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Overview
In the first volume, Secession to the Suffolk Campaign, John F. Schmutz followed the regiment from its inception through the successful foraging campaign in southeastern Virginia in April 1863. Gettysburg to Appomattox continues the regiment’s rich history from its march north into Pennsylvania and the battle of Gettysburg, its transfer west to Georgia and participation in the bloody battle of Chickamauga, operations in East Tennessee, and the regiments return to Virginia for the overland battles (Wilderness to Cold Harbor), Petersburg campaign, and the march to Appomattox Court House. The narrative ends by following many of the regiment’s soldiers on their long journey home.
Schmutz’s definitive study is based upon years of archival and battlefield research that uncovered hundreds of primary sources, many never before used. The result is a lively account of not only the regiments marches and battles but a personal look into the lives of these Texans as they struggled to survive a vicious war more than 1,000 miles from home.
“The Bloody Fifth”: The 5th Texas Infantry Regiment, Hood’s Texas Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia, with photos, original maps, explanatory footnotes, and important and useful appendices, is a significant contribution to the history of Texas and the American Civil War.
“A scholarly work enhanced with maps and exhaustive notes, yet thoroughly accessible to readers of all backgrounds.” —Midwest Book Review
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781611213355 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Savas Beatie |
| Publication date: | 02/20/2019 |
| Series: | The 5th Texas Infantry Regiment, Hood's Texas Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia , #2 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 384 |
| Sales rank: | 1,014,459 |
| File size: | 7 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Gettysburg: Gathering Storm
On May 24, having missed the fight at Chancellorsville, the Texas Brigade held a regular review in an open field about 600 yards from its camp. A number of ladies in mourning dress watched the proceedings on horseback. (One Texan estimated that "more than two-thirds of the women in the Confederacy" were in black by then.) Four days later, the men departed camp at 8:00 a.m. for a five mile march to participate in a "grand Division Review," in a clearing behind Hood's headquarters, with the public invited. Hood relished the opportunity to show off his veterans. The brigades of Anderson, Law, Robertson, and Benning drew up in a mile long line of battle. The division, formed into companies, preceded by about 20 artillery pieces, passed in review before their beaming commander. The 4th Texas band and those of the three other brigades provided a variety of stirring marching tunes.
Following the formal review, a mock battle was staged for the dignitaries and what one participant described as an "immense crowd of citizens." Smither wrote his mother that, "[w]e also had a sham Artillery duel and an Infantry charge, it was a very grand affair throughout, the 'Old 5th' was just in front of Hood, and coming up at a doublequick with fixed bayonets, and arriving within 50 yds of the General we raised the 'Old Texas Yell'" that the entire brigade quickly and loudly took up. "You have no idea how terrific it sounds to hear a line of 10,000 men yelling like mad," Smither exclaimed.
Afterward, the regiment bided its time until May 31, when the brigade trudged 14 miles through heavy dust back toward Fredericksburg, bivouacking on the Fredericksburg Road two miles closer to the town than their encampment of the previous year. Remaining on alert throughout the night, it then returned back to its camp near Raccoon Ford. The subsequent 28 mile trek with full packs through the dusty, hot sun was thoroughly exhausting, especially on new recruits — one reporting himself "pretty tired" with "very much blistered" feet. While Lee mulled the prospect of launching another major offensive, he ordered a number of feigned movements and demonstrations such as this one to confuse the enemy about his intentions.
Following its victory at Chancellorsville, Lee's army was positioned halfway between Richmond and Washington along the Rapidan-Rappahannock basin. The high command faced a critical decision: should the army be sent west to reinforce Confederate forces facing Grant and Rosecrans, or should Lee invade the North again? Disagreeing with several of his generals, Lee favored a thrust northward into Pennsylvania. While such an invasion presented significant logistical issues, it had considerable merit. President Davis and his war department wanted to keep Lee's army in the East, and the advantages accruing from a victory on Northern soil were undeniable. So they backed Lee's proposed course of action.
Lee reorganized the Army of Northern Virginia for a third time on May 30, dividing it into three corps, replacing the previous two. Longstreet retained command of First Corps. Two new lieutenant generals, Richard S. Ewell and Ambrose Powell Hill, took command of the other two corps. Ewell's Second Corps absorbed the majority of Jackson's old corps, while the new Third Corps under Hill comprised divisions transferred from the other two. Hood's Division, of about 8,000 effectives, remained under Longstreet. "So high-wrought was the pride and self-reliance of ... [these] troops," Hood wrote, with pride "they believed they could carve their way through almost any number of the enemy's lines, formed in the open field in their front."
