Buried at Chancellorsville

Although now celebrated more as a holiday to picnic and have fun, Memorial Day was originally first known as Decoration Day. It was established in 1868 as a way for the country to cope with the horrors of the Civil War. The level of loss to human life when compared to today's numbers would have been 6 to 7 million dead. As many as half the dead were unidentified and buried in unknown mass graves. Heman Tilton Hyde, Jr. was one of those. On this Memorial Day 2013 we honor his memory.

Muster Roll

Heman T. Hyde, Corporal in the 64th Regiment, New York Infantry, appears on the company descriptive book Register of Deaths as dying May 3, 1863 at 6:00 a.m. during the Battle of Chancellorsville (1). He was killed in action, buried where he died in the rifle pits, site of a gruesome struggle between northern and southern troops as the great American Civil War raged on. Heman’s father for whom he was named had died as a result of health problems incurred during Zion’s Camp, an armed march to rescue fellow Mormons from mob rule. His grandfather Heman for whom his father had been named had served in the War of 1812. His great grandfather James Hyde had fought in the war for American independence. Fighting for a cause strongly held was a trait instilled in the Hyde men.

Battle-worn regimental flag of the 64th New York Infantry.

The Cattaraugus regiment to which young Heman belonged was the result of militia recruitment in the communities of Gowanda, Randolph, Otto, Rushford, Ithaca, Little Valley, Wellsville, Owego, Olean, and Leon in New York and eventually composed ten companies. At the age of 21 Heman enlisted in Company D on the 16th of September, 1861 in Rushford. The men were mustered in the first day of December 1861 at Elmira, New York. (1)

The regiment was initially given orders to defend the capitol of the union, the men quartered near Washington. They later proceeded to the Peninsula joining the advance of McClellan with the Army of the Potomac. These troops were present during the siege of Yorktown, but received their first real test at Fair Oaks, where they were commended as behaving with “great steadiness under fire which killed or wounded 173 of its members.” The regiment was active in the Seven Days’ battles, but arrived too late to participate in the Battle of Manassas. It took a prominent part in the Battle of Antietam and was part of the famous assault of Hancock’s division on Mary’s Heights at Fredericksburg.

 A Victory Over Swamp and Flood 

In the picture below is seen the Fifth New Hampshire Infantry, reinforced by details from the Sixty-fourth New York and from the Irish Brigade, at work in the swamp strengthening the upper bridge across the Chickahominy so as to enable Sumner's troops to cross. The bridge had been completed on the night of May 29, 1862, and Colonel Cross of the Fifth New Hampshire Infantry was the first man to ride over it. The heavy rains on the night of May 30th had so loosened the supports that when Sumner led his troops across

Taken from Photographic History of the Civil War Volume I The Opening Battles, Francis Trevelyan Miller, editor-in-chief. New York: the Trow Press, 1911. Page 279.

on the afternoon of May 31st only the weight of the cautiously marching column kept the logs in place. Sumner named it the Grapevine Bridge because of its tortuous course. It enabled his troops to turn the tide at Fair Oaks and ward off Federal defeat on the first day. After they had crossed much of the Grapevine Bridge was submerged by the rising flood of the Chickahominy.(6)

Having escaped death during his part in those major battles, Heman T. Hyde, son of Heman Tilton Hyde and Eunice Sawyer, succumbed to the reaper during the fighting at Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania County, Virginia. It was here that the federal troops were served a crushing defeat by Generals Lee and Jackson. In May, 1863, the 64th was placed on the skirmish line under Colonel Nelson A. Miles and “shared in the stubborn defense made by the regiments under his command, for which they won the highest commendation. Heman’s comrades went on to win acclaim as one the finest fighting regiments in the war.(3)

The Wilderness of Spotsylvania

 The armies fought the Battle of Chancellorsville in the heart of a 70-square-mile region of tangled undergrowth known locally as the Wilderness. This inhospitable terrain added a new dimension of horror to the fighting on May 3. Fires erupted from muzzle blasts of rifles and cannon and spread rapidly through the thick woods. Some wounded soldiers, unable to escape the flames, faced a gruesome fate. Union general John C. Caldwell described the scene: "It was pitiful to see the charred bodies hugging the trees, or with hands outstretched, as if to ward off the flames. We saw around some of them little cleared circles where they had evidently raked away the dead leaves and sticks to stay the progress of the fire." (2)

Wilderness of Spotsylvania, Virginia.

