.......
ACCOUNTS OF THE BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS, VA.
(FROM LETTERS OF THE 20TH MASS. PARTICIPANTS)
20th Mass. officer Henry Abbott's account:
"In about an hour we let up on the firing along the line, the smoke partially cleared, & we saw the rebels charging from the woods to take Rickets' battery, which, by the way, did admirably. Instantly there went up a tremendous shout along the line & the biggest volley of the battle sent the rebels yelping into the woods. Then our whole line charged, the first halfthe distance in quick time, without cheering, except from old Sumner, who cheered us as we passed, the second half the way taking the double-quick with the loudest cheers we could get up [...]
Map showing the battlefield of May 31, 1862. The California Regiment's first position is shown. Subsequent to this, the men moved to their right into a position in the rear of the 65th New York and 1st Minnesota and to the left of the Courtney house (building depicted to the right of the 1st Minnesota's line).
Over the fence we went...It was now dark. We lay on our arms, on marshy ground; without blankets, officers being obliged to sit up, every body wet through as to his feet and trousers, & we had brought our blankets, but gave them all up to the wounded prisoners, of whom our regiment took a large number....My company took 10 unwounded, & 11 wounded rebels prisoner in the woods. Among the former, 5 of the celebrated Hampton Legion of South Carolina, & one Tennessee, two North Carolinans, a Georgia & a Louisiana Tiger.
Among the wounded, Brig. Gen. Pettigrew of SC & Lt. Col. Bull of the 35th Georgians. Pettigrew had given up all his side arms to some of his people before they ran away, in anticipation of being taken prisoner, & had only his watch, which of course I returned to him. Pettigrew will get well. Bull had his side arms, of which I allowed Corp. Summerhayes, his captor, to keep his pistol, an ordinary affair, while I kept his sword, an ordinary US infantry sword, which I intended to send as a present to you, but the Col., knowing [p.129] his family's address, wants me to send it to them, & as the poor fellow is dead, of course I can't hesitate to do any thing which would comfort his family. His scabbard, however, I found very convenient, as mine got broken in the battle and I threw it away. I am going to send you, instead, a short rifle which I took from a H[ampton's] Legion fellow, who were all around with them & the sword bayonet. The rest of the rifles we of course turned over to the col., as in duty bound, except one revolving Colt's rifle, 5 barrels, worth $60 or $70 apiece...which one of my men took from a dying officer, & which I let him keep as a reward of valor."
---Robert Garth Scott, ed., Fallen Leaves: The Civil War Letters of Major Henry Livermore Abbott (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1991) pp. 128-129.
20th Mass. Corporal John W. Summerhayes' account:
[Fair Oaks, Va. Twin houses on battlefield, with 32-pdr. field howitzer in foreground]
"Lieutenant Abbott ordered me into the woods, with a file of men, to bring out all the wounded, and rebels, that could be found. As I started, seven came out, belonging to the Hampton Legion, SC, the finest brigade in the rebel service. After coming in with them, I advanced into the woods, and hearing a groaning, walked up and there found Lieut. Col. Bull of the 34th Georgia [sic]. I took his sword and revolver, and sent him in. After taking several more, I fell in with one, whom I knew, although his side arms were gone, was of some high rank, and so he proved to be. Although he would not give me any answers, the Colonel was more fortunate, for he found out that it was Brigadier General Pettigrew, of the State of South Carolina."
---Richard F. Miller and Robert F. Mooney, The Civil War: The Nantucket Experience (Nantucket: Wesco Publishing, 1994) pp. 187.
20th Mass. Lt. Henry Ropes' account:
[Fair Oaks, Va., vicinity. Capt. Rufus D. Pettit's Battery B, 1st New York Light Artillery, in Fort Richardson]
"[...] On Saturday last, May 31st, we had not the slightest idea of danger being near till about noon when very heavy firing broke out from the woods West of us and at one time approached very near. ... At about 4 o'cl. orders came to fall in with one day's rations and we marched from Camp, and crossed the Chickahominy on the log bridge built by the Mich. Regimt. We came out on a low meadow where our Artillery was stuck in the mud. The 19th Mass. was on picket behind us, the Tammany we left here, and the 7th Mich. and we pushed on alone. After passing the meadow we ascended a small hill, and found the country dry and hilly in front. Soon we halted, loaded and primed and then marched on again. In a few minutes we heard guns ahead, and we pushed on rapidly, crossed a stream knee deep and took the double quick, for musketry and artillery were now heard in front, rapidly increasing. We drove forward out of breath and very hot, saw the smoke rising over the trees, and soon the road turned from along the edge of the woods, and we saw at the farther end of a large field our Artillery firing with the greatest rapidity, the Infantry forming, all hid in smoke.
