick” was now the order. It was now three o’clock – the crashing fire of muskets burst out directly in advance mixed with cheers. Our first Division forming the centre on the line of march & our 3d bringing up the rear were charged in flank – the enemy attacking in force & with great determination & enthusiasm. Forward went our Division – doubling past the rear of the 1st & 3d [Divisions] & taking position on the right resting on the Fredericksburgh & Orange c h plank road & for a short time we had nothing to do but repel skirmishers – the enemy was throwing out to feel their way preparatory to a grand dash. Finding we were soon to have serious work I looked for my orderly that carried the Surgeon’s field knapsack. He was leading a pack-horse & had been unable to keep up with our rapid advance & I was compelled to ride a mile back to meet him. Then for a moment I considered what I should next do – first I had my choice to go back to a place of safety where the Chief Surgeon of the Corps would establish his field hospital but I felt a great historical day had arrived & I preferred for the present (at least until work became pressing at the hospital) to follow the fortune of my battalion. Then I & my orderly George Vaughn exchanged looks full of meaning. He had lately been assigned to the duty & (being an Hospital attendant) had never been in action. I knew he had a wife & some small children at home. This reflection made me decide to not take him into [the fight] so I shouldered the knapsack myself & sent him to find the field hospital – with the other attendants giving him my horses in charge. Then making my way on foot back to the right where my Division was taking up position – I had to pass in rear of our Divisions engaged [troops] through a shower of half spent bullets. Although I could see no fighting on account of the thick undergrowth that covered the field yet the woods, a few hundred yards on my left, was now swarming with combatants – engaged [in] hand to hand [combat] – for in order for men to fight it was absolutely necessary before they could see each other to be within speaking distance. They seemed to be pouring their fire into each other with a fury perfectly hellish, the woods was all one continuous blaze & roar – while from time to time – wild savage & defiant cheers rose above the infernal uproar. I had now reached the right

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Removing the Wounded from the Wilderness, 1864. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

of the battle line of our 3d Division which it will be remembered was made up of a portion of the canceled 3d Corps many remains of cutup regiments were slowly falling back black with powder & exhausted by their efforts & the heat of the day. Officers were trying (not to rally them) but to half & collect them in order – one mounted officer I heard say “Steady men” “Halt” & “Close up” “You know who wears the diamond” (their badge). Here too I reencountered Genl Hancock coolly riding about among those groups – speaking kindly & encouragingly to them & setting them to work to build log breastworks. Having reached the rear of my regiment (which I found on the extreme right of the Corps but not yet engaged) the Chaplain met me & told me he was in search of me as Brevet-Brig Genl [Samuel Sprigg] Carroll Col of the 8th Ohio – commanding our Brigade was wounded. We joined the regiment & made inquiries for the General but could not learn where to find him in those thick woods. However he soon came walking along the line encouraging each battalion as he passed carrying his arm in a sling. I stopped & spoke to him – looking at his wound. I found he had received a rifle bullet through the fleshy part near the shoulder. It was already roughly bandaged – but he utterly refused to have anything more done to it or to go to the rear but told me I must

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not stay there as it would soon be too hot & advised me to take up some sheltered position as near as possible. This like many orders was easier to give than to carry out as the land for almost any distance around was perfectly flat & the only spot I could find worthy of the name of cover was a large old fallen tree about one hundred yards in rear of the Brigade. Here I stopped until darkness set in – halting & dressing all the wounded I could see walking or being carried to the rear. The Asst Surgeon of the 10th ny joined & assisted me (I have forgotten his name).23 My Brigade had but one encounter during this evening. It was with a body of the enemy that stole close upon them in the thick undergrowth. Our pickets fired their warning shots & fell back on their battle line. Our troops laid perfectly still on the leafy ground – the enemys line first came insight of the 12th nj & this regiment at once poured a close volley of their ball & buckshot into them – which had the effect of confining their operation to skirmishing for the remainder of the day at that part of the line. But on other parts of the field how different? A terrific battle was proceeding on our far right – where the 5th & 6th Corps were engaged – the musketry was indistinct – but the artillery spoke out in grand & rolling volleys. Besides that – on the left & centre of the 2d Corps – one of the bloodiest if not protracted struggles ever fought at the rifles’ muzzle was going on. This long May afternoon (at least from 3 to 8 pm) the ringing volleys of musketry scarcely ceased for a moment. The continuous roar & crackle ran up & down the line – like trains of blasts set on fire – now warning of some point followed by the wild & bloodcurdling yells of the enemy – as some part of our line was literally “shot away” then the deep Britishlike cheer of our troops – followed by another thundering outburst of musketry from both sides – as fresh battalions on brigade rushed forward to reclaim the lost ground then again the same act repeated many times over at different points of this line swimming in fire & blood, now a general & long sustained crash along the whole line meet with the battle cry of both armies – the earth shiver[ed] under ones feet – although hardly a shot from a field piece is heard – the frightful turmoil propagates itself through the wooded tract until every tree seems to have a voice if one withdraws their attention a moment from those sounds he is conscious of a distant & sustained rumble – which he cannot define – but it seems to be in the air overhead & resembles the sound of hundreds of railway trains driven at full speed on some aerial railway that he can hardly persuade himself has no existence. There is not a nocturnal cloud in the sky but the sun has

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long disappeared – in the thick masses of grey smoke – that rolls up cloud after cloud from this tessestmal hell. The 2d Corps covered the plank – the main line of march through this country. He, Genl Lee, has attacked our army in flank as it marched. It makes a half wheel to the right & confronts its enemy. He throws his best troops on the plank road at the point he imagines to be our centre with the object of cutting us in two. At the same time he attacks our right furiously – with the object of either turning our right flank or preventing relief coming to our centre. Consequently the guarding of this post of honor fell upon the 2d Corps alone during this terrible day – & guard it they did but too well for at nightfall the flower of the veteran 2d were stretched dead or bleeding on the ghastly field. Night came at last the combatants laid down where they had fought – no ground being apparently gained on either side. The ninth Corps under Burnside having been in camp beyond the Rappahannock had not come up but marched the whole of this night in order to come to the relief of the 2d in expectation of the battle being renewed [the] next morning. The ambulance Corps now commenced their sad but benign duty for the night. After the night had become quite dark & all fighting ceased except a straggling shot on the picket line, I sought the field hospital – which I found about a mile & a half in the rear – reaching it about midnight being too much exhausted to work any longer after swallowing a cup of coffee my orderly prepared [for] me I laid down on the earth & slept until daybreak. Next morning finding the wounded of the Division pretty well cared for by the Surgeons who had been at hospital from the opening of the battle – I started for the front. The fighting had commenced at sunrise but not so fierce as the preceding day – I found the Corps had advanced about a mile the enemy falling back before them without much resistance. Our troops appeared to have been drawn forward intentionally by the enemy for they suddenly came upon heavy masses of fresh troops – who poured a close & deadly fire into them as they emerged from the woods. The whole Corps fell back & rallied on their first line. Our Brigade was badly handled & the 108th was one of its battalions that suffered the most. The regiment came back literally covered with blood – either of their own or that of their wounded comrades – nearly all of which they had managed to carry off but several dead & hopelessly wounded were left on the field – among the former I learned with great sorrow was a fine young man – who had been my orderly on the field of Gettysburgh & several other

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battles, Charles B. Dickson, Co. a. Col Powers was shot through the left lung & almost every Captain was wounded.24 Having got my wounded on the way to the field hospital I followed them & set to work – leaving the Corps rallied & reformed to receive an expected attack from the enemy. They had not long to wait it was now 8 o’clock – about 9 the enemy again advanced in force on our left & centre – still contending for the plank road. But the 9th Corps had now got up to the relief of the exhausted 2d. A most terrific battle ensued – fought on a larger scale than the preceding day – but it was impossible that it could exceed the former in fury. After lasting for one hour – the enemy move[d &] left the field temporarily in our possession – but to bring up fresh troops & muster all their available strength for another grand & last effort at half past 4 o’clock pm. This supreme effort had been anticipated [as] log breastworks had been built – with orders for the troops to abandon them on the first attack of the enemy & to fall back & reform in the woods within easy range of those breastworks – while guns were trained down the line so as to enfilade it.25 Sure enough on they came & fell into the troops – driving in our skirmishers & making a dash at the line carrying the log fence easily & advancing beyond after what they doubtless conceived to be a retreating enemy – but the remains of the 9th & 2d were ripe for revenge – for now the guns opened with canister double shotted & the whole line of our troops charged & engaged the over confident enemy – who after a fierce & stubborn resistance of half an hour left their dead & counted on the field & all remained quiet in front for the day. All [the] next day, the 5th I spent in [the] field hospital among the wounded – all of which that the corps Ambulance train could accommodate were sent overland to Acquia Creek on the Potomac. Towards evening reports began to circulate at the hospital that our right was turned. This was not however believed generally as they had no fighting in our front during the day & on our right merely a few distant cannon shots. However about nightfall orders were received by all the Surgeons & the assistants to join their regiments at once – one surgeon only being detailed to remain with the wounded of each Division. The order was given with the information that the enemys cavalry was in our rear. In ten minutes we had saddles packed & were moving to the front & soon learned not a moment too soon – being scarcely out of sight in the woods – when their cavalry rode in capturing the hospital & Ambulance train – which they however did not keep long in custody – having far more important work on their hands. I have never learned why they were permit-

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ted to ride about thus in our rear – without any opposition, probably because our cavalry was occupied at some distant point. I found my regiment in bivouac a short distance in rear of the scene of the late action & all slept undisturbed here for the night. On the morning of the 8th we marched at 6 am about 5 miles to the left & halted about 9 o’clock & formed a line on [the] ground that had the preceding days been the scene of a battle – as the trees were greatly scarred & some of the enemy’s dead lay on the field.

battle of the po river About 2 pm., the Corps moved to the left & took up another position – where we remained for the night. Heavy skirmishing had been going on all day apparently between cavalry but towards night the 6th Corps on our left became hotly engaged & fighting continued until darkness put a stop to it. Next morning at 7 we moved about a mile further to the left & halting – the regiment was ordered on the picket line except Co h, with the colors that remained with the Brigade – which moved a mile still further to left – heavy skirmishing going on all day & one of our batteries kept firing on a distant wagon train of the enemys – that seemed to be making its way southward. About 6 pm heavy fighting commenced on our right in which a part of the 5th & 6th Corps were engaged. The latter Corps this day was unfortunate in losing its chief, the heroic Major Genl John Sedgwick – one of the abler & best officers in this army. Darkness again bringing operations to a close – the whole of the 2d Corps moved up on the right of the 6th crossing the river Po on a temporary bridge & bivouacked for the night – the skirmishers keeping up a constant fire in the woods – a few hundred yards in front of us the whole night long. Genl Lee had chosen the Wilderness for his battle field & as I have already said attacked the Army of the Potomac in flank while on the march – hence he was enabled to inflict great loss on it – but utterly failed to penetrate any part of this line of steel. Tis true his first blows delivered at unexpected points told heavily on it but Grant, having once discovered the object & plan of the Southern chief it became a fair trial of stubborn pluck & endurance. Both armies were fresh from camp – both in the most robust state of physical health & met with all the eagerness & confidence of two young giants – each defying his enemy. The Confederates fought (to say the least) like very tigers but then they had lions to counter with. Indeed the furious charges at the

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Wilderness – were Lees last efforts to assume the offensive on a large scale as he never again had such an army at his disposal. Genl Lee having failed in his first object – was not without resources – but drew back & prepared to take up another unequalled position for acting on the defensive – in the broken & wooded country about Spottsylvania Court House – intersected by five smaller streams – called respectively – the Mat – Ta – Po – NY & the common stream below the confluence of those is called the Mattatpony. Genl Grant devised his purpose & immediately commenced to move southward also parallel to the enemy – hence the series of severe skirmishes which continued from the 7th to the 10th May which culminated in another battle on the Po River where Lee again showed front. The morning of May 10th was opened with pretty sharp skirmishing on our right front – the enemy showing some disposition to take the offensive – at this point contending apparently for our position on the south of the river. This nearly closed about 8 o’clock & their attention seemed more directed to our centre. About this time some of our batteries commenced leisurely to shell their position in the centre – where they were throwing up works. Near noon – our division recrossed the river & advanced down its left bank. Having myself made some delay in following my regiment on this movement I took a wrong road in following it & rode into the troops of our 6th Corps at a point where hot skirmishing was going on. Retracing my steps I got to the rear of the 2d Corps & found my Brigade going into action in the centre. Learning a battle was probably at hand I rode to the rear to find where the Corps field hospital was established – finding our ambulance, I left my horse there & returned to the front on foot (a little more than a mile) when on reaching the line of the 7th [West] Va, one of the regiments of my Brigade – fighting had commenced pretty sharp – missiles flying about thickly – so that I was glad to avail myself of the shelter of some rude breastworks – the 7th was trying to cover themselves with in case of necessity. Artillery now opened & the fight became general – plenty of bullets came singing through the air or skipping on the earth & shells tore their way through the belt of woods in front of us – burst[ing] above our heads – cut[ting] down limbs & small trees – [splashing] the water & mud from a small brook in our faces. Our troops are being advanced to feel the enemys position – who contests the ground stubbornly – but near night a severe charge was made & repulsed – the enemy being strongly protected by fieldworks & slashed timber – as well as by the broken character of the ground. Genl Grant also attacked the whole extent of their line but

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was compelled to withdraw with less from almost every point & night once more gave a short truce to the wearied soldiers with the exception of the picket lines – who kept up such a sharp fire all night that it might almost be called a continuous fight. As the wounded had again begun to come in thick towards the middle of the afternoon & I being on the operating board was compelled to go to the Ambulance Hospital. This I did with some reluctance – after waiting for some time for a lull in the artillery firing – as on leaving the slight shelter on the reserve line of battle I was compelled to cross the field alone under fire from more than half a mile – but fortunately all safe though Dr A[lexander] Dougherty – our worthy Corps Med[ical] Director was not so lucky – receiving a rather severe contusion from a piece of shell while making the same traject. Having reached the Ambulance I found plenty of work until dark & was then detailed on duty as one of the officers of the night. My duties were to make continual rounds among the wounded of the Division attended by an orderly carrying a lantern & to attend to the immediate wants of the wounded as they came in from the field. I was relieved by another Surgeon at midnight. During all my watch the wounded were arriving from the field, many of whom had fell in the slashed timber abatis through which the troops had charged & being repulsed – no wounded could be removed before darkness set in & even then, nothing but great bravery of the stretcherbearers could withdraw them from their terrible position – on account of the fusiliers kept up through out the night but the enemy’s pickets.26 The poor 108th had again suffered terribly for such a small battalion – fully 5 per cent [of the regiment] – being dead or wounded, the latter generally severely.

hospital near spotsylvania court house following the battle of po river On this day also the Gallant Col Carroll – who had remained at the head of his Brigade for five days – with a bullet hole through his arm received another bullet through the elbow joint of the same arm – necessitating amputation near the shoulder. He had become so exhausted – by his heroic sufferings – that his recovery became doubtful – but luckily he finally recovered. This officers soul seemed to be in the battlefield even while completely under the influence of chloroform while we operated – he never ceased to rally & encourage his men & on recovery his only words were on seeing his right arm gone were “By

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– the 2d Corps have lost a good soldier!” “I would not care for it if it were not for my Bet” (he was a married man). On the whole this had been as painful a nights duty as ever I performed so many wounded came in – cold – drenched with rain – & in a dying state – one poor fellows case I can never forget – he was shot through the intestines – which protruded through the wound – he could still speak – seeing his life was short I informed him of this respecting his religion by his tongue I asked him would he like a Chaplain. He answered he would if possible – further stating he had been a Catholic. There was no Catholic Chaplain in our Division so I groped my way through woods & darkness to our first Division Ambulance hospital expecting to find Father Corby of the 88th New York – but he could not be found then & I was obliged to return without him & found my poor patient had departed. I finally laid down at 2 am & snatched three or four hours sleep. Next day was a busy one at the amputating table & preparing the wounded to be transported to general hospital by wagon train – as sufficient Ambulance wagons – could not now be spared for this duty. No fighting of any import occurred this day except the usual scattering fire of the pickets & an occasional shot exchanged by the artillery – apparently intended to say “We are here yet & not beaten either.” Much of this firing I heard was on account of a gun that had become fast[ened] in trees & abandoned of our batteries – it lay between the two picket lines & both sides wished to bring it in – the one to capture it – the other to save it. Consequently a continual fire was kept up – to keep any bold enough from making the attempt. Our men finally recovered it during the night. Otherwise both armies including the Medical Staff [would have] lost some rest which they much needed.

second battle near spotsylvania the day broke on the 12 th may – with all the too familiar sounds of

another close & bloody meeting of the two armies – whole volleys of artillery – the intervals being completely filled with the continuous roll of the infantry rifles – mixed with the usual cheers & yells of attack & defiance. The 2d Corps had been ordered to move during the night on the enemys right & to attack at dawn a point of his line – believed by our pioneers to be the salient in military parlance on that part of the line considered to be the key of his position. The movement broke up Lee’s fortified position but failed to route his army. Both the attack & defense are believed to have been the closest & bloodiest – for the number

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engaged of the whole war & perhaps of modern warfare. Fortunately it was very limited in extent for had it been [a] general [engagement] both armies [would] have been literally annihilated. The 2d Corps carried the [apex of the salient] at the first charge & held it – capturing some nineteen pieces of artillery & about five thousand infantry – including several famous officers.27 But this was merely the commencement of the battle. Genl Lee hurled mass after mass of his best troops forward to recover the coveted ground – they charged & recharged our line through perfect hailstorms of shell & canister from our guns at short range – engaged our infantry at the muzzle of the rifle – the firing line on either side actually resting their rifles crossed on the same low breastwork – pouring their fire in until all fell dead or wounded & were immediately replaced by others who fell upon the bodies of their comrades until the trench was for some extent piled four deep with bodies – all the badly wounded that fell being suffocated by their fallen comrades bodies. I was too busy to visit this part of the field after the action – but several of [our] own officers related to me that there was a poplar tree [about] twenty inches in diameter – standing by the breastworks cut away with rifle bullets until it fell. I was almost inclined to doubt the story did I not find it verified by a letter a Confederate Surgeon [wrote] & since by a field officer of the same army.28 And so this butchery continued with little intermission until half past two pm when the gallant but exhausted enemy [surrendered].

 Line of Battle, 2nd Divs 2nd ac, Hanover ch Va, May 31st, 64 Dear Sister, I received a letter from you on the 19th [of May] for which I feel grateful – but so few mails have arrived or left us of late that I have not had an opportunity to answer you & now that the attempt is made you are obliged to pay your own postage as I am out of stamps & [have] no means of getting any from Washington. Those few lines in pencil are merely intended to calm any apprehension you may have for my safety, as it is impossible for one in my position to describe many of the events that have passed here. [I ] am happy & thankful to state that my health at present is as good as usual – a report I could not have honestly made a few days ago as I have had very poor health indeed for about a fortnight – no definite sickness indeed but having lived well in camp – then suddenly

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going on marching rations besides being completely worn out through work – excitement – & want of regular sleep are some of the causes of my feeling poorly but I feel all right again & ready for anything. The present position of our Corps is a few miles left of Hanover Court House between the rivers Pamunkey & Chicahominy – about eleven miles from Richmond. Very heavy skirmishing & artillery fire are going on in front while I write – in fact this has continued daily since the afternoon of the 5th of May when the battle of the Wilderness commenced. Not only every day since [but] frequently all night has the roar & the thunder of artillery & the spiteful everlasting crack of rifles been grinding in our ears. Every foot of ground for (40) forty miles has been fought for. The enemy have been driven from their regular battlefields viz Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, & the North Anna River. He has now taken his stand on the fourth field in defense of Richmond. Have not heard from Col Powers for some time but when last I did [he] was [beginning] to recover. [Several] of the 108th are killed on the field & about one hundred wounded among the latter all its best officers, many of the wounds of the enlisted men will prove Mortal in this season. The wounded are all removed to General hospital [as] soon as their immediate wants are attended to. You must not be anxious – should you not hear from me as often as usual for owing to the frequent moving of the Army. Mails are very irregular. Neither should you at home write less often as I will get your letter some time. Will conclude by [encouraging] you to be happy & cheerful as you should be seeing you live in a country [rich] with peace. I can also assure you that although the darkest pages in the annals of human misery are continually open before me I manage to remain calm & helpful through all those trying times. Hoping dear sister this will find you all well & that I may soon hear from some of you I remain your affectionate brother, Francis M. Wafer md

 Field Hosp 2nd Corps near Cold Harbor Va June 9th, 64 Dear Sister, Your welcome letter of the 30th May reached me yesterday & was as usual a source of much gratification to me to hear once more

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that all is well at home – or at least as well as I could expect. Indeed I have had little cause for complaint in this campaign of not hearing from home often with the exception of the first week when mails were irregular but now that communication is fairly established I hope we will correspond at least every week. My health remains tolerable all things well considered – although probably you would be inclined to doubt my statement if you saw my thin & sunburned profile with a badly soiled uniform hung loosely upon it – but the very best here are in the same plight – not excepting Major Generals. We are yet in the same position from which I last wrote – the enemy are in trenches & so are our men there seems to be but little ground lost or gained lately – in fact it amounts to a siege – although we are 9 or 10 miles from Richmond. There has been no cessations of hostilities since we crossed the Rapidan. Nothing important is doing at present nor has [there] been for several days – except skirmishing which continues almost day & night. This Corps had a heavy fight on the 3d of June in which we lost in our Regt four killed & fourteen wounded. Among the latter was Capt Joseph Deverell commanding the regt, & among the former [Second] Lieut John J. Kenlingside whose photograph you have – he imprudently took a rifle in his hands & went into an exposed situation for the purpose of watching some of the enemy’s artillerymen to hinder them from firing their pieces. The enemys skirmishers saw & fired a volley at him – when he was pierced by three bullets & fell on the field a corpse at the early age of 22, a victim to his own reckless daring. Am sorry to hear of Father’s drinking again knowing what a difference of feeling it makes in our house but let us all try & hope for better times to come. The greatest danger in our house under such circumstances is his habits being a prime cause of impatience & despondency to everyone in the house – but you must all try & not let such feelings keep you down like a weight about your necks. I too well know there are many causes of dissatisfaction with your home – but wherever we may go we will find the same load to bear. I am much opposed as I always was to your working in the fields the more so as there is so much heavy work to do about the house, owing to the inconvenient manner of dividing & arranging almost everything – but in the meantime I am as powerless as willing to prevent it. All I can say is if [Father] will hire a man through harvest to [work in] your place he is welcome to pay him from my pocket whatever maybe

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the demands. I am surprised that Mother & all of you should be so anxious concerning me as I have frequently told you I am very little exposed to injury by the enemy – perhaps not more than many men in civil life are exposed to violent accidents – besides you should all [believe] as I do of myself – God’s will [will] be done & I have also the consolation that should I become disabled by sickness or wounds – there is no one depending on me directly for existence. The weather is hot here but apparently healthy. The crops – that is what is left of them by the contending armies, look well & are very forward – potatoes & apples are as large as butternuts & garden vegetables are mostly fit for plucking. They are plucked here however – whether fit or not. I must continue to write without stamps so you will have to pay dear for your letter. I wish you could take some of my money & buy about 20 ten-cent American postage stamps & send them to me. No more at present but I hope to remain here Sister your ever affectionate brother, Francis Moses Wafer, md

tings rom Petersburg of a Canadian andSurgeon Hatcher’s Run

6 Letters from Petersburg and Hatcher’s Run

I

At the battle of the Wilderness, a swatch of land “covered with a dense growth of dwarfed pines and scrub oaks, intertwined and interlaced by a profusion of vines, creepers, and briars,” Lee’s “Army of Northern Virginia ... once more demonstrated its tenacity. General Grant’s first battle as commander of the Union armies [showed] him to be no better than his predecessors.”1 In the words of Confederate general John Brown Gordon: “General Grant was the aggressor ... his purpose was to drive Lee before him; that this was not accomplished; that both armies camped on the field; that Lee only left it when Grant moved to another field and that both days ended with a Confederate victory.”2 Again, the Army of the Potomac failed to defeat Lee. Failure came at a terrible price. More than eighteen thousand Union troops lay dead or wounded in the Wilderness including the fatalities of Generals Wadsworth and Hays. Victory, however, also carried a price tag. “A strange fatality attended us,” wrote Lee’s aide-decamp Walter Taylor. “Jackson killed in the zenith of his successful career; Longstreet wounded when in the act of striking a blow that would have rivaled Chancellorsville in its result; and in each case the fire was from our own men. A blunder! Call it so; the Old Deacon would say that God willed it.”3 In addition to Longstreet, more than eleven thousand Confederates lay dead or wounded in the Wilderness. Yet unlike previous Union commanders, Grant did not

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withdraw to lick his wounds. Instead, “Grant pressed Lee relentlessly in an increasingly bloody war.”4 Soldiers of all stripes acknowledge that the battle of the Wilderness marked a turning point in the war. For Confederate Henry Kyd Douglas, the Wilderness confirmed his “conviction that the struggle ahead of us was a different character from any we had experience in the past” and indeed it was.5 Until May of 1864, the Union and the Confederacy conducted a war characterized as much by its inaction as its military campaigns. According to Confederate solider Constant C. Hanks, “two extremes: perfect idleness and laziness” and “the severest exercise” made up a soldier’s life.6 Grant’s decision to continue his campaign altered the erstwhile nature of soldiering. Indeed, Grant “was going to rip the throat out of the Army of Northern Virginia” even if it meant destroying “the Army of the Potomac to do it.”7 The battle of the Wilderness inaugurated a new phase in the war, a bloody phase of continual fighting. Fresh from the fighting in the Wilderness, Lee accurately predicted Grant’s next move. “Spottsylvania [sic],” Lee informed Gordon, “is now General Grant’s best strategic point. I am so sure of his next move that I have already made arrangements to march by the shortest practicable route, that we may meet him there.”8 The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac tangled for two weeks in the area around Spotsylvania Court House. The most intense fighting centred on the Confederate salient, or mule shoe, on 10 May. In the words of Maine soldier John Haley, ”All around the salient, was a seething bubbling roaring hell of hate and murder."9 Ohio soldier Thomas F. Galwey agreed for “of all the battles [he] took part in ‘Bloody Angle’ at Spotsylvania exceeded all the rest in stubbornness, ferocity, and in carnage.”10 Indeed, Meade lost four thousand men that day including the beloved General John Sedgwick. Although suffering from equally heavy losses, the loss of one man in particular stunned the Confederacy. Indeed “[n]o incident of mortality, since the fall of the great Jackson, has occasioned more painful regret than this. Major General J.E.B. Stuart, the model of Virginian cavaliers and dashing chieftain, whose name was a terror to the enemy, and as familiar as a household word in two continents, is dead – struck down by a bullet from the foe, and the whole Confederacy mourns him.”11 Lee, upon hearing of Stuart’s death, could “scarcely

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think of him without weeping.”12 The loss of Stuart “was possibly a greater loss to the Confederacy even than that of the swift-moving General ‘Stonewall’ Jackson,” for in Stuart the army lost its eyes and ears.13 From 7 May to 24 May, Grant lost thirty-five thousand men to death or injury yet failed to destroy Lee and the numerically inferior Army of Northern Virginia. Grant renewed his vow to crush the Confederacy, proposing “to fight it out on the line if it takes all summer,” which indeed it did.14 The continual skirmishing following Spotsylvania resulted in a deadlock on the North Anna River. The Army of the Potomac relocated along the Pamunkey River. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia head to Totopotomoy Creek, “the first natural barrier below the Pamunkey,” in order to place themselves between Grant’s advancing forces and Richmond.15 Sheridan and Hampton’s cavalry clash on 28 May evolved into the thirteen-day battle for Cold Harbor. Again, Grant’s failure to dislodge and defeat Lee resulted in a stalemate. Lee’s army “acted purely on the defensive, behind breastworks, or feebly on the offensive immediate in front of them,” Grant informed Halleck, and “without a greater sacrifice of human life than I am willing to make all cannot be accomplished that I have designed.”16 Having lost seven thousand men to the Confederacy’s fifteen hundred, Grant turned his attention to crossing the James River, outflanking Lee’s right, destroying Lee’s lines of communication at Petersburg, and ultimately fighting and defeating Lee in Richmond. Without Stuart to keep Lee abreast of Grant’s action, the Army of the Potomac successfully stole a march on Lee. Protected only by Beauregard’s fifty-four hundred troops, Lee ordered reinforcements to the city. Grant’s offensive met with unpleasant results. The Confederates defended the city from their trenches and in doing so were able to “cut [the Federals] down like hail cuts the grain and grass.”17 Grant lost ten thousand men in four days and the morale of the Army of the Potomac sank to an unprecedented level. Unwilling to face yet another defeat at the hands of Lee, Grant abandoned costly frontal assaults on the Confederates in favour of a siege. I

 In the field two miles from Petersburg, Va June 20th, 1864 Dear Brother,

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Surgeons of the Second Corps, 2d Division at Petersburg, 1864. Francis M. Wafer, third surgeon from the right in the back row. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

I received yours of the fifth last evening only – we have changed base so often that mails are very irregular indeed. Yet it is better to be contented with small favors, they being better than none. Your letter was written cheerful & spirited & was highly gratifying to me, for the good news it contained. Before this reaches you, two letters in pencil – one enclosing notes to you & Maria – the other to Maggie will probably have reached you. I have the happiness to report a continuance of good health to you the best in fact I have enjoyed for the season. You will doubtlessly hear sooner than I could write you from other sources of the movements of the Army. Let me simply state we are now upwards of eighty miles from our last winter quarters on the Rapidan having crossed in our march three large rivers the

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last & greatest being the James which river we crossed in Steamers on the 14th [of] June taking up our march & arriving before Petersburg next evening in the siege of which city the army is now engaged. The fighting is yet of the fiercest description no animal has been yet created that is savage enough to endure combat so long unless man. After repeated & desperate charges, often continued [in] the moonlight nights, our men have succeeded in carrying three of the outer lines of works. There seems to be nothing for it but to rush forward in line with the bayonet upon their formidable breastworks & carry by force of courage & determination every obstruction, while many gallant men never get halfway before they are disabled or a corpse. Our advance lines are now within about a mile of the city which is called the Key to Richmond. Since last writing our loss has been one officer Lieut [William] Dutton Co d badly wounded, one private killed & three wounded & Lieut [Solomon] Fatzer Co I & two privates captured. Two Army Corps have joined us containing many negro troops. Though I have been much prejudiced against them I must admit I am much pleased with their soldierly appearance & discipline. They also stand very high even in the estimation of the white troops for their gallant conduct under fire.18 It is 6 o’Clock pm. all is quiet at present at the front but for how long I know not, cannon have been thundering away throughout the whole line during the forenoon. The weather has been very dry but not excessively hot during the past month everywhere you may step is ankle deep in light sand so that if you look towards where a fight is in progress between the dust & smoke, you merely look at an impenetrable grey cloud, out of which emanates cheers bursting volleys of musketry & the appalling roar of cannons & explosion of shells. Since being limited & wishing to mail this tonight I must conclude this hurried answer expecting to hear from some of the girls soon ever remaining your affectionate brother Francis Moses Wafer md

 July 4th, 1864 Camp in the field near Petersburg Va Dear Sister

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Your welcome letter of the 25th June was received yesterday, 3d [July]. By it I am informed that there are two letters of mine written within the last fortnight that you have not yet received. Under such circumstances [it is no] wonder you are anxious to hear from me. [I h]ave frequently [recognized that] my letters were very slow in transmittal but [I] have not been able to account for the delay. I have willfully delayed writing for some time past as I daily expected a letter from home & deferred writing on that account. You will see by reference to [the] dates of our respective letters that yours reach me promptly & in due time with few exceptions but it is quite different from [0mine] & I have sometimes suspected they were submitted to government surveillance.19 There has been very little fighting for the past week on this line & none whatever in the 2d Corps. A regular siege is going on but this Corps is at present held in reserve. [It is] very true [that] the bursting of huge mortar shells & the earthquake roar of 100 pounder cannon from our batteries go on day & night, but they are some distance in front of our position but such sounds have long since ceased to rob anyone of an hours sleep unless he be a very chicken hearted individual. I purposely omit dilating on the prospects or positions of affairs here [and] did I do so, [it would] probably be to no purpose as you would find it difficult to understand. Let it suffice to say that all here are hopeful that the siege will result favorably to the Union arms. You have before now read of a heavy loss to the 2d Corps in prisoners. This is keenly felt by the members of the celebrated Corps. It was the most provoking to soldiers because most of the men [were] lost, about 2000 were cut off & captured with very little fighting besides this Corps never lost a gun or stand of colors until it came upon this unlucky field. Of the whole Corps the Brigade I belong to was the only one [that] suffered no loss – it being in the second line of [battle] in reserve at the time of the accident. The whole affair did not last more than twenty minutes. As I have already stated we have been some time lying inactive, well it is nearly time [for us to get into action]. I[t] was just two months yesterday since the campaign opened, since then we have had, or rather the combatants of their Corps have had, no rest except what they might get in the trenches watching their wily enemies. Whenever we marched or changed positions the movement was performed through fine sand, ankle deep, every step stirred up clouds of dust so thick a person could not see five rods consequently every

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individual & thing became one color, that is, of a dirty blanket.20 The only distinguishing marks between a column of niggers & one of white soldiers were the never failing white eyes of the darkie & I think his wool held more dust. Well thank Providence we are relieved from this for a while at least. We are now in a pleasant shady camp behind our rear line of entrenchments. There are no external signs whatever of the late onerous campaign, everything as gay as a “marriage bible.” From day break until 9 in the evening the melody of a hundred brass bands & other martial music discoursing the “first music of the day” is continually swelling & echoing through the stately pine forests & most effectively relieves the monotony of camp life to me at least for I never tire of good music. The weather has been fearfully hot & dry no rain falling for a month there are now a few signs of rain & the air is a little cooler but I believe there were many days when had any active operations been undertaken both rebs & Yankees instead of fighting would break for the nearest shade trees & lie down together. I can safely assure you my health is good even all our anxious Mother could wish for. Several of our wounded officers have returned to duty among whom is Col Pierce but he was not allowed to remain long with us. He was assigned to the command of the 1st Brigade of the Division. I have heard Col Powers is doing well under his wound & is likely to recover. I met Charly Brownley quite accidentally a few days ago. He looks well & is in “high feather” in expectation of going home soon as his regiments time of service expires about this time.21 He is attached to a cavalry regiment which it seems is kept during all this campaign scouting on the rear & flanks of the army. He informed me of what I have since seen stated in the papers that Capt Robert Ellerbeck of the 22 ny Cavalry, late of the 6th, is badly wounded in the leg & a prisoner. I am sorry W[illia]m McLaughlin is boating on account of the bad associations he is likely to meet.22 I confidently hope for himself & sisters welfare, he will be able to resist the many temptations to which he will be exposed. [P]oor Maggie must be very lonely. [G]ive her my affectionate remembrance with the same to all my cousins & friends. No more at present but I remain dear Sister Your Most Affectionate Brother, Francis Moses Wafer md



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Hd Qus 108th NY Vols Camp in the field near Mitchells Station, Va. September, 1864 Dear Brother I arrived safe, at my command on the evening of the 27th finding my regiment encamped near the battlefield of Cedar Mountain, of 1862. I found in Dr Elys possession two letters from you written on the 12th & 18th inst, while I was absent from camp in Washington.23 By those I see you had not received a letter I wrote, on the 7th of Sept, & up to which I added a postscript in Washington. I suppose you will have received one [before] this reaches you [&] another I wrote in Washington, on my departure to rejoin my Corps. I know, none of you, will feel flattered by the indifference expressed in those letters, concerning my obtaining leave to visit you. But such indifference does not exist in my case, as the only medical officer with the [regiment] viz Dr Ely was about to resign. I had an object in view in immediately rejoining the command, which I may be able to explain to you at a future time. At all events, nothing [is] lost [by a soldier] in military service by not being at his post whenever he is able. Those that wish to go home on every trivial occasion, particularly when they smell a coming battle, seldom or never have the confidence of their chiefs. The disease such gentlemen are afflicted with military doctors call “cannon fever, ” I feel quite well now, with the exception of a slight cold I caught on the cars coming out. I have provided myself with top boots, [a] rubber poncho, & in the city I feel quite confident to be able to face a fall campaign in the capricious climate of Virginia. I found my horse, Joe Hooker, feeling proud & dewey after his long rest. He hardly knew me when I came back, or else he was provoked, at the sight, of a pair of new spurs he saw upon my heels. Poor old Bucher, I think I see six battery men, detailed to hold him, when the guns of the battery he belongs to [begin to] fire, not speaking of the time when the rebel shells burst so near, as to scorch him with the broken pieces of metal humming around him, & solid shot ploughing up the ground, & throwing earth loads of dirt & gravel, over him.24 I see you did not yet acknowledge the receipt of Harper’s Weekly, which I sent to [the] Kingston Post Office with your address, perhaps, you have not enquired for them. There should be many numbers, there for you. You will have something to pay on the Photograph I sent you. They would not receive any

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money at this end of the Express line, & I had nothing to send you but green backs. You must only charge it to Wafer, Wafer, & Co. As I requested in my letter of the 25th, I would like [it if] you would send me some photographs, you need not be [worried] at the showy one I sent you. I would prefer some plain vignette “Carte de visite” size so that they may be placed in an Album, & carried uninjured. I got a dozen such struck off when in the city which I intend to exchange with the other officers of the regiment. I would also be happy to exchange with any friend, who maybe willing to send one of such to me. I wish to write you a confidential letter, concerning an individual well known to you & I & also, perhaps some other affairs for your perusal only, I mean Johnny. For the future any letters intended for to be read in common, to everybody, will be addressed to Maggy & you will not permit the reading of your private letter by anybody. We have beautiful September weather, out here, though the nights are as cold as I would expect at home. Of course, as I have frequently informed you, you must pardon me, not giving you any information concerning the movements, or prospects of the army. It being my duty to remain silent on these matters. All is quiet at present. With a firm trust in the God of battles to whom I humbly recommend you all, I remain Your Affectionate Brother, Francis Moses Wafer, md I am grateful to you Maggy for your flowers, which you say are from my plot. I hope you have taken good care of it, in my absence. Poor things! They looked sorrowful enough, in this climate, so uncongenial to flowers, for the last two or three years. As I said, they looked sorrowful yet there was no external proof of this for Lord knows, it would take hard squeezing to obtain any tears, from them. fmw

 108th ny Vols Head Qrs 108th ny Vols Before Petersburg Va Oct 11th, 64 Dear Brother, I have not heard from home since Sept 23d. This is the second time of my writing since. [I a]m expecting a letter this evening

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hoping to hear good news through it. This leaves me in excellent health as usual. All is quiet here at present that is there are no advances making on either side – though were you to be here for one night you might be under the impression [that] your “big brother” was prevaricating when he says all is quiet for hardly a night passes without the usual mortar practice, & siege guns throughout the day & all for the pickets they hardly ever stop their infernal popping day or night. We have again moved back to fort Morton and we form a part of its garrison. We have been here for the past week & the enemy have never succeeded in bursting a shell [near] or in the fort. Solid shot cannot penetrate it anywhere unless the practice was good enough to throw one through an embrasure or opening in the parapets for our guns to fire through. We all live in the Bombproofs viz, long ranges of buildings something like a large Roothouse half under ground. The walls are built [of] logs backed by several feet of earth, the roof being heavy logs laid crossways & also deeply covered with earth – three sides are closed [with] the end towards the rear being open. They are quite comfortable to live in their only fault being darkness. In these houses, I have learned to sleep although mortars ten inches in diameter & 32 pounder rifle guns may be talking in their own peculiar language within a few yards of me & indeed if an hour or two passes without the usual thunder I begin to feel lonely for want of the sublime music of saltpeter. The weather has become quite cool though dry & pleasant. [T]he weather seems to be much milder here than where I was at the same time a year ago. We were then near the Blue Ridge both Rebs & Yanks “double quicking it” to see which would first get possession of the fortifications of Centreville as if the __________ was after the whole crowd. The lines are so strong here that it seems as if nothing except such things as crows or cannon balls could cross them. There has been some important & successful operations on our flank in which our Division was not engaged. We could merely hear the sound of the cannon. The right & left wings of our enemy are over twenty miles apart. All this line being occupied by the armies of the Potomac & James. The right wing is about seven miles from Richmond fronting that city as well as Petersburg. If one or both of these cities do not fall soon we will be likely to winter here. I hope you will not be longing for me to come home for being removed at least one day’s journey further from home than I was last winter & if I can not obtain a longer

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leave than last year I do not feel disposed to go home merely to “railroad it” home then turn back to the front all to the tune of one hundred dollars. I know you Britishers do not value greenbacks much but I have no inclination to throw mine away. For after all misfortunes you folks ascribe to greenbacks my salary is worth at present, $1000, one thousand dollars in gold per annum. And my belief in the case is one of “fox & grapes” for those that decry the currency so much.25 Well, I find subjects to write on very scarce just now unless I “wax flowery” like some newspaper “penny a liner” & try & astonish the nation with “pen & ink” eloquence. Col Powers has not yet returned to duty. Lt Col Pierce is unwell & by my advice is going home on sick leave his health has been delicate since entering the army. I am fairly used to the army & consequently you may inform all the girls who you think would be fools enough to wait for me to marry at once even should they find nothing more than a tailor for it is questionable whether this war will leave the equivalent of that fraction of a man of your poor old but ever affectionate Brother, Francis M. Wafer md

 Head Qrs 108th ny Vols Before Petersburg, Va Oct 30, 64 My Dear Brother, I have not heard from you since [your last letter] of Oct 10th. I hasten to write this note before this day’s mail goes out to let you know that I am all [right in case] you might indulge in gloomy speculations as to my safety when you hear of the late fighting in which the 2d Corps was engaged. We [are back safely] in camp. It was as far as I can understand a sort of wildcat affair much like Reams Station in some of its features.26 Two divisions of the Corps viz, 2d & 3d cut loose from the army & started with some cavalry on the morning of Oct 27th [on] a sort of reconnaissance to the only railroad leading into Petersburg. About 8 am, our Brigade, which had the advance, struck the line of the enemy’s breastworks which protected their right flank. The Brigade countered with bayonet at once charging through a stream & up a hill in the face of a sharp fire. The loss here was not heavy in numbers but the Brigade lost two valuable officers. L[ieu]t Col [Frank J.] Spalter, commanding

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4th Ohio & Maj [Thomas A.] Smyth of the 1st Delaware. Col Spalter was shot through the head & killed on the spot. Maj Smyth was badly wounded shot through the right femoral artery & but for timely assistance would have soon bled to death. The two Divisions then continued their march through dense pine woods for several miles southwest of Petersburg to what is called the Boynton plank road where we struck a large force of the enemy strongly fortified near the railroad, skirmishing immediately commenced soon followed by heavy fighting which lasted until dark. In our advance we had got between a large force of the enemys cavalry & their infantry supports. They were engaged all afternoon with our cavalry on the left & made most frantic & desperate efforts to break through our line. Their infantry at the same time attacked us in great force in front & on the right flank. Their artillery threw shot & shell completely through or over our position into their own men both right & left. Indeed since Gettysburg or the assault on Petersburg I have not seen cast iron cheaper – it could be had anywhere for picking up. But all their attempts to cut us off or dislodge us were promptly repulsed & when night came the troops were withdrawn to their former encampments & bringing with [them] many prisoners. The loss in our regiment was four wounded one of whom Capt [Dwight A.] Ostrander Co a who commanded the regiment all the field officers being absent. He was shot through the right arm, three inches below the shoulder joint. The joint with about four inches of bone had to be removed. His wound is a dangerous one. No more at present from your affectionate brother, Francis M. Wafer, md

 Hd Qus 108th ny Vols Camp near Hatchers run, Va Feb 17, 1865 Dear Brother You were doubtless anxiously waiting to hear from me since the late fights. I should have written before but as you could learn nothing from me more than you daily read – I postponed writing hoping to get a letter from home before so doing but none has arrived as yet. The last letter from home came to hand in Jan 31st dated Jan 27th. It was from Maggie. The late operations were not a general move of the army although many out of the army seem to

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be under that impression. We understand it here as merely a reconnaissance in force to ascertain Lees strength & at the same time, prevent him from sending any reinforcements to those points that are hard pressed by [General William Tecumseh] Sherman & other Generals. There are also decided advantages gained by the movement such as gaining a better position in a military point of view & extending our line threatening the enemys communications – reducing him to the necessity of confronting our new position thus weakening his lines elsewhere. The campaign lasted in all nearly a week meaning by campaigning that we were in the open air for that period. The weather was very severe for the season & the changes from comfortable quarters to lying on the damp ground was – you may judge not an agreeable one. I saw none of the fighting more than to see a few cannon shot & shell expend their already diminished force in the rear. I was for that week acting “Surgeon in Chief” of Brigade as owing to the absence of one & sickness of another. I was senior Medical Officer present having charge of the Medical wagons & Brigade Ambulances. The losses in the 2d Corps were trifling although the enemy disputed the extension of our lines pertinaciously. The 2d had the fighting all their own way not withstanding Lees veterans made no less than two or three charges on their line. The 5th Corps suffered some loses which was as far as I can learn mainly attributable to advancing their line too far without their left being sufficiently covered thus exposing their flank to be taken in reverse. The Corps however established their new line where required, you will inform Capt [James A.] McKinleys friends that he is safe. Leaving his command was very roughly handled I made a specialty of visiting him immediately after the fight. There was no serious casualty in the 108th. Lieut now Capt [Theodore E.] Knapp was struck by a spent bullet cutting the cloth from the band of his cap & drawing blood from the scalp. It did not put him off duty. We are about completing new quarters but will scarcely be again so comfortable this winter as we were. The troops that were engaged in the late movements suffered much but endured it all with wonderful resignation, being in high hopes that by continually pressing the enemy, giving him no room to recover from [attacks,] the war will soon be brought to a successful termination. I see through the news that you are having a severe winter about the lakes for myself I have found it cold enough here but that is not to be wondered at

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since I am completely acclimated to Virginia. In regards to you visiting the army there is yet no prospect of a propitious time for such a visit as the number of citizens getting passes to the front are very limited. The army is not by any means so accessible as last winter seeing that there is a voyage of 280 miles by water from Washington to City Points then nearly twenty miles by rail to this Corps. It would be very inconvenient for a traveler of your experience to succeed in reaching the front at all unless I could meet you in Washington “on ordinary leave of absence” being required for this. Then it is doubtful whether you could cross the Canadian lines at present without a passport which has to be purchased.27 But I have heard the passport system was revoked – but of all this you can satisfy yourself by calling on the American Consul at Kingston during his office hours & making enquiry to get transportation from Washington to the front.28 The Provost Marshal at Washington must be applied to personally & all so applying are required to have legitimate & valid reasons for entering the lines of the army. Last winter application could be made direct to the Provost Marshal in the army line & a pass being obtained it could be sent in a letter to any friend but I have not heard that such papers have been granted this season. You can let me know in your next [letter] the result of your enquiry of the American Consul & whether you intend to come out & if so at what time you will be ready to start & I will then inform you where I can be met & send you some directions [on] how to proceed on your journey. As for going home myself – although it would be agreeable the leave of absence is so short & seeing I have no business to transact also my being so lately there it would be but an idle journey.29 In six months my regiment will have served three years & will be mustered out of services. It is probably that if I should then wish to leave the service I will be permitted to do so but will not attempt to decide until the time arrives (a period fraught with great events intervene). Many who are now ignorant of the great future will be then as wise as all the sages of antiquity. Yet while the coming time is bright with so many great events [it] will soon pass away. If you have not already written – write as soon as soon as possible on the receipt of this & let me know the general standing of affairs about home. Paper & ink is cheap & the practice of writing is itself beneficial to the writer so it will not, I think, be taxing you too much to take a review of affairs great & small public & private which not indeed passing any

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intrinsic value of their own may nevertheless interest me much in my peculiar position. It is invariably the case that little home occurrences are seemingly of most importance to us here as for the printer never of the times it comes to hand in due season besides as for great events are we not participators in & spectators of the greatest not only of the century but of History? I had forgotten to inform you that my health remains good although much tired of late. I only hope you are all bearing the bitter cold of Canada as well as I am bearing the Virginia climate – although probably were you to come here you should say I had but little to complain of in that particular. No more until I again hear from you even remaining, Your affectionate brother, fmw

e

Epilogue

By the beginning of 1865, the Confederate war effort lay in shambles. In the words of John A. Campbell, confederate assistant secretary of war, “There was no connection between the government in Richmond and the Trans-Mississippi Department; the defeat of the Army of Tennessee at Nashville had opened the West and the Southwest to invasion in every part; Sherman’s army had devastated Georgia and all the railroad communication in the South and South-west; the war on the part of the Confederates [was] limited to the defense of Richmond and its dependencies and even here Lee scrambled to hold on.”1 Desperation gripped the Confederacy, and in that desperation Davis endorsed two actions that might save his nation. First, he tried to solve the manpower problem facing the Confederate armies. While the North relied on immigration, a luxury foreign to the South, the Confederacy simply had no more bodies to fill the ranks. In late 1864 Davis introduced a controversial bill before the Confederate senate. It advocated the enlistment of slaves as soldiers. Although the expected controversy surrounded the proposal, the bill eventually became law on 13 March 1865. Second, Davis sought to cater to southern peace advocates by sending north a commission charged with ending the war and securing the future of the Confederacy. Comprising Vice-President Alexander Stephens, Assistant Secretary of War John C. Campbell, and Senator R.M.T. Hunter of Virginia, the commission met with Lincoln and

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Union secretary of state Seward aboard the River Queen anchored off Hampton Roads, Virginia, in February 1865. Lincoln offered generous terms. To secure peace, the Confederates had to abolish slavery with some compensation and acknowledge the indivisibility of the Union: in essence, abandon the notion of an independent slave-based Confederate nation. The peace conference failed spectacularly. General George E Pickett’s reaction reflected that of many Confederates. “On every side,” he recalled, “gloom, dissatisfaction and disappointment seem to have settled over all, men and officers alike, because of the unsuccessful termination of the Peace Conference ... Our commissioners knew that we were gasping our last gasp and that the Peace Conference was a forlorn hope ... Now, heaven help us, it will be war to the knife, with a knife no longer keen, the thrust of an arm no longer strong.”2 The fate of the Confederacy now lay in the hands of Lee and his vastly outnumbered half-starved tatterdemalion Army of Northern Virginia holding the line at Petersburg. But eleven months of continuous warfare took its toll. John W. Haley of the Seventeenth Maine yearned for an end to the war. He and his comrades in arms “were sick and tired of slaughter and blood when we know that a slight concession on both sides could have settled the matter long ago. If left to us privates, we’d make short work of it. Perhaps we can accomplish more by cakes and coffee than by bullets.”3 Confederate private Abel Crawford echoed Haley’s sentiments: it seemed to him that “the soldiers have become so tired of fighting that they are almost willing to give it up on any terms.”4 Grant hoped to accommodate such desires by uniting his forces with Sherman’s and crushing Lee between the two armies, thus forcing his surrender. Wise to Grant’s plan of action, Lee launched one last desperate offensive designed to contract Grant’s line and prevent his unification with Sherman. On 25 March Gordon launched an unsuccessful attempt to penetrate the Federal line at Fort Stedman. Lee, hoping to save the Confederacy, suggested to Davis that victory hinged on abandoning Petersburg and Richmond in order to allow Lee’s army to join that of Joseph Johnston in North Carolina and together battle Grant and Sherman. Davis proved unreceptive to the plan. Entrenched indefinitely in and around Petersburg, Lee ordered Pickett to hold Five Forks crossroad, the access route to Lee’s last supply line, at all costs. On 1 April Sherman and Pickett clashed and Five Forks fell to the Union. The following day Grant launched a general offensive against Lee. With victory unlikely, Lee telegraphed Secretary

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of War John C. Breckinridge and informed him of the Army of Northern Virginia’s withdrawal from Petersburg and its movement towards Appomattox. Lee also advised Breckenridge that “all preparations be made for leaving Richmond tonight.”5 By 3 April the Union army occupied the capital of the Confederacy. As Lee retreated towards Appomattox Grant followed, intent on winning the war for the Union. By 9 April Grant had Lee pinned at Appomattox. Outmanned and with few options, Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant. For all intents and purposes, the war was over. Although Wafer’s letters and memoirs end abruptly, he likely witnessed this historic event, renewed his acquaintance with his old friend James McKinley, who accompanied Grant to the surrender, and experienced the euphoria that swept the Union forces. In the words of John W. Haley of the Seventeenth Maine: General Meade’s “frenzy of joy was contagious, and we acted as if we had taken leave of our sense. We shouted, danced, sang, and wept. Bands played, drums beat, flags were unfurled, guns fired, and cannon boomed.”6 A very different scene unfolded in the Confederate camps. Confederate W.G. Hinson recalled: “Oh Horror of horrors! It flashed through the command. Lee has surrendered. My pencil almost refuses to write the disgrace. Many an iron souled veteran burst into tears, which could not have been rung by ‘the’ rack and were willing to sacrifice life at any moment for the cause.”7 The final surrender of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia took place on 11 April. Wafer and the remaining members of the 108th New York among others no doubt witnessed a scene similar to that described in the Missouri Republican: “No word was spoke except the words of command to stack arms which was done orderly and quietly, facing the line of federal troops. Human lips were pressed to iron muzzles of guns and the men turned from them as sadly and sorrowfully as if they were moving from the graves of their first born. We passed on in ever looking back to the national potter’s field where our young republic was buried.”8 Although Davis remained on the run and the Army of Tennessee, Army of the Trans-Mississippi, and the Confederacy’s Indian allies had yet to surrender, the Army of the Potomac began the slow process of disbanding that same day. Grant ordered the Second Corps, including Wafer and the 108th New York, to camp at Burkesville, Virginia. They arrived on 13 April. On 15 April news of Lincoln’s assassination reached the ears of the Second Corps. Private Henry Kauffman best

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Grand Review of Union Troops in Washington, dc, 1865. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

summed up the men’s reactions: “In the midst of all our rejoicing came to us the sad news of the assassination of our beloved President of our republic. Those news cast a deep gloom upon the entire army. Flags were put at half mast & prayers were made through out the day.”9 On 2 May the 108th New York Infantry departed for Rochester, New York, via Washington. On 23 May Wafer was probably among the eighty thousand troops who participated in the Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac by Grant and the new president, Andrew Johnson. With Union colours flying, thousands gathered along Pennsylvania Avenue, emitting a cacophony of Union marching songs, cheers, applause, and certainly sobs. Even the horror of Lincoln’s death faded on that day as

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the nation honoured the Union victory in the Civil War and, more importantly, acknowledged the contributions of the soldiers. Following the review, the men of the 108th mustered out on 28 May near Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia. On 31 May the citizens of Rochester greeted the regiment with brass bands, flags, and a parade.10 Wafer’s return to Kingston in July was less eventful. Although there is little doubt that his family and friends enthusiastically received him, the City of Kingston took little note of the war-weary veteran’s return. Great joy and greater sorrow characterized Wafer’s postbellum years. He returned to his medical studies at Queen’s University for the 1865–66 session, studying practical anatomy, Materia Medica and pharmacy, obstetrics, and diseases of women and children. Once again he attended lectures on the institutes of medicine. After successfully completing the year he enrolled in the 1866–67 session during which, in addition to his courses at Queen’s University, he attended classes on clinical medicine and surgery at Kingston General Hospital as well as courses on the principle and practice of surgery and lectures on the theory and practice of medicine at Kingston’s Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons.11 Wafer successfully finished medical school and matriculated on 20 March 1867, receiving his diploma from Queen’s University as a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. He entered into private practice with well-known Kingston surgeon and politician Michael Sullivan, first at 82 Princess Street and then at 123 King Street. In addition to his private practice, Wafer also served on the faculty of medicine at Queen’s University as well as on the staff of the Kingston General Hospital. In his spare time, Francis advocated for a separate Catholic school system, remained active in St Mary’s Catholic Church, and helped his father, Peter, run the family farm. While his professional life blossomed after the war, Wafer also experienced great personal joy. His beloved sister Maggie married James Patrick Daley on 17 November 1873. On 7 September 1874 the family welcomed Mary Elizabeth Daley into the world and her brother, John Patrick, on 31 December 1875. Wafer delighted in his niece and nephew, but marriage and a family of his own proved elusive as the after-effects of his war injuries worsened. When Wafer left for the war, he struck his professors Horatio and Octavius Yates as “a strong athletic young man of more than ordinary physical powers” blessed with “the enjoyment of perfect health, having

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no apparent constitutional or hereditary tendency” towards disease.12 Wafer’s wartime experience of harsh living conditions and exposure to the elements conspired with stress, poor diet, and intense labour to destroy his health. According to the 108th New York’s former commander Francis E. Pierce, Wafer began complaining of back pain in February 1865 following the battle of Morton’s Ford. His health continued to decline and his “pain and sickness seemed to increase all the time so that he would probably have been discharged for disability, if he had not been mustered out with the Regt.” The once-robust Wafer “was very much emaciated and very feeble when mustered out, and to appearances completely broken down, and ruined in health and constitution.”13 Wafer returned home with a tumour on his back that “gradually but constantly increased in size and was soon followed ... by another symmetrical tumor upon the opposite side: That said tumor rapidly increased in size and in November following his discharge had to be opened; profuse suppuration followed revealing two or more deep pelvic abscesses.”14 On 15 January 1866, he summoned Dr Horatio Yates to the Wafer farm. According to Yates, Wafer was in “a state of great emaciation and exhaustions from the effects of pelvis abscesses and their copious discharges, communicating with the surface by sinuses.”15 Wafer’s health improved enough to allow him to graduate from Queen’s University and engage in a medical career. By 1872, however, Wafer was “physically disabled to pursue the practice of his profession except to a very limited extent or to follow any active employment.”16 Consequently, in January 1873 Wafer hired an attorney, Francis Fitch of Watertown, New York, to file a federal pension application. Up until this point, Wafer “deferred applying for pension at first believing that said disability would end in death and afterward hoping as he began slightly to convalesce that he might fully recover.”17 While Fitch gathered affidavits from Wafer, Pierce, Wafer’s former wartime doctors Robert Stephenson and William S. Ely, his colleagues and former professors Octavius and Horatio Yates, and his partner, Michael Sullivan, the wisdom of his application crystallized. Wafer’s health continued its downward spiral and he spent nine months of 1873 bedridden while the tumours on either side of his spine continued to grow. Wafer likely wrote the memoir that forms the centrepiece of this work to occupy his time. Horatio Yates examined Wafer on 17 February 1874 and “found him in a feeble and anemic state with two open fistula discharging pus – one

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on either side.”18 An examination by New York doctor C.M. Johnson confirmed Yates’s observations. Johnson described Wafer as being forty-five years old, standing five feet nine inches tall, and weighing one hundred and twenty pounds. Johnson reported that the “canis of Illness ... are fistular openings upon each side of spine ... still discharging and several indications of former openings” were evident. Johnson officially recommended that a pension be awarded to Wafer as he was “disabled from manual labor and the disease [was] progressive.”19 While the Pension Office certainly took Johnson’s recommendation under consideration, the application hit a number of snags that slowed down its approval. Wafer’s military service record proved to be the largest obstacle for it did not reflect the immense pain and suffering that he had endured during the war. Wafer’s record revealed that with the exception of two furloughs and one medical leave of seventeen days, he consistently performed his job. Wafer argued that “he succeeded although at great personal inconvenience and pain in performing his duty until his discharge and was not in any Hospital as a patient on account of said disability or on the sick list as he doubtless would have been but for the fact that being a medical man he was able to treat himself.”20 With the issue of his health unresolved, another problem emerged with his application. On 18 October 1873 the Pension Office informed Fitch that there was no evidence that Wafer had ever mustered into the 108th New York Infantry. On 12 January 1874 Fitch was informed that evidence had been found and the situation rectified. A communiqué to Fitch of 1 December 1875 revealed another hitch in the process: the Pension Office believed that William S. Ely’s affidavit was forged. Ely rectified the situation in January 1876 by authenticating his signature. That same month a new wrinkle materialized. Dr Robert Stephenson, Wafer’ doctor during his stay at the Georgetown officer’s hospital, moved to Ireland following the war. Fitch contacted the postmaster, John Adams, of Cloug, County Antrim, searching for Stephenson. Although Adams acknowledged that Stephenson lived in the area, a paralytic stroke had left Stephenson in “very delicate health.” Consequently, Stephenson never submitted the affidavit to Fitch or the Pension Office, thus delaying the approval of Wafer’s application. The Pension Office finally awarded Wafer his due compensation in May 1876.21 Sadly Wafer’s “strong constitution” gave way on 9 April 1876.22 The Kingston community mourned the death of one of its own. The St Vincent de Paul Society held the meeting that had already

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been scheduled for 9 April in the vestry of St Mary’s Cathedral and dedicated it to the memory of Francis M. Wafer. The Society resolved that it has pleased Almighty God to remove from amongst us a most zealous and devoted member of the Society, the late Dr Wafer ... That the members of the St Vincent de Paul society desire on this painful occasion to give expression of their feelings of sincere sorrow and deep regret at the loss of one who not only endeared himself by his kind and genial disposition but merited their esteem and gratitude, on account of the great interest he at all times took in promoting the welfare of the Society, and especially cheerfully giving his professional services to the poor under their charge ... That we deeply sympathize with the family of the deceased and hereby condole with them in their affliction ... [and] [t]hat the members of this Society attend the funeral of the deceased in a body and that the Society have a Requiem Mass offered for the repose of his soul. The following morning at a meeting of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Drs Lavell and Sullivan passed a resolution honouring Wafer. Accordingly, that in the death of our late Colleague, Dr Francis M. Wafer, this College has sustained a severe loss; that it is with profound pleasure that we testify to the learning, ability, and zeal with which he successfully discharged the duties of teacher in this school; as also our admiration of that strict sense of honour and conscientious devotion to duty which marked his conduct to the profession and the community; and that we feel that his life humble as it was afforded a bright example of the successful cultivating of those virtues which had adorned the lives of the best men of the medical profession; and that we offer his family the assurance of our most sincere sympathy in their great affliction. Across town, the Alma Mater Society held a special meeting. Mr T.D. Cumberland and Mr W.A. Lang resolved “that this Society having heard with profound regret of the decease of Dr Wafer, one of its most esteemed members, hereby records its appreciation of his many sterling qualities and its deep sense of the loss it has sustained in his

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lamented death; and further, the Society desires to express its sympathy with his afflicted relatives in their bereavement.” At mid-morning on 10 April 1876, a black horse-drawn hearse arrived at Wafer’s King Street residence. Pallbearers removed his body from the parlour and loaded it onto the cortège. From there, the procession wound its way through the streets of Kingston. Members of the separate school board and St Vincent de Paul Society, professors of the Royal College, the faculty of the Medical College of Queen’s University, and his family followed Wafer’s body to the steps of St Mary’s Cathedral. Pallbearers Burns, McCullough, Hickey, R. Gardiner, Jason McManus, and T.H. McGuire conveyed his remains to the front of the church. The sheer number of people in attendance amazed Wafer’s parents, Peter and Elizabeth, his siblings, John, Maggie, Agnes, Maria, Martha, and Elizabeth, and his extended family. Father Twomey and Bishop Corbett performed the service. A full choir sung “a solemn Requiem Mass.” Afterwards the procession departed for a graveside service at St Mary’s Cemetery where Wafer was laid to rest.23 The fight for a federal pension continued after Wafer’s death. In 1883 his father, Peter, hired A.B. Webb, a lawyer based in Washington, dc, to pursue compensation from the Pension Office. Peter reasoned that Wafer had provided room and board for his parents for two months a year as well as clothing and medical attention, totalling an estimated two hundred dollars per annum. Wafer’s disability prevented the continuation of such contributions as well as Peter’s access to his son’s labour power on the family farm.24 The Pension Office required a listing of Peter’s property and income in order to ascertain how Wafer’s contribution, or lack thereof, affected the family. Affidavits from Peter, his son John, and neighbours Alexander Grant, Patrick O’Neil, and Robert Patterson revealed that in 1876 Peter was “too old and stiff” to run the hundred-acre farm, which only provided the family with an income of fifty dollars a year. Consequently, Peter allowed John the use of his farmland in exchange for financial support. Peter and Elizabeth moved in with John and his wife Catherine and were entirely dependent on their goodwill. In 1877 Catherine gave birth to the couple’s first child, a son named Francis Moses after his uncle. A year later, in 1878, Peter sold the farm for twenty-two hundred dollars to Robert Patterson and distributed some of the money amongst his children. He left himself a mere $690 with which he had to support his “two unmarried daughters until the whole thereof [was] exhausted” and he was “wholly without

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any means of [his] own.”25 On 28 January 1879, Peter’s wife, Elizabeth, died and later that same year John and Catherine welcomed their daughter Maggie. Unconvinced by Peter’s claim or reasoning, in May of 1885 the Pension Office asked to see the contract between Peter and John whereby John was allowed to use Peter’s land in exchange for supporting his father. John replied that it had been an oral agreement and that nothing existed in writing. Concerned that the Pension Office misunderstood the nature of the arrangement, John appealed to Wafer’s old attorney, Francis Fitch, for help. In June of 1885 Fitch helped John write a letter of clarification to the Pension Office explaining that his father had not “transferred the farm I own to me, with the verbal agreement that I would support him. This is a mistake. My farm came to me through my mother, having been received by her by inheritance from her people. My father, when my brother, Dr Francis M. Wafer died, owned another farm which he sold some two years thereafter for about 2200 [dollars] and has since had the money from same to live upon, and has not, I think exhausted all of it but it now appears probable that it will be insufficient to carry him through this life, and indeed, it would have been exhausted before this, no doubt, but for the aid I have given him.” John also unwisely revealed that had his father “retained the farm, it doubtless would have afforded him a reasonable support.”26 Peter’s attempt to gain a pension and John’s explanation of the situation clearly irritated Fitch, who wrote to the Pension Office to offer his version of events. Fitch acknowledged that Peter had incurred “the expenses of the son’s last fatal attack and burial” as the funeral “was on a scale that [the Pension O]ffice refused to recognize and pay expenses of.” However, Fitch claimed, Peter had experienced no hardship from such an outlay of funds for he “was quite a wealthy farmer and in very prosperous circumstances.” Fitch argued, moreover, that Peter’s current state did not entitle him to a pension. Fitch depicted Peter as “a man of independent means and not a suffer[er] in a pecuniary sense at all from the son’s death.” Francis had not contributed to his father’s livelihood; according to Fitch, “it was just the reverse, owing to the health of the son.”27 On 1 December 1887 the Pension Office, agreeing with Fitch’s version of events, rejected Peter Wafer’s claim on the grounds that “at the time of the soldier’s death the claimant did not depend on him for his support.” Moreover,

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Francis M. Wafer’s Tombstone, St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, Kingston, Ontario. Courtesy of Cheryl A. Wells, 2007

according to evidence on file, the claimant was still hale and hearty up to 1876; his farm of 100 acres yielded a crop estimated at 300 [dollars]. His family consisted of himself and wife and if he had not sold the farm, it would according to the son John, give him a reasonable support. If it didn’t, it does not appear that the soldier furnished such support. Being a doctor, he treated his parents without charge and when they visited with him, he did not charge them any board. Besides, he seems to have given the claimant occasional suits of clothing, which not dressy enough for the doctor, came in very well for the farmer. I do not think all this constitutes “contributing” within the meaning of the law.28

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Peter Wafer’s reaction to the news is unknown but it appears that he accepted the decision since there was no further correspondence between the Wafers and the Pension Office. Peter died on 20 June 1888 and was laid to rest with his wife Elizabeth and son Francis M. Wafer in Kingston’s St Mary’s Cemetery. Someone, most likely John, erected a humble white monument for his parents and brother. The marker is flanked on the left by the gravestone of Wafer’s friend and partner Michael Sullivan, and on the right by the gravestone of Wafer’s sister Maria and her husband, Charles Lyons. The elements have taken a toll on the monument much as they did on Wafer during the Civil War. The engraving, which once proudly declared that Francis M. Wafer, md was buried there, is rubbed smooth and rendered virtually unreadable. Yet under the stone rests an extraordinary man, a son, brother, cousin, author, and Canadian surgeon in the Army of the Potomac.

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Appendix

Because Wafer wrote his memoir from hastily taken memoranda, his writings often duplicate portions of letters sent home, as with the letters of 14 March 1863, 25 March 1863, and 29 February 1864. In those letters, however, Wafer provides details that are not included in his memoir, so I give the letters here in chronological order. The appendix also contains a letter from one Dr Thomas Rowland, who details events in New Jersey and comments on the course of the war overall and the battle of Chancellorsville.

 Albany, [New York,] March 14th 1863 Dear Brother, Although you will be hardly expecting to hear from me so soon, while I have leisure I thought it advisable, to inform you of my luck & adventures in this city. I did not get further than Cape Vincent the day I left Kingston. The stage traveled so slow, by reason of the drifted road, that it missed the train. Consequently, I did not set out, until 5 o’clock [the] next morning, March 10th, arriving in Albany about 2 o’clock, the same day. This city being the seat of government of the State, I thought it prudent to make enquiries, before proceeding further. The result was, I found, that, those

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applying for commissions as assistant Surgeons could be admitted to examination immediately. This information obtained, I at once resolved to face the examination, & even should I fail I believed it would be at least a general exercise for me. The same afternoon, I obtained an interview with the Surgeon General of the State, where I was informed, that to obtain a commission, I should not only pass his examination, but I should be an md & Licentiate of the State. At the same time informing me there were two examiners or – Censors, as they are called, who granted certificates of qualification, to Students of foreign colleges. Nothing daunted, I presented myself, before the Senior of those gentlemen, a Dr Staats, who required me to appear before him at 9 o’clock, on the following evening March 11th when, he submitted me, to an oral examination in the branches of Chemistry & the Practice of Medicine, giving me a satisfactory certificate to his Colleague, a Dr McNaughton, provided, I should prove equally qualified in the other branches. I appeared before the latter Censors, at 9 o’clock, the following morning March 12th. He was an unyielding Scotchman, but a gentleman. After examining me successively in Anatomy, Materia Medica & Surgery, the result of which was he pronounced me satisfactory & signed my certificate, jointly with the other Censor. This certificate obtained for me a Diploma, or md, & a Licentiate of the State of New York. I might have now commenced Practice in any part of the North but while they thought me qualified for so doing, I preferred going to scout a little longer. I now lent my steps to the Surgeon General’s office in the State Arsenal, where I was shut up, watched, & submitted to a written examination including, all the medical branches. This examination, consisted of sixteen questions, some of which, one might have written upon ever since, provided they knew them, about a half of them I was well able to answer, & about the remainder, “enough said.” Suffice to say, after developing myself, in those I understood well, & attempting them all, of the writing for seven hours, I handed in my paper, & was told to call next day, March 13th for an answer. When those long hours had passed, I called & was notified, that I was found qualified, with a recommendation to Governor Seymour, for a commission as [an] assistant Surgeon, of the 108th Regt of New York Infantry. This document, now merely awaits the Governor’s signature, when I depart for the theatre of war I have

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no doubt, my examination here, will be commented upon in a sort of farce, my only answer to such persons is “let them try it.” For my own part, it will be long before those two days of trial, are [erased] from my memory. I may add for your information, that an Assistant Surgeon belongs to the Medical staff. His rank is that of a first Lieutenant. His pay is about $120 per month & if detailed on Hospital service, has no horse to furnish & if one is required it is fed by the government. If he requires servants, he is allowed pay for them, & has four rations a day & any allowances, he does not avail himself of the Government, gives him full credit for the same, & he draws their value in money, & I am told by those who have served, that there is no difficulty, in saving half the money viz $60. So now dear brother, seeing that I am about to go further, & perhaps stay longer, than I at first expected if my health be spared, you will be likely to see me next fall, even if it be on leave, you will hear from me at least monthly, & in the mean time be cheerful, as it avails naught to be otherwise, & if you must upon no pretext whatever think of leaving home. It is an imperative duty with you, as a Catholic, to remain with your sisters, & support your Mother in her declining years, & remember we all owe her a debt, that we never can repay, & for me, none of you [need] be concerned, or you should know I am in the same care everywhere I may go, for myself. I intend to pursue my destiny, courageously, with a firm hope in the world to come. I trust my behavior will be such under all circumstances that it will never shame you, & I would impress upon you, to remember, that there can be but one true misfortune, & that is to be at war, with the Author of all our happiness. No more at present, but once more Father, Mother, Brother, & Sisters & Cousins, an affectionate Good bye from your elder son, brother, & cousin Francis M. Wafer ps Saturday 6 o’clock, pm, Commissions, signed & accepted, uniform finished leave Albany at 9 o’clock for the Rappahannock, via New York, Philadelphia & Washington to join 108th Regt at camp near, Falmouth, Va, Adieu my northern home, Hurrah! For Dixie, fmw



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Camp near Falmouth March 25, 1863 Dear Brother, I left Albany on the same evening I wrote to you, & arrived in New York City [the] next morning [on] Sunday 15th. [With n]o train leaving for the south until [the] evening, I remained [in this] city that day & had the benefit & pleasure [of hearing] an excellent sermon, in the Cathedral. [In a] way [the Cathedral] seems to be the resort of the most [devoted] Catholics of New York where from the [entrance of the Cathedral I was] immediately conducted to a re[ar pew] by some ladies of the upper ten, I [understand that] officers were not often seen here. [I took the 7 o’clock train] south & arrived in Philadelphia [on the evening of March 15th] as I was tired from traveling the previous [day], it [was] advisable to rest until morning when [on March 16th I set off for Washing]ton where I arrived the same evening. [The next morning, March 17th was St] Patrick’s [Day but] business, unfortunately, prevented me from seeing how it was observed here, as I had to report myself for duty to the Surgeon General of the us Army & obtain a pass, from the Provost Marshal, to pass through the lines. This done I rested the remainder of the day & night, & left [the] next morning at 8 o Clock for the front by steamer, [on] the Potomac river as far as Acquia Creek Station, which is the base of operation of the army & through which they receive their supplies. The remainder of the journey 15 miles to Falmouth Station, within gunshot of Fredericksburg, was by Railroad right through the middle of the camp for [when] the train traveled slow, I had a fair opportunity to view the encampment & truly it is a sight to be remembered. [A] general description, the country is a succession of lofty hills, though not rocky. Those hills are intersected by deep ravines or gullies, through which generally runs a stream, or spring. In one of those vallies deeper than the others, runs the Rappahannock, an insignificant stream, not having the volume of the Gananoque river.1 [A]bout the sides of those hills & up to the very bank of the river, within speaking distance of the rebel pickets & over a space of about 15 miles square, was encamped the Army of the Potomac. [T]heir [camp] space is destitute of fences [and “the tramp of hundreds of thousands of feet ... had to a great extent obliterated the fields and farmlands.” They were] crossed, & cut up by roads [& the roads were crammed full] of baggage waggons, in every direction, ma[king it virtually im]possible to discover where the original

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[roads and fields were]. [Also] adding to this, the country is almost [barren] of all kinds of timber [for it was] used for huts & [shelters] during the winter. The houses [“had been burned or dismantled, with their farm buildings and outhouses. Those which had been preserved were often occupied by some officers or by some department of army work.”] [T]hose [families] who chose to [stay in the] ruins [“lived in extreme poverty, some glad to eke out an existence by rations supplied by the Union forces, or by washing the clothes of the soldiers encamped around them. Still harder, perhaps, was the condition of those living in the debatable land, subject in turn to the inroads of both the Union and Confederate Army” which could at any time make their houses] the headquarters of some general officer.2 I do not believe any [homes or farms] are destroyed, unless by accident, neither are orchards, cut down or destroyed [out of malice but rather out of necessity]. I soon arrive at Falmouth Station, & as the Regiment to which I am ordered lies 4 miles to the right, so I shoulder[ed] a carpet bag, (it being necessary to leave my trunk in Washington), & start[ed] on foot & enquire[ed] my way to the 108th [New York Infantry.] This is nothing [new] for I see the Colonel of [the] Regiment, who came out with me, doing the same thing as I walk[ed] over the hills to the right, Fredericksburg lies full in view bearing very few marks of the late dreadful fight except, a few shell holes, through some of the higher buildings, the little river looks as if one could wade through it but what a contrast each side of this little stream presents. On this side, whatever way one may look, the cluster of white tents appears, from nearly every eminence, floats the stars & stripes, while far & near, echoing through the hills comes the roll of drums mingled with crash of hundreds of brass bands, mellowed & softened, by distance, & upon every smooth piece of ground black masses of horses & footmen are drilling or doing picket duty. Upon the other side, the stars & bars, are nowhere to be seen, at least by the naked eye, not a tent & scarcely even a [horse but it is well] known, that upon any hostile demonstration [rebels will pour] from the ground in thousands, in fact it is [common knowledge that the Rebs have dug] into the sides of hills to form huts. [H]aving no [horse I] walk[ed to camp]. I arrived at the quarters of my Regiment [and immediately introduced] myself to Doctors Munson & Ely, the S[urgeon and the assistant] Surgeon & was hospitably received, by them [and by] the full number of Medical Staff

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also. The 108th were raised in Rochester at the second [calling by Lincoln] for 600000 more men. [It was mustered into service on August 10th, 1862] and [one month later] drilled to the field of Antietam where [the regiment first saw the elephant] though suffering scarcely [at Antietam] they have been in [the midst] of the fighting of Bolivar Heights & Fredericksburg, the consequence of which adding sickness, they are reduced to 400 effective men. Their present commander Col Powers, who has been promoted from Lieut [to] Colonel, [since] I c[a]me here, was born in Cobourg, C[anada] W[est]. I do not know his nationality or religion, but he seems to be a worthy officer. [F]our days ago, having some business to [conduct] with an officer, about a mile & a half from here, when I found I was in the vicinity of [General Thomas F.] Meagher’s celebrated Irish Brigade. Knowing they have a Catholic Chaplain, I resolved to make his acquaintance, at once, I soon found him the Rev Mr [William] Corby, making his pipe in his tent like a true soldier. He gave me an invitation to take dinner with him, which I accepted. He recounted to me with great satisfaction the sports they had in camp on St Patrick’s day consisting of horse, sack, foot, wheelbarrow & greased pig races, & also [mass] which was held in a chapel, tastefully formed of green boughs. This mass he told me was attended by many officers of the army, with many ladies, visiting their husbands at the time.3 He also recounted to me his experiences on the battlefield generally, & showed me the vestments presented to him for the occasion by the Regiment, which was the most valuable article of [clothing] I ever saw. The [vestment was a deep red and was, on the front, “richly embroidered with gold” in a] design consist[ing] of a vine [twined with flowers framing a gold cross beneath which was embroidered the letters ihs and on the back the flower twined vine was] surmounted by a lamb & cross all [embroidered in gold. The vestment was given by the regiment] with deep yielding [respect].4 My duty has been [rather light since I] came here. [W]hen the drum beats the [time of 7 o’]clock am, me & the other Assistant Surgeons [leave for the] hospital tents where we are met by [the hospital stewarts who depart] from their quarters every morning. [W]e [then tend to the patients] & the Hospital Stewarts, give them their medicines. [All totaled the rounds] lasts more than an hour. The Surgeon [in charge of the hospital spends most of his time] there in the regimental hospital [for we can] not tell how soon we may

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have busy times. [We are having] fine sunny weather, which will soon dry up the “[muddied] soil” so that the army can move. If you answer me promptly, I will be likely to receive it before we move, & [if] you hear of a battle, do not be alarmed at not hearing from me soon, as I may be too busy to write. Tent life agrees with me, as my health thank God, is rather improving every day. I am at present messing with the officers of the Medical staff, as they do not live so expensive[ly] as the field officers, most of them, receive contributions from home, which helps them much but of course I could not [rely on] any provisions from home, so far, at present. I wish I had brought a horse, even if it was expensive, for when we march I may feel the want of it, as it does not entail anymore expense for keeping this being deducted from our pay if we do not draw it. [T]he pay & ration of a servant is also allowed if we wish but I will, defer those affairs, until I become better established, you may write as often as you like. [My a]ddress [is] Francis M. Wafer, Asst Surgeon, 108th ny i Vols, Washington, dc. This address will bring it to camp. Yours, Francis M. Wafer

 Camden, nj, Aug 8th, 1863 Francis M. Wafer md Asst Surg 108th r ny Vol My dear Doctor: Excuse me for not writing an answer to your letter before this. I have just returned with my family from Blue Anchor, New Jersey where I have been spending part of the summer.5 I received your letter whilst there it having been forwarded to me by my Father. I hope that you have not had as warm weather as we have had and in fact it is pretty hot today though rain is threatening. I need not tell you that I was very much please[d] to hear from you for you are assured of that. I hope to have the pleasure of often hearing from you. You need not be surprised to hear of me coming back to the war really. I see nothing to do here and it will take a long time for me to get into a practice and I therefore think I may be with you once again. Do you often see Drs [Alvin] Satterthwaite and [Uriah] Gillman of the 12th nj? Give them my very best wishes by the by a lady called to see me this morning in relation to her husband his name was or is John F. Foster. He belonged to Capt [Charles K.]

