"The Irish Ninth in Bivouac and Battle"
by Michael H. Macnamara
CHAPTER XIV.
Scenes at Antietam and South Mountain. -- The Doomed Legion. -- Insults offered to Union Soldiers. -- Hospital Scenes. -- Yankee Smartness. -- Be careful of your Stars. -- It is finished. -- A miscreant Regiment. -- Boteler's Mills. -- Picket Duty. -- End of first Maryland Campaign.
THE battle-fields of South Mountain and Antietam showed a frightful loss of human life. The dead were thickly strewn about the roads and piled in stagnant ditches, in some cases hidden by the cornstalks and grass, in many instances frightfully mutilated by the feet of the immense bodies of cavalry and infantry that had passed over them in the progress of the terrific struggle. As we slowly and carefully picked our way along, long lines of the soiled gray coats of the dead enemy showed the position in which they had been placed, and which they were instructed to maintain at all hazards, and in defending which they had perished gallantly. Blue coats and gray coats were lying side by side, their quarrels over; though in "life divided, yet in death united." Wounded men were thickly scattered around, and many of them had lain for two nights upon the field before they were removed to the hospital. Upon some of the bodies of the dead rebels we noticed papers attached, giving the names of the unfortunate men, and requesting that their graves might be marked, as a means of future identification. One of the most revolting scenes we have ever witnessed actually came under our notice. This was after the engagement of South Mountain, two days before the decisive battle of Antietam. We came to a field enclosed on every side by stone walls, literally covered with dead men, in indescribable confusion. These were the remains of the Georgia Legion, under the command of General Howell Cobb. They had marched into the enclosure, there to hold the position at the base of the mountain; they were then instantly attacked by our troops on all sides, and literally destroyed. Cavalry, infantry, and artillery simultaneously assailed them, and scarce one man of that fine legion escaped to tell the story of its fate ! There they lay in all attitudes of death; some still and cold, in the act of firing; some calmly lay, as if in sleep; others appeared like living men resting against trees which were there; again there were masses of dead, many maimed, bruised, and so mangled by shot and shell as scarcely to retain the appearance of human beings. It was a terrible picture of human ferocity, and yet scarcely expressed a tittle of the horrors of that campaign.
Houses and barns in the vicinity of the battle-fields were used for hospital purposes, and these were filled with wounded men, mostly rebels. Low platforms were raised before the doors of many of these houses, on which would be stretched the figure of a man, one of whose limbs would be in process of amputation. Rebel surgeons worked side by side with Union surgeons, and, unlike doctors in general, seemed to agree most cordially. Amputated arms and legs were flung unconcernedly upon the ground, and sometimes carelessly handled and examined by the soldiers whose curiosity led them to be spectators of the scene.
Ladies, richly dressed, would come from the adjacent places to visit the rebel wounded, bringing with them jellies, wines, and preserved meats, which they would give to our wounded prisoners, passing the poor northern soldier upon his bed of racking pain, without a word or look of sympathy, or a drop of the precious liquid with which they cooled the lips of the wounded traitor. Many of the rebels expressed hopes that the war would soon be over, and more of them spoke of the North with great bitterness, and said that only by a war of extermination would the South be beaten; many of them asserted the superiority of their soldiers over ours, which we thought displayed considerable hardihood, after the terrible whipping we had just given them; but it was made seemingly with full reliance in its truth. The wounded men left in our hands by the rebels amounted to several thousands, a number of whom were conscripts. These received every care from our surgeons and their own, as well as from visitors; and our lads, with noble generosity, supplied them with such necessaries as they could command, in the shape of tobacco, pipes, &c., for which they seemed very thankful. They were eager to exchange their "scrip" for our greenbacks, sometimes offering ten dollars in scrip for one dollar in our currency.
Owing to the care taken, very few of those injured died, and as soon as they recovered were sent to Washington, and shortly after their arrival would be exchanged.
Scenes like these could be witnessed about Sharpsburg, and within less than half a mile of the Potomac, and in the immediate vicinity of the camp occupied by the Ninth. Our men paid daily visits to the hospitals containing the rebel wounded, and many of them contracted friendships which they afterwards found very useful, some when wounded on the battle-field, and others when in the prisons at Richmond.