Beginning on June 3, Lee slowly began withdrawing his army from the Rapidan-Rappahannock line toward the Shenandoah Valley and the designated rally point at Culpeper Court House. McLaws' Division of Longstreet's Corps left Fredericksburg first. Ewell's three divisions proceeded north on June 4-5, while Lee himself left Fredericksburg on the 6th. Meanwhile, A. P. Hill's Third Corps remained near Fredericksburg to counter any potential Federal advance toward Richmond, as well as to deceive the Yankees about Lee's actual intentions. Hooker did indeed remain largely uncertain about what Lee was doing.
On June 3, the brigade prepared for its move to Culpeper Court House. The men cooked three days' rations and were ready to move out early the following morning. Early on June 4 they set out, waded the Rapidan at Raccoon Ford, and marched 15 miles, finally bivouacking three miles south of the town, where they had camped the prior November. Even during their short stay, the Texans were still ordered out of camp twice, once to attend a review of Stuart's cavalry and again as a planned misdirection.
Along with the rest of Longstreet's Corps, the regiment departed camp at 1:00 p.m. in a heavy rain storm on June 6, heading northeast toward Rappahannock Station, plodding through the mire until 10:00 p.m. that evening. They bivouacked a few feet off the road, and slept under dripping trees on the wet ground "like so many tired hounds." "It was a novel sight," a Texan recalled, "to see or rather to hear 20,000 or 30,000 men rushing into the woods on the side of the road to ... secure a place to lie down." After a light breakfast on June 7, the men formed ranks at dawn and marched 16 miles back to their Culpeper campsite. "This marching and countermarching," one later noted, "is what the military authorities call making a demonstration." It was "a tiresome and monotonous business, but if it accomplishes the purpose for which I left home I will be satisfied." Lee was in fact using Longstreet to feign a movement east of the Blue Ridge Mountains toward Washington, while Ewell's Corps marched through the Shenandoah Valley and into Pennsylvania.
Stuart, perhaps seeking to top Hood's recently successful review, held his own on June 8 near Brandy Station, halfway between Culpeper and the Rappahannock. Invited to attend with his "people," i.e., his staff, Hood arrived instead with his entire division. "There were 8,000 or 10,000 horsemen covering an immense area," an astonished Texan later reported. The infantry watched the horsemen's maneuvers from [a] railroad embankment, and the Texans considered it awe inspiring. Admonished by from both Fitzhugh Lee and Wade Hampton, all the men were on their best behavior. "As brigade after brigade, in the bright sun, with shining rifles marched by followed by thousands of prancing cavalry, and battery after battery of artillery, it seemed a world of arms." At the conclusion of the review, the Texans trudged seven miles back to their camp.
On June 9, Hooker ordered his cavalry commander Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasanton, to reconnoiter across the Rappahannock River to ascertain what Lee was up to. Near Brandy Station, Pleasanton's force of 11,000 men, and 3,000 infantry surprised Stuart's force, resulting in the largest cavalry engagement of the entire war. The battle itself ended in a stalemate when Pleasanton withdrew across the Rappahannock, having accomplished his mission. The Federals were now certain that the Confederate army had left Fredericksburg and was headed north, preparing for a major movement. Lee now had to accelerate his movements. To forestall Hooker from moving on Richmond while he marched north, Lee ordered Ewell from Culpeper to the Shenandoah Valley, to destroy the Union garrisons at Martinsburg and Winchester. He belived this would cause Lincoln to pull Hooker back toward Washington, thus nullifying any threat to Richmond. Ewell advanced rapidly up the Valley and had overrun the Federal garrisons by June 15. Two days later, he began crossing his force over the Potomac into Maryland.
Lee's strategy worked as intended — Hooker pulled back from the Rappahannock, concentrating around Centreville, between Lee and the Federal capital. A. P. Hill now marched his corps from Fredericksburg toward Culpeper, and subsequently followed Ewell up the Valley into Maryland. On June 15, Longstreet's Corps also embarked to the North from Culpeper, but stayed east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, protecting the passes into the Shenandoah Valley and hoping to confuse Hooker about Lee's actual objective, Washington or Pennsylvania. Stuart's cavalry's first mission was to screen Longstreet's movements and help guard passes and then cross the Potomac and screen Ewell's march into Pennsylvania.