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Horsfall’s Co of the 12th nj. She has not heard from him since the Battle of Chancellorsville only that he was missing. She called to see me for she thought he might have died in our hospitals. Will you mention the fact to Dr Satterthwaite? I think she will write to him in relation to the matter. Doc, I would like to pay you a visit but funds are scarce and Gold is so high you know as is also Green backs so high in fact that I can’t lay my hands on either. I have just finished writing a letter to Dr [William L.] Newell, our Surgeon. You remember him. He heard that I was going to return to the Army as [a] Surgeon, and he wanted me to give his friend Dr Soper a position as [an] Asst Surg. I believe I did not tell you in my previous letter that I lost all of my luggage. I had it between Washington & Philadelphia. I feel badly about it. I was not alone in my loss for 3 or 4 officers also lost theirs, the Quartermaster amongst the [bunch]. My pipe, the one that was made for me at the hospital, was in my valise. I would rather have that than any of the rest of the things lost. I was sorry to learn that you w[ere] in so much danger. I hope & trust that you will never get in as hot a place again but I am thankful to know that you got out safe & sound. Give my respects to Drs [Frederick J.] Owens & [Elias H.] Sabin when you see them also to Drs [Harry M.] McAbee & [Isaac] Scott, tell Dr McAbee I shall never forget him for his many kindnesses towards me also give my very best wishes to Dr [Alexander N.] Dougherty. I must say that I was very kindly treated by all the Surgeons I had [and] I in anyway became connected with whilst with the 2d Corps. I hope you may be as fortunate. I hope you hear regularly from your family and that they are all in good health and spirits for nothing made me so cheerful whilst in the army as to hear from home regularly. There is nothing new here at present. We are looking anxiously every day for news that Charleston[, South Carolina] is ours. I feel pretty confident that it will fall this time and no mistakes. The draft is complete in Philadelphia and no rioting. There will be no drafting in New Jersey for some time as the State is trying to make up her quota by volunteers. I hope that we will succeed, for it will be a proud thing for little Jersey if she can do so. Jersey City is paying a bounty of $850 to those who have been in service and will reenlist enough almost for a man to buy a house to give his wife, before he starts. Every thing is quiet and Copperheadism is below par. God grant that Meade will give the Rebs another dressing like the last and then we will

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look for Peace Soon. Excuse this scrawl. Dinner is ready. Hoping to hear from you soon believe me to remain truly yours, Thomas G. Rowand

 Hd Qrs 108th ny Vols Morton’s Ford Va Feb 29th 64 Dear Brother I once more address you from my tent in the 108th. Arrived yesterday at 5 pm safe & cheerful but somewhat travel weary but hope to rec[over] after a few days rest in this genial climate & the pure atmosphere of a tent. Found all well & pleased to see me except Mrs Grassie who was much disappointed as well as vexed because I did not fulfill my promise viz to bring Mrs Wafer, on to keep her company.6 Have heard Col Pierce is doing well at Rochester. Found on my arrival, a package addressed to me containing a beautiful new pair of cream colored Gants, a superb pair reaching halfway to my elbows, worth $5 five dollars. [I c]an’t say who is the donor, but suspect Col Pierce. But if the officers of the 108th don’t cease to shower so much kindness & attention upon your big brother, the chances are, they will spoil him yet. I left the Cape at 7 pm, the same evening I parted you, took a berth in a sleeping car at Watertown, being in much need of rest. Next morning 26th at daybreak, the Conductor shook us all in succession crying out at the same time “Albany.” After a due amount of groaning & grunting I rolled out of my berth, had got into one boot & was trying on the other stooping forward head to the front of the car, when all at once, the whole train with a vast amount of clanking, rumbling jolting & grinding came to a dead halt. The immediate consequences as far as regards myself were rather ludicrous. Forward went I head first, like an indignant sheep going into action, with a will, making a rear attack upon some individual, in nearly the same position as myself. When I last saw him, he was still going at a highly accelerated speed towards the front of the car apparently with the intention of retaliating upon the first one he met or ramming the whole end out of the car. Nobody hurt or frightened badly. The tender & passenger car, immediately in front of the one in which I was had run off the track, at the intersection of a siding within a mile of Albany. Some proposed to walk to the city, but after considering that we would lose the first train to New York, anyhow most of us

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decided to remain, until taken off. Luckily in the course of an hour, a train came down, & removed us. I left Albany at 9.30 am, arriving in New York, [the] same evening, crossed over the ferry to Jersey City & took the 7.30 train for the south. Took a sleeping berth, & knew nothing of what was passing until I arrived in Washington at sunrise on the 27th. When I left Albany, snow was falling & the air sharp & biting. At New York, cold & windy, but no snow, opened my eyes at Washington & found lovely spring weather, dust flying in clouds. I now write this in my open tent, no fire in my stove, neither have I the least inclination to have a fire made, so mild is the weather. But believe me this very fine weather, makes us feel little at ease, because we all know it is an excellent time for campaigning, & I may venture to predict it will soon be taken advantage of. Look out for stirring news before long. In the mean time none of you must be downcast at my long absence for such feelings, cannot in any way benefit me or you. I believe I shall be enabled to master all feeling of regret on my part although I have had to bear more than any of you as you will readily understand. Because each of you had to part with but one friend. While I leave Parents, Brother, & Sisters not only but many affectionate cousins & acquaintances, some of whom showered, many unfeigned signs of affection, friendship & regret at my departure, where I did not know before, such feeling existed. With all that a son & brother can feel regarding you all, I remain ever yours in affection Francis Moses Wafer, md ps Respecting the due in which Mr Gowe asserts there is an error. You will compare it with former deeds, & try to discern any discrepancy. If any exist it will be the duty of [James] Durand to correct them. You must be on your guard, for fraud. Ask Mr H[enry] Smith whether it is legal for me to sign the deed if sent to me by mail. fmw

s Personae

Dramatis Personae

amiet, c arl v. Amiet enlisted on 18 July 1862 in Company i of the 108th New York Infantry for a term of three years. He was promoted to second lieutenant on 9 September 1862 and died at Gettysburg at the rank of first lieutenant.1 andrews, william h. Andrews, along with six other soldiers, left the 108th New York for Rochester, New York, on 12 February 1864 to recruit one hundred new members. Andrews remained in Rochester through May of 1864, missing the battle of the Wilderness. On 14 May 1864, he received orders to return to his regiment.2 arms, irving. Arms, a native of Middleville, Michigan, sustained wounds at the Battle of Chancellorsville. He died in action at Bristoe Station on 14 October 1863. However, according to at least one veteran, the unlucky man killed at the Battle of Bristoe Station was actually Charles Kenyon of Company k. Wafer and the Rochester Daily Union & American state that Irving Arms was the one mortality. Kenyon’s Civil War service record reveals that he enlisted at the age of twenty-seven on 16 August 1862 in Company k of the 108th New York. He apparently deserted sometime thereafter. Arms’s Civil War service records indicated that Wafer was correct.3 arner, thomas. Arner enlisted on 28 August 1862 to serve three years as an assistant surgeon to the 108th New York. He was “very popular in the

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regi[ment] and [had] many friends.” Generally regarded as a “hard worker,” the regiment was sorry to lose him when he was medically discharged on 13 January 1863.4 baker, dr. There is no evidence to support Wafer’s contention that a Dr Baker served as a surgeon in the 24th New York Infantry. bloss, william w. Bloss, an abolitionist, helped recruit Company a of the 108th New York Infantry in July of 1862. At the battle of Antietam, Bloss “received a buckshot wound in the face, destroying the right cartilage of the nose, and lacerating the lips and chin.” He recovered and rejoined the regiment at Bolivar Heights but “his health was too seriously shattered” for him to continue and he was mustered out on 14 March 1863 at the rank of second lieutenant. Bloss died on 3 September 1892 at Woodland Park, Illinois.5 bronson, george. Bronson was a resident of New Haven, Connecticut, until he enlisted in the 12th Connecticut on 31 October 1861. He died of wounds received at Chancellorsville.6 brownley, charles. Brownley was a neighbour of Wafer’s in Pittsburgh Township, Canada West, and a colleague at the medical college of Queen’s Univeristy. On 2 September 1861, Brownley enlisted in Company k of the 61st New York Infantry for a term of three years. Wounded in action at Antietam, his service record claims he died of his wounds in October of 1862. Clearly, Brownley’s death was recorded in error as Wafer reveals that Brownley transferred to the 6th New York Cavalry and the two men met again in 1864.7 cox, bryce a. On 18 August 1862, Cox enlisted for three years with Company c of the 108th New York. On 1 January 1863, he was promoted to first lieutenant and transferred to Company e. After he was injured at Antietam, Cox was granted a pass for a leave of absence. He was captured and charged with desertion on 3 April 1863 for altering his pass. Cox was dishonourably discharged and died in 1894.8 c ard, dayton t. Born on 22 July 1838 at Seneca Falls, New York, Card abandoned his career as a printer to enlist in Company h of the 108th New York for a three-year term. He fought at Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville and died at Gettysburg while defending Cemetery Hill on

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3 July 1863. He was “struck by a piece of shell in the breast, tearing it open, and carrying away a portion of his face.” At the time of his death, Card was the father of four small children and held the rank of second lieutenant.9 clow, henry j. A native of Hamlin, New York, Clow enlisted as a private in Company b of the 108th New York on 29 July 1862 at the age of eighteen. Due to the wounds he sustained at Chancellorsville and Morton’s Ford, he was discharged on 30 January 1865 while recovering at Lincoln General Hospital in Washington, dc.10 corby, william. Born in Detroit on 2 October 1833, Corby graduated from Notre Dame University in 1859 and accepted a professorship. He resigned his professorship to enter the Union army and served as chaplain of the Irish Brigade. He is best known for addressing the troops at Gettysburg. Following the war, he returned to Notre Dame University as vicepresident and was promoted to president in 1866. Corby died on 28 December 1897 of pneumonia.11 deverell, joseph. On 9 August 1862 at the age of thirty, Deverell enlisted for a three-year term with Company k of the 108th New York. In 1864 he was sent to Elmira, New York, to recruit men for the unit. On 12 April 1864, he was ordered to rejoin his unit. Deverell was wounded during the battle of Cold Mountain on 3 June 1864. On 11 October 1864 he was discharged due to his injury.12 dickson, charles. Dickson served as a hospital attendant for the 108th New York. A Confederate bullet ended his life instantly at the battle of the Wilderness. His family attempted to recover his body from a shipment of dead to Rochester only to discover that his regiment had been unable to recover his body as the Confederates had taken possession of the field. The family decided to erect a headstone in Rochester’s Mount Hope Cemetery. “Only the second line of his epitaph is discernible, which reads: ‘The form of our Charlie is sleeping’.”13 doten, frederick b. Until his enlistment on 1 August 1862 in the 14th Connecticut Volunteers, Doten, a native of Sheffield, Massachusetts, resided in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He was captured at the battle of Morton’s Ford and sent, along with six of his men, to Libby prison. He was released from military service on 1 May 1865 and spent the remainder of

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his life as a bank teller for the First National Bank of Chicopee, Massachusetts. Doten died on 9 April 1903.14 dougherty, alexander n. Dougherty enrolled in the 4th New Jersey Infantry on 17 August 1861 and was mustered out on 20 October 1865. He served as medical director of the Second Corps until his transfer to the Right Grand Division on 5 December 1862 where he served as medical director. He returned to the Second Corps in his previous capacity in 1863.15 duc achet, h.w. Ducachet served as “the medical officer in charge of the Officer’s Hospital in Georgetown.” He was later transferred to “Surgeon-in-Chief of the garrison of Washington.” He died of typhoid pneumonia on 11 October 1865 in Georgetown.16 dudley, frederick a. Dudley, an antebellum resident of New Haven, Connecticut, enlisted on 11 August 1862 and was mustered out on 31 May 1865. He served as a surgeon from April 1863 until he was wounded and captured at Gettysburg on 3 July 1863. He was paroled on 14 January 1865 and mustered out on 31 May 1865 along with his regiment.17 durant, james. Durant served as the Frontenac County registrar and served the City of Kingston, Canada West, from his offices on King Street.18 dutton, william. Dutton enlisted on 18 August 1862 for three years with Company d of the 108th New York. On 1 June 1863, he was promoted to first lieutenant. Wounded at Petersburg on 20 June 1864, doctors sent him to De Camp General Hospital on David’s Island, New York. He died of his wounds on 19 July 1864.19 dwinelle, justin. Dwinelle mustered in on 28 June 1861 as one of the 71st Pennsylvania Infantry’s assistant surgeons. He transferred to the 106th Pennsylvania Infantry in September of 1861. He was promoted to surgeon and served until 10 September 1864 at which time he was mustered out alongside a portion of his regiment.20 ellerbeck, robert e. Born in Canada, most likely in Kingston, Canada West, Ellerbeck enlisted in the 27th New York Infantry, Company e on 21 May 1861 in Rochester. He was discharged on 1 October 1861 because

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of a hernia. He re-enlisted in the 6th New York Cavalry on 24 October 1861 and was promoted from first sergeant to captain of Company g on 27 October 1862. He was absent without leave for July and August of 1863. The war department restored Ellerbeck’s command on 14 September 1863. He was captured during the battle of White Oak Swamp and imprisoned by the Confederacy.21 ellis, theodore grenville. Ellis, an antebellum resident of Hartford, Connecticut, gave up his profession as a civil engineer and enlisted in the 14th Connecticut Regiment on 18 June 1863. Following Lieutenant Colonel Perkins’s injury at the battle of Fredericksburg, Ellis took over command of the regiment. Over the course of the war, he rose to the rank of brigadier general and was mustered out on 31 May 1865.22 ely, william smith. Born in 1841, Ely graduated from the University of Rochester in 1861. He enlisted in the 108th New York as an assistant surgeon on 18 August 1862 for a term of three years. He served the regiment until September of 1863 when he was promoted to surgeon of the us Volunteers and assigned to Maryland’s Annapolis Hospital. On 20 January 1865 Ely was promoted to the rank of major and mustered out on 7 October 1865. In the postwar era, he became a renowned expert on tuberculosis. Ely died in 1911 and is buried in Rochester’s Mount Hope Cemetery.23 evans, robert. At the age of twenty-nine Evans abandoned his antebellum career as a miller to enlist for a term of three years in Company c of the 108th New York. At the time of his death at Gettysburg, he held the rank of second sergeant.24 fatzer, solomon. A native of Switzerland, Fatzer enlisted at the age of thirty-five on 31 July 1862 in Company i of the 108th New York for a term of three years. He remustered on 22 April 1864 and was promoted to second lieutenant on 18 May 1864 with rank from 3 July 1863. He was captured on 18 June 1864, paroled in March 1865, and granted a thirty-day leave of absence. Fatzer mustered out of military service on 17 May 1865 at the rank of first lieutenant.25 fee, samuel h. Born in Kingston, Canada West, in 1843, Fee was a classmate of Wafer’s at the medical college of Queen’s University. Fee graduated on 17 June 1862 and set up private practice at 94 Princess Street in Kingston.26

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f e l l m a n , j o h n r . Fellman enlisted on 14 July 1862 for a term of three years with Company i of the 108th New York. Due to his injury at Gettysburg, Fellman was honourably discharged on 22 April 1864. He spent the remainder of the war attached to the Veteran Reserve Corps.27 field, charles e. Field worked as a tinsmith before the war. He mustered into the 108th New York on 31 July 1862 at the age of twenty-two. He served as a private in Company b until he mustered out on 28 May 1865.28 force, george b. Born in New Jersey in 1831, Force moved to Michigan in 1858. When war erupted, he helped raise the 13th Michigan Volunteers. He was honourably discharged in 1862 due to illness. In August 1862 he enlisted in the 108th New York for a three-year term. He died of his wounds at the Battle of Antietam and became the first officer in the 108th to die in battle.29 foster, john f. A member of Company e of the 12th New Jersey Infantry, he died on the field at Chancellorsville on 3 May 1863.30 franklins. Charles and Isabella Franklin farmed on the third concession, lot fourteen, of Pittsburgh Township, Canada West. They had six children. The three that Wafer refers to are Charles, born in 1835, Joseph, born in 1840, and Catherine, nicknamed Kitty, born in 1844. The Wafers and the Franklins were related through Wafer’s mother’s family, the McLaughlins.31 gilman, uriah. Gilman enrolled in the 12th New Jersey on 20 August 1862 and served as an assistant surgeon until he was mustered out 4 June 1865.32 gowe, mr Gowe’s identity is unknown but, based on the context in which Wafer referred to him, he was likely a banker or some form of financial officer in the city of Kingston, Canada West. graham, john l. A native of Ireland, Graham enlisted on 28 July 1862 at the age of twenty-two to serve a term of three years with Company k of the 108th New York. He was promoted to second lieutenant on 19 February 1863. Following his injury at Gettysburg, he was honourably discharged on 14 November 1863.33

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grassie, thomas g. Born in Kildruming, Scotland, on 29 November 1831, Grassie moved to America in 1841. He joined the Army of the Potomac in February of 1863 and “was elected chaplain about April 1st, in place of Rev. James Nichols, who had been compelled by sickness to resign.” Grassie was mustered in on 1 May 1863 and faithfully served the 108th New York until his “discharge in January 1865, because of disease of his right eye, induced by malaria fever contracted on an expedition of the regiment to Deep Bottom.”34 hadley, alfred b. A native of Ovid, New York, Hadley enlisted at the age of eighteen on 22 July 1862. At the time of his injury at Gettysburg, he held the rank of sergeant. On 15 February 1865, he was transferred and promoted from Company e of the 108th New York to second lieutenant of Company b. He mustered out, along with his unit, in May of 1865.35 hammond, william alexander. Born in Annapolis, Maryland, on 28 August 1828, Hammond obtained a medical degree from New York University in 1848 and served as an assistant surgeon in the us army until 1860. In 1860 he resigned in order accept a teaching position at the University of Maryland. In 1862 General McClellan appointed Hammond surgeon general of the Union army at the rank of brigadier general. Hammond’s plans for revitalizing the Army Medical Corps repeatedly clashed with those of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Stanton managed to have Hammond dismissed from the military on charges of “ungentlemanly conduct.” Until his death in 1900 Hammond served as a distinguished doctor and “pioneer in the treatment of nervous and mental diseases.”36 harris, joseph s. Harris mustered into the 108th New York Infantry on 18 August 1862 at the age of sixty-two. He served as quartermaster from 1862 until he resigned on 11 January 1864 to join the second army corps.37 hays, joshua l. Born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, on 6 May 1880, Hays enlisted in the 14th Indiana Infantry, Company a, as a Corporal but rose to the rank of captain. He was wounded at Antietam and Gettysburg. Hays died on 20 March 1911 following an illness.38 hays, alexander. Hays, a native of Franklin, Pennsylvania, graduated from West Point in 1844 at the age of twenty-five. He served in the

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Mexican-American War and resigned from the military in 1848 to pursue a career in the iron industry. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Hays re-enlisted at the rank of colonel but was soon promoted to brigadier general of volunteers. He commanded at Gettysburg even though he was still recovering from a severe wound received at Second Manassas. He was killed by a Confederate sharpshooter on the morning of 5 May 1864 during the battle of the Wilderness.39 hays, william. Born on 9 May 1819 in Richmond, Virginia, Hays graduated from West Point in 1840 along with William T. Sherman, George H. Thomas, and Richard S. Ewell. He served in the Mexican-American and Seminole wars. Following the battle of Fredericksburg, he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers. Captured at Chancellorsville, he was paroled in time to command at Gettysburg. He spent the remainder of his life in the military. He died in February of 1875.40 hickey, william. Hickey’s identity is unknown. Judging by the context in which Wafer referred to him, he was likely a friend, neighbour, or cousin of Wafer’s in the Kingston area of Canada West. hogoboom, harman s. Born in Arcadia, New York, on 12 August 1834, Hogoboom graduated from law school in 1859. He was mustered into the 108th New York on 29 July 1862 and acquired the rank of major on 2 March 1863. He served at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg but was discharged on 7 August 1863 due to medical issues. In the postwar period, he moved west and engaged in mining and farming.41 horsfall, charles k. Horsfall enrolled in Company e of the 12th New Jersey Infantry on 22 August 1862 and died on the field at Gettysburg on 2 July 1863.42 hutchinson, franklin b. Born 31 July 1837 in Pennfield, New York, Hutchinson graduated from the University of Rochester in 1862. He served as second lieutenant of Company h of the 108th New York at Antietam and the Wilderness before becoming the paymaster. He spent the postwar era as a lawyer until his death in Rochester on 6 June 1919.43 ingalls, r ufus. Born 23 August 1818 in Denmark, Maine, Ingalls graduated from West Point in 1843 and served in the Mexican-American

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War. During the Civil War he served as chief quartermaster to the Army of the Potomac. In the postwar era, he served sixteen years as chief quartermaster to the Division of the Pacific and the Division of the Missouri. He retired fifteen months after his appointment as quartermaster general of the army in 1882 and died in New York City on 15 January 1893.44 kenleyside, john. A native of Scotland, Kenleyside worked as a carpenter before the war. In his nineteenth year, he enlisted as a substitute for L.E. Moore in Rochester, New York, on 20 July 1862 to serve three years in Company g of the 108th New York. In return for his service, he received a bounty of twenty-five dollars and “a suit of rubber clothing.” He mustered out on 31 December 1862 near Falmouth, Virginia, and was transferred to Company e on 13 February 1863. At the time of his death at Cold Harbor, he held the rank of second lieutenant.45 kernehans. Given the context in which Wafer refers to them, the Kernehans were likely friends, neighbours, or cousins of Wafer’s in the Kingston area of Canada West. kevins, e.h. Born in Green County, Indiana, on 16 April 1832, Kevins worked as a lawyer and politician in Bloomfield, Indiana. He enlisted in Company d of the 14th Indiana Volunteer Infantry in May of 1861. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 22 January 1863 and served until the battle of the Wilderness when he was reassigned as adjutant general of the Southern Division of the State of Indiana. Kevins died on 9 September 1909.46 kilpatrick, judson. A native of Deckertown, New Jersey, Kilpatrick graduated from West Point in May of 1861 at the age of twenty-five and immediately enlisted in the 5th New York Infantry at the rank of captain. He was wounded at the battle of Big Bethel and by June of 1863 had risen through the ranks to brigadier general of volunteers. In April of 1864, he was wounded during the opening of the Atlanta campaign but returned to witness the surrender of General Joseph Johnston’s army. He resigned his commission in 1865. He was appointed minister to Chile and died at his post in Santiago on 4 December 1881.47 knapp, theodore e. Knapp enlisted on 4 August 1862 for three years of service in Company b of the 108th New York. He was wounded at Antietam on 17 September 1862 but recovered. He was promoted to first

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lieutenant and transferred to Company k on 9 June 1864. His wound of February 1865 healed and he was promoted to captain. Knapp mustered out with his unit on 25 May 1865.48 maccullough, alex. Other than that he served in Company j of the 108th and died of wounds received at Chancellorsville, little is know of MacCullough. maull, david w. Born in Georgetown, Delaware, on 16 May 1863, Maull graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1853 and established a joint practice with his father in Wilmington, Delaware. He enlisted in the 1st Delaware Infantry, Company g in May 1861 and served until August 1861. He re-enlisted for three years and served as a surgeon until his promotion to surgeon in chief in 1864. During his time with the regiment, he “won the highest respect and affection of the men of the regiment” due to “his tender devotion” and “his prompt willingness to sacrifice his own personal ease and comfort to relieve suffering.” He resigned his position on 20 April 1865. In the postwar era, he served as the chief examining surgeon for Union pensioners. He died on 22 February 1896 and was buried at Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery in Wilmington, Delaware.49 m cabee, harry m. Born on 12 May 1827 in Pennsylvania, McAbee graduated from Cleveland’s medical college in 1857. He served as a surgeon for the 4th Ohio from 1 May 1861 until 16 September 1863. He was killed in a railroad accident near Cleveland, Ohio, in 1864.50 m ccormick, cyr us. The son of a renowned inventor, McCormick was born in Virginia on 15 February 1809. His early life was spent farming and observing his father’s inventing skill. In 1831 McCormick combined the two and invented a reaper, which, after a number of refinements, revolutionized American agriculture. Due to age and inclination, McCormick did not serve in the war but witnessed it nevertheless. His comments on the superiority of the monarchy may have derived from his 1851 visit to the industrial exhibition at London’s Crystal Palace. McCormick died in 1884 leaving a vast estate, a legacy of ingenuity, and a son to carry on the tradition.51 m cdonald, a.d.j. A lawyer from Kingston, Canada West, McDonald enlisted on 23 July 1862 in Company c of the 108th New York. An injury received at Gettysburg prevented him from serving his three-year term.

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He was honourably discharged on 21 November 1863 at the rank of first lieutenant.52 m ckinley, james a. Born in Kingston, Canada West, in 1836, McKinley moved to Oswego, New York. He enlisted on 11 September 1862 for a three-year term with Company i of the 147th New York Infantry. He served as first lieutenant until his promotion to captain on 25 October 1863. He was mustered out on 7 June 1865 near Washington, dc.53 m claughlin, william and charley. William and Charley McLaughlin were, given the context in which Wafer mentions them, most likely his cousins through his mother’s side of the family. m cnaughton, james. Born in Kenmore, Scotland, in 1796, McNaughton graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh in 1816. The following year he moved to Albany, New York. In 1828 he joined the Albany County Medical Society and served as the organization’s president from 1848 until 1849. From 1840 until his death, he served as a professor of theory and practice at Albany Medical College and from 1869 until his death as the institution’s president. McNaughton died in Paris in 1874 of a heart attack.54 munson, owen. Munson served as an assistant surgeon to the 5th New York Infantry. He was captured at Saratoga Station in October of 1861 and paroled. He enlisted in the 108th New York on 17 February 1863 as a contract surgeon but due to ill health was forced to resign. He was honourably discharged on 30 April 1864. He died on 21 May 1868 in Washington, dc.55 newell, william l. Newell enrolled in the 24th New Jersey Infantry as a surgeon on 16 September 1862 and was mustered out on 29 June 1863.56 nichols, james. At the age of fifty, Nichols, or Nicholson as Wafer calls him, enlisted on 18 August 1862 to serve a three-year term as a chaplain of the 108th New York. Due to illness, however, he was discharged on 14 March 1863.57 ostrander, dwight h. Ostrander enlisted on 18 June 1862 for a three-year term with Company a of the 108th New York. He was promoted

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from private to sergeant on 20 November 1862, to second lieutenant on 6 February 1863, to first lieutenant on 1 May 1863, and to captain on 25 July 1864. Ostrander was wounded in action at Hatcher’s Run on 27 October 1864 and discharged on 17 April 1865 due to his injuries. He died on 2 November 1910 in Texas.58 owens, frederick j. Owens, a native of Vernon, Delaware, served an assistant surgeon for the 1st Delaware Infantry from 8 May 1863 until August 1864.59 owens, joshua t. A native of Wales, Owens moved to America in 1830 at the age of nine. He served in the Pennsylvania legislature from 1857 until 1859. He enlisted as a colonel and was quickly promoted through the ranks to brigadier general of volunteers in November 1862. Controversy surrounded his failure at Cold Harbor and he was mustered out in July of 1864. In the postwar era, he dabbled in law as well as journalism until his death in 1887.60 palmer, oliver h. Born on 5 October 1814 at Walworth, New York, Palmer was a lawyer during the antebellum era. On 28 July 1862, he entered Company f of the 108th New York at the rank of colonel. Due to his ill health, Palmer “asked to be relieved of his command ... and on the 6th of March, 1863 he took leave of his regiment.” Palmer succumbed to pneumonia on 2 February 1884.61 palmer, richard h. Palmer originally served as a hospital steward with the 170th New York Infantry. He enlisted as an assistant surgeon in the 10th New York Infantry on 30 April 1864 at the age of forty-eight. He died of disease in Brooklyn, New York, on 4 December 1864.62 pierce, francis e. Born in Fowlerville, New York, Pierce graduated from Rochester University in 1859 and spent much of the antebellum era as a teacher and administrator. In July 1862 he helped raise the 108th New York. With Powers’s resignation, Pierce was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 2 March 1863. At the battle of Morton’s Ford, he lost his left eye to a Confederate bullet but resumed command at the battle of the Wilderness.63 pinkerton, frank. Pinkerton enlisted in the 12th New York Infantry on 10 November 1861 at the age of thirty-one. He was charged with deser-

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tion in 1862. The situation was sorted out as he clearly fought and lost an arm in 1863.64 porter, samuel. Born on 16 August 1843 in Rochester, Porter enlisted in Company f of the 108th New York on 9 August 1862. He rose from the rank of second lieutenant to brevet-major by April 1865. He was wounded at Antietam, Gettysburg, Bristoe Station, and the Wilderness. He was mustered out on 28 May 1865 and died of a malaria-related illness on 7 March 1881.65 powers, charles j. A native of Coburg, Canada West, on 7 June 1833, Powers moved to the United States at the age of fifteen. He completed his education at the University of Toronto and Harvard College. Up until the war, he worked as a lawyer in Rochester and enlisted in the 13th New York Infantry. He proved himself at the Battle of Bull Run and with the formation of the 108th in 1862 was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel. Powers commanded troops at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Bristoe Station, and Mine Run among other important battles. He was disabled at the battle of the Wilderness when a bullet ruined his left arm. He continued his military career following the war and rose to the rank of brevetted major general. He died on 27 August 1882 and is buried in Rochester’s Mount Hope Cemetery.66 quackenbush, john van pelt. Born into an affluent New York family in 1819, Quackenbush spent his youth reading and studying. He graduated from William College in 1838 and Albany Medical College in 1842. Quackenbush served as secretary for the Medical Society of New York State in 1847 and president from 1852–53. In 1857 he joined the faculty at Albany Medical College as a specialist in midwifery and female diseases. He served as surgeon general of New York from 1863 to 1865. In the postwar, period he continued to be an active medical practitioner until his death in 1876.67 richardson. Richardson was a frequent visitor to the camps of the 108th New York Infantry. He was arrested in Frederick City after it was discovered that he had “sketches of the route the Union army wagon train was to move” in his boot. These sketches were to be delivered to Jeb Stuart. Richardson was hanged and “[c]uriosity seekers ... clipp[ed] off his garments until the body was entirely nude.”68

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ristow, frederich. A native of Germany, Ristow enlisted on 17 July 1862 at the age of twenty-one. He died on 19 May 1863 at a hospital near Potomac Creek of wounds he received at Chancellorsville on 3 May 1864.69 rowland, thomas g. Rowland enrolled as an assistant-surgeon in the 12th and 24th New Jersey Infantry on 16 September 1862. Following the battle of Chancellorsville, Rowland was “detailed for service at the Potomac Creek Hospital” but return to his regiment upon their move to Washington in early June of 1862. He was mustered out on 29 June 1863.70 royce, mr and mrs. The Royces were most likely John and his wife, Maggie, who were innkeepers in Kingston, Canada West.71 r uffin, thomas. Ruffin spent the antebellum era involved in the legal profession and in politics at the local and national levels. With the outbreak of war, he left the United States Congress in favour of the Confederate Congress. He enlisted in the 1st North Carolina Infantry and was mortally wounded at Bristoe Station; he died a prisoner of war on 13 October 1863.72 sabin, elias h. Sabin served an assistant surgeon in the 14th Connecticut Infantry until October of 1863.73 satterthwaite, alvin . Satterthwaite transferred from the 7th New York Infantry to the 12th New Jersey Infantry on 19 July 1862. He served as the regiment’s surgeon from September 1862 until he was mustered out on 4 June 1865.74 scott, isaac. Scott, a native of Parkersburgh, West Virginia, served as the 7th West Virginia Infantry’s surgeon until December 1864.75 sleeper, j. henry. A native of Boston, Sleeper enlisted at the age of twenty-three as a first lieutenant in the 1st Massachusetts. He was recognized for his bravery at First Bull Run and was quickly promoted. He was mustered into the 10th Massachusetts Battery on 22 September 1862 and took command of the regiment on 1 October 1862. He was wounded at Reams Station. On 27 February 1865 he resigned his commission as a brevet major and returned to civilian life. He died on 10 August 1891.76

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smith, henry. Smith was a barrister with offices located at the corner of Union and College streets in Kingston, Canada West.77 smith, henry b. A farmer from Chili, New York, Smith enlisted in Company h of the 108th New York for a three-year term beginning on 12 August 1862. He was wounded at Gettysburg. Smith was discharged with the rank of sergeant on 9 August 1864 due to the injury he sustained at Mine Run.78 smyth, thomas a. Born on 25 December 1832 in Cork County, Ireland, Smyth settled in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1858. With the outbreak of war, he joined the 24th Pennsylvania Volunteers. At the end of ninety days, he was mustered out of the 24th and promptly joined the 1st Delaware. He fought at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Auburn Mills, Bristoe Station, Hatcher’s Run, Ream’s Station, and Farmville where he was mortally wounded on 7 April 1865. He died early on the morning of the ninth and has the dubious distinction of being “the last general officer killed in the war.”79 soper, Dr. Soper’s identity is unknown as there is no record of a Dr Soper in the Union army. spalter, frank j. Spalter initially enlisted in the 4th Ohio Infantry and served from 5 June 1861 until 31 December 1862. He re-enlisted in the 4th Battalion of the Ohio Infantry.80 spinola, fransico b. Born on Long Island, New York, on 19 March 1821, Spinola was one of the few Union generals with no antebellum military experience. Spinola spent the antebellum period mired in politics. He served at the local, state, and national levels and was among the delegates at the 1860 Democratic National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina. In return for recruiting four regiments, he was promoted to brigadier general on 2 October 1862. He recovered from his wound at Manassas Gap. With the reorganization of the Army of the Potomac, Spinola was relieved of duty and resigned on 8 June 1865. He returned to his political ambitions and spent three terms as a member of Congress. He died early in his third term in 1890.81 staats, barent p. A descendant of one of New York’s founding families, Staats was born in 1796 in Rensselaer County. He spent most of his

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life in medicine and politics. He served as treasurer of the Albany County Medical Society in 1824, vice-president in 1829, and president from 1834 to1836 and was honoured in 1867 for being one of its oldest members. He also served as an alderman in Albany as well as mayor from 1842 to 1843. He died in 1871 and was remembered as having “generous sympathies, and strong attachments; strong sense of justice, and strict temperance.”82 stephenson, robert. Born in 1806, Stephenson returned to Ireland following the war.83 stevenson, christopher f. Little is know of Stevenson. He apparently served in both the 6th New Jersey Infantry and the 8th New Jersey as a corporal. sullivan, john s. The regiment that Sullivan was attached to seems to be under debate. While Wafer clearly states that it was the 7 West Virginia, Samuel Fiske states with equal clarity that Sullivan was a member of the 14th Indiana Infantry.84 thomas, george h. Born into a slaveholding family in Southampton, Virginia, in July of 1816, Thomas graduated from West Point in 1840 alongside William T. Sherman. Thomas opted, against his family’s wishes, to join the Union. He commanded Union forces at Bull Run, Shiloh, and Corinth, as well as at Chickamauga and during the Atlanta campaign. He continued his military career after the war, resigning in 1869. He died the following year due to a stroke induced by an earthquake.85 thrasher, byron p. Other than that he was a member of the 108th and died of wounds received at Chancellorsville, little is known of him. vanhorns. By 1863 the Vanhorn family operated three farms in Pittsburgh Township, Canada West. William, Sr, and Elizabeth operated the original family farm on the third concession, lot fourteen, where they raised fourteen children. At the time of Wafer’s letter, their sons John and William were also farming. John farmed lot fifteen on the third concession of Pittsburgh Township while William farmed lot fourteen on the first concession.86 vaughn, george w. Vaughn was born in 1840 in Northumberland County, Canada West. It is unlikely that Wafer knew that Vaughn was Canadian, given Wafer’s habit of identifying his fellow compatriots.87

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whitbeck, john . Whitbeck was a founding member of the Rochester Medical Society and served as the organization’s president from 1853 to 1859 and again with the organization’s resurrection in 1866. Whitbeck enlisted on 18 August 1862 at the rank of surgeon. He served at Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville, but “after less than a year’s service” he “tender[ed] his resignation on account of sickness.” Generally regarded as “unfeeling and unsympathetic,” Whitbeck was not well liked by the regiment. He was discharged on 6 January 1863 and died in Rochester, New York, in 1880.88 willard, sylvester d. Born in Wilton, Connecticut, on 19 June 1825, Willard graduated from Albany Medical College in 1848. From 1857 to his death, he served as secretary of the Medical Society of New York State, vice-president from 1856 to 1857, and president in 1858. Willard was a prolific pamphlet writer and medical advocate. During the war he volunteered his medical skills to the Army of the Potomac. In 1864 the surgeon general of New York appointed Willard to investigate the status of mental health patients in the State of New York. Although he died of typhoid on 2 April 1865, Willard’s Law, which passed in 1865, articulated his ideas about mental health. The law established a lunatic asylum in Utica, New York. The Willard Asylum for the Insane opened in 1869.89 willet, thomas. Oulette was born in 1820 in Canada East. When he enlisted as a chaplain in the 69th New York Infantry on 10 November 1861, Union officials anglicized his name to Willet. He resigned on 25 December 1862 only to re-enlist on 13 February 1864. He mustered out with his regiment on 30 June 1865 near Alexandria, Virginia. Given Wafer’s penchant for identifying other Canadians, it is unlikely that he was aware of Willet’s nativity.90 williams, marvin. Williams enlisted on 9 August 1862 for a threeyear term in Company h of the 108th New York. On 2 December 1862, he transferred to the 136th New York Infantry.91 woodr uff, george a. Born in Michigan on 27 May 1840, Woodruff graduated from West Point in 1857. He fought in the Peninsular campaign and the battles of Fair Oaks, Fredericksburg, Antietam, and Chancellorsville, among others. He was mortally wounded and died at Gettysburg on 4 July 1862.92

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yates, horatio. Born in Oswego, New York, on 11 February 1821, Yates moved to Kingston, Canada West, at the age of twelve. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania medical program in 1842 and settled in Kingston, Canada West, in 1843. Well respected, Yates was a founding member of the medical college of Queen’s University and went on to play an important role in the running of Kingston General Hospital until his death in 1882.93

pages

Notes

introduction 1 Chesnut, A Diary, 35. 2 Russell, My Diary, 56–7. 3 Holmes, The Diary, 29. 4 Stanton, Elizabeth, vol. 2, 89. 5 Cited in Atlantic Monthly 9 (December 1861): 238; Stille, Northern Interests, 39. 6 Cited in the New York Times, March 4, 1861. 7 On the Wafer farm see the Illustrated Historical Atlas, 48; Hughes and Ellsworth, eds., 1844 Assessment, 9. 8 Smithson, ed., 1851–1852 Census, 21; Francis M. Wafer Fonds, 1863–1867, Queen’s University Archives (hereafter qua). 9 Wafer, Medical School Records, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 10 Kingston Daily Whig, 13 April 1861. 11 New York Herald, 24 January 1861; New York Times, 2 February 1861. On British North American anxiety over annexation also see Hoy, Canadians, 368–70, 373–4; Macdonald, Canadian Public Opinion, 34–41; Marquis, In Armageddon’s Shadow, 262, 285; Winks, The Civil War Years, 4–5, 23–7, 31, 104. 12 Cited in the Toronto Globe, 2 September 1861; Creighton, John A. Macdonald, 369. 13 Cougle, Canadian Blood, 110; Unknown to Brother, 14 August 1862, Brockville Weekly Recorder. For an overview of British North American public opinion see

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Notes to pages xxv–xxix

Landon, “Canadian Opinion”; MacDonald, Canadian Public Opinion; Talman, “A Canadian View.” 14 Hoy, Canadians, 22–3; Higginson, “Hon. J. A. Andrews,” 2; Wade to Father, 20 September 1861, in Wade, “We Are On the Blockading Again,” 28; Semper, “Islanders in Blue and Grey,” 10; John Campbell to Father, 17 February 1862, mg 55/24, #393, Library and Archives of Canada (lac). On Wade also see Cousins, ed., “Letters of Norman Wade,” 126; Cousins, “A Nova Scotian,” 58. 15 Cited in Hoy, Canadians, 155. 16 H.W. Blanchard to Brother, 14 August 1862, Brockville Weekly Recorder, 9 September 1862. 17 Samuel Heck to Unknown, Brockville Weekly Recorder, 9 January 1862. 18 Richard Ruston to Sister, date unknown, reprinted in Jenkins, “British North Americans,” 101. 19 Charnwood, Abraham, 179. For similar statements see Ballard, The Military Genius, 49; Luthin, The Real Abraham Lincoln, 290; Sandburg, Abraham, vol. 1, 301. 20 Blackford, War Years, 34. 21 Gordon, Reminiscences, 60. 22 Stille, United States Sanitary Commission, 116. 23 Flannery, Civil War Pharmacy, 76. The entire Union medical budget consisted of “$241,000 of which over 80% had already been spent on medical stores.” Adams, Doctors, 5. 24 Smith, Swamp Doctor, xxii. 25 Peyton, “Tender Loving Care,” 106. 26 Blake, “Development,” 435; Blakely and Harrington, eds., Bones in the Basement, 323. See also Norwood, Medical Education, 399–400. 27 Wafer, Medical School Records, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 28 Brooks, Civil War Medicine, 22. 29 Flannery, Civil War Pharmacy, 71. 30 On amputations see Figg and Farrell-Beck, “Amputation in the Civil War; Wood, Doctor to the Front, xvi. 31 Adams, Doctors, 10. 32 Documents, no. 40, 33. Barbers, cuppers, and leechers, or lechers, were popular occupations prior to the professional development of medicine. In the middle ages, barbers, not physicians, conducted crude forms of surgery. Cupper refers to the practice of making small insertions in the skin and then placing a glass, sometimes heated, over the cuts to create suction, which then pulled the blood to the surface. Cupping was used to treated everything from “apoplexy and consumption, to enlarge prostate ... gout, measles, intoxication ... and lunacy.” Leechers placed leeches on the patients in order to suck

Notes to pages xxix–xxxv

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out the disease. A good leech could suck out about an ounce of blood. With the expansion and evolution of the medical profession, barbers, cuppers, and lechers lost their legitimacy as medical practitioners and were, by the time of the Civil War, viewed negatively. Haller, American Medicine, 46. 33 During the war, there were eight categories of Union doctors: surgeons and assistant surgeons in the us army, surgeons and assistant surgeons of us volunteers, regimental surgeons and assistant surgeons, contract surgeons, medical officers of the veterans corps, acting staff surgeons, surgeons and assistant surgeons of us coloured troops, and civilian volunteers. Adams, Doctors, 47. 34 Cited in “Bayoneting Our Wounded,” Harpers Weekly, 17 August 1861, 525. 35 Bollet, Civil War Medicine, 2. 36 Denney, Civil War Medicine, 35. 37 Tulchinsky, ed., “Introduction,” To Preserve, 10. 38 Akenson, “Ontario,” 204–56. 39 Tulchinsky, ed., “Introduction,” To Preserve, 10. 40 Nicolson, “The Irish Experience,” 38. On Protestantism in Ontario see Westfall, Two Worlds. 41 Wafer to Dear Brother, 20 March 1864, Wafer Letters, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 42 Jackson, “The Cultural Politics of Masculinity,” 201. 43 Ward, Courtship, 64. 44 Morgan, Public Men, 149. 45 Ward, Courtship, 23. 46 Ibid., 53. 47 Wafer to Dear Sister, 9 June 1864, Wafer Letters, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 48 Wafer to Dear Brother, 11 October 1864, Wafer Letters, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 49 Busby, Doctors Can’t Cure, 61. 50 Ibid., 56–7. On the state of medicine in nineteenth-century Upper Canada see also Baehre, “The Medical Profession”; Canniff, The Medical Profession; Price, The Professionalization. 51 Baehre, “The Medicial Profession,” 104. 52 Wafer to Dear Sister, 2 May 1864, Wafer Letters, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 53 On the 108th at Antietam see Murray, Before the Appointed Time. 54 Bollet, Civil War Medicine, 16. 55 Williams, Lincoln, 177. 56 Cited in Otis and Huntington, Medical and Surgical History, 3, 2, 933.

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57 Bollet, Civil War Medicine, 3. 58 Washburn, Complete Military History, 107. 59 Cited in Wert, The Sword, 169–70. 60 Dyer, Journal, 40, 42. 61 Formed after the fall of Fort Sumter, the us Sanitation Commission acted independently from the Medical Corps. It focused on promoting clean, healthy conditions in camps, prisons, and hospitals as well as supplementing supplies, medical and otherwise. On the sanitation commission see Giesberg, Civil War Sisterhood; Maxwell, Lincoln’s Fifth Wheel. 62 Cited in the Mobile Daily Advertiser and Register, 2 October 1862. 63 Wightman, From Antietam, 38. 64 Wert, The Sword, 169. See also p. 159. 65 Cited in Linderman, Embattled Courage, 125. 66 Cited in Washburn, Complete Military History, 107. 67 Rochester Daily Advocate, 2 October 1862. 68 Otis and Huntington, eds., Medical and Surgical History, 101. 69 Letterman, Medical Recollections, 10–11. 70 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 59. 71 Whitman, “Specimen Days,” 153. 72 Colonel Rowe cited in Cowtan, Services of the Tenth, 169; England cited in Bruce, “Remember,” 348. 73 Sneden, Eye of the Storm, 72. 74 Edward G. Abbott to his father, 13 December 1862. Abbott Family Papers, Harvard University. 75 See Lowry, Tarnish Scalpels. 76 Cited in United States, Official Records (hereafter OR), series 1, vol. 19, Part I, 113. 77 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 62–3. 78 Pierce, “Civil War,” 167–8. 79 Wightman, From Antietam, 103. See also Haley, The Rebel Yell, 67; Watson, Letters, 50. 80 Furgurson, Chancellorsville, 17. See also Longstreet, From Manassas, 323; Watson, Letters, 50. 81 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 67. 82 McPherson, Battle Cry, 584. 83 Hennessy, “We Shall Make Richmond Howl,” 2. 84 Cited in Wert, The Sword, 214. 85 Hennessy, “We Shall Make Richmond Howl,” 10. 86 Letterman, Medical Recollections, 103, 104, 106, 105, 109. 87 Wafer, Medical School Records, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua.

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88 On 13 May 1861, Queen Victoria issued a Proclamation of Neutrality, which incorporated the Foreign Enlistment Act of 1819. The proclamation prohibited British subjects from enlisting in foreign military forces under penalty of imprisonment. 89 Wafer, Two Years, 1, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 90 Ibid. 91 Holt, A Surgeon’s Civil War; Dyer, Journal; Burton, Diary; McPheeter, I Acted; William Smith, Swamp Doctor. 92 For memoirs by Civil War surgeons see Brinton, Personal Memoirs; Craighill, Confederate Surgeon; Eugene, Recollections; Letterman, Medical Recollections; Wood, Doctor. 93 Wafer, Two Years, 1, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 94 Ibid., 95 95 Bragg, Letters; Bennitt, Letters; Peddy, Saddlebag. See also Black, Civil War Letters; Brackett, Surgeon; Burbank, Jerome; Child, Letters; Fordyce, Echoes; McGarity, Letters; Lauderdale, Wounded River; Watson, Letters. 96 Although there are letters, diaries, and accounts from British North Americans who served in the Civil War as soldiers as well as surgeons, they remain scattered in newspapers and tucked away in private collections and archives in Canada, the United States, and Great Britain. 97 Robertson, Soldiers, 28; Charlesworth, Candid, 10. Thomas Raddall states that ten thousand Nova Scotains fought in the war (Halifax, 208), while Ken Alexander and Avis Glaze argue that thirty thousand British North Americans of African descent enlisted in the Union cause (Towards Freedom, 79). According to Greg Marquis, the tiny island of Prince Edward Island provided two hundred men to the Union cause (“Soldiers,” 2). E.Z. Massicotte claims that forty thousand French Canadians fought for the Union (“Les Canadiens,” 538). Benjamin Gould places the total number of British North Americans fighting for the Union at 53, 532 (Investigation, 27), while Fred Landon puts the number close to forty thousand men (“Canadian Opinion,” 226). Wilfred Bovey places the number at forty-eight thousand (“Confederate Agents,” 57) while Lois Darroch suggests that figures are closer to fifty thousand men (“Canadians,” viii). Ella Lonn argues that fifty-three thousand British North Americans enlisted in the Union (Foreigners, 161). 98 Marquis, In Armageddon’s Shadow; Mayers, Dixie; Winks, The Civil War Years. 99 See also Fountain and Chipman, “An Essex County Soldier”; Cousins, ed., “Letters of Norman Wade”; Wade, “We Are Blockading Again.” 100 Edmonds, Memoirs; Sneden, Eye of the Storm. See also Braudaway, The Civil War; Kohl, Irish Green; Murphy, “The Diary.” 101 Archibald, Home-making.

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Notes to pages xliv–14

102 Sections of Wafer’s writings appeared in the following: Gundy, ed. “A Queen’s Medical Student,” and “A Kingston Surgeon”; Rollins, ed., Pickett’s Charge.

chapter one 1 The 108th New York Infantry Regiment suffered the loss of ninety-two men, among them Charles D. Howell. Wounded in the thigh, Howell survived the battle only to develop lockjaw and die nine days later. He is buried in Rochester’s Mount Hope Cemetery along with other members of the 108th including John M. Davey and William S. Ely, and there are memorials to Charles B. Dickson and George B. Grover. See Walker, History of the 2nd Army Corps, 192; Reisem, Buried Treasures, 53, 151,113, 48, 13. On veterans of the 108th buried in Rochester-area cemeteries, see Washburn, A Complete Military History, 469–70. 2 Cape Vincent, New York, is located 27.3 kilometres from Kingston, Ontario, and 40.23 kilometres from Watertown, New York. Most likely, Wafer took the Cape Vincent to Rome Railroad. See “Rome and Watertown Railroad,” Pittsfield Sun, 25 September 1851. 3 Closely related to homoeopathy, Medica Materia primarily focused on the blending of herbs and natural substances to combat diseases. See Haller, American Medicine, 67–99. 4 On sound in the nineteenth century see Smith, Listening. On the Sabbath in nineteenth-century America see McCrossen, Holy Day. On Sabbath silence in Civil War camps see Wells, Civil War Time, 65. On the disruption of Sabbath silence during the war see ibid., 13–33, 64–6. 5 The Baltimore Riots occurred on 19 April 1861 when mobs attacked Union troops passing through the pro-southern city. See Brown, Baltimore & the Nineteenth April 1861. 6 In addition to Force, Lieutenants David B. Tarbox, Company b, and Robert Holmes, Company g, and 195 members of the 108th New York Infantry were lost at Antietam. See Washburn, A Complete Military History, 29–31; Marcotte, Where They Fell, 83. On the 108th and Antietam see Murray, Before. On casualties see McIntosh, History of Monroe, 57; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 386. 7 Named for the texture created by placing logs side by side, corduroy roads permitted the movement of troops and supplies over swampy areas. 8 On the monotonous nature of camp life see Tilney, My Life, 51; Wells, Civil War Time, 61. 9 Wafer named his horse after Union general Joseph Hooker. Aggressiveness, coolness in battle, and loyalty characterized Hooker, assets that perhaps Wafer saw in his mount.

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10 For a similar version of Wafer’s joining the 108th New York, see Appendix a.

chapter two 1 Phistere, New York, 131. On Thrasher’s injury see “From the 108th Regiment,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 9 and 11 May 1863; 3 May 1863, Father from Sam, and May 1863 Letter from Sam, Porter Family Papers, University of Rochester Archives [hereafter ura]. Among the wounded at Chancellorsville were Stephen Green, Company k, Nathan Parkhurst, Company a, Otto Gash, Company h, William C. Varny, Richardson, Company c, John O. Fee, Company a, George Washburn, Company d, and H[enry] Clow of Company b. See Washburn, Complete Military History, 45–6. 2 Nineteenth-century medical practitioners used anodyne to relieve pain. 3 Hooker issued Stoneman multiple and conflicting orders that prevented any accurate knowledge of Stoneman’s position and may have accounted for the failure of the Union to create a diversion in his favour. See Furguson, Chancellorsville, 255, 311, “Hancock’s,” 313. 4 Hooker expected Lee to retreat without risking battle. Instead, Lee assumed the offensive, a manoeuvre that made Hooker afraid for the safety of his army, thus resulting in his retreat. See Couch, “Outgeneraled,” 336; Trudeau, Gettysburg, 8–9. Others blame the cowardly actions of the 11th Corps. See Sears, Chancellorsville, 415; Trudeau, Gettysburg, 12–13. For a defence of the 11th Corps see Howard, “The Eleventh.” Hooker placed the blame in part on a lack of rations and on the “impenetrable thicket[s]” of the Wilderness that prevent troop movement. See Bates, “Hooker’s Comments,” 222.

chapter three 1 Longstreet, From Manassas, 328. 2 McKim, A Soldier’s Recollections, 128. 3 Longstreet, “Lee’s Invasion,” 245. 4 Cited in Freeman, Lee’s Lieutenants, 292. 5 Taylor, Gouverneur, 112. 6 Howard, “The Eleventh,” 190. 7 New York Tribune, 14 May 1863. 8 Trudeau, Gettysburg, 5. 9 Woodworth, Beneath a Northern Sky, 11, 12. 10 His shoulder became red, swollen, and septic due to a bacteria inflammation.

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Notes to pages 34–52

11 A rod is a British measurement. It is equivalent to 16.5 linear feet, thus ten rods equals 165 feet. 12 For similar statements see Baxter, Gallant Fourteenth, 148; Fiske, Mr Dunn Browne, 101–2; Hirst, The Boys, 140; “Letters from the 108th and 140th Regiments,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 3 July 1863; Longacre, To Gettysburg, 158; Murphey, Four Years, 113–14; Page, History of the Fourteenth, 132; Seiser, Short Sketches, 178–9; Smith, comp., The Civil War, 168–9; Stewart, Camp, 354. 13 Occurring on 17 June 1863, Brigadier General Judson Kilpatrick’s Federals and Colonel Thomas Munford’s Confederates clashed at Aldie, Virginia, with inconclusive results. 14 The 39th New York Volunteers, also known as the Garibaldi Guards, lost thirty-five percent of their regiment at the battle of Gettysburg. See Pellicano, Conquer or Die, 107. 15 The current state of West Virginia split from Virginia in 1861 and subsequently entered the Union. Thus “Virginian” troops fighting for the Union are in fact West Virginian troops. 16 On the hour of the cannonade see Priest, Into the Fight, 189–93; Wells, Civil War Time, 46–7. 17 The stone farmhouse was Peter Frey’s house located “under the shadow of Cemetery Ridge.” It served as the primary station for the 108th New York. See Maust, Grappling with Death, 71. 18 On the duration of the cannonade see Priest, Into the Fight, 189–98; Wells, Civil War Time, 46–7. 19 At the battle of Waterloo in 1815, the Duke of Wellington motivated his troops by yelling, “Guards, get up & charge.” A British victory over the French resulted. See Gronow, Reminiscences, 71. 20 See also “Further List of Casualties,” Rochester Evening Express, 8 July 1863; “List of Casualties,” Rochester Evening Express, 9 July 1863; “The 108th Regiment,” Rochester Evening Express, 10 July 1863; “Casualties in 108th Regiment,” Rochester Evening Express, 11 July 1863; “Casualties in the 108th,” Rochester Union & Advertiser, 13 July 1863. 21 In addition to Hadley’s wound, J.D. Ansink of Company e and J. Brounell of Company e suffered injury while Cyrus Wickes of Company e and Charles Lecisur of Company k were killed. See New York Times, 6 July 1863. 22 The orderly was most likely Major William G. Mitchell. See Maust, Grappling with Death, 237. 23 Meade inherited command of the Army of the Potomac three days before the battle for Gettysburg. On 4 July Meade hesitated to pursue Lee out of fear that Lee’s apparent retreat was a feint designed to hide an offensive

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maneuver on the part of the Confederacy. Inexperienced, cautious, and impeded by a steady rain, a weary army, and depleted ammunition, Meade opted, with the supported of his generals, to remain at Gettysburg on 4 July. See Coddington, Gettysburg, 537, 539, 540; Fremantle, Three Months, 274–6; Nevins, War, 3: 113, 115; United States, OR, series 1, vol. 27, 78; Swinton, Campaigns, 367; Wheeler, Witness, 256; Woodworth, Beneath a Northern Sky, 210. 24 For similar statements see Paris, History, vol. 3, 686. 25 At the council meeting of 12 July, Meade opted not to attack Lee for fear that the strength of Lee’s forces might crush the Army of the Potomac. See Hyde, ed., The Union Generals, 378. Other leaders identified the late hour of the council, poor weather, and a lack of reliable information as factors contributing to Meade’s decision. See ibid., 117, 118, 142. 26 Over the course of the war, Harper Ferry changed sides eight times. See Hearn, Six Years of Hell. 27 French’s Third Corps of the Army of the Potomac clashed with Anderson’s division of the Army of Northern Virginia with inconclusive results. 28 Also known as the Fauquier White Sulphur Springs, Americans flocked to Warrenton Springs in search of youth and health. See Billings, History, 118; Cooke, “The White Sulpher Springs,” 337–57. 29 According to the recollection of Francis Pierce, he sent three officers, Captains William H. Andrews, J. George Cramer, and Lieutenant Dwight Ostrander, to gather 526 conscripts. See Pierce, “Civil War,” 170.

chapter four 1 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 108. 2 Trudeau, Gettysburg, 551. 3 Quoted in Meltzer, Voices, 102. 4 Gordon, Reminiscences, 154. 5 McKim, A Soldier’s Recollection, 180–1. 6 Leon, Diary, 37–8. 7 Quoted in Coddington, Gettysburg, 572. 8 Post, ed., Soldiers’ Letters, 260. 9 Longstreet, From Manassas, 427. 10 Pleurite inflammation is an infection of the lung. Symptoms include chills, fevers, cough, and expulsion of fluid from the lungs. Without proper treatment, it could result in death. 11 In March 1863 Lincoln revised regulations for the draft. The new law required men from the ages of twenty to twenty-five and single men from the

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Notes to pages 62–79

ages of thirty-five to forty-five to serve in the Union army when called upon. Following the first draft call on 11 July 1863, normalcy ruled New York City. Monday, 13 July opened with violence that lasted for five days as angry mobs destroyed government property, attacked members of the upper class, and terrorized African-Americans as initial rage over Lincoln’s draft became racialized. In total, mobs lynched eleven African-Americans, destroyed more than 1.5 million dollars in property, and killed more than one hundred people before the Union army managed to suppress the rebellion. In August the draft resumed and, fearing more riots, Lincoln sent soldiers to New York City to maintain order. On the riots see Bernstein, The New York City Draft Riots; Cook, The Armies of the Street. 12 On Washington, dc and vices during the Civil War see Lowry, The Civil War Bawdy House, The Story the Soldiers Wouldn’t Tell, 63–5, 73–5. 13 On 25 June 1863 John C. Rives received permission from the Union secretary of the navy, Gideon Wells, to begin publication of a military journal. The Army and Navy Gazette published “orders, reports, official papers, and current news” pertinent to the Union war effort and was funded in part by the War department. Welles, Diary, 343–4. 14 Founded in 1846, the Smithsonian Institution suffered a devastating fire on 24 January 1865. Caused by a “defective flue,” the fire destroyed the institution’s picture gallery and institutional archives. The museum and library, however, sustained minimal damage. Wafer makes a common mistake in referring to the Smithsonian “Institute.” See “Destructive Fire,” New York Times, 25 January 1865. 15 In early August 1862, Pope marched his army south in an attempt to capture the railroad junction at Gordonsville, Virginia, before invading Richmond. Lee dispatched Jackson to deal with Pope. Jackson and Banks clashed at Cedar Mountain on 9 August. Due to a countercharge launched by Hill, the Confederates repulsed the Federals and carried the day. 16 According to the Comte de Paris, Meade’s alteration of the Second Corps position encouraged Lee to attack. See Paris, History, vol. 3, 755. 17 The Latin term non est means non-existent. 18 The battle of Bull Run occurred on 21 July 1861 and resulted in a Confederate victory. Over a year later in August 1862, the Union and Confederacy again clashed on the field at Bull Run. The second battle of Bull Run ended with another Confederate victory and Union defeat. 19 The phrase “offered him the grape” refers to offering the enemy battle using grapeshot. 20 The 15th North Carolina Infantry lost 101 members while the 48th North Carolina lost 123 members. Fox, Regimental Losses, 570. During the Civil War,

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the army identified remains by placing over them a board bearing the soldier’s regiment. See Neff, Honoring the Civil War Dead. 21 The British officers referred to were Lieutenant Colonel Earl and Lord Castle Cuff of the Grenadier Guards and Captains Peel and Stephenson of the Scotch Fusiliers. See Lyman, Meade’s Headquarters, 49. 22 Wafer is referring to Locust Grove, Virginia, which is located near Robinson’s Tavern, rather than to the battle of Locust Grove, Oklahoma, which occurred in July 1862. 23 For similar statements see Billings, History, 174; Longacre, To Gettysburg, 166. 24 White feather is a synonym for cowardice. 25 From medieval French, pelemele means in wild confusion.

chapter five 1 Brooks, Mr. Lincoln, 311. 2 United States, OR, series 1, vol. 33, part 2, 696. 3 Ibid., vol. 22, 1, 282–3. See also ibid., vol. 33, 1, 284–5. 4 Ibid., vol. 22, 1, 282. 5 Wafer applied to Lieutenant A. J. Wells, Acting Adjunct of the 108th New York, for a leave of absence of fifteen days “to visit friends who reside in La Salle Co, Illinois.” Wafer’s diary and subsequent travel, however, make it clear that Kingston, Canada West, was his intended destination. Most likely, Wafer feared that his application would be turned down if he revealed his real destination. See Francis M. Wafer, Civil War Service Record, New York State Archives (nysa). 6 Pioneer is a military term meaning engineer. 7 This wounded soldier could have been Isaac Buzby of Company c or J. Pixby of Company d as both suffered arm wounds at Morton’s Ford. See “The Army of the Potomac,” New York Times, 13 February 1864. 8 Six other members of the 1st Delaware were wounded. William Broughter and Benjamin Ogle of Company e, and Henry McCracken of Company b, were wounded in the leg. Henry Tindall of Company g and Isaac Wright of Company g were wounded in the arm, while Joseph Coyle of Company e suffered a shoulder wound. See New York Times, 13 February 1864. 9 George Vaughn and Jack Jewel assisted Wafer in caring for Pierce. Pierce survived but had his eye removed, recovered in Rochester, and returned to fight at the battle of the Wilderness where he was again wounded and sent to a hospital to recover. He rejoined the unit at Appomattox. Washburn, A Complete Military History, 156. On Pierce’s injury see “Lieut. Col. Pierce,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 25 February 1864.

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Notes to pages 95–103

10 Following Pierce’s injury command of the 108th devolved to Captain Everett. “From the 108th,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 10 February 1864. 11 Goss, Recollections, 237. 12 For similar comments see Cowtan, Services, 238; Fiske, Mr. Dunn Browne, 223. 13 The six wounded from the 108th were John R. Chase, Company b, who was shot through the left shoulder; Henry J. Clow, Company b, who was shot through the abdomen; John O’Fee, Company a, who suffered from a bruised left arm; John H. Goodyear, Company f, who suffered from a wounded shoulder; George W. Provost, Company c, who endured an abrasion over his left eye; and Seley Meeker, Company f, whose ankle was fractured by a Union bullet. The Second Army Corps lost 254 men while the “nearly one-half of those killed, wounded, and missing belonged to the Fourteenth [Connecticut] Regiment.” In order, “Causalities of the 108th Regiment,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 12 February 1864; Page, History of the Fourteenth, 224. See also Fiske, Mr. Dunn Browne, 221, 223; New York Times, 13 February 1864. 14 During Wafer’s leave of absence, the regiment celebrated Washington’s birthday much as they did St Patrick’s Day, namely, engaged in sport. In the case of the former celebration, baseball was the sport of choice as Companies d and f challenged the other companies with J. H. Norton of the 14th Connecticut acting as umpire and the 108th challenging the 14th. Other members of the 108th occupied their time by reading, since the regiment possessed a library of nearly two hundred volumes. In order, “The 108th at Baseball,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 29 February 1864; “From the 108th Regiment,” Rochester Union & Advertiser, 2 February 1864. See also Fiske, Mr. Dunn Browne, 229. For a similar account of St Patrick’s Day in the Army of the Potomac see Conyngham, The Irish Brigade, 514–15. 15 This was the battle of Morton’s Ford. 16 In 1832 author Samuel F. Smith set the lyrics of “America,” also titled “My Country Tis of Thee,” to the tune of the English anthem, “God Save the Queen.” 17 According to a 1984 description of the flag, it was “swallow-tailed and measure[d] 17" x 30". Composed of red, white, and blue silk panels handstitched, and ‘108 N.Y.V.’ lettered in gold oil-based paint with black outlining, the [flag] ha[d] tow sets of silk tie bands secured to a reinforcing strip of white cloth for attachment to the guerdon lance.” Howard, “The 108th,” 10. See also Presentation of Flags, 123–4. 18 Despite Wafer’s comments, the Fenian Raids and the assassination of Thomas D’Arcy McGee created a backlash against the Irish. These events in combination with the continued rise of the Orange Order resulted in

Notes to pages 104–16

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discrimination against the Irish well into the twentieth century. In the United States, the New York draft riots contributed to xenophobia and nativism against the Irish. On the Irish in Canada see Currie, Canada. On the Fenian Raids see Neidhardt, Fenianism; Senior, The Fenians, Last Invasion. On the McGee assassination see Slattery, The Assassination. On the Orange Order see Bryan, Orange Parades; Haddick-Flynn, Orangeism. On prejudice against the Irish in the antebellum era see Dunne, Antebellum; Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White; Knobel, Paddy. During the Civil War see Mahon, New York’s Fighting Sixty-Ninth, 54. 19 A trefoil is a three-leaf clover that measures “an inch and seven-eighths each way.” In the case of the Second Corps, the trefoil was white. Badges were required to be worn on the soldier’s hat. In order, Billings, HardTack and Coffee, 258, 260, The History, 122. See also Tilney, My Life, 39; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 166. 20 The rivulet is most likely the Potomac River. 21 For similar statements on the tornado see Kepler, History of the Three, 161–2; Longacre, To Gettysburg, 180–1; Page, History of the Fourteenth, 232; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 64. 22 For similar statements on the condition of burials see Baxter, Gallant Fourteenth, 166; Billings, The History, 215; Blake, Three Years, 277; Fiske, Mr. Dunn Browne, 245; “From the 108th Regiment,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 28 May 1864; Goss, Recollections, 267; Hall, History of the Sixth, 182; Page, History of the Fourteenth, 234; Wilkeson, Recollections, 40–1. On the cowardly behaviour of the Eleventh Corps at Chancellorsville see Blake, Three Years, 178–80; Creighton, The Colors, 23, 25–7; Dyer, Journal, 76; Fiske, Mr. Dunn Browne, 76; May 7th, 1863, Dear Father from Sam, Porter Family Papers, ura. At Gettysburg see Fiske, Mr. Dunn Browne, 119–20. On redemption see Creighton, The Colors, 177. 23 Most likely Wafer is referring to Richard H. Palmer. 24 On casualties suffered by the 108th New York at the battle of the Wilderness see “Casualties in the 108th nyv up to the 6th inst,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 14 May 1864; “List of Casualties,” Rochester Daily Democrat, 14 May 1864; “List of Wounded,” Rochester Daily Democrat, 16 May 1864; “More of the Casualties,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 16 May 1864; “Further from the Wounded of our Regiments,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 17 May 1864. 25 Enfilade is a military term meaning to direct gunfire at the enemy in a way that exposes the enemy’s entire line. 26 Abatis is a defensive feature in which trees are cut, sharpened, and then laid parallel with the sharp end facing the enemy.

190

Notes to pages 118–28

27 Among those captured were Confederate generals George H. Steuart and Edward Johnson. For a general account of the capture of the salient see Kepler, History of the Three, 170; Matter, If It Takes All Summer, 183–97; Rhea, The Battles, 232–65. 28 Thomas T. Roche of Company l of the 16th Mississippi Infantry is the Confederate to when Wafer refers. Washburn, A Complete Military History, 73. For similar statements on the tree’s destruction see Baxter, Gallant Fourteenth, 168; Billings, The History, 239; Goss, Recollections, 295.

chapter six 1 Goss, Recollections, 144; Mahood, Alexander, 167. 2 Gordon, Reminiscences, 263. 3 Taylor, General Lee, 236–7. 4 Mahood, Alexander, 167. 5 Douglas, I Rode, 263. 6 Constant C. Hanks to Mother, 12 May 1862 Constant C. Hanks Papers, dua. 7 Priest, Victory, 229–30. 8 Gordon, Reminiscences, 269. 9 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 157. 10 Galwey, Valiant Hours, 112. 11 Unknown, “The Death,” 107. 12 Gordon, Reminiscences, 273. 13 Longstreet, From Manassas, 573. 14 Grant, Personal, 419. 15 Rhea, Cold Harbor, 61. 16 United States, OR, series 1, vol. 36, part 3, 598. 17 Robertson, ed., Civil War Letters, 444. 18 On African-American participation in the Civil War see Hargrove, Black Union; Mays, Black Americans; McPherson, Marching, The Negro; Smith, ed., Black Soldiers; Trudeau, Like Men. At Petersburg see Brown, The Negro, 265–73; Robertson, “From the Crater”; Trudeau, Like Men, 220–51. 19 The Union government censored public communications such as newspapers, telegraph communications, and prisoners’ correspondence. However, there is little evidence that the Union kept particular soldiers and their writings under surveillance. On censorship and the Union see Blondheim, “Public Sentiment”; Chandler, “Fighting Words”; Price, “Governmental Censorship,” 838–9. 20 Five rods equals 82.5 linear feet. 21 “High feather” means in good spirits.

Notes to pages 128–39

191

22 Most likely his cousin William joined the us Navy. 23 On 5 September 1863, Dr R.O. Abbott ordered Wafer to Washington for treatment for his recurring pleurite inflammation. Francis M. Wafer, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 24 Old Bucher is likely a reference to Henry Bucher of Company b. See Anniversary &Annual Reunion, 72, rpl. 25 This is a reference to Aesop’s fable in which a fox, having failed to get the grapes hanging from a tree, deals with his loss by saying that the grapes are sour. In this case, Wafer suggests that the Canadian dislike of greenback currency stemmed from its unavailability rather than from any problem with the currency itself. On the greenback generally see Mitchell, A History; Unger, The Greenback. 26 On 25 August 1864, Union general Hancock’s Second Corps clashed with Confederate general Hill’s infantry and General Hampton’s cavalry. Hooker ordered the Second Corps to destroy Lee’s supply lines. Following intense yet disorganized fighting, the Confederacy handed Hancock his most severe defeat of the war, wounding or capturing upwards of three thousand Union troops. 27 In 1861, with increased Confederate activity in Canada, Secretary of State Seward required passports for all persons travelling into the United States. Seward revoked the requirement on 8 March 1865. See Shippee, CanadianAmerican Relations, 123–4; Winks, The Civil War Years, 130–6, 370. 28 Sylvanus B. Hance served as the American consul to Kingston from 1864 to 1874. 29 On 5 November 1864, Dr Satterthwaite diagnosed Wafer as having “acute dysentery” and recommended a leave of absence of twenty days. Satterthwaite also recommended “a change of climate and location ... to prevent loss of life or permanent disability.” Most likely Wafer went home to recover. He returned to the regiment on 4 December 1864. In order, Francis M. Wafer, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 140.

epilogue 1 Campbell, Reminiscences, 20. 2 Pickett, The Heart, 167–8. 3 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 196. 4 Abel H. Crawford to his Wife, 5 May 1865, Abel H. Crawford Letters, dua. 5 United States, OR, series 1, vol 46, part 3, 1378. 6 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 265. 7 Quoted in Power, Lee’s Miserables, 281.

192

Notes to pages 139–52

8 Missouri Republican, 10 June 1886. 9 Kauffman, The Civil War, 105. 10 Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 31 May 1865. 11 In 1866 the medical faculty of Queen’s University separated from the university to form a new medical school, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. The university and the college issued separate degrees. The university reabsorbed the college in 1892. Francis M. Wafer, Medical School Records, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua; Spaulding, “Aspects,” 180. 12 Octavius Yates Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. See also Horatio Yates Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 13 Francis. E. Pierce Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 14 Francis M. Wafer Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 15 Horatio Yates Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 16 Ibid. 17 Francis M. Wafer Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 18 Horatio Yates Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 19 C.M. Johnson Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 20 Francis M. Wafer Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 21 Pension Office Correspondence, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 22 Horatio Yates, Francis M. Wafer Pension File. na. 23 “The Late Francis M. Wafer,” Daily News, 10 April 1876. 24 See Alexander Grant Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na; Robert Patterson Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na; John Wafer Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na; Peter Wafer Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 25 Peter Wafer Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. Peter gave $260 to his daughter Maria and her husband, Charles Lyons; $150 to Maggie and James Daley; $200 to his daughter Elizabeth; $500 to his daughter Elizabeth; and $400 to Agnes and her husband, F.C. Lachance. 26 John Wafer Letter to Pension Office, 1 June 1885, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 27 Francis Fitch Letter to Pension Office, 13 July 1885, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 28 Grounds for Reject, 1 December 1887, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na.

appendix 1 The Gananoque River is twenty-eight kilometres long and runs from Red Horse Lake to the St. Lawrence River, passing through the town of Gananoque, Ontario.

Notes to pages 153–62

193

2 Tilney, My Life, 51. For similar comments see Fiske, Mr. Dunn Brown, 71. 3 For similar statements on the nature of St Patrick’s Day, 1863, see Bilby, Remember Fontenoy!, 74–6; Conyngham, The Irish, 372; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 118. 4 In order, Corby, Memoirs of a Chaplain Life,141; author’s observations of the vestment. The initials ihs represent the monogram of Jesus Christ and stands for Iesus Hominum Salvator, or Jesus Savior of men. 5 Blue Anchor is located on New Jersey’s Atlantic shore, roughly ninety miles from New York City. 6 Mrs Wafer could refer either to Francis’s mother, Elizabeth, or perhaps to the pressure he was under to marry and return to camp with a wife.

dramatis personae 1 Carl V. Amiet, Civil War Service Record, New York State Archives (nysa). 2 “Recruiting for 108th,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 18 February 1864; “Causalities,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 13 May 1864; “Wanted,” Rochester Evening Express, 9 May 1864; “Personal,” Rochester Daily Democrat, 14 May 1864. Also see “The 108th Regiment,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 22 February 1864. 3 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 59; “Casualties in the 108th,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 9 October 1863; Charles Kenyon, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Irving Arms, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 4 Thomas Arner, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Pierce, “Civil War,” 7 January 1863, 164. 5 William Bloss, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 6 Record of Service of Connecticut Men, 481; Goddard, Regimental Reminiscences, 12. 7 Pittsburgh Township Census, 1861, 3; Charles Brownley, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 8 Bryce A. Cox, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 25, 46. 9 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 235, 50, 51; Dayton T. Card, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 10 Henry J. Clow, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 11 Wilson and Fiske, eds., Appleton’s Cyclopaedia, vol. 4, 283. 12 Joseph Deverell, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 13 Reisem, Buried Treasures, 15; “Death of Charles Dickson,” Rochester Daily Democrat, 20 May 1864. 14 Record of Service of Connecticut Men, 552; Page, History of the Fourteenth, 222–4. 15 New Jersey Civil War Record, 12; Maust, Grappling with Death, 766.

194

Notes to pages 162–6

16 “Obituary,” Medical and Surgical Reporter, 278; Cox, ed., “List of Physicians,” 294. 17 Record of the Service of Connecticut Men, 552; Page, History of the Fourteenth, 374; Rutkow, ed., List, 75. See also Maust, Grappling with Death, 767. 18 Directory, 52; Lovell’s Directory, 485; Mitchell, 777. 19 William F. Dutton, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 20 Rutkow, List, 267, 271. On Dwinelle also see Justin Dwinelle Papers, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia. 21 Robert E. Ellerbeck, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Foster, Reminiscences, 141; Hall, History of the Sixth, 303; Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 27 June 1864. Also See Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 7 May 1863. 22 Page, History of the Fourteenth, 119; Record of Service of Connecticut Men, 552. See also Hirst, The Boys, 184. 23 William Smith Ely, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Reisem, Buried Treasures, 113. 24 Robert Evans, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 25 Solomon Fatzer, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 26 Census, 69; Queen’s Medical Faculty, Faculty Minutes, 29, qu; Sutherland’s General Directory, 129. 27 John A. Fellman, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 28 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 200; Charles E. Field, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 29 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 193. 30 New Jersey Civil War Record, 605. 31 Illustrated Historical Atlas, 48; Pittsburgh County Census, 18. See also Hayden-Luck, Canada Census, 19; Hughes, Pittsburgh Township 1844, 7; Hughes, Pittsburgh Township 1846, 11; Smithson, 1851–1852 Census, 31. 32 New Jersey Civil War Record, 585; John Wells, Alphabetical List, 182, 183. 33 John L. Graham, Civil War Service Record, nysa; “List of Casualties in the Late Battle,” Rochester Evening Express, 7 July 1863. 34 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 214. See also “Chaplain Grassie,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 15 May 1863. 35 Alfred B. Hadley, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 36 Warner, Generals in Blue, 201–2. 37 Joseph S. Harris, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 104. 38 Parke County Republican, 15 July 1863. 39 Warner, Generals in Blue, 223–4. On Hayes’s death see “Brig. Gen. Alexander Hays,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 10 May 1864.

Notes to pages 166–71

195

40 Warner, Generals in Blue, 224–5. 41 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 194. 42 New Jersey Civil War Record, 602. 43 Butterfield, “The University,” 18. Also see Anniversary and Annual Reunion, 84, Rochester Public Library. 44 Warner, Generals in Blue, 245–6. 45 John S. Kenleyside, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 46 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 212; Smith, comp., The Civil War, i. 47 Wagner, Generals in Blue, 266–7. 48 Theodore Knapp, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 49 Baldwin Springer Maull, John Maull, 68; Seville, History of the First, 142,149. See also Maust, Grappling with Death, 761. 50 John Wells, Alphabetical List, 293; Kepler, History of the Three, 192; Maust, Grappling with Death, 761. 51 Hutchinson, Cyrus Hall McCormick, v, 9, 74, 377. 52 A.D.J. McDonald, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 53 James A. McKinley, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Phistere, New York, vol. 5, 3,708. 54 Beebe, Albany, 72–4; Bi-Centennial History, 213; Beebe, Albany, 79. See also Dieffenbacher, This Green, 235. 55 Reynolds, Hudson-Mohawk, 148; United States OR, series 1, vol. 11, part 2, 2,383; Rutkow, ed., List, 213; Owen Munson, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Cox, ed., “List of Physicians,” 300; Phistere, New York, 68; Maust, Grappling with Death, 783. 56 New Jersey Civil War Record, 799. Also see Reeves, History of the Twenty-Fourth, 13; John Wells, Alphabetical List, 184. 57 James Nichols, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 104. 58 Dwight H. Ostrander, Civil War Service Records, nysa; Anniversary & Annual Reunion, 12. 59 Seville, History of the First, 77, 122. 60 Warner, Generals in Blue, 353–4. 61 Garrett, The Civil War Diary, 1, 18, Washburn, A Complete Military History, 188–9; Pierce, “Civil War,” 164. 62 Richard H. Palmer, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Cox, ed., “List of Physicians,” 300. 63 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 190–2, 194. 64 Frank Pinkerton, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 65 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 301, 441.

