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| + | Cumberland Landing<br />on Pamunkey River<br />12 miles from West Point,<br />May 16[struck-through] 17, 1862<br /><br />Dear Mary,<br /><br />My hurried note to you some<br />four or five days ago was so short that<br />I cannot call it a letter, & will now<br />try to write one more worthy of the name.<br />We are now on the Pamunkey R., a tributary<br />of the York, and are about 25 to 30 miles<br />from Richmond. There is a house or two at<br />the landing, & the river is crowded with<br />steamers, sailing vessels, & transports, of all<br />sized and descriptions, from a canal-boat<br />to a six-gun propeller.<br /><br />You already know that we have been<br />in a battle, & a pretty severe one at that.<br />We had marched from Yorktown on the 4th,<br />and at 2 a.m. on the 5th a Virginia<br />drizzle set in, through which we marched<br />until about 3 P.M., when we came to a<br />point 3 miles below Williamsburg. We<br />dropped our knapsacks there, & in obedience<br />to orders from Gen Heintzelman, ran the |
| − | <p>Cumberland Landing <br />on Pamunkey River<br />12 miles from West Point, <br />May 16[struck-through] 17, 1862</p>
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| − | <p>Dear Mary,</p> | |
| − | <p>My hurried note to you some <br />four or five days ago was so short that <br />I cannot call it a letter, & will now <br />try to write one more worthy of the name. <br />We are now on the Pamunkey R., a tributary <br />of the York, and are about 25 to 30 miles <br />from Richmond. There is a house or two at <br />the landing, & the river is crowded with <br />steamers, sailing vessels, & transports, of all <br />sized and descriptions, from a canal-boat <br />to a six-gun propeller.</p> | |
| − | <p>You already know that we have been <br />in a battle, & a pretty severe one at that. <br />We had marched from Yorktown on the 4th, <br />and at 2 a.m. on the 5th a Virginia <br />drizzle set in, through which we marched <br />until about 3 P.M., when we came to a <br />point 3 miles below Williamsburg. We <br />dropped our knapsacks there, & in obedience <br />to orders from Gen Heintzelman, ran the</p> | |
| − | <p>[2]</p>
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| − | <p>3 miles at double-quick, thro' mud & water <br />knee-deep. Just as we came within <br />range, Col. Riley halted us to catch <br />breath, & made a brief speech saying that <br />"they<br />it[struck-through] were probably the last words he <br />should say to us, but that any man <br />who did not want to go in, might go <br />back." Not a man, I believe, refused to go <br />in," and we dashed up the road through <br />an opening in the breast-work, and took<br />a position where rebels, concealed by rifle-<br />pits, logs, & brush-wood, had a fine cross-<br />-fire at us from both sides of the road, <br />agreeably varied by the shell, shot, & <br />grape from the redoubts & Fort Ma-<br />gruder. I give a sketch of our position below</p>
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| − | <p>[Sketch]</p>
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| − | <p><br />[3]</p>
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| − | <p>A – A is the road up which we came ,<br />B – B, breastwork, a mile & a half long, <br />C, C, rifle-pits, fifty or sixty in number, <br />altogether, D, D, strong, ditched redoubts <br />E, E, Fort Magruder. F, F, positions a-<br />mong the thickly matted brush and logs, <br />occupied by Companies, D, I, A, H, & C <br />and by the 38th N. Y. The rebels were as <br />thick as bees in this brushwood, on both <br />sides of the road, and the position of <br />their dead the next day showed that <br />they had driven Hooker's Division at <br />least 300 yards away from the long breast <br />work, at the time when Kearney came <br />up.</p>
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| − | <p>During the most of the fight, I was in <br />the neighborhood of the left-hand F,[underscored] & was <br />sandwiched between two dead men of the 38th, <br />part of the time. &[struck-through] Another lay behind me, <br />and within a circuit of ten yards, perhaps <br />fifty dead bodies could have been gathered, <br />besides scores of dead artillery horses, while<br />guns, knapsacks haversacks, canteens, & every</p>
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| − | <p><br />[4]</p>
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| − | <p>article of clothing and equipment strewed <br />the ground in profusion.</p>
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| − | <p>Not one gun in four of ours would ex-<br />plode, so that all that we could do was to <br />stay and be slaughtered with as much forti-<br />tude as possible, until night closed he scene. <br />The 38th was badly cut up, being very badly <br />managed, but we lost but 4 killed, 23 wounded, <br />and 4 missing, owing to our leaders having <br />the judgment to place their men where such <br />as had serviceable pieces could do execution, <br />and have some protection from the overwhelming <br />fire of 60,000 rebels, entrenched as they were. <br />We finally made out, under Providence to <br />silence the rifle-pits which were visible, but <br />of course could do nothing with the redoubts <br />or Fort Magruder. Our artillery, having no <br />ammunition, were lying useless on the road, <br />and small arms were opposed unaided to gi-<br />gantic earth-works and heavy artillery.</p>
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| − | <p>The "chivalry" of the rebels in fleeing from <br />a place of such strength, when attacked by <br />less than half their number, the assailants <br />laboring under every disadvantage, is rather [underscored]<br />questionable. The backing out may have <br />been 'military strategy" of the first-water, <br />but we don't see it. ['don't see it' underscored] I suppose they will <br />tell their people that the place was of <br /> as usual<br />no importance, &c., ^ but if they spend 6 or 8 <br />months in fortifying such unimportant points, <br />they must intend to have "somebody hurt" <br />at the first place that is[underscored] of importance, <br />"in a strategic point of view."</p>
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| − | <p>I threw my Austrian rifle away in <br />disgust, not being able to fire it. I suc-<br />ceeded in finding a U. S. Harper's Ferry <br />rifled musket which is a splendid <br />weapon. Numbers of our boys secured those <br />pieces, & Austrians are at a heavy dis-<br />count. "They have been weighed in the balances, &</p>