We again took the double quick step and ran through deep mud and pools of water toward the battle. The whole field in the rear of the line of firing was covered with dead; and wounded men were coming in in great numbers, some walking, some limping, some carried on stretchers and blankets, many with shattered limbs exposed and dripping with blood. In a moment we entered the fire. The noise was terrific, the balls whistled by us and the shells exploded over us and by our side; the whole scene dark with smoke and lit up by the streams of fire from our battery and from our Infantry in line on each side. We were carried to the left and formed in line, and then marched by the left flank and advanced to the front and opened fire.
Our men behaved with the greatest steadiness and stood up and fired and did exactly what they were told. The necessary confusion was very great, and it was as much as all the Officers could do to give the commands and see to the men. We changed position 2 or 3 times under a hot fire. Donnelly and Chase of my company fell not 2 feet from me. The shell and balls seemed all round us, and yet few seemed to fall. We kept up this heavy firing for some time, when the enemy came out of the woods in front and made a grand attack on the battery. They were met by grape and canister and a tremendous fire of the Infantry. They faltered and fell back. Some Regiment charged on them; the whole Rebel line was now in front of us, and Genl Sumner ordered our whole line to advance. We rushed on with tremendous cheers, the whole together at a charge. The Rebels did not wait for the bayonets but broke and fled. Our Regiment came over a newly ploughed field and sank to the knee. We drove them to the edge of the woods and opened a tremendous fire for a few moments, and then..
....We fired into the woods and then charged and drove them before us. We were then ordered back, and by the left flank and again charged the Rebels in a field on the left where they had rallied. We drove them and halted in the middle of the field and gave a few final volleys. It was then dark. We staid there that night. Ground covered with their killed and wounded. We took many prisoners.
[...] All Officers well and unhurt. [...] Our total loss 30.
B
My Company suffered most in the battle.
Henry."
--From the Letters of Lt. Henry Ropes, 20th MA (ms, Boston, 1888)
Rare Books and Manuscripts Dept., Boston Public Library
Courtesy of the Trustees of the Boston Public Library
Oliver Wendell Holmes' Account
...May 31st We heard heavy firing from Casey's Div and soon our Div was under arms & marched 4 miles I sh'ld think-the last part through a stream above our knees and then double quick through mud a foot deep on the field of battle [....]
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Soon we filed round and formed under fire in 2nd posit. left of a N.Y. Regt. (34th New York) and opened fire on the Reb line wh. was visible--Our fire was soon stopped (by order) and we could see in the field (where our 3d position was later) Rebs moving by twos and threes-apparently broken up[....]
When we got to the road the R. Wing entered the woods firing hard and the left wing advancing more slowly to avoid getting fired into by our own men- A Co. of Rebs trying to pass out of the woods was knocked to pieces-and thus we took the final position of the 1st day.. Here we blazed away left oblique into the woods till we were ordered to cease firing & remained masters of the field....
Well we licked 'em and this time there was the maneurvering of a battle to be seen-splendid and awful to behold...It is singular what indifference one gets to look on the dead bodies in gray clothes which lie all around...
As you go through the woods you stumble...perhaps tread on the swollen bodies, already fly blown and decaying, of men shot in the head back or bowels-Many of the wounds are terrible to look at [...]
Source- Anthony J. Milano, "Letters from the Harvard Regiments: The Story of the 2nd and 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiments from 1861 through 1863 as told by the letters of their Officers" (Civil War: The Magazine of the Civil War Society, Vol. XIII, pp. 23-24)
THE FATE OF THE CHARACTERS
Col. Lee, was too ill to resume command after Antietam and resigned on 12/17/62. Died 1891
General Lee (CSA), spent the postwar years as President of Washington College, in Lexington VA. Died 1870
Lt. Henry Ropes, killed by friendly fire at Gettysburg
General Pettigrew (CSA), killed in the retreat from Gettysburg.
Capt. Henry Abbott, killed in the Battle of The Wilderness.
Lt. Robert Emory Park (CSA), survived the war to become Treasurer of Georgia in 1900.