196

Notes to pages 171–6

66 Ibid., 190, 443, 400, 446. 67 “Obituary,” Medical and Surgical Reporter, 279; Cox, ed., “List of Physicians,” 295. 68 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 48. See also Billings, History, 100; “Hanging of a Spy,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 14 July 1863; Silliker, The Rebel Yell, 110. 69 Frederick Ristow, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 70 New Jersey Civil War Record, 799; Reeves, A History of the Twenty-Fourth, 35. 71 Hughes and Ellesworth, eds., Pittsburgh Township, 20. 72 Treese, ed., Biographical Directory, 1,763. 73 John Wells, Alphabetical List, 227. 74 New Jersey Civil War Record, 585; Rutkow, ed., List, 182. 75 Rutkow, ed., List, 293. 76 Billings, History, 27, 29, 470, 485. 77 Mitchell, 112. 78 Henry B. Smith, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 79 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 198–9. See also David Maull, Life. 80 Kepler, History of Three, 269. 81 Warner, Generals in Blue, 467–8. 82 Bi-Centennial History, 664, 210. 83 Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 84 Fiske, Mr Dunn Browne, 128. 85 Warner, Generals in Blue, 501–2. 86 Illustrated Historical, 48; Pittsburgh County Census, 21; Vanhorne, “The Vanhorne Family,” 15–18. See also Hayden-Luck, Canada Census, 15; Hughes, Pittsburgh Township 1844, 7, 1846, 6, 11; Smithson, 1851–1852 Census, 25. 87 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 321. 88 McIntosh, History of Monroe, 133; John F. Whitbeck, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 89 Wilson and Fiske, eds., Appleton’s Cyclopaedia, vol. 6, 516; Bi-Centennial History, 210; Dwyer, Homes, 44–5. See also Sprague, A Sermon; Bi-Centennial History, 215–16, 240–1. 90 Thomas Willet, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 91 Marvin Williams, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 92 Wilson and Fiske, eds., Appleton’s Cyclopaedia, vol. 6, 603. 93 Angus, Kingston General Hospital, vol. 1, 23–55; British Daily Whig, 11 March 1882; Travill, Medicine at Queen’s, 60–4.

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manuscript collections Duke University Archives (dua), Durham, North Carolina: Abel H. Crawford Letters; Constant C. Hanks Papers. Harvard University Archives, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Abbott Family Papers. Library and Archives of Canada (lac), Ottawa, Ontario: John Campbell, mg 55/24, #393. National Archives (na), Washington, dc: Francis M. Wafer Military Service Records; Francis M. Wafer Pension File. New York State Archives (nysa), Albany, New York: Civil War Service Records. Notre Dame University Archives, South Bend Indiana: Photographs of William Corby’s Vestment. Queen’s University Archives (qua), Kingston, Ontario: Francis M. Wafer Fonds, 1863–1867; Queen’s Medical Faculty, Faculty Minutes, Vol. 1. Rochester Public Library (rpl), Rochester, New York: Anniversary and Annual Reunion of the 108th Regiment of the New York Volunteers. United States Army Military History Institute, Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Francis M. Wafer Diary, 29 June–9 July 1863. University of Rochester Archives (ura), Rochester, New York: Porter Family Papers. Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia: Justin Dwinelle Papers.

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Index

Abbott, Edward G., xxxviii Acquia Creek, battle of, 4, 11, 15, 25, 33 Adams, John, 143 African Americans, 53, 65–6, 126, 128, 137, 186n11, 190n18 Akenson, Donald, xxx Albany, ny, 6–7, 10, 13 Alma Mater Society (Kingston, Canada West), 144–5 Amiet, Carl V., 159 ambulances, xxxiv–xxv, 34, 44, 51, 76, 86, 87, 97, 111, 113, 116 amputations, 29, 32, 49 Anderson, Robert, xxiii, 30 Andrews, William H., 97, 159 anesthesia, xxviii, xxxiii Antietam, Battle of, xxxiii, xxxv–xxxvii, xxxix, 12–13, 16, 24, 55, 92, 103, 154 Archibald, William Charles, xliv Arkansas, xxiv Arms, Irving, 79, 159

Army & Navy Gazette, 62 Army of Northern Virginia, 16–17, 92; at Antietam, xxxiii; at Fredericksburg, xxxvi–xxxvii; at Gettysburg, 30–1, 59–60; at Petersburg, 138–9; at Seven Days Battles, xxxiv; at the Wilderness, 122–4 Army of Tennessee, 92, 137, 139 Army of the James River, 92 Army of the Peninsula, xxxiv Army of the Potomac: xxxix, xliii, 3–4, 8, 16–17, 67–8, 139–40; at Antietam, xxxiii; at Bull Run, 77; at Fredericksburg, xxxiv–xxxvi; at Gettysburg, 31–2, 52, 60; under Grant, 92, 101, 104; under Hooker, xl–xli; under Meade, 91; at the Wilderness, 114, 122–3 Army of the Trans-Mississippi, 137, 139 Arner, Thomas, 12, 14, 159 Arnold, William, 73, 75, 79

216 Atlanta, GA, 16 Auburn Mills, battle of, 73, 103 Austria, xxv Baker, Dr, 28, 160 Baltimore & Ohio railroad, 55 Baltimore Riots, 182n5 Baltimore Turnpike, 41, 44–5, 52 Banks Ford, 18, 25 Banks, Nathaniel, 66 Barnes, Dr, xxix Bartlett, Napier, 59 bathing, 61 battlesounds, 19–20, 22, 25, 32, 45, 129; of animals, 74, 94–5, 105; of artillery, 42, 47–8, 53, 70, 73, 77, 83, 85, 117, 119; and aurality, 35 ; and cannons, 33, 46, 72, 82, 85, 108, 113, 126, 131, 134, 139; of guns, 55, 95, 108–9, 110, 115–16, 117, 126, 127, 131, 139; of shells, 93–4, 96, 126, 131; of soldiers, 43, 84, 95, 109, 110, 117; of weather, 105 Beauregard, Pierre G.T., xxiii, xxvi, 92, 124 Bennitt, John, xlii Bermuda Hundred, 92 Birney’s Division, 80–1 Blackburn’s Ford, Battle of, 76, 103 Blanchard, H.W., xxvi Bloss, William W., 10, 160 Blue Ridge Mountains, 104, 105 Bolivar Heights, battle of, 154 Boston, ma, xxvi, xxx Boyd, Andrew, xxxvi Bragg, Braxton, 66–7 Bragg, Junius N., xlii Breckinridge, John C., 139 Bridgeford, David B., xxv

Index Bristoe Station, battle of, 61, 72, 73, 79, 80, 103 Brockville, Canada West, xxvi Bronson, George, 29, 160 Brownley, Charles, 14, 128, 160 Bull Run, battle of, xxix, xxxiv, 16, 37–9, 69, 76–8, 186n18 Burnside Corps. See Ninth Corps Burnside, Ambrose E., xxxvi–vii, xxxix, xl–xli, 13, 91 Burton, E.P., xlii Butler, Benjamin, 92 Campbell, John A., xxv, 137 Card, Dayton T., 49, 160–1 Carroll, Samuel Sprigg, 110, 116 Cedar Mountain, Battle of, 66, 67, 129 Cemetery Hill. See Pennsylvania: and Cemetery Hill Chancellorsville, battle of, 19–29, 30–2, 59, 97, 103, 108, 122, 149, 156, 183n1 Charleston, sc, xxiii, xxv, 156 Chesnut, Mary, xxiii Chickahominy River, 119 Chickamaga, battle of, 67, 96 Clow, Henry J., 97, 161, 188n13 Cold Harbor, battle of, 124 Corby, William, 102, 117, 154, 161 Couch, Darius N., 10, 19, 23, 31 Cox, Bryce A., 10, 160 Crawford, Abel, 138 Cumberland, T.D., 144 Daley, James Patrick, 141 Daley, John Patrick, 141 Daley, Mary Elizabeth, 141 Darroch, Lois, xliv Davis, Jefferson, xxiv, xxv, 17, 31, 32, 92, 137–9

Index Delaware, 9 Deverell, Joseph, 79, 120, 161 diarrhea, xli, 13 Dickson, Charles B., 43, 113, 161, 182n1 disease, xxxvi, xli, 5, 13, 24, 64, 129, 185n10; See also diarrhea, fever pens, scurvy, typhoid fever Dore, Gustave, xxxvi Doten, Frederick B., 65, 161–2 Doubleday, Abner, xxxvi Dougherty, Alexander N., 116, 156, 162 Douglas, Henry Kyd, 123 draft, 91, 185n11 Drake, William, xxv Ducachet, H.W., 62, 64, 162 Dudley, Frederick A., 96–7, 162 Dunker’s Church, xxxvi Durant, James, 158, 162 Dutton, William, 126, 162 Dwinelle, Justin, 28, 162 Dyer, J. Franklin, xxxv, xlii Early, Jubal A., 30 Edmonds, Sarah Emma, xliv Eighth Ohio Regiment, 107, 110 Eighty-eighth New York Regiment, 117 Eleventh Corps, 19–21, 31, 43, 96, 108 Ellerbeck, Robert, 128, 162–163 Ellis, Theodore Grenville, 77, 163 Ely, William Smith, 12, 14, 21, 22, 26–7, 61, 67, 129, 142, 143, 153, 163, 182n1 Emancipation Proclamation, xxxix England, John, xxxviii Evans, Robert, 43, 163

217

Ewell, Richard S., 66 Fatzer, Solomon, 126, 163 Fee, Samuel H., 9, 163 Fellman, John R., 49, 164 fever pens, 5 Field, Charles E., 14, 164 Fifteenth New Jersey Infantry, xl Fifteenth North Carolina Regiment, 79 Fifth Corps, 56, 104, 110, 114, 134 First Brigade, 128 First Corps, 41, 81, 92–3, 104 First Delaware Division, 42, 88, 94, 133, 187n8 First Division, 23, 71–2, 84, 109 Fitch, Francis, 142, 143, 146 Flint, Dayton E., xl Force, George B., 12, 164 Foreign Enlistment Act of 1819 (Great Britain), 181n88 Fort Donaldson, 16 Fort Henry, 16, 91 Fort Monroe, xxxiv Fort Morton, 131 Fort Stedman, 138 Fort Sumter, xxiii–iv, xxv Fortieth New York Infantry, xxxviii Forty-eighth North Carolina Regiment, 79 Foster, John F., 155, 164 Fourteenth Connecticut Infantry, 22, 65, 77, 85, 95–6, 188n13 Fourteenth Indiana Volunteers, 33, 65 Fourth Division, 52, 60 Fourth Ohio Regiment, 107, 133 France, xxv Franklin, Charles, 103, 164 Franklin, Joe, 103, 164

218 Franklin, Kitty, 103, 164 Fredericksburg & Orange ch plank road, 108, 109 Fredericksburg, battle of, xxxvi–ix, 4, 6, 10, 12, 16–17, 19, 21, 24, 32, 59, 82–3, 86, 103, 154 French, William H., 10, 82 French’s Division, 13 Galwey, Thomas F., 123 Gananoque River, 152 Garibaldi Guards. See Thirty-ninth New York Volunteers Georgia, 92 Gettysburg, battle of, 40–58, 59–60, 92, 103, 112, 133, 184n23 Gibbons, John, 46, 101 Gillman, Uriah, 155, 164 Gordon, John Brown, 59, 122, 123, 138 Graham, John L., 49, 164 Grant, Alexander, 145 Grant, Ulysses S., 101; and Army of the Potomac, 104; at Gettysburg, 60, 91; at Petersburg, 138–40; at Po River, 114, 115–16; at Vicksburg, 31, 91; at the Wilderness, 122–4 Grassie, Mrs Thomas G., 99, 157 Grassie, Thomas G., 14, 19–20, 27, 87, 89, 99, 107, 110, 165 Hadley, Alfred B., 49–50, 165 Hagerstown Turnpike, 54 Haley, John W., xxxvii, xxxix, 59, 123, 138, 139 Halleck, Henry W., 124 Hammond, William A., xxxiv, xxxv, 8, 10, 165 Hampton, Wade, 124, 191n26

Index Hancock, Winfield Scott, 46, 50, 101, 110, 191n26 Hanks, Constant C., 123 Harper’s Weekly, 129 Harris, Joseph S., 66, 165 Harvard University, xxviii Havana, Cuba, xxv Hayes, Alexander, 48, 73, 101, 165–6 Hays, Joshua L., 65, 122, 165 Hays, William, 10, 23, 166 Hazard, John G., 12, 73 Hazards Rhode Island Battery, 12, 73 Heck, Samuel, xxvi Heth, Henry, 72–3 Hickey, William, 103, 166 Hill, A.P., xxxiii, 72, 191n26 Hinson, W.G., 139 HMS Trent, xxv Hogoboom, Harmon S., 14, 166 Holmes, Emma, xxiii Holt, Daniel, xlii Hooker, Joseph, xl–xli, 4, 16–17, 28, 30–2, 96, 183n3, 191n26 Horsfall, Charles K., 155–6, 166 hospitals. See medical care: in battlefield hospitals Howard, Oliver Otis, xli, 19, 31 Hudson River, 9 Hunter, R.M.T., 137 Hutchinson, Franklin B., 97, 166 immigration, xxx, 137 Indiana, xxix Ingalls, Rufus, 11, 166–7 Irish Brigade, 99, 101, 102 Irish Catholics, xxx, xxxi Irish Protestants, xxx, 188n18 Jackson, Andrew, 80

Index Jackson, Thomas “Stonewall,” xxxiii, xxxvii, 20, 22, 30–1, 44, 59, 123–4 Jackson, Thomas J., 66 James River, xxxiv, 124, 126, 131 Jewel, Jack, 187n9 Johnson, C.M., 143 Johnson, Andrew, 140 Johnson, Edward, 190n27 Johnston, Joseph, xxvi, 92, 138 Kauffman, Henry, 139–40 Kenleyside, John, 88, 120, 167 Kevins, E.H., 33, 167 Kilpatrick, Judson, 99–100, 167 Kingston, Canada West, xxx, xli, xlii, 6, 43, 97, 135, 141, 149 Kingston Daily Whig, xxv Kingston General Hospital, xxiv, 141 Knapp, Theodore E., 134, 167–8 Lang, W.A., 144 Lavell, Dr, 144 Lee, Robert E., 13, 16–17, 66–7, 91–2, 124, 134; at Antietam, xxxiii; at Centreville, 69–70, 77–8; at Fredericksburg, xxxvi, xxxvii; and Gettysburg campaign, 30–3, 39, 52–5, 57, 59–60, 183n4, 184n23; at Morton’s Ford, 96; at Po River, 117–18, and the Rappahannock, 80; and Richmond, 137–8; at the Wilderness, 112, 114, 115, 123 Leon, Louis, 59 Letterman, Jonathan, xxxv, xxxvii, xxxviii–xxxix, xl–xli Lincoln, Abraham, xxv, xxvi, 14, 32, 154; assassination of, 139–40; and peace negotiations, 137–8; war

219

preparations of, xxiv, xxvii; war strategies of, xxxiv, xxxvi, xl, 60 Longstreet, James, xxxvii, 17, 30, 47, 60, 92, 122 Longstreet’s Corps, 48, 51, 66–7, 96 Lowe, James Russell, xxiv Loyalists, xxiv, xxx Lyons, Charles, 148 MacCullough, Alex, 29, 168 Macdonald, John A., xxv Magruder, D. S., xxix Markham railroad, 56 Marquis, George, xliv Maryland, 9–10, 31, 39, 54, 56; and Baltimore, 10, 59; and Crampton’s Gap, 53; and Falling Waters, 54, 55; and Falmouth, 10, 11, 12, 13; and Fredericktown, 52–3; and Keedysville, 53; and Maryland Heights, xxxvii, 24, 55; and Sharpsburg, xxxiii, 55; and Uniontown, 40 Mason, James, xxv–xxvi Maull, David W., 76, 168 Maxwell, Charles N., 60 Mayers, Adam, xliv McAbee, Harry M., 156, 168 McClellan, George B., xxxiii, xxxiv, xxxvi McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign, xxxiv McCormick, Cyrus, 79 McDonald, A.D.J., 43, 168–9 McDowell, Charles, xliv McDowell, Irvin, xxvi, xxvii McKim, Randolph, 30, 59 McKinley, James A., 134, 139, 169 McKnight, George, 70 McLaughlin, Charley, 169

220 McLaughlin, Maggie, 103 McLaughlin, William, 103, 128, 169 McLaws, Lafayette, 30 McLeod, Robert A., xxv McNaughton, James, 7, 150, 169 McPheeter, William M., xlii Mead, George G., 66, 82, 91, 139, 156; at Centreville, 69, 77–8; at Fredericksburg, 86; and Gettysburg campaign, 52, 60, 184n23, 185n25; at Morton’s Ford, 96; and Spottsylvania, 123 Meagher, Thomas F., 154 medical care: by assistant surgeons, xxxv, 7, 8, 14; in battlefield hospitals, xxxiv–xxxvii, 15, 24–5, 28, 32, 50, 61–4, 71, 75, 87, 109, 113, 116, 156; by civilian doctors, xxviii; and incompetence, xxxiii–xxxix; by male nurses, xxxv; by regimental surgeons, 3; by surgeons, xxxv, 21, 25, 29, 50, 62, 64, 75–6, 94, 97, 109, 112, 134, 150–1, 154, 156, 178n32, 179n33, 181n96; See also amputations, ambulances, anesthesia, disease, medicines Medical Board of Upper Canada, xxxii Medical College of Queens University, xxviii, xxxii, xli, 6, 145 medicines, xxxiv, 28, 51, 95, 97, 116, 178n23, 183n2 Mile Run Campaign, 87 Mine Run, Battle of, 103 Missouri Republican, 139 Mitchell, Barton, xxxiii Montreal, xxv morale, 16–17, 44, 96, 99, 124, 138

Index Morton’s Ford, battle of, xxx, xxxiii, 91, 93–7, 103, 142 Mud March, xxxix Munson, Owen, 12, 14, 21, 26, 27, 58, 66, 67, 89, 153, 169 music, 17, 102, 139 Native Americans, 139 New Jersey: and Blue Anchor, 155; and Jersey City, 98, 156, 158 New Orleans, la, 16 New York Herald, xxv New York State Medical Society, 7 New York Times, xxv, xxvi New York: and Albany, 98, 149, 151, 157–8; and Cape Vincent, 6, 98, 149, 157; and draft riots, 91; and Elmira, 58; and Monroe County, 12, 89; and New York City, xxvii, 6, 9, 10, 97, 151, 152, 157–8; and Rochester, 12, 103, 140, 141, 154, 157; and Rome, 6; and Watertown, 6, 97 Newell, William L., 156, 169 Nichols, James, 12, 14, 169 Nicholson, James. See Nichols, James Ninth Corps, 4, 11, 112–13 Ninth New York Infantry, xxxviii Ninth New York Volunteers, xxxvi North Anna River, 119, 124 North Carolina, xxiv O’Leary, Charles, xxxvii O’Neil, Patrick, 145 odors, 56 One Hundred Eighth New York Infantry, xli, 8, 22, 24, 29, 89, 143, 150, 153, 182n1; and Antietam, xxxiii, xxxvi, xxxix, 12–13; at Broad Run, 74, 76; and

Index Gettysburg campaign, 40, 46, 48, 49; at Morton’s Ford, 95–6; at Petersburg, 139–40; at Po River, 116; at Spottsylvania, 119; at the Wilderness, 112 One Hundred Thirtieth Pennsylvania Infantry, 22, 42 One Hundred Twentieth New York Infantry, 68 Orange & Alexander Railroad, 34, 57, 83 Orange Court House Turnpike, 82 Orange Order, xxx Ostrander, Dwight H., 133, 169–70 Owens, Frederick J., 156, 170 Owens, Joshua T., 71–2, 102, 170 Palmer, Oliver H., 12–13, 170 Palmer, Richard H., 170 Palmerston, Henry John Temple, xxvi Pamunkey River, 119, 124 Paris, France, xxiii Patterson, Robert, xxvi, 145 Peddy, George W., xliii Pennsylvania, 9, 39; and Cemetery Hill, 41; and Emmitsburg Road, 41, 47; and Evergreen Cemetery, 41, 45; and Philadelphia, 9–10, 59, 151, 152, 156; and Roundtop, 41, 42; and Taneytown, 40, 41, 44, 45, 47, 50, 52; Woodruff’s Battery, 42, 46, 48 Pickett, George E., 138 Pierce, Francis E., 97, 99, 103, 132, th 157, 170; and 108 New York, xxxix, 14, 26, 61, 90, 142; at Morton’s Ford, 93, 95; and Gettysburg campaign, 42–4; at Petersburg, 128; in Washington, dc, 64–5

221

Pinkerton, Frank, 32, 170–1 Pittsburgh Township (Kingston, Canada West), xxiv Pleasanton, Alfred, 39, 54 Po River, Battle of, 114–16 Porter, Samuel, 76, 171 Potomac Creek, 28, 32 Potomac River, xxxiii, 11, 13, 39, 52–6, 77–8, 99, 113, 131, 152 th Powers, Charles J., 171; and 108 New York, 10, 12, 14, 23, 61, 87, 90, 154; at Bristoe Station, 71–2; and Gettysburg campaign, 40, 42; and the Wilderness, 113; and wounds, 119, 128, 132 Proclamation of Neutrality (Great Britain), 181n88 Quackenbush, John Van Pelt, 7, 171 Queen’s University, xxiv, 141 Rapidan River, 60, 66–7, 81–3, 86–9, 91, 96, 107, 120, 125 Rappahannock River, xxxvi–xxxvii, xxxix, 4, 13, 16–18, 27, 30–2, 60–1, 67–9, 78, 80, 92, 112, 151, 152 Reynolds, John, 41 Ristow, Fred, 29, 172 River Queen, 138 Robinson’s Tavern, battle of, 103 Roman Catholicism, xxiv Rosecrans, William S., 67, 96 Rowe, David Watson, xxxviii Rowland, Thomas G., 149, 155–7, 172 Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (Kingston), 141, 144, 145, 192n11 Royce, Mr and Mrs, 103, 172

222 Ruffin, Thomas, 71, 172 Russell, William Howard, xxiii Russia, xxv Ruston, Richard, xxvi Sabin, Elias H., 156, 172 Sacramento Daily Union, 91 Salisbury, nc, 16 Sanitary and Christian Commission, 96 sanitation, xl, 4, 15, 38, 39, 52, 87 Satterthwaite, Alvin, 74–5, 155–6, 172, 191n29 Saunders, Lisa, xliv Scott, Isaac, 75, 156, 172 scurvy, xli secessionism, xxv, 16 Second Bull Run, battle of, xxxiii, 16 Second Corps, 61, 65–8, 104, 120, 127, 132–3, 135, 139, 156; at Bristoe Station, 70–3, 78; at Chancellorsville, 21, 23–4; and Gettysburg campaign, 33, 36–7, 39–41, 45–7, 50; at Morton’s Ford, 93–4; at Po River, 114–15; at Rappahannock, 80, 82–4, 86–7; at Spottsylvania, 117–18; at the Wilderness, 110–13 Second Massachusetts Infantry, xxxviii Sedgwick, John, 21, 24, 25, 32, 114, 123 Seventeenth Maine Infantry, xxxvii, 59, 138, 139 Seventh West Virginia Infantry, 44, 95, 107, 115 Seward, William Henry, xxv, 138 Seymour, Horatio, 7, 150 Shenandoah River, 13, 55 Shenandoah Valley, xxxvii, 92

Index Sheridan, Philip, 124 Sherman, William T., 92, 134, 137, 138 Sigel, Franz, 92 Sixth Corps, xxxvii, 68, 104; at Chancellorsville, 21, 24; and Gettysburg campaign, 32, 44, 46; at Po River, 114–15; at Rappahannock, 80–1, 83–4, 87; at the Wilderness, 110 slavery, xli, 137, 138 Sleepers, J. Henry, 81, 172 Slidell, John, xxv–xxvi Slocum, Henry Warner, 44, 46 Smith, Henry B., 86–7, 158, 173 Smith, William H., xlii Smithsonian Institute [sic], 63, 64, 186n14 Smyth, Thomas A., 133, 173 Sneden, Robert Knox, xxxviii, xliv Soper, Dr, 156, 173 South Carolina Palmetto Guard, xxiii Spalter, Frank J., 132, 173 Spinola, Fransico B., 57, 173 Spottsylvania Court House, battle of, 115, 116–18, 119, 123–4 St Andrews, New Brunswick, xxv St Mary’s Cathedral (Kingston, Canada West), xxiv, 141, 145 St Michael’s Episcopal Church (Charleston, sc), xxiii St Vincent de Paul Society (Kingston, Canada West), 143–4, 145 Staats, Barent P., 7, 150, 173–4 Stafford Court House, 33 Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, xxiv Stephens, Alexander, 137 Stephenson, Robert, 64, 142, 143, 174

Index Steuart, George H., 190n27 Stevenson, Christopher F., 25, 174 Stille, Charles J., xxiv Stoneman, Charles P., 28, 183n3 Stonewall Jackson’s Corps, 108 Strong, George Templeton, xxxvi Stuart, J.E.B., 30, 39, 71, 83, 123–4 Sullivan, John S., 44, 174 Sullivan, Michael, 141, 142, 144, 148 Susquehanna River, 9–10 Sutlers and Sanitary Commission, 87–8, 89 Taylor, Walter, 122 Tennessee, xxiv, 11, 67, 96; and Chattanooga, 66; and Nashville, 16, 137 Tenth Massachusetts Battery, 81 Tenth New York Regiment, 110 Thibodeau, Valery, xxv Third Brigade, 93–4 Third Corps, 104; at Bristoe Station, 68–70, 74; at Chancellorsville, 22; and Gettysburg campaign, 40–2, 57; at Morton’s Ford, 92–3; at Rappahannock, 80, 82; at the Wilderness, 110 Third Division, 23, 41, 52, 83–4, 109–10 Third Maine Infantry, 60 Thirty-ninth New York Volunteers, 41–2, 184n14 Thomas, George H., 67, 174 Thrasher, Byron P., 24, 174 Toronto, Canada West, 43 Tremont House, 6–7 Trent affair, xxv–xxvi Tripler, Charles S., xxxiv, xxxv Twelfth Corps, 43, 96

223

Twelfth New Jersey Infantry, 22, 23, 42, 66, 74, 86, 94, 110 Twelfth New York, 32, 70 Twenty-eighth New York Volunteers, xxix Twenty-second New York Cavalry, 128 Twenty-seventh Indiana Regiment, xxxiii typhoid fever, xli, 13 Union doctors, xxvii Union Medical Corps, xxvii, xxix, xxxiv, xxxv, xxxvi, xxxviii, 6 Union Quartermaster Corps, xxix, xxxiv Union Surgeon General, xxix Union, John Pope, 66 United States Hotel, 62 University of Albany, 7 University of Toronto Medical College, xxxii US Navy Yard, 64 US Pension Office, 143, 145, 146–8 US Sanitation Commission, xxxvi, 180n61 US Treasury Department, 63 US Volunteer Staff of Surgeons, 61, 67 USS San Jacinto, xxv Utica, ny, 8 Vaughn, George W., 109, 174, 187n9 Vicksburg, Battle of, 31, 53, 60, 91 Virginia, xxiv, 31, 60, 136; and Alexandria, 39, 65; and Appomattox, 139; and Ashley’s Gap, 56; and Bailey’s Crossroads, 141; and Bealton Station, 68, 69; and

224 Bloomfield, 56; and Boynton plank road, 133; and Brandy Station, 81; and Brentsville, 72, 75; and Broad Run, 73–4, 79; and Buckeystown, 39; and Burkesville, 139; and Catlett’s Station, 71; and Cedar Run, 70; and Centreville, 37, 69–70, 77, 131; and Coney Mountain, 102; and Culpeper, xxxvii , 65, 67–8, 87, 102, 107; and Dumfries, 33–4; and Edwards Ferry, 39; and Elktown, 58, 61; and Ely’s Ford, 86; and Falmouth Station, 151, 152, 153; and Fairfax Station, 34; and Five Forks crossroad, 138; and Frederick City, 39; and Gainesville, 38–9, 79; and Georgetown, 61–2, 64; and Germanna Ford, 82, 86–7, 107; and Greenwich, 79; and Groveton, 39; and Gum Springs, 39; and Hampton Roads, 138; and Hanover Court House, 119; and Kelly’s Ford, 60, 80–1; and Kettle Run, 72, 75; and Leesburg, 39; and Locust Grove, 82; and Loudon Valley, 13, 55; and Manassas Junction, 37–9, 56, 57, 76, 78; and Mine Run, 83; Mitchell’s Station, 65–6; and Morrisville, 60; and Occoquan Creek, 34; and Petersburg, 97, 124, 126, 131, 132–3, 138–9; and Rappahannock Station, 80; and Reams Station, 132; and Richmond, xxvi–xxvii, xxxiv, xxxvi, xxxix, xl, 5, 16–17, 31, 59, 71, 91–2, 119, 120, 124, 126, 138; and Stevensburg, 88, 107; and Stoney Mountain, 87, 99–101;

Index and Sulphur Springs, 69; and Totopotomoy Creek, 124; and Warrenton Turnpike, 38, 57, 62, 70, 80; and Whiteplains, 57 Wade, Norman, xxv Wadsworth, James S., 122 Wafer, Agnes, xxiv, 145, 151 Wafer, Catherine, xxiv, 145, 146, 148 Wafer, Elizabeth (mother), xxiv, 145, 146, 151 Wafer, Elizabeth, xxiv, 145 Wafer, Francis Moses, xxiv, xxix–xxxiii, 148; and gender roles, xxxi; health of, 26–7, 66, 81, 101, 118, 120, 129, 131, 141–3, 145, 191n29; letters of, xliii, 88–90, 101–4, 106–7, 118–20, 124–36, 139, 149; medical training of, xli, 141 Wafer, Francis Moses (nephew), 145 Wafer, John, xxiv, xxx, xxxii, 88, 101, 124, 129, 130, 132, 133, 145, 146–7, 149, 152, 157 Wafer, Maggie, xxiv, xxxi, 90, 106, 118, 119, 125, 128, 130, 133, 141, 151 Wafer, Maggie (niece), 146 Wafer, Maria, xxiv, 90, 125, 126, 145, 148, 151 Wafer, Martha, 145 Wafer, Peter, xxiv, xxxi, 106, 120, 141, 145, 146–8 Wapping Heights, battle of, 57 Warren, Governeur K., 31, 73, 78, 83, 84–6 Washington, dc, xxvii, xxxiii, 4, 9–11, 15, 24, 37, 59, 62–4, 67, 69, 97–8, 118, 135, 140, 151–3, 158

Index Webb, A.B., 145 West Virginia, 184n15; and Harper’s Ferry, xxxiii, 13, 55 Whitbeck, John F., 12, 14, 175 Whitman, Walt, xxxviii Wilderness, battle of the, 108–14, 115, 119, 122–3 Wilkes, Charles, xxv Willard, Sylvester D., 8, 175 Willet, Thomas, 102, 175 Williams, Alpheus, xxxvi

225

Williams, Marvin, 12, 175 Winks, Robin, xliv Wolf Run, wv, 34 Woodruff, George A., 41, 48, 175 Wrightman, Edward King, xxxvi, xxxix Yates, Horatio, 7, 141, 142–3, 176 Yates, Octavius, 141, 142 York River, xxxiv

a surgeon in the army of the potomac

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30 Who Killed the Queen? What Works and What to Fix in Canadian Health Care Holly Dressel 31 Healing the World’s Children Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Health in the Twentieth Century Edited by Cynthia Comacchio, Janet Golden, and George Weisz 32 A Canadian Surgeon in the Army of the Potomac Francis M. Wafer Edited by Cheryl A. Wells

A Surgeon in the Army of the Potomac FRANCIS M. WAFER

Edited by Cheryl A. Wells

McGill-Queen’s University Press Montreal & Kingston London Ithaca G

G

© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2008 isbn 978-0-7735-3381-3 Legal deposit second quarter 2008 Bibliothèque nationale du Québec Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free (100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free McGill-Queen’s University Press acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (bpidp) for our publishing activities. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Wafer, Francis M., 1830–1876 A surgeon in the Army of the Potomac / Francis M. Wafer ; edited by Cheryl A. Wells. (McGill-Queen’s/Associated Medical Services studies in the history of medicine, health, and society ; 32) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-7735-3381-3 1. Wafer, Francis M., 1830–1876. 2. United States – History – Civil War, 1861–1865 – Personal narratives, Canadian. 3. United States – History – Civil War, 1861–1865 – Medical care. 4. United States. Army – Surgeons – Biography. 5. Surgeons – Canada – Biography. 6. Physicians – Canada – Biography. I. Wells, Cheryl A., 1972– II. Title. III. Series. r464.w24a3 2008

973.7’75092

c2007–907322–0

Typeset by Jay Tee Graphics in 10/13 Sabon

Frontispiece: Francis M. Wafer, 1864 Courtesy Queen’s University Archives, Kingston, Ontario

In memory of two Canadian soldiers robert ralph ryan and alan mcpherson th

17 Duke of York’s Royal Canadian Hussars Second World War

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Contents

Illustrations xi Acknowledgments xiii Civil War Timeline xv Introduction xxiii 1 2 3 4 5 6

Joining the Army of the Potomac 3 The Spring Campaigns of 1863 16 The Gettysburg Campaign 30 After Gettysburg 59 Campaigns of 1864 91 Letters from Petersburg and Hatcher’s Run Epilogue 137 Appendix 149 Dramatis Personae 159 Notes 177 Bibliography 197 Index 215

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Illustrations

Portrait: Francis M. Wafer Map of Virginia

iv

xxii

Ruins of Fredericksburg

4

2d Corps Field Hospital, Chancellorsville

20

The Unburied Federal Dead at Bull Run

38

Removing the Wounded St Patrick’s Day, 1864

49

100

Removing the Wounded from the Wilderness

110

Surgeons of the 2d Corps, 2d Division at Petersburg Grand View of Union Troops

140

Tombstone of Francis M. Wafer

147

125

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edgments

Acknowledgments

Despite being born over one hundred years apart, Francis M. Wafer and I have more in common than first glance reveals. We were both born in Ontario as descendents of United Empire Loyalists. We share an Irish heritage. We both attended Queen’s University in Kingston. We both left Canada for professional reasons and went to the Republic. In doing so, we both became indebted to the extraordinary people we left at home and the extraordinary people we encountered in the United States. While Wafer’s Civil War journey took him into the Army of the Potomac, mine took me into the master’s and subsequently the doctoral program at the University of South Carolina. It was there strangely, and not at our alma mater, that I encountered Francis M. Wafer for the first time. While writing my master’s thesis on Canadians in the Civil War, I came across a citation to a manuscript collection held by the Queen’s University Archives in Kingston, Ontario. Through the generous support of my Gran, Florence M. Ryan, I was able to acquire a complete set of Francis M. Wafer’s writings. I finished my thesis, with the help of my exceptional director and friend Mark M. Smith, put Wafer’s writings in a box, and moved onto other projects. I only rediscovered Wafer in 2005 when a thorough cleaning of my office at the University of Wyoming revealed a neat pile of photocopies labelled “Important. Wafer. Do Not Throw Out!” From that time forward, I have reacquainted myself with the words and worlds of Francis M. Wafer and

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find myself gleefully indebted to a generous group of organizations, scholars, and friends. This project would not have been possible without the help provided by Paul Banfield and the staff at the Queen’s University Archives. I would also like to thank Duke University, Harvard University, the Library and Archives of Canada (lac) and in the United States, the New York State Archives, Notre Dame University, the Rochester Public Library, the United States Military History Institute, the University of Rochester, and the Virginia Historical Society for their help in securing materials and permissions. The anonymous reviewers at McGill-Queen’s University Press along with Jonathan Crago and Joan McGilvray offered thoughtful comments and encouraging advice, asked hard questions, help me focus and refocus the project, and were extraordinarily helpful in procuring photographs. Frank Gillespie of the Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York, was generous with his time and knowledge, as was Doug Bickerton of the Gananoque River Waterways Association in Gananoque, Canada. William J. Bauer, Jr, Michael Eamon, and Edward A. Janak iii deserve special thanks. Even when engaged in their own research, they kindly found the time to read this work in its entirety and to offer helpful suggestions, strong criticism, and insightful remarks that tremendously improved the project. Dr Jason Dylik was extremely kind to share his knowledge of nineteenth-century medicine and medical education. Jim Wafer also deserves my gratitude. Jim generously shared his family’s history and research with me. He was a wonderful source on the Wafer family and meeting him was a delightful and unexpected perk of the project. My own family has been tremendously supportive. My husband, Edward Janak iii, my parents, Heather and Arthur Wells, my sister, Terri Wells, my aunts and uncles, Janice and Tom King and Phil and Lori Wells, as well as my cousins, Andrew, James, and Laura Wells, have all contributed to this project and I thank them. My dear friend Jean Lapierre performed a critical service in securing the images in this work and for that and for everything I am grateful. In closing, I wish to thank and acknowledge an extraordinary woman. My friend Heather Jackson lost her battle with cancer in 2006. I had the privilege of working with Heather for twelve years. I think of her often and find comfort in her indomitable spirit, which continues to inspire me and all of us who had the remarkable good fortune to know her.

r Timeline

Civil War Timeline

1860 6 November: Without receiving a single vote from the South, Abraham Lincoln wins the 1860 presidential election. 20 December: South Carolina’s convention on secession votes to dissolve the bonds between the state and the Union.

1861 9 January: Mississippi secedes from the Union. Jefferson Davis resigns his seat in the United States Senate. 10 January: Florida secedes from the Union. 11 January: Alabama secedes from the Union. 19 January: Georgia secedes from the Union. 26 January: Louisiana secedes from the Union. 1 February: Texas secedes from the Union. 4 March: Chief Justice Roger B. Taney inaugurates Lincoln as the sixteenth president of the United States. 12 April: Confederate Pierre G.T. Beauregard attacks Robert Anderson’s Union garrison stationed at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.

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13 April: Anderson surrenders to Beauregard. The Confederates lower the Stars and Stripes from over Fort Sumter and replaced it with the flag of South Carolina’s Palmetto Guards. The war, for all intents and purposes, has started. 15 April: Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers to serve ninety days in the Union military. 17 April: Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers prompts Virginia to secede from the Union. 19 April: Union troops are attacked by a pro-Confederate mob in Baltimore, Maryland. Lincoln orders a blockade of southern ports for the duration of the war. 6 May: Arkansas and Tennessee secede from the Union and join the Confederacy. 13 May: Great Britain issues a Proclamation of Neutrality in the war. 20 May: North Carolina secedes from the Union and joins the Confederacy. 21 July: The Confederates defeat a stunned Union force at the Battle of Bull Run but fail to capture Washington and end the war. 27 July: Lincoln replaces Irwin McDowell with George B. McClellan as commander of the Department of the Potomac. 24 October: The western section of Virginia secedes from the state and joins the Union. 6 November: Citizens of the Confederacy elect a Confederate congress. Jefferson Davis is elected president. 8 November: Union naval captain Charles Wilkes boards the British vessel HMS Trent and removes two Confederate envoys bound for London. Britain demands an apology for this violation of neutrality and the return of the two envoys or else war will ensue. 27 December: The Trent affair is resolved and war avoided.

1862 8 March: Lincoln reorganizes his armies. He places McClellan in command of the Army of the Potomac and orders the start of the Peninsular campaign.

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6 May: McClellan’s procrastination stalls the Peninsular campaign. He awaits reinforcements near Williamsburg, Virginia. 1 June: General Robert E. Lee assumes command and defeats McClellan’s troops. Lee renames the fighting force the Army of Northern Virginia. 25 June–1 July: Lee engages McClellan near Richmond, Virginia, at the Seven Days’ Battle and forces McClellan to retreat towards Washington. 11 July: Lincoln names General Henry Halleck general in chief of Union forces. 29–30 August: The second battle of Bull Run replicates the outcome of the first. A numerically inferior Confederate army defeats the Union and forces the Federals retreat to their capital. 4–9 September: Hoping to gain European recognition and end the war, Lee’s Confederates drive north with McClellan’s forces in pursuit. 17 September: Although the Union army is aware of Lee’s battle plan for Antietam, McClellan fails to act appropriately. The battle, which is the bloodiest day of the war, results in a stalemate. McClellan permits Lee to escape across the Potomac. 22 September: Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, which frees only those slaves in areas or parts of areas in rebellion. 7 November: General Ambrose Burnside replaces McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac. 13 December: Burnside and the Army of the Potomac unsuccessfully attack the Confederates entrenched on Marye’s Heights, Virginia. The Union loses 12,653 men and the Confederacy 5,000 men during this battle known as Fredericksburg.

1863 1 January: The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect. The federal government permits AfricanAmerican military enlistment.

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25 January: Lincoln replaces Burnside with General Joseph Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac. 1–4 May: Lee’s Confederate forces hand the Union a devastating loss at Chancellorsville. The Army of the Potomac retreats. 10 May: The Confederacy is devastated when General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson dies from complications resulting from the wounds he received at Chancellorsville. 3 June: Lee launches his second invasion of the North. 27 June: Lincoln replaces Hooker with General George G. Meade as commander of the Army of the Potomac. 30 June: Confederate general James Pettigrew’s brigade arrives in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, searching for shoes but finding the enemy instead. 1 July: The Confederates began reconnaissance in order to determine the size of the Union force. Despite Lee’s orders to avoid a general engagement, Confederate forces instigate one. The Confederates are victorious at the end of the first day, having made the Federals to retreat to Cemetery Hill. 2 July: Delays in organizing and implementing result in a failure for the Confederacy. 3 July: In an attempt to win the engagement, Lee orders Generals George Pickett and James Pettigrew to pierce Meade’s centre line. Their men are slaughtered and Gettysburg emerges as the costliest battle of the war with 23,089 Union men and 20,451 Confederates missing, wounded, or dead. 4 July: Grant takes Vicksburg from the Confederates, gaining control over the Mississippi River and cutting the Confederacy in half. 13–16 July: New York City erupts into chaos as draft riots break out. 23 July: McClellan follows Lee into Virginia and orders General William H. French to stop Lee from retreating through Wapping Heights. French’s attempts are unsuccessful and Lee’s army escapes into the Luray Valley.

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14 October: Confederate general A.P. Hill launches an unauthorized attack on Union forces retreating from Bristoe Station. Hill and his men retreat to the Rappahannock. 7 November: The Union attacks Confederate troops at Rappahannock Station and forces Lee to retreat south of the Rapidan. 27 November–2 Meade attempts to strike the Confederate army December: encamped south of the Rapidan. Lee fortifies along Mine Run. Meade fails to attack, arguing that Lee’s line is too strong, and the Union retreats.

1864 6–7 February: Federal forces cross the Rapidan and engage Confederate troops at Morton’s Ford, Virginia. The Federals withdraw north of the river. 10 March: Lincoln replaces Hooker with Grant as commander in chief. General William Sherman replaces Grant in the western theatre. 5–6 May: Lee attacks Grant’s army in the Wilderness, the land around Chancellorsville. Lee orders an attack on Grant’s exposed right flank. Fierce fighting results in 17,666 Federal and 7,500 Confederate soldiers missing, wounded, or killed before the Federals withdraw. 10 May: Federal forces unsuccessfully attempt to break through Confederate lines near Spotsylvania Court House. 11 May: Union general Philip Sheridan defeats the Confederate cavalry under General J.E.B. Stuart at Yellow Tavern, Virginia. Stuart is fatally wounded. 12 May: Fighting resumes near Spotsylvania Court House but the federal forces remain unable to break the Confederate line. 18–19 May: Federals again launch an unsuccessful assault aimed at breaking Lee’s line near Spotsylvania Court House. Grant withdraws towards the Po River.

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3 June: Grant unsuccessfully attacks Lee’s forces at Cold Harbor. This is Lee’s last great victory of the war. 15 June: Grant plans to occupy Petersburg and Richmond. Both sides dig in for a ten-month battle. 2 September: Sherman captures Atlanta and destroys most of the city. 8 November: Lincoln hands McClellan an overwhelming defeat in the presidential election. Andrew Johnson, a Tennessee Democrat, is elected vice-president. 15–16 Decem-ber: Hood’s Army of Tennessee is destroyed by the Federals at Nashville, 21 December: Leaving a path of death and destruction, Sherman reaches Savannah and gives the city, on 22 December to Lincoln as a Christmas gift.

1865 3 February: Lincoln and Stephens engage in an unsuccessful peace conference at Hampton Roads, Virginia. 4 March: The chief justice inaugurates Lincoln for a second term as president. 25 March: Lee, desperate to break through Grant’s forces at Petersburg, launches an unsuccessful attack. 2 April: Grant breaks Lee’s line at Petersburg. Davis orders the evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond. The Confederate government flees south, leaving Richmond to looters. 9 April: Lee surrenders his Army of Northern Virginia to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Grant offers Lee extraordinarily generous terms, which Lee accepts. Grant permits Lee’s men to keep their weapons and horses; Grant supplies them and allows them to return to their homes as free men. 14 April: In Washington, John Wilkes Booths shoots President Lincoln. Lincoln dies the following day. 16 April: Vice-President Andrew Johnson is inaugurated as president.

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18 April: Johnston surrenders to Sherman near Durham, North Carolina. Sherman offers Johnston terms as generous as those given to Lee by Grant. Johnston and Sherman hammer out an all-encompassing peace. 26 April: Union forces kill John Wilkes Booth. Johnston surrenders to Sherman after rejecting their peace accord. 4 May: Lincoln’s funeral procession travels from Washington to Springfield, Illinois, where he is buried. 10 May: Federals capture Davis and the Confederate government near Irwinville, Georgia. 26 May: The last Confederate army, the Army of the Trans-Mississippi, surrenders to the Union. 18 December: The United States Congress ratifies the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery.

1866 2 April: President Andrew Johnson officially declares an end to the Civil War.

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Map of Virginia, 1862. Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia Libraries

tion

Introduction

In the wee hours of 12 April 1861, most citizens of Charleston, South Carolina, including Mary Chesnut, slept fitfully at best. Four o’clock loomed and with it the potential bombardment of Fort Sumter by Confederate forces. Mary lay in her bed awaiting the appointed hour. St Michael’s Church bells chimed four a.m. yet silence reigned. “At half-past four,” Chesnut heard “the heavy booming of a cannon” and “sprang out of bed.”1 The city hummed with excitement as Charlestonians of all stripes gathered on their rooftops and piazzas, in the city’s streets and parks, in church spires and courtyards, and along the waterfront. The sky flashed with shells and the windows rattled as Confederate general Pierre G.T. Beauregard bombarded Union general Robert Anderson’s federal garrison at Fort Sumter. Thirty-three hours into the bombardment, Anderson surrendered. The Confederates lowered the Stars and Stripes from Sumter’s flagpole and replaced it with the flag of South Carolina’s Palmetto Guard. South Carolina celebrated. Noted English correspondent William Howard Russell observed that Charleston “present[ed] some such aspect[s] of those in Paris in the last revolution. Secession flags waved out of all the windows,” church bells peeled, and salvos were fired.2 Residents held victory balls and danced the secession two-step in celebrations throughout the state. In the words of Charlestonian Emma Holmes, there was “universal rejoicing” at Sumter’s fall.3

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Celebrations in the North also greeted Sumter’s fall but diverged from southern celebrations over the meaning of Sumter. For the Confederacy, the fall of Sumter inaugurated a new nation and opened the door to an independent future. In the North, however, Elizabeth Cady Stanton spoke for many when she described the event as “a simultaneous chorus for freedom for every nation that has ever fought for liberty on her soil.”4 Others greeted the news less positively. James Russell Lowe noted that “[r]ebellion smells no sweeter because its called secession,” while Charles J. Stille somberly reflected that “nothing is left but an appeal to force.”5 President Lincoln clearly agreed with Stille and prepared for war by issuing a call for 75,000 volunteers to serve a three-month term in the Union army. While the enlistment response overwhelmed his demand, Lincoln’s call complicated things. To Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee, it smacked of aggression towards the South and led them to leave the Union for the Confederacy. War appeared likely. Lincoln’s inaugural address made it clear that “the momentous issue of civil war” hinged on the actions of his “dissatisfied fellow-countrymen.” The government, he pledged, “will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors.”6 With the stage set, two nations waited for Confederate president Jefferson Davis’s decision. Over a thousand miles away on the second concession in Pittsburgh Township, near Kingston, Canada West, the Wafer family awoke on 13 April 1861 to a day like any other.7 Peter and Elizabeth Wafer had married on 7 October 1828 and in the intervening twentythree years raised eight children on the hundred-acre farm inherited from their Loyalist ancestors. In 1861 the family consisted of thirtyone-year-old Francis Moses, twenty-nine-year-old Catherine, twentythree-year-old John, twenty-one-year-old Maria, eighteen-year-old Maggie, fifteen-year-old Elizabeth, and eleven-year-old Agnes. Sadly, the family’s third son, Peter, had died at the age of three on 8 October 1849. Peter and Elizabeth raised their remaining children as good Roman Catholics and faithfully attended Kingston’s St Mary’s Cathedral.8 Although all of the children helped with the farm by tending the crops, livestock, and garden plot, Francis Moses also attended medical college at Queen’s University in Kingston. In 1861 Wafer was studying chemistry and anatomy at the university and clinical surgery and medicine at Kingston General Hospital.9 On 13 April Peter, Elizabeth, John, Catherine, Maggie, Maria, Elizabeth, and Agnes tended to the morning’s chores while Francis continued his

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studies. All remained oblivious to the momentous events unfolding in the American republic. Later that day, the evening edition of the Kingston Daily Whig carried news of Sumter’s fall. Buried on the paper’s second page, a simple headline stated that “the ball has opened: war is inaugurated.”10 Despite the newspaper’s apparent indifference, the war elicited great concern from the British North American colonies. Prior to Sumter’s fall, American newspapers screamed for the annexation of Canada. The New York Herald declared that “absorbing Canada” would offset a loss of the southern states, while the New York Times argued for the inevitability of such a merger.11 Lincoln’s choice for secretary of state, William Henry Seward, intensified rather than soothed concerns north of the border for Seward openly dreamed of annexing British North America. Amidst rumours of annexation attempts and impending war, public opinion in British North America divided over events in the American republic. Some believed that “the North ha[d] as noble a cause to fight for as any for which blood has even been shed,” while others, like Sir John A. Macdonald, praised “the gallant defence that is being made by the Southern Republic.”12 Others went further in their proclamations. The citizens of St Andrews, New Brunswick, hosted “a pro-Confederate street parade” while the citizens of Montreal decorated Notre Dame Street with “seven Secesh flags” on the Fourth of July.13 David B. Bridgeford of Canada West, Robert A. McLeod of Nova Scotia, and Valery Thibodeau of Canada East did more than wave secessionist flags. They chose sides and enlisted in the Confederate forces while Norman Wade of Nova Scotia, William Drake of Prince Edward Island, and John Campbell of Canada West, along with tens of thousands of their countrymen, enlisted in the Union army.14 Rumours of war almost became reality with the Trent affair. In May of 1861, the British government declared neutrality in the American conflict and, in doing so, granted the Confederacy de facto recognition as a nation along with the rights of a belligerent power. France, Russia, and Austria followed suit. In November 1861 Jefferson Davis sent two diplomatic envoys, James Mason and John Slidell, to Europe to secure recognition of the Confederacy. The pair left from Charleston, slipped through the Union blockade, and arrived in Havana, Cuba. Once in Havana, they boarded the British Steamer HMS Trent for the final leg of their voyage. On 8 November Captain Charles Wilkes of the USS San Jacinto fired on the British vessel, boarded it, and

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removed Mason and Slidell. Initially, the North cheered Wilkes as a hero. The New York Times “advocated that a second Independence Day be declared in Wilkes’s honour, and the City of Boston presented him with a jeweled sword.”15 The mood sobered as the British expressed their outrage at such a violation of sovereignty. Prime Minister Henry John Temple Palmerston issued an ultimatum to Lincoln demanding the release of Mason and Slidell as well as an official apology. Simultaneously, Palmerston prepared for war by fortifying the British North American border and mobilizing the British fleet. For Canadians fighting in the Civil War, the notion of war with Britain proved problematic. Canadian H.W. Blanchard trembled “for the fate of my own dear Canada” in the event of a war between the Union and Great Britain; he feared that “Canada West would be[come] one big battle field.”16 Samuel Heck of Brockville, Canada West, also feared war with England and declared that in such a circumstance he “could never raise an arm against my native land. I have enlisted in the American army. I am not a Yankee.”17 Richard Ruston was not a Yankee either and no doubt spoke for many when he declared “that should the worst happen he must find some way to escape the necessity of taking up arms against his native country.”18 Circumstances intervened to prevent Ruston from discovering such means. Fearing a twofront war, Lincoln acquiesced to Palmerton’s demands and avoided war. British North Americans, however, remained intensely concerned over annexation and uneasy over events to the south even as they waited for one big offensive battle to end the war, restore some form of order to the American Union, and settle the issue of annexation. With public pressure mounting and the three-month enlistments lapsing, Lincoln ordered General Irvin McDowell to design a battle plan to sack Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy. McDowell hesitated and requested more time to perfect “the discipline and organization of the volunteers, who had not yet been formed into brigades.”19 Lincoln declined and insisted that the campaign move forward. McDowell’s plan called for his army of thirty thousand to engage Beauregard’s twenty thousand Confederates gathered at Manassas railroad junction. Simultaneously, McDowell charged Union general Robert Patterson with preventing Confederate general Joseph Johnston from reinforcing Beauregard’s forces. Although brilliant in theory, implementation of this plan proved disastrous. McDowell’s unruly, unorganized, and untrained troops marched sluggishly towards Manassas, taking five days to cover the

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twenty-three miles. An unrelenting press complicated the situation. In Washington and perhaps Richmond, little secrecy surrounded McDowell’s impending military campaign. The press encouraged folks to go to the battlefields and witness the imminent Union victory. On 21 July 1861, as men clad in shades of blue, grey, and butternut faced off on the soil of Virginia, prepared to fight to the death, Washington’s elite gathered above the battlefield. Fortified with picnic baskets overflowing with French champagne, Russian caviar, and other luxuries, they settled in to watch the Union destroy the Confederacy and capture Richmond. Events on the battlefield took a different turn. By late afternoon, the Union line resembled “a confused swarm of men, like bees, running away as fast as their legs could carry them, with all order and organization abandoned.”20 Pandemonium ruled and, in the ensuing “wild panic,” troops and spectators alike scurried for safety in a world turned chaotic.21 For the wounded, however, safety proved elusive. Union doctors possessed neither the training nor the experience to deal with battle wounds or their accompanying diseases on such a vast scale. When war broke out 114 doctors served the sixteen thousand members of the Union’s peacetime army. Twenty-four doctors resigned to join the Confederacy while three resigned and refused to join either side. Many of the remaining eighty-seven doctors “were incapacitate for all duty, and one-half were unfitted for service in the field ... These officers [had been] scattered at isolated points on the frontier, without access to books, having no contact with their professional brethren in civil life, and with very little opportunity, while their duties confined them to the medical care of a single company of soldiers, of improving themselves in a knowledge of that science which is perhaps of all others the most progressive ... The conditions of things by which the surgeons of the army were surrounded before the war, was necessarily towards complete stagnation in respect of everything which could stimulate a true professional zeal.”22 The lack of a field hospital system, ambulance corps, “war-ready infrastructure for medical supply and distribution,” and a miniscule budget compounded the problems facing the Union Medical Corps.23 The swelling of the Union ranks following Lincoln’s call for volunteers meant that more army doctors were needed, yet there were no federal guidelines or national system for recruiting or licensing doctors. Instead, the Union military complex required that each regiment provide its own surgeons. Consequently, army surgeons ranged from

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men with formal medical training to complete incompetents appointed for political purposes. Formally trained civilian doctors who enlisted in the Union army were as unprepared as antebellum army doctors were. Although the number of medical schools increased during the antebellum period, the quality of education failed to improve. Most medical schools “were merely diploma mills whose main raison d’être was to make money for their faculty, not to graduate skilled physicians.”24 The entrance requirements were hardly rigorous. Entrance into Harvard University’s medical program hinged on payment of a modest matriculation fee and the passage of the applicant’s twentyfirst birthday.25 Once in the program, students learned their medicine through books and lectures and often emerged with a medical degree within months of registration. Students lacked hands-on training. Most states, with the exception of Massachusetts after 1834 and New York after 1854, banned the dissection of human cadavers on religious grounds, believing that “the soul, as well as the body, was imperilled” by dissection. As a result the nation’s medical schools failed to offer particularly effective surgical training programs; “learning by watching was the practical result.”26 Most American medical education programs lagged behind those of Europe and the British North American colonies largely in quality and technology. At the Medical College of Queen’s University, for example, students learned by doing. In addition to attending lecture courses, students participated in mandatory surgical and dissection classes and emerged with a medical degree, normally, in three to four years.27 Moreover, European-trained doctors possessed more knowledge. They were intimately familiar with “stethoscopes, thermometers, syringes, ophthalmoscopes [and] laryngoscopes,” whereas very few American doctors had seen such equipment, “let alone used” it.28 European course work stressed the ties between “[s]ystematic laboratory research” and “clinical practice,” American schools did not. The introduction of anesthesia in 1846 increased surgical training programs in Europe but had little impact on American medical education. There remained few surgeons in antebellum America and few complicated surgeries were performed. For most surgeons, the first time they picked up a scalpel was on the battlefield.29 Not surprisingly in the chaos of battle, most opted for amputation rather than sophisticated but time-consuming surgical attempts to save limbs.30 While some Civil War surgeons attended medical school, others manipulated the patronage system to secure appointments. In 1862,

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for example, “the governor of Indiana sought to put through an appointee, without examination, whose sole qualifications were a term of service in the field hospital as a hospital steward and one year of reading in a doctor’s office.”31 More egregious, however, was the discovery in July 1861 that “one surgeon and one assistant, father and son, who were appointed by the colonel [of a volunteer regiment, had] ... not been examined by any medical board ... the former was a barber ... and an occasional cupper and lecher, and had no medical degree. The son’s medical education was also doubtful.”32 Such appointments doubtless contributed to the distressing reputation of surgeons and certainly to the nature of the treatment meted out to soldiers wounded at the battle of Bull Run. Ill prepared to face the unprecedented chaos resulting from the battles Union surgeons of all stripes struggled to accommodate and treat the wounded.33 Wretched and primitive battlefield conditions hampered the efficiency of the Medical Corps. Doctors were as unused to surgery as they were to the conditions in which they were to perform it. Dr Barnes of the 28th New York Volunteers lamented that he was forced to set up his headquarters “under a tree in a little ravine.” Even though Barnes hung his sash “on the tree to signify that the place was under the Charge of a surgeon,” the Rebels “pour[ed] in musket-balls, and projectiles” making the place “unsafe for the wounded.” Barnes went in search of ambulances and found it strangely difficult to procure any.34 Indeed, “an incompetent Union Surgeon General, accustomed to a small pre-war frontier army, decided to wait until there was actual fighting before preparing for casualties. None of the wounded reached Washington in an ambulance the day of the battle. At that time, Union ambulances were under the authority of the Quartermaster Department rather than the Medical Department and their hired civilian drivers, fearing for their own safety, abandoned the field.”35 The Union wounded faced two choices: either die on the battlefield or walk to Washington. Assistant Surgeon D.S. Magruder recalled, “It took some of the wounded three days to return on their own. Some walked the distance with half their jaws shot away, legs badly mauled, broken arms, head wounds, and many other injuries,” only to discover in Washington that “the medical service wasn’t prepared to handle such a large group.” Clearly, the first year of the war was “a medical disaster.”36 Francis M. Wafer remained isolated from the medical if not military disasters of the Civil War. While he undoubtedly knew local boys who

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had been killed in the war, Wafer’s world remained largely undisturbed by the conflict. Local dynamics centred on religion, ethnicity, family, and gender informed Wafer’s world far more than the stunning events playing out in the American republic. Prior to the 1820s, Kingston was defined by a Loyalist legacy and staunch ties to Britain, in addition to its military and educational institutions. The Irish influx of the 1820s altered the city so much that by the 1860s a “vibrant, yet divided Irish population ... far outnumbered both the Scottish and Loyalist elements.”37 According to scholar Donald Akenson, the Irish situation in Kingston diverged from that of Boston. In the American context, Irish Catholics immigrated mainly to urban ethnic ghettos. In Canada West, however, Irish Protestants overwhelmingly settled in urban centres while the few immigrating Irish Catholics settled in the countryside. Consequently, Akenson argues, Irish Catholics in Canada West escaped the ghettoization, pauperization, and rigid class structure that shaped the American Irish Catholic experience.38 Although Irish Catholics in Kingston often climbed the class ladder, the process of assimilation proved difficult. The general population viewed Irish Catholics “as something less than a blessing” while the Protestant Irish labelled them “scapegoats,” thus creating palpable ethnic and religious tensions.39 Irish Protestants easily assimilated into mainstream culture but in doing so created a new identity for themselves, namely, “Orange Irish.”40 The Orange Irish identity coalesced around the creation and opening of Orange Order lodges. A militant Protestant group steeped in anti-Catholicism and anti-Republicanism, the Orange Order dominated the political, economic, and social life of Canada West by the 1840s. The existence of eighteen Orange lodges in the 1860s reflected the movement’s continued growth and rising popularity. Increased violence against Irish Catholics accompanied increased Orange membership. The Orange Order frequently clashed with Irish Catholics in bloody street battles during the annual Orange parade. Although Wafer’s family immigrated long before the Irish influx of the 1820s, he grew up in an ethnically and religiously charged atmosphere that designated him as inferior to Irish Protestants and certainly to the general population. His negative childhood environment helped shape the man he became. In a letter to his brother John, dated 20 March 1864 and sent from Morton’s Ford, Virginia, Wafer mused, “Although I am far from relations not so of friends. [I t]hink [I] am safe in asserting I have more friends here (influential ones too)

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than ever I could have made at home, owing perhaps to the strong national & religious prejudices that exist, as well as being fostered in Canada.”41 Clearly, the difficulty of being Irish Catholic in British North America weighed on Wafer and informed his identity. Gender roles and familial expectations also shaped Wafer’s world. From birth, society and family moulded Wafer into “appropriate patterns of masculinity” based on social mores and norms.42 In short, Wafer’s life held certain innate expectations drawn from the cult of masculinity. In nineteenth-century Canada West, that meant that men and women occupied separate spheres and embodied different attributes. The male sphere “encompassed the field, the workshop, the tavern, and civic affairs,” while the female sphere comprised the “house, the garden, the family, and the church.”43 Self-control, rationality, and temperance characterized ideal manhood while emotion, compassion, and purity defined womanhood. Religion, morality, loyalty to the Crown, and defence of British North America underscored both ideals. The attributes and realms of both genders intersected in the household following marriage. From pulpits to newspapers, belief in the “redeeming qualities of married life and the importance of being husbands and fathers” reverberated throughout British North America.44 Although a duty, marriage also carried certain requirements. “Because Catholics were a minority in English Canada – and not an especially powerful one,” the Church discouraged intermarriage between Catholics and Protestants by implementing a series of difficult and rigorous requirements.45 British North Americans understood the preference for marriage within their faith. Age became another qualification of marriage. By the late 1850s, twenty-five stood as the average age for native-born men to marry while twenty-two signalled the start of old age for unmarried women.46 Social norms and familial expectations dictated that Wafer marry, raise a family, inherit his father’s land and, upon his father’s death, head the family. Peter Wafer suffered from alcoholism accompanied by bouts of violent behaviour and because of this, Francis coopted the paternal role of protector and provider from his father. A letter of 9 June 1864 to his sister Maggie indicated Wafer’s fatherly concern over her proper role at home and her frustration. Although women occupied the private sphere, Peter, suffering from financial constraints, proposed putting Maggie to work in the fields. Appalled by the violation of societal norms that this would entail, Wafer offered to “pay from [his] pocket” a hired

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man to work in the fields, thus saving his sister’s reputation.47 While Wafer clearly embraced his paternal role, he rejected some aspects of his fate. A letter to his brother John in October 1864 suggests that Wafer’s bachelorhood resulted from poor health rather than lack of interest in the opposite sex. Indeed, Wafer urged John to “inform all the girls who you think would be fools enough to wait for me to marry at once even should they find nothing more than a tailor.”48 Wafer also diverged from his predestined career path when he abandoned the family farm. Beginning in 1854, he “drift[ed] from the soil” and spent the next three years touring the United States. He returned and farmed for the following four years before deciding, at the unusually advanced age of thirty, to pursue medicine. He enrolled in the Medical College of Queen’s University in 1861. As in the Republic, doctors in British North America were a mixed lot and suffered from a mixed reputation. As early as 1795, the medical community of Upper Canada attempted to institute controls over medical licensing in order to separate legitimate practitioners from “quacks.” In 1818 the Medical Board of Upper Canada assumed the “responsibility for the examination and granting of licenses to qualified applicants.” The predominately rural and isolated nature of Upper Canada made enforcement of standard medical practices difficult at best. With only ten licensed doctors in 1822 to serve a population of one hundred thousand, common folks turned to alternative medicine and local “doctors who may or may not have had training.”49 Consequently, in the early nineteenth century “the practice of medicine was the domain of both the layperson and the professional, both male, and female,” with medical treatment based on science and home remedies.50 The 1830s marked the start of the medical community’s renewed drive to professionalize. Designed to combat the profession’s poor reputation, debunk public misconceptions about “modern medicine,” and produce homegrown practitioners while simultaneously increasing the number of doctors in British North America, the University of Toronto Medical College opened its doors in 1834 followed by the Medical College of Queen’s University in 1854. Both modelled themselves on European schools and introduced their students to European medical discoveries and technologies, including the use of microscopy and anaesthetics. While American medical schools remained hesitant to embrace surgery, British North American institu-

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tions saw anaesthetics as an opportunity to improve their surgical skills and enhance their knowledge. The substantial rise in social status experienced by newly minted doctors was rarely accompanied by riches. Throughout the nineteenth century, medicine remained a poor and uncertain profession. More than half of all doctors failed to establish successful practices.51 Medicine did, however, allow doctors to rise above their family’s social status and travel in circles that had previously been closed to them. Wafer’s writings suggest that this may well have been what lured him into medicine. Writing to his sister from Morton’s Ford in 1864, Wafer remained “sanguine that we can yet win a name for our house that will put all slanderous howling to flight.”52 Medicine perhaps offered Wafer just such as chance. Consequently through 1861 and on into 1862, Wafer remained steadfast in his dedication to his medical studies and isolated from the events of the Civil War. In the Republic, however, battles raged. The newly formed 108th New York Infantry experienced its baptism by fire at the battle of Antietam.53 Fresh from a victory at Second Bull Run, Confederate general Robert E. Lee invaded Maryland. For Lee, the fate of his nation and the possibility of European recognition hinged on his success and emancipation on his failure. From 4 to 7 September, the Army of Northern Virginia crossed the Potomac above Washington with General George B. McClellan and his Army of the Potomac in dogged pursuit. The Confederate failure to oust the Federals from Harper’s Ferry complicated Lee’s plan and forced him to divide his forces, sending General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson to Harper’s Ferry. This along with a stroke of bad luck plagued Lee. On 13 September Private Barton Mitchell of the 27th Indiana discovered Lee’s battle plans wrapped around three cigars at a campground recently occupied by Confederate general A.P. Hill; the plans were conveyed to General McClellan. When Lee learned that McClellan possessed his orders, he carried on regardless. Incredibly, McClellan failed to capitalize on this advantage and dallied. Lee made his stand at Sharpsburg near Antietam Creek on 15 September. With Jackson’s return on the sixteenth, the Union and the Confederacy prepared for the opening of battle on the seventeenth. With battle lines drawn, the deadliest day of the war unfolded. By dawn of the eighteenth, it was clear that a stalemate had been reached. Lee moved his troops across the Potomac leaving 27,000 men wounded or dead in his wake.

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Despite the overwhelming carnage, the Union Medical Corps had improved its operations since Bull Run. McClellan appointed Charles S. Tripler as medical director of the Army of the Potomac in August 1861 and charged him with reorganizing and improving the corps. This was no easy task and Tripler spent the vast majority of his time trying to determine “which regiments had medical officers or even which regiments were present.”54 He attempted to improve the quality of doctors enlisting in the Union army by requiring potential surgeons to pass a series of mandatory examinations. Although Tripler’s reforms resulted in partial success, McClellan’s Peninsular campaign highlighted its failings. McClellan launched the campaign in March 1862 with the aim of capturing Richmond and ending the war. Beginning on 17 March, the Union navy transported the Army of the Potomac to Fort Monroe on the peninsula between the James and York rivers. On 4 April McClellan began his campaign, but plagued by procrastination (“the slows” as Lincoln called it), squandered the opportunity to end the war.55 The Army of the Potomac engaged the Confederacy’s Army of the Peninsula and the Army of Northern Virginia in a campaign that ended with 36,463 Union and Confederate casualties. Scrambling to care for the wounded, Tripler had to contend with a lack of ambulances, medicine, tents, and supplies resulting from miscoordination and miscommunication between the Medical Corps and the Quartermaster Corps. Twenty-four hours passed before the Medical Corps secured ambulances to transport the wounded from the field to the hospitals. At least six hundred Union wounded had to be abandoned to the enemy because of the shortage of ambulances. Tripler outlined the problems and challenges faced by the Army of the Potomac Medical Corps as well as his frustration in his official report to us Surgeon General William A. Hammond. “I find it impossible,” Tripler wrote, “to secure either transportation or subsistence for the men thrown upon my hands without tedious delays and unnecessary suffering. Time, which is so valuable to me now, is taken up and wasted in endeavors, too often unsuccessful, to get together ambulances and wagons to have these trains properly and economically conducted, to have boats prepared and in position, to procure buildings for hospitals, to get subsistence for the sick and wounded, and, in short, doing the duty assigned to quartermasters and subsistence officers ... At all events, I protest beforehand against the Medical Department being held responsible for evils they have no means of

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obviating.”56 Ultimately, the obstacles proved insurmountable and Tripler resigned in July 1862. With Jonathan Letterman replacing Tripler, the Medical Corps underwent a vast reorganization. Hammond and Letterman instituted “an innovative system of care ... Stretcher bearers now removed the wounded from the firing line and took them to regimental assistant surgeons located just behind the front lines. These surgeons triaged the wounded, stopped bleeding, administered opiates, and dress wounds. Trained ambulance attendants then moved the wounded to field hospitals set up in existing buildings or tents just beyond the artillery range.”57 Letterman assigned each regiment a surgeon, two assistant surgeons, and three male nurses. The Letterman system clearly improved conditions for the wounded. The quality of surgeons and the skills they possessed continued to plague the Army of the Potomac. At Antietam, the sheer carnage and volume of wounded tested the Letterman system and the endurance of the Union Medical Corps. Letterman spent the day before the battle giving directions to the “medical directors of corps to form their hospitals as far as possible by divisions, and at such a distance in the rear of the line of battle as to be secure from the shot and shell of the enemy; to select the houses and barns most easy of access, and such as were well supplied with hay or straw and water; when circumstances would permit, to designate barns as preferable in all cases to houses, as being at that season of the year well provided with straw, better ventilated, and enabling the medical officers with more facility to attend to a greater number of wounded, and to have all the hospital supplies taken to such points as were selected.”58 He organized ambulances and trained stretcher bearers to transport the wounded to the railroad and then to general hospitals. The wounded however, outstripped Letterman’s preparations. So vast was the carnage that one Union sergeant wrote to his father that “on some portions of the field they are lying so that you can step from body to body without touching the ground.”59 The rain of shells and iron trapped thousands of wounded on the field. When the booming of cannons stopped, the air filled with the pleading cries of the wounded. Lying between the lines in no man’s land; some waited days for treatment; many died before it arrived. Others who had been rescued from battle lay in barns, houses, schools, churches, and outbuildings. Things were no better for those who reached hospitals. J. Franklin Dyer operated from Hoffman House hospital where “the wounded were fast coming in, and in an hour there were five hundred

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there” with only a few surgeons to help them. Indeed, the hospital had “seven surgeons, of whom three or four each day are unfit for duty, on account of the severe labor of the past fortnight.” The problem was further compounded by the fact that “those surgeons who visited the army soon after the battle ... did not seem willing to remain and dress stumps.”60 George Templeton Strong of the us Sanitation Commission61 summed up the hospital conditions thus: “It was fearful to see Gustave Dore’s pictures embodied in shivering, agonizing, suppurating flesh and blood.”62 The blood, limbs, and entrails of the wounded drenched the floors and stained the crude operating tables and garments of the surgeons, who operated at a frenzied pace as thousands of wounded awaited treatment. All the while more injured arrived, disease spread, and putrid odours fouled the air. Under such circumstances, proper burials rarely occurred. Edward King Wightman of the Ninth New York Volunteers arrived on the battlefield on 20 September 1862 to discover that the Union dead “still lay unburied, horribly mangled, and lying in every conceivable attitude.”63 Thousands more lay “in rows – in piles – in heaps – the dead of the brute and of the human race mingled in mass.”64 The dead lay, in the words of Union general Alpheus Williams, “thick as autumn leaves.”65 Andrew Boyd of the 108th New York Infantry noted in his diary that he saw members of his company “burying the dead” and “it was a sight that [he] pray[ed] to God [he] may never see again.” Accordingly, men dug ditches “about seven feet wide and two or three rods long” and placed the dead “side by side, then cover[ed] them with straw.”66 The dead as well as the living suffered from such an arrangement. The Medical Corps encouraged Abner Doubleday’s division to move its camp from Dunker’s Church as the “multitude of human bodies, many buried in a state of putrefactions, and the carcasses of dead horses deposited a title below the surface of the earth” contaminated the wells as well as the air.67 The Army of the Potomac, including the 108th New York, spent six weeks dithering before it set off again, this time marching towards Fredericksburg. On 7 November Lincoln punished McClellan for his failure to capture Lee at Antietam by replacing him with Ambrose E. Burnside. Burnside, anxious to prove his worth, reorganized the army into three grand divisions and launched an aggressive new campaign. Instead of going into winter quarters, the Army of the Potomac set out to cross the Rappahannock, capture Fredericksburg, march on Richmond, and end the war. The condition of the Army of Northern

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Virginia favoured Burnside’s plan. Following Antietam, Lee split his army, sending Jackson to the Shenandoah Valley and James Longstreet to Culpepper. While Burnside and Lee strategized, Letterman prepared for the forthcoming battle. Prior to the battle he reported that “as many hospital wagons as were required were sent over and the organization of each hospital commenced. So earnestly did the medical officers enter upon the discharge of their duties that the hospitals were in readiness with officers, attendants, guards, instruments, dressings, stimulants, food, candles, etc ... Mattresses and beds were procured from the dwellings ... All the tents were left standing and others on hand for use, should they be wanted.”68 Miscommunication waylaid Burnside’s pontoons for a week, time enough for Lee to reunite his forces and dig in along the Rappahannock. On 11 December Burnside crossed the Rappahannock and prepared to engage Lee. In Fredericksburg, Federals ruthlessly looted the town. On the morning of 13 December Burnside engaged his enemy with disastrous results. More than thirteen thousand Union troops died in the engagement, most of them victims of an ill-conceived frontal attack on Marye’s Heights. Lee once again escaped and the Union once again tasted the bitter fruit of defeat at the hands of a numerically inferior army. On the medical front, Letterman’s system reportedly ran like clockwork. Surgeon Charles O’Leary, medical director of the Sixth Corps, reported that during the engagements of the 13th, the ambulances being guided and governed with perfect control and with a precision rare even in military organizations, the wounded were brought without any delay or confusion to the hospitals of their respective divisions. Not a single item provided for the organization of the field-hospitals suffered the slightest derangement, and the celerity with which the wounded were treated, and the system pervading the whole Medical Department, from the stations in the field selected by the assistant surgeons with the regiments to the wards where the wounded were transferred from the hands of the surgeons to be attended by the nurses, afforded the most pleasing contrast to what we had hitherto seen during the war.69 John W. Haley of the Seventeenth Maine Infantry offered a different perspective on the treatment of the wounded. It was difficult to sleep

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following the battle for “our ears [were] constantly saluted with the cries of the wounded left on the field to the mercy of weather and Rebels ... These wretched men lay crying, groaning, and begging for water and help in the most agonizing manner, and we unable to rescue them.”70 Likewise, Walt Whitman reported meeting a soldier wounded at Fredericksburg who had lain “the succeeding two days and nights helpless on the field ... his company and regiment had been compell’d to leave him to his fate ... at the end of some fifty hours he was brought off, with other wounded under a flag of truce.”71 Although the system functioned appropriately and medical care consistently improved over the course of the war, the improvements were a matter of degree as Whitman’s discovery illustrates. While medical treatment slowly improved, popular perceptions of Civil War surgeons continued to decline during the course of the war. Soldiers complained persistently about surgeons and their skills. Colonel David Watson Rowe reported that at Fredericksburg, “the hospitals were a harrowing sight ... Downstairs, upstairs, every room full. Surgeons with their coats off and sleeves rolled up above the elbows, sawed off limbs, administered anesthetics. They took off a leg or an arm in a twinkling, after a brief consultation. It seemed to be, in case of doubt – off with his limb.” John England of the Ninth New York Infantry shared Rowe’s concern. England was shocked to discover that the surgeons “thought no more of [the wounded] than a pack of used up maimed dogs and treated [them] no better; and hundreds are stiff and cold in death to-day, who would be living and might recover if properly treated and attended.”72 Robert Knox Sneden of the Fortieth New York Infantry complained that the surgeons did not “know their business any more than a drug clerk. The consequence is that they perform the most bungling of operations, while many of the suffers have soon died, passing through their unskillful hands. They were mere butchers!”73 Edward G. Abbott of the Second Massachusetts Infantry echoed Snedon’s sentiments. He characterized his regimental surgeon as “a jackass – a fool – an ignorant man – three quarters of the sickness could have been prevented by a good physician.”74 The Union military leadership conceded that problems were rife among Union surgeons, fifty of whom were ultimately court-martialled for incompetence.75 Although Letterman acknowledged the problems in the Medical Corps, he urged the public not to paint all surgeons with the same brush: such “sweeping denunciations against a class of men who will favorably compare with the military surgeons of any country,

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because of the incompetency and short-comings of a few, are wrong, and do injustice to a body of men who have labored faithfully and well.”76 In short, argued Letterman, many surgeons covered themselves with glory and honourably served the cause and their patients. Such pleas did little, however, to rescue the reputations of Civil War surgeons. Reputations of all stripes continued to decline in the aftermath of the Union’s disastrous losses at Antietam and Fredericksburg. Soldiers lost faith. Army morale sank to unprecedented lows. John W. Haley wrote graphically of the conditions in camp: “Short rations, bog water to drink, malaria inhaled with every breath, homesickness, and, added to all this, an incompetent surgeon. Is it any wonder that we are being swept off at the rate of two per day? ... Most of us have lost our courage and expectation of reaching home, or even dying on the battlefield – a fate less cruel than dying here by inches.”77 For some soldiers, military life proved too gruelling and horrific. By January 1863, the Army of the Potomac suffered one hundred desertions a day. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and Burnside’s ill-fated Mud March did little to raise army morale. If anything, morale plummeted to unheard-of depths. Many soldiers shared the opinion of Francis Pierce of the 108th New York, who wrote: “I will not jeopardize my life or become an invalid for life to restore 3,000,000 brutes to freedom ... Formerly when a rebel on picket or any other place asked me ‘What are you fighting for? I could answer proudly, for the restoration of the Union – now when one asks me I have to hang my head or else answer, for the nigger.”78 While the Emancipation Proclamation forced soldiers to question their motives and the direction of the war, Burnside’s Mud March forced soldiers to confront the futility of their plight and consider the possibility of defeat. With Lee’s troops ensconced along the Rappahannock, Burnside opted to conduct a winter campaign rather than retire to quarters. Burnside hoped that by crossing the Rappahannock and engaging Lee’s men, the Union could gain a decisive victory, capture Richmond, and end the war. Five weeks after the Union’s disastrous defeat at Fredericksburg, Burnside’s men marched towards the Rappahannock. Nature, however, intervened. According to Union soldier Edward King Wrightman, “a furious storm of wind and rain arose ... soaking the troops who were already in motion, muddying the roads, sticking the artillery and the ammunition and provision trains, and at length completely blocking our grand flank movement.”79 Burnside’s men were

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taunted and mocked by the Confederates, compounding their frustration and low morale. Confederates “plowed the areas around their fords to assure the production of mud”80 or displayed crudely painted signs bearing insulting messages such as “Burnside’s stuck in the mud. Why don’t you come over?”81 or “This way to Richmond.”82 Burnside’s disastrous campaign ended with most of the Union equipment and men covered in mud and cloaked in humiliation and degradation. On 25 January 1863 Lincoln replaced Burnside with General Joseph Hooker. Hooker “took command of perhaps the saddest, angriest, most grumblely army that ever marched under America’s postrevolutionary flag.”83 As Dayton E. Flint of the Fifteenth New Jersey Infantry put it: “The Army of the Potomac is no more an army. Its patriotism has oozed out through the pores opened by the imbecility of its leaders, and the fatigues and disappointments of a fruitless winter campaign.”84 Lincoln charged Hooker with the daunting task of raising the morale of the army, curbing desertions, and winning the war. Hooker responded by improving the army’s general health and reorganizing its military structure. Hooker placed Letterman in charge of tidying up the unsanitary and unhealthy conditions of camp life. With Hooker’s support, Letterman altered the men’s physical environment as well as their diet. He “mandated the rotation of campsites, improvement of drainage ditches, removal of latrines from living areas and the vicinity of water supplies.”85 He also demanded that the army standardize its housing. As it stood, “the men were left to burrow and shelter themselves as well as they were able; in some cases they occupied the log huts constructed by the enemy when he held this portion of the country ... in other instances, they excavate the earth, from six to eighteen inches, and over this built a pen of logs, two or three feet high, and covered by the shelter tent or brush and direct ... They are hot-beds of low forms of fever.” Letterman recommended “that all troops that are using such huts be directed at once to discontinue their use” and that “huts covered by canvas, the covering be removed at least twice a week, if the weather will permit and that the men ... be compelled to hang their bedding in the open air every clear day.” With these physical changes secured, Letterman turned his attention to the dietary needs of the men. He ordered that the troops be issued “fresh potatoes ... three times and onions twice a week, and fresh bread at all times when possible. When onions are not to be procured, a double allowance of potatoes should be issued.” Success greeted Letterman’s innovations.

