Soldier for the Revolution

Blue Coats and Red Coats

I am a daughter of the American Revolution, not to be confused with DAR (capital D.) My Aunt Jean, though, performed the steps required to officially become a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) using our Foy-Burr and Tuttle-Howard lines. Not all of my ancestors were patriots, however. My Barker-Bacon family resided in England during the revolution and undoubtedly were rooting for the British troops to knock some sense into those Yankees. My Pennock ancestors were Royalists, loyal to the king but one direct line grandfather married into the Hyde family who fought under George Washington.

Betty Pennock whose portrait was found in an old family trunk in recent years. Her family were Royalists.

I imagine that sides were chosen with much prayer and soul-searching, but ultimately each person had to decide if freedom or loyalty was the guiding principal. God speaks in the scriptures for both principals; I am sure that each man and woman had to decide based on how the spirit spoke to him or her in the still hours of the night. And after the war those who returned home had to get along with those they had previously considered traitors. My grandson, Brooks, is preparing to leave for a church mission to West Virginia where that those decisions were also a reality during the American Civil War.

While thinking ahead to the 4th of July celebration of Independence I refer to a history of James Hyde and Betty Pennock compiled in 1965, by Mrs. Myrtle S. Hyde whose sources are numbered and listed at the end post. I have taken only a portion of the history referencing James Hide who volunteered at almost sixteen years of age most likely with the bravado of youth, family politics and under the dictates of conscience. Myrtle's history follows with permission.

James Volunteers

On New Year’s day, in 1777, a young lad of only fifteen years, by the name of James Hyde (or Hide, before he later changed the spelling), enlisted in the Connecticut army from Stratford, Connecticut, the town of his birth.1,2 His desire to serve his country in the struggle for independence from England, as his older brother Agur was doing, was so strong that his family could not keep him home, in spite of his youth. We can almost hear him say,

“But I’ll be sixteen in only two months, and besides, the army needs all the help it can get.”

He spent the next summer and fall with the troops along the Hudson River. He then joined the troops in Pennsylvania under the command of General George Washington, and was soon “engaged in the sharp action of Whitemarsh,” where the army “lost a number of officers killed and wounded.2

General George Washington and the marquis de Lafayette surveying the troops camped at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, in the winter of 1777–78, as depicted in a 19th-century lithograph.

On December seventeenth of the same year, Washington’s army, young James included, made quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, the enemy, under Sir William Howe, being secure in Philadelphia.2,3 That winter was one never to be forgotten by James Hyde: seeing and experiencing the gnawing pains of hunger with food so scarce, the worn coats and trousers that were scant protection against the snow and cold, the wind howling through the threadbare tents at first, and then the damp cold of the makeshift log huts, the sore and bleeding feet when shoes finally gave way and the rags that replaced them would hardly hold together, and worst of all the itch and resultant sores—from not being able to bathe for so long. But through it all, though
he thought of home and family and comfort, he, along with the rest, resolved that he could do it if the others could, and if their honored leader George Washington would continue to do his best in their behalf. By the time the Prussian soldier, Von Steuben, came and started drilling and training the troops, the food, clothing and shelter situation was somewhat improved. And now things looked even better with something to do besides think of hardships, especially for James, young and energetic. However, he sometimes wondered if all this marching and maneuvering was going to serve any good purpose in the future.3,4

Yellow Springs hospital (now ruins) where James was sent when he became ill at Valley Forge.

The Bitter Glory of Battle

Summer approached at last, and Clinton, who had replaced Howe, left Philadelphia. James Hyde and his companions were elated when the word came that Washington was ready to “set out in pursuit of Clinton.” They were soon on their way.3

“On the night of June 27, the British army, 16,000 strong, was near Monmouth Court-House (New Jersey). It was Washington’s plan to strike with an advance of 5000 men, following with an attack by the main army. He had offered Charles Lee command of the advance, Lee being senior major general in the army. . . .