The 5th Texas left Culpeper Court House on June 13 moving five miles west and bivouacking on a familiar spot — the Cedar Mountain battleground of the previous August. Some of the men walked the still-ghastly battlefield with its many "unburied skeletons" as well as one small ditch containing 49 skulls. Here and there, a grisly hand or foot protruded from the ground. Mark Smither, the regimental sergeant major, remembered camping there previously. Much looked the same, except "more Yankee bones where the farmers have planted their crops" were visible. "There are a couple of leg bones lying on the desk beside me," he wrote, "which one of the boys pulled out a pair of blue Yankee breaches yesterday."
The Texans continued marching north on June 15 under a blazing sun, climbing the east side of the Blue Ridge Mountains toward Ashby's Gap. The grueling trek, led "by that unmerciful driver, our beloved General Hood ... who simply strikes a trot," John West later wrote, "and is satisfied that the Texas Brigade at least will camp with him at nightfall." The regiment marched nearly 25 miles this day, as far as Gaines' Cross Roads, a costly journey, as over 500 men fell out by the roadside from exhaustion, and a number died where they fell. The last 10 miles, under "a clear starlit sky," were lined with exhausted soldiers, causalities of the grueling march, the heat, plus lack of adequate hats and serviceable shoes. "It was frightful indeed to see so many men falling by the roadside," a Texan recalled. "Under every shade tree men were lying senseless, overcome by the heat."
On June 16, the 5th Texas marched yet another 20 miles, again with many stragglers, as far as Markham Station on the Manassas Gap Railroad, finally camping in a field of clover. The following day they made another 14 miles, camping in a magnificent grove of oak and hickory trees one mile from Uppersville. Traveling west on June 18, they traversed the mountains through Ashby's Gap and up into the Valley, crossing to the west bank of the Shenandoah and camping near Millwood. The river, cold and deep, reached nearly to their armpits as the men crossed, fully clothed per orders, holding rifles and cartridge boxes over their heads. The next day the Texans marched north along the river 10 miles to Berryville, crossed over it again proceeding east and finally stopping on a mountain adjacent to Snicker's Gap. They camped two miles from the river and constructed breastworks. Stevens reported that the men tried to form their blankets into tents to keep everything dry, "but it was no use — the underside of the tent was as wet as the upper side — everywhere the air could penetrate the cloud was there, too. Even the inside of our cartridge boxes were wet." The regiment remained near the mountain top over three days, guarding the gap. On the night of June 19, the men experienced the hardest wind and rain storm many of them ever saw when "the cold and rain, like the two-edged sword of holy writ, penetrated to the very joints and marrow." The steady incessantly rainy wind blew down tents and thoroughly soaked the men, and conditions remained woeful the entire time the Texans stayed on the heights. Then, on June 23, they finally withdrew from their mountain perch, crossed again to the river's west bank, returning to Millwood to block any enemy movement in their rear.
On June 24, the regiment marched steadily from Millwood once again, through Berryville until evening, camping about a mile south of Smithfield and two miles north of the Winchester and Potomac Railroad near Summit Point (approximately 15 miles northeast of Winchester). The following day, the men covered another grueling 25 miles and finally bivouacked eight miles from Martinsburg. They reached the ford of the Potomac River opposite Williamsport at around 7:00 a.m. the next day and began crossing the cold, swift stream around noon. Most of the infantry had to wade the 300-yard wide river, as artillery and wagon trains clogged the solitary pontoon bridge. The men, with clothes, rifles, and cartridge boxes held overhead had reached the Maryland shore.
While the men crossed, a group of Maryland ladies buggy-bound for Virginia, unable to turn back in the narrow approach to the ford, had to ride alongside the endless, half-naked line; they passed by the soldiers as quickly as possible. One of Longstreet's officers wryly observed that "50,000 men without their trousers on cannot be passed in review every day of the week." As the bulk of the brigade reached the north bank, it started to rain hard once again.
The crossing had several other lighter moments. Stevens recalled a newly-promoted lieutenant, dazzling in his gold-laced new uniform, who was decidedly averse to the thought of subjecting it to river water. He offered a private $5 to carry him across on his back. Apparently the whole regiment knew what was coming, save for the hapless lieutenant. All went well till mid-stream, where the private "lost his footing" in waist deep water and "down they came, under they went, both private and lieutenant." A boisterous Rebel yell filled the air, to the young officer's exquisite embarrassment.