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Typhoid fever decreased by twenty-eight percent and diarrhea by thirty-two percent, while scurvy virtually disappeared. Under Letterman, the army slowly regained its “favorable state of health.”86 With Letterman attending to the health of the army, Hooker tackled organization and morale. He implemented whiskey rations, successfully reduced the desertion rate by tying attendance to furloughs, and built corps spirit through the implementation of corps badges. He also altered the form of the army. Hooker combined the cavalry into a single corps, replaced Burnside’s grand divisions with eight corps, and introduced new commanders including Major General Oliver Otis Howard.

While Hooker and Letterman successfully restored vitality and spirit to the Army of the Potomac, Francis Wafer successfully completed the 1861–62 sessions at the medical college of Queen’s University and enrolled for 1862–63. Wafer studied practical anatomy, dissection, forensic and state medicine, pharmacy, obstetrics, and chemistry, thus making him better trained and educated than most Union doctors.87 By the 1863 session break, Wafer’s dedication to his profession drew him south and into the American conflict. It was not the people he met on his three-year tour of the Republic, his opposition to slavery, or even the politics of the time that encouraged him to violate British law and enlist in the Union. He enlisted because recruiters in Kingston offered him the opportunity to hone his surgical skills for the six or seven months between medical school sessions as an assistant surgeon for the Union army.88 For this purely practical reason, Wafer enlisted in the 108th New York Infantry Regiment. Wafer’s involvement in the Civil War lasted two years rather than the six or seven months he had anticipated. Some time after 1865, he produced a fascinating memoir, which provides the centrepiece of this work. Based on “memoranda [hastily] taken at the time,” the memoir brims with the sights, sounds, tastes, textures, and nuances of the Civil War.89 He vividly recounts the ennui of camp life, the chaos of military campaigns, the horror of battle, the chilling fear induced by screaming shells and vicious bullets, the gut-wrenching moans, childlike cries, and foul stench of the wounded, and the primitive conditions and awesome responsibilities of surgeons. Though he witnessed the “darkest pages in the annals of human misery,” Wafers refrains from moralizing over the war’s “vexatious political questions.”90 While criticizing the

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Confederates for their callous treatment of the wounded, Wafer harbours no animosity towards the enemy as a collective whole. He had, after all, joined the Union to refine his surgical skills, which may account for his forbearance towards the Rebels. Wafer’s memoir differs in several ways from those of most Civil War surgeons. Diaries, like those of surgeons E.P. Burton, J. Franklin Dryer, Daniel Holt, William M. McPheeter, and William H. Smith, provide intimate impressions of events and people recorded for private reflection and consumption.91 Memoirs, on the other hand, were explicitly constructed for public consumption.91 Wafer’s memoir, however, was “by no means intended for the public eye” but rather for private consumption by a select group of close friends. For, as he wrote, his “principal object [was to give my] immediate friends a faithful [account] of [my] share, in those important [transactions, and also] to render a small tribute to the [gallantry and] tenacious pernicious courage of fallen comrades [and chiefs] as well as to record the deeds of some [of those] yet living to some of whom [I am] under [many obligations] for their kind offices in the dark [and] doubtful days, when the reality for true friends [could be] appreciated. Should those duties be but performed, [my] present object [will be attained.]”93 The omitted details of Wafer’s 1864 furlough to Kingston offer further confirmation of the manuscript’s intended audience. “As these notes are merely intended for the eyes of friends,” he wrote, “I need not mention how my leave was spent.”94 The intended audience of close friends and comrades likely contributed to his decision to transcribe his notes taken in the moment into a memoir written after the fact. His declining health afforded him the time and perhaps another motivation. In many ways, Wafer’s memoir reads like that of a dying man attempting to secure his place in history. The memoir therefore needs to be read with a critical eye – a grain of salt, so to speak. Because the genre affords historical distance through which to interpret the past, writers may present themselves and others in ways that are softened by the passage of time. Although Wafer’s account of events and contemporaries is remarkably nuanced and detailed, there is no way of knowing the extent to which his impending death influenced his recollections nor which details he may have altered, since his hastily taken memoranda have been lost along with the last year of his memoir. Luckily, letters written between Wafer and his family survived. Like the Civil War letters of Doctors Junius N. Bragg, John Bennitt, and

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George W. Peddy, Wafer’s letters provide an intimate and immediate glimpse into his life.95 Describing the activities of friends and family, the racial climate of British North America and its tense relationship with the Republic, and the details of military campaigns and his patients, Wafer’s letters complement his memoirs. Inserted into the memoir in chronological order, these letters become increasingly important after May 1864, as they are the only remaining record of his experiences. Because Wafer completed his memoirs after the war, there is substantial duplication between the letters and the memoir. For the sake of clarity, I have deleted sections of the letters to avoid such repetition; the deleted sections appear in appendices at the conclusion of this work. For similar reasons I have deleted words that were repeated or crossed out. I have made a number of additions to complement the text. Because Wafer’s world was as familiar to him as it is unfamiliar to us, he offers little by way of explanation of the people, places, and things he encounters. I have included a timeline, map, annotations, images, and dramatis personae to flesh out and explain Wafer’s world to the modern reader. Introductory paragraphs at the beginning of each chapter act as touchstones contextualizing Wafer’s wartime experiences. Transcribing Wafer’s experiences proved more difficult in some sections than in others. In places, fire, inkblots, and coffee have so badly damaged Wafer’s writings as to destroy his original words. I have deleted indecipherable words and placed missing words or parts of words in square brackets. Quotations and words within square brackets indicate the substitution of Wafer’s words with those of other Civil War soldiers in the hope of reflecting Wafer’s intentions. Otherwise, the manuscript and letters remain as Wafer wrote them and reflect his grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, style, subtitles, spelling, and other idiosyncrasies. Wafer’s writings offer much more than the reflections of a veteran Civil War surgeon reaching the twilight of his life. His astonishingly rich recollections of medical conditions and campaigns in the Army of the Potomac, his vivid depictions of surgeries, amputations, and deaths, and his sympathetic treatment of his patients contribute to a small but growing body of medical writings about the war. Moreover, his is one of the few first-hand accounts by a Civil War surgeon born and bred in the British North American colonies.96 Most works dealing with British North American participation in the Civil War develop along three distinct paths. From the end of the Civil

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War until the present, historians have largely focused on the dizzying debates surrounding enrollment numbers. Historians variously claim that fifteen thousand to one hundred thousand British North Americans fought for the Union.97 Other scholars like Greg Marquis, Adam Mayers, and Robin Winks investigate the influence of the Civil War on British North Americans and on the formation of the Dominion of Canada through a blend of political and social history.98 Primary sources provide the third path. Scholars glean most sources from newspapers and enlistment rolls. There are only a handful of published letter and diary collections, among them Lois Darroch’s Four Went to the Civil War (1959) and Charles McDowell’s Ever True, edited by Lisa Saunders (2004).99 A substantial number of Civil War participants who were born in British North America, people like Sarah Emma Edmonds and Robert Knox Snedon, moved to the Republic, naturalized, wrote accounts of the war, and remained in the United States.100 Apart from William Charles Archibald’s 1910 memoir,101 few sizeable accounts of the war written by British North Americans who returned home following the conflict have surfaced. The publication of Wafer’s writings helps to fill a critical gap in the historiography of British North America and the Civil War, Civil War medicine, and nineteenth-century social and military history.102

a surgeon in the army of the potomac

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tings he Army of a of Canadian the Potomac Surgeon

1 Joining the Army of the Potomac

I would beg to inform those into the hands of whom this Manuscript may fall that [my] reminiscences of the late campaigns are by no means intended for the public eye, as the writer does not presume to give a complete description [of] what transpired, not only in the Army of the Potomac, but he does not pretend even to record [every]thing his own Corps (the Second), performed [during] the time of his being attached to it. Indeed, [if a person] placed in the position of Regimental [Sur]geon, attempt[ed] this, he would frequently, [I think], write much, the veracity of which, [in the] least, would be doubtful. For the most part, [what] is here written is compiled from memoranda [hastily] taken at the time. Nor does the [writer intend] to add to those, anything beyond what [he was witness] to, except the statements of some of [the officers] immediately connected with him, & [whose evidence] he has learned through acquaintance [to confide] in. It will be also his study to avoid as [much as] possible the vexatious political questions involved in the war, his principal object [being to give] his immediate friends a faithful [account] of his share, in those important [transactions, and also] to render a small tribute to the [gallantry and] tenacious pernicious courage of fallen comrades [and chiefs] as well as to record the deeds of some [of those] yet living to some of whom he is under [many obligations] for their kind offices in the dark [and] doubtful days, when the reality for true friends [could

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

Ruins of Fredericksburg. Stereopticon image, courtesy of the Library of

be] appreciated. Should those duties be but performed, his present object [will be attained.] [The] month of March 1863, found the Army [of the] Potomac (with the exception of the Nin[th] Burnsides) lying in winter quarters on the [nort]h side of the Rappahannock & along the line of the [rai]lroad 15 miles in length between Fredericksburg & [Acquia Creek, Virginia] which latter place was the Army[‘s] base of [sup]plies. The place is on the Potomac about 70 miles from Washington. The army was being rap[idly] increased & reorganized & many important [improvements] being made in its commission & [in other] departments under the command of Major [Genera]l Joseph Hooker, to whose capability in making reforms it is generally conceded the nation [and army] were much indebted. The army was not [how]ever, well quartered in a sanitary point [of view]. This was perhaps in a great measure owing [to the] very hasty

Joining the Army of the Potomac

5

Congress, Washington, dc

construction of the huts the weather [having] been very severe at that time, as well as [the] utter inexperience of not only many men, but [also of] whole regiments recruited in large cities. [It has] frequently been observed, in the American [army] that even the skilled mechanic, is far [inferior to] the farming population, in making himself comfortable in the shortest possible space of time, with [the] only tool at his disposal, viz. an axe. Often in the absence of a better wall to exclude cold winds, this want was too often supplied by either digging a hole in the earth, or else p[iling] up a bank, & sometimes by both those me[thods combined]. Thus making what some Medi[cal] men [have] learned to call fever pens. The army too, [was more] or less depressed in spirits, which not [even] furloughs & leaves of absences could dispel [nor was] this to be wondered at. They had fought [at] Richmond during the whole preceding year [with the most] preserving gallantry, and [still] the

6

The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

[desired object seemed as far away as ever]. The shot-perforated steeples of Fredericksburg too laid full in view of the camp, reminding all who might look towards them, of the bloody reverse to their arms, received there, on the fatal 13th December past.1 The same month of the year already stated, [March 1863], found the winter session closing in the Medical School of Queens College, Kingston C[anada] W[est]. The army Medical Staff, as well as other departments being recruited & reorganized, it was open to all Medical Students, who might be able to pass the necessary examination. Many students of Canadian schools availed themselves of this privilege, in order to profit by the new & extensive field thrown open for the study of Practical Surgery. For this purpose as well as, a strong desire to see something of the reality of war, I decided on entering the army, if an appointment was at all attainable, for at least the six or seven idle months, to ensue, before the next session of the College. With those intentions, on the 9th March, 1863, I bade farewell to friends & Kingston & took the stage that was supposed to connect at Cape Vincent, [New York], with the evening trains to Watertown, then on to Rome and N York.2 It was a most stormy beginning to a long & doubtful journey & to a person more superstitious, it would certainly, look ominous & unpropitious. A violent southwest wind filled the track with snow (which was as deep as the horses bellies), faster than the few sleighs travelling could keep it open. To go at any gait above a walk, was simply impossible. Consequently, about five hours were consumed in crossing [&] after much floundering & enduring of cold, I arrived in Cape Vincent at a late hour at night, only about two hours too late for the train, & glad to accept the shelter of the little hotel attached to the railway station, with the expectation of getting a train at 4 o’clock [the] next morning. Taking the promised train [the] next morning at the appointed hour, the next day was spent in making a very pleasant journey through the state, although the day was sharp & frosty, but bright & cheerful compared to the stormy lake. The twilight found me in the capital.

albany During my stay here I lodged in a rather, unassuming house, called the Tremont House. It seemed to have rather fallen into neglect as the late landlord, a German, had lately died, the house being now but indiffer-

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7

ently kept by his widow. However it being moderate in charges & retired in comparison to a large hotel, it suited my present purpose. Next day, March 11th, I presented myself at the Surgeon Generals office, of the State of New York, waiving the usual formal & routine manner of applying by letter, as such a course would involve much delay. The Surgeon General was then, a Dr J[ohn] V[an] P[elt] Quackenbush, under the administration of Governor Horatio Seymour. Finding Dr Quackenbush in his office, I at once made my business known to him. At the same time, I told him what school I was from, & showed him a recommendation, which I had forgotten to mention Professor Horatio Yates kindly furnished me, although being but a student of two years standing. The Doctor received me very courteously, although my application was an informal one. He informed me that I being a foreign student, it would be necessary for me to hold a Diploma from some American school of Medicine, or Medical society. He at the same time told me that such a Society existed in connection with the University of Albany, of which he Dr Quackenbush, was a Professor. This was called the New York State Medical Society. He also directed me where to find the President and Censors of their Society, telling me that could I obtain a Diploma on their examination I would be then eligible to be examined for the appointment of AssistantSurgeon. This seemed to me, to be, a bold stride for a student of two years. However, as I did not come thus far, to be intimidated from my purpose, by the mere prospect of difficulties & as I also believed that should I fail, it would at least be a good exercise for me, it being a popular belief among Medical Students that any subject on which they may fail to satisfactorily [pass] at one examination they are sure to have it well studied up for the next. Besides, I by no means felt so diffident before those strange Professors as I would before those of my own College, nor so anxious lest I should be rejected. That same evening, I called up one of the Censors, a Dr [Barent P.] Staats. I found him a very affable & courteous gentleman. He examined me in Chemistry & the Practice of Medicine & gave me a Certificate to the effect that my examination was satisfactory in those branches. The next day, Mar[ch] 12th, I called on the other Censor, a Dr [James.] McNaughton, I found him every inch a Scotsman, as far as being severe & exacting but nevertheless a gentleman. His examination was principally confined to Materia Medica, Anatomy & Surgery.3 Suffice to say he gave me a certificate of proficiency in those branches

8

The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

also. My next step was to call upon the President of the Society & produce my certificates. He informed me that the Principal of the Society, & whose signature it was necessary to have, was then absent in Utica but he promised to fill out the blank Diploma, & forward it to Utica for signature, & in the meantime he furnished me with a note to the Surgeon General, that my Diploma awaited me thus making [me] eligible to apply for office. In two days afterward, he handed to me a neat Diploma, written on parchment in classical Latin. The graduation fee was $16. This gentleman a Dr [Sylvester D. Willard], I am sorry to learn, is since deceased. On the same day, 12th I again went up to the Surgeon General’s office & was there presented with writing materials, a sufficiency of foolscap, & sixteen printed questions including all the principal branches of Medicine. About one half of those, I was able to answer fully & well, of the remainder perhaps I have said enough. Indeed, some of them, to be satisfactorily answered, would require more time even from a person of more pretensions than me than was left of that day. However after writing seven hours, answering some fully & attempting them all, I handed in my paper, & it being after dark, I went to my lodging & got some refreshments. On calling [the] next day, I was almost surprised at receiving a recommendation to the Governor for appointment as [an ] Assistant Surgeon to the 108th [New York] Infantry, with an order, (after I had written & signed a letter of acceptance) to report to the Surgeon General of the us Army, Brig Genl [William Alexander] Hammond, for duty. On enquiring where the 108th ny was I learned it was in the army of the Potomac. So I saw at a glance there was an eventful future before me, knowing so well what that army had already suffered, as well as, having some foreboding of what would be required of it at the opening of the spring. I well recollect that the same evening on which I received my commission, as I walked up the city, to attend to purchasing a uniform, & at the same time brooding on the vague & uncertain future, feeling much like expecting the steps I had taken when a brassband came out on the balcony of a theatre & struck up the rollicking and popular air of Dixie land. Trifling as it may appear, after this moment, it seemed as if nothing could deter me from going straight to the aforesaid place & feeling all the imaginary importance of one that feels certain he is “going where glory [a]waits him.” But I suppose such being human nature, our being affected by trifles while pondering over grave subjects is at least pardonable.

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On the evening of the 14th March after writing a letter home & another to a fellow student Dr [Samuel H.] Fee, donning the uniform of a staff Lieutenant, I took the evening train on the Hudson River road. The next morning at sunrise arrived in the city of

new york The day of the week happening to be Sunday, I could proceed no further until evening. The day being cold & disagreeable was mostly spent at the Merchant’s Hotel [on] Courtland St. So I saw, nothing of the city more than, could be seen on my way to church & back. New York however, is like most other American cities very quiet on Sunday.4 That same evening I took the 7 o’clock train South. Although procuring a ticket through to Washington, I had only got my baggage checked to Philadelphia, not knowing there would be any difficulty in getting it rechecked. But in trying to find my trunk on the arrival of the train, at a late hour at night I soon discovered that in the change of cars which takes place here, the baggage checked through is transferred packed up in crates without unpacking. The porters attending to this first. So before my trunk could be rescued from the baggage car, the train had left. Then there was nothing for it but to remain that night in

philadelphia Remaining for the night in a Hotel near the station called the “Union” or some such name, about 8 am [the] next morning I took a hack for conveyance to the Baltimore depot, which is at the most south[ern] extremity of the city. But little could be seen of the city in this drive, which seemed to lead me mostly through the private portion. Never in any place did I see such a similarity between private residences. Whole blocks seemed to be built on the same plan, which, for the most part consisted of two story houses or red brick with quoins of white stone. The door & window jambs frequently being of the same material. All exposed woodwork too, was invariabl[y] white. The impression they gave was one of the stud[ied] plainness, neatness & cleanliness. Arrived at the depot in good time. I took the next train & continued my journey through Pennsylvania, a portion of Delaware, & Maryland, noting the powerful fury across the Susquehanna, where a Steamer takes on the whole train, three cars abreast, ferrys them over with the

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

greatest ease & discharges again on the banks on the other side of the river, without disturbing a single passenger. Arriving at

baltimore the locomotive was switched off & the cars were drawn through the city by horses, most splendid specimens of their kind. The city was now quiet as could be wished although being so violent when the first troops were being sent out to the war.5 But it was evident from the number of troops guarding the railroad both in this vicinity & along the whole line to Washington, that there were many in Maryland not to be trusted. Of course as my journey was continued without a halt I could see but little of this fine old city that bears the name of its noble founder. An hour or two more brought me to

washington Where I arrived at an early hour on a bright & beautiful evening. The temperature felt like Apr[il] at home, although the air was tempered with a slight chill, owing to the thawing of a light frost of snow, which had taken place the previous eve. This same snow merely sufficient to cover the ground, I had omitted to remark, was the only snow left in Philadelphia. At N York on the day previous although the earth was frozen, there was none, while the sides of the streets in Albany were walled in by huge banks [of snow], shovelled out of the way. Taking the first omnibus, marked United States hotel, I took up my quarters at a house of the same name on Pennsylvania Avenue. I there had the luck to meet two officers of my regiment, who were just leaving the service, a Captain [Bryce A.] Cox & a Lieutenant [William W.] Bloss. They gave me the first definite instruction, [on] how or where to proceed to find my regiment, learning that it was encamped some two miles to the right of Falmouth, which is nearly opposite Fredericksburg & that it belonged to the 2 Corps, then commanded by Genl [Darius N.] Couch & the 3d Division, commanded by Genl [William H.] French & the 2d Brigade by Brig Genl William Hays. I here too had the pleasure of being introduced to Col [Charles J.] Powers, then commanding the regiment, who was also on his way to the front. Next day March 17th, I reported for duty at the Surgeon Generals Dr Hammonds office, & obtained an order for transportation, from the

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Chief Quartermaster[, Rufus Ingalls,] & prepared to go to the front. The evening being long & lonely in a strange place, I decided on visiting some of the theatres of which there are at least four or five in the city. On asking which was the best one, my informant probably consulting his own taste, told me a place called the Canterbury, was by far the best. I went but found it was a mere popular place of amusement for furloughed soldiers & officers on leaves of absence & fast young men generally. The performances, were almost confined to ballet dancing, singing popular army songs & negro drolleries. Probably although those amusements were of a low character, they served the purpose, of keeping up the spirits of soldiers better than more grave & moral ones, such as tragedies. Like all cities I had previously passed through, merely as a person on a journey, I learned but little of Washington, but visiting it several times subsequently, my opinions are reserved until I relate those visits. Next morning Mar 18th, at an early hour the hotel omnibus conveyed me to the floor of sixth street on the Potomac River, where a steamer was in waiting, which conveyed all passengers to Acquia Creek daily, who had leave to go to the front. The passage down the river being accomplished about 2 pm. A train running to near Falmouth, 15 miles, was soon crowded with passengers, principally soldiers. Nothing but box freight cars were at the disposal of the passengers. Those were soon so literally packed with soldiers I preferred with many more, to ride upon the top. The weather being mild, this would not be an unpleasant place, were it not that the wind being ahead, drove the yet hot cinders from the chimney of the locomotive, fair onto the clothing & sometimes upon the exposed parts of the bodies of the passengers. So that during this journey one was convulsively sensible of a smell of burning wool, & the oaths of a soldier as he delved his hand continuously into his bosom or down his back exploring for a hot cinder, which probably he would find, about the time it became cool enough to be harmless. I was now fairly in the camp of a great army, as the lines of tents, piles of Commissary, supplies, forage & flaunting colors gave ample evidence. Near the terminus, the marks of an abandoned camp became visible. This had been the winter quarters of Burnsides Corps, which was lately detached & sent out west to Tennessee. Arriving at the terminus of this road, three miles were yet between me and camp, & the whole country intervening was in the condition of a mill pond when the water is nearly drained off. The chief difficulty with pedestrians, was to retain possession of their boots [given that]

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

the mud was of such a depth & consistency [as to trap their boots]. Therefore taking all the baggage I had brought from Washington, in my hand (a carpet bag) the search for my regiment was commenced on foot, enquiring as I went. The rout [went] for some distance over some high hillocks, with which this county (Stafford) abounds. Fredericksburg lay full in view & the holes in the houses & steeples could be seen with the naked eye. Although the walk was a tiresome one it was scarcely felt, the surrounding scenes were so novel to me. Passing near Hazards Rhode Island battery, which was unlimbered behind a strong Redan & looked point blank into Fredericksburg, the old village of Falmouth came suddenly into view. It was strangely nestled at the termination of a deep ravine, on the river bank. It can scarcely be seen from any direction except from the Fredericksburg side, until it is approached to within 200 yards, as there is a short bend in the ravine immediately above the village. This same ravine gradually expands upwards into a more open valley of some extent, traversed thoroughly by a brook. On the ridges on both sides, overlooking this valley were encamped the 2d Corps. After plodding up this valley through the mud for nearly 1½ hours, a cluster of tents among some straggling pines, on a slight elevation was pointed out to me as the 108th regiment. I was none too soon, for night was setting in fast, when I came up & enquired for the Surgeons tent, a soldier soon showed me where Dr [Owen] Munson the Surgeon, and Dr [William Smith] Ely Asst Surgeon [were], finding them at supper, [I told them] who I was & my business were soon made known. They welcomed & invited me to supper, which invitation was at once accepted, as having eaten nothing since morning, my walk had given me a good appetite. The same evening I was introduced to the principal officers. The history of the 108th ny Volunteers previous to my joining it I cannot give in full but in substance as follows. The regiment was called into the field on the Presidents second call for 600,000 men [on 1 July 1862]. It was recruited in Rochester City & Munroe County. The regiment was raised with a rapidity almost unprecedented. It was mustered in to the us Service on the 18th August 1862. Its field & staff officers were Col [Oliver H.] Palmer, Leiut Col Ch[arle]s J. Powers, Maj [George B.] Force, Capt Marvin Williams, Surgeon John Whitbeck, Asst Surgeons Thomas Arner & William S. Ely, Chaplain [James] Nicholson. It went into action but one month after being recruited on the memorable field of Antietam. There Major Force fell here while leading his men

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against one of the enemys rifle pits.6 The regiment was highly spoken of, as behaving with marked good conduct although in a great measure undrilled & undisciplined. After [Confederate general Robert E.] Lees retreat across the Potomac, the regiment was encamped for nearly a month on Bolivar heights, which is the elevated land immediately in the rear of Harpers Ferry near the confluence of the Shenandoah with the Potomac. Here it suffered much from sickness, such as Camp Diarrhea, & Typhoid fever, the invariable consequences of men being transferred suddenly from home, to participate in the fatiguing & excitement incident[al] to camp life, & campaigning. Marching from Harpers Ferry during the month of November up Loudon Valley, the eastern base of the “blue ridge” & down the north bank of the Rappahannock to Falmouth, there across to Belle Plains in the Potomac. Here again it went into camp, & the weather being unusually severe, the locality a bad one, the mens energies taxed by building corduroy roads & other labor, besides the inexperience of many, in making themselves comfortable, under adverse circumstances, all endured to preparing many more victims for disease.7 From Belle Plains the regiment was marched to the attack on Fredericksburg under [Ambrose Everett] Burnside the result of which is so well known. Frenchs Division to which it belonged was one of the Divisions that attacked directly in front. Being withdrawn from the town by night after having suffered disheartening losses, the men were taken into camp at the place where I found them in March, [18]63. They had gone into camp but temporarily, expecting to soon move again. Such a move actually took place, as Burnside attempted to make a flank movement in the month of January but was forestalled by the adverse weather & the impassibility of the river. The Division to which the 108th was attached was not disturbed, better for them it had been consequently the men spent that severe winter in those miserable apologies for quarters, when at no time during their service, did they require such careful housing seeing it was their first winter in the field. The Typhoid fever & Diarrhea of a Typhoid form, held sway that winter in the camps of raw troops. The 108th, although [not] the greatest sufferers, yet lost many from those diseases. At the time my connection with the regiment took place, although there was yet much sickness, it had entirely abated in fatality. At the same time important changes were taking place in the officers [&] the command. Col Palmer had resigned, he had been pointed out to me in the Governors office in Albany but I did not know

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

he was out of the service. Lieutenant Cha[rle]s J. Power was promoted to Colonel. Capt Francis E. Pierce to Lieut-Colonel, Capt Harmon S. Hogoboom to Major, Drs [John F.] Whitbeck & [Thomas] Arner also resigned the latter through ill health (since deceased) & Chaplain [James] Nicholson. Those vacancies, were filled as follows Dr Owen Munson as Surgeon [of the] 5th NY [was] made Surgeon [of the 108th & the office of Assistant-Surgeon] that by Dr Arners [departure was vacant] was filled by myself, thus leaving me junior Medical officer. The next who was shortly after appointed, was a Mr Thomas G. Grassie of Massachusetts [as chaplain]. The time spent in camp from my joining my command until the opening of the spring operations was to me very monotonous.8 Having but little duty to perform, there being so many Medical officers present. On the 20th March I was mustered in to the us Service although my commission bore [the] date of the 13th. The mustering officer was a Lieutenant Field, an artillery officer. It would thus appear that at that time there were no Commissary of Muster attached to Division staffs as subsequently there were. The ensuing month was spent by me in assisting Dr Ely on the sick call, which was at 7 am in the morning & walking about the camp, when I would get tired of reading. I knew of no acquaintance of mine in the army except Ch[arly] Brownley of Kingston, and he was on duty some distance away, acting Asst Surgeon, & assigned to an engineer Corps. A horse, equipment, blankets, etc. were to be provided for campaigning. Those items involved a good deal of outlay. Horses were scarce & hard to be obtained at any price. It would perhaps have been better for me to have brought one from home, but when I left there, my destination was unknown. However, I purchased a horse from an Asst Surgeon who was going out of the service. The horse & equipments, which were new, cost me but $90, which was very cheap here. Although being but a small [animal] about 14 ½ hands high & in poor condition yet he provided a good & useful one & became afterwards a great favorite with myself and the regiment. I called him “Joe Hooker” which he was not long in learning.9 At this time in the army mounted officers below the rank of Major were allowed but forage for one horse so that of an Asst Surgeon tried to carry sufficient to keep him comfortable, including some grain for one horse, it all made quite a load for one horse. The forage for a horse is 12 lbs oats or corn & 14 lb hay, no hay being issued on the march. Often there may be no issue for three days or more rendering it prudent to carry it yourself. Towards the middle of April the army was reviewed by President Lincoln, after which, daily activity in

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every department indicated an approaching move. The field hospitals were generally broken up & the worst cases sent to the rear. A few days previous to opening of the campaign I was detailed to accompany the sick of the Division, on a train to Acquia Creek, to be taken thence to Washington by boat. Exerting myself much [in] getting the sick removed from the cars to the steamers, becoming much heated, & drinking large qualities of bad water, then sitting on the roof of a car on my return to Falmouth, the next day I became much indisposed, this being the most proper term for the condition I was in, seeing I was not confined to bed yet too sick to eat or take much exercise. It seemed to be a state of debility of the functions of digestion from exhaustion. I struggled hard with nature for to try & keep on duty through the coming struggle, knowing that as I was making my debut in the army, many would attribute my remaining in the rear to cowardice.10 In this condition, I went on my first [campaign].

tings ng Campaigns of a Canadian of 1863 Surgeon

2 The Spring Campaigns of 1863

I

In the spring of 1861, northern newspaper headlines bumptiously predicted a great victory and quick end to the silliness brought about by southern secession. Two years later, the North had yet to secure a major victory in the eastern theatre of the war. Although gaining impressive victories in the western theatre at Fort Henry, Fort Donaldson, Nashville, and New Orleans among other places, the elusive eastern victory contributed to growing public malaise over the war effort. Whipped by the Rebels at Bull Run, second Bull Run, and Fredericksburg, and earning a stalemate at Antietam, General Hooker desperately needed an offensive victory to reinvigorate the war effort and belief in the indivisibility of the Union. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia spent the early months of 1863 much as it had the closing month of 1862, ensconced in astonishingly strong defensive positions along the ridge line of the Rappahannock’s northeastern bank and across from the encampments of the Army of the Potomac. There the Confederates fortified their position by building a series of trenches and earthworks stretching twenty-five miles along the river. Despite this strong position and the victories enjoyed by the Confederacy, army and civilian morale suffered. On the homefront, shortages of basic goods and rapid inflation eroded enthusiasm for the war and led some citizens to riot. In Atlanta, Georgia, Salisbury, North Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia, mobs rioted for bread and demanded relief. The same supply

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problems that plagued the nation’s civilians plagued the army. Short of supplies and exhausted from the privations of their winter quarters, deserters from the Army of Northern Virginia rivalled in number and surpassed those of the Union prior to Hooker’s arrival. Aware of the need to crush the Union, Lee promised Davis that he would attack the Army of the Potomac had it not already been attacked before 1 May. Simultaneously, Hooker finalized a campaign to dislodge Lee from his strong defensive position and force the Army of Northern Virginia into battle. Having heard of Longstreet’s absence from Lee, Hooker sought to use the 130,000 troops in his Army of the Potomac to crush the 60,000 troops under Lee’s command. Accordingly, he charged his 10,000-strong cavalry with cutting communication lines between Lee and Richmond. He ordered a third of his army to cross the Rappahannock beyond Lee’s left flank, another third to feign an attack on Fredericksburg in order to lure Lee out into the open, and the remainder of his forces to attack Lee’s flank. A brilliant plan in theory, it stumbled in its execution. Wretched weather delayed Hooker’s campaign until late April, giving Lee time to ascertain Hooker’s true intentions, send for Longstreet, prepare to defend his flank, and ignore the failed attack on Fredericksburg. I

campaign in the wilderness Bodies of Cavalry [were] being mov[ed] to the right for several day[s]. Orders, by no means unexpected, came to our regiment on the evening of April 26th to be ready to move [the] next morning. It was a solemn night in the 2d Corps although activity prevailed, as the numerous lights kept burning & moving about until a late hour plainly told. The music of the bands that at other times seemed so stirring & cheerful, now, to my imagination assumed a tone & measure of plaintive melancholy. about 8 am on apr 27 th, my regt fell in & took its place in the Brigade, & slowly marching to the right, taking the Warrenton road for a mile or two, & then leaving the road by filing to the left & taking an unfrequented road through a dense second growth of pine. This road let more direct[ly] towards the Rappahannock. We had not marched more than four miles when the Brigade came to a halt, massed, & stacked arms. The day which had been fine now gave signs of being a wet one, & towards noon, while we still were halted, rain set in & con-

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

tinued during the day. Although no order was issued, to that effect, the men quickly set up their shelter tents, and we remained in this position the remainder of the day & night. During the afternoon a pontoon train was moving to the front, with some difficulty, this new & infrequented road cutting up badly. [On April] 28th, [we were] still in same place [for] another week. april 29 th about 8 am the regiment was detached, marched some 2 or 3 miles to Banks ford on the river, furnished with entrenching tools & set to work to cut a road up the steep hill leading from the bank of the river. They worked here until the road was completed, late in the afternoon. Very few of the enemy appeared, but enough apparently to learn what we were doing for had they been disposed to annoy us nothing would have been more easy. The road completed, we joined the Division – the march up the river was continued, over corduroyed roads, that led through hilly pine barrens. The evening too set in rainy, & [the regiment] went into bivouac, wet & uncomfortable a little after nightfall, a few miles from United States ford. apr 30 th. Was a showery morning. The column was soon again in motion, we halted in a field, about a mile from the ford. The troops were massed by Brigade & the guns parked, while the engineer Corps was laying a bridge of pontoons over the river. We lay here from about 11 am until 2 pm, when we fell in & marched to the river. The north bank being very steep, a narrow road was cut in the face or brow of the hill similar to the one we had cut the previous day. This road was now occupied by the artillery. The infantry was made to file to the right & descend at a place so steep, that it was with much difficulty that, not only horses, but men kept their footing. I managed to make the descent however without leaving my saddle. The day having cleared up & the earth drying rapidly marching became more pleasant, while under the cheering glow of the sinking sun, the column with solemn tread, rumbling like distant thunder over the bridge, crossed the stream once more, that was already rendered historical. The crossing here was without opposition as far as we were concerned, the cavalry having cleared the way by making a flank movement & crossing higher up. Having crossed the river, we were halted for a short time, probably to allow the column to close up, then near sunset again fell in & continued the march without a halt through a huge forest of timber. The night was pretty dark in the woods & there were many waterpools in the flat road from the recent rain, which it was difficult to avoid in the darkness, causing much skattering & straggling of the troops. We met a

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few squads of prisoners, going to the rear under guard. After a march of this sort for about 5 or 6 miles, we came to a halt in an open space of about 30 acres, with a farmhouse in the centre. In this house Genl Couch established his head quarters, & here we bivouacked for the night. This was hardly a mile from the plank road, & was a portion of the field of

chancellorsville friday, may 1 st all on this road remained quiet until towards noon,

when we fell in & marched towards Fredericksburg, striking the plank road at Chancellor house & after making about three miles we were halted in a small field surrounded by woods, in which a battery of iron guns were drawn up in line. Those guns, it was understood we were supporting. Here we remained for perhaps as hour, during which I first heard sounds of conflict. Some guns, apparently ours, were slowly & deliberately pounding away at something, about a mile in advance. At the expiration of this time mentioned, we were suddenly marched back to where we had left & there remained during the day & night. It was said the enemy was advancing in front. saturday, may 2 d, the morning broke clear & beautiful & scarcely any one seemed to realize he was on a battlefield, so still was everything around. Although the troops had retired on their arms the previous night & had been kept under arms during the day, yet all were quiet until about 4 pm, when a few straggling musket shots were heard to the right & in front. Those were very soon followed by volleys of musketry, which soon increased with a roar. Artillery too freely mixed in & we could distinctly hear cheering or rather yells, which some recognized as that of the enemy. This seemed to be all taking place about a mile in front but nothing could be seen from our position but a few shells that happened to burst high in air. Most of them around me listened in silence except our Chaplain [Grassie]. He seemed to become unusually excited frequently exclaiming “we are beating them!” “It is the 11th Corps fighting & they are commanded by a good man, General [Oliver Otis] Howard, & he is sure to beat them.” But we were not kept long in suspense for soon a loud rumbling noise mixed with the jingling of chains came from the direction of Chancellor House & soon also a long string of supply waggons appeared from the woods, the mules on a gallop, & among them were gun limbers separated from their guns, beef cattle running wild, &

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

Second Corps Field Hospital, Chancellorsville, 1863. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

many men of all branches of the service, some bareheaded but all unarmed. This mixed crowd of course seemed to have but one object in view viz, to put all possible distance between themselves & the sounds of battle. While looking at the stampede, much amused at many of the ludicrous sights which such cases afford, a sound struck my ear like the rapid flight of a pigeon, soon increasing into a dull rushing scream. All around looked alarmed, but myself & the Chaplain, as something heavy went crashing in to the woods in the rear. Neither of us knew what it was until we heard the word “a shell” uttered by several at once. This was followed by others, one killing a horse of the ambulance train close by and another ricochetting from the ground within a few feet of the regiment bounding over the men’s heads. The 11th Corps had been attacked in flank by Stonewall Jackson & routed & now their artillery had opened on the fugitives & for the purpose of preventing reinforcements from coming up. There was now almost a pause in the musketry, night was approaching & dark clouds arose suddenly from the southwest emitting flashes of lightning & volleys of thunder, which strangely multiplied with the sound of the battle, when an order came for the brigade to advance. Then for the first time I felt

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that in a few moments I would be literally “Staring Death in the face.” According to existing orders my duty was near my regiment. Surgeon Munson had gone to the rear. When shelling, he was privileged to do this or he was on an operating board. Dr Ely was also on the board but he preferred this evening to remain with me. For a very short time after receiving the order all were moving to the double quick down the road towards Chancellor House. The enemys guns, were trained on this road, but as it was getting dark the aim was uncertain, most of them crashing harmlessly through the tree tops, some however came so near that their burning fuzes lit up the now darkening air. Between the field in which we had been massed for the last two days & that in which Chance[llors] house was in, there was a piece of woods about a quarter of a mile wide through which the road led. When the Brigade emerged from the woods, in the open in [which] stood the last house mentioned & about 300 yds from it, it was formed in line of battle across the road in order to check the enemy’s advance in pursuit of the 11th Corps. There was not that much musketry firing when the Brigade halted, myself & Dr Ely looked as well as darkness would permit for a suitable place, to dress wounds. We found a short distance in the rear, a few more Surgeons of the Brigade & commenced to dress. All the officers’ horses were now sent to the rear. We were here but a short time when, we became aware, that the troops were being moved away in front of us, & the place fast becoming deserted. The artillery fire too was increasing & many men & horses going to the rear. The Surgeons who were with us, now left us for the rear also. Dr Ely said we had better go too. I went with him for a short distance, when I concluded my orders required me to find my regiment, if possible. Telling Ely my intention he also accompanied me to the front & we commenced, a search in the darkness for the command. Fighting now ceased for the time & after some wandering, we found the Brigade. I was on the move & after meandering through the woods & changing position several times, we came to a halt about 9 pm, on the right of the road by which we had advanced, & about midway in the woods, before referred to. A line of battle was formed, & here a stand was made in the battle of the next morning. But two Divisions of the Second Corps, were here engaged, the third which held the right of the road in front of Chancellor house & the first held the left of the same line. There was a Division, the 2d opposite Fredericksburg with the 6th Corps under the command of Genl [John] Sedgwick. Our Brigade, which then con-

22

The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

sisted of the 108th ny, 14th Conn, 12th nj, & 130th Penn, occupied the woods mentioned. There was another line of battle in front, principally I believe of the 3d Corps. The troops lay down on the leaves & slept until about midnight when a few stray shots in the skirmish line, was quickly followed by tremendous volleys of musketry, which seemed very close & well sustained for about half an hour, when it almost as suddenly died away. The enemy had made a night attack but were repulsed. Not only did our men reply to theirs with close fire of musketry, but the artillery generally opened with shells. The effect was awfully good as the guns awoke the echoes of the woods & lit up the midnight darkness with their broad flashes. The fiery arc of the shells too could be plainly traced by their burning fuzes [as] they flew over the heads of the front line & the tree tops, straight into the enemys lines. This over, we again laid down, & for myself slept soundly until daybreak. sunday, may 3 d. No sooner was it light enough to see a man a few yards off, then the enemy commenced the battle in earnest. The musketry broke out in the same place, as the previous evening, only in greater volume & accompanied by tremendous yelling. Now too the attack was supported by heavy artillery fire. The enemy troops [ad]vancing in our front were Jacksons Corps, he himself being mortally wounded in the night attack of the previous evening. For nearly half an hour, no musket shots reached our position, but the shells from their guns swept through the woods thickly, some of them cutting down trees in close proximity to us. After about half an hour of steady rolling of musketry & pounding of artillery, the fire somewhat slackened & great numbers of men could be seen finding their way to the rear, some wounded, others dripping with perspiration & blackened with gunpowder. They were not running however, or panic stricken, but looked like men whose commands had been completely disorganized. About this time some bullets came among us, & I noticed one pop through one of our mens canteens & let the water out. The Surgeons orderly who carried the Medicine & dressing case now began to look for a more sheltered situation. Dr Ely called him back, but he did not seem to notice the call but hurried to the rear. Ely followed him calling “George! George!” Waiting some time & not seeing either return, I went after them to see if possible the cause of their delay, as I had no dressings to use should I require them, all being in the case. I failed however to find either during that day in the confusion which followed. The front line being broken by heavy musketry of the enemy

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they advanced without a halt against the Second [Corps]. This line was now placed in a most trying position. The remnant of the first line which had fought it out to the last extremity, now came powering back on their supports, the enemys line of battle following close by. For the second line to fire in this position was simply impossible without involving the line of friends, so the fugitives had to be [allowed to] pass through, which in itself broke & demoralized the remaining troops who stood firm to a great extent. As for our Brigade, while it was first beginning to encounter the advancing enemy in front, it was found the line of the latter here completely overlapped their right flank. On this flank too was a regiment which was now placed under fire for the first time, the 12th nj. Although the troops afterwards proved themselves on many a field, to be “second to none” & the men here even fought well it was impossible for them to sustain such an attack of veteran troops long. The regiment was doubled up & thrown back upon the remainder of the Brigade communicating to it their confusion. Here the horse of Brig Genl William Hays fell & the Genl becoming entrapped in the trappings was captured with one of his aides, the only friend who saw the occurrence. The command devolved on Col Powers, but he was not for some time after made aware of this the fate of the Genl being unknown. Consequently the Brigade having no commander, each Colonel ordered his regiment out of the difficulty as he might be able & the regiment had to fall back behind their guns & reform their lines, the latter a chance to open & check the enemys advance. The commander seemed to have foreseen this choice of restoring the day & had drawn up the artillery along the near side of the field in which Genl Couchs head quarters was, & rallied & reformed [the] infantry in rear of the guns in the edge of the [field.] Thus far I have been speaking of the 3d [Division] alone. The 1st Division had a fierce combat [&] saved their guns with some difficulty. [Men of the] Brigade drawing them off by hand. Of course [it be]came necessary for it to assume the same position as the 3d Division. The enemy after halting, [closing] up their line & gathering their strength for a [great] effort made another charge, but as soon as their line emerged from the wood into the open referred to before, they were met by volleys of canister & small arms, [&] repulsed with great slaughter. No attempt in great force was afterward made by the enemy to carry the position & this was the limit of the rebels success in our front.

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

The losses in our regiment were not numerous but sufficiently numerous for the number present. On the evening of the 2d, a shell passed through Co. i killing or mortally wounding five men, & on the 3d several were killed & wounded & some captured. Capt Byron [P.] Thrasher, a promising young officer had his thigh [wounded] & died in Washington [on 31 May 1863] of his wound.1 The regiment went into action scarcely numbering 350, at this time the rolls bore but a trifle over 400 all left out of upwards of 950 [who] had left [Rochester as members of the 108th New York.] Not only were they thus depleted by the battles of Antietam & Fredericksburg & disease, but many had been discharged through physical disability contacted in the fields by having constitutions inadequate to the hardships of a soldiers life. The remainder of this day I spent in the temporary field hospitals made of pine boughs supported on fork sticks driven into the ground. Yet many poor fellows had not even this temporary shelter from the hot sun, worse still in the last advance of the enemy, they had opened their guns on the road near which the hospital was & the shells for a time fell thick & fast among the wounded. All who were able dragged themselves beyond. The remaining badly wounded were removed to [a place] further in the rear, near a Sawmill as soon [as cir]cumstances would permit. This night I was [call]ed to watch the wounded from midnight until morning relieving another Surgeon at that hour. [My] duty was [a] lonely & solemn one, & besides as I [went] on the campaign sick, the late [hours], fatigue, excitement, & in a great measure want of proper nourishment had well nigh prostrated me. We may well imagine too the sights & sounds here were not of a character to cheer the most unfeeling. Of course little could be done during the hours of darkness more than attend to their more pressing wants, such as see that none suffer from thirst, keep their wounds cooled with water or administer an Anodyne to those who were suffering much pain.2 Many although not complaining betrayed their suffering by their hurried & laborious breathing, but were stifling their agony with the stern fortitude of soldiers. Many too lay around who had ended their struggle since night had set in, their calm ghostly features being painfully distinct even in the darkness. monday, may 4 th. Passed quietly in our front, the men being employed in entrenching their position with temporary breastworks. On this day the enemy massed his forces in front of Genl Sedgwick, who had crossed at Fredericksburg with the 6th Corps & the 2d Division of the 2d & carried Maryes heights by a brilliant charge. The conflict

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here continued, with but little intermission during the day. We could easily hear the prolonged & steady pounding of the guns all day while the troops in our part of the line remained quietly in their position. Why no diversion in favor of Genl Sedgwick was made in our front still remains inexplicable to many officers.3 I have as yet conversed with [many] on the subject, as all feel confident they were quite able to dispose of the enemy force in our front at that time, believing it was mostly withdrawn to overwhelm Sed[gwick]. The result of all this however, was that Sed[gwick], though defending himself skillfully and stubborn[nly] was prevented from forming a junction with [the] main force on the south of the river. Consequent[ly he] was outnumbered & compelled to withdraw his [force] across the river which he did in a creditable [man]ner, his guns being brought over at Banks ford & up [the] road which our regiment had cut on the 29th April. Nothing worthy [of] the name of fighting occurred in [our] vicinity this day, although there was much firing on the picket line especially during the night, [when] there were several false alarms resulting in little [more] than heavy volleys of musketry. This day most of o[ur] wounded were sent over the river. That night as I was yet quite sick, I slept at the field hospital, a Corpl [Christopher F.] Stevenson, an officer of the 8th nj, was mortally wounded by a blade through the abdomen. Had I [been] near him, that I might be able to give him a drink occasionally or change his position. The place was too open for lights such as we had (candles) to be kept burning. His conditions could only be known by my feeling his pulse. Towards midnight not hearing him breath[e] as usual, I reached over & felt for his hand from where I lay & found he had departed. Some perhaps would have removed to another place but as I was then almost indifferent to life or death myself & saw nothing repulsive in the inanimate form by my side so I slept by it soundly until morning. tuesday may 5 th was passed in almost perfect quiet in front, a few distant cannon were heard towards the left. The day seems to have been mostly spent on both sides in burying the dead & caring for the wounded. Our remaining wounded in our hands were sent across the river & mostly to large field hospitals along the line of the Acquia Creek railroad. A new road was cut through the woods from our rear to the ford by which we had crossed the river & towards evening orders were issued for the Surgeons at field hospitals to join their regiments. [Near] sunset a tremendous storm set in accompany[ed by] thunder. The rain fell in torrents & at the same [time] was extremely cold. In

26

The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

the midst of all this [& in fe]eble health I should saddle my horse, having [as yet] no regular servant, & the poor animal too was [near]ly as debilitated as myself. At the opening of the battle I had sent him to the rear with the other regimental horses in charge of Dr Ely’s negro boy. Those in charge of the horses it appears never stopped until they placed themselves between themselves & the sound at the guns. About two days afterwards they were inclined to return, my horse being nearly starved & the saddle bags em[p]tied of anything to eat for myself, as I had left all I had brought with me in there in some bread & boiled ham. Before I succeeded in saddling [my horse], the remainder of the party had somewhat got the start of me so, I had to find my way as best I could to the regiment & as darkness had now set in, this was not easy, as its position lay some distance from any road, & in the thick woods. But persevering on through wind & rain, scratching my face & tearing the lining from my coat in the tangled brush, & inquiring my way I succeeded in straying in to the regiment. Dismounting & sheltering myself a little from the storm behind a tree, Col Pierce, who was in command of the regt accidentally ran against me, & was somewhat surprised to find me here. He told me Drs Munson & Ely had been there some time previous & on learning the troops were going to fall back, they had immediately went to the rear. He was much displeased at their conduct in abandoning me in my sickness, Col Pierce, who treated me in the most friendly manner through out all our acquaintance, now told me that the troops were to be withdrawn, & advised me in my feeble health it would be best for me to get across the river before the crowd become to great, knowing there would be much straggling in the darkness & he seemed to apprehend some fighting before, the troops could be recrossed. I thanked him & took his advice by trying to find my way to the road again & after some time succeeded in falling in with a battery that was moving to the river which I followed for some time. The guns were being taken through the woods by the new road with some difficulty often running [a]foul of trees in the darkness. But when these halts would occur I would have to wait in the rain until they would restart besides being frequently crowded from the road. So I came to a determination of trying to find my way through alone. Passing the battery & following some stragglers, I succeeded in reaching the ford at a late hour at night. Here a vast crowd of men all armed had already assembled, & the order was for all the guns to cross first. Many halts had to be made to repair the bridge which was being strained much by the now rapidly rising river. Sitting

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in my saddle here for several long hours I felt the time was approaching when I could no longer remain there from sheer exhaustion & exposure to the cold storm. If I dismounted, there was no place to sit or lie, every foot was occupied besides mud was knee deep & the crowd too was fast becoming so great, that it would soon be impossible to escape from it in any direction. An effort must be made to leave that press at all hazards, so after much labor in trying to crowd my horse towards the moving column I reached the line of sentries & telling one I was a Surgeon ordered over the river on duty he passed me & there was no more difficulty but [to] fall in with a battery as an artillery officer. Crossing the dark, roaring stream, which threatened every moment to snap the cables that held the pontoon in place I arrived at the road cut up the side of the steep precipice. Here a team was struck fast in the side of the hill & after waiting some time in rear for it to be started, I succeeded in passing it by making my horse climb the side of the hill, which he did with the surefootedness & agility of a cat, though weak he appeared. Arriving at the top of the hill overhanging the river I decided on going no further without my regiment believing that honor at least required this, beside, both myself & horse required rest. So groping my way into a thicket of pines I found an old wigwam of pine built by some men at some time on picket. This though not keeping out any rain, yet was some shelter from the cold wind so there I unsaddled & tied my horse to a tree unpacked a buffalo robe I carried & a rubber blanket & rolling up in the former & covering myself with the latter I slept away the remainder of the night. wednesday, may 6 th. Awakening at daybreak, the weather was still wet & cold & going out to the road which was a short distance from where I passed the night was agreeably surprised to find the regiment passing. I saddled my horse at once & followed on & soon overtook them in a field where we had passed the night of the 29th April, they were getting coffee. One of our privates offered me a cup of warm coffee which I most gratefully accepted. The troops continued their march through a drizzling cold rain, by a more frequented road than that by which we advanced & arrived in their old camps the same evening. Here we found Dr Ely & the Chaplain they having arrived the evening before. Dr Munson had continued his retrograde movement still further several miles, he being apparently under the impression that some great disaster had taken place. Why the army so soon recrossed the river I have never heard satisfactorily explained for as far as my observation went I saw nothing

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

amounting to defeat.4 Tis true some ground was lost in the beginning of the action but the enemys advance was completely repulsed & the men seemed cheerful confident & ready to fight again. Doubtless one great occasion for pursuing this course, was the vague & uncertain nature of the position, for Genl [Charles P.] Stoneman having gone on a raid upon the enemy, communications which was successful, Genl Hooker was unapprised of this up to his withdrawal of the army, not hearing from Stoneman. Little could be learned of the enemys real position or movements, owing to the flat & densely woody country, the whole of this almost impenetrable wilderness being familiar to them. However the recrossing was effected in good time for the army were no sooner on the north side then the river rose so rapidly it became impossible to keep the stream bridged. The night selected too was favorable, as the enemy could not know what was going on for the rain & darkness & indeed had they known it would have been difficult to molest the retiring troops seriously before morning. As it was nearly all were across before there was any attempt at pursuit. When such an advance was made [the] next morning a sufficient number of guns were in commanding position on the north bank to render pursuit a costly experiment. on may 7 th I received an order detailing me on duty at Potomac Creek field hospital some five miles from camp, on the railroad. Although being much in want of some rest, I complied with the order at once. It proved a fortunate change, finding at the hospital better food, quarters & proper medicines, a rapid improvement in my health took place & when I returned to my regiment one month afterwards, it was completely restored. This hospital was in a very good locality as regards water & railroad facilities for receiving supplies & comfort for the sick from our base. Each Army Corps had such a hospital at that time. Our Corp were divided into Divisions, the whole being under Dr [Justin] Dwinelle of the 106th Penn. Our Division in charge of Asst Surgeon Baker of the 24th ny. At first there was more duty imposed on me than I could well perform, some sixty or seventy sick & wounded to prescribe for & dress besides assisting at all capital operations but Dr Baker soon after relieved me the charge of the sick & gave me four wards of wounded & now the surgical cases being my own choice. Most of the wounds here were either of so slight a character as to promise a speedy return to duty or so severe as to make their transportation to [a] general hospital dangerous but the latter were by far the more numerous. Many too were mortally injured their death being but a

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question of time among the latter were two fine young soldiers of the 108th ny. Sargt Fred Ristow Co. i & Alex MacCullough Co. j. Ristow shot through the lungs lived about ten days. MacCullough although the right anterior lobe of the brain was torn up by a bullet lived two weeks. There were but three wounded officers remaining in our Division these being placed in my charge. One of these Capt [George] Bronson of the 14th Conn had his right arm resected at the shoulder. Men of his apparent strength mostly recovered [from] such wounds, but he being a man of a peculiar nervous & irritable temperament it soon became evident his chances for life were few. However, he lingered some three weeks. His wife a most amiable lady & brother were present. This circumstance much increased my anxiety in regard to the termination & rendered his death more painful for me to witness. The mortality among the wounded brought immediately from the field was not great but the case was far different with some who had fell into the hands of the enemy & were reclaimed under a flag of truce after about a week on the field. Many of those poor fellows were in a pitiable condition through want & neglect & they for the most part seemed resigned to their fate feeling it a blessing to, be permitted to die among their comrades. It is but just to add those men seldom complained of unkindness from the enemy but frequently expressed their gratitude especially to the Surgeons. Their combined testimony would indicate that the rebels had more wounded of their own than they could well provide for the carnage had been so great, besides it was a patent fact that they never had equal facilities with us, in providing for the wounded.

tysburg tings of Campaign a Canadian Surgeon

3 The Gettysburg Campaign

I

Chancellorsville, wrote Confederate general James Longstreet, was “General Lee’s most brilliant achievement.”1 Lee’s outnumbered ragamuffin Army of Northern Virginia defeated Hooker through a combination of audacity and skill. In the face of Hooker’s campaign, Lee, still missing Stuart, boldly split his army in thirds. He sent General Early below Fredericksburg, General Jackson to turn Hooker’s right flank, and Generals Anderson and McLaw to face the bulk of Hooker’s men. A daring strategy but justified, in the opinion of Confederate soldier Randolph McKim, by the fact “that the density of the forest growth made it possible to screen the march of General Jackson around Hooker’s right rear,” and because “Lee possessed in Stonewall Jackson a lieutenant who was so brilliantly qualified to execute it with celerity, with resoluteness, and with skill.”2 In the final analysis, Lee prevailed and Hooker scurried back across the Rappahannock, failing yet again to secure a decisive Union victory in the eastern theatre. Confederate victory, however, came at a price. Twenty-four thousand Union and Confederate soldiers lay dead or wounded. Sadly, Stonewall Jackson lay among them. Accidentally wounded by his own men, Jackson died on 10 May 1863, sending paralyzing waves of grief across the Confederacy. James Longstreet spoke for many when he noted that with Jackson’s death, “the dark clouds of the future began to lower about the Confederates.”3 In what is perhaps Lee’s most

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famous statement of the war, he summed up what Jackson meant to the cause of southern independence. “Such an executive officer” as Jackson “the sun never shone on. I have but to show him my design, and I know that if it can be done it will be done. No need for me to send or watch him. Straight as a needle to the pole he advances to the execution of my purpose.” With Jackson’s death, Lee had indeed “lost [his] right arm” and perhaps the Confederacy.4 Northerners also connected the death of Jackson with the fate of the Confederacy and future of the war. General Governeur K. Warren admitted to rejoicing “at Stonewall Jackson’s death as a gain to our cause.”5 General Oliver Otis Howard echoed the sentiment: “Providentially for us, [Chancellorsville] was the last battle that [Jackson] waged against the American Union. For, in bold planning, in energy of execution, which he had the power to diffuse, in indefatigable activity and moral ascendancy, Jackson stood head and shoulders above his confreres, and after his death Lee could not replace him.”6 Indeed, “[i]n the death of Stonewall Jackson, the rebels have lost by far their greatest military leader.”7 While the Confederacy reeled from the shock of Jackson’s death, the Union scrambled to explain its disastrous defeat at Chancellorsville. To many, such as General Darius Couch, blame rested squarely on Hooker’s shoulders. Hooker underestimated Lee and made a series of critical tactical errors, among them eliminating the cavalry from the battle. Others blamed the Union’s defeat on the collapse of Howard’s Eleventh Corps and the cowardly nature of the Germans who comprised its majority. Regardless of blame, the situation following Chancellorsville remained as it had been before the battle. The Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia faced each other across the Rappahannock. Although devastated by the loss of Jackson, Lee prepared to build on his strategic victory at Chancellorsville and invade the North. Jefferson Davis, however, “did not like [the prospect] of movement north,” which might threaten the security of Richmond.8 Moreover, Davis urged Lee to split his army and send some men west to defend Vicksburg against Grant’s bombardment. Lee countered that a northern invasion would alleviate the supply problems facing the Confederacy. A venture into Maryland would allow the army to requisition supplies, animals, and foodstuffs while simultaneously relieving Virginia of that burden. Moreover, Lee argued, a successful northern invasion might annihilate the Army of the Potomac and end the war

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

or at least result in British intervention to end the war. Convinced, Davis grudgingly granted Lee permission for his northern campaign and on Wednesday, 3 June 1863, Lee’s army marched from the Rappahannock. Such movement could not help but catch the eyes of the Army of the Potomac. Two days after Lee’s departure “Hooker reacted by sending infantry Major General John Sedgwick’s Sixth Corps ... across ... the Rappahannock” to investigate. Simultaneously, Hooker telegraphed Lincoln. Lincoln, not wishing for another Chancellorsville, instructed Hooker to engage Lee only if Lee “crossed over to the north bank of the Rappahannock.”9 I

gettysburg All was quiet in camp for about three weeks when one evening to the amazement of all, heavy guns were heard at Fredericksburg & for about two hours kept up a constant booming. It all however, did not amount to much. It seems Genl Hooker began to have some intimation of the covert movements of Lee & he crossed some troops below Fredericksburg under cover of a heavy fire of artillery to try to learn if the enemy were withdrawing their forces. On June 7th after being one month at Potomac Creek hospital, I received an order to rejoin my regiment, which was complied with forthwith. I had my horse saddled, & took leave of my patients which leave taking was in some cases quite painful to me as I had become attached to some of those poor fellows on account of their patient endurance & gratitude for every little attention in their behalf. One of those especially named Frank Pinkerton of the 12th ny shed tears. He was one of those men reclaimed under flag of truce. His arm or hand had been clumsily amputated & through subsequent neglect & exposure had become eryspelatous to the shoulder.10 How the poor man fared after I left I have not been able to learn. Joining my regt I found them all well & in a pleasant camp in a shady pine forest. Indeed well chosen & tasteful camps being general in the Army of the Potomac. Some visitors to the camp – probably of that class called horror-seekers – went home apparently quite shocked that soldiers should enjoy their temporary repose & they raised the decisive cry at home that, “Hooker’s army is in summer bowers.” Although it was obvious a great movement was at hand, it was also just as plain that our movements were governed by those of the enemy. One extremely quiet & monotonous week being spent in camp, on the

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13th June we received orders to be ready to move [the] next morning. It was known now generally that the main portion of Lees army was moving northward but his plans as yet were undeveloped. During the day of June 14th, the 2d Corps – being I believe one of the last to move took up its march northward on the Stafford road. On the morning of that day I was ordered to take charge of the Division picket, so knowing I should join my regiment elsewhere I packed up for a march, & taking with me my servant & orderly with [the] hospital knapsack, I reported for the picket Head Qrs on the Warrenton road, about 2 miles from camp. The Division picket was under the command of Lieut Col [E.H.] Kevins 14th Ind v. [Indiana Volunteers]. The day was quietly passed with the exception of a few cannon shots up the river said to have been fired by the enemy at some of our moving troops. At nightfall Col Kevins received orders to draw off the picket line quietly at 10 o’clock & join the Division. Their movement must necessarily begin at [the] river which was several miles away, consequently it was about 11 o’clock when a low rustling sound was heard approaching as the line doubled up on it self & as the head of the little column approached [the] post – the officer in command gave the order in a low tone to “fall in.” For several miles we felt our way cautiously through a very broken country & when we began to hope we were near the main road, an officer said to belong to the Division staff brought an order to Col Kevins to replace the picket line. The order was obeyed at once but with much grumbling on the part of the soldiers who now had to thread their way back again through the tangled brushwood in the darkness of a moonless night. I had been at the house which was the picket head qrs little more than an hour & understood the line was all reposted to the river where the order to withdraw was repeated. Day was breaking when the picket reached the Stafford Court House road. Here we joined the pickets of the other Divisions & took up our march for Stafford ch where we joined the Corps which had halted about 9 o’clock. After about an hours rest the march resumed under a very hot sun & over dusty roads. We crossed & halted at Acquia Creek Run about 5 pm & bivouacked for the night. It was a most welcome halt for the men particularly those who had been on picket & marching all night. The creek, which was about five feet deep for the remainder of the crossing, was perfectly alive with bathers who soon washed away both the affects & memory of their hot & dusty march. june 16 th. We continued our march through a tremendous[ly] hot sun & dusty roads, many men falling out. We arrived at Dumfries about

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The Writings of a Canadian Surgeon

noon & halted some 2 or 3 hours to ration the troops & resumed our march crossing Wolf Run shoals on Occoquan Creek & bivouacking on the north bank at sunset. This days march was a long & hot one & here again the men enjoyed a good bathing place june 17 th. Another hot day & a long march – we crossed the Orange & Alexander railroad near Fairfax Station & went into camp about 6 pm, & about a mile from the railroad. This days march was as very severe as the first few days march after having been long in camp invariably is. Many of the men had blistered feet besides the heat of the sun & the choking dust was unendurable yet had to be endured. june 18 th & 19 th. We lay in camp near Fairfax Stn resting the troops, getting up supplies & sending away the sick by rail. Here on the evening of the 19th, I was detailed to go in charge of an ambulance train containing 36 sick to the Station about 3 miles. We were intercepted by a supply train & it was not until a late hour that we arrived at the Station. More delay occurring at the Station in finding a Medical officer to transfer the last of [the] sick to night was setting in before I commenced my return. Not knowing what was taking place in camp I did not order the Sergeant in charge of the train of ambulances to wait for me consequently they went on at a smart pace. I soon found myself alone in a dark wooded road a cloudy dark night setting in & the road in such condition that a faster gait then a walk was impossible. As I had time for reflection I began to be unimpressed with the true nature of my position – seeing the road too quite deserted, I more than suspected the troops had marched & although fully confident of being able to reach the camp that night yet a feeling of loneliness crept over me as I began to recall to memory the tales frequently told of guerrillas hanging on the line of march & robbing & murdering all who fell into their hands, & indeed those tales were not groundless for many men known to have straggled in this same march, have never since been heard of while some were said to have been found murdered. Soon after entering the woody part of the road I just discerned two figures furtively moving in a contrary direction to mine. I[t] was just twilight & raining & they appeared like soldiers with rubber thrown over their shoulders. However, as they seemed to avoid the main road as they were moving through a piece of lately burned woods some ten rods from the road & believing they looked suspicious I thought it would be prudent to preserve a bold front."11 So I accordingly hailed them like a person of authority with “Who goes there.” One made a momentary

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halt & answered. Of this answer I was not very certain but construed it into “Pennsylvania reserves” & as I knew those troops were on duty at the Station I had just left & as my object was more to appear brave than to molest the men, all parties went on their ways, I making the best time, a walking horse was capable of making to our old camp. Arriving at the former camp, seeing anything was out of the question. All too was, still as the grave to the sense of hearing, except some rustling noise occasionally in the woods – which I then suspected was a broken down & abandoned horse. Nothing being left of it but to try & follow on. I moved in the direction of the road leading through camp dismounted & searched the ground cautiously for marks of hoofs & wheels these could be plainly traced but their direction was not obvious to my sight but feeling certain this movement was in the same direction as heretofore I slowly followed the track judging by the sound of my horses feet whether I was right proceeding this way for about a mile I became aware of approaching a house which stood some twenty yards from the road surrounded by some small trees & as I came near the gateway that led to the house, something like a horse appeared between the two posts. All was perfectly dark & quiet in the building. Before I could discover what the figure really was & when within some five yards of it a mounted man without speaking a word bounded into the road before me riding as if his horse was well trained, it breaking from a dead halt into a gallop at the will of his rider. He galloped on without a halt in the direction of my march into a wood through which the road led some 100 yds off & the clatter of his horses feet ceased entirely as soon as he entered this wood. When I first saw him, seeing he was apparently much startled, I quickly thought he might be someone of our cavalry that had straggled & was afraid of being recognized & consequently hailed him by telling him to “hold on” until I came up, but as he did not seem to notice my call before reaching the wood I concluded he had thought better of it & would be there found waiting for me. So somewhat reassured I entered the woods & hailed him by saying “where are you comrade[?]” No answer was made but probably an unavoidable movement of his horses foot [told me] that he was lurking in the bush but a few yards from the road. Letting him know I was aware of his presence I again called out “don’t be afraid comrade if you are left behind.” “Come along with us & you will have company” using the word us to cover my loneliness & weakness from detection if possible. But he making no answer I decided him to be an outlaw so I believe the most prudent course to be

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in placing as much space as possible between myself & such a skulking character. The darkness was such in this wood that I could not see my horses ears, & could only pursue my journey by letting the animal have his own way & sometimes the wet pine boughs would brush me in the face. I expected momentarily that pursuit would be made as soon as my prowling enemy would discover that I was not followed by any support. I too was unarmed – with the exception of the small dress sword worn by the Medical Staff, scarcely as valuable a weapon as a stout stick. However no pursuit was made & if intended, probably the thick darkness, my bold & defiant assumed manner, & ignorance of the manner in which I was armed, combined in deterring those parties from such an attempt. My horse following the road soon brought me into an open place where the road was bounded by fences & a person could also see a few yards ahead & permitting me to get on comfortably about a mile – when the road suddenly became lost in another the direction of which was about [at a] right-angle to the one I had been travelling. It was now about impossible to tell whether the track led to [the] right or [the] left in the darkness – but – I had instinctively kept the points of the compass in my mind accordingly I turned to the right. Here the road was yet bounded by fences & was easy to follow but soon coming to a place where the fence was removed from the left side of the road I passed this gap unconcernedly – not suspecting it was more than a place accidentally thrown down but at this very point the Corps had broken from the road & marched straight across the country & the road I followed soon ended again in a woods & this again soon became narrowed & I soon became conscious of it being obstructed with fallen trees but persevering on in hopes it would lead to some open[ing] from whence I might be able to see camp fires. It was followed until I found I was not upon any track whatever but blindly groping through a thick & wet forest. Quickly deciding that further attempts to get out of the “wilderness” for the night were futile. A thunderstorm now set in & the lightening plainly showed me I was completely lost in the woods. Dropping my horse’s bridle for a second or two to adjust a rubber poncho on my shoulders so great was the noise in the woods & the darkness that I neither seen nor heard my horse move for a few steps ahead. Now lifting up my head to seize his head with some alarm, I found no horse there. Nor did a momentary flash of lightening show where he was probably because I was not then looking in the right direction. Turning around a little & just then despairing of ever seeing him again another flash of lightening revealed the poor

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animal standing patiently before me his side within two feet of my face. Next time I seized the bridle. I had no intention of repeating the late experiment again of letting go [of] my horse for any purpose. All immediate dread of guerillas had vanished from my mind & I then believed that no mortal could find me so taking a small box of steamed oysters, which were opened with my pocket knife, & a piece of bread from my saddle bags, I managed to make a comfortable supper even amid the full roar of the storm. Then wrapping my bridle around my arm & sitting down against the root of a tree, I listened for any sound such as wheels or drums that might direct me [the] next morning. But I listened in vain, & with occasional snatches of sleep so I passed this eventful night. It may be easily imagined I was early astir [the] next morning. After some searching I found & commenced to retrace the road I had travelled. The morning was fine & clear but I did not much enjoy it as I now really felt the lonely & unprotected nature of my condition knowing well this move would in day light be obvious to any marauder who might chance to cross my way. The heavy rain of the night had washed out every vestige of wheels or footprints. So it was only after an hours search that I decided on taking the side back throug[h] the field already mentioned. Pursuing this & soon coming to a house & finding a man just after rising I ventured to inquire of him, when his description of the column that had passed the previous evening satisfied me I was on the right course. Half an hour more brought me in sight of the tents of the Corps where it was encamped around Centreville. Never before or since were tents such a joyous sight to me. The Corps had not marched at all during the evening more then 5 or 6 miles & I had succeeded in tracing them fully halfway from their former camp – when I missed the road in the manner described. When I came into camp there were many questions to answer as to how the night was spent. Those were generally answered humorously although I did not feel the joke of the affair myself. So ends my adventures & this lesson was not lost on me for it effectively taught me to be cautious in becoming separated from our troops in an enemy country. june 20 th. The morning of this day found the Corps at Centreville. This is a small village on the turnpike road about 30 miles from Washington. It is a military position of some importance commanding the road & surrounding country as well as the valley of Cubs run for several miles. After the battle of Bull Run, it was occupied by the rebels during the ensuing winter. They constructed a railroad from Manassas

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The Unburied Federal Dead at Bull Run, 1863. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

junction to this place & strongly fortified the position also. About 10 o’clock we fell in & took up our march along the Warrenton Turnpike crossing Bull Run & the battlefield the same evening & going into camp at Gainesville on the Manassas railroad, a march of some 14 miles. The only bridge being destroyed previous & a temporary one was constructed for the guns & trains & the infantry forded the stream – which at that point is not of great depth except in freshets yet by the steepness of its banks is impossible for artillery. The field of Bull Run would hardly be taken for a battlefield – had the dead been decently interred, but the bodies that came under my notice were never recovered from the place they fell. The only attempt at burial being the mere hiding of the body by heaping some earth upon it with a shovel where it lay. In many cases now this earth partially or wholly removed either by the weather or by prowling animals the ghastly skeletons exposed & in some cases scattered about dismembered. The officers of the rebel army too often, be it said, to their everlasting infamy

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neglected to bury the Federal dead who fell into their hands in a decent manner.12 We cannot too strongly reprobate the savage nature that can pursue our enemy beyond life. The men marched by this spectacle glowering & solemn & with evident emotion many doubtlessly vowing a deep revenge which they knew not was being so near accord[ed]. We lay at Gainesville in camp some three days. The surrounding country is generally levied & fertile & must have been a wealthy settlement before the war. During our stay here the Manassas railroad was repaired & supplies brought up. Heavy bodies of cavalry were moving towards the blue ridge & we could frequently hear the sound of heavy skirmishing with the rebel cavalry who were hovering about to mask the plans of Genl Lee. But Genl Pleasanton defeated their cavalry at Aldie & completely developed the fact that most of the rebel army had invaded Maryland & Pennsylvania.13 We left camp at Gainesville on June 25th & bivouacked that night at a place called Gum Springs near the turnpike road leading from Alexandria to Leesburg. This day we crossed another portion of the Bull Run battlefield near a place called Groveton. The road led through a piece of open oak woods which had been the scene of a most murderous conflict every tree was torn with bullets & I saw a ramrod driven hard & fired into a tree where it had been fired from a musket. Remains of bodies were scattered through the woods in many places which no attempt had even been made to bury their skeletons still partially enveloped in the shreds of blue cloth & one of our officers found a skeleton hanging doubled over a fences no portion touching the ground where the man must have been killed obviously in the act of climbing the fence – or else his body was placed there through inhuman sport. Next day june 26 th. We crossed the Potomac at Edwards Ferry on a pontoon bridge. It was a late hour when we crossed & the days march was long & it was with weary limbs & heavy eyes the Corps went into its late bivouac on the north bank. The next two days were spent on the march to Frederick City which came into view on the evening of the 28th. We halted for two or three hours within sight of the city. The regiment was then detached from the Division & sent three miles westward near a place called Buckeystown & it bivouacked in a clump of woods on the side of the road that led through a beautiful country. It seemed to be apprehended that Stuarts rebel cavalry were hovering around &

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consequently the detaching of small bodies of troops to guard all the roads [was made]. june 29 th. The 2d Corps made a march of about 35 miles to the vicinity of Uniontown, Md with all its artillery & trains. The march was much talked of for some time as the “famous march of the 2d Corps.” The 108th ny on account of being detached had to march three or four miles before joining the Corps. The Brigade too to which it was attached was detailed to guard the wagon train & the men being compelled to march most of the day parallel & on the same road as the wagons which crowded them much, it rendered their march peculiarly distressing. This day led us through some of the finest agricultural country & scenery perhaps in the United States. The valley of the Monocacy. The troops were marched until a very late hour & my brigade was much divided & broken up by the train. The men in my regiment becoming gradually less by falling out through exhaustion – there were at 11 pm so few men around the colors that Col Powers deemed it advisable to halt until morning to collect his [men] which he did without further orders bivouacking in wood by the road side. Next day 30th. We made but a few miles of a leisurely march, passing through Union in “columns by Company,” bands playing & colors unfurled, going into camp & resting for the remainder of the day & night – which rest all gratefully enjoyed. july 1 st at about 8 am we fell in & marched leisurely to Taneytown, halted, sent out a picket detail & everything indicated a rest for the remainder of the day, in fact, the Colonel received an order to that effect. The halt was made about 11 am & as all were making themselves comfortable for the day about 1 pm, the order suddenly came to “fall in” which was promptly obeyed, & with scarcely a halt the Corps crossed the state line into Pennsylvania, near sunset, & shortly after passed through some artillery limbered up & parked. The horses & equipment spattered with mud & the men & guns blackened with gunpowder plainly told they had been in action. They were of the 11th Corps. Guns were plainly audible in front. We bivouacked at a late hour two miles from GETTYSBURG

As already stated the 3d Corps arrived on the field or near it on the night of July 1st, 1863. The 1st & 11th Corps having the advance of the army had struck quite unexpectedly the main rebel force on this day &

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had been roughly handled. Maj Genl [John] Reynolds, commanded the 1st Corps, was killed. These two Corps although outnumbered, contested the ground stoutly & fell back in good order to the line of slightly elevated ground just south of Gettysburg where the final battle was fought. There they checked the enemys advance for the day. The elevated land spoken of was a low ridge, for the most part but slightly elevated above the plain, two points excepted – the one Cemetery Hill – which was immediately in rear of the town & overlooked it to a considerable extent – the other a high stony peak covered with trees called Roundtop. This hill was the highest point on the field & covered the extreme left of our line. It was about two miles from Gettysburg. The right of our line was resting on, or partially covered by a succession of high woody hills. The general form of the line was cresentric, or, rather horseshoe shape[d] – of which Cemetery Hill was the centre & most advanced point. On this was Evergreen Cemetery – one of the principal burial places of the town. The length of this line or a rough estimate was about five miles. It was crossed by two highways – the Taneytown Road & the Baltimore Turnpike – both which roads diverged at a considerable angle from the town. On an opposite line of ridges but scarcely so elevated & about 1 1/4 miles distant, the main rebel line rested. Their line was shaped much like the other but of greater extent – about eight miles. They also occupied the town in great force on the morning of the 2d July. Early on the morning of the 2d also the 2d Corps took position on the left centre & the 3d Division being the right Division & connecting with the 1st Corps at Cemetery Hill – close up to the town. The Emmitsburg Road was nearly parallel to our line & about 200 yds in front. About 7 am my regiment was posted in support of a battery 1st us artillery commanded by Lieut [George A.] Woodruff. This battery was planted in a clump of trees about one quarter of a mile left of Cemetery hill. On this spot this battery & the 108th fought it out to the end. About the same hour – a thin straggling line of men in brown slowly advanced through a wheatfield about 3/4 of a mile in our front. These were the enemys skirmishers. The 39th ny of our Division had already been thrown out as skirmishers & soon came within range of the enemy – when both halted took cover, & firing at each other without much result for several hours. Of course what took place in our immediate front is spoken of distinctly as skirmishing was now general along the whole front of our centre especially in the town where the enemy had good cover. Woodruffs battery threw an occasional shell into the