Of one member of a fellow company, Captain Henry Fuller, Company F 64th Regiment, New York Infantry it was written in a newspaper article of the time. His words echo the sentiments expressed in the Book of Mormon, newly published scriptures of the faith to which the Hyde’s belonged. When young Heman’s father had died in Illinois with the Saints, his mother had returned to Freedom, New York, where Heman was raised by that same woman to uphold the patriotic ideals of his ancestors. The battle cry expressed by Captain Fuller must have been echoed in his own heartfelt sentiments.

 "To the battles already named, in which Captain Fuller participated, with the heroically renowned 64th regiment, there is to be added the three days battles of Chancellorsville, just two months preceeding the battle of Gettysburg. In all the battles and skirmishes named, he led his command with the most undaunted courage. As the carnage wore on and the leaden hail increased, and the rebel demons became more furious, so rose the spirit, and daring, and energy of the soldier; raising his sword, he would cheer on his men to "boldly meet the foemen; there is no more danger to yourselves with an unfaltering front, a sharp eye, and a quick hand upon the matchlock, than in cowardice! Besides, boys, we are fighting for the Right, for Liberty, and for our Country!"

A Bold Plan

 … on the evening of May 1, 1863, Generals Robert E. Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson hatched one of the boldest schemes in military history. Hunched over maps beside a small fire, the two generals plotted how to destroy the Union army, now entrenched around Chancellorsville. The solution came when Confederate cavalryman General J.E.B. Stuart reported that the Union right flank lay unprotected. (2) During the night, with the help of local residents, Lee and Jackson mapped a secure route across the front of the Union army to the Federal right flank. Jackson proposed taking 30,000 men to assail the Union army from the west. That would leave Lee with just 15,000 men to distract and hold in place the 75,000-man Union army in front of Chancellorsville. Dividing his outnumbered army invited destruction, but success promised dramatic victory. Lee gave his assent. (2)

Chancellorsville Clearing 

 Vicious fighting surged back and forth across this large clearing on the morning of May 3. From here, you can clearly see the two key Union positions; Fairview, to your right front near the brick wall of the Chancellor Cemetery; and the Chancellorsville Inn site to your left front. The Confederates renewed their

Chancellorsville Clearing

advance across the scene of their earlier success while three additional Southern brigades extended the
Confederate line across the Turnpike. In this vicinity, the 5th Maine Battery joined other artillery and Union infantry to repulse again the Confederate assaults. The flag of the 5th Alabama was captured on earthworks near the Chancellorsville Inn. (2)

The Trenches 

April 10 - May 3, 1863. These Trenches were part of Hooker's original line. On May 2, Couch's II Corps skirmishers, under command of Col. Nelson A. Miles, beat off repeated Confederate attacks launched to draw attention from Jackson's flanking movement. Seriously wounded on May 3, Miles was later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for services here. He also distinguished himself at the Wilderness and became famous as an Indian fighter after the War. These trenches were abandoned on May 3 when Hooker fell back toward the Rappahannock. (2)

Fortifications consisted of trenches and low mounds to protect the soldiers.

  
 Confederate Breakthrough

 At about 7:00 a.m. on May 3, a dangerous gap in the Union line opened. Federal troops, led by Hiram Berry, retreated about 1/2 mile and established a new position. The blue-clad soldiers under Brig. Gen. Joseph Revere, grandson of the Massachusetts patriot, did not withdraw in time. Three Confederate brigades swept across the ground and smashed into Revere's exposed flank. Separated from the rest of the division and short of ammunition, Revere made the controversial decision to march his men off the field. (2)

Federal Trenches erected by Couch's II Corps. and held by Federal Troops.

Hazel Grove 

On the morning of May 3, this large, open plateau, known as "Hazel Grove," was the key to the Union position. "Stonewall" Jackson's flank attack the evening before had staggered the Union army but had not seriously damaged it. As the new day dawned, the Confederate army found itself divided, with Hooker holding the high ground - Hazel Grove - in between. (2) Had Hooker strongly defended the plateau, he could have kept the Confederate army separated and defeated it one piece at a time. But the Union leader had lost his will to fight. Before dawn he ordered his troops toward Chancellorsville, forfeiting the most important position on the battlefield. There has rarely been a more gratuitous gift of a battle-field. - Col. E. Porter Alexander, CSA (2)

Hazel Grove and park marker.