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| − | <p><br />[5]</p>
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| − | <p>5th page I enclose a little trophy from <br />Fort Magruder. I picked it <br />up in an officer's quarters.</p>
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| − | <p>found wanting."</p>
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| − | <p>Next day we took possession of the works in <br />regular style, Col. Riley having ascertained on <br />the previous night that the rebels had made <br />another "skedaddle," nearly as heroic as that <br />from Yorktown; which, however, still stands in <br />history as the embodiment of "chivalry," <br />being rayther [underscored] ahead of Williamsburgh. After [struck-through]</p>
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| − | <p>After camping near the fortifications <br />for several days, to enable the men to rest<br />and recruit their strength, to bury their <br />dead comrades, and to allow the roads to <br />dry up, ['dry up' underscored] we again started off on our chase <br />after the Southern Confederacy, which was <br />still hovering in the dim distance. Every <br />mile of our route gave evidences of that <br />"good order" which the rebels generally <br />claim as characteristic of their retreats. <br />Cannon, caissons forges, wagons of all de-<br />scriptions and sizes, ambulances, ammuni-<br />tion for all sizes and kinds of ordnance</p>
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| − | <p><br />[6]</p>
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| − | <p>provisions (wet and spoiled), ragged cloth-<br />ing (all of the meanest description, generally <br />butternut jeans and "nigger-cloth") were <br />just about paving [underscored] some parts of the road, <br />and horses, dead, dying, lame, serviceable, <br />and unserviceable, were in not way scarce. <br />The wagons were in great part planta-<br />tion wagons, of as many varieties as the <br />"bastes" that old Noah accommodated, <br />but some appeared to be regulation wagons, <br />built on the plan of the old Conestoga,<br />"only more so," by a "feet" or two.</p>
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| − | <p>[Sketch of wagon and horse (critter)]</p>
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| − | <p>There, that's a faint imitation of <br />their grotesque appearance. They looked <br />like a cross between the Dunstable <br />bonnet and the Spanish five-decker<br />of Columbus's time. The second view is an <br />equally faint attempt at one of the crit-[underscored] <br />ters.[underscored] It is a detached [underscored] view, but the <br />hind-quarters (and fore ones too) of the <br />original were a little more "detached."</p>
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| − | <p><br />[7]</p>
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| − | <p>Our marches since the battle have <br />been very monotonous, only varied by chang-<br />es from heat and dust to rain and mud, <br />and vice-versa. [underscored] We found James "City" (or <br />Jein's [underscored] City, as the people call it,) to con-<br />sist of four dwellings, one Post Office, a <br />store or factory, two smoke-houses, a half <br />dozen negro quarters, and one shed over a <br />dry well. There may [underscored] have been another <br />smoke-house, but I wouldn't like to sear<br />to it now. Remingtonville had on house. <br />Kent Court House about half a dozen, <br />all very fine and neat, and an old look-<br />ing hotel.</p>
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| − | <p>You speak in your last letter, and <br />I think in others, of being low-spirited. <br />I am sorry to find that you are melancholy, <br />and wish that I could relieve you. What <br />do you judge to be the cause or causes of <br />your sadness? I am afraid I have written <br />in too gloomy a tone, and should have had <br />more sense, but a melancholy vein was over <br />me also, and like the Hebrews at Babylon, I <br />could not sing while my heart was pining <br />If religion is the cause of your sadness, don't</p>
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| − | <p><br />[8]</p>
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| − | <p>on any account, strive to dispel the feeling, <br />but go on "seeking " until you find, [underscored] bearing <br />in mind that the Lord is "faithful and <br />true," and that "whosoever [underscored] cometh unto <br />God thro' Christ, He will in no wise ['no wise'] underscored] cast <br />out."</p>
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| − | <p>Would you like you to have me return now?<br />I can, I think, procure my discharge, and <br />having been thro' a severe battle and done <br />my duty there, I do not see where the dis-<br />honor can be in leaving a service where <br />my deafness renders promotion hopeless. <br />No man (or officer) in this regiment has <br />been more unsparing of himself in the <br />discharge of his duty than I have, yet <br />no man has been treated more shamefully, <br />and only a sense of the dishonor of leaving <br />before a general engagement has kept me <br />where I have been exposed to such indignity. <br />Our present Adjutant (Lieut. Warner) is a [boar-?] <br />[ly?] disposition and education – a narrow-<br />minded, easily humbugged, and brutal black-<br />guard, & I threw up the situation of clerk in con-<br />tempt, threatening him and the Colonel with a <br />general court martial.</p>
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| − | <p>Our division is now commanded by Brig-<br />Gen. Kearney, a hero of the Mexican war. His <br />name is historical already. Hamilton, and our <br />Lieut. Col. (Egan) are under arrest for treason <br />at the Rip-raps. They had communication with the <br />rebels at Yorktown, & told them of the positions of our <br />camps, so that they could shell us, & also betrayed <br />McClellan's intention to attack a detached <br />fortification of great importance.</p>
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| − | <p>I must close. Give my love to all, & <br />believe me, <br />Ever yours <br />J H B Jenkins.</p>
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| − | <p>Miss Mary A. Benjamin<br />care of John Lewis Jenkins Esq. <br />Smyrna, Del.</p>
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