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woods beyond as any movement of troops was discovered but the enemy never replied until commencing their attack. Shortly before noon the enemys skirmishers, in our front being gradually reinforced, made a dash upon ours & drove the 39th ny upon their supports – the latter losing many men in killed wounded, and captured.14 The regt was relieved by the 1st Del now of our brigade, as it had replaced the 130 Penn which was mustered out of service. The 1st Del checked any further [advance] of their skirmishers – but could not succeed in dislodging them from an orchard & farm buildings they had taken from the 39th ny. But a party of volunteers of the 12th nj proffered their services to drive out the enemy & burn those buildings which they accomplished. Thus passed the time until about 3 o’clock pm when the sound of artillery suddenly burst from the enemys right about a mile from our position. Several batteries unknown to be there then opened their fire simultaneously. They were immediately replied to from our left & the roar of cannon in a moment shook the fields. At first their fire was directed against our left – but in a few minutes one of their batteries directed its fire against our centre – although its position was on their right. This was probably done because they did not wish just then to unmask their batteries in the centre. The missiles from this battery mostly flew over our heads, falling further to the right. Under cover of this fire their infantry soon advanced in line of battle against the 3d Corps which held our left. From our position we could not only hear the fusillade & cheering but could plainly see the opposing lines advance & point their fire unremittingly into each other, as the country was there quiet open & somewhat beneath our position. The 3d Corps was, as has since been admitted, advanced too far from the general line & had very severe fighting this day & lost some ground or fell back to a much better position near Roundtop hill. This point covering our left, the enemy put forth their full strength to gain – but the 3d Corps rallying & being also reinforced – the position was held & the enemy repulsed completely although the battle raged fiercely about Roundtop until sunset. Soon after their attack on our left their artillery had opened all along the line more or less. Woodruffs battery replied spitefully to those batteries in our front & of course our regiment came in for its full share of shot & shell aimed at Woodruffs guns. Their skirmish line too in our front contained so many sharpshooters who kept up a continual stream of bullets upon the battery. Col Powers being absent sick, Col Pierce commanded. He ordered the men to lie

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down in rear of the battery to avoid the fire as much as possible. At one time there were some indications of the enemy making a dash on the guns & the line was all closed up more compact. Col Pierce ordered the men to fix bayonets & move up closer to the guns which they did smiling & eager for a fray. Although we were lying yet it was impossible to escape the continual showers of missiles aimed at the battery. While we lay thus, a shell with its fuze burning passed between the heads of myself & Col Pierce – the burning fuze slightly singing my left whisker as it passed – one at the same time burst directly over my head the hot flash plainly felt on my face – while another ricochetted from the ground within three feet of me throwing the gravel onto my back – where some laid until it was removed by my hand. In a short time shrieks & groans were heard around us – above the volleying thunder of the battery & the screaming & bursting of shells. The brave men of the battery under the command of their heroic little Lieutenant were working their guns like Titans, many of them falling – one I saw whose face was partially swept away by a shell. He clung to his gun for a few moments uttering unearthly screams & when he could no longer support himself through weakness fell & expired. One of our men was rolling on the ground in agony – a piece of shell having struck him in the hip. Lieut [A.D.J.] McDonald sprang to his feet with a cry – a ball having passed through his shoulder. Lieut [Robert] Evans rolled over in the agonies of death, shot in the brain. Myself & orderly Charles Dickson now had to get to our feet – & [with] one of the men assisting we moved the wounded man a few yards in the rear where by stooping low behind a low heap of field boulders there was some slight shelter from the storm. Here I examined [Evans’s] wound & found the bullet had struck just in front of the ear & passed out behind tearing up one of the most vital points of the brain. He expired on my knee in about twenty minutes. It was said he was from Toronto, C[anada] W[est]. Lieut MacDonald lived after the operation of resection was performed on his shoulder. He hailed from Kingston, C[anada] W[est] but I was then such a short time in the regiment that I knew but little of these officers. Near sunset the fire gradually slackened on the left & centre but, broke out with a renewed fury on our right – no general attack having been made on our centre this day. At dark the rebel right & centre became perfectly quiet, but their attempts on our right became more persistent in proportion to this calm. Reinforcements were sent over to the right where the 11th & 12th Corps were hard pressed; among

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those sent from our Division was the 7th [West] Va. This regiment was exposed to & repulsed this evening in a charge [against] the 7th Va rebel regiment, which was considered a remarkable incident.15 The battle being continued here until 10 o’clock at night the enemy failing to make any impression on our lines abandoned their attempts here for the night for to mass their strength here for a desperate attempt [the] next morning. About 10 o’clock all firing ceasing, the rattle of firearms was succeeded by sounds not so exciting but more melancholy the familiar creaking of ambulances collecting the wounded – for which the night was favorable – a beautiful moonlight one. Having shown Lieut [John S.] Sullivan, 7th [West] Va in charge of our Divisions ambulance train any wounded I knew not already removed I then tried to obtain a little rest – which I much needed as the excitement of spending the day under fire was followed by much depression. No fires were permitted to be lit consequently a cup of coffee which [I] would have be[een] so grateful [for] was not to be had, however I was more fortunate than many. Col Pierces men had brought him some warm coffee from the rear which the Colonel generously shared with me. As I had earl[ier] in the day sent my horse to the rear & with him my blankets tied in the saddle I was glad to accept a soldiers piece of tent to lie on & so slept soundly until morning. On the morning of the memorable july 3 d. Cannonading commenced on our right at 4 am. This was soon followed by the most close & well sustained musketry fire occasionally mixed with cheers indicating charges of infantry. The 12th Corps under General [Henry Warner] Slocum was hotly engaged with large masses of the enemy (said to be Jacksons Old Corps) who were making superhuman efforts to turn our right flank. [The fighting] here continued with but little in[termission f]or fully five hours. There were no in[fantry] engaged at any other portion of the line but [the enemy] frequently opened in many places which was promptly responded to by our artillery. [A little af]ter 9 o’clock am a column of troops came rapidly marching up the Taneytown road from our [rear – said to] be a portion of the 6th Corps just arrived [on the field.] They filed sharp to the right about half a mile in rear of our line & moved straight on [towards the] sounds of battle. This column had not [long disap]peared behind the belt [of] woods that hid [the right from] our view when the roar of musketry [suddenly in]creased with vigorous cheers. This [rapidly] died away & about 10 am the enemy abandoned their long & bloody struggle for the Baltimore

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Turnpike. For several hours following the field was comparatively quiet excepting the enemy firing [several] guns from different batteries apparently with no other purpose then to get range of certain [portions] of our position & their sharpshooters who occupied the steeples of Gettysburg were very active ke[eping] up a continual fire upon the men who served the [guns] upon Cemetery Hill & although the range was long many casualties occurred from their bullets. Although the third day of battle was well advanced & thousands had fallen to rise no more – yet both sides held nearly the same ground they held at the commencement & the final grand struggle for death or supremacy was to take place within the next few hours & decide the fate of the nation. The most illiterate men in the Federal army seemed to be conscious of this fact & seemed to be impressed with the belief that this battle lost – all was lost – the turning point of the war had arrived & apparently had determined by a sort of mutual instinct to fight it out manfully to the bitter end. Thus in awful & solemn suspense the army waited for those long hours for the coming trial. There has been some difference between [even my] acquaintances as to the time the next [assault began] but as I am as free to have confidence [in my mem]ory as others, I fix the time at 2 pm.16 A[fter a short] time of most oppressive & ominous stillness some trees in the edge of the woods that covere[d the rebel pos]ition were suddenly cut down when nu[merous bat]teries which they had concealed opened at [once upon] our centre. It has been estimated that up[wards of 80] guns opened at this moment all concentrated upon the position which was chiefly held by [the 2d Corps. When] this cannonade commenced & for th[e remainder] of the day, I was at a small stone far[m house on] the Taneytown road – about half a mile [in rear of the] regiment & near the centre or focus of the [curve] which our line formed at this point.17 The concentrated [fire] of the enemys guns naturally converged to this place giving me ample opportunity to judge its effects. Our artillerymen sprang to their posts at once & replied with more than their usual pluck & spirit but it soon became evident that they were being [rapidly] overpowered worsted & fairly battered out of [sight]. I could plainly see their caissons being frequently blown up, although the explosions of these could not be heard in the general crash yet the sudden bursting up of fleecy cloud[s] of smoke invariably told the story. The horses rolled in heaps everywhere tangled in their harness with their dying struggles – wheels knocked off gun carriages & artillerists going to the rear or laying on the ground bleeding in

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every direction. The few large oaks that hung over Woodruffs battery were torn in splinters, their limbs dropping in some cases on men of the 108th ny. Several batteries had concentrated their fire on this battery in order to silence it, but although nearly all the horses were destroyed & one gun of the six dismounted yet the gallant commander fought them until he had not a round of ammunition left except a few rounds of canister shot only viable at short range for which it was reserved. Although every gun in our line that could be brought to bear on the rebel batteries replied at once – yet the enemy persevered in directing their fire against the centre – consequently its whole weight came crushing on the 2d Corps & all other troops that were hurried up to reinforce this part of the line. It has been estimated that more than 200 guns were now in action on both sides. The sights & sounds now became awfully & indescribably grand. No distinction between the explosions was very long or appreciable & sometimes, whole volleys of cannons were quite distinct. About this time, Genl [Winfield Scott] Hancock was actively engaged, preparing his line for the impending attack. A shell tearing through a board fence close to the General drove a splinter with great force into his thigh, the splinter carrying a rusty nail, which lodged in the wound. The wound was of such a painful character that he had to leave the field. Genl [John] Gibbon succeeded him but he also was wounded & thrown out of fight before the battle ended. This terrible cannonade lasted more than one hour & a half & to one who was under it – it seemed miraculous that life could existed within its range & so the enemy thought evidently by their subsequent behaviour & indeed I am not disposed to question their sagacity on this occasion no more than theirs.18 The fire of our guns was plainly becoming feebler either through being overpowered or else because their ammunition was blown up & expended & many empty caissons – when sufficient horses were found alive, [they] were sent to the rear to obtain ammunition from the train. Those moving to the rear somewhat rapidly through the heavy fire looked like a flight & discouraged many who did not know the cause. But a sight better calculated to reassure us now met our eyes. A portion of the troops of the 6th Corps who had gone in to the assistance of Genl Slocum in the morning, now moved rapidly across to the left centre. It was truly a sublime sight to look [at these] men as they moved up to the front at the double quick step – reeking with perspiration & under one of the most scathing fires that ever mortal man endured for at this point the inces-

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sant shriek of shells through the air – their dull beating sound as they ricochetted from the earth – which their blows made tremble perceptibly related to the sharp explosions of their bursting & the humming of the spreading fragments vied with the thunder of the guns themselves. What was never before witnessed by me was seen in those men, that is men who had fallen out of the column through fatigue & other causes, finding their way to the front without their officers – determined to be in their places as soon as their strength would permit their glistening eyes & firmly compressed lips bespeaking their fearful & earnest purpose. No less soul stirring was it to see the reserve artillery go into action. Right up the Taneytown Road they came – passing like a hurricane within a few yards of me – their horses at the top of their speed & the wheels not touching the stony road at times for more than a rod. Often too, some poor fellow, falling from his saddle by a piece of shell to lie for the time uncared for. But unchecked by anything as they charged through the iron storm disappearing in the thick smoke that now hung over the line of battle. Nor were they there any too soon as events began to thicken at the front. The enemy fire somewhat slackened about 3 1/2 pm & a line of battle appeared emerging from the woods immediately in front of the 2d Corps. It was their first Corps, [James] Longstreets. On they came in solemn grandeur formed in several lines deep, their line gay with battle flags, across the open plain more than half a mile of which was fully exposed to the fire of our artillery. Their guns now again opened over the heads of their charging line & they advanced like men who expected but trifling opposition. The ground over which this charge was made was level & exposed – yet their line did not suffer much from our guns until it came so near that it became necessary for their gunners to slacken their fire lest they should injure their infantry & elevate their pieces so as to aid their attack somewhat by throwing shells over the heads of both combatants. The line maintained the most perfect order until reaching the Emmitsburg road although our guns were now all opened upon them with canister shot. This road was bounded on both sides, in our front, by straight rail fence, the double post of which were firmly planted in the earth. These could not be thrown down without taking them slowly to pieces consequently they had to climb those two fences & reform in the open field which gently sloped up to our position. Our line of infantry which had lain flat under what slight cover some piles of rails & stones gathered from the fields afforded in order to escape observation & to avoid as much as possible the storm of iron poured upward

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on them – now simultaneously rose to their feet – reminding one of the British guards at Waterloo, & indeed Brig Genl Alex[ander] Hayes commanding our Division used the Dukes expression modified by saying to his men “up Vols, & at them!”19 The musketry at once broke into a crashing roll that [drowned] for the time the fearful whizz of the canister, but through all this Longstreets Corps still essayed to advance & return the fire. They did not disturb the line of our Division at any point although some of their dead were found within 15 yds of our line, but succeeded for a moment in penetrating the 2d Division stuck some of their battle flags in the gun carriages & attempted in one case at least to drag off a gun & were actually rolling it down the slope. But the infantry promptly rallied & reformed behind the guns & finally repulsed them. Their officers now made many superhuman attempts to reform their line & compel their men to advance & capture the artillery. Their determination was evident in their frequent attempts to advance against Woodruffs battery. As before mentioned the ammunition of the battery being expended to some rounds of canister & the guns rolled back out of view. A portion of the guns were now again placed in position by hand, some men of the 108th assisting for very few men of the battery were now fit for duty. Lieut Woodruff poured in his remaining rounds of canister with terrible energy & just as this too, was about expended, this noble artillery officer fell mortally wounded, an irreparable loss to his country & the military profession. The rebel officers after making forlorn & desperate attempts to rally their men found all their efforts [in] vain, for the men opposed to them stood immovable & resolute as the ground on which they fought. Their line begun to break into hopeless & despairing squads of men – many of whom ran in & surrendered. The enemys commanders, seeing this now reopened their artillery indiscriminately upon friend & foe. Whether this was done in a clumsy attempt to cover the retreat or to punish their men who surrendered remains to be explained. The latter suspicion has been espoused by some of the prisoners stating that they were threatened to be fired upon by artillery if they broke. But this course probably prevented our line from making any counter charge & permitted more of their men to escape from the field. But the day was won. The elite of the Confederacy the finest Corps of their principal army – their hope & pride, led by their best lieutenant & under the eye of their first chieftain drifted broken & hopeless across the fields – artillery thundering in their rear mingled with the cheers of the victors. No attempts at pursuit were made [as] there were no

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Ambulance Crew Removing the Wounded. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

reserve force[s] in sufficient force to undertake it, beside the enemys batteries had opened generally & none of our officers knew how soon an attack might be made at some other point & prepared themselves accordingly until the day was too far spent to attack. The 108th here suffered terribly which was chiefly owing to their exposure to all that artillery fire directed at the battery, which they supported for two whole days. Sixteen of their number died on the field & upwards of 70 wounded, making the casualties more than one third the whole number [that] went into action. Among those killed on the second day were Lieuts D[ayton T.] Card, & [Carl V.] Amiet [of] Co. i. Among the wounded were Capt [John R.] Fellman, Co. i, who lost a leg & Lieut [John L.] Graham, Co. k, who received a wound of the cranium which took him out of service.20 As for myself, I spent a portion of the day with my regiment but going back with one of our wounded, Sergt, now Lieut [Alfred B.]

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Hadley, to a temporary hospital.21 I found more then enough to do for the remainder of the day. This temporary hospital was merely a place where some Surgeons who were on duty on the field, assembled to apply light dressings to the wounded & superintend the removal of the wounded in ambulances to the operating hospital further in the rear. It was a small stone farmhouse on the Taneytown road a little more than a quarter of a mile in rear of our line & as before remarked the focus of the last great artillery attack by the enemy. For a while it seemed here as if a mans being unhurt was perfectly inconsistent with the tremendous shower of iron, which fell around & by this locality. The outbuildings, fences & fruit trees were completely torn to pieces. The roof of the house was torn up & the stone wall broken in at one place & the stones thrown upon the floor. It was about the commencement of this cannonade that an orderly came to the house in search of a Surgeon for Genl Hancock. I did not hear this but my orderly told me afterward that our Surgeon refused to go & that the man went away threatening to report all those Surgeons present.22 They were no doubt terrified by the fire, but indeed I think the open field was quite as safe as the house. I have always much regretted that I did not properly understand how matters stood with the Genl then, not only because my name might be mentioned among those who refused to go out, but because I would have been glad to have an opportunity to render service to the gallant leader of the 2d Corp. While the heavy cannonade lasted it became impossible for Surgeons to do anything – but patiently await the result. The hum of fragments of shells around us was incessant & no one knew the moment he would be struck down. All were anxious too to know the result of the battle – as from our position, it sometimes looked doubtful whether any amount of heroism could bear the pressure & for several hours every man almost that one would see, was bloody either with his own blood or that of a comrade. When the final charge was made every movement of our line of battle was lost to me in smoke – through which an occasional glimpse was caught of bayonets sparkling or battle flags of either side waving, falling, or rising again. In the midst of this a large & quite regular column of the enemy – emerged from the thickest cloud of the smoke & moved rapidly down the road towards our rear. I for the moment believed with others that our line was penetrated & am not sure but the exclamation escaped me aloud “Are they invincible” knowing the tenacity with which our men were fighting. My first impulse was for to escape, but after a moments reflection I decided on remaining a

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prisoner, in hopes that I might possibly be able to render some assistance to the numerous wounded that would be left of ours. I was about to tell my orderly to make his escape when I caught sight through the smoke, as the column came nearer, of a few blue uniforms. A second look revealed almost a whole Brigade of prisoners taken from Longstreets Corps being sent to the rear under a very light guard. The knowledge of this column being prisoners – with the tremendous cheering of our men in the line, now told the true state of affairs. As soon as the firing had abated a little, the wounded began to arrive in vast numbers & in the course of an hour fully a quarter of an acre about the house where I was – was pretty thickly covered with victims of the struggle the greater number of the enemy, many of these officers of high rank. The enemys wounded were loudest by far in their outcries for help. I have found this to be invariably the case on subsequent occasions. This I am not prepared to explain ... unless it be that, they had no confidence in our humanity & dreaded willful neglect – but I can confidently & earnestly assert that I have never seen any distinction in their treatment – more than attending to our own first, which is our duty. It soon became impossible to do much for this large & helpless mass. The few bandages in our Medical Knapsacks were already exhausted. We found many homespun linen sheets in the house these were torn into strips & made a good substitute while they lasted. Our assistants exhausted the only well there giving them water, as that & some Morphine to those who, were in much pain was all we could do for them until [they were] removed to the large field hospital. This could not be done that night although the Ambulance train worked unceasingly all night through a violent storm of rain that set in at nightfall. But rain, unless very cold, never injures [the] wounded – quite the reverse – although the exposure looks cruel to unprofessional persons. Night coming on I sought for a place to rest being completely exhausted, & being thankful as well as surprised to find myself alive & uninjured amongst the tons of iron thrown around me. Climbing into the garret of the house & finding a corner under a part of the roof not so badly torn up as to let rain through, [I found] a bedstead & tick upon which a pile of dried apples had been emptied. Scraping a trench through the apples with my hands & laying myself in this I slept soundly until sunrise [the] next morning, July 4th. july 4 th was a rainy day throughout, succeeding a stormy & wet night. The army remained nearly in the same position during the day & the time was spent by all who could be spared in caring for the

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wounded & burying the dead. The enemy kept a strong skirmishing line in our front, which was very active in firing at every living object within possible range. Our stretcher bearers had removed most of their wounded from our front during the night but some unfortunates had escaped observation, or were in the hurry of the occasion considered too hopelessly injured to remove. On our men attempting to remove these during the day they were deliberately fired at by the enemys sharpshooters. Consequently they were doomed to lie there another day by the recklessness or barbarity of their comrades – as I cannot well apply milder terms to such conduct because the stretcher bearers vocation is always known by the mode of carrying the stretcher on the fields, that is carried open when empty looking when far away like a long & narrow white flag, if clean. Why Genl [George G.] Meade did not pursue on this day or advance, it is not for me to determine.23 I can merely give some reasons for his not so doing. In the first place he had learned that he could bid Lees defiance in his present position & found it profitable to allow the latter to take the initiative. The army required at least a few hours rest & future inspection of the enemys position showed that they were well prepared to make any sudden advance on our part, a great sacrifice of life, as such an advance should be direct, the shape of the country nor the roads not permitting of flank movements.24 He Lee had in fact commenced his retreat on the night of the 3d & it was quietly continued under cover of the storm during the 4th & at nightfall on the same day his rear guard followed the line of retreat to the Potomac. Although the night was wet, it was one of rest & as such appreciated by the weary Army of the Potomac. july 5 th broke a drizzly & foggy morning, & no signs of an enemy in our front. Much of the forenoon was spent in burying their dead & removing their abandoned wounded. During the afternoon the Corps moved out on the Baltimore turnpike a few miles in our rear & bivouacked for the night remaining here for the next day & night apparently waiting the arrival of supplies. The weather remained showery & disagreeable. On the 7th we took up our march southward in the direction we had come before the battle, reaching Taneytown early & going into bivouac for the remainder of the day & night & drawing rations. On the 8th we resumed our march towards Fredericktown[, Maryland] through a most tremendous rainstorm, the roads being ankle deep in water everywhere, but towards night the weather improved & we biv-

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ouacked that night in a beautiful country within sight of Frederick. We here received the welcome news of the surrender of Vicksburg. july 9 th. Marched through the city of Frederick in column by company, music playing, & colors flying. Although many sympathizers with the rebellion were known to be here, yet, the reception given the army on this occasion by the citizens was most cheering & enthusiastic & indeed the loyal portion of them might well look upon the army as truly their deliverers. In our marches through Maryland this conduct of the people was most remarkable. Never, not even in the loyal Northern states have I seen the same friendly welcome to the troops, evidently not treating them as inferiors but as gallant brethren, in whom they placed their hope & trust in the hour of danger. It was refreshing to the mind as well as body to see the many young & beautiful ladies, daughters of wealthy farmers, standing at their fathers gates attended by a group of black girls, all busily engaged holding out buckets of pure cold water & sometimes pies cakes & milk as long as those supplies lasted, to the thirsty & tired soldiers, who, though rude elsewhere became gentlemen, in the presence of their lovely benefactresses. Passing through the city & taking the road leading to the base of the mountains we halted at the foot of the mountain for about two hours with some indications of going into camp, when the order suddenly came to fall in & the march was continued up the mountain through a pass called “Cramptons Gap,” bivouacking at a late hour among the cultivated fields on the western slope of this mountain ridge, which is a continuation southward of the principal ridge of the Alleghanies, or the “Blue Ridge.” This evening at the eastern base of the mountain, we saw one of those spectacles produced by war, more repulsive then the horrors of the battlefield. A spy named Richardson had been seized & summarily executed, by hanging on a tree. The body was left hanging & [with] the weather being warm, it was rapidly decomposing & as the troops had to march close by it – it made a most disgusting sight. It was now evident from our movements that we were trying to head off Genl Lee in his retreat but owing to the mountainous nature of the country, it was necessary to make a large circuit in order to do this which circumstance relieved him from pressure on his flank & gave him time to choose a position to cover his crossing the river. On the 10th we continued our march to near Keedysville Md & continued to throw out skirmishers & take positions as if for battle, but with no result more than to find a small picket of the enemy in the woods who after firing a few straggling shots retired. Some shells that were thrown

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into the woods by our guns elicited no reply. About 9 in the evening of the next day 11th, we got into column & moved down the Hagerstown Turnpike & halted on the road for the night. The next day after countermarching a mile or two, we formed a line of battle west of the turnpike in a field of wheat during another heavy rainstorm. Here we remained during the next day 13th straightening our line & building breastworks as if for battle. Everyone now expected a battle at any moment & why an advance was not made I, not setting myself up as the historian of the period but am recounting what I understood leave to those in authority to explain.25 It was generally understood there that Genl Lee was fairly brought to bay that the river was most unusually swelled by the late rains & that the pontoon train on which he invaded Maryland had been destroyed by our troops. Consequently the destruction of his army was regarded as almost certain by most of our officers – but at the same time it was believed they would defend their chosen position with desperation & that all attacks upon their crescentric line with its flanks most effectively protected by the river would involve a tremendous sacrifice of life. During those moments & deliberations, Lee was most actively engaged ferrying over supplies & surplus baggage by means of canal boats, swimming over captured stock, & constructing a pontoon bridge out of whatever materials came to hand. This was at a place called Falling Waters in Maryland. Therefore this bridge being completed – the end of the dark & stormy night of the 13th, saw most of the rebel enemy south of the Potomac in advance of our pickets on the morning of the 14th found no enemy & a portion of Genl [Alfred] Pleasantons cavalry following up found about 1500 of their rear guard which they captured after a brisk skirmish which the enemy seeing cut away their bridge & there the rebel army made their second escape after defeat across the Potomac. On the morning of July the 14th, we fell in & marched towards the river. The sun came out excessively hot & the copious exhalation from the over saturated earth, made the air oppressive to breathe. About a mile brought us to the rebel line just abandoned. A most admirable position it was at the point we crossed it. I was fortified by nature. It consisted of a series of low granite spurs projecting from three to seven feet above the surrounding surface. These rocky spurs were studded with & shaded by sufficient timber to mask all movements beyond & for more than half a mile in front the ground sloped away towards our late position, a perfect plain, affording the most perfect range for missiles of any description. It required

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but little military experience to see plainly that any attempt to force their line at this point at least would be attended with great carnage. The soldiers who were heretofore loud in their denunciations of the slow deliberations of their commanders – seemed now to appreciate the prudence of the latter, in not leading them against certain destruction. We halted at this spot for about half an hour & during this time could see the smoke & hear the guns of our cavalry – who were engaged with the enemy rear at Falling Waters. We were then hastily marched forward over a road marked by traces of the hasty flight of Lee towards the sound of the guns. But those soon entirely ceased & after marching until about 5 pm went into bivouac for the night which was another wet one near the northern portion of the battlefield of Antietam. Next morning the 15th, the march was resumed early crossing the battlefield at Sharpsburg, this once pretty village showing many signs still of the conflict in that vicinity the previous year. We crossed Antietam creek near its mouth at an ironworks called after the name of the creek, on which it was situated, next struck the line of the canal, & followed it back to a point opposite Harpers Ferry & bivouacked. A part of this day too in the afternoon had been showery & disagreeable. july 16th we fell in & marched along the line of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad some two miles southward then struck off to the left about a mile & went in to camp for two days south of & at the base of Maryland Heights. The enemy had destroyed the canal & the railroad bridge over the Potomac but the road was yet in running order to this point & by this means the army was during those two or three days, rapidly supplied with full rations & clothing, they being badly in need of the last. july 18 th we fell in at 6 am & once more recrossed the Potomac on a pontoon bridge just above the railroad bridge passing through the town & crossing the Shenandoah on a suspension bridge, marching up Loudon valley – east of the Blue Ridge up which we marched until 3 pm when we halted & went into bivouac for the remainder of the day & night. The vicinity of Harpers Ferry presents some of the boldest scenery on this continent. Here the Shenandoah joins the Potomac & united in one their waters are poured in a series of foaming rapids between two opposite mountains – the one Maryland Heights, the other Loudon Heights on the Virginia side – seeming as if the united force of the river had in the lapse of ages cut their way through this immense range of hills. But like many other remarkable distortions of

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the earths surface it is quite evident here that some mighty convulsion of nature had assisted the water in dividing the rocks the strata of which especially on the Maryland side is thrown nearly in a vertical position. The town, which is a very old one for an American [town], is situated on the deltoid piece of high land at the confluence of the rivers must have been a beautiful spot before the war, but now it was not in a condition likely to give a stranger a favorable impression being nearly deserted by all but those too miserable to get away & the streets redolent of every odour but a pleasant one. No part of its once extensive armory was left but some crumbling walls & an immense stack of burned gun barrels bent into every conceivable shape. The splendid iron bridge across the Potomac for the use of railroad cars was in ruin – all its wooden flooring having been destroyed by fire & the wrought iron work bent out of shape from the same cause. The place is one of those especially celebrated for being often in the possession of both contending parties during the war.26 It was too regarded as one of the strongest places on the line of the Potomac before the war, but this idea has been I believe, like many others exploded. The position is generally regarded by military men now as untenable, if the heights on either side be occupied by an enemy with artillery. During the 19th & 20th, we continued our march up the valley by short stages halting at 4 pm on the 20th near Bloomfield & remaining in camp – all [the] next day, [the] 21st. The weather had now changed from being continually rainy to excessive heat & marching became very severe. At 11 pm on the 22, we marched out of camp keeping the same course as previously until 7 the same evening when we went into bivouac near Ashleys gap, for the night. On the morning of the 23d, the march was resumed at 5 am & continued into Manassas Gap until 11 am when we halted for an hour & made coffee then moved forward about a mile & halted in a luxurious field of grass near a village on the line of the railroad called Markham. We here formed a line & put up tents as if going into regular camp & all were preparing to make themselves comfortable for the night. The 5th Corps was in the meantime moving up the gap in the same direction. At 5 pm we were suddenly got under arms & marched rapidly without a halt until 9 in the evening, through an extremely broken country interspersed with many springs – making every valley wet & boggy sharp angular granite rocks projecting from the ground everywhere making it difficult for man or horse to keep their footing. The sound of distant cannon could be heard during the whole march until near the time of our halting. About dark

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the discharges became fewer & finally ceased when we began to meet wounded soldiers going to the rear. One of those lying wounded in the grass hailed from a Pennsylvania regiment, on enquiring the Corps to which we belonged, suddenly cheered up & cried out “give them heck! Boys for you have a good field to fight on if you can only get them to stand.” Coming to a halt on the side of a very steep hill we quietly rested for the remainder of the night. Genl Lee had here, shown some disposition to fight & Genl [Fransico B.] Spinolas brigade of the 3d Corps coming up with his rear, the enemy made a stand but was quickly driven from his position before our reinforcements came up. Genl Spinola was wounded in the foot & was obliged to quit the field. This was called the battle of Wapping Heights.27 Yet hardly deserving the name of a battle, nevertheless highly creditable to the few troops engaged. On the morning of the 24th, daylight revealed Lees rear guard disappearing in the distance. He had succeeded by making a show of battle in drawing four of our army Corps into the gap & then made good his escape in the night. The troops had move to retrace their steps for a days march in order to continue their movement on his left flank, thus giving him so much the start as to render all future attempts to head him off from Richmond fruitless. After remaining on the field with all being quietly except a few distant cannon shots exchanged with our pursuing cavalry, we marched back again to the place we had rested on the day previous & halted for the night. We were roused by the reveille at 3 on the 25th & resumed our march at 5 passing out of Manassas Gap & in the direction of Warrenton through intensely hot sun. Being separated from our train, rations were out & this march was made on a ration of fresh beef. After a march of 16 miles we halted for the night at 4 pm near Whiteplains – where we found our supply train. We got our shelter tents pitched barely in time to provide against a heavy rain & thunderstorm that continued most of the evening. On the 26th reveille at 4 am & the march to Warrenton continued where we arrived at 12m marching through the town in columns by company, band playing. Warrenton, although a small town, was before the war a place of some aristocratic pretensions by reason of mineral springs in its vicinity which were much visited by wealthy Southerners during the summer months.28 The evening of the 26th at 3½ pm found us at or within 3 miles of the Orange & Alexandria railroad near Warrenton Junction. Here we went into camp for the three following days during which time a

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detachment of men, under two officers were sent home on duty at the recruiting rendezvous of Elmira[, New York].29 Several officers also went on sick leave among them Dr Munson. The first mail we received since the 16th arrived here. At 5 in the evening of the 30th, we fell in & marched until 10 at night southward to a small place called Elktown on a creek called Elkrun & bivouacked south of the railroad some 6 or 7 miles.

tings ttysburg of a Canadian Surgeon

4 After Gettysburg: 1863

The battle of Gettysburg, wrote Private John W. Haley of the 17th Maine Regiment, was “a trifle more to our taste than the Peninsula, Fredericksburg, or Chancellorsville. This new experience” of defeat for the Army of Northern Virginia “must be demoralizing ... It was a foregone conclusion that success here for Lee would have meant the downfall of the Union; his defeat means a Rebel collapse.”1 Indeed Lee risked everything at Gettysburg, “his splendid army, the fate of Richmond, and perhaps even the Confederacy itself – on a campaign aimed at destroying the Federal army. He ... lost the bet” and with it the possibility of European recognition and an end to the war.2 Confederate reaction to the defeat was surprisingly mixed. Some Confederates, like Napier Bartlett, “shed tears at the way in which ... dreams of liberty had ended at Gettysburg.”3 Others, like Brigadier General John Brown Gordon, lamented that “if I had had Stonewall Jackson at Gettysburg, I would have won that fight, and a complete victory there would have given us Washington and Baltimore, if not Philadelphia, and would have established the independence of the Confederacy.”4 In the aftermath of Gettysburg, the Confederacy profoundly felt the loss of Jackson. Not all Confederates, however, considered Gettysburg a demoralizing defeat. Randolph McKim reported that it was a “great mistake to suppose that the army of Lee was at all shaken or demoralized by the battle. It was on the contrary as full of fight as ever.”5 North Carolinian Louis Leon claimed that I

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while the Confederacy had failed to push “the enemy out of their strong position” this did not constitute defeat. The Union “lost as many in killed and wounded as we have,” he mused. “We have taken more prisoners from them than they have from us. If that is not the case, why did they lay still” on the 4th “and see our army going to the rear? An army that has gained a great victory follows it up while its enemy is badly crippled; but Meade, their commander, knew he has had as much as he gave, at least if not more.”6 Meade’s failure to crush Lee at Gettysburg also raised eyebrows in the North. Lincoln seethed that Meade had the Confederates “within [his] grasp ... We had only to stretch forth our hands and they were ours. And nothing I could say or do could make the Army move ... Our Army held the war in the hollow of their hands and they would not close it.”7 The rank and file of the Union army shared Lincoln’s frustration and outrage over Meade’s inaction. Charles N. Maxwell of the 3d Maine noted that “all were chagrined at the escape of Lee. All were anxious to make an attack, preferring to fight him here to Virginia.”8 While the Army of Northern Virginia, “already crippled of its pride,” retreated into Virginia, it was “met by the despairing news of another defeat at Vicksburg”, Longstreet reported, “which meant that the Mississippi was free to the Federals from its source to the Gulf.”9 Grant succeeded in cutting the Confederacy in half. On the heels of defeat at Gettysburg, the Confederate nation appeared short-lived. With one-third of his army dead or wounded at Gettysburg, Lee set about rebuilding the Army of Northern Virginia. On 7 July the Union began a dogged pursuit, resulting in little more than a few skirmishes with Lee’s army. In October Lee crossed the Rapidan in an unsuccessful attempt to turn Meade’s right flank. In November Meade made a futile attempt to turn Lee’s right flank and send him scurrying to the safety of Richmond. In the aftermath, the Army of Northern Virginia retreated to winter quarters on the west side of the Rapidan while the Army of the Potomac settle on the east side. A stalemate ensued, punctuated by few engagements. I

hospitalization and recovery [july] 31 st. Marched at 8 am & halted at 12 m near a place called

Morrisville, which is within a few miles of Kellys ford on the Rappahannock. Here we remained for the remainder of the day & night. August

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2d marched at 6 am about 10 miles taking the same direction we came passing through Elktown & halting some three miles eastward at [a] small Stone church called Bristoeburg Church. Our brigade alone made these movements, the Corps now being broken up into brigades & dispersed throughout the country along the line of railroad & going into camp. The weather had now become so intolerably hot that it became absolutely necessary to rest the troops & many fell sick of fever & bowel diseases. The old Stone church was turned into a hospital for the sick of the brigade, for which by its coolness it was well adapted. Here Dr Ely having applied for an appointment in the us Volunteer Staff of Surgeons, was ordered to Washington for examination leaving me in sole charge of the regiment for about a week. About the same time while bathing in a small creek in company with Col Pierce, I caught a severe cold which rapidly developed [into] Pleurite inflammation.10 Never before had bathing any bad effect on me but probably it was chiefly on account of the weather being so excessively hot making the brook water comparatively to the heat a great change in temperature. Besides I was already much debilitated too by irregular living & want of rest of mind & body. I succeeded in combating the inflammatory stage of the complaint successfully, but still remained quite sick from the effects so much so that some mornings I had to prescribe for my sick men lying on my bed. Dr Ely however returned on the 17th [of August] & relieved me from further care or duty & on the 19 as we moved camp about 5 miles to near Elktown, I managed to ride my horse on the march but not without much pain. The brigade remained in this camp near Elktown until the middle of September with one exception. Then the Division marched out to the line of the Rappahannock on the 1st Sept to support some cavalry movement & returned the 3d without any fighting. Several regiments were in the latter part of August sent from the Division to New York to quell riots.11 None of those however were from our brigade. Col Powers who had been absent on sick leave since July 30th here joined us his health restored. Although now being able to walk about a little & attend sick call yet but little general improvement took place in my health & should a campaign commence I well knew I was unable to bear the fatigue of a march. Reasoning thus I decided on applying for a sick leave on the 19th August. My application was approved only after being delayed until the 7th September when I began to feel much better but as I was far from well & the order was to report at Georgetown for treatment I availed myself of the opportunity

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to obtain some relaxation & change of living & perhaps leave to visit home. Accordingly on the evening of the 7th Sept I took ambulance to Warrenton junction 7 miles from hence by rail arriving in Washington at 10 pm same evening, sleeping at the United States Hotel where I had left my trunk six months previous. I reported [the] next day 8th at the officer hospital at Georgetown which was under the charge of Surgeon [H.W.] Ducachet, us Vols. This hospital which was a young ladies Seminary previous to the war is very pleasantly located & kept at the moderate charge of $11 dollar per diem for board & treatment. Seventeen days were spent in Washington either in the hospital or viewing the city & the public institutions. After 10 am each day a pass was granted to the patients who were convalescent by the Surgeon in charge. This pass expired at 9 pm & it was customary with the provost guard that patroled the city [that] should they find an officer out after the expiration of his pass, the officer in command took his name & rank & reported the same at the office of the Provost Marshall General while at the same time he ordered the delinquent to report at the same office next day. On reporting at this office the individual was generally ordered to report at the Convalescent Camp across the river, a lonely monotonous place that every one detested. Or in default of reporting he was mostly placed under arrest & courtmartialed for the offence. The vices of a Capital during war have always been notorious. Nor could Washington boast of immunity from any of them during the years of the Civil War.12 It was the resort of all the adepts in iniquity from all parts of the continent that could possibly evade justice. Their victims were invariably men on leave from the army who having for a time escaped the hardships & restrictions of the service & for the most part having their minds but in a season of relaxation & enjoyment often became an easy prey to their seducers. Consequently a person so situated as me having no friends in the city had nothing for it but to wander about alone & see what he could if he wished to avoid being victimized or get his name into disgrace for the names of every officer brought before a courtmartial was published in the Army & Navy Gazette.13 It does not take long to see all that is external in the city. There is but one street worth mentioning – Pennsylvania Avenue. All other streets seem to be byways to get to the Avenue. But this Avenue from its magnificent breadth & extent is sufficient to make a city in itself. Perhaps there are not many grander urban scenes, than one mile of the eastern end of this street with the Capitol at one end & the treasury buildings at the other. The principal buildings are the us trea-

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sury department, the Presidents house commonly called the White House, the Post Office, Smithsonian Institute [sic], Patent Office, & Capitol. Those I visited in succession but found the Smithsonian Institute the most profitable for study & seeing an immense collection of real curiosities. This Institute is a magnificent museum, founded & endowed by the will of a gentleman whose name it bears. The fund by which it is maintained was by him exclusively devoted to the propagation of science in every form. Besides its splendid collections of curiosities from all parts of the earth, it contained a fine lecture hall where scientific lectures were regularly delivered but none of which I was fortunate as to hear. I[t] was with great regret I since learned this fine institution has been partially destroyed by fire with most of its contents.14 There are some terrific pieces of sculpture & paintings in the rotunda of the Capitol but the scenes all taken from early American history, have been so frequently rendered in the form of woodcuts in every American geography & other elementary schoolbooks, that one loses interest in the work of art through extreme familiarity with the scene. The magnificent hospitals around Washington being mostly far from the centre of the city, my health did not permit me to visit more than [the hospitals] of Armory Square & Lincoln, the first in the city. The other one mile east of the Capitol. The attention & many comforts furnished to sick & wounded soldiers might well tempt many to regret that their diseases were curable so much preferable were those homes for the sick not only to duty in the field but doubtless often times to the mens own homes. The churches of the city, though quite numerous & some of them tasteful buildings – are far inferior in magnificence to what a stranger would naturally expect to find in a Capital. The theatres at this time were quite numerous, as they were among the most powerful means to draw profit from the military, for many of those who at home cared but little for such amusements would while here separate from the society of friends, grasp at any opportunity of whiling away the evenings. At some of the theatres too the performances were of rather low description but of course the conductor of those institutions had to pander to the taste of their patrons something ludicrous being more to the soldiers fancy. As for tragedy he might see it in reality at the front almost any day. About the 20th September it began to be rumored in Washington that the army was again in motion. This news along with the fact that my health was much improved, impressed me with the belief that I could no longer honor-

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ably remain absent from my command. I would wished to have visited home but had tried repeatedly in vain to obtain leave. The Surgeon in charge told me that neither the state of my health nor my comparatively short servitude in the army entitled me to it. However I thought different on the grounds that during my convalescence my time might as well be spent at home as elsewhere. When my request was refused in this respect, I asked to be discharged from the hospital. Surgeon Ducachet referred me to the Asst Surgeon in charge of my ward, a Dr [Robert] Stephenson. The Doctor remonstrated with me on my expressing my wish to go to the field telling me that there was still a large quantity of fluid in the right Pleural cavity & that it would be positively dangerous for me to expose myself to the chances of a relapse. But as this was not the first time for Doctors to disagree I insisted on being discharged on the grounds that I would improve much faster in a more healthy air of the field & where the excitement would divert my mind from brooding over my sickness. The fact was, I scarcely believed my own theory, but had become heartily tired of the city & was eager to join my comrades in the approaching campaigns where life was more exciting. on the 21 st sept , I had the good fortune to meet Col Pierce in the city. He had also come on sick leave but like myself was able to go about. He did not know I was in hospital supposing I had got leave to go home. In his company the remaining days of my stay passed off more pleasantly. We visited the Navy Yard & Smithsonian Institute in company & intended to review all that was worth seeing in Washington, had not the news of the moving of the army hastened my departure. On Friday 25th, I prepared to start [the] next day for the grim front. In the morning of the Sunday previous I received communion & attended Mass in the little church in Georgetown & attended Vespers in the same place in the evening, knowing it would or might be long before I would again hear church bells. The same evening I received my discharge from the hospital & removed my valise to the Ebbitts House, where Col Pierce was staying as he expected leave to go home & which he succeeded in obtaining. It was only there I learned the proper time for my obtaining leave was before reporting at the hospital, as very few succeeded in getting leave after reporting there. It was well understood to be the policy of the Surgeon in charge, to keep the hospital as near full of patients as possible. On Sat 26th I breakfasted with Col Pierce, wrote & mailed a letter home, & at the same time expressed home a Photograph of myself in the army uniform, lest I in

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the chances of war should never see home in person. Bidding the Colonel good bye I took a hack for Maryland Avenue, & took the cars at 10½ am arriving at Alexandria at 11 changed cars there & leave for Culpeper at 12 arriving there at 5½ pm. This was now the base of the army. It is an old town I should judge that might have contained two thousand inhabitants before the war but now although quite lately falling into the possession of our troops it was no exception to most Virginian towns during this period, being generally depopulated. Culpeper, or Fairfax as it is called by some, being the seat of justice of Culpeper County it is reasonably called Culpeper Court House. In arriving here I was yet fully seven or eight miles from the front of the Second Corps & learned to my chagrin that no train went any further except an occasional supply train to the 2d Corps depot at Mitchells Station four miles away. Even this train did not leave until [the] next day. As night was fast approaching I was about decided on staying somewhere in the town for the night but of two officers of our brigade who were with me Capt [Joshua L.] Hays of the 14th Ind (at that time in the 1st brigade) and Lieut [Frederick B.] Doten, Quartermaster of the 14th Conn Vols, Capt Hays overruled us asserting that as we had no authority to remain in the city we would at once be arrested by the provost guard. Had I been alone or left to my own opinion I would not have scrupled to go boldly to the Provost Marshal & state my case asking permission to remain over night & I doubt not he would have reviewed my case favorably. As for Lieut Doten he seemed to be entirely led by Hays. Not wishing to be behind them in energy I consulted to go with them & try to reach the front by walking along the railroad. Hays, had a servant boy with him he made carry his valise. I & Doten each hired a darkey from the group of contrabands lounging about the depot to carry ours & in company with a private soldier of the 12th nj we started our journey. Before proceeding a mile Hays who had been so anxious to reach the front began to show signs of indecision & spoke doubtfully of being able to reach the front that night. The negroes too began to be dissatisfied at placing too great a distance between themselves & the town. When Doten asked his man a question which seems never to have occurred to him when hiring him that is whether he was willing to go all the way Cuffee objected. Doten paid him of[f] with 25 cents. Mine of course wished to follow suit. He was also discharged. Darkness had now set in & we were a mile out of the town. I now proposed that as the whole party were five in number & there were but three valises we proceed as we had begun. But they seemed to have lost all decision

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& resolution & were wasting time in idle speculation. Leaving them deliberating I with the 12th New Jersey boy who volunteered to help me moved slowly on for about 300 yds thinking they would soon follow me hearing them coming I halted for about a quarter of an hour. Not wishing them to think I had deserted them told the boy to wait & returned to them. I found they had come to the strange decision of bivouacking in a willow swamp on the side of the railroad. This I could not afford to share with them as my health would not warrant such exposure as the night was cold & I had not any blankets with me not speaking of the sudden change from comfortable quarters. Provoked at their want of firmness I decided on proceeding on at all hazards & revived as their parting request that I should inform their friends in the regiments of the “bad fix” they were in & desire those to send horses for them. So with my soldier comrade, I continued my dreary tramp along the road carrying the heavy valise between us, not meeting a soul after starting nor knowing that we might run into some of the enemys prowling bands. It was a glad sight for to see lights ahead about 10 at night & shortly after we reached the Corps wagon train, which was parked about Mitchells Station. Here I decided to stay for the remainder of the night I was so fortunate as to find our Quartermaster, Lieut [Joseph S.] Harris, with his wall tent pitched & which he was not long inviting me to share & which I gratefully accepted after asking for & obtaining quarters for the boy who accompanied & assisted me. Next morning 27th, I found Dr Munsons servant at the train with the Doctors horses, one of which I borrowed & soon found my regiment some three miles away. They were on the right of the Corps which was holding the line of the Rapidan, its right resting near the battlefield of Cedar Mountain which was fought on the 9th of August the preceding year between the commanders of [Richard S.] Ewell and [Thomas J.] Jackson (rebel) and [Nathaniel] Banks and [John] Pope Union.15 The army, which had been moving as reported had now apparently come to a deadlock. While both armies lay quietly in summer quarters, Lee had silently reinforced [General Braxton] Bragg in the west with Longstreets Corps now recruited & reorganized after its drubbing at Gettysburg by the 2d Corps. Lee almost at the same time fell back to a stronger defensive position on the Rapidan & Genl Meade perceiving this followed up at once. But the key to those movements was soon discovered by the advance of Bragg in making an attempt to retake Chattanooga. Here he attacked the Union forces on the memorable field

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of Chickamauga & the army of [William S.] Rosecrans lost some ground by the impetuous attacks of Longstreets Corps, who said they came out there to show Braggs men how to fight. This attack however failed in its object the position was held by the ability of Genl [George H.] Thomas. The 11th & 12th Corps of the Army of the Potomac were at once dispatched to the assistance of Rosecrans. The 11th had passed through Washington the night before I left it & I had met the 12th on their way as I returned to my regiment. The remaining corps of the army now held the line of the north side of the Rapidan, & the army of Lee the other watching each other jealously day & night, & remained in this position with but little change or occurring of any important event until about the 10th October. My regiment had seen no hard service since my leaving them. In the advance across the Rappahannock their Corps merely followed up the Cavalry from which the enemy rapidly retired across the Rapidan & the boys seemed to have enjoyed themselves heartily during the movement as this took place through a country that had not been occupied by troops for more than a year consequently, although marauding was not encouraged yet it was almost impossible to prevent the soldiers who tired of the army [food &] neglected no opportunity to enjoy a meal of poultry & fresh vegetables, from helping themselves to articles of food, unless this was punished with death which looked like too severe a punishment for appropriating provisions that would otherwise surely be a source of supply for their enemies to carry on the war. At the same time any personal violence towards the peaceful inhabitants found at their homes was invariably punished in the most summary manner. On my joining the regiment Dr Ely had just received an order to report for duty at Washington as Assistant Surgeon of us Volunteers. This order he at once obeyed for he was exceedingly tired of the field & as Dr Munson was still on leave it left me at once in the sole charge of the regiment. On the evening of October 5th, we received orders to pack up & be ready to move that evening but we did not move out of camp until 7 on the morning of the 6th. There were various guesses as to our destination. Some said it would be a move against the enemy others thought we would follow the 11th & 12th Corps to Tennessee. The belief in the latter prediction was much strengthened when we took up our march to the rear passing over the battlefield of Cedar Mountain through Culpeper & went into camp a mile east of the town at 3 pm. Here we went into camp for three days & speculations were as rife as ever as to the cause of the movement but all failed

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to foresee the turn affairs were about to take. Every usual sign certainly looked like nothing more than a change of camp of the Corps as it was relieved in its picket-duty on the Rapidan by the 6th Corps & whether subsequent movements of the enemy were brought about by the supposed retreat of a portion of our troops or whether his plans for an aggressive movement happened to be at the time mattered I am unable to determine. It is highly probable though that he heard about, then learned of the withdrawal of the 11th & 12th Corps & upon seeing the retrograde movement of the 2d supposed it was about to follow suit & was thus led to advance against the army while thus weakened. on saturday oct 10th while all seemed to look to a lengthy enjoyment of the beautiful autumn weather in a clean & well located camp orders suddenly came at 10 am to pack & be ready to move at once at 11½ we fell in & moved out about three miles west of Culpeper where we lay the remainder of the day & night – the brigade being formed in mass. During this movement we passed through a portion of the 3d Corps which was also massed under arms near Culpeper. Here we learned that the enemys cavalry having appeared in force on our right flank that morning a regiment from the 3d Corps, the 120th ny had been ordered forward to support our cavalry. This regiment had been cut off & mostly captured by a much superior force & now for the remainder of the day the whole army seemed to be awaiting the result of reconnaissances & further developments of the enemy. oct 11 th at 2 o’clock in the morning we were quietly aroused with orders to be ready to march forthwith. We fell in at once but it was 5 o’clock before we commenced our movement towards the Rappahannock. The day was clear with a cool fresh breeze blowing & there had been sufficient rain the previous evening to lay all dust. In fact one of the best days for a long march & indeed it was fortunate for the army in this long & hurried march, for we continued this with scarcely a halt crossing the river on a pontoon bridge about noon & going into bivouac for the night near Bealton Station, making in my estimation about 25 miles & though this march was long & rapid it was nevertheless pleasant owing to the fineness of the weather & the animation of the scene as several army corps could be seen at once over the very open country between Culpeper & the river. Not less than three parallel dense columns of infantry artillery & wagon trains could be seen while between these rattled & [roared] numerous trains of cars moving all surplus supplies & rolling stocks to the rear. Nor were they too hasty, for night found Culpeper in possession of the enemy. We lay in

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bivouac until noon on the 12th when we fell in & moved back & recrossed the Rappahannock forming [a] line of battle just beyond the river. Here occurred though perfectly entirely unpremeditated, one of the grandest military spectacles ever seen on the continent in actual warfare. The eye could take in fully four miles square of perfectly open country excepting a very thin strip of woods near the river. In the centre was the 3d Corps massed in several heavy lines while on either flank a corps was moving forward by the flank so as to show a front to an enemy at any moment & while the cavalry skirmished some two miles in front, the bursting shells being plainly visible, all those masses of infantry were moving simultaneously forward as if to attack, as undoubtedly they would had there been anything to attack. All this fine display it is hardly necessary to say ended in smoke, for after moving pompously forward for about two miles no enemy were found, all that made their appearance retired at once before our cavalry & the troops came to a halt for the evening. Whether Lees superior generalship had intentionally allured Genl Meade forward again or whether the latter general in ignorance of Lees real intentions had decided on giving battle, I leave for those better posted to determine.16 But certain it was the very movement of all others to favor Lees plans. He had first demonstrated on our right then on Meade falling back to avoid having his flank turned. Lee followed quickly up in such force as to lead Meade apparently to believe that the movement on his right was a first & turned about & offered Lee battle while the latter was marching with all speed to gain our rear & thus gained one days march. It now became plainly evident that Lee with his principal force was pushing with all speed to gain the line of Bull Run & the fortified position of Centreville almost between us & Washington while his cavalry hung on our trains. The troops fell in rapidly & silently at 1 o clock on the 13th recrossed the river & arrived at our bivouac ground of the previous night near Bealton long before daybreak where we halted until sunrise, the sky in the mean time being frequently lit up by surplus ammunition being burned in order to lighten transportation. At sunrise we moved up the road to Sulphur Springs about 3 miles northeast of Bealton where we halted until noon in the road made coffee & rested during which great activity prevailed among the cavalry numerous squads moving up & down the road continually. We understood they had met with some reverse. It now became known that the Corps was the rear of the army in retrograde movement & that moreover while the other Corps were

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hurrying to reach Centreville before Lee the Second Corps had to guard the immense trains of the whole army which was estimated at forty miles in length the cavalry in the meantime moving parallel with the train. About noon we fell in [&] moved back about a mile on this road & struck off to the left throwing out flankors marching rapidly towards Warrenton junction in a northernly direction crossed the Warrenton railroad & came to a halt at nightfall between Warrenton & Catletts Station. The troops gave way to the right & stacked arms leaving the road open for the 3d Corps which were moving past most of the night. The 2d had crossed their line of march & it now became necessary to halt & let the 3d get fairly ahead to avoid further confusion. As we came to a halt we could hear the rattle of carbines on our left & slightly in advance showing the enemys cavalry were closely dogging all our movements. We spent the night which was a cold one lying around the campfires in a heavy woods. Next morning Oct 14th, we were early on the move. The morning was one of beautiful autumn’s mornings of the South & the sun rose on one of the most glorious & eventful days in the history of the fighting Second Corps.

skirmish at auburn mills and battle of bristoe station Hardly had the head of the column got under motion than a cannon shot broke the stillness of the morning which was soon followed by more mixed with the popping of skirmishers rifles. These sounds caused us to move to the front with more celerity that is if any one could tell where the front was, for our division had just descended a hill into a woody ravine traversed by a small stream I believe a portion of Cedar Run & as we crossed this it became evident by the rattle of small arms on our left & rear that the enemy occupied the woody ridge we had just left. At the same time the sound of musketry thickened not only in our front or in the direction we were marching – but also on our right & one of our batteries (McKnights 12th ny independent) had got into position somewhat on our left front & was exchanging compliments rapidly with the enemy & as the shorter shells from either side went yelling over our heads we could not tell which was from friend or foe as the position of the Division was at that time in a sort of amphitheatre surrounded by a succession of knolls more or less woody. In fact it was plain to the most ordinary person that we were fairly sur-

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rounded & things began to look like the 2d Corps being annihilated or going to Richmond en masse. But the rebel cavalry General [J.E.B.] Stuart, who led this attack had evidently blundered against a greater force than he expected to find for finding his cavalry confronted & repulsed by infantry everywhere he seemed to fully understand his blunder for in less than half an hour his cavalry were non est as far as regards intercepting our march nor did he any more attempt this but seemed to content himself with watching our movements & picking up stragglers.17 Had my position not been such a dangerous one I would have been much amused here at the terror of our noncombatants including hospital attendants, servants, & numerous men that manage to keep out of most fights to be found in an army. This class of persons having no rear to run to had to remain under fire, many for the first time, & their efforts to find some cover became exceedingly ludicrous many remained in the out of the way places they had crawled afraid to venture out until captured by the enemys cavalry (no great loss). The enemy not expecting such resistance suffered considerably in this attack. They left among other officers mortally wounded a Col [Thomas] Ruffin I believe of a prominent N Carolina family. In the course of an hour we were again on the move, our wounded being in the meantime dressed & sent ahead in ambulances. No casualty occurred in my regiment. We reached Catletts Station about 11 am where we halted in mass for about two hours. We were afterwards informed by prisoners that during this halt the enemy were hovering about in great force but dare not attack but as soon as we commenced to move they followed up & continued to annoy the rear which was brought up by the 1st Division. It was often necessary for portions of this Division to face about & skirmish with them not only to repel their attacks but what was of more importance to delay them, in order to give our wagon train time to get out of the way. While halted here & as I was separated from my regiment a few [men] were resting under a tree with none within speaking distance of me but my hospital steward & some unarmed attendants [when] an unarmed horseman rode out of a thicket near me. He was dressed as an ordinary infantry soldier & was well mounting. Coming directly up to me, he began making enquiry as to whether I had seen our head quarter wagon pass, on telling him I did not he seemed to be dissatisfied with the answer & seemed very anxious to know whether they were in front or rear. I directed him to our Division headquarters for information towards which he pretended to go. In the

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meantime, I began to see something in his manner that led me to suspect him for one of the enemys scouts. Walking over to Col Powers I told him my suspicions & pointing out the man as he rode away. He treated the matter lightly saying he did not believe him to be anything more than a straggling servant or groom. But I not satisfied determined to watch his movements & followed him at a distance to see if he would search for Division head quarters. As I followed the direction he was going I fell in with Genl [Joshua T.] Owens commanding our 2d Brigade. To him I told my opinion of the man but while speaking to the Genl he had already disappeared among some trees. The Genl at once dispatched two mounted orderlies in that direction & in about half an hour they returned & reported that they could find no such person. In all probability he had become suspicious & suddenly withdrew by some route best known to himself. About a week afterwards I met the same mysterious individual. Then he was moving in a contrary direction to our march. Seeing him thus again moving boldly through our troops I was for a moment ashamed of my suspicions. At that time too my regiment was some distance away & I was hurrying to catch up with them. Besides I, being unarmed, was perfectly powerless to arrest a man on a fleet horse & doubtlessly carrying concealed weapons. I saw nor heard no more of him but doubt not to this day he was one of the many active & intelligent spies of the enemy that were known to be frequently inside our lines. At 1 pm we again took up our line of march along the railroad & hardly had we marched an hour before the distant sound of cannon become audible. For some time this was believed by those around me to be in the rear caused by skirmishers of the 1st Division, our rear guard, with the enemy. But we were soon convinced that some of the sounds at least were in the advance. The truth was fighting was going on in both directions Genl A.P. Hills rebel Corps had marched parallel with us since morning & the head of their column [Brigadier-General Henry] Heth’s division, had [now come] in[to] full view of our wagon train which could be seen on the heights above Brentsville hardly three miles off. As our Division crossed Kettle Run, about two miles from Bristoe Station we could plainly see both the smoke & the flashes of our cavalry batteries as they endeavored to hold the position until our infantry got up. We were attacked on the left flank as the Corps marched parallel with & on the right of the railroad. The second Division which had the advance did not arrive on the field a moment to

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soon, for Heths rebel Division had formed [a] line of battle & was moving rapidly forward to take possession of the railroad ditches & embankments which are here high & deep. For within a mile of the field, the men of our Brigade had advanced on the “double quick.” Many were unable to continue this rate of marching & had to stop running & walk in order to catch breath. Consequently the regiments went into action in any order you please but military. But no time could be lost to “close up” if the railroad was to be gained in time. Waiting for sometime on the slow movements of our tired men who were lagging behind I found the distance widening between me & the main bulk of my command. So patience being exhausted I gave my excited horse the rein & was soon on the scene of action. A crowd of stragglers who had preferred the line of railroad on the march & who at the advance of the enemy had taken refuge in the ditches – now came running in for fear of capture but they were soon picked up by our advancing line of battle & borne forward into the fight under strange officers (So much for straggling). Our officers were trying to keep all the men they were able to get up in some sort of line & with them they were now charging across the open field that lay between the highway & railroad. Although they were on a run & gasping for breath, they managed to keep up a crackling volley of exploding percussion caps as each man snapped one on his tube to ensure its being free. This although sounding childish showed plainly that mischief was intended on their part. Genl Warren, who then commanded the Corps now came by with his staff all dismounted rallying & encouraging all stragglers & loiters the Genl exclaiming as he passed me “To the railroad ditch men” “Quick! Quick!” But Genl Alex Hayes commanding the Division as soon as he got possession of this & under its cover gave his men a little time to close up in line & take breath dashed across the road with his whole Division & charged the relief infantry which was advancing about 300 yds from the railroad over a field partly open & partly covered with a low copse. The cavalry battery which had done good service but could hardly hold its own against the concentrated fire of two batteries opened on it was now relieved. Hazard’s battery b 1st ri artillery crossed Broad Run & unlimbered near Bristoe Station & in rear of the 2nd Division which was now advancing against the enemys left. The invincible [William] Arnold now came on the scene too with his splendid battery the horses spurred into a race with time itself laying flat or stripping the low under growth of pine that covered some parts of the

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field or sparks of fire following the track of the wheels, as the impetuous commander rushed his guns to the front & unlimbered on a splendid position overlooking the field a hill near the railroad culvert that crosses Broad Run. Arnold opened at once & the effects of his fire became obvious in the hurried & confused movements of the enemy. I could plainly see the shells from his battery bursting fair in the rebel line of infantry, the masses of men breaking up & spreading in every direction from the explosion similar to a shoal of fish into which a stone would be dropped. They could be plainly seen also making desperate attempts to “limber up” a battery which our batteries were fast knocking to pieces, some of the horses falling at every round. They did not succeed however in getting it off for their infantry were already giving away before the charge of our Division. Their battery being opposite that part of the line occupied by our 3d Brigade was seized by [Union] regiments. Immediately after a ludicrous procession came down the hill towards our line, five guns drew partly by soldiers & partly by the few living horses found in harness. On every horse a solder was mounted beating the poor frightened animals right & left with their rifles & all but the horses yelling like Indians. The enemys attempt to reach the train was completely frustrated as he was everywhere driven back with heavy loss & was obliged to withdraw out of range of our guns, but a fierce artillery duel was maintained at long range until sunset. Pursuit of their retiring force would be folly, as thus the distance between the train & the troops assigned to guard it would be increased leaving it exposed to a dash of their cavalry. In the charge of the 3d Division, the 108th had 14 men wounded & one killed on the field. Our men were mostly wounded in the legs by reason of their part of the line of battle advancing through a dense copse which the enemy occupied & on the advance of our men they laid low until they could see the lower extremities of the men those coming in view first on account of the brushwood hiding their bodies. In this case they invariably fired at the part first seen from their recumbent position & then fell back & watched their chances for another shot & as our line made but slow progress through this dense tangle, they were enabled to injure many of our men before being finally driven out. As for myself I had some narrow escapes from rifle bullets that were coming over the railroad in great numbers & also shells. Indeed I was one of a party that had the honor of monopolizing the attention of one of the enemys guns. For as myself & Dr [Alvin] Satterthwaite of the 12th nj was sitting in our

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saddles looking at the progress of the fight with some of our attendants around us who were mounted on our pack horses, we soon become aware of shells passing very close over our heads. This we wondered at for sometime as Arnold had just then began to pitch into them in earnest & they had more than sufficient use for their ammunition elsewhere. After enduring several rounds in our anxiety to witness the struggle going on – we became convinced that one particular gun was playing upon our party & after one fuze shell burst fire over my head & another percussion shell passed between me & Dr Satterthwaite struck the ground & burst a few yards beyond us – we decided on taking ourselves out of view of the gunners. The only reason we could assign for their particular attention to us was that they mistook our party for a General & his mounted staff & hard pressed as they were yet could not resist the temptation to have a fling at who they conceived to be “big fish.” I must confess the advantage gained to their cause would be questionable, had they wiped out the whole party. The Surgeons had now too something to do other than looking on – for the wounded were fast coming to the rear. The Surgeon in Chief of Division d [Isaac] Scott after a difficult search to find a place near water & out of range of artillery at the same time & suitable for an operating & dressing hospital at last fixed on a barn just across Kettle Run & about 11 miles in the rear or east of the field. Here the Surgeons of the Division assembled & had not more than fairly commenced operations than the rattle of carbines was heard in a wood within little more than a quarter of a mile of the hospital. The enemys cavalry taking advantage of the engagement of the infantry had made a detour & were now coming in on our rear & were within one mile of & in full view of the train at Brentsville. But they were well watched by our cavalry as the firing indicated nor did they attempt a dash on the train when they found their movements were known. But we all thought on account of the proximity of the fighting it would be judicious to remove our hospital which we did forthwith loading up our wounded in the ambulances. As the Surgeons mounted & fell in the rear they gathered up the rifles brought back to the hospital by wounded men & in some cases threw the rifles with the ammunition into the creek. Others carried them with them & I added a few rounds of ammunition to my pockets in case. The Surgeons after this changed their positions twice trying to keep out of the reach of the rebel cavalry & out of range of their artillery in front at the same time. For all this time the thunder of battle went on.

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About sunset orders were received by the Surgeons to report to their regiments at once. This order of course was not difficult to comply with, our circumstance excepted. No ambulances were present but those that had been detailed to follow the Brigades on the march all the others were now with the train nor could they come so far from the train without risking capture. As the few ambulances present became rapidly filled & were as rapidly driven away – the poor fellows unable to walk naturally looking up to their Surgeon for assistance in their extremity became clamorous for to get a place in the ambulances. This was not I found so easy for in my finding a vacant place & then with my own hands helping some of my worst wounded through crowds that perhaps I would have the mortification to find the place occupied. This indeed was repeated several times before I succeeded in getting all my men on. In this I was much assisted by Dr D[avid] W. Maull Surgeon in Chief of [the] Brigade, who when he saw me making strenuous exertions to find places for my wounded kindly lent me his aid – for which I was often indebted to him on many occasions. When I seen all safely loaded I started for my regiment with pride & the highest degree of gratification that I could say not one of the 108th was left on the field – for very few regiments engaged but left more or less [of their wounded on the field] for want of transportation. Had this been the case with any of my men – it would have grieved me much for here most of our wounded were as true boys as ever lit a cartridge in fire & among them was Capt Samuel Porter with a bad flesh wound of the leg. It was now dark & it was with some difficulty we groped our way to our separate commands. I found mine just behind the railroad near where we went into action & under orders to be ready to move at short notice. We moved silently from the field at a late hour at night – marching along the line of the railroad as far as Manassas Junction – then striking obliquely to the left crossing Bull Run at Blackburns Ford & halting just beyond the ford. It was then far advanced in the morning of the 15th & all were but too glad to have the privilege of lying on the ground until dawn. The moving of the Corps from the field was itself a delicate movement for it was no secret among our officers that the rebel Corps that attacked us though badly repulsed was now largely reinforced & in the isolated position of our Corps – it would have been very injudicious to let daybreak show our weakness. But the object of the Corps was more fully accomplished. The train was safely placed in rear of our new line & in the centre of this line the Corps now took its place & “threw down the gauntlet” to all comers after marching twenty

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five miles fighting two battles & skirmishing almost the whole distance in one day. The morning of Oct[ober] 15th found the Army of the Potomac in [a] line of battle on Bull Run & we all excepted a third trial of the fortunes of war on this historical field. It might be inferred that the army would naturally be doubtful of success owing to former serious reverses here.18 So too I then thought. But soon found I was mistaken as far as my experience went I heard no expression of doubt as to the result even among my most intimate friends. But the same undying & stubborn determination to “fight it out” wherever their leaders chose to order [appeared] more prominent than ever. There was also every indication of battle. The ominous stillness that usually precedes one was especially painful because we well knew the enemy were advancing cautiously in force. Lee had completely failed to read our rear & obtain a footing on Centreville Heights & also I believe to capture a single wagon – unless those accidentally broken & abandoned. The great question was now whether he would give battle since Genl Meade had taken position & offered him the grape.19 The whole forenoon & afternoon up to two o’clock was unbroken by any sound of strife except an occasionally gun from our cavalry on the flanks fixed at reconnoitering parties of that of the enemy. About this hour the crack of rifles in the heavy timbered bottom on the southern side of the run in our front, told the enemy had thrown out his skirmishers & his had rebuked ours. Shortly after cannonading became pretty general on our left. About 3 o’clock some new dispositions were made in our part of the line in anticipation of an attack of the enemy about then as I was scanning the field narrowly to see if there were any indication of immediate attack, I noticed two mounted men barely emerged from the pine covered a ridge about 1200 yds in our left front. They merely showed the forward position of their horses & their own bodies from the foliage I called the attention of Major [Theodore Grenville] Ellis commanding 14 Conn Vols – who after looking at them with a field glass said he believed them to be rebel cavalrymen. I thought different believing them to be from their manner & bearing officers of high rank reconnoitering the position. Our speculations were cut short by their disappearing again suddenly & immediately a white puff of smoke arose from where they disappeared followed by the report of a field piece & the familiar whirr of a solid shot. This was nearly over our position but was not aimed at it. The Major exhorted his men many of whom were recruits to be ready & behave like men – for we expected the iron would soon be plunging among us. This how-

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ever they did not attempt. They were now directing their attention to some support wagons that were brought up to ration the troops. Those weapons were near Genl Warrens head quarters about 1/4 one quarter of a mile in rear & slightly to the left of our brigade. Quicker than I could describe it two batteries unlimbered & opened upon them & in twenty minutes made them glad to limber up & leave after getting one of their guns dismounted & several horses killed. Their battery did no harm that I am aware of beyond knocking over a wagon & making the frightened teamsters & mules to scamper out of range but Genl Warren & staff had several narrow escapes. There was no more artillery practice in our front, but skirmishing was unremittingly kept up almost amounting to vollies but neither party tried to do more than hold their own position. Nor were their many casualties here. On the left though it was different both maintained a heavy cannonade until night closed on the field. As far as I could learn there was nothing worthy of the name of a fight took place this day except among the cavalry. Lee however used the day to the best advantage to skirmish for position & feel our lines thoroughly from flank to flank. On the morning of the 16th it was found the enemy had disappeared from our immediate front but our Generals seemed to be mystified as to Lees real intention but it seemed very plain that the expected great battle was not to come off on this field at least. The day was a very wet & stormy one & no sounds of fighting could be heard except a few distant cannon shots in the direction of the Bull Run – hills telling that our cavalry were on the alert after Lee to see if it was his intention to pass our right flank & continue his advances northward. The 17th & 18th we spent quietly lying in camp or rather in line as formed when a battle was expected. The troops were being rationed and preparation made for an advance on the 18th. Many cavalry & some infantry advanced through our position on the same evening but we did not move forward until daybreak on the morning of the 19th. Lee had evidently fallen back covering his movement by a feint of moving towards the Potomac above our position. Whether he was falling back to his former position or to one in which he intended to draw Genl Meade out of his position was not yet determined. But a general advance discovered that he had abandoned all the country north of the Rappahannock except the fortified position on the north end of the ruins of the railroad bridge. at daybreak on oct 1 9th the Corps advanced in columns marching by Manassas Junction – almost retracing our steps on the previous

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backward movement – recrossed Broad Run – halted within sight of the field of Bristoe Station & threw out skirmishers, as if the proximity of an enemy was apprehended. None however, were found but the whole field was [dimpled] by skirmishers rifle pits. We now again moved forward as far as a stony ridge a mile in rear of the battlefield – which had been occupied by the enemy during the engagement & subsequently as a camp. On this ridge we halted early in the afternoon – remaining in bivouac for the remainder of the day & night. I visited the field in company with Capt [Joseph] Deverell Co. k. The Captain wished to search for the body of a man of his company Corpl Irivng Arms who was the only man killed from our regt in the late fight. We found a grave near the spot he fell supposed to be his – but we had no implement with us sufficient to remove the earth. The field did not bear many marks of the late struggle as the enemy had carefully buried all the dead. Most of them killed judging by the boards placed over them belonged to the 15th & 48th N Carolina rebel regiments.20 The graves seemed to me to be remarkably few for such an engagement but this may be explained by a report which I heard to the effect that as a mounted officer was leaping his horse over what seemed to be one of the usual small curtains of earth thrown up for protection to the men serving guns in action, one of the horses feet removed the earth to such an extent as to bare a corpse & on further examination those works proved to be trenches of dead. Whether this report be true or not in every particular this I know that no earthworks were [dug] during the fight although one had been in position near the spot as the numerous dead horses strewn on the ground from the fire of Arnold’s guns testified. On this afternoon 19th [there] were frequently cavalry encounters with the enemys rear as he fell back towards the river – the artillery sometimes being in such volume as to make many believe an engagement was in progress. We were early on the move on the morning of the 20th continuing our march by a rather circuitous rout passing near Gainesville through Greenwich, halting & bivouacking at a late hour near the scene of the skirmish at Auburn Mills. Here we remained in camp during the 21st & 22d. I visited the house that we had used as a temporary operating hospital at the time of the fight on the 14th. It was inhabited by an elderly gentleman named [Cyrus] McCormick. He had been an inventor of improvements in mill machinery & agricultural implements, rather rare for a southern gentleman & I believe his name is familiar in the patent office at Washington. He was too a man that seemed to take a

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lively interest in the politics of both the past & present times & said he was well acquainted with President [Andrew] Jackson who had staid at his house. This old gentlemans present political views maybe worth mentioning if he be taken as a representative of public opinion among his class, which he claimed to be. The principal peculiarity of those views were that he upheld the superiority of monarchical institutions to republican, with great pertinacity & plausibility of arguement. During the early part of the day on Oct 23 we moved about five miles & went into camp on the south side of the Warrenton branch railroad & about three miles from that town. Here we remained until Nov 7th putting up log huts as the weather had become very wet & cold. This long halt at a season of the year usually favorable for campaigning in Virginia, was rendered unavoidable on account of Genl Lee in his falling back completely destroying the railroad from Bristoe Station to the Rappahannock. Large groups of men were now employed in restoring it recruits coming out constant drill going on & a large depot of supplies collecting at Warrenton Junction. Few however seemed to think that offensive operations would so soon recommence. The movement which now followed was probably intend to press Lee with all available force but was prevented from being directly followed up either by the adverse weather that soon after set in or some unforeseen circumstance best known to the General commanding. Certainly the advance was not checked by any resistance of the enemy.

fall campaign of 1863 rappahannock at 10½ pm on the evening of nov 6 th we received orders to be

ready to move at daybreak & [the] next morning a beautiful & clear autumn one we were again in motion. The soldiers looked back reluctantly at the snug huts they were leaving to exchange for the open & now frosty air combined with the apprehension that weighs upon men who know that they are about to encounter peril that seems more imminent in proportion to its indefinable & uncertain nature. The movement was directed towards two points principally Kellys Ford & Rappahannock Station against the former the 3d Corps had the advance followed by the 2d. Against the latter position the 6th Corps led. After a disagreeable march on account of the dusty nature of the roads & high wind, combined with its great rapidity we arrived in sight of Kellys ford about sunset. The 3 Corps had already crossed the river after a spirited skirmish in which Birneys division captured some

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prisoners. This Division was now in [a] line of battle on the opposite side their skirmishers engaged with those of the enemy in the woods a short distance in front. [J. Henry] Sleepers 10th Mass battery was in position on the north side & engaged in shelling the woods beyond the river. During the afternoon we had become aware of a heavy & well maintained cannonade towards the railroad bridge. This was the engagement of a position of the 6th Corps, which resulted in the capture & occupation of all the field works commanding the bridge & the enemys final abandonment of the line of that river. Here the position was a much more difficult one to carry than that of Kellys Ford, not only because it was well fortified but on account of a great portions of those fortifications being on the north side completely commanding the approaches to the bridge. There was complete range for the enemys artillery – their being no cover whatever from it unless a very thin woods fully a mile away. The space between this woods & the batteries was almost perfectly clear & level & traversed obliquely by a deep & wide water course containing much water & mud & quite difficult for a line of battle to scramble through under fire. We had marched over this ground some time previous. Consequently I knew it well & could fully appreciate the difficulty & danger of advancing across it under fire from field works. Wishing too that the gallant troops who carried it should [be given] their full [measure] of praise for it certainly was one of the most brilliant actions among the many of the 6th Corps. We bivouacked on the north side of the river for the night & were under arms [the] next morning at daybreak. The enemy had fallen back & completely abandoned the line of the river during the night. We crossed about 9 am then halting about an hour to let the 1st Corps pass resumed our march towards Brandy Station where we arrived about sunset & went into bivouac. The fighting during the day was confined to the cavalry advances whose guns we could occasionally hear encountering the rear of the enemy as he again fell back south of the Rapidan. This night was a very cold one the country was extremely open & exposed to a piercing north wind & where our division lay, there [was] more wood than sufficient to make coffee, [but it] was not convenient. The ground too was frozen hard on which we had to lie. In the morning the peaks of the blue ridge could be seen white with snow. From this night I date the commencement of years of bad health. [The n]ext morning we moved a few miles southward & went into camp again where we remained until the 26th. For some days previous

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to this date we were under orders to hold ourselves in readiness to march at short notice, but the movement was apparently delayed through excessive rainy weather. We left camp at 7 am & marched to Germanna Ford on the Rapidan which we crossed unopposed on a pontoon bridge at 4 pm. There were many extensive breastworks created here by the enemy but for purposes well known to himself they were abandoned on our approach. After crossing we marched about three miles & halted for the night which was a very cold one but fortunately we were in woods affording wood & shelter. [The n]ext morning, 27th we were early under arms & moving rapidly up the Fredericksburg & Orange Court House turnpike. Being detailed on duty with the division ambulance corps – I do not know exactly when our advance struck the enemy – but when the ambulance train was ordered to halt & I joined the regiment it was 12 o’clock. Our 1st brigade was already formed in line across the turnpike & skirmishing at a point called Robinsons Tavern. Being unemployed I now sauntered towards our skirmish line on the right of the road. Here I found some men of our second division crouching in the long weeds that covered the waste field here. Not seeing any enemy I walked up quite close to our line – when their skirmishers from the opposite wood opened fired upon me. One bullet cut the weeds near my legs & another whizzed uncomfortably near my head. Our men arose & replied at once when the enemy ceased after a few shots exchanged. This slight & fitful sort of skirmishing continued in our front during the whole day. The enemy made no determined resistance & Genl Meade was waiting impatiently for the arrival of Genl French with the 3d Corps. The Genl waited here the whole day, most of the time in the saddle surrounded by his staff & accompanied by four British officers who came out to witness the operations.21 He frequently betrayed great nervousness & anxiety inquiring not only from every aid that arrived but from any person near him if “he heard from Gen French.” I saw precisely the same scene the previous evening when we were waiting for several hours before crossing the river when he was also detained by the tardy movements of Genl French who was crossing the river higher up. Towards night we heard a heavy cannonade far on the right towards the river. This was the first heard from French, who it appears was delayed by finding the river more difficult than expected to cross, the next day took a wrong road & instead of connecting with the right of the 2d Corps struck a large body of the enemy & fought the battle of Locust Grove the guns from which we heard.22

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[the n]ext day, 28 th the Corps advanced some two miles without

any effective opposition to the bank of Mine Run – a small stream a tributary of the Rapidan. It was quite fordable but was bonded by a wide marshy bottom. The opposite slope was strongly fortified with earthworks by the enemy & here they seemed determined to make a stand. The day was fearfully wet & cold, & the troops had nothing for it but the cold drenching rain from above & the slimy mud beneath for to rest upon. Nothing occurred in the way of fighting in our front beyond the artillery exchanging a few shots with that of the enemy who here first used guns against our Corps in this movement & here & there the picket lines popping at each other as they occupied the opposite side of the marshy creek bottom. Early in the morning of the 29th [the] Corps was withdrawn from the front & moved to the left reaching a plank road leading from Fredericksburg to the Orange & Alexander railroad. This road we reached about 1 pm halting for about three hours then moved rapidly up the road on the enemys right flank. Several fresh groves & other marks here gave evidence of a well contested battlefield. This fighting had taken place the day before I believe between Stuart’s rebel cavalry & ours as we heard the guns but did not then know the cause. We had not marched more than an hour up this road when our advance (the 1st division) struck the enemys outposts – heavy skirmishing at once commenced. The Corps was formed in line & advanced when the enemy withdrew their skirmishers & commenced shelling the woods in which we were advancing from guns within a strong line of earthworks. Our artillery fired a few rounds in reply but darkness soon put an end to the skirmishing. Indeed it would appear that the enemy was taken by surprise & that Genl Warren could have attacked that evening with advantage but he was unsupported except [by] the 3d division of the 6th Corps & his Corps was besides totally unconnected with the enemy on his right. The troops formed a line across an uncompleted railroad running nearly parallel or alignly with the plank road built fires threw up some rifle pits & breastworks & rested for the night which was very cold. The troops were quietly aroused cooked their breakfast & were under arms & in line of battle at 5 on the morning of the 30th. The fires on which the men cooked & the groups around them could hardly excite much attention as these were kept up all night owing to the cold which kept many from lying down at all. Many cases of men perishing on picket were reported though none came under my

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observation. As for the enemy in our immediate front they were too actively employed to suffer much cold. They could be plainly heard all night giving orders in a loud voice talking also with the almost incessant sound of hundreds of axes as they slashed the timber in front of their works preparing for our expected attack.23 A valley or rather a slight depression in the land lay about midway between the enemys works & the ridge on which our line of the previous evening was formed. In this the line of battle was formed nearly parallel to that of the rebels. They apparently paid not the least attention to our movements though these could scarcely escape their notice as the ground was frozen so hard that the least movement of men on horses caused a tremendous clattering. The order of Warrens command was 1st division on the right next 2d then the 3d one over the old railroad dividing the right of our division from the left of the 2d. In our left & forming the extreme left of our infantry line was the 3d division of the 6th Corps. It seemed to be generally understood that the works in our front were to be changed at 7 am. This hour was now fast approaching & a gloomier hour never appeared in prospect to men as it promised to be to at least Genl Warrens command. A cold north wind swept the fields. The men were halted & could not take any exercise. Here they stood their teeth chattering & their benumbed hands scarcely able to clutch the cold rifles to which they clung more from stern necessity than choice even with the bravest. Day had now broken too & the awful preparations of the enemy to receive them were plainly visible some found a fire a hundred yards away. Long red lines of earthworks above which could be seen in many places the wheels of the gunners that were intended to vomit forth their showers of canister shot at the proper moment. Whenever timber had grown in their front – this was followed with the tops towards us & the branches cut of some distance from the trunks leaving sharp points projecting – making it difficult for a man to get through even when at his leisure & unexposed to danger. The men were ordered to unsling & pile their knapsacks. This of itself was ominous looking to them & reminded them that something desperate was to be attempted. Seven o’clock came & all remained quiet. The suspense seem horrible to many among all classes & ranks. It being impossible to keep the men standing in line on account of the cold, they were permitted to walk about after stacking their arms. Some would [wander] through the thin belt of wood in front on to the edge of a slight knoll that

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covered our right & leisurely survey the [fortif]ications in front prepared for them then coming back [shaking their] heads gloomily making some remark to the effect that this would be the last battle of themselves or commands yet [they] would show no sign of the “white feather.”24 Some would perpetuate some grim joke on the consequences peculiar to old soldiers such as marking out with a stick on the ground the dimensions of their own bodies for a grave while others were eloquent in their encouragement of departing comrades. I heard a blondhaired boy – a recruit of the 14th Conn say to an old soldier of the same regiment who said the regiment “could never get the rebels out of their works” “why yes they can yell them out of it the regiment wont flinch.” Walking about like many others to keep my blood from completely stagnating I crossed the old railroad bank into the 2d division when [a] ludicrous sight met me. The men had found at some [place] in the vicinity a great number of piled dried hides. These they had turned into practical use by sitting down on the ground & placing the hides on their edges, as they were quite stiff, between themselves & the north wind, the tails of the hides too were stiff & bent in all fantastic forms & as the brushes on the ends of them fluttered in the wind it gave the whole the appearance of vitality. Unfortunately owing to the inventor of gunpowder they could not put them to the same use as our forefathers. About half past eight artillery firing commenced far on our right. Everyone seemed to be sure it was the signal for attack but yet no order came for advancing. This desultory cannonade in the distance continued until 4 in the afternoon accompanied by some firing from the opposing skirmishing lines but not a shot in our front except a few shot from batteries in rear of our line in reply a few shells that were thrown from the extreme left of [the] rebel line apparently from cavalry guns. The longer we were kept in suspense the more difficult it seemed to be & the anguish of those long hours can never be erased [from] my recollection not for myself alone but for those men many of whom had become more than brothers, As for myself I was at liberty to seek a place of safety prior to the commencement of the action. Indeed there [was] no safety within a mile once [the battle] would commence. I believed I was seeing many of my tried friends for the last time & preferred to remain near in order to [render what] little assistance would be possible in case of their being wounded. About four o’clock Genl Warren rode along the line apparently much agitated & in deep thought. It soon became known that he had

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refused to attack on daylight revealing to him the general strength of the enemys position & our Genl Meade reconnoitering it he approved Warrens judgment. His opinion too was held by many then officers of experience & Warrens whole command felt grateful to their Genl for his caution in avoiding useless slaughter. The relief felt by all on finding the decision of the commander of the army can be better imagined than described. Men began to look cheerful again at the prospect of a few hours more of life or at least a fair fight for us. The troops maintained their position in our part of the line undisturbed until dark set with the exception of one shell thrown by the enemy as a challenge, when they moved back to the ridge they had occupied on the evening before resting there for the night which [was] perfect[ly] quiet all along our front. We remained here all day in camp on an elevated ridge of land overlooking the enemys position both armies remaining apparently quiet again this evening we “fell in” quietly, left our fires burning & marched rapidly to the rear along the Fredericksburgh plank road – recrossed the Rapidan at 3 next morning [November 31st] on a pontoon bridge – halted a short time & continued on march to our last camp – which we reached at nightfall. This march was a most severe one having continued without halt for twelve hours. Many fell out of the ranks & laid down in the woods to fall asleep – although the provost guards worked [diligently]. The consequence of this was that the enemys cavalry came up in the morning & captured hundreds before they awoke from their profound sleep. Others who were able to reach the river before being overtaken found the bridge (which was between Germanna & Elys fords) withdrawn. Those last though in sufficient numbers to make a successful stand against cavalry had no officers among them & being stragglers from all the battalions in the Corps were without [direction] & were also capture. Consequently, the 2d Corps lost as many as if it had a sharp engagement. It was an unusually severe night [on] duty for myself. Very soon after the falling back commenced when the several regiments composing the Brigade were more or less mixed “pelemele,”25 one of the muskets of the 12th N Jersey (when well loaded with ball & buckshot) exploded accidentally & the ball passed through the fleshy part of the hip of a Sergeant of ours named H[enry B.] Smith – the buckshot lodging in his thigh. The man fell [more or] less in the road. After finding his wounds were not [life threatening] & waiting in vain for ambulances to come up (they being in the rear) I tried to get him on some of the

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caissons of a battery that [was] passing but all being darkness & confusion was not [successful in getting him on] any of them. Indeed it was scarcely possible to [gain their] attention under such circumstances. I asked him [if he could get on] his horse. This was difficult for the poor fellow – owing [to his] wound & [the] heat, [he] first said he could not [get on his horse]. My [plan] was to stay by him until all our troops were past then abandon [him] to capture in order to save myself & two hospital men who [were] with me – he at last consented. We then lifted him on the horse & following the line of march slowly walking by his side for [many] miles when we had the good fortune to find two ambulance wagons of the 6th Corps halted in the side of the road, [both looked] fine & empty. The Sergeant in charge of the ambulances at once took him in charge on my representing the case to him as I had no control in the matter when the ambulances were not of my Corps. After having dressed Smith’s wounds by the light of the fire & left him comfortable, myself & men continued our march among troops strange to us – as by this time our regiment was miles in advance. The moon had now risen so that we could see our way well enough to “double quick it” occasionally & managed to find our regiment about daybreak. Having as I have said reached our former camp on the evening of the 2d December we remained here for three days & thus ended the “Mine Run campaign.”

camp at stevensburgh, virginia on the morning of saturday dec 5 th we advanced four miles

[along] the Rapidan near the remains of an old village called Stevensburgh, lying on the plank road leading from Culpeper c h to Germanna Ford. Here we went into camp & lived comfortably for the remainder of the month nearly. We seemed now fairly established in winter quarters & Sutlers & Sanitary Commission supplies came up & leaves of absences were granted freely of which Col Powers & Mr Grassie availed themselves. Orders having been given that our Brigades – being advanced of the main body of the Corps to the support of the cavalry, we broke up our camp with many regrets on Sunday 7th December & marched four miles to within one mile [of the] Rapidan & went into camp near a rocky [ridge] called [Stone Mountain]. The change was one of the most disagreeable [a man in] active service is frequently compelled to endure, reaching our new camping ground – a storm [blew in] & it

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started to rain & [thunder]. Everybody was half knee-deep in mud & [attempted] to find shelter themselves from the inclement weather [but had] to endure in open tents. But in about a [week we were] well hutted & the officers purchased small stores from the Sutlers & things once more assumed a comfortable [state]. About a fortnight of very cold weather, [the Rapidan was sufficiently] frozen to bear horses & wagons & covered by [a layer of snow]. Then the weather became mild & temperate & [camp became] dry & clean & life became tolerable but no sooner [did the regiment settle into camp than soldiers began to request] leave[s] [for] home[, most of which were granted] as the frequent leaves of absence [illustrated]. Plainly told, comfort[s] could be had from the Commission & Sutlers [if you were] willing to pay for the supplies of the former – pork – tea – sugar brown & white – biscuits fresh & warm from the government bakers [were] at reasonable prices but [other goods] consisting of eggs, potted meats, fruits, etc were [available above] retail prices. The time too could be passed pleasantly enough. The officers wives were granted twenty days leave to visit their husbands. Many of those ladies brought sidesaddles & many riding parties were daily formed to visit the surrounding country & points of interest in the camp. In fact everything took on a gala appearance & one might easily forget for the time that he was in the field with a large army or rather in our brigade, or on outpost duty with the cavalry videttes of the opposing forces in full view in our front lining both sides of the Rapidan & not knowing the hour or even minute that a fight would commence. About the 16th Jany Leiut [John] Kenleyside & a small detail of men left the camp amidst the cheers of their comrades to go home on recruiting service in the hope of recruiting the small remnants of [available men,] which was never realized. The 1st Del, Vols having four years service reenlisted almost [every] man & [after] a long leave of absence, according to special [leave], [they returned to] camp at Stevensburgh. The remaining [men], fifty recruits had not gone home. However my duties were light [&] pleasant but I now began to fear [that I would not live] to see home again.