The brigade's bands had forded the river first and serenaded their comrades with "the inspiring strains of 'Dixie'" as they climbed up the bank onto Maryland's shore. "Never before, nor since," explained General Hood, had he "witnessed such intense enthusiasm as that which prevailed throughout the entire Confederate Army" that memorable day. Once the entire brigade was across, Brig. Gen. Jerome Robertson marched his men a short distance where they stacked rifles and built fires to cook their rations. Soon the aroma of coffee and frying bacon suffused the air. In high spirits, the Texans were ready to "fight, forage or drink," whichever occasion first presented itself.
Actually, "liquid fortification" became available almost immediately following the crossing. A large store of Federal whiskey had been confiscated near Hagerstown. Always mindful of morale, Hood requested and received a sizeable number of barrels for his thirsty division. Each soldier received a ration of a one gill (a quarter-pint). It was, recalled Col. Powell, "the first and only time I ever knew it done in the Confederate army." As far as Powell was concerned, it "was better than Virginia 'apple jack.'" The sizeable number of non-drinkers cheerfully drew their prescribed ration and bestowed it upon their fellow comrades. Unfortunately, a few strong shots of whiskey combined with the hard march, a hot day, empty stomachs, and the anticipation of the upcoming campaign in Yankeedom proved disastrous.
According to Stevens,
inside of half an hour there was more drunk men in Williamsport than I think I ever saw in my life. Either before or since — they were drunk all over — through and through, up and down, side edge and bottom, fore and aft, sideways and edgeways, some laughed, some cried, some hooped and yelled, some cussed and swore, others ripped and tore and called for gore. It kept the sober boys busy to keep the drunk ones from killing each other. Soon some fell by the wayside, helpless and were dumped into wagons and ambulances, and hauled the balance of the day. Some others were not seen for 15 hours afterwards, and when they caught up with their commands, they were quite sober, and their eyes looked like two burnt holes in a blanket.
Polley of the 4th Texas recalled that the amount of available whiskey "was amply sufficient to put fully half the Brigade not only in a boisterously good humor, but in such physical condition that the breadth of the road over which they marched that evening was more of an obstacle to rapid progress than its length." Another recalled that a least one-third of the men "got pretty tight and ... many of them slipped down and rolled in the mud."
Fighting broke out in companies where imbibing was the heaviest. Fletcher recalled a fellow private, Taylor of Company F, grabbing a stack of rifles with fixed bayonets and "attacking" his unsuspecting comrades, leading to an officer being cut on the cheek. Just as this happened, the long roll sounded recommencing the march, and the lucky miscreant's deed was soon forgotten. Commanders used various techniques to sober up the heavy drinkers. Colonel Van Manning of the 3rd Arkansas, a strict disciplinarian, ordered the drunks in his regiment dunked in a nearby stream until he was satisfied the individual could continue reasonably unimpaired.
With order restored, the regiment trudged approximately seven miles through Hagerstown, bivouacking near Greencastle, Pennsylvania. That day, the regiment ate breakfast in Virginia, lunch in Maryland, and supper in Pennsylvania, a singular feat for only Hood's Division during the war. Hillsboro, Texas, native W. A. Culbertson of the 9th Georgia credited the men with having been in four states that June 26th, including "the state of intoxication!" Longstreet, to stifle any further trouble, ordered all whiskey found along the march be "destroyed."
(Continues…)
Excerpted from ""The Bloody Fifth" Vol. 2: Gettysburg to Appomattox"
by .
Copyright © 2017 John F. Schmutz.
Excerpted by permission of Savas Beatie LLC.
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Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Preface,
Chapter 1: Gettysburg: Gathering Storm,
Chapter 2: Gettysburg: High Tide and Low,
Chapter 3: The Battle of Chickamauga,
Chapter 4: Chattanooga, Knoxville, and East Tennessee, 1863-1864,
Chapter 5: The Battle of the Wilderness,
Chapter 6: Spotsylvania, North Anna, and Cold Harbor,
Chapter 7: The Fighting for the Defense of Richmond,
Chapter 8: Denouement: Winter and Spring, 1864-65,
Chapter 9: The Long Road Home,
Appendix A: Deaths From Disease or Accident,
Appendix B: Battle Deaths — 5th Texas Regiment,
Appendix C: Head Count,
Appendix D: Interview with Author John F. Schmutz,
Bibliography,