We remember an incident which occurred one day before one of these temporary hospitals. A rebel surgeon was busily engaged in amputating the leg of one of his own men, and at the same time conversing with a tall, muscular man, of the "Maine lumber" species. In the course of his work the surgeon laid down a small pair of scissors, which the tall Yankee picked up, and seemed to examine with great curiosity, at the same time turning his eyes upon one of the glittering stars adorning the collar of the doctor's coat, indicating his rank in the rebel service. By a dexterous, and, to us, almost imperceptible application of the scissors, the Yankee filched one of the stars, and whispering the national air, walked coolly away.
In a short time the doctor noticed the loss of his star; he looked about for his Yankee friend; not seeing him, at last he said, "well, gentlemen, I've never been north, but I've heard a great deal about Yankee smartness, and wooden hams and nutmegs, and I've concluded the 'Yanks' were pretty smart; but I never did think one of them smart enough to steal a star from under a man's chin before !" Another, though painful incident, occurred here. A boy, about fourteen years old, was one day undergoing the process of amputation. He lay upon the stage, dressed in his rebel uniform, his face pale, and his large blue eyes gazing wonderingly around. His injured leg was stretched before the surgeons, who were carefully feeling it about the wound -- a black break, about the size of a nickel cent. A sign from one of the doctors, and the instruments were brought and placed upon a large box that once contained army clothes, but was now partly filled with bandages besmeared with blood. The surgeon selected one of the instruments; a cloth was held before the nostrils of the white-faced boy; the surgeon began his work. The skin of the white leg was cut; in a little while the bone was off, the arteries taken up, the skin laid over, the bandages applied, and the whole bound carefully up. "It is finished," said the doctor, as he wiped the blood off his hands. He said truly; the work was finished. The boy was dead !
On the evening of the 18th of September, while lying close to the banks of the Potomac, we received orders to move. The enemy were reported to be in force on the other side of the river, and a sharp fight was anticipated. The One Hundred and Eighteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers were ordered to cross the river and engage the enemy posted on the high bluffs overlooking the Potomac. The river, or that part of it which divided us from the enemy, was scarcely two hundred yards wide, and easily fordable. The One Hundred and Eighteenth immediately took to the water, and moved across the river. As they approached the opposite bank, the enemy opened a fierce fire upon them. The Pennsylvanians halted, staggered a moment, and fled. But this desertion of the flag was fiercely avenged; for our batteries upon the bank hurled their shot and shrapnel among them until they attacked the enemy, who captured a large number of them. But the true metal of the Fourth Michigan, backed by the Irish Ninth, turned the fate of the battle, and in a short time, after a fierce and gallant contest, the enemy retreated, leaving in our hands a number of prisoners and several pieces of artillery.
This engagement is known as that of Boteler's Mills. It is the same place where General Banks destroyed so many millions of rebel property, including all the mills in that vicinity from which the rebels were supplied with grain, upon his famous retreat from the Shenandoah. In this engagement two pieces of the artillery captured were found to be of those which were taken by the enemy at the first battle of Bull Run. General Griffin was exceedingly pleased at this recapture, and highly complimented the gallantry of his brigade. One of the guns taken here turned out to have been one of those taken from the general's battery at the first battle of Bull Run.
Next day our regiment encamped a few yards from the banks of the Potomac, having its picket posted close to the river, as it was deemed unadvisable to post a force on the other side. In a few days the enemy's picket gradually advanced, and moved down to the banks of the river, on the opposite side, and opened communication with our lads, and in a little while a very good feeling seemed to prevail between them. Our men would bathe in their own side of the river, and hold interesting conversations at the same time with a rebel on the other side, who, leaning on his gun, would watch our lads as they disported themselves in the water. Papers would be exchanged, and tobacco and coffee; and, in fact, a proper "picket feeling" was soon established.
On arriving at the bank of the Potomac, the Maryland campaign was virtually ended. It was a rapid and glorious one for General McClellan and his army, and caused much rejoicing in the Northern States.
At its conclusion, unlike that of the peninsular campaign, our army was in splendid condition, and ready for an immediate move. It is not in our power, even if we had the desire, to state the reason of the idle days which ensued, but we have the fullest confidence in General McClellan, and feel sure that he had good reasons for that delay, and have no doubt the history of the rebellion will fully justify them.
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