 Hd Qrs 108th ny Vols Camp near Stevensburgh, Va Jany 9th, 64. Dear Brother,

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Your [letter] of the 3d came to hand last evening [the] 8th. [I a]m thankful to hear once more you are all well & happy to inform you my health & spirits are excellent. As I anticipated in my last [letter], we have moved Camp, about three miles. This we did on Sunday 27th Dec. We are now in plain view of the enemy’s lines on the Rapidan. But all is quiet, at present. [I a]m doubtful whether this winter will be as peaceable as last. The stream is small, & cavalry raids, may occur any hour. [I a]m at present tenting alone. Surgeon [Owen] Munson, remained in charge of the sick in hospital in our former camp, the weather, being considered too severe to remove them yet. Chaplain [Thomas G.] Grassie is on [a] leave of absence. Your sympathy for my sufferings during the holidays, though appreciable, is nevertheless wasted, at least so you would say, had you been here during those times. The 108th are no friendless outcasts, or “city scum.” Their homes, nearly all lie, in Monroe County, near Rochester in the finest portion of the State. Consequently, they have numerous & thrifty friends who availed themselves of the Express lines to remember their sons & brothers in the shape of sundry boxes stuffed with almost every imaginable food thing that the “gals” at home know how to invent. Not least among these were the remains of many Democratic turkeys, that a few days previous had trilled & gobbled in the Genesee Valley. Somehow whenever a box arrives, if it is for an enlisted man, he shortly afterward presents himself at the Doctor’s tent with his tin plate loaded with the contents & a broad grin of satisfaction on his face. If the recipient be an officer, a messenger arrives requesting the Doctor’s presence, reason not stated. [The] Doctor attends the summons, perhaps someone sick, No! Another box [is] opened. So you see, on which side the danger lies. Of course, I must at least taste of everything, which alone is no small task. Besides those windfalls, the Sutler furnishes all the delicacies of the season, at a price, at least less than, it is in Richmond. You must have pretty white weather up at your house. It is at least blue enough here for my taste. Here is the last month from my Diary Dec 9th, clear & cold, 10th clear, chilly, 11th cloudy, moderate, 12th cloudy, mild, 13th heavy & cold rain throughout day & night, 14th windy & showery, 15th clear & colder, 16th cloudy, moderate, 17th day & night rainy cold & disagreeable, 18th cloudy, damp, chilly, 19th cloudy, windy, cold, 20th clear & cold, 21st cloudy & cold, 22d clear & cold, 23d chilly ground white with snow for first time this season, passed

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off before night, 24th & 25th, 26th, cloudy & cold, 27th day & night extremely wet & cold, 28th day & night wet & cold, 29th day cold & damp, 30th cold & damp, 31st extremely cold with heavy rain. Jan 1, 64 morning fine grows cold at night, 2d clear & biting cold, 3d clear & cold, 4th cold & stormy snows four inches, 5th milder snow, partly melts, 6th cold & cloudy, 7 cold, cloudy snows at night 4 inches, which is still lying & ice on still ponds sufficient to bear a man. The time of leaves of absence of New York soldiers, is yet limited to ten days but Lieut-Col Pierce, who is in command of the [R]egt (Col Powers is commanding the Brigade) says he will recommend me for fifteen days, wherever I think fit to apply. I do not wish to take my leave too early if I did, the winter would seem long after I returned to duty. However I have decided (God willing) to see you early in the next month, probably in its first week. [Y]ou need scarcely write again, in the meantime, unless you have something of importance, to communicate. I had intended, to forward a Railroad Ticket, to enable either Maria or Maggy to meet me in Washington, & see some of the principal cities going homeward. But I must abandon this project, on account of the uncertainty of my departure, the inclemency of the season & their inexperience in travel, although the latter objection would be laughed at, by an American girl. I hope this is my last letter until I am enabled to tell you my experience, in a more direct manner. Once more, give the assurances of my kindest regards, to all our friends, while I ever remain your affectionate Son & Brother, Francis Moses Wafer md

tings ns ofof 1864 a Canadian Surgeon

5 Campaigns of 1864

I

At the beginning of 1864 there was silence in all theatres of war. In the eastern theatre, Lee and Meade continued their standoff, each man anxious to go on the offensive but each, having learned from the foolhardiness of Burnside’s disastrous winter campaign of 1862, understandably leery. In the Union elections loomed and discontent with the war effort, initially expressed in the New York City draft riots, simmered beneath the nation’s surface. In the Confederacy, supply problems plagued Lee and desperation gripped the homefront and the army. In February of 1864, Meade resumed his offensive and ordered a cavalry raid, supported by the infantry, on Richmond. Meade charged the bulk of the Army of the Potomac with distracting Lee from Meade’s true intentions by repeatedly crossing the Rapidan. Instead of reaching Richmond, Meade’s men unsuccessfully clashed with Lee’s troops at Morton’s Ford and retreated back across the Rapidan. In March Lincoln elevated Grant, the victor at Fort Donaldson, Fort Henry, and most importantly Vicksburg, to the rank of lieutenant general and placed him in command of all Union forces. Expectations ran high. “With Lieutenant General Grant at the head of military affairs,” declared the Sacramento Daily Union, “our people have renewed hope for the Spring Campaign” and a victorious end to the war.1 History, however, compounded Grant’s difficulties in trying to

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end the war. The Union had suffered defeat in every major campaign in the eastern theatre, with the exception of a stalemate at Antietam and a victory at Gettysburg. In order to rectify the situation Grant set about reorganizing the army and restructuring the path to victory. Grant reorganized the Army of the Potomac, which had been depleted by massive losses at Gettysburg, into five corps, eliminating the 1st and 3d Corps over the vocal objections of many of the soldiers. Moreover, he maintained that the war could not be won in one mighty offensive victory. Instead, he opted for concerted action from his troops. Accordingly, Grant ordered General William T. Sherman to move into Georgia and engage General Joseph Johnston’s Army of Tennessee. Simultaneously, Grant instructed General Franz Sigel to move his men into the Shenandoah Valley and continue towards Richmond while General Benjamin Butler and the Army of the James secured the area known as the Bermuda Hundred in preparation for an attack on Richmond. Grant charged the Army of the Potomac with perhaps the most difficult task, namely, crushing Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia and capturing Richmond. As Grant explained to Meade: “Lee’s army will be your objective. Where he goes, there you will go also.”2 Lee possessed his own agenda. Plagued by the defeats at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, outnumbered by the Army of the Potomac two to one, and suffering from massive supply problems, Lee desperately needed to win the war and preserve the Confederacy. The army, he informed President Davis, was “not in a condition and never, [has] been ... to invade the enemy’s country with a prospect of permanent benefit. We can claim to embarrass him to some extent and thus prevent his undertaking anything of magnitude against us.” 3 Because Lee understood the unlikelihood of overall victory resulting from a single battle, he embraced this notion of attrition. He wished to exhaust the Union in spirit and finances and in doing so eventually destroy the enemy. A policy of attrition, however, did not preclude offensive action against the Army of the Potomac. Once aware of Meade’s impending spring campaign, Lee recommended to Davis that the Army of Northern Virginia “move right against the enemy on the Rappahannock.”4 Accordingly, Lee ordered Generals Longstreet and Beauregard to Richmond in case Union forces attacked the capital while he organized his army for battle with Meade’s men. And so opened the campaigns of 1864. I

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morton’s ford reconnaissance and fight [o]n the [5 th of] febr uary, I sent in an application for [a] leave of

absence [to] H[ea]d Qu[arters] & was waiting, happy as a child for [Christmas morning] when alas at five am on the morning of [February 6th] orders were received to be ready to march [at a moments notice.5 The] order fell upon the camp like an unexpected blow but [the men did] not [dwell on] it – pack[ing] up – was the business now. At the appointed hour the Brigade fell in & moved slowly & solemnly out of camp towards the river. I was fortunately [spared] the pains that must have been felt by the ladies who [despaired] of their husbands. Near the river we joined the two Corps of our Division (the 1st & 3d) – also the 2d Corps [was held] in our rear as support. We halted partially concealed in a piece of [woods] except the third Brigade which advance[d] to the river leisurely as if [to go on] to pickets. The four regiments dashed forward through the [frigid] water [&] rushed up the opposite bank. The enemys pickets on the riverbank seemed to have been completely surprised as after firing in fear, scattering shots, almost every man in front of our line surrendered. The enemys pickets reserves fell back under shelter of their batteries, which now opened at about [a] thousand yrds on our advance troop. Our men advanced about half a mile steadily during the skirmishes under shelter then halted & took up a position [covering] the enemys batteries by a swell in the ground. In the meantime our brigade & the first [division] had followed up their comrades to the riverbank & halted while the pioneers were cutting a [passage]way through each of the steep banks to the level of the water.6 I had just received my orders for the day, which were to take [care of the wounded] of my brigade on the fields. I too well knew that [we would have to cross the] river & go into the thick of the fight. But now “[forward] march” was the word & into the [frigid] wintery water [of the Rapidan the men went]. On our first movement the enemy [response was] to unleash their artillery. Since our men were protected by a slight swell in the ground, little harm was done. The men [stepped more] lively than [before as we] struggled up the steep [bluffs to find] ourselves on an elevated ridge of about two hundred yards [from the enemy and] completely covered [by] their guns. Lieut Col Pierce who [was in] command of the Regt ordered us to cross this ridge at the “double quick” & in single file. I watched with what kind of interest one [new to battle would have,] each puff of smoke as it burst from their gun muzzles & each [shell] as it came

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screaming through the air, or skipping over the [field]. [Me] & my horse both instinctively cringed into the smallest possible [position although] going on the trot all the while. One shell struck about fifty yards [to] our right, another struck closer & ricochetted over us & two passed clean over our line when we reached a lower [ledge,] fortunately without losing [a man] but the 12th nj the next regt after us re[ceived] two shells right through their line – one taking a mans arm with it.7 It was now fully half past one o clock & advancing until we formed a junction with our 3d Brig – we halted under cover of the same swell in the ground until sunset. The 2d Divis still remained on the north side of the river as well as our artillery. Our skirmishers were lying down about a hundred yards in advance & very close to those of the enemy, both spent the afternoon in the usual manner, that is watching for a shot at each other & this occurred often enough as some of ours being carried in wounded attested thus not leaving me idleness at least to claim of. Occasionally they would throw a few shells, viz the enemy, as to provoke a response but they would be immediately replied to by a battery of three inch rifles of ours on the river bank. There was heavy cannonading up the river towards night but I believe this was the [artillery] battery of our cavalry which was making a feint at crossing at [another] point. There was an old tobacco barn on an exposed hill about 100 yards from the left of our regiment. The men who [carried their] comrades from the skirmish line persisted in [carrying the] wounded there (probably through being accustomed [to] finding [shelter] on the field at some kind of a building) & then I [prepared] to leave my slight shelter & go to this barn. I found a Surgeon from another brigade [and] helped [him] with some of his wounded there as well as some of mine. It was nightfall & the enemys guns opened fire savagely on this [building]. I had just removed a splinter of shell from the scalp of a [soldier] of the 1st Del & advised the other Surgeon & all those men [to] move away – when a shell struck & burst in a muck [heap] in the [barnyard] a few feet from me, covering me from head to foot with dirt but [I] kept my eyes clean by winking instinctively at the right time.8 The enemy open [fired and their shells] which [destroyed the] rim [of] earthworks about eight hundred yards [away in] earnest. The field was now covered with bursting shells & the first thing I [did] was to secure my [horse] which had to be left tied to a cherry tree by my man, when the fire [became] heavy in order to shelter himself. My horse “Joe Hooker” was making circles round the tree as far as his bridle would let him – neighing or rather

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screaming frantically this being his habit when he found himself alone under fire. When he saw me coming he changed his tone, & expressed his feelings to me as plain as if he spoke the best English. On untying him calling his name & patting his neck, he became thoroughly pacified. The 14th Connecticut were advancing under a heavy fire which was replied to by our guns on the banks. The regiment charged a position held by the enemy in a farm house garden & buildings – found the place swarming with the enemy & a sharp fight commenced. Wounded began to come in frequently & [quickly.] I was attending to their cases & sending the [worst cases to the rear], all the while [trying] to avoid the rifle bullets which where whistling [fast &] thick amongst the bursting shells. I heard just in front of me the sharp click that tells of a rifle bullet striking bone. There was [little light,] the evening being dark & cloudy, but what came from the bullets & their fuzes as they flew through the air. A group of men [brought a solider,] apparently dead & carried him towards me – at the [time whispered] the name of Col Pierce. It was the Col, a bullet [struck the] side of the face below the left eye – ploughed up his [check] & lodged in the cavity of the eye. The Col was not dead yet however but cried out to the men with all the force [of] life [in] him “Good bye boys, I’ve got it right in the brain. Close up men – stand up to them – keep the old flag flying.” On examining him by the sense of feeling I found the bullet had partly displaced – the eyeball which [it] pressed partly from its place & he now commenced to suffer intensely after recovering from the first shock but I had extracted the bullet in a few minutes gave him a dose of morphine & a stimulant sent him to the rear feeling more comfortable.9 A few minutes after the Col was struck – the 108th were ordered to advance to the support of the 14th Conn which was maintaining a hand-to-hand fight for the farm & premises.10 The battalion went in at the double & the 7th [West] Va Vols were up the river bank in splendid order to the attack & our guns on the north side done good services on the enemys flank. A sharp & close fight followed – but it was of short duration – the enemy giving ground & taking shelter under their guns. The fight had now ended excepting an occasional shell from either side & in half an hour all was still but the pickets kept firing at the flashes of each others rifles most of the night. It was near 7 o’clock [when] the troops fell back to their position during the day & laid down [to] escape the straggling shots from the picket line. Feeling very weary I [wrapped] myself in my cloak & laid on the ground with

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the bridle on my [arm and] was soon asleep in spite of whizzing of the bullets. Having in the mean time been relieved by the 2d Divis, our Divis, fell back quietly across the river about 1 o’clock next morning. We recrossed near the same place of crossing but this time on a bridge formed by the pioneers taking advantage of an island in the stream – spanning each branch with two trees & covering them with rails. This rail bridge I managed to ride over on my surefooted little horse – rather than try [to cross] the deep & muddy ford. All the troops were withdrawn before daybreak & returned to their former camps. This ended the movement which seemed to have been ordered to discover if the enemy was in force on the Rapidan. [Meade] having obtained that [Lee] was withdrawing troops to the west [as was] the case of Longstreets Corps in the September previous [prepared for a flanking movement on the banks of the river]. [Meade “was all ready to move when informed from Washington that the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps, under Hooker” were to be] withdrawn from under the eyes of the army [and “sent to Tennessee to retrieve, if possible the defeat of”] Rosecrans’s army at Chickamauga.11 The camp that had been so gay only a day previous was now shrouded in gloom & melancholy in fact it had been made the temporary field hospital. The ladies present were hidden from sight in their tents some of them by the side of mutilated husbands carried bleeding from the fight to them. On the whole it had been a day of trial for those [ladies] as the whole of the advance & attack could be seen from the eminence [on] which the camp stood & as the chief encounter had taken place after dark – they being compelled to look upon at the flashing of the guns – the fiery course of the shells – their bursting – listening to their thunder – with the cheer of the constants all added to the novelty & horror of their situation.12 The 108th had not suffered heavily – their loss being six wounded – the main loss had fallen upon the 14th Conn, being 113 the greater number captured by falling into an ambush.13 After taking a short sleep I fell to work among the wounded who were being removed as fast as possible to the winter field hospital of the Corps – about five miles to the rear. To this hospital I was ordered in the afternoon of the 8th to report for duty where I found Dr [Frederick A.] Dudley of the 14th Conn in charge of our division. We worked in company & soon got through the most [horrible] part of our work & had the satisfaction to find the wounded well supplied with everything needful – which indeed was always the [case] during my service. Thanks to the Sanitary & Christian Commission.

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Our cases of wounded were mostly severe – one of which is worthy of special mention viz Henry [J.] Clows Corps & Co. b, 108th who was shot through the left side of the abdomen. I had seen him on the field shortly after he fell & after learning the gravity of his wound & giving him Morphine & Whiskey had sent him to the rear expecting to never see him alive again. But on the contrary I found him cheerful & hopeful. All his food discharged through his wounds for eighteen days. The opinions of myself & Dr Dudley were very unfavorable to him. Although I expressed a hope that if it were possible for any man to survive [such] an injury that man was Clow – because I reminded him [of his injuries] of Chancellorsville being shot through both legs [above the knee and in ] the face – going about on crutches in a weeks [time and] waking about & in tolerable health. In fact he was numbered among a squad of men returned today by some stupidity or oversight of some Surgeon in one of the field hospitals & actually joined his regiment in the following August before Petersburg, Va. Then I at once made out his certificate for discharge I meet him in Rochester in June 1865 – looking quite well.

leave of absence in the evening of feb 11 th I was delighted to find my leave of

absence for 15 days returned approved. Returning to camp the same night I found Col Pierce so far improved as to take sick leave. The next morning the Col, despising an ambulance wagon, rode out of camp as the reveille was beating in company with myself & Capt [William H.] Andrews the regiment greeting us with three veteran cheers. Of course we took off our hats & responded to it. We rode to the [railroad] station of the Corps – “Brandy Station” – sent back our horses to our men & took the train for Washington – arriving at 3:30 pm. There we received our last two months pay from Maj [Franklin B.] Hutchinson our Paymaster & here I parted with the Colonel as he did not take the same route home. Left Washington at 7:15 pm & arrived in N York at 7:30 am the next day. After making some necessary purchases left the city at 10:30 am arriving in Albany at 5 pm. As I wished to stop here a few hours I did not [take] another [train] until 11 in the evening, which left me in Rome at 3 o clock the next morning Friday. Here I learned to my chagrin there was no passenger train going to Watertown until 4 o clock [the] next morning. Here I spent Friday chafing more with impatience than praying. Finally reached Kingston

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& joined friends at 1 pm next day Feb 15th losing three of my precious fifteen days in traveling at my own expense. As those notes are merely intended for the eyes of friends, I need not mention how my leave was spent but certain it was very short to me & them.

return to duty from first leave of absence on the evening of friday the 26 th feb I once more took a long

leave of friends & home & took the stage for Cape Vincent at 3 pm. This time my leaving was entirely devoid of the novelty & adventure of the first & the prospect had nothing attractive in it to me beyond the firm determination to see the end of the war or of myself the latter looked with my experience, the most probably. I had sedulously kept from my friends as much as possible that knowledge of the dangers my service exposed me to. Had they saw what was likely to be before me in the same colors as myself – they would have considered me a most determined suicide. Taking the cars that same evening at Cape Vincent, until nearing Albany next morning at daybreak when the sleeping car (which I was in) & the one in front of it ran off the rail. The engine was stopped immediately & as the speed had not been high nobody was seriously hurt but quite a ridiculous scene took place in the sleeping car. When the wheels commenced bounding on the crossties I had just left my berth – had got on one boot & was getting into the second. I commenced to stagger forward – having been propelled by some one from behind – going forward in a bent position still holding on to the half worn boot. I charged some one in the rear that seemed to be in a similar position, with my head he returned the compliment on the next one in front of him & so we all tumbled in a heap against the front door of the car – the crash of broken glasses telling we had come to a final halting place. After some delay a train came out from Albany & transferred the passengers & our baggage safe to the city. Left Albany 9:15 am & reached N York at 2:30 pm then took sleeping car at Jersey City at 7 pm & reached Washington next morning at daybreak on the 27th. Remained in Washington all day & slept at Metropolitan Hotel. Next day left for the front by railway at 9:45 am & arrived at Brandy Station & walked five miles to camp – leaving my valise – until I could send it by some of our teamsters going down with the supply train. I found the camp all quiet as it had been without interruption during my absence.

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camp at stoney mountain, va “st patrick’s day in the morning” The gaiety of the camp had rather increased than aborted – owing to the presence of more ladies – who with all the pertinacity of their sex – set military orders & such at defiance by staying in camp in many cases more than forty instead of twenty days the usual term of their leave. Little blame to them however as too many of them met their husbands now for the last time on earth – or to see them return to their homes mere wrecks of humanity. On the approach of St Patrick’s Day the numerous Irish officers of the Corps especially the gallant “Irish Brigade” (the 1st Brig of our 1st Divis,) were busy getting up amusements for the day. I have said Irish officers but this would be far short of the truth – as the excitement seemed to pervade all nationalities alike & none more than the gallant Brig Genl Judson Kilpatrick commanding the cavalry division encamped near us. Those amusements took the form of horse races – footraces – catching the soaped pig etc.14 The 17 March dawned a most lovely day even for this latitude. A gay party left our camp mounted of ladies & officers – we were perhaps near having a sorrowful accident on our way. Mrs Grassie our Chaplains wife insisted on riding Col Pierces mare – a fine spirited animal & now very idle without [Pierce to ride her]. All went well until the party (riding about two miles to the racecourse) broke into a spirited canter. The mare feeling the light weight & hand – soon found she was master of the situation & acted accordingly taking leave of the whole party before anyone was aware of the true state of things. As she flew past me (I knowing the danger of trying to run down & catch her) held up & called out to Mrs Grassie to keep her seat firmly [in the saddle] & [her hands] on the bridle both which she did bravely (although a very inexperienced equestrian) after making about half a mile at railroad time. When we came up with her – she was very pale & out of breath – but otherwise none the worse & rode on to the races. The field was a splendid one & had been the site of the old Culpeper racecourse – frequented by many of the former Virginia gentlemen who always have been eminently a horse racing gentry. The vicinity was covered by an immense crowd drawn from every army Corps & rank in the army of the Potomac. There was a grand stand erected for the ladies & the most prominent officers present. The course was a circle of a half a mile with four hurdles & four ditches in it. The ditches dug the breadth of the course – eight feet wide & two deep – the hurdles were

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St Patrick’s Day in the Army of the Potomac, 1864. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

four feet high & made of poles – filled in with pine boughs. The prizes (which were subscribed by officers) were sharply competed for many heavy falls resulted but “nobody killed” “all fun in wartime.” I do not remember who was the greatest winner but heard Genl Kilpatrick claim that the cavalry had the best of it. The footraces followed in which the infantry soldiers claimed the palm – all the races for men & horse were over the hurdles & ditches – or more properly in most cases through them – as towards the last those became pretty well flattened down & less formidable. But the unfortunate porker chosen for soaping was a very poor representative of his race in fact the long presence of either if any was very unfavorable to the complete development of any animal clean or unclean. As it was I believe there are few even among the giants of the pig family [which] could make a successful charge through the army of eager soldiers waiting impatiently to get their hands soaped & then get knocked down & trampled on. However piggy was brought out to see who would have the honor of being his owner & the signal being given a general rush was made for the wretched animal – the result was a pile of soldiers three to four deep & the only means of suspecting the existence of a fourfooted animal in this animated heap was a session of

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half smothered squeals. When some order could be restored there was many claimants for the [porker] & the only way of decoding the strife was to make those try it again & keep back the crowd. At last the officers managing affairs were compelled to award it to somebody to stop the uproar. I believe it was given to the man who had the most soap & dirt on him, one of the Irish brigade. The crowd at last broke up & we rode towards camp to the soul stirring strains of “St Patrick’s Day in the Morning.” All apparently were pleased with the days sport comprising many fastidious persons who would consider it immoral & degrading to witness such sports in civil life. It passed the time in camp – the monotony hardly relieved by the review of our brigade by Genl Alex Hayes – the review of the Corps by Genl [John] Gibbon, & the review of the army of Genl Grant who now took command & also the review of the Division by Genl Hancock.

 Hd Qrs 108th New York Vols Mortons Ford, Va. March 20th, 1864 Dear Brother, Your [letter] of the 13th [was] just received in this evenings mail. [I] was beginning to feel the time of your response long. But better late than not at all. [If] you realize[d] the value a soldier sets upon the meanest letter, you would be more prompt in writing. Health excellent, indeed I believe you would not know me since I made my escape from your _______ climate living in houses & sleeping upon those _________ feather beds [is] enough to kill any solider. Without joking I was a candidate for sick leave when I returned to camp. No wonder after what I had just passed through. First came the battle of the 6th Feb where in searching for our wounded at night I became heated then laid down in our line, to rest with the bridle on my arm, fell asleep & got chilled.15 Next four days operating & dressing in field hospital. Then a long journey & the only treatment for my cold to apply more cold & that of the Canadian kind. Then another journey not taking into account the condition & excitement. I think I escaped well, when I complained of nothing worse than “railroad on the brain.” All has been quiet since my arrival, except some trifling alarm owing to some increased activity among the enemys pickets. We have packed up twice. We expect “something to be done” now. The new Lieut-General U.S. Grant it is said will remain with the Army of the Potomac in the coming

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campaigns. Have passed my time since pretty agreeably under the circumstances. The camp has been quite lively owing to the presence of so many ladies who have been just ordered home for fear of a movement. The weather is lovely & the splendid bands of the Brigade make the whole surrounding air warble with their music at guard mounting at 9 in the morning & dress parade at sunset besides their frequent serenades of ladies & popular officers [in the] fine evenings. [I h]ave several times been one of a party of officers & ladies riding out for pleasure & to visit the towns of Culpeper & Coney Mountain. Of course you will not tell any of the girls I have been acting “beau cavalier” but much is [the] etiquette when an officer himself on duty wishes his lady to ride out, he can ask me to attend her when it would be deemed most impolite to refuse. We had a jolly time on St Patrick’s Day. Gen[eral Joshua] Owens commanding the 3d Brigade of our Division, calling for three cheers for the Union which it needless to say were responded to with a will, & the band, strange to say playing “America,” which of course is “God Save the Queen.”16 [I] saw Father [William] Corby, Chaplain of the 88th ny on the field, enjoying the sport highly. There are now two priests with the Irish Brigade the other being Father [Thomas] Willet of the 69th ny. [I] rode over today three miles to Mass. Palm[s] being distributed, a sprig of which I enclose, a species of “dwarf or red cedar.” You will find at the American Express office $151 one hundred & fifty one dollars of spare money I send you for safe keeping, might have sent much more but did not think it prudent for in the event of active operations we may be long without seeing the Paymaster. The Company collects no charges on this end of the line so you will have to pay them, you had better use some of the enclosed money for this purpose, it being their own currency. Wish you had sent me a legal form for the power of Attorney required must attempt something of that kind, but do detest to attempt legal formalities. Forgot to inform you when I was home that a detail from our regiment came with me for the purpose of recruiting & carrying with them the remains of the battle flag of the regt. Some lines on which you will find enclosed. This flag was made by a bunch of silken rags bound to a staff which has also been splintered.17 It would no longer bear unfurling being pierced by many bullet holes, so weakening it that the wind completed its destruction. It was sent home with the intention of saving the remains of so valu-

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able a relic & obtaining a new one. Its battle roll in order would be Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Auburn [Mills], Bristoe Station, Blackburns Ford, Robinsons Tavern, Mine Run & Mortons Ford. All but the two first I have witnessed. When last I heard from Col Pierce he was reported doing well & I hope he may be able to again resume his command. [I h]ave little to do but study at present, our boys are mostly in good health & spirits while the graves of other commands multiply, no headboard here least the figure 108. Could I have my wish, this state would long continue, though a very childish wish for the army. Yet [I] cannot help feeling that those brave fellows have passed through fire so often they deserve some respite. Neither can I reconcile myself to losing one of them no more than if he were a relation. It is this feeling that attaches me to the regiment & nothing would please me better than to be able to see them safely home in Rochester. There being nothing worthy of note to record I find myself scribbling away at perhaps what may not interest you much. Neither am I in a mood to write seriously or sensibly. But in the meantime, I would wish to be remembered to my many friends whom I was obliged to leave so abruptly, including first W[illia]m Hickey’s family, not only on account of my spending the last of my leave so agreeably among them, but, through a just appreciation of their worth as friends. Also my good father & Mother while in town Mr & Mrs Royce, our kind & gentle cousins Kernehans with Maggie & Willy McLaughlin & Charley, Joe & Kitty Franklin. Two big kisses to each of the gals but mind don’t take them yourself, you young rascal. Must not omit our own worthy neighbors [the] Vanhorns reassure them of my regard. You must in future try to consider my absence as virtually necessary. The probabilities are that I will for the future be mostly separate from you all. But you should remember we cannot be children for lifetime. You will generally find the best & most enterprising families the most separated. The worst consequences often ensue from people of one family trying to live where there is no room for expansion. Although I am far from relations, not so of friends. [I t]hink [I] am safe in asserting I have more friends here (influential ones too) than ever I could have made at home, owing perhaps to the strong national & religious prejudices that exist, as well as being fostered in Canada. Such a state of things, or at least a modification of them, existed in this country some time past but it received its death blow in this war.18

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The questions are not now “who are you” or “what is your country or religion” but “do you know how to do your duty” next “will you do it under all circumstances.” [I am h]oping to soon hear of an improvement in Mothers health, as well as a good report from you all before long, I will conclude this rather incoherent letter, by soliciting your prayers, that I may be enabled to do my duty in the coming struggle, in a manner worthy of your ever Affectionate Son & Brother, Francis Moses Wafer md

 preparations for campaigns of 1864 on the night of the 22 d mar snow fell to the depth of 15 inches

which only disappeared a the end of three days followed by heavy and cold rains which continued with bitter intermission until the 3d of April – when snow could be seen covering the peaks of the Blue Ridge. The weather finally cleared up about the 7th April. Genl Grant had now taken the old army of the Potomac under his personal supervision & set to work with all his energy to reorganize it & bring it to the highest standard of efficiency. The 1st & 3d Army Corps, cancelled & consolidated with the 2d 5th & 6th, two divisions of the 3d forming a 3d Division of the 2d. The utmost activity prevailed in every department & nothing left undone to render this army capable to meet the trial of fire & blood through which it had soon to press. There was much dissatisfaction among the troops of all rank belonging to the consolidated Corps – that portion of the 3d assigned to our Corps especially were highly indignant & when ordered to wear the trefoil the badge of the 2d Corps – some went so far as to refuse others sewed it upon the seat of their pants by way of derision.19 Some of the Corps proper myself among the number slyly remarked [that] the badges on those best were put where the enemy was most likely to see them. The matter was finally compromised by letting them wear their own badge (the diamond) as the distinctive badge of that division of the 2d Corps. The camp had once more put on its most warlike aspect towards the end of April – all the ladies & visitors – sutlers & noncombatants generally were ordered to leave the field & a settled gloom (concealed of course but well understood) had taken possession of the minds the least reflective – trying in vain doubtless to penetrate the mystic future, in regard to their own lots as well as those dear

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to them at home. These were two powerful & fully equipped armies – properly speaking of the same nation – with the same or similar laws & government – watching each other defiantly across the line of separation (a mere rivulet) both ready for the collision both waiting for the other to strike first & both confident of victory.20 Death hardly an afterthought & so about two weeks labored past in this terrible suspense. On the afternoon of Monday May 2d a reddish brown cloud of immense extent – heighth & density was observed coming from the Blue Ridge towards the camp. To those who had not lived in this latitude (being the greater number northern men) – this was a novelty – to those intimate with such phenomena it was at once recognized as a mass of earth or dust raised by a tornado.21 A distant & indescribable roar was soon heard which soon became as loud as many trains of railroad cars in motion. Horses jerked at their halters – stamped & neighed – men were silent & awestricken. On it came nearer – all involuntarily gazing at the novel sight – the sun yet shining on the mass of red dust gave the appearance to me of an enormous & uncontrollable wave tinged with blood. But Presto! The wind burst upon us with a crash that was positively deafening & with a force I had no idea of hencetofore. All those who found nothing near them to hold by lost their feet at once. This was at once followed by a true shower of (not dust) but earth & small stones in heavy masses – to open the eyes was impossible without being temporarily blinded. All tents not held by hands disappeared in the nearest piece of woods – the log huts blown to pieces – the logs rolling & bounding over the earth until they met some solid obstruction – empty barrels too which formed to top of the chimneys of the men’s huts – seemed to have taken life & gone mad – skipping – rolling – bounding & racing to see which could reach the woods first. The first movement was to seize our tents (the most highly prized property of the soldiers) & hold on to them with might & main. Even this did not keep them upright – but rather saved us the trouble of searching for them after the storm abated – as those had to who failed to do this & in some cases half a mile away or more. The fury of the tornado was over in twenty minutes. This was followed by a dash of rain – but the whole terminated in a mild showery evening. The evening was spent in repairing damages & sheltering ourselves as well as we could – the chief mischief was the loss of papers – some important documents were never seen again making some extra work for clerks. All this was however forgotten almost as quick as it passed – for men minds were now occupied by far more grave & important affairs.

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 Head Qus,108th ny Vols Morton’s Ford va. May 2d, 64 Dear Sister, Your kind & affectionate letter was received in last night’s mail. [I a]m thankful to hear from home so often more so when letters contain such cheerful news – as mine have of late. This is as it should be while there are so many of you at home to write. All quiet here yet but it is the quietness of tigers that are watching which will make the first spring. You should fret less & pray more for me. I promise you to keep out of unnecessary danger but hope to go wherever duty calls. You have but little cause to be dispirited – more especially while Father is sober, of which circumstance I am proud & happy to hear. I would expect you will show all the daughterly love & obedience possible to him to encourage him in persevering to overcome the vile habit that has long kept me & all of you in comparative obscurity. I am sanguine that we can yet win a name for our house that will put all slanderous howling to flight. [I a]m not surprised Dear Sister that one of you should be a little discontented in the very limited society enjoyed at home but better have a few friends than many enemies which is a frequent consequence of much company. We have all inherited more or less importance & petulance & should all remember it is one of the greatest faults of our family, which I trust you have the sense to understand. If a severe & morose temper is so unpardonable in a man who has to encounter so many difficulties in his commerce with the world, how much more so in a lady & a Catholic, for to be one ( you must be both) and of all the fine qualities that adorn either gentleness – both in speech & deportment – is the first great required & now your pardon Sister for such a long lecture, of course I did not mean you deserved it all. You must not be the less cheerful, because I am absent for a short time. It is time to accustom yourself to my absence for it is highly improbable we will even live long in one house again. You will not feel the time long at least until I see you again. Whenever any innocent amusement is within your reach, enjoy it, if it does not interfere with duty. And in the meantime be as forbearing as possible to all your unfortunate beaux for I have been a beau, & now know they deserve pity more than reproof. I am sure you will treat them kind. When you think of me,

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– & if you can see, or know, or hear of, ever at all [of] one good girl just let you big brother hear of it some way, some time, or somehow, will you & tell her if she will only wait ever so long I will ___ guess I better not say it. No more today but hoping always to hear good & cheerful news from you all. I remain your ever affectionate brother, Francis Moses Wafer md

 march to the battlefield of wilderness next evening, may 3 d orders arrived for the men to pull down their

huts & camp in the usual shelter tent of active service. Whether this was a ruse or for the purpose of facilitating the final breaking of camp [I] am unable to say however it was done in a short time – hardly was it completed – when the order came to “pack up & be ready to march at short notice.” The long expected moment had come – when we were to leave our comfortable cantonments & go once more to seek among Virginian hills & swamps whatever “Glory on the grave.” All was now activity – nevertheless few words were heard – all seeming while working hard to prefer communing with their own thoughts. An incident may give a fair understanding of prevailing feelings. I & Chaplain Grassie – who messed together, having packed up & being ready for mounting & it being now dark & our tents being stored, I felt a desire to say a parting prayer in the place which had been our home so long – for privacy I slipped into the unroofed log hut that had served for a messroom. Here a faint light from some expiring embers in the rude fireplace revealed to me [Chaplain] Grassie on his knee in a corner. My first impulse was to leave him alone but the second was to fulfill the duty I came to perform – which was a short but most earnest prayer. I hope although being of different creeds – that we were both heard. At 9 o’clock the final moving order came – which was to join the Regiments lately added to our Brigade under the new consolidation viz the 7th W Va, 4th O[hio] & 8th O[hio]. We found them in marching order & halted to meet us at Stevensburg four miles to the left on the plank road leading from Culpeper c h to Germanna Ford. It was now midnight – we continued our march throughout the remainder of the night & next day until 11 am crossing the Rapidan at 7 am, halting half

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an hour to rest crossing the battle field of Chancellorsville, bivouacking on that part of the field occupied during this battle for the remainder of the day & following night. During the afternoon, I embraced the opportunity the halt afforded to visit that past field where the 11th Corps had been repulsed by Stonewall Jacksons Corps. It was a generally received opinion, even in our army, that this Corps had either not fought well or allowed itself to be surprised. Possibly the latter may be partially true but Oh! What an emphatic denial the sights here gave to the former assertion. Yes! The poor fellows had fought until the showers of lead had stretched them on the ground in whole ranks. As they had not been buried but merely had a little earth shoveled over their remains when they fell the great number & regularity of which showed to the observer familiar with such sights that those brave children of lands beyond the Rhine had not – belied their reputation as warlike men nor betrayed their trust as soldiers to the flag they had sworn to defend.22 Honor to their memory they now reek but little what the garrulous coward imputes. But why meditate here – tomorrow is to be a day of courage, we must forget even those brave souls for the present in a few hours tens of thousands of their comrades’ corpses will be cold & stiff in death almost on the same field for the most ignorant know we are here “to fight” & that we are at this moment confronting an enemy desperately bent on the same purpose.

battle of the wilderness on the memorable morning of the 5 th may 1864, we recom-

menced our march southward crossing the Fredericksburg & Orange c h plank road, halting at 10 am. at a place known as “Todds Tavern.” The men were formed in [a] line of battle & ordered to rest on their arms but they would not rest, although the day was hot but instinctively commenced their usual employment when halted in face of an enemy viz to build breastworks of logs & earth. But their instinct was not at fault for about 12 o’clock we commenced to hear scattering fire from the carbines of the cavalry advance – mixed with the occasional bark of a field piece. In the course of another hour we were countermarched about a mile & halted in the road. A few more cannon shots & the burning of some shells somewhat nearer & the cavalry picket fell back pelemele upon us. About another quarter of an hour elapsed – the Division (which was the leading one on the march this day) resting on its arms. An Aide galloped up “fall in” “forward march” was the word & we

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countermarched rapidly northward again – taking the first road to the left which led through a dense wood. An occasional shot from our guns in advance was now plainly audible. Those shots seemed to be rallying signals as we moved directly towards them passing in rear of them. They were the guns of our first Division drawn up in a small open space but “double quick” was now the order. It was now three o’clock – the crashing fire of muskets burst out directly in advance mixed with cheers. Our first Division forming the centre on the line of march & our 3d bringing up the rear were charged in flank – the enemy attacking in force & with great determination & enthusiasm. Forward went our Division – doubling past the rear of the 1st & 3d [Divisions] & taking position on the right resting on the Fredericksburgh & Orange c h plank road & for a short time we had nothing to do but repel skirmishers – the enemy was throwing out to feel their way preparatory to a grand dash. Finding we were soon to have serious work I looked for my orderly that carried the Surgeon’s field knapsack. He was leading a pack-horse & had been unable to keep up with our rapid advance & I was compelled to ride a mile back to meet him. Then for a moment I considered what I should next do – first I had my choice to go back to a place of safety where the Chief Surgeon of the Corps would establish his field hospital but I felt a great historical day had arrived & I preferred for the present (at least until work became pressing at the hospital) to follow the fortune of my battalion. Then I & my orderly George Vaughn exchanged looks full of meaning. He had lately been assigned to the duty & (being an Hospital attendant) had never been in action. I knew he had a wife & some small children at home. This reflection made me decide to not take him into [the fight] so I shouldered the knapsack myself & sent him to find the field hospital – with the other attendants giving him my horses in charge. Then making my way on foot back to the right where my Division was taking up position – I had to pass in rear of our Divisions engaged [troops] through a shower of half spent bullets. Although I could see no fighting on account of the thick undergrowth that covered the field yet the woods, a few hundred yards on my left, was now swarming with combatants – engaged [in] hand to hand [combat] – for in order for men to fight it was absolutely necessary before they could see each other to be within speaking distance. They seemed to be pouring their fire into each other with a fury perfectly hellish, the woods was all one continuous blaze & roar – while from time to time – wild savage & defiant cheers rose above the infernal uproar. I had now reached the right

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Removing the Wounded from the Wilderness, 1864. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

of the battle line of our 3d Division which it will be remembered was made up of a portion of the canceled 3d Corps many remains of cutup regiments were slowly falling back black with powder & exhausted by their efforts & the heat of the day. Officers were trying (not to rally them) but to half & collect them in order – one mounted officer I heard say “Steady men” “Halt” & “Close up” “You know who wears the diamond” (their badge). Here too I reencountered Genl Hancock coolly riding about among those groups – speaking kindly & encouragingly to them & setting them to work to build log breastworks. Having reached the rear of my regiment (which I found on the extreme right of the Corps but not yet engaged) the Chaplain met me & told me he was in search of me as Brevet-Brig Genl [Samuel Sprigg] Carroll Col of the 8th Ohio – commanding our Brigade was wounded. We joined the regiment & made inquiries for the General but could not learn where to find him in those thick woods. However he soon came walking along the line encouraging each battalion as he passed carrying his arm in a sling. I stopped & spoke to him – looking at his wound. I found he had received a rifle bullet through the fleshy part near the shoulder. It was already roughly bandaged – but he utterly refused to have anything more done to it or to go to the rear but told me I must

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not stay there as it would soon be too hot & advised me to take up some sheltered position as near as possible. This like many orders was easier to give than to carry out as the land for almost any distance around was perfectly flat & the only spot I could find worthy of the name of cover was a large old fallen tree about one hundred yards in rear of the Brigade. Here I stopped until darkness set in – halting & dressing all the wounded I could see walking or being carried to the rear. The Asst Surgeon of the 10th ny joined & assisted me (I have forgotten his name).23 My Brigade had but one encounter during this evening. It was with a body of the enemy that stole close upon them in the thick undergrowth. Our pickets fired their warning shots & fell back on their battle line. Our troops laid perfectly still on the leafy ground – the enemys line first came insight of the 12th nj & this regiment at once poured a close volley of their ball & buckshot into them – which had the effect of confining their operation to skirmishing for the remainder of the day at that part of the line. But on other parts of the field how different? A terrific battle was proceeding on our far right – where the 5th & 6th Corps were engaged – the musketry was indistinct – but the artillery spoke out in grand & rolling volleys. Besides that – on the left & centre of the 2d Corps – one of the bloodiest if not protracted struggles ever fought at the rifles’ muzzle was going on. This long May afternoon (at least from 3 to 8 pm) the ringing volleys of musketry scarcely ceased for a moment. The continuous roar & crackle ran up & down the line – like trains of blasts set on fire – now warning of some point followed by the wild & bloodcurdling yells of the enemy – as some part of our line was literally “shot away” then the deep Britishlike cheer of our troops – followed by another thundering outburst of musketry from both sides – as fresh battalions on brigade rushed forward to reclaim the lost ground then again the same act repeated many times over at different points of this line swimming in fire & blood, now a general & long sustained crash along the whole line meet with the battle cry of both armies – the earth shiver[ed] under ones feet – although hardly a shot from a field piece is heard – the frightful turmoil propagates itself through the wooded tract until every tree seems to have a voice if one withdraws their attention a moment from those sounds he is conscious of a distant & sustained rumble – which he cannot define – but it seems to be in the air overhead & resembles the sound of hundreds of railway trains driven at full speed on some aerial railway that he can hardly persuade himself has no existence. There is not a nocturnal cloud in the sky but the sun has

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long disappeared – in the thick masses of grey smoke – that rolls up cloud after cloud from this tessestmal hell. The 2d Corps covered the plank – the main line of march through this country. He, Genl Lee, has attacked our army in flank as it marched. It makes a half wheel to the right & confronts its enemy. He throws his best troops on the plank road at the point he imagines to be our centre with the object of cutting us in two. At the same time he attacks our right furiously – with the object of either turning our right flank or preventing relief coming to our centre. Consequently the guarding of this post of honor fell upon the 2d Corps alone during this terrible day – & guard it they did but too well for at nightfall the flower of the veteran 2d were stretched dead or bleeding on the ghastly field. Night came at last the combatants laid down where they had fought – no ground being apparently gained on either side. The ninth Corps under Burnside having been in camp beyond the Rappahannock had not come up but marched the whole of this night in order to come to the relief of the 2d in expectation of the battle being renewed [the] next morning. The ambulance Corps now commenced their sad but benign duty for the night. After the night had become quite dark & all fighting ceased except a straggling shot on the picket line, I sought the field hospital – which I found about a mile & a half in the rear – reaching it about midnight being too much exhausted to work any longer after swallowing a cup of coffee my orderly prepared [for] me I laid down on the earth & slept until daybreak. Next morning finding the wounded of the Division pretty well cared for by the Surgeons who had been at hospital from the opening of the battle – I started for the front. The fighting had commenced at sunrise but not so fierce as the preceding day – I found the Corps had advanced about a mile the enemy falling back before them without much resistance. Our troops appeared to have been drawn forward intentionally by the enemy for they suddenly came upon heavy masses of fresh troops – who poured a close & deadly fire into them as they emerged from the woods. The whole Corps fell back & rallied on their first line. Our Brigade was badly handled & the 108th was one of its battalions that suffered the most. The regiment came back literally covered with blood – either of their own or that of their wounded comrades – nearly all of which they had managed to carry off but several dead & hopelessly wounded were left on the field – among the former I learned with great sorrow was a fine young man – who had been my orderly on the field of Gettysburgh & several other

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battles, Charles B. Dickson, Co. a. Col Powers was shot through the left lung & almost every Captain was wounded.24 Having got my wounded on the way to the field hospital I followed them & set to work – leaving the Corps rallied & reformed to receive an expected attack from the enemy. They had not long to wait it was now 8 o’clock – about 9 the enemy again advanced in force on our left & centre – still contending for the plank road. But the 9th Corps had now got up to the relief of the exhausted 2d. A most terrific battle ensued – fought on a larger scale than the preceding day – but it was impossible that it could exceed the former in fury. After lasting for one hour – the enemy move[d &] left the field temporarily in our possession – but to bring up fresh troops & muster all their available strength for another grand & last effort at half past 4 o’clock pm. This supreme effort had been anticipated [as] log breastworks had been built – with orders for the troops to abandon them on the first attack of the enemy & to fall back & reform in the woods within easy range of those breastworks – while guns were trained down the line so as to enfilade it.25 Sure enough on they came & fell into the troops – driving in our skirmishers & making a dash at the line carrying the log fence easily & advancing beyond after what they doubtless conceived to be a retreating enemy – but the remains of the 9th & 2d were ripe for revenge – for now the guns opened with canister double shotted & the whole line of our troops charged & engaged the over confident enemy – who after a fierce & stubborn resistance of half an hour left their dead & counted on the field & all remained quiet in front for the day. All [the] next day, the 5th I spent in [the] field hospital among the wounded – all of which that the corps Ambulance train could accommodate were sent overland to Acquia Creek on the Potomac. Towards evening reports began to circulate at the hospital that our right was turned. This was not however believed generally as they had no fighting in our front during the day & on our right merely a few distant cannon shots. However about nightfall orders were received by all the Surgeons & the assistants to join their regiments at once – one surgeon only being detailed to remain with the wounded of each Division. The order was given with the information that the enemys cavalry was in our rear. In ten minutes we had saddles packed & were moving to the front & soon learned not a moment too soon – being scarcely out of sight in the woods – when their cavalry rode in capturing the hospital & Ambulance train – which they however did not keep long in custody – having far more important work on their hands. I have never learned why they were permit-

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ted to ride about thus in our rear – without any opposition, probably because our cavalry was occupied at some distant point. I found my regiment in bivouac a short distance in rear of the scene of the late action & all slept undisturbed here for the night. On the morning of the 8th we marched at 6 am about 5 miles to the left & halted about 9 o’clock & formed a line on [the] ground that had the preceding days been the scene of a battle – as the trees were greatly scarred & some of the enemy’s dead lay on the field.

battle of the po river About 2 pm., the Corps moved to the left & took up another position – where we remained for the night. Heavy skirmishing had been going on all day apparently between cavalry but towards night the 6th Corps on our left became hotly engaged & fighting continued until darkness put a stop to it. Next morning at 7 we moved about a mile further to the left & halting – the regiment was ordered on the picket line except Co h, with the colors that remained with the Brigade – which moved a mile still further to left – heavy skirmishing going on all day & one of our batteries kept firing on a distant wagon train of the enemys – that seemed to be making its way southward. About 6 pm heavy fighting commenced on our right in which a part of the 5th & 6th Corps were engaged. The latter Corps this day was unfortunate in losing its chief, the heroic Major Genl John Sedgwick – one of the abler & best officers in this army. Darkness again bringing operations to a close – the whole of the 2d Corps moved up on the right of the 6th crossing the river Po on a temporary bridge & bivouacked for the night – the skirmishers keeping up a constant fire in the woods – a few hundred yards in front of us the whole night long. Genl Lee had chosen the Wilderness for his battle field & as I have already said attacked the Army of the Potomac in flank while on the march – hence he was enabled to inflict great loss on it – but utterly failed to penetrate any part of this line of steel. Tis true his first blows delivered at unexpected points told heavily on it but Grant, having once discovered the object & plan of the Southern chief it became a fair trial of stubborn pluck & endurance. Both armies were fresh from camp – both in the most robust state of physical health & met with all the eagerness & confidence of two young giants – each defying his enemy. The Confederates fought (to say the least) like very tigers but then they had lions to counter with. Indeed the furious charges at the

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Wilderness – were Lees last efforts to assume the offensive on a large scale as he never again had such an army at his disposal. Genl Lee having failed in his first object – was not without resources – but drew back & prepared to take up another unequalled position for acting on the defensive – in the broken & wooded country about Spottsylvania Court House – intersected by five smaller streams – called respectively – the Mat – Ta – Po – NY & the common stream below the confluence of those is called the Mattatpony. Genl Grant devised his purpose & immediately commenced to move southward also parallel to the enemy – hence the series of severe skirmishes which continued from the 7th to the 10th May which culminated in another battle on the Po River where Lee again showed front. The morning of May 10th was opened with pretty sharp skirmishing on our right front – the enemy showing some disposition to take the offensive – at this point contending apparently for our position on the south of the river. This nearly closed about 8 o’clock & their attention seemed more directed to our centre. About this time some of our batteries commenced leisurely to shell their position in the centre – where they were throwing up works. Near noon – our division recrossed the river & advanced down its left bank. Having myself made some delay in following my regiment on this movement I took a wrong road in following it & rode into the troops of our 6th Corps at a point where hot skirmishing was going on. Retracing my steps I got to the rear of the 2d Corps & found my Brigade going into action in the centre. Learning a battle was probably at hand I rode to the rear to find where the Corps field hospital was established – finding our ambulance, I left my horse there & returned to the front on foot (a little more than a mile) when on reaching the line of the 7th [West] Va, one of the regiments of my Brigade – fighting had commenced pretty sharp – missiles flying about thickly – so that I was glad to avail myself of the shelter of some rude breastworks – the 7th was trying to cover themselves with in case of necessity. Artillery now opened & the fight became general – plenty of bullets came singing through the air or skipping on the earth & shells tore their way through the belt of woods in front of us – burst[ing] above our heads – cut[ting] down limbs & small trees – [splashing] the water & mud from a small brook in our faces. Our troops are being advanced to feel the enemys position – who contests the ground stubbornly – but near night a severe charge was made & repulsed – the enemy being strongly protected by fieldworks & slashed timber – as well as by the broken character of the ground. Genl Grant also attacked the whole extent of their line but

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was compelled to withdraw with less from almost every point & night once more gave a short truce to the wearied soldiers with the exception of the picket lines – who kept up such a sharp fire all night that it might almost be called a continuous fight. As the wounded had again begun to come in thick towards the middle of the afternoon & I being on the operating board was compelled to go to the Ambulance Hospital. This I did with some reluctance – after waiting for some time for a lull in the artillery firing – as on leaving the slight shelter on the reserve line of battle I was compelled to cross the field alone under fire from more than half a mile – but fortunately all safe though Dr A[lexander] Dougherty – our worthy Corps Med[ical] Director was not so lucky – receiving a rather severe contusion from a piece of shell while making the same traject. Having reached the Ambulance I found plenty of work until dark & was then detailed on duty as one of the officers of the night. My duties were to make continual rounds among the wounded of the Division attended by an orderly carrying a lantern & to attend to the immediate wants of the wounded as they came in from the field. I was relieved by another Surgeon at midnight. During all my watch the wounded were arriving from the field, many of whom had fell in the slashed timber abatis through which the troops had charged & being repulsed – no wounded could be removed before darkness set in & even then, nothing but great bravery of the stretcherbearers could withdraw them from their terrible position – on account of the fusiliers kept up through out the night but the enemy’s pickets.26 The poor 108th had again suffered terribly for such a small battalion – fully 5 per cent [of the regiment] – being dead or wounded, the latter generally severely.

hospital near spotsylvania court house following the battle of po river On this day also the Gallant Col Carroll – who had remained at the head of his Brigade for five days – with a bullet hole through his arm received another bullet through the elbow joint of the same arm – necessitating amputation near the shoulder. He had become so exhausted – by his heroic sufferings – that his recovery became doubtful – but luckily he finally recovered. This officers soul seemed to be in the battlefield even while completely under the influence of chloroform while we operated – he never ceased to rally & encourage his men & on recovery his only words were on seeing his right arm gone were “By

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– the 2d Corps have lost a good soldier!” “I would not care for it if it were not for my Bet” (he was a married man). On the whole this had been as painful a nights duty as ever I performed so many wounded came in – cold – drenched with rain – & in a dying state – one poor fellows case I can never forget – he was shot through the intestines – which protruded through the wound – he could still speak – seeing his life was short I informed him of this respecting his religion by his tongue I asked him would he like a Chaplain. He answered he would if possible – further stating he had been a Catholic. There was no Catholic Chaplain in our Division so I groped my way through woods & darkness to our first Division Ambulance hospital expecting to find Father Corby of the 88th New York – but he could not be found then & I was obliged to return without him & found my poor patient had departed. I finally laid down at 2 am & snatched three or four hours sleep. Next day was a busy one at the amputating table & preparing the wounded to be transported to general hospital by wagon train – as sufficient Ambulance wagons – could not now be spared for this duty. No fighting of any import occurred this day except the usual scattering fire of the pickets & an occasional shot exchanged by the artillery – apparently intended to say “We are here yet & not beaten either.” Much of this firing I heard was on account of a gun that had become fast[ened] in trees & abandoned of our batteries – it lay between the two picket lines & both sides wished to bring it in – the one to capture it – the other to save it. Consequently a continual fire was kept up – to keep any bold enough from making the attempt. Our men finally recovered it during the night. Otherwise both armies including the Medical Staff [would have] lost some rest which they much needed.

second battle near spotsylvania the day broke on the 12 th may – with all the too familiar sounds of

another close & bloody meeting of the two armies – whole volleys of artillery – the intervals being completely filled with the continuous roll of the infantry rifles – mixed with the usual cheers & yells of attack & defiance. The 2d Corps had been ordered to move during the night on the enemys right & to attack at dawn a point of his line – believed by our pioneers to be the salient in military parlance on that part of the line considered to be the key of his position. The movement broke up Lee’s fortified position but failed to route his army. Both the attack & defense are believed to have been the closest & bloodiest – for the number

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engaged of the whole war & perhaps of modern warfare. Fortunately it was very limited in extent for had it been [a] general [engagement] both armies [would] have been literally annihilated. The 2d Corps carried the [apex of the salient] at the first charge & held it – capturing some nineteen pieces of artillery & about five thousand infantry – including several famous officers.27 But this was merely the commencement of the battle. Genl Lee hurled mass after mass of his best troops forward to recover the coveted ground – they charged & recharged our line through perfect hailstorms of shell & canister from our guns at short range – engaged our infantry at the muzzle of the rifle – the firing line on either side actually resting their rifles crossed on the same low breastwork – pouring their fire in until all fell dead or wounded & were immediately replaced by others who fell upon the bodies of their comrades until the trench was for some extent piled four deep with bodies – all the badly wounded that fell being suffocated by their fallen comrades bodies. I was too busy to visit this part of the field after the action – but several of [our] own officers related to me that there was a poplar tree [about] twenty inches in diameter – standing by the breastworks cut away with rifle bullets until it fell. I was almost inclined to doubt the story did I not find it verified by a letter a Confederate Surgeon [wrote] & since by a field officer of the same army.28 And so this butchery continued with little intermission until half past two pm when the gallant but exhausted enemy [surrendered].

 Line of Battle, 2nd Divs 2nd ac, Hanover ch Va, May 31st, 64 Dear Sister, I received a letter from you on the 19th [of May] for which I feel grateful – but so few mails have arrived or left us of late that I have not had an opportunity to answer you & now that the attempt is made you are obliged to pay your own postage as I am out of stamps & [have] no means of getting any from Washington. Those few lines in pencil are merely intended to calm any apprehension you may have for my safety, as it is impossible for one in my position to describe many of the events that have passed here. [I ] am happy & thankful to state that my health at present is as good as usual – a report I could not have honestly made a few days ago as I have had very poor health indeed for about a fortnight – no definite sickness indeed but having lived well in camp – then suddenly

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going on marching rations besides being completely worn out through work – excitement – & want of regular sleep are some of the causes of my feeling poorly but I feel all right again & ready for anything. The present position of our Corps is a few miles left of Hanover Court House between the rivers Pamunkey & Chicahominy – about eleven miles from Richmond. Very heavy skirmishing & artillery fire are going on in front while I write – in fact this has continued daily since the afternoon of the 5th of May when the battle of the Wilderness commenced. Not only every day since [but] frequently all night has the roar & the thunder of artillery & the spiteful everlasting crack of rifles been grinding in our ears. Every foot of ground for (40) forty miles has been fought for. The enemy have been driven from their regular battlefields viz Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, & the North Anna River. He has now taken his stand on the fourth field in defense of Richmond. Have not heard from Col Powers for some time but when last I did [he] was [beginning] to recover. [Several] of the 108th are killed on the field & about one hundred wounded among the latter all its best officers, many of the wounds of the enlisted men will prove Mortal in this season. The wounded are all removed to General hospital [as] soon as their immediate wants are attended to. You must not be anxious – should you not hear from me as often as usual for owing to the frequent moving of the Army. Mails are very irregular. Neither should you at home write less often as I will get your letter some time. Will conclude by [encouraging] you to be happy & cheerful as you should be seeing you live in a country [rich] with peace. I can also assure you that although the darkest pages in the annals of human misery are continually open before me I manage to remain calm & helpful through all those trying times. Hoping dear sister this will find you all well & that I may soon hear from some of you I remain your affectionate brother, Francis M. Wafer md

 Field Hosp 2nd Corps near Cold Harbor Va June 9th, 64 Dear Sister, Your welcome letter of the 30th May reached me yesterday & was as usual a source of much gratification to me to hear once more

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that all is well at home – or at least as well as I could expect. Indeed I have had little cause for complaint in this campaign of not hearing from home often with the exception of the first week when mails were irregular but now that communication is fairly established I hope we will correspond at least every week. My health remains tolerable all things well considered – although probably you would be inclined to doubt my statement if you saw my thin & sunburned profile with a badly soiled uniform hung loosely upon it – but the very best here are in the same plight – not excepting Major Generals. We are yet in the same position from which I last wrote – the enemy are in trenches & so are our men there seems to be but little ground lost or gained lately – in fact it amounts to a siege – although we are 9 or 10 miles from Richmond. There has been no cessations of hostilities since we crossed the Rapidan. Nothing important is doing at present nor has [there] been for several days – except skirmishing which continues almost day & night. This Corps had a heavy fight on the 3d of June in which we lost in our Regt four killed & fourteen wounded. Among the latter was Capt Joseph Deverell commanding the regt, & among the former [Second] Lieut John J. Kenlingside whose photograph you have – he imprudently took a rifle in his hands & went into an exposed situation for the purpose of watching some of the enemy’s artillerymen to hinder them from firing their pieces. The enemys skirmishers saw & fired a volley at him – when he was pierced by three bullets & fell on the field a corpse at the early age of 22, a victim to his own reckless daring. Am sorry to hear of Father’s drinking again knowing what a difference of feeling it makes in our house but let us all try & hope for better times to come. The greatest danger in our house under such circumstances is his habits being a prime cause of impatience & despondency to everyone in the house – but you must all try & not let such feelings keep you down like a weight about your necks. I too well know there are many causes of dissatisfaction with your home – but wherever we may go we will find the same load to bear. I am much opposed as I always was to your working in the fields the more so as there is so much heavy work to do about the house, owing to the inconvenient manner of dividing & arranging almost everything – but in the meantime I am as powerless as willing to prevent it. All I can say is if [Father] will hire a man through harvest to [work in] your place he is welcome to pay him from my pocket whatever maybe

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the demands. I am surprised that Mother & all of you should be so anxious concerning me as I have frequently told you I am very little exposed to injury by the enemy – perhaps not more than many men in civil life are exposed to violent accidents – besides you should all [believe] as I do of myself – God’s will [will] be done & I have also the consolation that should I become disabled by sickness or wounds – there is no one depending on me directly for existence. The weather is hot here but apparently healthy. The crops – that is what is left of them by the contending armies, look well & are very forward – potatoes & apples are as large as butternuts & garden vegetables are mostly fit for plucking. They are plucked here however – whether fit or not. I must continue to write without stamps so you will have to pay dear for your letter. I wish you could take some of my money & buy about 20 ten-cent American postage stamps & send them to me. No more at present but I hope to remain here Sister your ever affectionate brother, Francis Moses Wafer, md

tings rom Petersburg of a Canadian andSurgeon Hatcher’s Run

6 Letters from Petersburg and Hatcher’s Run

I

At the battle of the Wilderness, a swatch of land “covered with a dense growth of dwarfed pines and scrub oaks, intertwined and interlaced by a profusion of vines, creepers, and briars,” Lee’s “Army of Northern Virginia ... once more demonstrated its tenacity. General Grant’s first battle as commander of the Union armies [showed] him to be no better than his predecessors.”1 In the words of Confederate general John Brown Gordon: “General Grant was the aggressor ... his purpose was to drive Lee before him; that this was not accomplished; that both armies camped on the field; that Lee only left it when Grant moved to another field and that both days ended with a Confederate victory.”2 Again, the Army of the Potomac failed to defeat Lee. Failure came at a terrible price. More than eighteen thousand Union troops lay dead or wounded in the Wilderness including the fatalities of Generals Wadsworth and Hays. Victory, however, also carried a price tag. “A strange fatality attended us,” wrote Lee’s aide-decamp Walter Taylor. “Jackson killed in the zenith of his successful career; Longstreet wounded when in the act of striking a blow that would have rivaled Chancellorsville in its result; and in each case the fire was from our own men. A blunder! Call it so; the Old Deacon would say that God willed it.”3 In addition to Longstreet, more than eleven thousand Confederates lay dead or wounded in the Wilderness. Yet unlike previous Union commanders, Grant did not

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withdraw to lick his wounds. Instead, “Grant pressed Lee relentlessly in an increasingly bloody war.”4 Soldiers of all stripes acknowledge that the battle of the Wilderness marked a turning point in the war. For Confederate Henry Kyd Douglas, the Wilderness confirmed his “conviction that the struggle ahead of us was a different character from any we had experience in the past” and indeed it was.5 Until May of 1864, the Union and the Confederacy conducted a war characterized as much by its inaction as its military campaigns. According to Confederate solider Constant C. Hanks, “two extremes: perfect idleness and laziness” and “the severest exercise” made up a soldier’s life.6 Grant’s decision to continue his campaign altered the erstwhile nature of soldiering. Indeed, Grant “was going to rip the throat out of the Army of Northern Virginia” even if it meant destroying “the Army of the Potomac to do it.”7 The battle of the Wilderness inaugurated a new phase in the war, a bloody phase of continual fighting. Fresh from the fighting in the Wilderness, Lee accurately predicted Grant’s next move. “Spottsylvania [sic],” Lee informed Gordon, “is now General Grant’s best strategic point. I am so sure of his next move that I have already made arrangements to march by the shortest practicable route, that we may meet him there.”8 The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac tangled for two weeks in the area around Spotsylvania Court House. The most intense fighting centred on the Confederate salient, or mule shoe, on 10 May. In the words of Maine soldier John Haley, ”All around the salient, was a seething bubbling roaring hell of hate and murder."9 Ohio soldier Thomas F. Galwey agreed for “of all the battles [he] took part in ‘Bloody Angle’ at Spotsylvania exceeded all the rest in stubbornness, ferocity, and in carnage.”10 Indeed, Meade lost four thousand men that day including the beloved General John Sedgwick. Although suffering from equally heavy losses, the loss of one man in particular stunned the Confederacy. Indeed “[n]o incident of mortality, since the fall of the great Jackson, has occasioned more painful regret than this. Major General J.E.B. Stuart, the model of Virginian cavaliers and dashing chieftain, whose name was a terror to the enemy, and as familiar as a household word in two continents, is dead – struck down by a bullet from the foe, and the whole Confederacy mourns him.”11 Lee, upon hearing of Stuart’s death, could “scarcely

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think of him without weeping.”12 The loss of Stuart “was possibly a greater loss to the Confederacy even than that of the swift-moving General ‘Stonewall’ Jackson,” for in Stuart the army lost its eyes and ears.13 From 7 May to 24 May, Grant lost thirty-five thousand men to death or injury yet failed to destroy Lee and the numerically inferior Army of Northern Virginia. Grant renewed his vow to crush the Confederacy, proposing “to fight it out on the line if it takes all summer,” which indeed it did.14 The continual skirmishing following Spotsylvania resulted in a deadlock on the North Anna River. The Army of the Potomac relocated along the Pamunkey River. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia head to Totopotomoy Creek, “the first natural barrier below the Pamunkey,” in order to place themselves between Grant’s advancing forces and Richmond.15 Sheridan and Hampton’s cavalry clash on 28 May evolved into the thirteen-day battle for Cold Harbor. Again, Grant’s failure to dislodge and defeat Lee resulted in a stalemate. Lee’s army “acted purely on the defensive, behind breastworks, or feebly on the offensive immediate in front of them,” Grant informed Halleck, and “without a greater sacrifice of human life than I am willing to make all cannot be accomplished that I have designed.”16 Having lost seven thousand men to the Confederacy’s fifteen hundred, Grant turned his attention to crossing the James River, outflanking Lee’s right, destroying Lee’s lines of communication at Petersburg, and ultimately fighting and defeating Lee in Richmond. Without Stuart to keep Lee abreast of Grant’s action, the Army of the Potomac successfully stole a march on Lee. Protected only by Beauregard’s fifty-four hundred troops, Lee ordered reinforcements to the city. Grant’s offensive met with unpleasant results. The Confederates defended the city from their trenches and in doing so were able to “cut [the Federals] down like hail cuts the grain and grass.”17 Grant lost ten thousand men in four days and the morale of the Army of the Potomac sank to an unprecedented level. Unwilling to face yet another defeat at the hands of Lee, Grant abandoned costly frontal assaults on the Confederates in favour of a siege. I

 In the field two miles from Petersburg, Va June 20th, 1864 Dear Brother,

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Surgeons of the Second Corps, 2d Division at Petersburg, 1864. Francis M. Wafer, third surgeon from the right in the back row. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

I received yours of the fifth last evening only – we have changed base so often that mails are very irregular indeed. Yet it is better to be contented with small favors, they being better than none. Your letter was written cheerful & spirited & was highly gratifying to me, for the good news it contained. Before this reaches you, two letters in pencil – one enclosing notes to you & Maria – the other to Maggie will probably have reached you. I have the happiness to report a continuance of good health to you the best in fact I have enjoyed for the season. You will doubtlessly hear sooner than I could write you from other sources of the movements of the Army. Let me simply state we are now upwards of eighty miles from our last winter quarters on the Rapidan having crossed in our march three large rivers the

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last & greatest being the James which river we crossed in Steamers on the 14th [of] June taking up our march & arriving before Petersburg next evening in the siege of which city the army is now engaged. The fighting is yet of the fiercest description no animal has been yet created that is savage enough to endure combat so long unless man. After repeated & desperate charges, often continued [in] the moonlight nights, our men have succeeded in carrying three of the outer lines of works. There seems to be nothing for it but to rush forward in line with the bayonet upon their formidable breastworks & carry by force of courage & determination every obstruction, while many gallant men never get halfway before they are disabled or a corpse. Our advance lines are now within about a mile of the city which is called the Key to Richmond. Since last writing our loss has been one officer Lieut [William] Dutton Co d badly wounded, one private killed & three wounded & Lieut [Solomon] Fatzer Co I & two privates captured. Two Army Corps have joined us containing many negro troops. Though I have been much prejudiced against them I must admit I am much pleased with their soldierly appearance & discipline. They also stand very high even in the estimation of the white troops for their gallant conduct under fire.18 It is 6 o’Clock pm. all is quiet at present at the front but for how long I know not, cannon have been thundering away throughout the whole line during the forenoon. The weather has been very dry but not excessively hot during the past month everywhere you may step is ankle deep in light sand so that if you look towards where a fight is in progress between the dust & smoke, you merely look at an impenetrable grey cloud, out of which emanates cheers bursting volleys of musketry & the appalling roar of cannons & explosion of shells. Since being limited & wishing to mail this tonight I must conclude this hurried answer expecting to hear from some of the girls soon ever remaining your affectionate brother Francis Moses Wafer md