High Drama, Human Tragedy 

The climactic fighting of the Battle of Chancellorsville took place in the woods and fields around Fairview. Here on the morning of May 3, 1863, Union troops struggled to maintain their position long enough to allow General Hooker time to establish a new line a mile to the north. (2) The Confederates fought desperately to reunite the two wings of Lee's command and to finish what Jackson had begun the night before - the destruction of Hooker's army. The Confederates drove the Federals from Chancellorsville, but Hooker escaped, his army intact. (2) ...our line melted away as if swallowed up by the earth.... Every man went on his own hook, crawling over and under everything before us... The woods were afire, and ... there was a rush for the clearings and road, and then we stood huddled together under the pitiless rain of cannester and shell till the flames swept by...[The Yankees'] charred bodies dotted the ground and we could see by the ashes where they had scratched the leaves away in a vain attempt to save themselves from the more awful fate of burning alive. - Nicholas Weeks, 3rd Alabama Infantry. (2)

Hooker’s Final Bastion

The low earthworks are the apex of the final Union line at Chancellorsville. After suffering defeat in the massive fighting on May 3, Hooker's army started digging. The result: a powerful, U-shaped line six miles long supported by 100 cannons, and made of "logs, knapsacks, dead horses, limber-chests and whatever came to hand." For two days Federal troops quietly held these works. (2) Despite the strength of the Union line, and despite having just 35,000 men on hand for action, Lee decided to attack the Union position on May 6. But Hooker never gave him the chance. On the night of May 5, the Union commander relinquished the virtually impregnable position and led his army back across the Rappahannock. It was perhaps his greatest mistake of the campaign. (2)

Apex of Federal Lines: Earthworks extend on both angles.

Climactic Struggle

On the morning of May 3, 1863, more than 17,500 men fell killed or wounded in the woods and fields - one man shot every second for five hours. Entrenched Union lines in front collapsed, and the Confederates surged forward to seize the Chancellorsville intersection. Some 25 Union cannons in this clearing made a valiant effort to cover the retreat, but they were soon smothered in a Confederate crossfire. (2)

Ordeal of the Wounded 

Perhaps it was a blessing that young Heman T. Hyde died and was buried in the rifle pits. After the fighting at Chancellorsville on that May 3rd morning, the Confederates gathered up 500 wounded Union soldiers and brought them here to Fairview. “For more than a week the helpless men lay in the yard around the house, receiving little medical care, exposed to the wind and the rain, lying in the mud. Wounds festered and became infected. Insects attracted by piles of corpses nearby inflicted painful bites. Dozens of soldiers died; many others prayed that they might be taken too. (2)”

A team of Union surgeons arrived at Fairview on May 5. Using the door of the house as an operating table, they commenced treating wounded arms and limbs - often with amputation, an average of four per hour. Although the surgeons toiled for a week, many patients still received no attention. Finally on May 12, Union ambulances arrived under a flag of truce to carry the survivors to hospitals north of the Rappahannock. There was no food, no nursing, and no medicine to dull the pain of those who were in torture. The majority were crowded together, had no covering tents, and many very little in the way of blankets to lie on or for cover. All were so weak they could scarcely move hand or foot. - Corporal Rice C. Bull, 123rd New York. (2)

Although Heman would fight no more, his soldiers in arms continued to clash against the confederacy in many more of the pivotal Civil War battles described in the history books. Somewhat of the character of young Heman can be surmised from the heroic and valiant service of his fellows. He had trained and suffered with them.

The regiment moved in June to Gettysburg, where the division, under Caldwell, fought brilliantly on July 2 in the celebrated wheat-field and on the 3d defended its position stubbornly against Pickett's assault. It lost at Gettysburg 98 killed, wounded or missing out of 205 engaged. The 2nd corps fought in October at Auburn and Bristoe Station, where the 64th suffered severe loss. It served through the Wilderness campaign, throughout the siege of Petersburg and in the pursuit of Lee's Army to Appomattox, losing 16 in killed and wounded at Farmville. Out of a total enrollment of 1,313, the regiment lost during service 182 by death from wounds and 129 from other causes…The division in which it served saw the hardest service and suffered the most heavy losses of any in the army and the 64th was one of the finest fighting regiments in the war. It bore without flinching the severest trials and won fame and glory for itself and the state. It was mustered out at Washington, July 14, 1865 (3).”

Chart listing casualties of the New York 64th Regiment Infantry was taken from New York in the War of the Rebellion, 3rd ed. Frederick Phisterer. Albany: J. B. Lyon Company, 1912.

Notes:

Photograph of swamp engineering found at New York State Military Museum site.

Photographs of the Chancellorsville Battle site taken by Craig Swain. 2007, 2008.

1. Historical Data Systems. Regimental History New York 64th Infantry. American Civil War Regiments. Provo, Utah. Ancestry.com Operations Inc. 1999.

2. Chancellorsville in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Historical Marker Database. Web. http://www.hmdb.org/ Oct. 3, 2010.

3. The Union Army, Vol. 2, p.97.

5. Flag: New York State Military Museum

6. “64th Infantry”. New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs: Military History. March 27, 2006. Web. http://www.dmna.state.ny.us. Oct. 3, 2010