Of the two men who fell wounded within feet of Lt. Ropes, Pvt. Chase was discharged for disabilities the following year, but Pvt. Donnelly never made it home. He was missing in action at the Battle of The Wilderness.
John W. Summerhayes, survived the war and made a career of the US Army. He died in 1911 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. survived three battle wounds and served on the US Supreme Court from 1902 to 1932
On This Day In History
1332 Ibn Khaldun Tunis, Arab historian/sociologist (Muqaddimah)
1595 Benedictus Carpzovius [Benedikt Carpzov], German lawyer
1756 Maximilian I Jozef King of Bavaria
1774 Francis Beaufort Admiral/hydrographer (Beaufort wind force scale)
1794 Cornelius Vanderbilt millionaire (B & O railroad)
1818 American reformer Amelia Jenks Bloomer, who popularized the "bloomers" garment that bears her name, was born in Homer, N.Y.
1819 Julia Ward Howe US, author/lecturer (Battle Hymn of the Republic)
1823 John Gray Foster Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1874
1836 Edwin Gray Lee Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1870
1836 Jay Gould US railroad executive, financier
1837 "Wild Bill" Hickok [James Butler] cowboy/scout
1837 Robert Frederick Hoke Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1912
1894 Dashiell Hammett Maryland, author (Sam Spade, Maltese Falcon)
1897 John Douglas Cockroft English physicist (Radar, Nobel 1951)
1907 Rachel Louise Carson biologist/ecologist/writer (Silent Spring)
1908 Alex Brown snooker player
1911 Hubert Humphrey (Senator-D-MN) 38th Vice President (1965-69), 1969 Presidential candidate
1911 Vincent Price St Louis MO, actor (House on Haunted Hill, The House of Usher, Pit and the Pendulum, Scream and Scream Again, The Fly)
1912 Sam Snead Hot Springs VA, PGA golfer (Masters 1949, 52, 54/PGA-1963, 65, 67, 70, 72, 73)
1915 Herman Wouk New York NY, novelist (Caine Mutiny, Winds of War)
1919 Kam Fong Honolulu HI, actor (Hawaii Five-0)
1921 Caryl Chessman kidnapper who got the death penalty (1960)
1922 Christopher Lee London England, actor (Hound of the Baskervilles, Lord of the Rings)
1923 Henry Kissinger Secretary of State (1973-77)/Nobel Peace Prize (1973)
1930 William S Sessions Arkansas, director of FBI
1931 Kenny Price Florence KY, country singer (Midwestern Hayride, Hee Haw)
1934 Harlan [Jay] Ellison US, sci-fi author (7 Hugos, Doomsman, Babylon 5)
1935 Lee Meriwether Los Angeles CA, Miss America (Time Tunnel, Barnaby Jones)
1935 Ramsey Lewis Chicago IL, pop jazz artist (Hang on Sloopy)
1936 Louis Gossett Jr Brooklyn NY, actor (An Officer & a Gentleman, The Deep)
1939 Don Williams Floydada TX, country singer (I Believe in You)
1943 Bruce Weitz Norwalk CT, actor (Hill St Blues, Death of a Centerfold)
1948 Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Volkov cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-8, T-14, TM-7)
1961 Cathy Silvers New York NY, actress (Jenny-Happy Days, Foley Square)
1972 Antonio Freeman NFL wide reciever (Green Bay Packers-Superbowl 31)
Deaths which occurred on May 27:
0866 Ordoño I King of Asturia (850-66), dies
0927 Symeon czar of Bulgaria ( -927)
1541 Margaretha duchess of Salisbury, beheaded
1564 Jean Caulvin [John Calvin] priest/church reformer, dies at 54
1647 Achsah Young becomes 1st woman known to be executed as a witch (Massachusetts)
1661 Archibald Campbell Scottish politician, beheaded at about 53
1790 Jeremiah Carlton laziest man in history, heir to a large fortune at 19 went to bed & stayed there for next 70 years, dies at 89
1863 Edward Payson Chapin Union Brigadier General, dies at 31
1887 Coenraad J van Houten Dutch cocoa manufacturer, dies at 86
1918 Henry Adams US literature historian (Esther), dies at 80
1941 AH Borgesius tutor/experimentator/amateur astronomer, dies at 76
1958 Samuel Stritch US cardinal/archbishop (Chicago), dies
1963 Lambrakis Greek EDA-parliament leader, murdered
1964 Jawaharial Nehru Independent India's 1st PM, dies at 74
1968 Little Willie John rocker, dies at 30
1969 Jeffrey Hunter actor (Christopher Pike-Star Trek Cage), dies at 43
1975 Ezzard Charles heavyweight boxing champion (1949-51), dies in Chicago at 53
1992 Tony "Big Tuna" Accardo mobster (St Valentines Day), dies at 86
1994 Red Rodney [Albino Red/The Red Arrow] bebop-trumpeter, dies at 66
GWOT Casualties
REMEMBER
Iraq
27-May-2003 2 | US: 2 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Sergeant Thomas F. Broomhead Fallujah Hostile - hostile fire
US Staff Sergeant Michael B. Quinn Fallujah Hostile - hostile fire
26-May-2004 3 | US: 3 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Lance Corporal Kyle W. Codner Al Anbar Province Hostile - hostile fire
US Corporal Matthew C. Henderson Al Anbar Province Hostile - hostile fire
US Corporal Dominique J. Nicolas Al Anbar Province Hostile - hostile fire
Afghanistan
A Good Day
http://icasualties.org/oif/ Data research by Pat Kneisler
Designed and maintained by Michael White
On this day...