 July 4th, 1864 Camp in the field near Petersburg Va Dear Sister

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Your welcome letter of the 25th June was received yesterday, 3d [July]. By it I am informed that there are two letters of mine written within the last fortnight that you have not yet received. Under such circumstances [it is no] wonder you are anxious to hear from me. [I h]ave frequently [recognized that] my letters were very slow in transmittal but [I] have not been able to account for the delay. I have willfully delayed writing for some time past as I daily expected a letter from home & deferred writing on that account. You will see by reference to [the] dates of our respective letters that yours reach me promptly & in due time with few exceptions but it is quite different from [0mine] & I have sometimes suspected they were submitted to government surveillance.19 There has been very little fighting for the past week on this line & none whatever in the 2d Corps. A regular siege is going on but this Corps is at present held in reserve. [It is] very true [that] the bursting of huge mortar shells & the earthquake roar of 100 pounder cannon from our batteries go on day & night, but they are some distance in front of our position but such sounds have long since ceased to rob anyone of an hours sleep unless he be a very chicken hearted individual. I purposely omit dilating on the prospects or positions of affairs here [and] did I do so, [it would] probably be to no purpose as you would find it difficult to understand. Let it suffice to say that all here are hopeful that the siege will result favorably to the Union arms. You have before now read of a heavy loss to the 2d Corps in prisoners. This is keenly felt by the members of the celebrated Corps. It was the most provoking to soldiers because most of the men [were] lost, about 2000 were cut off & captured with very little fighting besides this Corps never lost a gun or stand of colors until it came upon this unlucky field. Of the whole Corps the Brigade I belong to was the only one [that] suffered no loss – it being in the second line of [battle] in reserve at the time of the accident. The whole affair did not last more than twenty minutes. As I have already stated we have been some time lying inactive, well it is nearly time [for us to get into action]. I[t] was just two months yesterday since the campaign opened, since then we have had, or rather the combatants of their Corps have had, no rest except what they might get in the trenches watching their wily enemies. Whenever we marched or changed positions the movement was performed through fine sand, ankle deep, every step stirred up clouds of dust so thick a person could not see five rods consequently every

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individual & thing became one color, that is, of a dirty blanket.20 The only distinguishing marks between a column of niggers & one of white soldiers were the never failing white eyes of the darkie & I think his wool held more dust. Well thank Providence we are relieved from this for a while at least. We are now in a pleasant shady camp behind our rear line of entrenchments. There are no external signs whatever of the late onerous campaign, everything as gay as a “marriage bible.” From day break until 9 in the evening the melody of a hundred brass bands & other martial music discoursing the “first music of the day” is continually swelling & echoing through the stately pine forests & most effectively relieves the monotony of camp life to me at least for I never tire of good music. The weather has been fearfully hot & dry no rain falling for a month there are now a few signs of rain & the air is a little cooler but I believe there were many days when had any active operations been undertaken both rebs & Yankees instead of fighting would break for the nearest shade trees & lie down together. I can safely assure you my health is good even all our anxious Mother could wish for. Several of our wounded officers have returned to duty among whom is Col Pierce but he was not allowed to remain long with us. He was assigned to the command of the 1st Brigade of the Division. I have heard Col Powers is doing well under his wound & is likely to recover. I met Charly Brownley quite accidentally a few days ago. He looks well & is in “high feather” in expectation of going home soon as his regiments time of service expires about this time.21 He is attached to a cavalry regiment which it seems is kept during all this campaign scouting on the rear & flanks of the army. He informed me of what I have since seen stated in the papers that Capt Robert Ellerbeck of the 22 ny Cavalry, late of the 6th, is badly wounded in the leg & a prisoner. I am sorry W[illia]m McLaughlin is boating on account of the bad associations he is likely to meet.22 I confidently hope for himself & sisters welfare, he will be able to resist the many temptations to which he will be exposed. [P]oor Maggie must be very lonely. [G]ive her my affectionate remembrance with the same to all my cousins & friends. No more at present but I remain dear Sister Your Most Affectionate Brother, Francis Moses Wafer md



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Hd Qus 108th NY Vols Camp in the field near Mitchells Station, Va. September, 1864 Dear Brother I arrived safe, at my command on the evening of the 27th finding my regiment encamped near the battlefield of Cedar Mountain, of 1862. I found in Dr Elys possession two letters from you written on the 12th & 18th inst, while I was absent from camp in Washington.23 By those I see you had not received a letter I wrote, on the 7th of Sept, & up to which I added a postscript in Washington. I suppose you will have received one [before] this reaches you [&] another I wrote in Washington, on my departure to rejoin my Corps. I know, none of you, will feel flattered by the indifference expressed in those letters, concerning my obtaining leave to visit you. But such indifference does not exist in my case, as the only medical officer with the [regiment] viz Dr Ely was about to resign. I had an object in view in immediately rejoining the command, which I may be able to explain to you at a future time. At all events, nothing [is] lost [by a soldier] in military service by not being at his post whenever he is able. Those that wish to go home on every trivial occasion, particularly when they smell a coming battle, seldom or never have the confidence of their chiefs. The disease such gentlemen are afflicted with military doctors call “cannon fever, ” I feel quite well now, with the exception of a slight cold I caught on the cars coming out. I have provided myself with top boots, [a] rubber poncho, & in the city I feel quite confident to be able to face a fall campaign in the capricious climate of Virginia. I found my horse, Joe Hooker, feeling proud & dewey after his long rest. He hardly knew me when I came back, or else he was provoked, at the sight, of a pair of new spurs he saw upon my heels. Poor old Bucher, I think I see six battery men, detailed to hold him, when the guns of the battery he belongs to [begin to] fire, not speaking of the time when the rebel shells burst so near, as to scorch him with the broken pieces of metal humming around him, & solid shot ploughing up the ground, & throwing earth loads of dirt & gravel, over him.24 I see you did not yet acknowledge the receipt of Harper’s Weekly, which I sent to [the] Kingston Post Office with your address, perhaps, you have not enquired for them. There should be many numbers, there for you. You will have something to pay on the Photograph I sent you. They would not receive any

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money at this end of the Express line, & I had nothing to send you but green backs. You must only charge it to Wafer, Wafer, & Co. As I requested in my letter of the 25th, I would like [it if] you would send me some photographs, you need not be [worried] at the showy one I sent you. I would prefer some plain vignette “Carte de visite” size so that they may be placed in an Album, & carried uninjured. I got a dozen such struck off when in the city which I intend to exchange with the other officers of the regiment. I would also be happy to exchange with any friend, who maybe willing to send one of such to me. I wish to write you a confidential letter, concerning an individual well known to you & I & also, perhaps some other affairs for your perusal only, I mean Johnny. For the future any letters intended for to be read in common, to everybody, will be addressed to Maggy & you will not permit the reading of your private letter by anybody. We have beautiful September weather, out here, though the nights are as cold as I would expect at home. Of course, as I have frequently informed you, you must pardon me, not giving you any information concerning the movements, or prospects of the army. It being my duty to remain silent on these matters. All is quiet at present. With a firm trust in the God of battles to whom I humbly recommend you all, I remain Your Affectionate Brother, Francis Moses Wafer, md I am grateful to you Maggy for your flowers, which you say are from my plot. I hope you have taken good care of it, in my absence. Poor things! They looked sorrowful enough, in this climate, so uncongenial to flowers, for the last two or three years. As I said, they looked sorrowful yet there was no external proof of this for Lord knows, it would take hard squeezing to obtain any tears, from them. fmw

 108th ny Vols Head Qrs 108th ny Vols Before Petersburg Va Oct 11th, 64 Dear Brother, I have not heard from home since Sept 23d. This is the second time of my writing since. [I a]m expecting a letter this evening

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hoping to hear good news through it. This leaves me in excellent health as usual. All is quiet here at present that is there are no advances making on either side – though were you to be here for one night you might be under the impression [that] your “big brother” was prevaricating when he says all is quiet for hardly a night passes without the usual mortar practice, & siege guns throughout the day & all for the pickets they hardly ever stop their infernal popping day or night. We have again moved back to fort Morton and we form a part of its garrison. We have been here for the past week & the enemy have never succeeded in bursting a shell [near] or in the fort. Solid shot cannot penetrate it anywhere unless the practice was good enough to throw one through an embrasure or opening in the parapets for our guns to fire through. We all live in the Bombproofs viz, long ranges of buildings something like a large Roothouse half under ground. The walls are built [of] logs backed by several feet of earth, the roof being heavy logs laid crossways & also deeply covered with earth – three sides are closed [with] the end towards the rear being open. They are quite comfortable to live in their only fault being darkness. In these houses, I have learned to sleep although mortars ten inches in diameter & 32 pounder rifle guns may be talking in their own peculiar language within a few yards of me & indeed if an hour or two passes without the usual thunder I begin to feel lonely for want of the sublime music of saltpeter. The weather has become quite cool though dry & pleasant. [T]he weather seems to be much milder here than where I was at the same time a year ago. We were then near the Blue Ridge both Rebs & Yanks “double quicking it” to see which would first get possession of the fortifications of Centreville as if the __________ was after the whole crowd. The lines are so strong here that it seems as if nothing except such things as crows or cannon balls could cross them. There has been some important & successful operations on our flank in which our Division was not engaged. We could merely hear the sound of the cannon. The right & left wings of our enemy are over twenty miles apart. All this line being occupied by the armies of the Potomac & James. The right wing is about seven miles from Richmond fronting that city as well as Petersburg. If one or both of these cities do not fall soon we will be likely to winter here. I hope you will not be longing for me to come home for being removed at least one day’s journey further from home than I was last winter & if I can not obtain a longer

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leave than last year I do not feel disposed to go home merely to “railroad it” home then turn back to the front all to the tune of one hundred dollars. I know you Britishers do not value greenbacks much but I have no inclination to throw mine away. For after all misfortunes you folks ascribe to greenbacks my salary is worth at present, $1000, one thousand dollars in gold per annum. And my belief in the case is one of “fox & grapes” for those that decry the currency so much.25 Well, I find subjects to write on very scarce just now unless I “wax flowery” like some newspaper “penny a liner” & try & astonish the nation with “pen & ink” eloquence. Col Powers has not yet returned to duty. Lt Col Pierce is unwell & by my advice is going home on sick leave his health has been delicate since entering the army. I am fairly used to the army & consequently you may inform all the girls who you think would be fools enough to wait for me to marry at once even should they find nothing more than a tailor for it is questionable whether this war will leave the equivalent of that fraction of a man of your poor old but ever affectionate Brother, Francis M. Wafer md

 Head Qrs 108th ny Vols Before Petersburg, Va Oct 30, 64 My Dear Brother, I have not heard from you since [your last letter] of Oct 10th. I hasten to write this note before this day’s mail goes out to let you know that I am all [right in case] you might indulge in gloomy speculations as to my safety when you hear of the late fighting in which the 2d Corps was engaged. We [are back safely] in camp. It was as far as I can understand a sort of wildcat affair much like Reams Station in some of its features.26 Two divisions of the Corps viz, 2d & 3d cut loose from the army & started with some cavalry on the morning of Oct 27th [on] a sort of reconnaissance to the only railroad leading into Petersburg. About 8 am, our Brigade, which had the advance, struck the line of the enemy’s breastworks which protected their right flank. The Brigade countered with bayonet at once charging through a stream & up a hill in the face of a sharp fire. The loss here was not heavy in numbers but the Brigade lost two valuable officers. L[ieu]t Col [Frank J.] Spalter, commanding

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4th Ohio & Maj [Thomas A.] Smyth of the 1st Delaware. Col Spalter was shot through the head & killed on the spot. Maj Smyth was badly wounded shot through the right femoral artery & but for timely assistance would have soon bled to death. The two Divisions then continued their march through dense pine woods for several miles southwest of Petersburg to what is called the Boynton plank road where we struck a large force of the enemy strongly fortified near the railroad, skirmishing immediately commenced soon followed by heavy fighting which lasted until dark. In our advance we had got between a large force of the enemys cavalry & their infantry supports. They were engaged all afternoon with our cavalry on the left & made most frantic & desperate efforts to break through our line. Their infantry at the same time attacked us in great force in front & on the right flank. Their artillery threw shot & shell completely through or over our position into their own men both right & left. Indeed since Gettysburg or the assault on Petersburg I have not seen cast iron cheaper – it could be had anywhere for picking up. But all their attempts to cut us off or dislodge us were promptly repulsed & when night came the troops were withdrawn to their former encampments & bringing with [them] many prisoners. The loss in our regiment was four wounded one of whom Capt [Dwight A.] Ostrander Co a who commanded the regiment all the field officers being absent. He was shot through the right arm, three inches below the shoulder joint. The joint with about four inches of bone had to be removed. His wound is a dangerous one. No more at present from your affectionate brother, Francis M. Wafer, md

 Hd Qus 108th ny Vols Camp near Hatchers run, Va Feb 17, 1865 Dear Brother You were doubtless anxiously waiting to hear from me since the late fights. I should have written before but as you could learn nothing from me more than you daily read – I postponed writing hoping to get a letter from home before so doing but none has arrived as yet. The last letter from home came to hand in Jan 31st dated Jan 27th. It was from Maggie. The late operations were not a general move of the army although many out of the army seem to

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be under that impression. We understand it here as merely a reconnaissance in force to ascertain Lees strength & at the same time, prevent him from sending any reinforcements to those points that are hard pressed by [General William Tecumseh] Sherman & other Generals. There are also decided advantages gained by the movement such as gaining a better position in a military point of view & extending our line threatening the enemys communications – reducing him to the necessity of confronting our new position thus weakening his lines elsewhere. The campaign lasted in all nearly a week meaning by campaigning that we were in the open air for that period. The weather was very severe for the season & the changes from comfortable quarters to lying on the damp ground was – you may judge not an agreeable one. I saw none of the fighting more than to see a few cannon shot & shell expend their already diminished force in the rear. I was for that week acting “Surgeon in Chief” of Brigade as owing to the absence of one & sickness of another. I was senior Medical Officer present having charge of the Medical wagons & Brigade Ambulances. The losses in the 2d Corps were trifling although the enemy disputed the extension of our lines pertinaciously. The 2d had the fighting all their own way not withstanding Lees veterans made no less than two or three charges on their line. The 5th Corps suffered some loses which was as far as I can learn mainly attributable to advancing their line too far without their left being sufficiently covered thus exposing their flank to be taken in reverse. The Corps however established their new line where required, you will inform Capt [James A.] McKinleys friends that he is safe. Leaving his command was very roughly handled I made a specialty of visiting him immediately after the fight. There was no serious casualty in the 108th. Lieut now Capt [Theodore E.] Knapp was struck by a spent bullet cutting the cloth from the band of his cap & drawing blood from the scalp. It did not put him off duty. We are about completing new quarters but will scarcely be again so comfortable this winter as we were. The troops that were engaged in the late movements suffered much but endured it all with wonderful resignation, being in high hopes that by continually pressing the enemy, giving him no room to recover from [attacks,] the war will soon be brought to a successful termination. I see through the news that you are having a severe winter about the lakes for myself I have found it cold enough here but that is not to be wondered at

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since I am completely acclimated to Virginia. In regards to you visiting the army there is yet no prospect of a propitious time for such a visit as the number of citizens getting passes to the front are very limited. The army is not by any means so accessible as last winter seeing that there is a voyage of 280 miles by water from Washington to City Points then nearly twenty miles by rail to this Corps. It would be very inconvenient for a traveler of your experience to succeed in reaching the front at all unless I could meet you in Washington “on ordinary leave of absence” being required for this. Then it is doubtful whether you could cross the Canadian lines at present without a passport which has to be purchased.27 But I have heard the passport system was revoked – but of all this you can satisfy yourself by calling on the American Consul at Kingston during his office hours & making enquiry to get transportation from Washington to the front.28 The Provost Marshal at Washington must be applied to personally & all so applying are required to have legitimate & valid reasons for entering the lines of the army. Last winter application could be made direct to the Provost Marshal in the army line & a pass being obtained it could be sent in a letter to any friend but I have not heard that such papers have been granted this season. You can let me know in your next [letter] the result of your enquiry of the American Consul & whether you intend to come out & if so at what time you will be ready to start & I will then inform you where I can be met & send you some directions [on] how to proceed on your journey. As for going home myself – although it would be agreeable the leave of absence is so short & seeing I have no business to transact also my being so lately there it would be but an idle journey.29 In six months my regiment will have served three years & will be mustered out of services. It is probably that if I should then wish to leave the service I will be permitted to do so but will not attempt to decide until the time arrives (a period fraught with great events intervene). Many who are now ignorant of the great future will be then as wise as all the sages of antiquity. Yet while the coming time is bright with so many great events [it] will soon pass away. If you have not already written – write as soon as soon as possible on the receipt of this & let me know the general standing of affairs about home. Paper & ink is cheap & the practice of writing is itself beneficial to the writer so it will not, I think, be taxing you too much to take a review of affairs great & small public & private which not indeed passing any

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intrinsic value of their own may nevertheless interest me much in my peculiar position. It is invariably the case that little home occurrences are seemingly of most importance to us here as for the printer never of the times it comes to hand in due season besides as for great events are we not participators in & spectators of the greatest not only of the century but of History? I had forgotten to inform you that my health remains good although much tired of late. I only hope you are all bearing the bitter cold of Canada as well as I am bearing the Virginia climate – although probably were you to come here you should say I had but little to complain of in that particular. No more until I again hear from you even remaining, Your affectionate brother, fmw

e

Epilogue

By the beginning of 1865, the Confederate war effort lay in shambles. In the words of John A. Campbell, confederate assistant secretary of war, “There was no connection between the government in Richmond and the Trans-Mississippi Department; the defeat of the Army of Tennessee at Nashville had opened the West and the Southwest to invasion in every part; Sherman’s army had devastated Georgia and all the railroad communication in the South and South-west; the war on the part of the Confederates [was] limited to the defense of Richmond and its dependencies and even here Lee scrambled to hold on.”1 Desperation gripped the Confederacy, and in that desperation Davis endorsed two actions that might save his nation. First, he tried to solve the manpower problem facing the Confederate armies. While the North relied on immigration, a luxury foreign to the South, the Confederacy simply had no more bodies to fill the ranks. In late 1864 Davis introduced a controversial bill before the Confederate senate. It advocated the enlistment of slaves as soldiers. Although the expected controversy surrounded the proposal, the bill eventually became law on 13 March 1865. Second, Davis sought to cater to southern peace advocates by sending north a commission charged with ending the war and securing the future of the Confederacy. Comprising Vice-President Alexander Stephens, Assistant Secretary of War John C. Campbell, and Senator R.M.T. Hunter of Virginia, the commission met with Lincoln and

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Union secretary of state Seward aboard the River Queen anchored off Hampton Roads, Virginia, in February 1865. Lincoln offered generous terms. To secure peace, the Confederates had to abolish slavery with some compensation and acknowledge the indivisibility of the Union: in essence, abandon the notion of an independent slave-based Confederate nation. The peace conference failed spectacularly. General George E Pickett’s reaction reflected that of many Confederates. “On every side,” he recalled, “gloom, dissatisfaction and disappointment seem to have settled over all, men and officers alike, because of the unsuccessful termination of the Peace Conference ... Our commissioners knew that we were gasping our last gasp and that the Peace Conference was a forlorn hope ... Now, heaven help us, it will be war to the knife, with a knife no longer keen, the thrust of an arm no longer strong.”2 The fate of the Confederacy now lay in the hands of Lee and his vastly outnumbered half-starved tatterdemalion Army of Northern Virginia holding the line at Petersburg. But eleven months of continuous warfare took its toll. John W. Haley of the Seventeenth Maine yearned for an end to the war. He and his comrades in arms “were sick and tired of slaughter and blood when we know that a slight concession on both sides could have settled the matter long ago. If left to us privates, we’d make short work of it. Perhaps we can accomplish more by cakes and coffee than by bullets.”3 Confederate private Abel Crawford echoed Haley’s sentiments: it seemed to him that “the soldiers have become so tired of fighting that they are almost willing to give it up on any terms.”4 Grant hoped to accommodate such desires by uniting his forces with Sherman’s and crushing Lee between the two armies, thus forcing his surrender. Wise to Grant’s plan of action, Lee launched one last desperate offensive designed to contract Grant’s line and prevent his unification with Sherman. On 25 March Gordon launched an unsuccessful attempt to penetrate the Federal line at Fort Stedman. Lee, hoping to save the Confederacy, suggested to Davis that victory hinged on abandoning Petersburg and Richmond in order to allow Lee’s army to join that of Joseph Johnston in North Carolina and together battle Grant and Sherman. Davis proved unreceptive to the plan. Entrenched indefinitely in and around Petersburg, Lee ordered Pickett to hold Five Forks crossroad, the access route to Lee’s last supply line, at all costs. On 1 April Sherman and Pickett clashed and Five Forks fell to the Union. The following day Grant launched a general offensive against Lee. With victory unlikely, Lee telegraphed Secretary

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of War John C. Breckinridge and informed him of the Army of Northern Virginia’s withdrawal from Petersburg and its movement towards Appomattox. Lee also advised Breckenridge that “all preparations be made for leaving Richmond tonight.”5 By 3 April the Union army occupied the capital of the Confederacy. As Lee retreated towards Appomattox Grant followed, intent on winning the war for the Union. By 9 April Grant had Lee pinned at Appomattox. Outmanned and with few options, Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant. For all intents and purposes, the war was over. Although Wafer’s letters and memoirs end abruptly, he likely witnessed this historic event, renewed his acquaintance with his old friend James McKinley, who accompanied Grant to the surrender, and experienced the euphoria that swept the Union forces. In the words of John W. Haley of the Seventeenth Maine: General Meade’s “frenzy of joy was contagious, and we acted as if we had taken leave of our sense. We shouted, danced, sang, and wept. Bands played, drums beat, flags were unfurled, guns fired, and cannon boomed.”6 A very different scene unfolded in the Confederate camps. Confederate W.G. Hinson recalled: “Oh Horror of horrors! It flashed through the command. Lee has surrendered. My pencil almost refuses to write the disgrace. Many an iron souled veteran burst into tears, which could not have been rung by ‘the’ rack and were willing to sacrifice life at any moment for the cause.”7 The final surrender of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia took place on 11 April. Wafer and the remaining members of the 108th New York among others no doubt witnessed a scene similar to that described in the Missouri Republican: “No word was spoke except the words of command to stack arms which was done orderly and quietly, facing the line of federal troops. Human lips were pressed to iron muzzles of guns and the men turned from them as sadly and sorrowfully as if they were moving from the graves of their first born. We passed on in ever looking back to the national potter’s field where our young republic was buried.”8 Although Davis remained on the run and the Army of Tennessee, Army of the Trans-Mississippi, and the Confederacy’s Indian allies had yet to surrender, the Army of the Potomac began the slow process of disbanding that same day. Grant ordered the Second Corps, including Wafer and the 108th New York, to camp at Burkesville, Virginia. They arrived on 13 April. On 15 April news of Lincoln’s assassination reached the ears of the Second Corps. Private Henry Kauffman best

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Grand Review of Union Troops in Washington, dc, 1865. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, dc

summed up the men’s reactions: “In the midst of all our rejoicing came to us the sad news of the assassination of our beloved President of our republic. Those news cast a deep gloom upon the entire army. Flags were put at half mast & prayers were made through out the day.”9 On 2 May the 108th New York Infantry departed for Rochester, New York, via Washington. On 23 May Wafer was probably among the eighty thousand troops who participated in the Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac by Grant and the new president, Andrew Johnson. With Union colours flying, thousands gathered along Pennsylvania Avenue, emitting a cacophony of Union marching songs, cheers, applause, and certainly sobs. Even the horror of Lincoln’s death faded on that day as

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the nation honoured the Union victory in the Civil War and, more importantly, acknowledged the contributions of the soldiers. Following the review, the men of the 108th mustered out on 28 May near Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia. On 31 May the citizens of Rochester greeted the regiment with brass bands, flags, and a parade.10 Wafer’s return to Kingston in July was less eventful. Although there is little doubt that his family and friends enthusiastically received him, the City of Kingston took little note of the war-weary veteran’s return. Great joy and greater sorrow characterized Wafer’s postbellum years. He returned to his medical studies at Queen’s University for the 1865–66 session, studying practical anatomy, Materia Medica and pharmacy, obstetrics, and diseases of women and children. Once again he attended lectures on the institutes of medicine. After successfully completing the year he enrolled in the 1866–67 session during which, in addition to his courses at Queen’s University, he attended classes on clinical medicine and surgery at Kingston General Hospital as well as courses on the principle and practice of surgery and lectures on the theory and practice of medicine at Kingston’s Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons.11 Wafer successfully finished medical school and matriculated on 20 March 1867, receiving his diploma from Queen’s University as a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. He entered into private practice with well-known Kingston surgeon and politician Michael Sullivan, first at 82 Princess Street and then at 123 King Street. In addition to his private practice, Wafer also served on the faculty of medicine at Queen’s University as well as on the staff of the Kingston General Hospital. In his spare time, Francis advocated for a separate Catholic school system, remained active in St Mary’s Catholic Church, and helped his father, Peter, run the family farm. While his professional life blossomed after the war, Wafer also experienced great personal joy. His beloved sister Maggie married James Patrick Daley on 17 November 1873. On 7 September 1874 the family welcomed Mary Elizabeth Daley into the world and her brother, John Patrick, on 31 December 1875. Wafer delighted in his niece and nephew, but marriage and a family of his own proved elusive as the after-effects of his war injuries worsened. When Wafer left for the war, he struck his professors Horatio and Octavius Yates as “a strong athletic young man of more than ordinary physical powers” blessed with “the enjoyment of perfect health, having

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no apparent constitutional or hereditary tendency” towards disease.12 Wafer’s wartime experience of harsh living conditions and exposure to the elements conspired with stress, poor diet, and intense labour to destroy his health. According to the 108th New York’s former commander Francis E. Pierce, Wafer began complaining of back pain in February 1865 following the battle of Morton’s Ford. His health continued to decline and his “pain and sickness seemed to increase all the time so that he would probably have been discharged for disability, if he had not been mustered out with the Regt.” The once-robust Wafer “was very much emaciated and very feeble when mustered out, and to appearances completely broken down, and ruined in health and constitution.”13 Wafer returned home with a tumour on his back that “gradually but constantly increased in size and was soon followed ... by another symmetrical tumor upon the opposite side: That said tumor rapidly increased in size and in November following his discharge had to be opened; profuse suppuration followed revealing two or more deep pelvic abscesses.”14 On 15 January 1866, he summoned Dr Horatio Yates to the Wafer farm. According to Yates, Wafer was in “a state of great emaciation and exhaustions from the effects of pelvis abscesses and their copious discharges, communicating with the surface by sinuses.”15 Wafer’s health improved enough to allow him to graduate from Queen’s University and engage in a medical career. By 1872, however, Wafer was “physically disabled to pursue the practice of his profession except to a very limited extent or to follow any active employment.”16 Consequently, in January 1873 Wafer hired an attorney, Francis Fitch of Watertown, New York, to file a federal pension application. Up until this point, Wafer “deferred applying for pension at first believing that said disability would end in death and afterward hoping as he began slightly to convalesce that he might fully recover.”17 While Fitch gathered affidavits from Wafer, Pierce, Wafer’s former wartime doctors Robert Stephenson and William S. Ely, his colleagues and former professors Octavius and Horatio Yates, and his partner, Michael Sullivan, the wisdom of his application crystallized. Wafer’s health continued its downward spiral and he spent nine months of 1873 bedridden while the tumours on either side of his spine continued to grow. Wafer likely wrote the memoir that forms the centrepiece of this work to occupy his time. Horatio Yates examined Wafer on 17 February 1874 and “found him in a feeble and anemic state with two open fistula discharging pus – one

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on either side.”18 An examination by New York doctor C.M. Johnson confirmed Yates’s observations. Johnson described Wafer as being forty-five years old, standing five feet nine inches tall, and weighing one hundred and twenty pounds. Johnson reported that the “canis of Illness ... are fistular openings upon each side of spine ... still discharging and several indications of former openings” were evident. Johnson officially recommended that a pension be awarded to Wafer as he was “disabled from manual labor and the disease [was] progressive.”19 While the Pension Office certainly took Johnson’s recommendation under consideration, the application hit a number of snags that slowed down its approval. Wafer’s military service record proved to be the largest obstacle for it did not reflect the immense pain and suffering that he had endured during the war. Wafer’s record revealed that with the exception of two furloughs and one medical leave of seventeen days, he consistently performed his job. Wafer argued that “he succeeded although at great personal inconvenience and pain in performing his duty until his discharge and was not in any Hospital as a patient on account of said disability or on the sick list as he doubtless would have been but for the fact that being a medical man he was able to treat himself.”20 With the issue of his health unresolved, another problem emerged with his application. On 18 October 1873 the Pension Office informed Fitch that there was no evidence that Wafer had ever mustered into the 108th New York Infantry. On 12 January 1874 Fitch was informed that evidence had been found and the situation rectified. A communiqué to Fitch of 1 December 1875 revealed another hitch in the process: the Pension Office believed that William S. Ely’s affidavit was forged. Ely rectified the situation in January 1876 by authenticating his signature. That same month a new wrinkle materialized. Dr Robert Stephenson, Wafer’ doctor during his stay at the Georgetown officer’s hospital, moved to Ireland following the war. Fitch contacted the postmaster, John Adams, of Cloug, County Antrim, searching for Stephenson. Although Adams acknowledged that Stephenson lived in the area, a paralytic stroke had left Stephenson in “very delicate health.” Consequently, Stephenson never submitted the affidavit to Fitch or the Pension Office, thus delaying the approval of Wafer’s application. The Pension Office finally awarded Wafer his due compensation in May 1876.21 Sadly Wafer’s “strong constitution” gave way on 9 April 1876.22 The Kingston community mourned the death of one of its own. The St Vincent de Paul Society held the meeting that had already

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been scheduled for 9 April in the vestry of St Mary’s Cathedral and dedicated it to the memory of Francis M. Wafer. The Society resolved that it has pleased Almighty God to remove from amongst us a most zealous and devoted member of the Society, the late Dr Wafer ... That the members of the St Vincent de Paul society desire on this painful occasion to give expression of their feelings of sincere sorrow and deep regret at the loss of one who not only endeared himself by his kind and genial disposition but merited their esteem and gratitude, on account of the great interest he at all times took in promoting the welfare of the Society, and especially cheerfully giving his professional services to the poor under their charge ... That we deeply sympathize with the family of the deceased and hereby condole with them in their affliction ... [and] [t]hat the members of this Society attend the funeral of the deceased in a body and that the Society have a Requiem Mass offered for the repose of his soul. The following morning at a meeting of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Drs Lavell and Sullivan passed a resolution honouring Wafer. Accordingly, that in the death of our late Colleague, Dr Francis M. Wafer, this College has sustained a severe loss; that it is with profound pleasure that we testify to the learning, ability, and zeal with which he successfully discharged the duties of teacher in this school; as also our admiration of that strict sense of honour and conscientious devotion to duty which marked his conduct to the profession and the community; and that we feel that his life humble as it was afforded a bright example of the successful cultivating of those virtues which had adorned the lives of the best men of the medical profession; and that we offer his family the assurance of our most sincere sympathy in their great affliction. Across town, the Alma Mater Society held a special meeting. Mr T.D. Cumberland and Mr W.A. Lang resolved “that this Society having heard with profound regret of the decease of Dr Wafer, one of its most esteemed members, hereby records its appreciation of his many sterling qualities and its deep sense of the loss it has sustained in his

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lamented death; and further, the Society desires to express its sympathy with his afflicted relatives in their bereavement.” At mid-morning on 10 April 1876, a black horse-drawn hearse arrived at Wafer’s King Street residence. Pallbearers removed his body from the parlour and loaded it onto the cortège. From there, the procession wound its way through the streets of Kingston. Members of the separate school board and St Vincent de Paul Society, professors of the Royal College, the faculty of the Medical College of Queen’s University, and his family followed Wafer’s body to the steps of St Mary’s Cathedral. Pallbearers Burns, McCullough, Hickey, R. Gardiner, Jason McManus, and T.H. McGuire conveyed his remains to the front of the church. The sheer number of people in attendance amazed Wafer’s parents, Peter and Elizabeth, his siblings, John, Maggie, Agnes, Maria, Martha, and Elizabeth, and his extended family. Father Twomey and Bishop Corbett performed the service. A full choir sung “a solemn Requiem Mass.” Afterwards the procession departed for a graveside service at St Mary’s Cemetery where Wafer was laid to rest.23 The fight for a federal pension continued after Wafer’s death. In 1883 his father, Peter, hired A.B. Webb, a lawyer based in Washington, dc, to pursue compensation from the Pension Office. Peter reasoned that Wafer had provided room and board for his parents for two months a year as well as clothing and medical attention, totalling an estimated two hundred dollars per annum. Wafer’s disability prevented the continuation of such contributions as well as Peter’s access to his son’s labour power on the family farm.24 The Pension Office required a listing of Peter’s property and income in order to ascertain how Wafer’s contribution, or lack thereof, affected the family. Affidavits from Peter, his son John, and neighbours Alexander Grant, Patrick O’Neil, and Robert Patterson revealed that in 1876 Peter was “too old and stiff” to run the hundred-acre farm, which only provided the family with an income of fifty dollars a year. Consequently, Peter allowed John the use of his farmland in exchange for financial support. Peter and Elizabeth moved in with John and his wife Catherine and were entirely dependent on their goodwill. In 1877 Catherine gave birth to the couple’s first child, a son named Francis Moses after his uncle. A year later, in 1878, Peter sold the farm for twenty-two hundred dollars to Robert Patterson and distributed some of the money amongst his children. He left himself a mere $690 with which he had to support his “two unmarried daughters until the whole thereof [was] exhausted” and he was “wholly without

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any means of [his] own.”25 On 28 January 1879, Peter’s wife, Elizabeth, died and later that same year John and Catherine welcomed their daughter Maggie. Unconvinced by Peter’s claim or reasoning, in May of 1885 the Pension Office asked to see the contract between Peter and John whereby John was allowed to use Peter’s land in exchange for supporting his father. John replied that it had been an oral agreement and that nothing existed in writing. Concerned that the Pension Office misunderstood the nature of the arrangement, John appealed to Wafer’s old attorney, Francis Fitch, for help. In June of 1885 Fitch helped John write a letter of clarification to the Pension Office explaining that his father had not “transferred the farm I own to me, with the verbal agreement that I would support him. This is a mistake. My farm came to me through my mother, having been received by her by inheritance from her people. My father, when my brother, Dr Francis M. Wafer died, owned another farm which he sold some two years thereafter for about 2200 [dollars] and has since had the money from same to live upon, and has not, I think exhausted all of it but it now appears probable that it will be insufficient to carry him through this life, and indeed, it would have been exhausted before this, no doubt, but for the aid I have given him.” John also unwisely revealed that had his father “retained the farm, it doubtless would have afforded him a reasonable support.”26 Peter’s attempt to gain a pension and John’s explanation of the situation clearly irritated Fitch, who wrote to the Pension Office to offer his version of events. Fitch acknowledged that Peter had incurred “the expenses of the son’s last fatal attack and burial” as the funeral “was on a scale that [the Pension O]ffice refused to recognize and pay expenses of.” However, Fitch claimed, Peter had experienced no hardship from such an outlay of funds for he “was quite a wealthy farmer and in very prosperous circumstances.” Fitch argued, moreover, that Peter’s current state did not entitle him to a pension. Fitch depicted Peter as “a man of independent means and not a suffer[er] in a pecuniary sense at all from the son’s death.” Francis had not contributed to his father’s livelihood; according to Fitch, “it was just the reverse, owing to the health of the son.”27 On 1 December 1887 the Pension Office, agreeing with Fitch’s version of events, rejected Peter Wafer’s claim on the grounds that “at the time of the soldier’s death the claimant did not depend on him for his support.” Moreover,

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Francis M. Wafer’s Tombstone, St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, Kingston, Ontario. Courtesy of Cheryl A. Wells, 2007

according to evidence on file, the claimant was still hale and hearty up to 1876; his farm of 100 acres yielded a crop estimated at 300 [dollars]. His family consisted of himself and wife and if he had not sold the farm, it would according to the son John, give him a reasonable support. If it didn’t, it does not appear that the soldier furnished such support. Being a doctor, he treated his parents without charge and when they visited with him, he did not charge them any board. Besides, he seems to have given the claimant occasional suits of clothing, which not dressy enough for the doctor, came in very well for the farmer. I do not think all this constitutes “contributing” within the meaning of the law.28

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Peter Wafer’s reaction to the news is unknown but it appears that he accepted the decision since there was no further correspondence between the Wafers and the Pension Office. Peter died on 20 June 1888 and was laid to rest with his wife Elizabeth and son Francis M. Wafer in Kingston’s St Mary’s Cemetery. Someone, most likely John, erected a humble white monument for his parents and brother. The marker is flanked on the left by the gravestone of Wafer’s friend and partner Michael Sullivan, and on the right by the gravestone of Wafer’s sister Maria and her husband, Charles Lyons. The elements have taken a toll on the monument much as they did on Wafer during the Civil War. The engraving, which once proudly declared that Francis M. Wafer, md was buried there, is rubbed smooth and rendered virtually unreadable. Yet under the stone rests an extraordinary man, a son, brother, cousin, author, and Canadian surgeon in the Army of the Potomac.

x

Appendix

Because Wafer wrote his memoir from hastily taken memoranda, his writings often duplicate portions of letters sent home, as with the letters of 14 March 1863, 25 March 1863, and 29 February 1864. In those letters, however, Wafer provides details that are not included in his memoir, so I give the letters here in chronological order. The appendix also contains a letter from one Dr Thomas Rowland, who details events in New Jersey and comments on the course of the war overall and the battle of Chancellorsville.

 Albany, [New York,] March 14th 1863 Dear Brother, Although you will be hardly expecting to hear from me so soon, while I have leisure I thought it advisable, to inform you of my luck & adventures in this city. I did not get further than Cape Vincent the day I left Kingston. The stage traveled so slow, by reason of the drifted road, that it missed the train. Consequently, I did not set out, until 5 o’clock [the] next morning, March 10th, arriving in Albany about 2 o’clock, the same day. This city being the seat of government of the State, I thought it prudent to make enquiries, before proceeding further. The result was, I found, that, those

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applying for commissions as assistant Surgeons could be admitted to examination immediately. This information obtained, I at once resolved to face the examination, & even should I fail I believed it would be at least a general exercise for me. The same afternoon, I obtained an interview with the Surgeon General of the State, where I was informed, that to obtain a commission, I should not only pass his examination, but I should be an md & Licentiate of the State. At the same time informing me there were two examiners or – Censors, as they are called, who granted certificates of qualification, to Students of foreign colleges. Nothing daunted, I presented myself, before the Senior of those gentlemen, a Dr Staats, who required me to appear before him at 9 o’clock, on the following evening March 11th when, he submitted me, to an oral examination in the branches of Chemistry & the Practice of Medicine, giving me a satisfactory certificate to his Colleague, a Dr McNaughton, provided, I should prove equally qualified in the other branches. I appeared before the latter Censors, at 9 o’clock, the following morning March 12th. He was an unyielding Scotchman, but a gentleman. After examining me successively in Anatomy, Materia Medica & Surgery, the result of which was he pronounced me satisfactory & signed my certificate, jointly with the other Censor. This certificate obtained for me a Diploma, or md, & a Licentiate of the State of New York. I might have now commenced Practice in any part of the North but while they thought me qualified for so doing, I preferred going to scout a little longer. I now lent my steps to the Surgeon General’s office in the State Arsenal, where I was shut up, watched, & submitted to a written examination including, all the medical branches. This examination, consisted of sixteen questions, some of which, one might have written upon ever since, provided they knew them, about a half of them I was well able to answer, & about the remainder, “enough said.” Suffice to say, after developing myself, in those I understood well, & attempting them all, of the writing for seven hours, I handed in my paper, & was told to call next day, March 13th for an answer. When those long hours had passed, I called & was notified, that I was found qualified, with a recommendation to Governor Seymour, for a commission as [an] assistant Surgeon, of the 108th Regt of New York Infantry. This document, now merely awaits the Governor’s signature, when I depart for the theatre of war I have

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no doubt, my examination here, will be commented upon in a sort of farce, my only answer to such persons is “let them try it.” For my own part, it will be long before those two days of trial, are [erased] from my memory. I may add for your information, that an Assistant Surgeon belongs to the Medical staff. His rank is that of a first Lieutenant. His pay is about $120 per month & if detailed on Hospital service, has no horse to furnish & if one is required it is fed by the government. If he requires servants, he is allowed pay for them, & has four rations a day & any allowances, he does not avail himself of the Government, gives him full credit for the same, & he draws their value in money, & I am told by those who have served, that there is no difficulty, in saving half the money viz $60. So now dear brother, seeing that I am about to go further, & perhaps stay longer, than I at first expected if my health be spared, you will be likely to see me next fall, even if it be on leave, you will hear from me at least monthly, & in the mean time be cheerful, as it avails naught to be otherwise, & if you must upon no pretext whatever think of leaving home. It is an imperative duty with you, as a Catholic, to remain with your sisters, & support your Mother in her declining years, & remember we all owe her a debt, that we never can repay, & for me, none of you [need] be concerned, or you should know I am in the same care everywhere I may go, for myself. I intend to pursue my destiny, courageously, with a firm hope in the world to come. I trust my behavior will be such under all circumstances that it will never shame you, & I would impress upon you, to remember, that there can be but one true misfortune, & that is to be at war, with the Author of all our happiness. No more at present, but once more Father, Mother, Brother, & Sisters & Cousins, an affectionate Good bye from your elder son, brother, & cousin Francis M. Wafer ps Saturday 6 o’clock, pm, Commissions, signed & accepted, uniform finished leave Albany at 9 o’clock for the Rappahannock, via New York, Philadelphia & Washington to join 108th Regt at camp near, Falmouth, Va, Adieu my northern home, Hurrah! For Dixie, fmw



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Camp near Falmouth March 25, 1863 Dear Brother, I left Albany on the same evening I wrote to you, & arrived in New York City [the] next morning [on] Sunday 15th. [With n]o train leaving for the south until [the] evening, I remained [in this] city that day & had the benefit & pleasure [of hearing] an excellent sermon, in the Cathedral. [In a] way [the Cathedral] seems to be the resort of the most [devoted] Catholics of New York where from the [entrance of the Cathedral I was] immediately conducted to a re[ar pew] by some ladies of the upper ten, I [understand that] officers were not often seen here. [I took the 7 o’clock train] south & arrived in Philadelphia [on the evening of March 15th] as I was tired from traveling the previous [day], it [was] advisable to rest until morning when [on March 16th I set off for Washing]ton where I arrived the same evening. [The next morning, March 17th was St] Patrick’s [Day but] business, unfortunately, prevented me from seeing how it was observed here, as I had to report myself for duty to the Surgeon General of the us Army & obtain a pass, from the Provost Marshal, to pass through the lines. This done I rested the remainder of the day & night, & left [the] next morning at 8 o Clock for the front by steamer, [on] the Potomac river as far as Acquia Creek Station, which is the base of operation of the army & through which they receive their supplies. The remainder of the journey 15 miles to Falmouth Station, within gunshot of Fredericksburg, was by Railroad right through the middle of the camp for [when] the train traveled slow, I had a fair opportunity to view the encampment & truly it is a sight to be remembered. [A] general description, the country is a succession of lofty hills, though not rocky. Those hills are intersected by deep ravines or gullies, through which generally runs a stream, or spring. In one of those vallies deeper than the others, runs the Rappahannock, an insignificant stream, not having the volume of the Gananoque river.1 [A]bout the sides of those hills & up to the very bank of the river, within speaking distance of the rebel pickets & over a space of about 15 miles square, was encamped the Army of the Potomac. [T]heir [camp] space is destitute of fences [and “the tramp of hundreds of thousands of feet ... had to a great extent obliterated the fields and farmlands.” They were] crossed, & cut up by roads [& the roads were crammed full] of baggage waggons, in every direction, ma[king it virtually im]possible to discover where the original

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[roads and fields were]. [Also] adding to this, the country is almost [barren] of all kinds of timber [for it was] used for huts & [shelters] during the winter. The houses [“had been burned or dismantled, with their farm buildings and outhouses. Those which had been preserved were often occupied by some officers or by some department of army work.”] [T]hose [families] who chose to [stay in the] ruins [“lived in extreme poverty, some glad to eke out an existence by rations supplied by the Union forces, or by washing the clothes of the soldiers encamped around them. Still harder, perhaps, was the condition of those living in the debatable land, subject in turn to the inroads of both the Union and Confederate Army” which could at any time make their houses] the headquarters of some general officer.2 I do not believe any [homes or farms] are destroyed, unless by accident, neither are orchards, cut down or destroyed [out of malice but rather out of necessity]. I soon arrive at Falmouth Station, & as the Regiment to which I am ordered lies 4 miles to the right, so I shoulder[ed] a carpet bag, (it being necessary to leave my trunk in Washington), & start[ed] on foot & enquire[ed] my way to the 108th [New York Infantry.] This is nothing [new] for I see the Colonel of [the] Regiment, who came out with me, doing the same thing as I walk[ed] over the hills to the right, Fredericksburg lies full in view bearing very few marks of the late dreadful fight except, a few shell holes, through some of the higher buildings, the little river looks as if one could wade through it but what a contrast each side of this little stream presents. On this side, whatever way one may look, the cluster of white tents appears, from nearly every eminence, floats the stars & stripes, while far & near, echoing through the hills comes the roll of drums mingled with crash of hundreds of brass bands, mellowed & softened, by distance, & upon every smooth piece of ground black masses of horses & footmen are drilling or doing picket duty. Upon the other side, the stars & bars, are nowhere to be seen, at least by the naked eye, not a tent & scarcely even a [horse but it is well] known, that upon any hostile demonstration [rebels will pour] from the ground in thousands, in fact it is [common knowledge that the Rebs have dug] into the sides of hills to form huts. [H]aving no [horse I] walk[ed to camp]. I arrived at the quarters of my Regiment [and immediately introduced] myself to Doctors Munson & Ely, the S[urgeon and the assistant] Surgeon & was hospitably received, by them [and by] the full number of Medical Staff

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also. The 108th were raised in Rochester at the second [calling by Lincoln] for 600000 more men. [It was mustered into service on August 10th, 1862] and [one month later] drilled to the field of Antietam where [the regiment first saw the elephant] though suffering scarcely [at Antietam] they have been in [the midst] of the fighting of Bolivar Heights & Fredericksburg, the consequence of which adding sickness, they are reduced to 400 effective men. Their present commander Col Powers, who has been promoted from Lieut [to] Colonel, [since] I c[a]me here, was born in Cobourg, C[anada] W[est]. I do not know his nationality or religion, but he seems to be a worthy officer. [F]our days ago, having some business to [conduct] with an officer, about a mile & a half from here, when I found I was in the vicinity of [General Thomas F.] Meagher’s celebrated Irish Brigade. Knowing they have a Catholic Chaplain, I resolved to make his acquaintance, at once, I soon found him the Rev Mr [William] Corby, making his pipe in his tent like a true soldier. He gave me an invitation to take dinner with him, which I accepted. He recounted to me with great satisfaction the sports they had in camp on St Patrick’s day consisting of horse, sack, foot, wheelbarrow & greased pig races, & also [mass] which was held in a chapel, tastefully formed of green boughs. This mass he told me was attended by many officers of the army, with many ladies, visiting their husbands at the time.3 He also recounted to me his experiences on the battlefield generally, & showed me the vestments presented to him for the occasion by the Regiment, which was the most valuable article of [clothing] I ever saw. The [vestment was a deep red and was, on the front, “richly embroidered with gold” in a] design consist[ing] of a vine [twined with flowers framing a gold cross beneath which was embroidered the letters ihs and on the back the flower twined vine was] surmounted by a lamb & cross all [embroidered in gold. The vestment was given by the regiment] with deep yielding [respect].4 My duty has been [rather light since I] came here. [W]hen the drum beats the [time of 7 o’]clock am, me & the other Assistant Surgeons [leave for the] hospital tents where we are met by [the hospital stewarts who depart] from their quarters every morning. [W]e [then tend to the patients] & the Hospital Stewarts, give them their medicines. [All totaled the rounds] lasts more than an hour. The Surgeon [in charge of the hospital spends most of his time] there in the regimental hospital [for we can] not tell how soon we may

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have busy times. [We are having] fine sunny weather, which will soon dry up the “[muddied] soil” so that the army can move. If you answer me promptly, I will be likely to receive it before we move, & [if] you hear of a battle, do not be alarmed at not hearing from me soon, as I may be too busy to write. Tent life agrees with me, as my health thank God, is rather improving every day. I am at present messing with the officers of the Medical staff, as they do not live so expensive[ly] as the field officers, most of them, receive contributions from home, which helps them much but of course I could not [rely on] any provisions from home, so far, at present. I wish I had brought a horse, even if it was expensive, for when we march I may feel the want of it, as it does not entail anymore expense for keeping this being deducted from our pay if we do not draw it. [T]he pay & ration of a servant is also allowed if we wish but I will, defer those affairs, until I become better established, you may write as often as you like. [My a]ddress [is] Francis M. Wafer, Asst Surgeon, 108th ny i Vols, Washington, dc. This address will bring it to camp. Yours, Francis M. Wafer

 Camden, nj, Aug 8th, 1863 Francis M. Wafer md Asst Surg 108th r ny Vol My dear Doctor: Excuse me for not writing an answer to your letter before this. I have just returned with my family from Blue Anchor, New Jersey where I have been spending part of the summer.5 I received your letter whilst there it having been forwarded to me by my Father. I hope that you have not had as warm weather as we have had and in fact it is pretty hot today though rain is threatening. I need not tell you that I was very much please[d] to hear from you for you are assured of that. I hope to have the pleasure of often hearing from you. You need not be surprised to hear of me coming back to the war really. I see nothing to do here and it will take a long time for me to get into a practice and I therefore think I may be with you once again. Do you often see Drs [Alvin] Satterthwaite and [Uriah] Gillman of the 12th nj? Give them my very best wishes by the by a lady called to see me this morning in relation to her husband his name was or is John F. Foster. He belonged to Capt [Charles K.]

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Horsfall’s Co of the 12th nj. She has not heard from him since the Battle of Chancellorsville only that he was missing. She called to see me for she thought he might have died in our hospitals. Will you mention the fact to Dr Satterthwaite? I think she will write to him in relation to the matter. Doc, I would like to pay you a visit but funds are scarce and Gold is so high you know as is also Green backs so high in fact that I can’t lay my hands on either. I have just finished writing a letter to Dr [William L.] Newell, our Surgeon. You remember him. He heard that I was going to return to the Army as [a] Surgeon, and he wanted me to give his friend Dr Soper a position as [an] Asst Surg. I believe I did not tell you in my previous letter that I lost all of my luggage. I had it between Washington & Philadelphia. I feel badly about it. I was not alone in my loss for 3 or 4 officers also lost theirs, the Quartermaster amongst the [bunch]. My pipe, the one that was made for me at the hospital, was in my valise. I would rather have that than any of the rest of the things lost. I was sorry to learn that you w[ere] in so much danger. I hope & trust that you will never get in as hot a place again but I am thankful to know that you got out safe & sound. Give my respects to Drs [Frederick J.] Owens & [Elias H.] Sabin when you see them also to Drs [Harry M.] McAbee & [Isaac] Scott, tell Dr McAbee I shall never forget him for his many kindnesses towards me also give my very best wishes to Dr [Alexander N.] Dougherty. I must say that I was very kindly treated by all the Surgeons I had [and] I in anyway became connected with whilst with the 2d Corps. I hope you may be as fortunate. I hope you hear regularly from your family and that they are all in good health and spirits for nothing made me so cheerful whilst in the army as to hear from home regularly. There is nothing new here at present. We are looking anxiously every day for news that Charleston[, South Carolina] is ours. I feel pretty confident that it will fall this time and no mistakes. The draft is complete in Philadelphia and no rioting. There will be no drafting in New Jersey for some time as the State is trying to make up her quota by volunteers. I hope that we will succeed, for it will be a proud thing for little Jersey if she can do so. Jersey City is paying a bounty of $850 to those who have been in service and will reenlist enough almost for a man to buy a house to give his wife, before he starts. Every thing is quiet and Copperheadism is below par. God grant that Meade will give the Rebs another dressing like the last and then we will

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look for Peace Soon. Excuse this scrawl. Dinner is ready. Hoping to hear from you soon believe me to remain truly yours, Thomas G. Rowand

 Hd Qrs 108th ny Vols Morton’s Ford Va Feb 29th 64 Dear Brother I once more address you from my tent in the 108th. Arrived yesterday at 5 pm safe & cheerful but somewhat travel weary but hope to rec[over] after a few days rest in this genial climate & the pure atmosphere of a tent. Found all well & pleased to see me except Mrs Grassie who was much disappointed as well as vexed because I did not fulfill my promise viz to bring Mrs Wafer, on to keep her company.6 Have heard Col Pierce is doing well at Rochester. Found on my arrival, a package addressed to me containing a beautiful new pair of cream colored Gants, a superb pair reaching halfway to my elbows, worth $5 five dollars. [I c]an’t say who is the donor, but suspect Col Pierce. But if the officers of the 108th don’t cease to shower so much kindness & attention upon your big brother, the chances are, they will spoil him yet. I left the Cape at 7 pm, the same evening I parted you, took a berth in a sleeping car at Watertown, being in much need of rest. Next morning 26th at daybreak, the Conductor shook us all in succession crying out at the same time “Albany.” After a due amount of groaning & grunting I rolled out of my berth, had got into one boot & was trying on the other stooping forward head to the front of the car, when all at once, the whole train with a vast amount of clanking, rumbling jolting & grinding came to a dead halt. The immediate consequences as far as regards myself were rather ludicrous. Forward went I head first, like an indignant sheep going into action, with a will, making a rear attack upon some individual, in nearly the same position as myself. When I last saw him, he was still going at a highly accelerated speed towards the front of the car apparently with the intention of retaliating upon the first one he met or ramming the whole end out of the car. Nobody hurt or frightened badly. The tender & passenger car, immediately in front of the one in which I was had run off the track, at the intersection of a siding within a mile of Albany. Some proposed to walk to the city, but after considering that we would lose the first train to New York, anyhow most of us

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decided to remain, until taken off. Luckily in the course of an hour, a train came down, & removed us. I left Albany at 9.30 am, arriving in New York, [the] same evening, crossed over the ferry to Jersey City & took the 7.30 train for the south. Took a sleeping berth, & knew nothing of what was passing until I arrived in Washington at sunrise on the 27th. When I left Albany, snow was falling & the air sharp & biting. At New York, cold & windy, but no snow, opened my eyes at Washington & found lovely spring weather, dust flying in clouds. I now write this in my open tent, no fire in my stove, neither have I the least inclination to have a fire made, so mild is the weather. But believe me this very fine weather, makes us feel little at ease, because we all know it is an excellent time for campaigning, & I may venture to predict it will soon be taken advantage of. Look out for stirring news before long. In the mean time none of you must be downcast at my long absence for such feelings, cannot in any way benefit me or you. I believe I shall be enabled to master all feeling of regret on my part although I have had to bear more than any of you as you will readily understand. Because each of you had to part with but one friend. While I leave Parents, Brother, & Sisters not only but many affectionate cousins & acquaintances, some of whom showered, many unfeigned signs of affection, friendship & regret at my departure, where I did not know before, such feeling existed. With all that a son & brother can feel regarding you all, I remain ever yours in affection Francis Moses Wafer, md ps Respecting the due in which Mr Gowe asserts there is an error. You will compare it with former deeds, & try to discern any discrepancy. If any exist it will be the duty of [James] Durand to correct them. You must be on your guard, for fraud. Ask Mr H[enry] Smith whether it is legal for me to sign the deed if sent to me by mail. fmw

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amiet, c arl v. Amiet enlisted on 18 July 1862 in Company i of the 108th New York Infantry for a term of three years. He was promoted to second lieutenant on 9 September 1862 and died at Gettysburg at the rank of first lieutenant.1 andrews, william h. Andrews, along with six other soldiers, left the 108th New York for Rochester, New York, on 12 February 1864 to recruit one hundred new members. Andrews remained in Rochester through May of 1864, missing the battle of the Wilderness. On 14 May 1864, he received orders to return to his regiment.2 arms, irving. Arms, a native of Middleville, Michigan, sustained wounds at the Battle of Chancellorsville. He died in action at Bristoe Station on 14 October 1863. However, according to at least one veteran, the unlucky man killed at the Battle of Bristoe Station was actually Charles Kenyon of Company k. Wafer and the Rochester Daily Union & American state that Irving Arms was the one mortality. Kenyon’s Civil War service record reveals that he enlisted at the age of twenty-seven on 16 August 1862 in Company k of the 108th New York. He apparently deserted sometime thereafter. Arms’s Civil War service records indicated that Wafer was correct.3 arner, thomas. Arner enlisted on 28 August 1862 to serve three years as an assistant surgeon to the 108th New York. He was “very popular in the

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regi[ment] and [had] many friends.” Generally regarded as a “hard worker,” the regiment was sorry to lose him when he was medically discharged on 13 January 1863.4 baker, dr. There is no evidence to support Wafer’s contention that a Dr Baker served as a surgeon in the 24th New York Infantry. bloss, william w. Bloss, an abolitionist, helped recruit Company a of the 108th New York Infantry in July of 1862. At the battle of Antietam, Bloss “received a buckshot wound in the face, destroying the right cartilage of the nose, and lacerating the lips and chin.” He recovered and rejoined the regiment at Bolivar Heights but “his health was too seriously shattered” for him to continue and he was mustered out on 14 March 1863 at the rank of second lieutenant. Bloss died on 3 September 1892 at Woodland Park, Illinois.5 bronson, george. Bronson was a resident of New Haven, Connecticut, until he enlisted in the 12th Connecticut on 31 October 1861. He died of wounds received at Chancellorsville.6 brownley, charles. Brownley was a neighbour of Wafer’s in Pittsburgh Township, Canada West, and a colleague at the medical college of Queen’s Univeristy. On 2 September 1861, Brownley enlisted in Company k of the 61st New York Infantry for a term of three years. Wounded in action at Antietam, his service record claims he died of his wounds in October of 1862. Clearly, Brownley’s death was recorded in error as Wafer reveals that Brownley transferred to the 6th New York Cavalry and the two men met again in 1864.7 cox, bryce a. On 18 August 1862, Cox enlisted for three years with Company c of the 108th New York. On 1 January 1863, he was promoted to first lieutenant and transferred to Company e. After he was injured at Antietam, Cox was granted a pass for a leave of absence. He was captured and charged with desertion on 3 April 1863 for altering his pass. Cox was dishonourably discharged and died in 1894.8 c ard, dayton t. Born on 22 July 1838 at Seneca Falls, New York, Card abandoned his career as a printer to enlist in Company h of the 108th New York for a three-year term. He fought at Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville and died at Gettysburg while defending Cemetery Hill on

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3 July 1863. He was “struck by a piece of shell in the breast, tearing it open, and carrying away a portion of his face.” At the time of his death, Card was the father of four small children and held the rank of second lieutenant.9 clow, henry j. A native of Hamlin, New York, Clow enlisted as a private in Company b of the 108th New York on 29 July 1862 at the age of eighteen. Due to the wounds he sustained at Chancellorsville and Morton’s Ford, he was discharged on 30 January 1865 while recovering at Lincoln General Hospital in Washington, dc.10 corby, william. Born in Detroit on 2 October 1833, Corby graduated from Notre Dame University in 1859 and accepted a professorship. He resigned his professorship to enter the Union army and served as chaplain of the Irish Brigade. He is best known for addressing the troops at Gettysburg. Following the war, he returned to Notre Dame University as vicepresident and was promoted to president in 1866. Corby died on 28 December 1897 of pneumonia.11 deverell, joseph. On 9 August 1862 at the age of thirty, Deverell enlisted for a three-year term with Company k of the 108th New York. In 1864 he was sent to Elmira, New York, to recruit men for the unit. On 12 April 1864, he was ordered to rejoin his unit. Deverell was wounded during the battle of Cold Mountain on 3 June 1864. On 11 October 1864 he was discharged due to his injury.12 dickson, charles. Dickson served as a hospital attendant for the 108th New York. A Confederate bullet ended his life instantly at the battle of the Wilderness. His family attempted to recover his body from a shipment of dead to Rochester only to discover that his regiment had been unable to recover his body as the Confederates had taken possession of the field. The family decided to erect a headstone in Rochester’s Mount Hope Cemetery. “Only the second line of his epitaph is discernible, which reads: ‘The form of our Charlie is sleeping’.”13 doten, frederick b. Until his enlistment on 1 August 1862 in the 14th Connecticut Volunteers, Doten, a native of Sheffield, Massachusetts, resided in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He was captured at the battle of Morton’s Ford and sent, along with six of his men, to Libby prison. He was released from military service on 1 May 1865 and spent the remainder of

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his life as a bank teller for the First National Bank of Chicopee, Massachusetts. Doten died on 9 April 1903.14 dougherty, alexander n. Dougherty enrolled in the 4th New Jersey Infantry on 17 August 1861 and was mustered out on 20 October 1865. He served as medical director of the Second Corps until his transfer to the Right Grand Division on 5 December 1862 where he served as medical director. He returned to the Second Corps in his previous capacity in 1863.15 duc achet, h.w. Ducachet served as “the medical officer in charge of the Officer’s Hospital in Georgetown.” He was later transferred to “Surgeon-in-Chief of the garrison of Washington.” He died of typhoid pneumonia on 11 October 1865 in Georgetown.16 dudley, frederick a. Dudley, an antebellum resident of New Haven, Connecticut, enlisted on 11 August 1862 and was mustered out on 31 May 1865. He served as a surgeon from April 1863 until he was wounded and captured at Gettysburg on 3 July 1863. He was paroled on 14 January 1865 and mustered out on 31 May 1865 along with his regiment.17 durant, james. Durant served as the Frontenac County registrar and served the City of Kingston, Canada West, from his offices on King Street.18 dutton, william. Dutton enlisted on 18 August 1862 for three years with Company d of the 108th New York. On 1 June 1863, he was promoted to first lieutenant. Wounded at Petersburg on 20 June 1864, doctors sent him to De Camp General Hospital on David’s Island, New York. He died of his wounds on 19 July 1864.19 dwinelle, justin. Dwinelle mustered in on 28 June 1861 as one of the 71st Pennsylvania Infantry’s assistant surgeons. He transferred to the 106th Pennsylvania Infantry in September of 1861. He was promoted to surgeon and served until 10 September 1864 at which time he was mustered out alongside a portion of his regiment.20 ellerbeck, robert e. Born in Canada, most likely in Kingston, Canada West, Ellerbeck enlisted in the 27th New York Infantry, Company e on 21 May 1861 in Rochester. He was discharged on 1 October 1861 because

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of a hernia. He re-enlisted in the 6th New York Cavalry on 24 October 1861 and was promoted from first sergeant to captain of Company g on 27 October 1862. He was absent without leave for July and August of 1863. The war department restored Ellerbeck’s command on 14 September 1863. He was captured during the battle of White Oak Swamp and imprisoned by the Confederacy.21 ellis, theodore grenville. Ellis, an antebellum resident of Hartford, Connecticut, gave up his profession as a civil engineer and enlisted in the 14th Connecticut Regiment on 18 June 1863. Following Lieutenant Colonel Perkins’s injury at the battle of Fredericksburg, Ellis took over command of the regiment. Over the course of the war, he rose to the rank of brigadier general and was mustered out on 31 May 1865.22 ely, william smith. Born in 1841, Ely graduated from the University of Rochester in 1861. He enlisted in the 108th New York as an assistant surgeon on 18 August 1862 for a term of three years. He served the regiment until September of 1863 when he was promoted to surgeon of the us Volunteers and assigned to Maryland’s Annapolis Hospital. On 20 January 1865 Ely was promoted to the rank of major and mustered out on 7 October 1865. In the postwar era, he became a renowned expert on tuberculosis. Ely died in 1911 and is buried in Rochester’s Mount Hope Cemetery.23 evans, robert. At the age of twenty-nine Evans abandoned his antebellum career as a miller to enlist for a term of three years in Company c of the 108th New York. At the time of his death at Gettysburg, he held the rank of second sergeant.24 fatzer, solomon. A native of Switzerland, Fatzer enlisted at the age of thirty-five on 31 July 1862 in Company i of the 108th New York for a term of three years. He remustered on 22 April 1864 and was promoted to second lieutenant on 18 May 1864 with rank from 3 July 1863. He was captured on 18 June 1864, paroled in March 1865, and granted a thirty-day leave of absence. Fatzer mustered out of military service on 17 May 1865 at the rank of first lieutenant.25 fee, samuel h. Born in Kingston, Canada West, in 1843, Fee was a classmate of Wafer’s at the medical college of Queen’s University. Fee graduated on 17 June 1862 and set up private practice at 94 Princess Street in Kingston.26

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f e l l m a n , j o h n r . Fellman enlisted on 14 July 1862 for a term of three years with Company i of the 108th New York. Due to his injury at Gettysburg, Fellman was honourably discharged on 22 April 1864. He spent the remainder of the war attached to the Veteran Reserve Corps.27 field, charles e. Field worked as a tinsmith before the war. He mustered into the 108th New York on 31 July 1862 at the age of twenty-two. He served as a private in Company b until he mustered out on 28 May 1865.28 force, george b. Born in New Jersey in 1831, Force moved to Michigan in 1858. When war erupted, he helped raise the 13th Michigan Volunteers. He was honourably discharged in 1862 due to illness. In August 1862 he enlisted in the 108th New York for a three-year term. He died of his wounds at the Battle of Antietam and became the first officer in the 108th to die in battle.29 foster, john f. A member of Company e of the 12th New Jersey Infantry, he died on the field at Chancellorsville on 3 May 1863.30 franklins. Charles and Isabella Franklin farmed on the third concession, lot fourteen, of Pittsburgh Township, Canada West. They had six children. The three that Wafer refers to are Charles, born in 1835, Joseph, born in 1840, and Catherine, nicknamed Kitty, born in 1844. The Wafers and the Franklins were related through Wafer’s mother’s family, the McLaughlins.31 gilman, uriah. Gilman enrolled in the 12th New Jersey on 20 August 1862 and served as an assistant surgeon until he was mustered out 4 June 1865.32 gowe, mr Gowe’s identity is unknown but, based on the context in which Wafer referred to him, he was likely a banker or some form of financial officer in the city of Kingston, Canada West. graham, john l. A native of Ireland, Graham enlisted on 28 July 1862 at the age of twenty-two to serve a term of three years with Company k of the 108th New York. He was promoted to second lieutenant on 19 February 1863. Following his injury at Gettysburg, he was honourably discharged on 14 November 1863.33

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grassie, thomas g. Born in Kildruming, Scotland, on 29 November 1831, Grassie moved to America in 1841. He joined the Army of the Potomac in February of 1863 and “was elected chaplain about April 1st, in place of Rev. James Nichols, who had been compelled by sickness to resign.” Grassie was mustered in on 1 May 1863 and faithfully served the 108th New York until his “discharge in January 1865, because of disease of his right eye, induced by malaria fever contracted on an expedition of the regiment to Deep Bottom.”34 hadley, alfred b. A native of Ovid, New York, Hadley enlisted at the age of eighteen on 22 July 1862. At the time of his injury at Gettysburg, he held the rank of sergeant. On 15 February 1865, he was transferred and promoted from Company e of the 108th New York to second lieutenant of Company b. He mustered out, along with his unit, in May of 1865.35 hammond, william alexander. Born in Annapolis, Maryland, on 28 August 1828, Hammond obtained a medical degree from New York University in 1848 and served as an assistant surgeon in the us army until 1860. In 1860 he resigned in order accept a teaching position at the University of Maryland. In 1862 General McClellan appointed Hammond surgeon general of the Union army at the rank of brigadier general. Hammond’s plans for revitalizing the Army Medical Corps repeatedly clashed with those of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Stanton managed to have Hammond dismissed from the military on charges of “ungentlemanly conduct.” Until his death in 1900 Hammond served as a distinguished doctor and “pioneer in the treatment of nervous and mental diseases.”36 harris, joseph s. Harris mustered into the 108th New York Infantry on 18 August 1862 at the age of sixty-two. He served as quartermaster from 1862 until he resigned on 11 January 1864 to join the second army corps.37 hays, joshua l. Born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, on 6 May 1880, Hays enlisted in the 14th Indiana Infantry, Company a, as a Corporal but rose to the rank of captain. He was wounded at Antietam and Gettysburg. Hays died on 20 March 1911 following an illness.38 hays, alexander. Hays, a native of Franklin, Pennsylvania, graduated from West Point in 1844 at the age of twenty-five. He served in the

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Mexican-American War and resigned from the military in 1848 to pursue a career in the iron industry. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Hays re-enlisted at the rank of colonel but was soon promoted to brigadier general of volunteers. He commanded at Gettysburg even though he was still recovering from a severe wound received at Second Manassas. He was killed by a Confederate sharpshooter on the morning of 5 May 1864 during the battle of the Wilderness.39 hays, william. Born on 9 May 1819 in Richmond, Virginia, Hays graduated from West Point in 1840 along with William T. Sherman, George H. Thomas, and Richard S. Ewell. He served in the Mexican-American and Seminole wars. Following the battle of Fredericksburg, he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers. Captured at Chancellorsville, he was paroled in time to command at Gettysburg. He spent the remainder of his life in the military. He died in February of 1875.40 hickey, william. Hickey’s identity is unknown. Judging by the context in which Wafer referred to him, he was likely a friend, neighbour, or cousin of Wafer’s in the Kingston area of Canada West. hogoboom, harman s. Born in Arcadia, New York, on 12 August 1834, Hogoboom graduated from law school in 1859. He was mustered into the 108th New York on 29 July 1862 and acquired the rank of major on 2 March 1863. He served at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg but was discharged on 7 August 1863 due to medical issues. In the postwar period, he moved west and engaged in mining and farming.41 horsfall, charles k. Horsfall enrolled in Company e of the 12th New Jersey Infantry on 22 August 1862 and died on the field at Gettysburg on 2 July 1863.42 hutchinson, franklin b. Born 31 July 1837 in Pennfield, New York, Hutchinson graduated from the University of Rochester in 1862. He served as second lieutenant of Company h of the 108th New York at Antietam and the Wilderness before becoming the paymaster. He spent the postwar era as a lawyer until his death in Rochester on 6 June 1919.43 ingalls, r ufus. Born 23 August 1818 in Denmark, Maine, Ingalls graduated from West Point in 1843 and served in the Mexican-American

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War. During the Civil War he served as chief quartermaster to the Army of the Potomac. In the postwar era, he served sixteen years as chief quartermaster to the Division of the Pacific and the Division of the Missouri. He retired fifteen months after his appointment as quartermaster general of the army in 1882 and died in New York City on 15 January 1893.44 kenleyside, john. A native of Scotland, Kenleyside worked as a carpenter before the war. In his nineteenth year, he enlisted as a substitute for L.E. Moore in Rochester, New York, on 20 July 1862 to serve three years in Company g of the 108th New York. In return for his service, he received a bounty of twenty-five dollars and “a suit of rubber clothing.” He mustered out on 31 December 1862 near Falmouth, Virginia, and was transferred to Company e on 13 February 1863. At the time of his death at Cold Harbor, he held the rank of second lieutenant.45 kernehans. Given the context in which Wafer refers to them, the Kernehans were likely friends, neighbours, or cousins of Wafer’s in the Kingston area of Canada West. kevins, e.h. Born in Green County, Indiana, on 16 April 1832, Kevins worked as a lawyer and politician in Bloomfield, Indiana. He enlisted in Company d of the 14th Indiana Volunteer Infantry in May of 1861. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 22 January 1863 and served until the battle of the Wilderness when he was reassigned as adjutant general of the Southern Division of the State of Indiana. Kevins died on 9 September 1909.46 kilpatrick, judson. A native of Deckertown, New Jersey, Kilpatrick graduated from West Point in May of 1861 at the age of twenty-five and immediately enlisted in the 5th New York Infantry at the rank of captain. He was wounded at the battle of Big Bethel and by June of 1863 had risen through the ranks to brigadier general of volunteers. In April of 1864, he was wounded during the opening of the Atlanta campaign but returned to witness the surrender of General Joseph Johnston’s army. He resigned his commission in 1865. He was appointed minister to Chile and died at his post in Santiago on 4 December 1881.47 knapp, theodore e. Knapp enlisted on 4 August 1862 for three years of service in Company b of the 108th New York. He was wounded at Antietam on 17 September 1862 but recovered. He was promoted to first

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lieutenant and transferred to Company k on 9 June 1864. His wound of February 1865 healed and he was promoted to captain. Knapp mustered out with his unit on 25 May 1865.48 maccullough, alex. Other than that he served in Company j of the 108th and died of wounds received at Chancellorsville, little is know of MacCullough. maull, david w. Born in Georgetown, Delaware, on 16 May 1863, Maull graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1853 and established a joint practice with his father in Wilmington, Delaware. He enlisted in the 1st Delaware Infantry, Company g in May 1861 and served until August 1861. He re-enlisted for three years and served as a surgeon until his promotion to surgeon in chief in 1864. During his time with the regiment, he “won the highest respect and affection of the men of the regiment” due to “his tender devotion” and “his prompt willingness to sacrifice his own personal ease and comfort to relieve suffering.” He resigned his position on 20 April 1865. In the postwar era, he served as the chief examining surgeon for Union pensioners. He died on 22 February 1896 and was buried at Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery in Wilmington, Delaware.49 m cabee, harry m. Born on 12 May 1827 in Pennsylvania, McAbee graduated from Cleveland’s medical college in 1857. He served as a surgeon for the 4th Ohio from 1 May 1861 until 16 September 1863. He was killed in a railroad accident near Cleveland, Ohio, in 1864.50 m ccormick, cyr us. The son of a renowned inventor, McCormick was born in Virginia on 15 February 1809. His early life was spent farming and observing his father’s inventing skill. In 1831 McCormick combined the two and invented a reaper, which, after a number of refinements, revolutionized American agriculture. Due to age and inclination, McCormick did not serve in the war but witnessed it nevertheless. His comments on the superiority of the monarchy may have derived from his 1851 visit to the industrial exhibition at London’s Crystal Palace. McCormick died in 1884 leaving a vast estate, a legacy of ingenuity, and a son to carry on the tradition.51 m cdonald, a.d.j. A lawyer from Kingston, Canada West, McDonald enlisted on 23 July 1862 in Company c of the 108th New York. An injury received at Gettysburg prevented him from serving his three-year term.