“The morning of June 28 came on intensely hot (and sultry); the thermometer registered 96 degrees in the shade. The British army had passed the court-house when Lee began the advance ordered by Washington. . . .

“Out across the fields, reeling with heat, they marched, exuberant, foreseeing victory; over a deep ravine on a causeway where swamps steamed in the hot sun; on for a mile, and over another ravine, and then out upon the plain, where the British, perceiving them, had hastened to give battle. The American lines were beginning to fold (the British) in. . . .”3

But Lee ordered the Americans to retreat! “The soldiers, at a loss to understand, disappointed, fretting to be at the red-coats, halted, wiping their brows, cursing. Their ground was superb for offense; they outnumbered their foe at this time, and nearly surrounded them; but they must fall back! What could it mean? What sudden and unknown danger forced them from their vantage? Victory, within their grasp, was slipping away from them. Back they turned to the high ravine they had so lately crossed, and so proudly. Across the ravine, out upon the fields, hot under the sun, straggled the soldiers of liberty, angry, sweltering; many fell by the
side of the way, stricken by the terrible heat. Behind them came the British, making the most of the strange retreat. . . .”3

Then came Washington, having received word of what was happening, “riding furiously. The sight of the commander was terrifying; his face worked with a rage as mighty as his soul; his eyes flashed fire. Hot and fast the words flew” between him and Lee. (It was later learned that Lee was indeed a traitor, planning and working with the British.)3

The soldiers, pouring around them, raised a cheer at sight of Washington. After letting Lee know, in strongest terms, that he had expected his orders to be obeyed, Washington set about restoring order from the confusion.3

Washington Rallying the Troops at Monmouth
by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze

 “The British were coming, not a quarter of an hour away. Hastily, with great skill, a line was thrown along an eminence behind the ravine, commanding the causeway crossing it. In a moment the shock came; fiery red over the quivering fields, the British lines advanced. . . .”3

“It was fearful fighting quietly shepherded by Von Steuben, who thought that this truly new army fought ‘with as much precision as veteran troops.’ Others had been skeptical about the value of all that wheeling and marching and pacing on the Valley Forge plateau. Alexander Hamilton admitted that never until that day had he ‘known or conceived the value of military discipline’. . . .

“Despite the inhuman heat, despite the endless, killing march from Philadelphia, Clinton’s men came on and on until the sun or American fire took them out of action. By now both sides were staggering with heat and exhaustion. Men died right and left under the touch of the sun or collapsed, helpless, with purpling faces while sweat pattered down on scarlet coats, blue coats, or on mended threadbare homespun.”4 These were not happy scenes of which James Hyde was a part.

“All through the remainder of the terrible day the English strove to break down the defense of the Americans; all through the day the patriots held. Deeds of valor were done on every hand. Molly Pitcher, wife of an artillery-man, while bringing water to the battery saw her husband shot down beside his gun. Without hesitation she took his place and fought the gun throughout the battle. Against such spirit the attack grew hopeless. When the sun was sinking in the west, the British broke, withdrawing to the ground where Lee had encountered them early in the morning.

“On the morning of the next day the British were gone, marching in the night toward New York. . . ,3 and James Hyde, though he was still a youth, shared with the other Americans a feeling of bitter glory, knowing that if the first plan had succeeded the war might be over instead of just seeing the British go on their way.3,4

James Hyde wintered the next season (1778-9) with his company at Redding, and during the following two years continued to serve wherever his regiment was called.2

By the fall of 1781 he was a part of the force commanded by Marquis de Lafayette, and had moved south to Williamsburg, Virginia, preparatory to fighting Cornwallis at Yorktown.2,3 Washington was commander-in-chief of the whole army, which included the Americans under Lafayette, reinforced by several thousand French troops, and with a strong French fleet off shore on the Atlantic.3,4

On October 6 the battle began, with Cornwallis ill-prepared for the attack. “Day in and day out the big guns of the besieged and the besiegers roared and stunned. It was probably the heaviest artillery concentration that the continent had ever known.”4
During the evening of October 14th a bayonet and musket assault was made on the foremost British fortifications. “Surprise seems to have been complete, and the two enemy works were taken quickly and smartly.”4