1328 French king Philip VI Valois crowned
1529 30 Jews of Posing Hungary, charged with blood ritual, burned at stake
1679 Habeaus Corpus Act (no false arrest & imprisonment) passes in UK
1703 St Petersburg (Leningrad) founded by Peter the Great
1738 Turkish troops occupy Orsova & Ochakov
1796 James S McLean patents his piano
1813 Americans capture Fort George, Canada
1844 Samuel F.B. Morse completes 1st telegraph line
1850 Mormon Temple in Nauvoo IL destroyed by tornado
1856 Doctor William Palmer found guilty of poisoning
1862 Battle of Hanover Court House VA (Slash Church, Peake's Station)
1863 CSS Chattahoochie explodes on Chattahoochie River GA, 18 die
1863 Siege of Port Hudson LA
1864 Skirmish at Salem Church (Haw's Shop) VA
1873 1st Preakness Stakes won by Survivor (2:43)
1883 Czar Alexander III crowned in Moscow
1893 Audath Yisroel forms at Kattowitz (Katowice) Poland
1895 British inventor Birt Acres patents film camera/projector
1896 1st major tornado to strike urban US (St Louis & E St Louis MO); killing 255 & leaving thousands homeless
1904 National League record of 5 stolen bases in a game (Dennis McGann, New York Giants)
1905 Japanese fleet destroys Russian East Sea fleet in Straits of Tushima
1906 1st outlining of Gustav Mahler's 6th symphony, in Essen
1907 Bubonic Plague breaks out in San Fransisco
1917 Race riot in East St Louis IL, 1 black killed
1918 Battle of Aisne
1919 1st transatlantic flight ends; US Navy flying boat takes 11 days
1919 Charles Strite patents pop-up toaster
1921 After 84 years of British control, Afghánistán achieves sovereignty
1927 Japanese military intervention in Chinese civil war
1930 Richard Drew invents masking tape
1931 1st full scale wind tunnel for testing airplanes, Langley Field VA
1931 Piccard & Knipfer make 1st flight into stratosphere, by balloon; 1st use of pressurized cabin in a balloon
1933 Walt Disney's "3 Little Pigs" released
1935 Supreme Court declares FDR's National Recovery Act unconstitutional
1941 Allied troops begin evacuating Kreta
1941 FDR proclaimes an "unlimited national emergency" due to Germany's sinking of Robin Moor
1941 German battleship Bismarck sunk by British naval force
1942 Dorie Miller, awarded navy cross for deeds at Pearl Harbor
1942 Top German Nazi Reinhard Heydrich is shot & mortally wounded in Prague
1942 Hitler orders 10,000 Czechoslovakians murdered
1943 US forbids racial discrimination in war industry
1948 Arabs blow up Jewish synagogue Hurvat Rabbi Yehudah he-Hasid
1948 Hank Greenberg buys an interest in the Cleveland Indians
1949 Indians start 12-17, owner Bill Veeck arranges a "Second Opening Day"
1949 Russian stop train traffic West-Berlin
1951 Chinese Communists force Dalai Lama to surrender his army to Beijing
1951 Maritime Museum at Aquatic Park, San Fransisco opens
1952 European Defense Community forms
1958 Ernest Green & 600 whites graduate from Little Rock's Central HS
1960 Baltimore manager Paul Richards devises oversized catcher's mitt (used by Clint Courtney)
1960 Military coup overthrows democratic government of Turkey
1961 1st black light is sold (groovy)
1963 Jomo Kenyatta elected 1st prime minister of Kenya
1964 "From Russia With Love" premieres in US
1968 US nuclear submarine Scorpion was lost (On Eternal Patrol)
1969 Walt Disney World construction begins
1970 British expedition climbs south face of Annapurna I
1977 2 Boeing 747s by Pan Am & KLM collide in Canary Islands, killing 582
1977 NYC fines George Willig 1¢ for each of 110 stories of the World Trade Center he climbed
1979 Pope John Paul ordains John J O'Conner as a bishop
1980 South Korean police ends people's uprising; 2,000 killed
1981 John Hinckley attempts suicide by overdosing on Tylenol