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He was honourably discharged on 21 November 1863 at the rank of first lieutenant.52 m ckinley, james a. Born in Kingston, Canada West, in 1836, McKinley moved to Oswego, New York. He enlisted on 11 September 1862 for a three-year term with Company i of the 147th New York Infantry. He served as first lieutenant until his promotion to captain on 25 October 1863. He was mustered out on 7 June 1865 near Washington, dc.53 m claughlin, william and charley. William and Charley McLaughlin were, given the context in which Wafer mentions them, most likely his cousins through his mother’s side of the family. m cnaughton, james. Born in Kenmore, Scotland, in 1796, McNaughton graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh in 1816. The following year he moved to Albany, New York. In 1828 he joined the Albany County Medical Society and served as the organization’s president from 1848 until 1849. From 1840 until his death, he served as a professor of theory and practice at Albany Medical College and from 1869 until his death as the institution’s president. McNaughton died in Paris in 1874 of a heart attack.54 munson, owen. Munson served as an assistant surgeon to the 5th New York Infantry. He was captured at Saratoga Station in October of 1861 and paroled. He enlisted in the 108th New York on 17 February 1863 as a contract surgeon but due to ill health was forced to resign. He was honourably discharged on 30 April 1864. He died on 21 May 1868 in Washington, dc.55 newell, william l. Newell enrolled in the 24th New Jersey Infantry as a surgeon on 16 September 1862 and was mustered out on 29 June 1863.56 nichols, james. At the age of fifty, Nichols, or Nicholson as Wafer calls him, enlisted on 18 August 1862 to serve a three-year term as a chaplain of the 108th New York. Due to illness, however, he was discharged on 14 March 1863.57 ostrander, dwight h. Ostrander enlisted on 18 June 1862 for a three-year term with Company a of the 108th New York. He was promoted

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from private to sergeant on 20 November 1862, to second lieutenant on 6 February 1863, to first lieutenant on 1 May 1863, and to captain on 25 July 1864. Ostrander was wounded in action at Hatcher’s Run on 27 October 1864 and discharged on 17 April 1865 due to his injuries. He died on 2 November 1910 in Texas.58 owens, frederick j. Owens, a native of Vernon, Delaware, served an assistant surgeon for the 1st Delaware Infantry from 8 May 1863 until August 1864.59 owens, joshua t. A native of Wales, Owens moved to America in 1830 at the age of nine. He served in the Pennsylvania legislature from 1857 until 1859. He enlisted as a colonel and was quickly promoted through the ranks to brigadier general of volunteers in November 1862. Controversy surrounded his failure at Cold Harbor and he was mustered out in July of 1864. In the postwar era, he dabbled in law as well as journalism until his death in 1887.60 palmer, oliver h. Born on 5 October 1814 at Walworth, New York, Palmer was a lawyer during the antebellum era. On 28 July 1862, he entered Company f of the 108th New York at the rank of colonel. Due to his ill health, Palmer “asked to be relieved of his command ... and on the 6th of March, 1863 he took leave of his regiment.” Palmer succumbed to pneumonia on 2 February 1884.61 palmer, richard h. Palmer originally served as a hospital steward with the 170th New York Infantry. He enlisted as an assistant surgeon in the 10th New York Infantry on 30 April 1864 at the age of forty-eight. He died of disease in Brooklyn, New York, on 4 December 1864.62 pierce, francis e. Born in Fowlerville, New York, Pierce graduated from Rochester University in 1859 and spent much of the antebellum era as a teacher and administrator. In July 1862 he helped raise the 108th New York. With Powers’s resignation, Pierce was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 2 March 1863. At the battle of Morton’s Ford, he lost his left eye to a Confederate bullet but resumed command at the battle of the Wilderness.63 pinkerton, frank. Pinkerton enlisted in the 12th New York Infantry on 10 November 1861 at the age of thirty-one. He was charged with deser-

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tion in 1862. The situation was sorted out as he clearly fought and lost an arm in 1863.64 porter, samuel. Born on 16 August 1843 in Rochester, Porter enlisted in Company f of the 108th New York on 9 August 1862. He rose from the rank of second lieutenant to brevet-major by April 1865. He was wounded at Antietam, Gettysburg, Bristoe Station, and the Wilderness. He was mustered out on 28 May 1865 and died of a malaria-related illness on 7 March 1881.65 powers, charles j. A native of Coburg, Canada West, on 7 June 1833, Powers moved to the United States at the age of fifteen. He completed his education at the University of Toronto and Harvard College. Up until the war, he worked as a lawyer in Rochester and enlisted in the 13th New York Infantry. He proved himself at the Battle of Bull Run and with the formation of the 108th in 1862 was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel. Powers commanded troops at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Bristoe Station, and Mine Run among other important battles. He was disabled at the battle of the Wilderness when a bullet ruined his left arm. He continued his military career following the war and rose to the rank of brevetted major general. He died on 27 August 1882 and is buried in Rochester’s Mount Hope Cemetery.66 quackenbush, john van pelt. Born into an affluent New York family in 1819, Quackenbush spent his youth reading and studying. He graduated from William College in 1838 and Albany Medical College in 1842. Quackenbush served as secretary for the Medical Society of New York State in 1847 and president from 1852–53. In 1857 he joined the faculty at Albany Medical College as a specialist in midwifery and female diseases. He served as surgeon general of New York from 1863 to 1865. In the postwar, period he continued to be an active medical practitioner until his death in 1876.67 richardson. Richardson was a frequent visitor to the camps of the 108th New York Infantry. He was arrested in Frederick City after it was discovered that he had “sketches of the route the Union army wagon train was to move” in his boot. These sketches were to be delivered to Jeb Stuart. Richardson was hanged and “[c]uriosity seekers ... clipp[ed] off his garments until the body was entirely nude.”68

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ristow, frederich. A native of Germany, Ristow enlisted on 17 July 1862 at the age of twenty-one. He died on 19 May 1863 at a hospital near Potomac Creek of wounds he received at Chancellorsville on 3 May 1864.69 rowland, thomas g. Rowland enrolled as an assistant-surgeon in the 12th and 24th New Jersey Infantry on 16 September 1862. Following the battle of Chancellorsville, Rowland was “detailed for service at the Potomac Creek Hospital” but return to his regiment upon their move to Washington in early June of 1862. He was mustered out on 29 June 1863.70 royce, mr and mrs. The Royces were most likely John and his wife, Maggie, who were innkeepers in Kingston, Canada West.71 r uffin, thomas. Ruffin spent the antebellum era involved in the legal profession and in politics at the local and national levels. With the outbreak of war, he left the United States Congress in favour of the Confederate Congress. He enlisted in the 1st North Carolina Infantry and was mortally wounded at Bristoe Station; he died a prisoner of war on 13 October 1863.72 sabin, elias h. Sabin served an assistant surgeon in the 14th Connecticut Infantry until October of 1863.73 satterthwaite, alvin . Satterthwaite transferred from the 7th New York Infantry to the 12th New Jersey Infantry on 19 July 1862. He served as the regiment’s surgeon from September 1862 until he was mustered out on 4 June 1865.74 scott, isaac. Scott, a native of Parkersburgh, West Virginia, served as the 7th West Virginia Infantry’s surgeon until December 1864.75 sleeper, j. henry. A native of Boston, Sleeper enlisted at the age of twenty-three as a first lieutenant in the 1st Massachusetts. He was recognized for his bravery at First Bull Run and was quickly promoted. He was mustered into the 10th Massachusetts Battery on 22 September 1862 and took command of the regiment on 1 October 1862. He was wounded at Reams Station. On 27 February 1865 he resigned his commission as a brevet major and returned to civilian life. He died on 10 August 1891.76

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smith, henry. Smith was a barrister with offices located at the corner of Union and College streets in Kingston, Canada West.77 smith, henry b. A farmer from Chili, New York, Smith enlisted in Company h of the 108th New York for a three-year term beginning on 12 August 1862. He was wounded at Gettysburg. Smith was discharged with the rank of sergeant on 9 August 1864 due to the injury he sustained at Mine Run.78 smyth, thomas a. Born on 25 December 1832 in Cork County, Ireland, Smyth settled in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1858. With the outbreak of war, he joined the 24th Pennsylvania Volunteers. At the end of ninety days, he was mustered out of the 24th and promptly joined the 1st Delaware. He fought at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Auburn Mills, Bristoe Station, Hatcher’s Run, Ream’s Station, and Farmville where he was mortally wounded on 7 April 1865. He died early on the morning of the ninth and has the dubious distinction of being “the last general officer killed in the war.”79 soper, Dr. Soper’s identity is unknown as there is no record of a Dr Soper in the Union army. spalter, frank j. Spalter initially enlisted in the 4th Ohio Infantry and served from 5 June 1861 until 31 December 1862. He re-enlisted in the 4th Battalion of the Ohio Infantry.80 spinola, fransico b. Born on Long Island, New York, on 19 March 1821, Spinola was one of the few Union generals with no antebellum military experience. Spinola spent the antebellum period mired in politics. He served at the local, state, and national levels and was among the delegates at the 1860 Democratic National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina. In return for recruiting four regiments, he was promoted to brigadier general on 2 October 1862. He recovered from his wound at Manassas Gap. With the reorganization of the Army of the Potomac, Spinola was relieved of duty and resigned on 8 June 1865. He returned to his political ambitions and spent three terms as a member of Congress. He died early in his third term in 1890.81 staats, barent p. A descendant of one of New York’s founding families, Staats was born in 1796 in Rensselaer County. He spent most of his

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life in medicine and politics. He served as treasurer of the Albany County Medical Society in 1824, vice-president in 1829, and president from 1834 to1836 and was honoured in 1867 for being one of its oldest members. He also served as an alderman in Albany as well as mayor from 1842 to 1843. He died in 1871 and was remembered as having “generous sympathies, and strong attachments; strong sense of justice, and strict temperance.”82 stephenson, robert. Born in 1806, Stephenson returned to Ireland following the war.83 stevenson, christopher f. Little is know of Stevenson. He apparently served in both the 6th New Jersey Infantry and the 8th New Jersey as a corporal. sullivan, john s. The regiment that Sullivan was attached to seems to be under debate. While Wafer clearly states that it was the 7 West Virginia, Samuel Fiske states with equal clarity that Sullivan was a member of the 14th Indiana Infantry.84 thomas, george h. Born into a slaveholding family in Southampton, Virginia, in July of 1816, Thomas graduated from West Point in 1840 alongside William T. Sherman. Thomas opted, against his family’s wishes, to join the Union. He commanded Union forces at Bull Run, Shiloh, and Corinth, as well as at Chickamauga and during the Atlanta campaign. He continued his military career after the war, resigning in 1869. He died the following year due to a stroke induced by an earthquake.85 thrasher, byron p. Other than that he was a member of the 108th and died of wounds received at Chancellorsville, little is known of him. vanhorns. By 1863 the Vanhorn family operated three farms in Pittsburgh Township, Canada West. William, Sr, and Elizabeth operated the original family farm on the third concession, lot fourteen, where they raised fourteen children. At the time of Wafer’s letter, their sons John and William were also farming. John farmed lot fifteen on the third concession of Pittsburgh Township while William farmed lot fourteen on the first concession.86 vaughn, george w. Vaughn was born in 1840 in Northumberland County, Canada West. It is unlikely that Wafer knew that Vaughn was Canadian, given Wafer’s habit of identifying his fellow compatriots.87

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whitbeck, john . Whitbeck was a founding member of the Rochester Medical Society and served as the organization’s president from 1853 to 1859 and again with the organization’s resurrection in 1866. Whitbeck enlisted on 18 August 1862 at the rank of surgeon. He served at Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville, but “after less than a year’s service” he “tender[ed] his resignation on account of sickness.” Generally regarded as “unfeeling and unsympathetic,” Whitbeck was not well liked by the regiment. He was discharged on 6 January 1863 and died in Rochester, New York, in 1880.88 willard, sylvester d. Born in Wilton, Connecticut, on 19 June 1825, Willard graduated from Albany Medical College in 1848. From 1857 to his death, he served as secretary of the Medical Society of New York State, vice-president from 1856 to 1857, and president in 1858. Willard was a prolific pamphlet writer and medical advocate. During the war he volunteered his medical skills to the Army of the Potomac. In 1864 the surgeon general of New York appointed Willard to investigate the status of mental health patients in the State of New York. Although he died of typhoid on 2 April 1865, Willard’s Law, which passed in 1865, articulated his ideas about mental health. The law established a lunatic asylum in Utica, New York. The Willard Asylum for the Insane opened in 1869.89 willet, thomas. Oulette was born in 1820 in Canada East. When he enlisted as a chaplain in the 69th New York Infantry on 10 November 1861, Union officials anglicized his name to Willet. He resigned on 25 December 1862 only to re-enlist on 13 February 1864. He mustered out with his regiment on 30 June 1865 near Alexandria, Virginia. Given Wafer’s penchant for identifying other Canadians, it is unlikely that he was aware of Willet’s nativity.90 williams, marvin. Williams enlisted on 9 August 1862 for a threeyear term in Company h of the 108th New York. On 2 December 1862, he transferred to the 136th New York Infantry.91 woodr uff, george a. Born in Michigan on 27 May 1840, Woodruff graduated from West Point in 1857. He fought in the Peninsular campaign and the battles of Fair Oaks, Fredericksburg, Antietam, and Chancellorsville, among others. He was mortally wounded and died at Gettysburg on 4 July 1862.92

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yates, horatio. Born in Oswego, New York, on 11 February 1821, Yates moved to Kingston, Canada West, at the age of twelve. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania medical program in 1842 and settled in Kingston, Canada West, in 1843. Well respected, Yates was a founding member of the medical college of Queen’s University and went on to play an important role in the running of Kingston General Hospital until his death in 1882.93

pages

Notes

introduction 1 Chesnut, A Diary, 35. 2 Russell, My Diary, 56–7. 3 Holmes, The Diary, 29. 4 Stanton, Elizabeth, vol. 2, 89. 5 Cited in Atlantic Monthly 9 (December 1861): 238; Stille, Northern Interests, 39. 6 Cited in the New York Times, March 4, 1861. 7 On the Wafer farm see the Illustrated Historical Atlas, 48; Hughes and Ellsworth, eds., 1844 Assessment, 9. 8 Smithson, ed., 1851–1852 Census, 21; Francis M. Wafer Fonds, 1863–1867, Queen’s University Archives (hereafter qua). 9 Wafer, Medical School Records, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 10 Kingston Daily Whig, 13 April 1861. 11 New York Herald, 24 January 1861; New York Times, 2 February 1861. On British North American anxiety over annexation also see Hoy, Canadians, 368–70, 373–4; Macdonald, Canadian Public Opinion, 34–41; Marquis, In Armageddon’s Shadow, 262, 285; Winks, The Civil War Years, 4–5, 23–7, 31, 104. 12 Cited in the Toronto Globe, 2 September 1861; Creighton, John A. Macdonald, 369. 13 Cougle, Canadian Blood, 110; Unknown to Brother, 14 August 1862, Brockville Weekly Recorder. For an overview of British North American public opinion see

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Landon, “Canadian Opinion”; MacDonald, Canadian Public Opinion; Talman, “A Canadian View.” 14 Hoy, Canadians, 22–3; Higginson, “Hon. J. A. Andrews,” 2; Wade to Father, 20 September 1861, in Wade, “We Are On the Blockading Again,” 28; Semper, “Islanders in Blue and Grey,” 10; John Campbell to Father, 17 February 1862, mg 55/24, #393, Library and Archives of Canada (lac). On Wade also see Cousins, ed., “Letters of Norman Wade,” 126; Cousins, “A Nova Scotian,” 58. 15 Cited in Hoy, Canadians, 155. 16 H.W. Blanchard to Brother, 14 August 1862, Brockville Weekly Recorder, 9 September 1862. 17 Samuel Heck to Unknown, Brockville Weekly Recorder, 9 January 1862. 18 Richard Ruston to Sister, date unknown, reprinted in Jenkins, “British North Americans,” 101. 19 Charnwood, Abraham, 179. For similar statements see Ballard, The Military Genius, 49; Luthin, The Real Abraham Lincoln, 290; Sandburg, Abraham, vol. 1, 301. 20 Blackford, War Years, 34. 21 Gordon, Reminiscences, 60. 22 Stille, United States Sanitary Commission, 116. 23 Flannery, Civil War Pharmacy, 76. The entire Union medical budget consisted of “$241,000 of which over 80% had already been spent on medical stores.” Adams, Doctors, 5. 24 Smith, Swamp Doctor, xxii. 25 Peyton, “Tender Loving Care,” 106. 26 Blake, “Development,” 435; Blakely and Harrington, eds., Bones in the Basement, 323. See also Norwood, Medical Education, 399–400. 27 Wafer, Medical School Records, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 28 Brooks, Civil War Medicine, 22. 29 Flannery, Civil War Pharmacy, 71. 30 On amputations see Figg and Farrell-Beck, “Amputation in the Civil War; Wood, Doctor to the Front, xvi. 31 Adams, Doctors, 10. 32 Documents, no. 40, 33. Barbers, cuppers, and leechers, or lechers, were popular occupations prior to the professional development of medicine. In the middle ages, barbers, not physicians, conducted crude forms of surgery. Cupper refers to the practice of making small insertions in the skin and then placing a glass, sometimes heated, over the cuts to create suction, which then pulled the blood to the surface. Cupping was used to treated everything from “apoplexy and consumption, to enlarge prostate ... gout, measles, intoxication ... and lunacy.” Leechers placed leeches on the patients in order to suck

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out the disease. A good leech could suck out about an ounce of blood. With the expansion and evolution of the medical profession, barbers, cuppers, and lechers lost their legitimacy as medical practitioners and were, by the time of the Civil War, viewed negatively. Haller, American Medicine, 46. 33 During the war, there were eight categories of Union doctors: surgeons and assistant surgeons in the us army, surgeons and assistant surgeons of us volunteers, regimental surgeons and assistant surgeons, contract surgeons, medical officers of the veterans corps, acting staff surgeons, surgeons and assistant surgeons of us coloured troops, and civilian volunteers. Adams, Doctors, 47. 34 Cited in “Bayoneting Our Wounded,” Harpers Weekly, 17 August 1861, 525. 35 Bollet, Civil War Medicine, 2. 36 Denney, Civil War Medicine, 35. 37 Tulchinsky, ed., “Introduction,” To Preserve, 10. 38 Akenson, “Ontario,” 204–56. 39 Tulchinsky, ed., “Introduction,” To Preserve, 10. 40 Nicolson, “The Irish Experience,” 38. On Protestantism in Ontario see Westfall, Two Worlds. 41 Wafer to Dear Brother, 20 March 1864, Wafer Letters, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 42 Jackson, “The Cultural Politics of Masculinity,” 201. 43 Ward, Courtship, 64. 44 Morgan, Public Men, 149. 45 Ward, Courtship, 23. 46 Ibid., 53. 47 Wafer to Dear Sister, 9 June 1864, Wafer Letters, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 48 Wafer to Dear Brother, 11 October 1864, Wafer Letters, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 49 Busby, Doctors Can’t Cure, 61. 50 Ibid., 56–7. On the state of medicine in nineteenth-century Upper Canada see also Baehre, “The Medical Profession”; Canniff, The Medical Profession; Price, The Professionalization. 51 Baehre, “The Medicial Profession,” 104. 52 Wafer to Dear Sister, 2 May 1864, Wafer Letters, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 53 On the 108th at Antietam see Murray, Before the Appointed Time. 54 Bollet, Civil War Medicine, 16. 55 Williams, Lincoln, 177. 56 Cited in Otis and Huntington, Medical and Surgical History, 3, 2, 933.

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57 Bollet, Civil War Medicine, 3. 58 Washburn, Complete Military History, 107. 59 Cited in Wert, The Sword, 169–70. 60 Dyer, Journal, 40, 42. 61 Formed after the fall of Fort Sumter, the us Sanitation Commission acted independently from the Medical Corps. It focused on promoting clean, healthy conditions in camps, prisons, and hospitals as well as supplementing supplies, medical and otherwise. On the sanitation commission see Giesberg, Civil War Sisterhood; Maxwell, Lincoln’s Fifth Wheel. 62 Cited in the Mobile Daily Advertiser and Register, 2 October 1862. 63 Wightman, From Antietam, 38. 64 Wert, The Sword, 169. See also p. 159. 65 Cited in Linderman, Embattled Courage, 125. 66 Cited in Washburn, Complete Military History, 107. 67 Rochester Daily Advocate, 2 October 1862. 68 Otis and Huntington, eds., Medical and Surgical History, 101. 69 Letterman, Medical Recollections, 10–11. 70 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 59. 71 Whitman, “Specimen Days,” 153. 72 Colonel Rowe cited in Cowtan, Services of the Tenth, 169; England cited in Bruce, “Remember,” 348. 73 Sneden, Eye of the Storm, 72. 74 Edward G. Abbott to his father, 13 December 1862. Abbott Family Papers, Harvard University. 75 See Lowry, Tarnish Scalpels. 76 Cited in United States, Official Records (hereafter OR), series 1, vol. 19, Part I, 113. 77 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 62–3. 78 Pierce, “Civil War,” 167–8. 79 Wightman, From Antietam, 103. See also Haley, The Rebel Yell, 67; Watson, Letters, 50. 80 Furgurson, Chancellorsville, 17. See also Longstreet, From Manassas, 323; Watson, Letters, 50. 81 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 67. 82 McPherson, Battle Cry, 584. 83 Hennessy, “We Shall Make Richmond Howl,” 2. 84 Cited in Wert, The Sword, 214. 85 Hennessy, “We Shall Make Richmond Howl,” 10. 86 Letterman, Medical Recollections, 103, 104, 106, 105, 109. 87 Wafer, Medical School Records, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua.

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88 On 13 May 1861, Queen Victoria issued a Proclamation of Neutrality, which incorporated the Foreign Enlistment Act of 1819. The proclamation prohibited British subjects from enlisting in foreign military forces under penalty of imprisonment. 89 Wafer, Two Years, 1, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 90 Ibid. 91 Holt, A Surgeon’s Civil War; Dyer, Journal; Burton, Diary; McPheeter, I Acted; William Smith, Swamp Doctor. 92 For memoirs by Civil War surgeons see Brinton, Personal Memoirs; Craighill, Confederate Surgeon; Eugene, Recollections; Letterman, Medical Recollections; Wood, Doctor. 93 Wafer, Two Years, 1, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua. 94 Ibid., 95 95 Bragg, Letters; Bennitt, Letters; Peddy, Saddlebag. See also Black, Civil War Letters; Brackett, Surgeon; Burbank, Jerome; Child, Letters; Fordyce, Echoes; McGarity, Letters; Lauderdale, Wounded River; Watson, Letters. 96 Although there are letters, diaries, and accounts from British North Americans who served in the Civil War as soldiers as well as surgeons, they remain scattered in newspapers and tucked away in private collections and archives in Canada, the United States, and Great Britain. 97 Robertson, Soldiers, 28; Charlesworth, Candid, 10. Thomas Raddall states that ten thousand Nova Scotains fought in the war (Halifax, 208), while Ken Alexander and Avis Glaze argue that thirty thousand British North Americans of African descent enlisted in the Union cause (Towards Freedom, 79). According to Greg Marquis, the tiny island of Prince Edward Island provided two hundred men to the Union cause (“Soldiers,” 2). E.Z. Massicotte claims that forty thousand French Canadians fought for the Union (“Les Canadiens,” 538). Benjamin Gould places the total number of British North Americans fighting for the Union at 53, 532 (Investigation, 27), while Fred Landon puts the number close to forty thousand men (“Canadian Opinion,” 226). Wilfred Bovey places the number at forty-eight thousand (“Confederate Agents,” 57) while Lois Darroch suggests that figures are closer to fifty thousand men (“Canadians,” viii). Ella Lonn argues that fifty-three thousand British North Americans enlisted in the Union (Foreigners, 161). 98 Marquis, In Armageddon’s Shadow; Mayers, Dixie; Winks, The Civil War Years. 99 See also Fountain and Chipman, “An Essex County Soldier”; Cousins, ed., “Letters of Norman Wade”; Wade, “We Are Blockading Again.” 100 Edmonds, Memoirs; Sneden, Eye of the Storm. See also Braudaway, The Civil War; Kohl, Irish Green; Murphy, “The Diary.” 101 Archibald, Home-making.

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102 Sections of Wafer’s writings appeared in the following: Gundy, ed. “A Queen’s Medical Student,” and “A Kingston Surgeon”; Rollins, ed., Pickett’s Charge.

chapter one 1 The 108th New York Infantry Regiment suffered the loss of ninety-two men, among them Charles D. Howell. Wounded in the thigh, Howell survived the battle only to develop lockjaw and die nine days later. He is buried in Rochester’s Mount Hope Cemetery along with other members of the 108th including John M. Davey and William S. Ely, and there are memorials to Charles B. Dickson and George B. Grover. See Walker, History of the 2nd Army Corps, 192; Reisem, Buried Treasures, 53, 151,113, 48, 13. On veterans of the 108th buried in Rochester-area cemeteries, see Washburn, A Complete Military History, 469–70. 2 Cape Vincent, New York, is located 27.3 kilometres from Kingston, Ontario, and 40.23 kilometres from Watertown, New York. Most likely, Wafer took the Cape Vincent to Rome Railroad. See “Rome and Watertown Railroad,” Pittsfield Sun, 25 September 1851. 3 Closely related to homoeopathy, Medica Materia primarily focused on the blending of herbs and natural substances to combat diseases. See Haller, American Medicine, 67–99. 4 On sound in the nineteenth century see Smith, Listening. On the Sabbath in nineteenth-century America see McCrossen, Holy Day. On Sabbath silence in Civil War camps see Wells, Civil War Time, 65. On the disruption of Sabbath silence during the war see ibid., 13–33, 64–6. 5 The Baltimore Riots occurred on 19 April 1861 when mobs attacked Union troops passing through the pro-southern city. See Brown, Baltimore & the Nineteenth April 1861. 6 In addition to Force, Lieutenants David B. Tarbox, Company b, and Robert Holmes, Company g, and 195 members of the 108th New York Infantry were lost at Antietam. See Washburn, A Complete Military History, 29–31; Marcotte, Where They Fell, 83. On the 108th and Antietam see Murray, Before. On casualties see McIntosh, History of Monroe, 57; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 386. 7 Named for the texture created by placing logs side by side, corduroy roads permitted the movement of troops and supplies over swampy areas. 8 On the monotonous nature of camp life see Tilney, My Life, 51; Wells, Civil War Time, 61. 9 Wafer named his horse after Union general Joseph Hooker. Aggressiveness, coolness in battle, and loyalty characterized Hooker, assets that perhaps Wafer saw in his mount.

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10 For a similar version of Wafer’s joining the 108th New York, see Appendix a.

chapter two 1 Phistere, New York, 131. On Thrasher’s injury see “From the 108th Regiment,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 9 and 11 May 1863; 3 May 1863, Father from Sam, and May 1863 Letter from Sam, Porter Family Papers, University of Rochester Archives [hereafter ura]. Among the wounded at Chancellorsville were Stephen Green, Company k, Nathan Parkhurst, Company a, Otto Gash, Company h, William C. Varny, Richardson, Company c, John O. Fee, Company a, George Washburn, Company d, and H[enry] Clow of Company b. See Washburn, Complete Military History, 45–6. 2 Nineteenth-century medical practitioners used anodyne to relieve pain. 3 Hooker issued Stoneman multiple and conflicting orders that prevented any accurate knowledge of Stoneman’s position and may have accounted for the failure of the Union to create a diversion in his favour. See Furguson, Chancellorsville, 255, 311, “Hancock’s,” 313. 4 Hooker expected Lee to retreat without risking battle. Instead, Lee assumed the offensive, a manoeuvre that made Hooker afraid for the safety of his army, thus resulting in his retreat. See Couch, “Outgeneraled,” 336; Trudeau, Gettysburg, 8–9. Others blame the cowardly actions of the 11th Corps. See Sears, Chancellorsville, 415; Trudeau, Gettysburg, 12–13. For a defence of the 11th Corps see Howard, “The Eleventh.” Hooker placed the blame in part on a lack of rations and on the “impenetrable thicket[s]” of the Wilderness that prevent troop movement. See Bates, “Hooker’s Comments,” 222.

chapter three 1 Longstreet, From Manassas, 328. 2 McKim, A Soldier’s Recollections, 128. 3 Longstreet, “Lee’s Invasion,” 245. 4 Cited in Freeman, Lee’s Lieutenants, 292. 5 Taylor, Gouverneur, 112. 6 Howard, “The Eleventh,” 190. 7 New York Tribune, 14 May 1863. 8 Trudeau, Gettysburg, 5. 9 Woodworth, Beneath a Northern Sky, 11, 12. 10 His shoulder became red, swollen, and septic due to a bacteria inflammation.

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Notes to pages 34–52

11 A rod is a British measurement. It is equivalent to 16.5 linear feet, thus ten rods equals 165 feet. 12 For similar statements see Baxter, Gallant Fourteenth, 148; Fiske, Mr Dunn Browne, 101–2; Hirst, The Boys, 140; “Letters from the 108th and 140th Regiments,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 3 July 1863; Longacre, To Gettysburg, 158; Murphey, Four Years, 113–14; Page, History of the Fourteenth, 132; Seiser, Short Sketches, 178–9; Smith, comp., The Civil War, 168–9; Stewart, Camp, 354. 13 Occurring on 17 June 1863, Brigadier General Judson Kilpatrick’s Federals and Colonel Thomas Munford’s Confederates clashed at Aldie, Virginia, with inconclusive results. 14 The 39th New York Volunteers, also known as the Garibaldi Guards, lost thirty-five percent of their regiment at the battle of Gettysburg. See Pellicano, Conquer or Die, 107. 15 The current state of West Virginia split from Virginia in 1861 and subsequently entered the Union. Thus “Virginian” troops fighting for the Union are in fact West Virginian troops. 16 On the hour of the cannonade see Priest, Into the Fight, 189–93; Wells, Civil War Time, 46–7. 17 The stone farmhouse was Peter Frey’s house located “under the shadow of Cemetery Ridge.” It served as the primary station for the 108th New York. See Maust, Grappling with Death, 71. 18 On the duration of the cannonade see Priest, Into the Fight, 189–98; Wells, Civil War Time, 46–7. 19 At the battle of Waterloo in 1815, the Duke of Wellington motivated his troops by yelling, “Guards, get up & charge.” A British victory over the French resulted. See Gronow, Reminiscences, 71. 20 See also “Further List of Casualties,” Rochester Evening Express, 8 July 1863; “List of Casualties,” Rochester Evening Express, 9 July 1863; “The 108th Regiment,” Rochester Evening Express, 10 July 1863; “Casualties in 108th Regiment,” Rochester Evening Express, 11 July 1863; “Casualties in the 108th,” Rochester Union & Advertiser, 13 July 1863. 21 In addition to Hadley’s wound, J.D. Ansink of Company e and J. Brounell of Company e suffered injury while Cyrus Wickes of Company e and Charles Lecisur of Company k were killed. See New York Times, 6 July 1863. 22 The orderly was most likely Major William G. Mitchell. See Maust, Grappling with Death, 237. 23 Meade inherited command of the Army of the Potomac three days before the battle for Gettysburg. On 4 July Meade hesitated to pursue Lee out of fear that Lee’s apparent retreat was a feint designed to hide an offensive

Notes to pages 52–61

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maneuver on the part of the Confederacy. Inexperienced, cautious, and impeded by a steady rain, a weary army, and depleted ammunition, Meade opted, with the supported of his generals, to remain at Gettysburg on 4 July. See Coddington, Gettysburg, 537, 539, 540; Fremantle, Three Months, 274–6; Nevins, War, 3: 113, 115; United States, OR, series 1, vol. 27, 78; Swinton, Campaigns, 367; Wheeler, Witness, 256; Woodworth, Beneath a Northern Sky, 210. 24 For similar statements see Paris, History, vol. 3, 686. 25 At the council meeting of 12 July, Meade opted not to attack Lee for fear that the strength of Lee’s forces might crush the Army of the Potomac. See Hyde, ed., The Union Generals, 378. Other leaders identified the late hour of the council, poor weather, and a lack of reliable information as factors contributing to Meade’s decision. See ibid., 117, 118, 142. 26 Over the course of the war, Harper Ferry changed sides eight times. See Hearn, Six Years of Hell. 27 French’s Third Corps of the Army of the Potomac clashed with Anderson’s division of the Army of Northern Virginia with inconclusive results. 28 Also known as the Fauquier White Sulphur Springs, Americans flocked to Warrenton Springs in search of youth and health. See Billings, History, 118; Cooke, “The White Sulpher Springs,” 337–57. 29 According to the recollection of Francis Pierce, he sent three officers, Captains William H. Andrews, J. George Cramer, and Lieutenant Dwight Ostrander, to gather 526 conscripts. See Pierce, “Civil War,” 170.

chapter four 1 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 108. 2 Trudeau, Gettysburg, 551. 3 Quoted in Meltzer, Voices, 102. 4 Gordon, Reminiscences, 154. 5 McKim, A Soldier’s Recollection, 180–1. 6 Leon, Diary, 37–8. 7 Quoted in Coddington, Gettysburg, 572. 8 Post, ed., Soldiers’ Letters, 260. 9 Longstreet, From Manassas, 427. 10 Pleurite inflammation is an infection of the lung. Symptoms include chills, fevers, cough, and expulsion of fluid from the lungs. Without proper treatment, it could result in death. 11 In March 1863 Lincoln revised regulations for the draft. The new law required men from the ages of twenty to twenty-five and single men from the

186

Notes to pages 62–79

ages of thirty-five to forty-five to serve in the Union army when called upon. Following the first draft call on 11 July 1863, normalcy ruled New York City. Monday, 13 July opened with violence that lasted for five days as angry mobs destroyed government property, attacked members of the upper class, and terrorized African-Americans as initial rage over Lincoln’s draft became racialized. In total, mobs lynched eleven African-Americans, destroyed more than 1.5 million dollars in property, and killed more than one hundred people before the Union army managed to suppress the rebellion. In August the draft resumed and, fearing more riots, Lincoln sent soldiers to New York City to maintain order. On the riots see Bernstein, The New York City Draft Riots; Cook, The Armies of the Street. 12 On Washington, dc and vices during the Civil War see Lowry, The Civil War Bawdy House, The Story the Soldiers Wouldn’t Tell, 63–5, 73–5. 13 On 25 June 1863 John C. Rives received permission from the Union secretary of the navy, Gideon Wells, to begin publication of a military journal. The Army and Navy Gazette published “orders, reports, official papers, and current news” pertinent to the Union war effort and was funded in part by the War department. Welles, Diary, 343–4. 14 Founded in 1846, the Smithsonian Institution suffered a devastating fire on 24 January 1865. Caused by a “defective flue,” the fire destroyed the institution’s picture gallery and institutional archives. The museum and library, however, sustained minimal damage. Wafer makes a common mistake in referring to the Smithsonian “Institute.” See “Destructive Fire,” New York Times, 25 January 1865. 15 In early August 1862, Pope marched his army south in an attempt to capture the railroad junction at Gordonsville, Virginia, before invading Richmond. Lee dispatched Jackson to deal with Pope. Jackson and Banks clashed at Cedar Mountain on 9 August. Due to a countercharge launched by Hill, the Confederates repulsed the Federals and carried the day. 16 According to the Comte de Paris, Meade’s alteration of the Second Corps position encouraged Lee to attack. See Paris, History, vol. 3, 755. 17 The Latin term non est means non-existent. 18 The battle of Bull Run occurred on 21 July 1861 and resulted in a Confederate victory. Over a year later in August 1862, the Union and Confederacy again clashed on the field at Bull Run. The second battle of Bull Run ended with another Confederate victory and Union defeat. 19 The phrase “offered him the grape” refers to offering the enemy battle using grapeshot. 20 The 15th North Carolina Infantry lost 101 members while the 48th North Carolina lost 123 members. Fox, Regimental Losses, 570. During the Civil War,

Notes to pages 82–95

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the army identified remains by placing over them a board bearing the soldier’s regiment. See Neff, Honoring the Civil War Dead. 21 The British officers referred to were Lieutenant Colonel Earl and Lord Castle Cuff of the Grenadier Guards and Captains Peel and Stephenson of the Scotch Fusiliers. See Lyman, Meade’s Headquarters, 49. 22 Wafer is referring to Locust Grove, Virginia, which is located near Robinson’s Tavern, rather than to the battle of Locust Grove, Oklahoma, which occurred in July 1862. 23 For similar statements see Billings, History, 174; Longacre, To Gettysburg, 166. 24 White feather is a synonym for cowardice. 25 From medieval French, pelemele means in wild confusion.

chapter five 1 Brooks, Mr. Lincoln, 311. 2 United States, OR, series 1, vol. 33, part 2, 696. 3 Ibid., vol. 22, 1, 282–3. See also ibid., vol. 33, 1, 284–5. 4 Ibid., vol. 22, 1, 282. 5 Wafer applied to Lieutenant A. J. Wells, Acting Adjunct of the 108th New York, for a leave of absence of fifteen days “to visit friends who reside in La Salle Co, Illinois.” Wafer’s diary and subsequent travel, however, make it clear that Kingston, Canada West, was his intended destination. Most likely, Wafer feared that his application would be turned down if he revealed his real destination. See Francis M. Wafer, Civil War Service Record, New York State Archives (nysa). 6 Pioneer is a military term meaning engineer. 7 This wounded soldier could have been Isaac Buzby of Company c or J. Pixby of Company d as both suffered arm wounds at Morton’s Ford. See “The Army of the Potomac,” New York Times, 13 February 1864. 8 Six other members of the 1st Delaware were wounded. William Broughter and Benjamin Ogle of Company e, and Henry McCracken of Company b, were wounded in the leg. Henry Tindall of Company g and Isaac Wright of Company g were wounded in the arm, while Joseph Coyle of Company e suffered a shoulder wound. See New York Times, 13 February 1864. 9 George Vaughn and Jack Jewel assisted Wafer in caring for Pierce. Pierce survived but had his eye removed, recovered in Rochester, and returned to fight at the battle of the Wilderness where he was again wounded and sent to a hospital to recover. He rejoined the unit at Appomattox. Washburn, A Complete Military History, 156. On Pierce’s injury see “Lieut. Col. Pierce,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 25 February 1864.

188

Notes to pages 95–103

10 Following Pierce’s injury command of the 108th devolved to Captain Everett. “From the 108th,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 10 February 1864. 11 Goss, Recollections, 237. 12 For similar comments see Cowtan, Services, 238; Fiske, Mr. Dunn Browne, 223. 13 The six wounded from the 108th were John R. Chase, Company b, who was shot through the left shoulder; Henry J. Clow, Company b, who was shot through the abdomen; John O’Fee, Company a, who suffered from a bruised left arm; John H. Goodyear, Company f, who suffered from a wounded shoulder; George W. Provost, Company c, who endured an abrasion over his left eye; and Seley Meeker, Company f, whose ankle was fractured by a Union bullet. The Second Army Corps lost 254 men while the “nearly one-half of those killed, wounded, and missing belonged to the Fourteenth [Connecticut] Regiment.” In order, “Causalities of the 108th Regiment,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 12 February 1864; Page, History of the Fourteenth, 224. See also Fiske, Mr. Dunn Browne, 221, 223; New York Times, 13 February 1864. 14 During Wafer’s leave of absence, the regiment celebrated Washington’s birthday much as they did St Patrick’s Day, namely, engaged in sport. In the case of the former celebration, baseball was the sport of choice as Companies d and f challenged the other companies with J. H. Norton of the 14th Connecticut acting as umpire and the 108th challenging the 14th. Other members of the 108th occupied their time by reading, since the regiment possessed a library of nearly two hundred volumes. In order, “The 108th at Baseball,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 29 February 1864; “From the 108th Regiment,” Rochester Union & Advertiser, 2 February 1864. See also Fiske, Mr. Dunn Browne, 229. For a similar account of St Patrick’s Day in the Army of the Potomac see Conyngham, The Irish Brigade, 514–15. 15 This was the battle of Morton’s Ford. 16 In 1832 author Samuel F. Smith set the lyrics of “America,” also titled “My Country Tis of Thee,” to the tune of the English anthem, “God Save the Queen.” 17 According to a 1984 description of the flag, it was “swallow-tailed and measure[d] 17" x 30". Composed of red, white, and blue silk panels handstitched, and ‘108 N.Y.V.’ lettered in gold oil-based paint with black outlining, the [flag] ha[d] tow sets of silk tie bands secured to a reinforcing strip of white cloth for attachment to the guerdon lance.” Howard, “The 108th,” 10. See also Presentation of Flags, 123–4. 18 Despite Wafer’s comments, the Fenian Raids and the assassination of Thomas D’Arcy McGee created a backlash against the Irish. These events in combination with the continued rise of the Orange Order resulted in

Notes to pages 104–16

189

discrimination against the Irish well into the twentieth century. In the United States, the New York draft riots contributed to xenophobia and nativism against the Irish. On the Irish in Canada see Currie, Canada. On the Fenian Raids see Neidhardt, Fenianism; Senior, The Fenians, Last Invasion. On the McGee assassination see Slattery, The Assassination. On the Orange Order see Bryan, Orange Parades; Haddick-Flynn, Orangeism. On prejudice against the Irish in the antebellum era see Dunne, Antebellum; Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White; Knobel, Paddy. During the Civil War see Mahon, New York’s Fighting Sixty-Ninth, 54. 19 A trefoil is a three-leaf clover that measures “an inch and seven-eighths each way.” In the case of the Second Corps, the trefoil was white. Badges were required to be worn on the soldier’s hat. In order, Billings, HardTack and Coffee, 258, 260, The History, 122. See also Tilney, My Life, 39; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 166. 20 The rivulet is most likely the Potomac River. 21 For similar statements on the tornado see Kepler, History of the Three, 161–2; Longacre, To Gettysburg, 180–1; Page, History of the Fourteenth, 232; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 64. 22 For similar statements on the condition of burials see Baxter, Gallant Fourteenth, 166; Billings, The History, 215; Blake, Three Years, 277; Fiske, Mr. Dunn Browne, 245; “From the 108th Regiment,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 28 May 1864; Goss, Recollections, 267; Hall, History of the Sixth, 182; Page, History of the Fourteenth, 234; Wilkeson, Recollections, 40–1. On the cowardly behaviour of the Eleventh Corps at Chancellorsville see Blake, Three Years, 178–80; Creighton, The Colors, 23, 25–7; Dyer, Journal, 76; Fiske, Mr. Dunn Browne, 76; May 7th, 1863, Dear Father from Sam, Porter Family Papers, ura. At Gettysburg see Fiske, Mr. Dunn Browne, 119–20. On redemption see Creighton, The Colors, 177. 23 Most likely Wafer is referring to Richard H. Palmer. 24 On casualties suffered by the 108th New York at the battle of the Wilderness see “Casualties in the 108th nyv up to the 6th inst,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 14 May 1864; “List of Casualties,” Rochester Daily Democrat, 14 May 1864; “List of Wounded,” Rochester Daily Democrat, 16 May 1864; “More of the Casualties,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 16 May 1864; “Further from the Wounded of our Regiments,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 17 May 1864. 25 Enfilade is a military term meaning to direct gunfire at the enemy in a way that exposes the enemy’s entire line. 26 Abatis is a defensive feature in which trees are cut, sharpened, and then laid parallel with the sharp end facing the enemy.

190

Notes to pages 118–28

27 Among those captured were Confederate generals George H. Steuart and Edward Johnson. For a general account of the capture of the salient see Kepler, History of the Three, 170; Matter, If It Takes All Summer, 183–97; Rhea, The Battles, 232–65. 28 Thomas T. Roche of Company l of the 16th Mississippi Infantry is the Confederate to when Wafer refers. Washburn, A Complete Military History, 73. For similar statements on the tree’s destruction see Baxter, Gallant Fourteenth, 168; Billings, The History, 239; Goss, Recollections, 295.

chapter six 1 Goss, Recollections, 144; Mahood, Alexander, 167. 2 Gordon, Reminiscences, 263. 3 Taylor, General Lee, 236–7. 4 Mahood, Alexander, 167. 5 Douglas, I Rode, 263. 6 Constant C. Hanks to Mother, 12 May 1862 Constant C. Hanks Papers, dua. 7 Priest, Victory, 229–30. 8 Gordon, Reminiscences, 269. 9 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 157. 10 Galwey, Valiant Hours, 112. 11 Unknown, “The Death,” 107. 12 Gordon, Reminiscences, 273. 13 Longstreet, From Manassas, 573. 14 Grant, Personal, 419. 15 Rhea, Cold Harbor, 61. 16 United States, OR, series 1, vol. 36, part 3, 598. 17 Robertson, ed., Civil War Letters, 444. 18 On African-American participation in the Civil War see Hargrove, Black Union; Mays, Black Americans; McPherson, Marching, The Negro; Smith, ed., Black Soldiers; Trudeau, Like Men. At Petersburg see Brown, The Negro, 265–73; Robertson, “From the Crater”; Trudeau, Like Men, 220–51. 19 The Union government censored public communications such as newspapers, telegraph communications, and prisoners’ correspondence. However, there is little evidence that the Union kept particular soldiers and their writings under surveillance. On censorship and the Union see Blondheim, “Public Sentiment”; Chandler, “Fighting Words”; Price, “Governmental Censorship,” 838–9. 20 Five rods equals 82.5 linear feet. 21 “High feather” means in good spirits.

Notes to pages 128–39

191

22 Most likely his cousin William joined the us Navy. 23 On 5 September 1863, Dr R.O. Abbott ordered Wafer to Washington for treatment for his recurring pleurite inflammation. Francis M. Wafer, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 24 Old Bucher is likely a reference to Henry Bucher of Company b. See Anniversary &Annual Reunion, 72, rpl. 25 This is a reference to Aesop’s fable in which a fox, having failed to get the grapes hanging from a tree, deals with his loss by saying that the grapes are sour. In this case, Wafer suggests that the Canadian dislike of greenback currency stemmed from its unavailability rather than from any problem with the currency itself. On the greenback generally see Mitchell, A History; Unger, The Greenback. 26 On 25 August 1864, Union general Hancock’s Second Corps clashed with Confederate general Hill’s infantry and General Hampton’s cavalry. Hooker ordered the Second Corps to destroy Lee’s supply lines. Following intense yet disorganized fighting, the Confederacy handed Hancock his most severe defeat of the war, wounding or capturing upwards of three thousand Union troops. 27 In 1861, with increased Confederate activity in Canada, Secretary of State Seward required passports for all persons travelling into the United States. Seward revoked the requirement on 8 March 1865. See Shippee, CanadianAmerican Relations, 123–4; Winks, The Civil War Years, 130–6, 370. 28 Sylvanus B. Hance served as the American consul to Kingston from 1864 to 1874. 29 On 5 November 1864, Dr Satterthwaite diagnosed Wafer as having “acute dysentery” and recommended a leave of absence of twenty days. Satterthwaite also recommended “a change of climate and location ... to prevent loss of life or permanent disability.” Most likely Wafer went home to recover. He returned to the regiment on 4 December 1864. In order, Francis M. Wafer, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 140.

epilogue 1 Campbell, Reminiscences, 20. 2 Pickett, The Heart, 167–8. 3 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 196. 4 Abel H. Crawford to his Wife, 5 May 1865, Abel H. Crawford Letters, dua. 5 United States, OR, series 1, vol 46, part 3, 1378. 6 Haley, The Rebel Yell, 265. 7 Quoted in Power, Lee’s Miserables, 281.

192

Notes to pages 139–52

8 Missouri Republican, 10 June 1886. 9 Kauffman, The Civil War, 105. 10 Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 31 May 1865. 11 In 1866 the medical faculty of Queen’s University separated from the university to form a new medical school, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. The university and the college issued separate degrees. The university reabsorbed the college in 1892. Francis M. Wafer, Medical School Records, Francis M. Wafer Fonds, qua; Spaulding, “Aspects,” 180. 12 Octavius Yates Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. See also Horatio Yates Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 13 Francis. E. Pierce Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 14 Francis M. Wafer Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 15 Horatio Yates Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 16 Ibid. 17 Francis M. Wafer Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 18 Horatio Yates Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 19 C.M. Johnson Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 20 Francis M. Wafer Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 21 Pension Office Correspondence, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 22 Horatio Yates, Francis M. Wafer Pension File. na. 23 “The Late Francis M. Wafer,” Daily News, 10 April 1876. 24 See Alexander Grant Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na; Robert Patterson Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na; John Wafer Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na; Peter Wafer Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 25 Peter Wafer Affidavit, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. Peter gave $260 to his daughter Maria and her husband, Charles Lyons; $150 to Maggie and James Daley; $200 to his daughter Elizabeth; $500 to his daughter Elizabeth; and $400 to Agnes and her husband, F.C. Lachance. 26 John Wafer Letter to Pension Office, 1 June 1885, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 27 Francis Fitch Letter to Pension Office, 13 July 1885, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 28 Grounds for Reject, 1 December 1887, Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na.

appendix 1 The Gananoque River is twenty-eight kilometres long and runs from Red Horse Lake to the St. Lawrence River, passing through the town of Gananoque, Ontario.

Notes to pages 153–62

193

2 Tilney, My Life, 51. For similar comments see Fiske, Mr. Dunn Brown, 71. 3 For similar statements on the nature of St Patrick’s Day, 1863, see Bilby, Remember Fontenoy!, 74–6; Conyngham, The Irish, 372; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 118. 4 In order, Corby, Memoirs of a Chaplain Life,141; author’s observations of the vestment. The initials ihs represent the monogram of Jesus Christ and stands for Iesus Hominum Salvator, or Jesus Savior of men. 5 Blue Anchor is located on New Jersey’s Atlantic shore, roughly ninety miles from New York City. 6 Mrs Wafer could refer either to Francis’s mother, Elizabeth, or perhaps to the pressure he was under to marry and return to camp with a wife.

dramatis personae 1 Carl V. Amiet, Civil War Service Record, New York State Archives (nysa). 2 “Recruiting for 108th,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 18 February 1864; “Causalities,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 13 May 1864; “Wanted,” Rochester Evening Express, 9 May 1864; “Personal,” Rochester Daily Democrat, 14 May 1864. Also see “The 108th Regiment,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 22 February 1864. 3 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 59; “Casualties in the 108th,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 9 October 1863; Charles Kenyon, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Irving Arms, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 4 Thomas Arner, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Pierce, “Civil War,” 7 January 1863, 164. 5 William Bloss, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 6 Record of Service of Connecticut Men, 481; Goddard, Regimental Reminiscences, 12. 7 Pittsburgh Township Census, 1861, 3; Charles Brownley, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 8 Bryce A. Cox, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 25, 46. 9 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 235, 50, 51; Dayton T. Card, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 10 Henry J. Clow, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 11 Wilson and Fiske, eds., Appleton’s Cyclopaedia, vol. 4, 283. 12 Joseph Deverell, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 13 Reisem, Buried Treasures, 15; “Death of Charles Dickson,” Rochester Daily Democrat, 20 May 1864. 14 Record of Service of Connecticut Men, 552; Page, History of the Fourteenth, 222–4. 15 New Jersey Civil War Record, 12; Maust, Grappling with Death, 766.

194

Notes to pages 162–6

16 “Obituary,” Medical and Surgical Reporter, 278; Cox, ed., “List of Physicians,” 294. 17 Record of the Service of Connecticut Men, 552; Page, History of the Fourteenth, 374; Rutkow, ed., List, 75. See also Maust, Grappling with Death, 767. 18 Directory, 52; Lovell’s Directory, 485; Mitchell, 777. 19 William F. Dutton, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 20 Rutkow, List, 267, 271. On Dwinelle also see Justin Dwinelle Papers, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia. 21 Robert E. Ellerbeck, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Foster, Reminiscences, 141; Hall, History of the Sixth, 303; Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 27 June 1864. Also See Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 7 May 1863. 22 Page, History of the Fourteenth, 119; Record of Service of Connecticut Men, 552. See also Hirst, The Boys, 184. 23 William Smith Ely, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Reisem, Buried Treasures, 113. 24 Robert Evans, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 25 Solomon Fatzer, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 26 Census, 69; Queen’s Medical Faculty, Faculty Minutes, 29, qu; Sutherland’s General Directory, 129. 27 John A. Fellman, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 28 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 200; Charles E. Field, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 29 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 193. 30 New Jersey Civil War Record, 605. 31 Illustrated Historical Atlas, 48; Pittsburgh County Census, 18. See also Hayden-Luck, Canada Census, 19; Hughes, Pittsburgh Township 1844, 7; Hughes, Pittsburgh Township 1846, 11; Smithson, 1851–1852 Census, 31. 32 New Jersey Civil War Record, 585; John Wells, Alphabetical List, 182, 183. 33 John L. Graham, Civil War Service Record, nysa; “List of Casualties in the Late Battle,” Rochester Evening Express, 7 July 1863. 34 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 214. See also “Chaplain Grassie,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 15 May 1863. 35 Alfred B. Hadley, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 36 Warner, Generals in Blue, 201–2. 37 Joseph S. Harris, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 104. 38 Parke County Republican, 15 July 1863. 39 Warner, Generals in Blue, 223–4. On Hayes’s death see “Brig. Gen. Alexander Hays,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 10 May 1864.

Notes to pages 166–71

195

40 Warner, Generals in Blue, 224–5. 41 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 194. 42 New Jersey Civil War Record, 602. 43 Butterfield, “The University,” 18. Also see Anniversary and Annual Reunion, 84, Rochester Public Library. 44 Warner, Generals in Blue, 245–6. 45 John S. Kenleyside, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 46 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 212; Smith, comp., The Civil War, i. 47 Wagner, Generals in Blue, 266–7. 48 Theodore Knapp, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 49 Baldwin Springer Maull, John Maull, 68; Seville, History of the First, 142,149. See also Maust, Grappling with Death, 761. 50 John Wells, Alphabetical List, 293; Kepler, History of the Three, 192; Maust, Grappling with Death, 761. 51 Hutchinson, Cyrus Hall McCormick, v, 9, 74, 377. 52 A.D.J. McDonald, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 53 James A. McKinley, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Phistere, New York, vol. 5, 3,708. 54 Beebe, Albany, 72–4; Bi-Centennial History, 213; Beebe, Albany, 79. See also Dieffenbacher, This Green, 235. 55 Reynolds, Hudson-Mohawk, 148; United States OR, series 1, vol. 11, part 2, 2,383; Rutkow, ed., List, 213; Owen Munson, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Cox, ed., “List of Physicians,” 300; Phistere, New York, 68; Maust, Grappling with Death, 783. 56 New Jersey Civil War Record, 799. Also see Reeves, History of the Twenty-Fourth, 13; John Wells, Alphabetical List, 184. 57 James Nichols, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Washburn, A Complete Military History, 104. 58 Dwight H. Ostrander, Civil War Service Records, nysa; Anniversary & Annual Reunion, 12. 59 Seville, History of the First, 77, 122. 60 Warner, Generals in Blue, 353–4. 61 Garrett, The Civil War Diary, 1, 18, Washburn, A Complete Military History, 188–9; Pierce, “Civil War,” 164. 62 Richard H. Palmer, Civil War Service Record, nysa; Cox, ed., “List of Physicians,” 300. 63 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 190–2, 194. 64 Frank Pinkerton, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 65 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 301, 441.

196

Notes to pages 171–6

66 Ibid., 190, 443, 400, 446. 67 “Obituary,” Medical and Surgical Reporter, 279; Cox, ed., “List of Physicians,” 295. 68 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 48. See also Billings, History, 100; “Hanging of a Spy,” Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser, 14 July 1863; Silliker, The Rebel Yell, 110. 69 Frederick Ristow, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 70 New Jersey Civil War Record, 799; Reeves, A History of the Twenty-Fourth, 35. 71 Hughes and Ellesworth, eds., Pittsburgh Township, 20. 72 Treese, ed., Biographical Directory, 1,763. 73 John Wells, Alphabetical List, 227. 74 New Jersey Civil War Record, 585; Rutkow, ed., List, 182. 75 Rutkow, ed., List, 293. 76 Billings, History, 27, 29, 470, 485. 77 Mitchell, 112. 78 Henry B. Smith, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 79 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 198–9. See also David Maull, Life. 80 Kepler, History of Three, 269. 81 Warner, Generals in Blue, 467–8. 82 Bi-Centennial History, 664, 210. 83 Francis M. Wafer Pension File, na. 84 Fiske, Mr Dunn Browne, 128. 85 Warner, Generals in Blue, 501–2. 86 Illustrated Historical, 48; Pittsburgh County Census, 21; Vanhorne, “The Vanhorne Family,” 15–18. See also Hayden-Luck, Canada Census, 15; Hughes, Pittsburgh Township 1844, 7, 1846, 6, 11; Smithson, 1851–1852 Census, 25. 87 Washburn, A Complete Military History, 321. 88 McIntosh, History of Monroe, 133; John F. Whitbeck, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 89 Wilson and Fiske, eds., Appleton’s Cyclopaedia, vol. 6, 516; Bi-Centennial History, 210; Dwyer, Homes, 44–5. See also Sprague, A Sermon; Bi-Centennial History, 215–16, 240–1. 90 Thomas Willet, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 91 Marvin Williams, Civil War Service Record, nysa. 92 Wilson and Fiske, eds., Appleton’s Cyclopaedia, vol. 6, 603. 93 Angus, Kingston General Hospital, vol. 1, 23–55; British Daily Whig, 11 March 1882; Travill, Medicine at Queen’s, 60–4.

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Index

Abbott, Edward G., xxxviii Acquia Creek, battle of, 4, 11, 15, 25, 33 Adams, John, 143 African Americans, 53, 65–6, 126, 128, 137, 186n11, 190n18 Akenson, Donald, xxx Albany, ny, 6–7, 10, 13 Alma Mater Society (Kingston, Canada West), 144–5 Amiet, Carl V., 159 ambulances, xxxiv–xxv, 34, 44, 51, 76, 86, 87, 97, 111, 113, 116 amputations, 29, 32, 49 Anderson, Robert, xxiii, 30 Andrews, William H., 97, 159 anesthesia, xxviii, xxxiii Antietam, Battle of, xxxiii, xxxv–xxxvii, xxxix, 12–13, 16, 24, 55, 92, 103, 154 Archibald, William Charles, xliv Arkansas, xxiv Arms, Irving, 79, 159

Army & Navy Gazette, 62 Army of Northern Virginia, 16–17, 92; at Antietam, xxxiii; at Fredericksburg, xxxvi–xxxvii; at Gettysburg, 30–1, 59–60; at Petersburg, 138–9; at Seven Days Battles, xxxiv; at the Wilderness, 122–4 Army of Tennessee, 92, 137, 139 Army of the James River, 92 Army of the Peninsula, xxxiv Army of the Potomac: xxxix, xliii, 3–4, 8, 16–17, 67–8, 139–40; at Antietam, xxxiii; at Bull Run, 77; at Fredericksburg, xxxiv–xxxvi; at Gettysburg, 31–2, 52, 60; under Grant, 92, 101, 104; under Hooker, xl–xli; under Meade, 91; at the Wilderness, 114, 122–3 Army of the Trans-Mississippi, 137, 139 Arner, Thomas, 12, 14, 159 Arnold, William, 73, 75, 79

216 Atlanta, GA, 16 Auburn Mills, battle of, 73, 103 Austria, xxv Baker, Dr, 28, 160 Baltimore & Ohio railroad, 55 Baltimore Riots, 182n5 Baltimore Turnpike, 41, 44–5, 52 Banks Ford, 18, 25 Banks, Nathaniel, 66 Barnes, Dr, xxix Bartlett, Napier, 59 bathing, 61 battlesounds, 19–20, 22, 25, 32, 45, 129; of animals, 74, 94–5, 105; of artillery, 42, 47–8, 53, 70, 73, 77, 83, 85, 117, 119; and aurality, 35 ; and cannons, 33, 46, 72, 82, 85, 108, 113, 126, 131, 134, 139; of guns, 55, 95, 108–9, 110, 115–16, 117, 126, 127, 131, 139; of shells, 93–4, 96, 126, 131; of soldiers, 43, 84, 95, 109, 110, 117; of weather, 105 Beauregard, Pierre G.T., xxiii, xxvi, 92, 124 Bennitt, John, xlii Bermuda Hundred, 92 Birney’s Division, 80–1 Blackburn’s Ford, Battle of, 76, 103 Blanchard, H.W., xxvi Bloss, William W., 10, 160 Blue Ridge Mountains, 104, 105 Bolivar Heights, battle of, 154 Boston, ma, xxvi, xxx Boyd, Andrew, xxxvi Bragg, Braxton, 66–7 Bragg, Junius N., xlii Breckinridge, John C., 139 Bridgeford, David B., xxv

Index Bristoe Station, battle of, 61, 72, 73, 79, 80, 103 Brockville, Canada West, xxvi Bronson, George, 29, 160 Brownley, Charles, 14, 128, 160 Bull Run, battle of, xxix, xxxiv, 16, 37–9, 69, 76–8, 186n18 Burnside Corps. See Ninth Corps Burnside, Ambrose E., xxxvi–vii, xxxix, xl–xli, 13, 91 Burton, E.P., xlii Butler, Benjamin, 92 Campbell, John A., xxv, 137 Card, Dayton T., 49, 160–1 Carroll, Samuel Sprigg, 110, 116 Cedar Mountain, Battle of, 66, 67, 129 Cemetery Hill. See Pennsylvania: and Cemetery Hill Chancellorsville, battle of, 19–29, 30–2, 59, 97, 103, 108, 122, 149, 156, 183n1 Charleston, sc, xxiii, xxv, 156 Chesnut, Mary, xxiii Chickahominy River, 119 Chickamaga, battle of, 67, 96 Clow, Henry J., 97, 161, 188n13 Cold Harbor, battle of, 124 Corby, William, 102, 117, 154, 161 Couch, Darius N., 10, 19, 23, 31 Cox, Bryce A., 10, 160 Crawford, Abel, 138 Cumberland, T.D., 144 Daley, James Patrick, 141 Daley, John Patrick, 141 Daley, Mary Elizabeth, 141 Darroch, Lois, xliv Davis, Jefferson, xxiv, xxv, 17, 31, 32, 92, 137–9

Index Delaware, 9 Deverell, Joseph, 79, 120, 161 diarrhea, xli, 13 Dickson, Charles B., 43, 113, 161, 182n1 disease, xxxvi, xli, 5, 13, 24, 64, 129, 185n10; See also diarrhea, fever pens, scurvy, typhoid fever Dore, Gustave, xxxvi Doten, Frederick B., 65, 161–2 Doubleday, Abner, xxxvi Dougherty, Alexander N., 116, 156, 162 Douglas, Henry Kyd, 123 draft, 91, 185n11 Drake, William, xxv Ducachet, H.W., 62, 64, 162 Dudley, Frederick A., 96–7, 162 Dunker’s Church, xxxvi Durant, James, 158, 162 Dutton, William, 126, 162 Dwinelle, Justin, 28, 162 Dyer, J. Franklin, xxxv, xlii Early, Jubal A., 30 Edmonds, Sarah Emma, xliv Eighth Ohio Regiment, 107, 110 Eighty-eighth New York Regiment, 117 Eleventh Corps, 19–21, 31, 43, 96, 108 Ellerbeck, Robert, 128, 162–163 Ellis, Theodore Grenville, 77, 163 Ely, William Smith, 12, 14, 21, 22, 26–7, 61, 67, 129, 142, 143, 153, 163, 182n1 Emancipation Proclamation, xxxix England, John, xxxviii Evans, Robert, 43, 163

217

Ewell, Richard S., 66 Fatzer, Solomon, 126, 163 Fee, Samuel H., 9, 163 Fellman, John R., 49, 164 fever pens, 5 Field, Charles E., 14, 164 Fifteenth New Jersey Infantry, xl Fifteenth North Carolina Regiment, 79 Fifth Corps, 56, 104, 110, 114, 134 First Brigade, 128 First Corps, 41, 81, 92–3, 104 First Delaware Division, 42, 88, 94, 133, 187n8 First Division, 23, 71–2, 84, 109 Fitch, Francis, 142, 143, 146 Flint, Dayton E., xl Force, George B., 12, 164 Foreign Enlistment Act of 1819 (Great Britain), 181n88 Fort Donaldson, 16 Fort Henry, 16, 91 Fort Monroe, xxxiv Fort Morton, 131 Fort Stedman, 138 Fort Sumter, xxiii–iv, xxv Fortieth New York Infantry, xxxviii Forty-eighth North Carolina Regiment, 79 Foster, John F., 155, 164 Fourteenth Connecticut Infantry, 22, 65, 77, 85, 95–6, 188n13 Fourteenth Indiana Volunteers, 33, 65 Fourth Division, 52, 60 Fourth Ohio Regiment, 107, 133 France, xxv Franklin, Charles, 103, 164 Franklin, Joe, 103, 164

218 Franklin, Kitty, 103, 164 Fredericksburg & Orange ch plank road, 108, 109 Fredericksburg, battle of, xxxvi–ix, 4, 6, 10, 12, 16–17, 19, 21, 24, 32, 59, 82–3, 86, 103, 154 French, William H., 10, 82 French’s Division, 13 Galwey, Thomas F., 123 Gananoque River, 152 Garibaldi Guards. See Thirty-ninth New York Volunteers Georgia, 92 Gettysburg, battle of, 40–58, 59–60, 92, 103, 112, 133, 184n23 Gibbons, John, 46, 101 Gillman, Uriah, 155, 164 Gordon, John Brown, 59, 122, 123, 138 Graham, John L., 49, 164 Grant, Alexander, 145 Grant, Ulysses S., 101; and Army of the Potomac, 104; at Gettysburg, 60, 91; at Petersburg, 138–40; at Po River, 114, 115–16; at Vicksburg, 31, 91; at the Wilderness, 122–4 Grassie, Mrs Thomas G., 99, 157 Grassie, Thomas G., 14, 19–20, 27, 87, 89, 99, 107, 110, 165 Hadley, Alfred B., 49–50, 165 Hagerstown Turnpike, 54 Haley, John W., xxxvii, xxxix, 59, 123, 138, 139 Halleck, Henry W., 124 Hammond, William A., xxxiv, xxxv, 8, 10, 165 Hampton, Wade, 124, 191n26

Index Hancock, Winfield Scott, 46, 50, 101, 110, 191n26 Hanks, Constant C., 123 Harper’s Weekly, 129 Harris, Joseph S., 66, 165 Harvard University, xxviii Havana, Cuba, xxv Hayes, Alexander, 48, 73, 101, 165–6 Hays, Joshua L., 65, 122, 165 Hays, William, 10, 23, 166 Hazard, John G., 12, 73 Hazards Rhode Island Battery, 12, 73 Heck, Samuel, xxvi Heth, Henry, 72–3 Hickey, William, 103, 166 Hill, A.P., xxxiii, 72, 191n26 Hinson, W.G., 139 HMS Trent, xxv Hogoboom, Harmon S., 14, 166 Holmes, Emma, xxiii Holt, Daniel, xlii Hooker, Joseph, xl–xli, 4, 16–17, 28, 30–2, 96, 183n3, 191n26 Horsfall, Charles K., 155–6, 166 hospitals. See medical care: in battlefield hospitals Howard, Oliver Otis, xli, 19, 31 Hudson River, 9 Hunter, R.M.T., 137 Hutchinson, Franklin B., 97, 166 immigration, xxx, 137 Indiana, xxix Ingalls, Rufus, 11, 166–7 Irish Brigade, 99, 101, 102 Irish Catholics, xxx, xxxi Irish Protestants, xxx, 188n18 Jackson, Andrew, 80

Index Jackson, Thomas “Stonewall,” xxxiii, xxxvii, 20, 22, 30–1, 44, 59, 123–4 Jackson, Thomas J., 66 James River, xxxiv, 124, 126, 131 Jewel, Jack, 187n9 Johnson, C.M., 143 Johnson, Andrew, 140 Johnson, Edward, 190n27 Johnston, Joseph, xxvi, 92, 138 Kauffman, Henry, 139–40 Kenleyside, John, 88, 120, 167 Kevins, E.H., 33, 167 Kilpatrick, Judson, 99–100, 167 Kingston, Canada West, xxx, xli, xlii, 6, 43, 97, 135, 141, 149 Kingston Daily Whig, xxv Kingston General Hospital, xxiv, 141 Knapp, Theodore E., 134, 167–8 Lang, W.A., 144 Lavell, Dr, 144 Lee, Robert E., 13, 16–17, 66–7, 91–2, 124, 134; at Antietam, xxxiii; at Centreville, 69–70, 77–8; at Fredericksburg, xxxvi, xxxvii; and Gettysburg campaign, 30–3, 39, 52–5, 57, 59–60, 183n4, 184n23; at Morton’s Ford, 96; at Po River, 117–18, and the Rappahannock, 80; and Richmond, 137–8; at the Wilderness, 112, 114, 115, 123 Leon, Louis, 59 Letterman, Jonathan, xxxv, xxxvii, xxxviii–xxxix, xl–xli Lincoln, Abraham, xxv, xxvi, 14, 32, 154; assassination of, 139–40; and peace negotiations, 137–8; war

219

preparations of, xxiv, xxvii; war strategies of, xxxiv, xxxvi, xl, 60 Longstreet, James, xxxvii, 17, 30, 47, 60, 92, 122 Longstreet’s Corps, 48, 51, 66–7, 96 Lowe, James Russell, xxiv Loyalists, xxiv, xxx Lyons, Charles, 148 MacCullough, Alex, 29, 168 Macdonald, John A., xxv Magruder, D. S., xxix Markham railroad, 56 Marquis, George, xliv Maryland, 9–10, 31, 39, 54, 56; and Baltimore, 10, 59; and Crampton’s Gap, 53; and Falling Waters, 54, 55; and Falmouth, 10, 11, 12, 13; and Fredericktown, 52–3; and Keedysville, 53; and Maryland Heights, xxxvii, 24, 55; and Sharpsburg, xxxiii, 55; and Uniontown, 40 Mason, James, xxv–xxvi Maull, David W., 76, 168 Maxwell, Charles N., 60 Mayers, Adam, xliv McAbee, Harry M., 156, 168 McClellan, George B., xxxiii, xxxiv, xxxvi McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign, xxxiv McCormick, Cyrus, 79 McDonald, A.D.J., 43, 168–9 McDowell, Charles, xliv McDowell, Irvin, xxvi, xxvii McKim, Randolph, 30, 59 McKinley, James A., 134, 139, 169 McKnight, George, 70 McLaughlin, Charley, 169

220 McLaughlin, Maggie, 103 McLaughlin, William, 103, 128, 169 McLaws, Lafayette, 30 McLeod, Robert A., xxv McNaughton, James, 7, 150, 169 McPheeter, William M., xlii Mead, George G., 66, 82, 91, 139, 156; at Centreville, 69, 77–8; at Fredericksburg, 86; and Gettysburg campaign, 52, 60, 184n23, 185n25; at Morton’s Ford, 96; and Spottsylvania, 123 Meagher, Thomas F., 154 medical care: by assistant surgeons, xxxv, 7, 8, 14; in battlefield hospitals, xxxiv–xxxvii, 15, 24–5, 28, 32, 50, 61–4, 71, 75, 87, 109, 113, 116, 156; by civilian doctors, xxviii; and incompetence, xxxiii–xxxix; by male nurses, xxxv; by regimental surgeons, 3; by surgeons, xxxv, 21, 25, 29, 50, 62, 64, 75–6, 94, 97, 109, 112, 134, 150–1, 154, 156, 178n32, 179n33, 181n96; See also amputations, ambulances, anesthesia, disease, medicines Medical Board of Upper Canada, xxxii Medical College of Queens University, xxviii, xxxii, xli, 6, 145 medicines, xxxiv, 28, 51, 95, 97, 116, 178n23, 183n2 Mile Run Campaign, 87 Mine Run, Battle of, 103 Missouri Republican, 139 Mitchell, Barton, xxxiii Montreal, xxv morale, 16–17, 44, 96, 99, 124, 138

Index Morton’s Ford, battle of, xxx, xxxiii, 91, 93–7, 103, 142 Mud March, xxxix Munson, Owen, 12, 14, 21, 26, 27, 58, 66, 67, 89, 153, 169 music, 17, 102, 139 Native Americans, 139 New Jersey: and Blue Anchor, 155; and Jersey City, 98, 156, 158 New Orleans, la, 16 New York Herald, xxv New York State Medical Society, 7 New York Times, xxv, xxvi New York: and Albany, 98, 149, 151, 157–8; and Cape Vincent, 6, 98, 149, 157; and draft riots, 91; and Elmira, 58; and Monroe County, 12, 89; and New York City, xxvii, 6, 9, 10, 97, 151, 152, 157–8; and Rochester, 12, 103, 140, 141, 154, 157; and Rome, 6; and Watertown, 6, 97 Newell, William L., 156, 169 Nichols, James, 12, 14, 169 Nicholson, James. See Nichols, James Ninth Corps, 4, 11, 112–13 Ninth New York Infantry, xxxviii Ninth New York Volunteers, xxxvi North Anna River, 119, 124 North Carolina, xxiv O’Leary, Charles, xxxvii O’Neil, Patrick, 145 odors, 56 One Hundred Eighth New York Infantry, xli, 8, 22, 24, 29, 89, 143, 150, 153, 182n1; and Antietam, xxxiii, xxxvi, xxxix, 12–13; at Broad Run, 74, 76; and

Index Gettysburg campaign, 40, 46, 48, 49; at Morton’s Ford, 95–6; at Petersburg, 139–40; at Po River, 116; at Spottsylvania, 119; at the Wilderness, 112 One Hundred Thirtieth Pennsylvania Infantry, 22, 42 One Hundred Twentieth New York Infantry, 68 Orange & Alexander Railroad, 34, 57, 83 Orange Court House Turnpike, 82 Orange Order, xxx Ostrander, Dwight H., 133, 169–70 Owens, Frederick J., 156, 170 Owens, Joshua T., 71–2, 102, 170 Palmer, Oliver H., 12–13, 170 Palmer, Richard H., 170 Palmerston, Henry John Temple, xxvi Pamunkey River, 119, 124 Paris, France, xxiii Patterson, Robert, xxvi, 145 Peddy, George W., xliii Pennsylvania, 9, 39; and Cemetery Hill, 41; and Emmitsburg Road, 41, 47; and Evergreen Cemetery, 41, 45; and Philadelphia, 9–10, 59, 151, 152, 156; and Roundtop, 41, 42; and Taneytown, 40, 41, 44, 45, 47, 50, 52; Woodruff’s Battery, 42, 46, 48 Pickett, George E., 138 Pierce, Francis E., 97, 99, 103, 132, th 157, 170; and 108 New York, xxxix, 14, 26, 61, 90, 142; at Morton’s Ford, 93, 95; and Gettysburg campaign, 42–4; at Petersburg, 128; in Washington, dc, 64–5

221

Pinkerton, Frank, 32, 170–1 Pittsburgh Township (Kingston, Canada West), xxiv Pleasanton, Alfred, 39, 54 Po River, Battle of, 114–16 Porter, Samuel, 76, 171 Potomac Creek, 28, 32 Potomac River, xxxiii, 11, 13, 39, 52–6, 77–8, 99, 113, 131, 152 th Powers, Charles J., 171; and 108 New York, 10, 12, 14, 23, 61, 87, 90, 154; at Bristoe Station, 71–2; and Gettysburg campaign, 40, 42; and the Wilderness, 113; and wounds, 119, 128, 132 Proclamation of Neutrality (Great Britain), 181n88 Quackenbush, John Van Pelt, 7, 171 Queen’s University, xxiv, 141 Rapidan River, 60, 66–7, 81–3, 86–9, 91, 96, 107, 120, 125 Rappahannock River, xxxvi–xxxvii, xxxix, 4, 13, 16–18, 27, 30–2, 60–1, 67–9, 78, 80, 92, 112, 151, 152 Reynolds, John, 41 Ristow, Fred, 29, 172 River Queen, 138 Robinson’s Tavern, battle of, 103 Roman Catholicism, xxiv Rosecrans, William S., 67, 96 Rowe, David Watson, xxxviii Rowland, Thomas G., 149, 155–7, 172 Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (Kingston), 141, 144, 145, 192n11 Royce, Mr and Mrs, 103, 172

222 Ruffin, Thomas, 71, 172 Russell, William Howard, xxiii Russia, xxv Ruston, Richard, xxvi Sabin, Elias H., 156, 172 Sacramento Daily Union, 91 Salisbury, nc, 16 Sanitary and Christian Commission, 96 sanitation, xl, 4, 15, 38, 39, 52, 87 Satterthwaite, Alvin, 74–5, 155–6, 172, 191n29 Saunders, Lisa, xliv Scott, Isaac, 75, 156, 172 scurvy, xli secessionism, xxv, 16 Second Bull Run, battle of, xxxiii, 16 Second Corps, 61, 65–8, 104, 120, 127, 132–3, 135, 139, 156; at Bristoe Station, 70–3, 78; at Chancellorsville, 21, 23–4; and Gettysburg campaign, 33, 36–7, 39–41, 45–7, 50; at Morton’s Ford, 93–4; at Po River, 114–15; at Rappahannock, 80, 82–4, 86–7; at Spottsylvania, 117–18; at the Wilderness, 110–13 Second Massachusetts Infantry, xxxviii Sedgwick, John, 21, 24, 25, 32, 114, 123 Seventeenth Maine Infantry, xxxvii, 59, 138, 139 Seventh West Virginia Infantry, 44, 95, 107, 115 Seward, William Henry, xxv, 138 Seymour, Horatio, 7, 150 Shenandoah River, 13, 55 Shenandoah Valley, xxxvii, 92

Index Sheridan, Philip, 124 Sherman, William T., 92, 134, 137, 138 Sigel, Franz, 92 Sixth Corps, xxxvii, 68, 104; at Chancellorsville, 21, 24; and Gettysburg campaign, 32, 44, 46; at Po River, 114–15; at Rappahannock, 80–1, 83–4, 87; at the Wilderness, 110 slavery, xli, 137, 138 Sleepers, J. Henry, 81, 172 Slidell, John, xxv–xxvi Slocum, Henry Warner, 44, 46 Smith, Henry B., 86–7, 158, 173 Smith, William H., xlii Smithsonian Institute [sic], 63, 64, 186n14 Smyth, Thomas A., 133, 173 Sneden, Robert Knox, xxxviii, xliv Soper, Dr, 156, 173 South Carolina Palmetto Guard, xxiii Spalter, Frank J., 132, 173 Spinola, Fransico B., 57, 173 Spottsylvania Court House, battle of, 115, 116–18, 119, 123–4 St Andrews, New Brunswick, xxv St Mary’s Cathedral (Kingston, Canada West), xxiv, 141, 145 St Michael’s Episcopal Church (Charleston, sc), xxiii St Vincent de Paul Society (Kingston, Canada West), 143–4, 145 Staats, Barent P., 7, 150, 173–4 Stafford Court House, 33 Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, xxiv Stephens, Alexander, 137 Stephenson, Robert, 64, 142, 143, 174

Index Steuart, George H., 190n27 Stevenson, Christopher F., 25, 174 Stille, Charles J., xxiv Stoneman, Charles P., 28, 183n3 Stonewall Jackson’s Corps, 108 Strong, George Templeton, xxxvi Stuart, J.E.B., 30, 39, 71, 83, 123–4 Sullivan, John S., 44, 174 Sullivan, Michael, 141, 142, 144, 148 Susquehanna River, 9–10 Sutlers and Sanitary Commission, 87–8, 89 Taylor, Walter, 122 Tennessee, xxiv, 11, 67, 96; and Chattanooga, 66; and Nashville, 16, 137 Tenth Massachusetts Battery, 81 Tenth New York Regiment, 110 Thibodeau, Valery, xxv Third Brigade, 93–4 Third Corps, 104; at Bristoe Station, 68–70, 74; at Chancellorsville, 22; and Gettysburg campaign, 40–2, 57; at Morton’s Ford, 92–3; at Rappahannock, 80, 82; at the Wilderness, 110 Third Division, 23, 41, 52, 83–4, 109–10 Third Maine Infantry, 60 Thirty-ninth New York Volunteers, 41–2, 184n14 Thomas, George H., 67, 174 Thrasher, Byron P., 24, 174 Toronto, Canada West, 43 Tremont House, 6–7 Trent affair, xxv–xxvi Tripler, Charles S., xxxiv, xxxv Twelfth Corps, 43, 96

223

Twelfth New Jersey Infantry, 22, 23, 42, 66, 74, 86, 94, 110 Twelfth New York, 32, 70 Twenty-eighth New York Volunteers, xxix Twenty-second New York Cavalry, 128 Twenty-seventh Indiana Regiment, xxxiii typhoid fever, xli, 13 Union doctors, xxvii Union Medical Corps, xxvii, xxix, xxxiv, xxxv, xxxvi, xxxviii, 6 Union Quartermaster Corps, xxix, xxxiv Union Surgeon General, xxix Union, John Pope, 66 United States Hotel, 62 University of Albany, 7 University of Toronto Medical College, xxxii US Navy Yard, 64 US Pension Office, 143, 145, 146–8 US Sanitation Commission, xxxvi, 180n61 US Treasury Department, 63 US Volunteer Staff of Surgeons, 61, 67 USS San Jacinto, xxv Utica, ny, 8 Vaughn, George W., 109, 174, 187n9 Vicksburg, Battle of, 31, 53, 60, 91 Virginia, xxiv, 31, 60, 136; and Alexandria, 39, 65; and Appomattox, 139; and Ashley’s Gap, 56; and Bailey’s Crossroads, 141; and Bealton Station, 68, 69; and

224 Bloomfield, 56; and Boynton plank road, 133; and Brandy Station, 81; and Brentsville, 72, 75; and Broad Run, 73–4, 79; and Buckeystown, 39; and Burkesville, 139; and Catlett’s Station, 71; and Cedar Run, 70; and Centreville, 37, 69–70, 77, 131; and Coney Mountain, 102; and Culpeper, xxxvii , 65, 67–8, 87, 102, 107; and Dumfries, 33–4; and Edwards Ferry, 39; and Elktown, 58, 61; and Ely’s Ford, 86; and Falmouth Station, 151, 152, 153; and Fairfax Station, 34; and Five Forks crossroad, 138; and Frederick City, 39; and Gainesville, 38–9, 79; and Georgetown, 61–2, 64; and Germanna Ford, 82, 86–7, 107; and Greenwich, 79; and Groveton, 39; and Gum Springs, 39; and Hampton Roads, 138; and Hanover Court House, 119; and Kelly’s Ford, 60, 80–1; and Kettle Run, 72, 75; and Leesburg, 39; and Locust Grove, 82; and Loudon Valley, 13, 55; and Manassas Junction, 37–9, 56, 57, 76, 78; and Mine Run, 83; Mitchell’s Station, 65–6; and Morrisville, 60; and Occoquan Creek, 34; and Petersburg, 97, 124, 126, 131, 132–3, 138–9; and Rappahannock Station, 80; and Reams Station, 132; and Richmond, xxvi–xxvii, xxxiv, xxxvi, xxxix, xl, 5, 16–17, 31, 59, 71, 91–2, 119, 120, 124, 126, 138; and Stevensburg, 88, 107; and Stoney Mountain, 87, 99–101;

Index and Sulphur Springs, 69; and Totopotomoy Creek, 124; and Warrenton Turnpike, 38, 57, 62, 70, 80; and Whiteplains, 57 Wade, Norman, xxv Wadsworth, James S., 122 Wafer, Agnes, xxiv, 145, 151 Wafer, Catherine, xxiv, 145, 146, 148 Wafer, Elizabeth (mother), xxiv, 145, 146, 151 Wafer, Elizabeth, xxiv, 145 Wafer, Francis Moses, xxiv, xxix–xxxiii, 148; and gender roles, xxxi; health of, 26–7, 66, 81, 101, 118, 120, 129, 131, 141–3, 145, 191n29; letters of, xliii, 88–90, 101–4, 106–7, 118–20, 124–36, 139, 149; medical training of, xli, 141 Wafer, Francis Moses (nephew), 145 Wafer, John, xxiv, xxx, xxxii, 88, 101, 124, 129, 130, 132, 133, 145, 146–7, 149, 152, 157 Wafer, Maggie, xxiv, xxxi, 90, 106, 118, 119, 125, 128, 130, 133, 141, 151 Wafer, Maggie (niece), 146 Wafer, Maria, xxiv, 90, 125, 126, 145, 148, 151 Wafer, Martha, 145 Wafer, Peter, xxiv, xxxi, 106, 120, 141, 145, 146–8 Wapping Heights, battle of, 57 Warren, Governeur K., 31, 73, 78, 83, 84–6 Washington, dc, xxvii, xxxiii, 4, 9–11, 15, 24, 37, 59, 62–4, 67, 69, 97–8, 118, 135, 140, 151–3, 158

Index Webb, A.B., 145 West Virginia, 184n15; and Harper’s Ferry, xxxiii, 13, 55 Whitbeck, John F., 12, 14, 175 Whitman, Walt, xxxviii Wilderness, battle of the, 108–14, 115, 119, 122–3 Wilkes, Charles, xxv Willard, Sylvester D., 8, 175 Willet, Thomas, 102, 175 Williams, Alpheus, xxxvi

225

Williams, Marvin, 12, 175 Winks, Robin, xliv Wolf Run, wv, 34 Woodruff, George A., 41, 48, 175 Wrightman, Edward King, xxxvi, xxxix Yates, Horatio, 7, 141, 142–3, 176 Yates, Octavius, 141, 142 York River, xxxiv