Three days later, with Cornwallis having launched but a weak counter-attack, probably because of his knowledge that he needed, but could get no reinforcements, the morning dawned with the “French and American artillery thundering into fullest action. . . . ‘The whole peninsula trembles under the incessant thunderings of our infernal machines,’ wrote Dr. James Thacher. . . .”4

“It must have been difficult for gunners and observers to make out the British works. The haze of a lovely Virginia October day was thickened by heavy cannon smoke, and by clouds of soft earth hurled skyward. Somewhere about ten o’clock the air cleared a little. Cannoneers began yelling, pointing toward what turned out to be . . one little British drummer beating the request for a parley . . . (then) a bigger man appeared on the parapet . . . and waved a white handkerchief. There was a moment of stunned unbelief through the American and French lines, though every man must have expected (this) sooner or later. . . .

“Back at Williamsburg, the commander-in-chief was busily writing letters. Later he meant to ride out and watch the morning’s bombardment. . . . As he wrote, gunfire down by Yorktown seemed to be slacking off a little, but it was nothing to notice. . . . Up to Washington’s quarters galloped a sweating dragoon courier with a letter. The Virginian broke the seal, read it, and was on his feet in an instant, staring and staring. . . . ‘. . . Surrender. . . !’ . . . .

“George Washington had rallied swiftly and coolly from many an adverse blow. Now the hand of success had fallen stunningly on his back, and the effect must have been almost as numbing as, say, the sight of Charles Lee’s unbeaten men in full retreat from Monmouth. But he soon shook off the impact of the news . . . an answer to Cornwallis was approved.

“Couriers went out with this reply, with warnings to commanders in all parts of the allied line. Slowly the gunfire died away. . . . Far to the right,” James Hyde, and the other men in the “Massachusetts-Connecticut battalion, worked out into the warm air, peered at the silent British lines, and then stretched out gratefully in the sun, yawning in luxury in spots where a man could not have lived a few hours ago. Throughout the day men walked cautiously, as though afraid that a sudden move, a loud noise might shatter the brittle-seeming hush that hung over the peninsula. . . . Night fell and the air cleared. . . . Dawn came and the hush was still
unbroken and men began to believe in it and in its duration.

Yorktown 1781

“Bright sun on the noon of October 19, 1781, poured down on the fields of the peninsula. The allied camps were aboil with men shuttling about as drums beat out their urgent clamor. In the calm air that was rich with the smell of trampled grass and wood smoke and tobacco and oiled leather, company after company formed. . . . The fields then began to flow. The long columns of smartly dressed French troops swung off toward the road to Yorktown, and halted at its flat western edge.

“To the east, drabber troops were on the move, but it was (also) dazzling, hypnotic. Swarming men and women stood on tiptoe, trying to catch a glimpse of men of whom they had heard or read. There was a deep murmur from the massed bystanders, a rising tide of welcome and wonder as these people saw their own massed army for the first time.

American troops storming the redoubt.

“Now the army was halting on the east side of the road to Yorktown, facing its French allies with the deserted enemy works looming somber on its right. Drums began to beat, orders snapped out, and right and left the waiting ranks bristled to attention. There were hoofbeats far off to the American left. There on a huge bay horse, gleaming in blue and buff, rode the one man who was, the one man who could have been, the living embodiment of those hard, drab ranks to his right, who could have welded them to the white-and-blue men on his left. From the beginning George Washington had met every blow, stood up under every discouragement, every frightening disaster that the army as a whole had known. The hoofs clopped on,” and, as Washington rode by him, James Hyde’s bosom swelled with pride at the thought that he had known this very special man. “Washington took his post at the far right of the American line. “Then from Yorktown, sad drums began to roll,” and the British army marched out between the French and American lines, stacked its arms, and at last marched back, emptyhanded, to Yorktown for further orders.