1983 Former EPA official Rita Lavelle indicted for contempt of Congress
1986 President Reagan orderes 2 Poseidon-class submarines be dismantled
1987 Jim & Tammy Bakker appear on "Nightline" after PTL scandal
1987 Yankee Phil Niekro is 3rd pitcher to make 700th start (Young & Sutton)
1988 Senate ratified a treaty eliminating medium-range nuclear missiles
1990 Radical Democratic Party holds 1st political meetings in Moscow
1991 Austrian Boeing 767-300 explodes at Bangkok, 223 die
1993 Mafia bombs Uffizi-museum in Florence, kills 6
1994 Alexander Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia after 20 years in exile
1994 Final broadcast of Arsenio Hall talk show
1994 Flintstones live action movie opens in theaters
1994 CompuServe unveils CD-ROM plan
1994 First International World Wide Web Conference ends
1994 Larry King ended his radio show
1994 Radio conservative Rush Limbaugh (43) weds Marta Fitzgerald (35)
1997 1st all female (20 British women) team reaches North Pole
1997 Judge finds Pamela Lee not guilty of breaking a contract
1997 Marv Albert pleads innocent to charges of sexually assault
1997 Russian President Boris Yeltsin signs a historic treaty with NATO
1997 The Supreme Court ruled that Paula Jones may pursue her sexual harassment lawsuit against Pres. Clinton while he is in office.
1999 Restoration of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci complete (22years)
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Afghánistán : Independence Day (1921)
Nicaragua : Army Day
Nigeria : Children's Day
Turkey : Freedom & Constitution Day (1960, 1961)
US : Memorial Day/Decoration Day, a legal holiday (1868) (Monday)
Virginia : Confederate Memorial Day (1868) (Monday)
Touring Theatre Month
Religious Observances
old Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St John I, pope, martyr
old Roman Catholic : Feast of St Bede the Venerable, doctor, writer
Lutheran : Commemoration of John Calvin, renewer of the church
Shavout
Religious History
1664 Colonial theologian Increase Mather, 24, was installed as minister of Boston's Second (Congregational) Church. He remained there until his death in 1723.
1799 Birth of George Washington Doane, American Episcopal clergyman. One of the foremost promoters of Episcopal missions in his day, Doane also authored many hymns, including "Fling Out the Banner! Let It Float" and "Softly Now the Light of Day."
1917 Benedict XV promulgated the "Codex iuris canonici." Divided into five books and 2,414 regulations, the CIC was the first revision of canon law in the Catholic church in modern times, and went into effect at Pentecost the following year.
1924 The General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, meeting at Springfield, Maryland, repealed its ban on dancing and theater attendance.
1927 Birth of Ralph Carmichael, a popular sacred composer whose works flourished most during the 1960s-1970s. Among his oftªsung arrangements are "The Savior is Waiting" and "He's Everything to Me."
Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Strange Days
Businessman lay down in street to sunbathe
A businessman has been arrested in Ukraine after he took off his suit in the middle of a busy street and lay down to sunbathe.
Dmitry Nikolaev, 30, told police who arrested him for causing a disturbance that it was simply too nice a day to do any work.
Dozens of drivers stopped their cars to look after he stripped down to his underpants in Leo Tolstoy Square and lay on the pavement for about an hour.
He had placed his neatly folded suit by his side and closed his eyes, oblivious to the people walking round him.
Thought for the day :
"I find television to be very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book."