Back to VANCE
Home
View Original
Camp near Falmouth Virginia, April 9th, 1863
Dear Brother.
Again I am permitted to enjoy the privilege of writing to you. I have not heard from you for a long time now and as I have got a little of the weariness worn off I'll write you a few lines tonight to relieve you of any uneasiness you may feel on my account. Before this reaches you ,you will have doubtless heard that the Army of the Potomac has again crossed the Rap. And have fought the most bloody battle of the war, in which we would have captured Lee and Stonewall with their whole army had it not been for the cowardice of the 11th Army Corps. And that we are again enjoying the mud on the North Bank.
I do not feel able to give you a lengthy or detached account of the fight, so I will just give you the outline of the part we took in the bloody fray, you will get a full account of the whole affair in the papers. We left our old camp on Tuesday, April (should be March) 28th, crossed the river on the 30th without opposition at United States Ford and marched some 6-8 miles in the direction of Chancellorsville and halted at midnight within a mile and a half of that place.
There had been some prisoners taken that evening by French's Div. Which was in advance of ours. The battle commenced on the morning of the 1st, our troops had some batteries planted on the hill around Chancellors Hotel (a splendid brick building) and opened on a rebel battery a mile and a half east of them. The Second Corps had the front and center of our line, before noon the reb battery was taken by storm and Hancock's Division was sent forward to draw them out and feel their strength. When we arrived at Chancellor's (Rooks or Fords [word unclear] )brigade was sent forward, we went on to the hill where the battery had been captured, then formed to the right and threw out skirmishers, they soon fell back and reported the enemy coming up the hill in close column.
They soon opened on us with shell, we were then ordered back, they following on through the woods. The skirmishers and the Irish Brigade then fired and fell back and we all were ordered to lie down, and our batteries opened on them in the timber at close range, and fairly piled the woods with their dead and wounded. That evening and the next day the battle raged very severely on the center, our men beating them back every time and killing and capturing them by the thousand, after being thus severely handled they went round and made an attack upon our right wing and drove the 11th Corps out of their rifle pits, away from their best positions and threw the line back in disorder. This decided the fate of the day, for by planting their batteries on the range of hills to the right they could sweep our center with crossfire and make the position untenable, Sunday morning we went down below Chancellors to support our batteries and I must confess it was a little the hottest I ever inhabited. They had us under a crossfire from 3 batteries for nearly 3 house. Our position was chosen with great skill or hardly a man of us would have been left, after the horses and battery men had all been killed our boys and part of the Irish brigade brought off the guns.
The 140th behaved well and was cool and steady under fire as any of the old veterans. We did not get to take part in the infantry fight as we held a line of rifle pits on the center of the left wing and were not attacked there by the infantry. We had to support the batteries a good part of the time and also to picket the front of our line. I was on piquet Monday and Tuesday and was under their fire most of the time and had but one man wounded on my part of the line. Their sharpshooters tried to drive us in and there batteries tossed in their shells and railroad iron nearly all the time but we beat them and held our position. I had the honor of being highly complimented by the field officer of the line in presence of several of my brother officers for coolness and bravery.
The great rain came on Tuesday night and our supplies could not be brought up so General Hooker ordered us back to the North Bank. I did not like it, for it makes the matter look very much like a defeat, there was no general fight on Monday or Tuesday and there is where we made the great mistake. Sedgwick crossed below, took the city and the hights (sic) on Sunday . Monday Lee took his forces away from our front and retook the hights (sic) on Monday as we did not renew the battle that day Sedgwick was forced to recross the river, then Lee and Jackson united their forces and if we had not fallen back just when we did it might have been worse for us.
The list of casualties in our Reg. is small, 8 or 10 killed and some 40 wounded and a few missing. Company H lost 3 men, wounded Will Carothers, Joseph Calhoun and William Yoltone, none of them dangerously. Lt. McCune of Company G was killed and Lt. VanDyke of Company D was badly wounded. We were over the river from Thursday 'til the next Wednesday and in that time I had not 8 hours of sleep so you can believe I am pretty near used up, have slept most of the time since we came back. Leonard Simpson of the 28th(?) was killed. Bob Smith is safe, Frazers boys were in and came through safely, our killed and wounded will amount to about 10 thousand, the rebel loss is much greated as they were constantly making charges on our batteries and rifle pits.
We will likely move again soon, I have no idea where we will go. I think we will try them again on the other side, but a great many think we will have to fall back. It may be so, but I'm free to confess I don't see it.
I have had no letters from home since we left here, but I presume they are all well. I had a letter from Nan Savage yesterday. She sends her best wishes to you. There has been another great scare in Wheeling and Pittsburgh about the rebels. They took Uniontown and Morgantown, but after scaring the good people of the panhandle they finally went their ways. I've not heard who all went but 'spose some of the Frankfort heroes would go. At least Hood would to if they promise him a spree when he came back, well I must close as it is getting late, give my love to all the boys, ever your loving brother.
JB Vance