“On the plains about Yorktown the music was gay and soaring again as the French and American armies filed away, quietly joyous, to their quarters.”4

Thus James Hyde, Private, was part of the last major battle of the Revolutionary War and watched the British army surrender2,3,4 — an experience that would remain vivid for a long time.

The British Army marching out to surrender at the end of the Battle of Yorktown.

 Mustering Out

It wasn’t until June 8, 1783, however, that he was mustered out of service, the peace-treaty  negotiations taking all this time. He was discharged at West Point, having been with the army in New York for quite some time.2 He felt indeed honored that George Washington, himself, signed his release papers, as attested by his application, in 1818, for a Revolutionary Service Pension:

I James Hyde of Strafford in the County of Orange and State of Vermont Testify and declare that on the first day of January AD. 1777 I enlisted into the Army of the United States in Captain John Mills’ Company in Colonel Charles Webbs Regiment in General Huntingtons Brigade (if I rightly ?????) for during the War, and served in the capacity of a private Soldier untill the 8th day of June AD. 1783, when I was honorably discharged at West Point, sd discharge was signed by his Excellency George Washington, but which I have not now in my possession, I further say that by reason of my reduced circumstances in life I am in need of assistance from my Country for support and therefore request that I may be put on to the pension list according to a late Act of Congress
[signed] James Hyde

Chelsea April 7.1818 

James Hyde had served his country for six years, being now twenty-two years of age. He had seen more than his share of valor and bravery, of death and suffering — and emerged a man.

After his release he went to Manchester, Vermont, where his father, Nehemiah Hide, had located. James’ brother, Clark Hide, deeded land to him at Manchester in 1785, and his father deeded some more to him there in 1788. In these deeds James is called a tailor.6 Perhaps he learned this skill during the war years, as possibly an assistant to a tailor in his company, most probably during his long stay at New York before being discharged.

James was married at Manchester, 16 April 1786, to Betty (or Betsey) Pennock.1 One child, Heman, was born here in 1788.1,6 Soon after this the family moved to Strafford farther north in Vermont, a “new” town to the white man, James’ wife’s grandfather, James Pennock, being the first settler just twenty years before. There was still land to be cleared and much building-up to do. In Strafford five more children were born to Betty: James, Roswell, Betsey (who died), Hiram, and Betsey Florinda.1,7

______________________

Notes:
The Valley Forge Legacy web site records seven roll call events in which James was present in the encampment December 1777 to June 1778. He was in the Continental Army 1st Division of the State of Connecticut in Huntinghton's Brigade, 2nd Regiment, Capt. John Mills Company. The last two roll calls show that he was sick at the Yellow Springs Hospital. Source: http://valleyforgemusterroll.org/muster.asp. More can be read about hospitals during the Colonial time period in Supplying Washington's Army http://www.history.army.mil/books/RevWar/risch/chpt-13.htm written by  Erna Risch for the Center of Military History, United States Army. 1981.

Sources of information:
1. Willard S. Morse, Descendants of Humphrey Hide of Fairfield, Conn., about 1913.
2. Connecticut Men in the Revolution, pp. 162, 331, 353.
3. Edwain Markham, ed., The Real America in Romance, 9 (1912): 310, 311, 313, 322-330.
4. Bruce Lancaster, From Lexington to Liberty, 1955, pp. 327, 329, 334-5, 355, 356, 446, 449-454.
5. Revolutionary War Pension File of James Hyde, General Services Administration, Washington, D. C.
6. Manchester, Vermont, Deeds and Vital Records.
7. Strafford, Vermont, Deeds and Vital Records.
8. Abby Maria Hemenway, Vermont Historical Gazetteer, 2 (1871):1080.
9. Private Journal of William Hyde (1818-1874).
Picture of Betty Pennock found online at FamilySearch. 
Pictures of Yorktown found on the BritishBattles.com website.
Picture of Valley Forge found on the Encyclopedia Britannica website. Credit: The Granger Collection, New York.
Picture of Battle of Monmouth found on the American Revolution website 
http://www.americanrevolution.org/leutzelg.html

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