On July 2, 1862, President Lincoln sent a letter to the governors of the Union states:
Gentlemen,
I have decided to call into the service an additional force of 300,000 men. I suggest and recommend that the troops should be chiefly of infantry. The quota of your State would be..."
Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 5
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| 1862 Draft Poster (click to enlarge) |
On Wednesday, July 30th, 1862, The Tioga Agitator ran an article encouraging residents to support the war effort.
Call to Arms: Volunteer and Buy War Bonds
TIOGA BOYS, RALLY!
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"We print elsewhere the patriotic proclamation of Governor Curtin, calling upon the people of the Commonwealth to raise twenty-one new regiments and fill up the old ones now decimated by sickness and death.
Three companies are to be raised from this county, and although this is more than our share as compared to other counties, nevertheless is is our duty to raise them promptly."
The Tioga Agitator - July 30th, 1862 (zoomable file)
Financial Incentive
The same issue reported on a war meeting held the night before where it was agreed the county would;
- Secure a loan for $15,000
- Offer a $50.00 signing bonus to 300 new recruits.
- Sell bonds in $50 increments to finance the bonuses.
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Fifty dollars was about twelve hundred at today's value. It was deemed necessary because New York offered the same bonus and four hundred volunteers from this area of Pennsylvania already went to New York to enlist.
Three days after the article, on Saturday, August 2, our second great grandfather, Joseph Sylvester Merrick (21 years old), and his two cousins - Bradford William (20) and Elias Merrick (18) - volunteered for a nine-month enlistment in the 136th Pennsylvania Infantry; Company A (Roster). So did Phillip Petty. The company was sworn in on August 14, 1862.
Brave if Futile Sacrifice
Great, great Grandpa Joseph's unit - on the other end of the battlefield - were unsung heroes that day. One author is changing that.
Burnside sent his division generals off to await written orders.
The Waiting
At their meeting, General Franklin had stressed to Burnside the necessity of a predawn start.
The Attack
General Meade
The pontoon bridges were littered with discarded boxes of playing cards. No one was sure what the day would bring, but they didn't want them sent home with their personal belongings.
John Pelham
Mission Accomplished
General John Gibbons
Although his family lived in the South, John Gibbon felt compelled by duty to stay with the Union, where he amassed a stellar reputation as the leader of the famed Iron Brigade. And on the afternoon of December 13th, he stood at the head of an entire Union division. As Gibbon steeled himself for battle, he could not have known that the Confederate force he was about to assault—across what has been dubbed as the “Slaughter Pen”—contained three of his brothers.
The 136th of Pennsylvania was assigned to Colonel Peter Lyle's 90th Pennsylvania row. General Gibbons...
When the Union forces advanced...
Consequences
President Lincoln was furious at the loss, and war hearings were held. As a result, General Burnside lost his command, and General Franklin was relieved of his duties.
*Note: Relationships, such as grandmother, 2nd great, etc., are expressed from the perspective of the grandchildren of Leon Arthur and Anna Grace (Fuller) Merrick.
Terms of relationship - grandmother, uncle, aunt, cousin, etc. - are used here generically to include relatives such as fourth great grandfathers, great grand uncles, second cousins twice removed, etc.
Brave if Futile Sacrifice
"Much has been written about the ill-starred soldiers of the Army of the Potomac who died at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, on December 13, 1862, in a doomed attempt to drive the Confederates from Marye’s Heights. But few accounts detail the equally brave if futile sacrifice of Brigadier General John Gibbon’s 2nd Division on the plains south of the Rappahannock River that sleet-driven day." HISTORYNET
"Francis Augustín O'Reilly...has written numerous articles on the Civil War and conducts extensive battlefield studies and tours throughout Virginia. He lives in Woodford, Virginia."He works for the National Park Service. This post is structured around his book, The Fredericksburg Campaign: Winter War on the Rappahannock, and his YouTube videos.
The Goal
The Fredericksburg Campaign's goal was to take the RF&P Railroad. General Ambrose Burnside organized his troops into three grand divisions. Generals Sumner and Hooker were across the river from Fredericksburg. The Left Grand Division, under General Franklin, was about one and a half miles further down the river. General Gibbons and our Merrick ancestors were assigned to Franklin.
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After camping for weeks in freezing weather - awaiting missing pontoon boats - and enduring taunts from the growing Confederate forces across the river, the troops upriver took the city of Fredericksburg December 11, 1862.
The Planning
The Planning
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| Gen Ambrose Burnside |
"Despite elaborate preparations for action on December 12, the Northern army frittered away the day getting ready for battle on December 13. After consulting Burnside, William Franklin ordered the third bridge to be laid at the lower pontoon site to expedite crossing. Unfortunately, work crews started late and did not finish until the next night. Sometime after midnight, December 12, Burnside notified Franklin to be ready to cross at an unspecified time and “as soon as he and Sumner are over, attack simultaneously.
O'Reilly, Francis Augustín.
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| Gen William B Franklin |
"The Federal plan that General Ambrose Burnside decided upon was simple enough: a pre-dawn, nearly simultaneous assault on the Confederate lines. On the Union left, Burnside amassed almost 65,000 Federal soldiers. They were to attack across a plain south of Fredericksburg, strike the Confederate right and push it to the west and to the north—away from the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. This would place the Federals between the enemy and their capital.
As the rebels were driven back on their right, another Federal force would attack out of the city of Fredericksburg itself. These Union soldiers would hit the Confederate left at Marye’s Heights. These Union troops were meant to tie down the enemy in the northern sector of the battlefield so that they would be unable to shift south and assist their counterparts on the Confederate right, while hopefully dislodging the enemy from their strong position. It was a solid plan on paper; however, the execution of the plan was severely flawed."
Read more: Horror and Heroism at the Slaughter Pen Farm
Burnside sent his division generals off to await written orders.
The Waiting
At their meeting, General Franklin had stressed to Burnside the necessity of a predawn start.
"(The) Left Grand Division head began to worry after several hours of waiting. He allegedly dispatched an orderly after midnight to use the newfangled magnetic telegraph to find out about the orders. The attendant returned with a curt message from Burnside’s headquarters that he would get his orders when they were ready.
Gen John F Reynolds
Franklin became disillusioned and irascible. He never forgave Burnside for keeping the left-wing generals “sitting up the whole night like fools.” ...As Franklin’s churlishness grew, the commander of the First Corps, John F. Reynolds, prudently excused himself to get some rest before the attack. Baldy Smith, Franklin’s friend and confidant, also retired, leaving the Left Grand Division commander alone to puzzle over the missing orders.
Major General William B. Franklin’s enthusiasm to attack had waned. He had longed for orders during the night so he could assail the Confederates before dawn on December 13. Burnside had assured him the orders were forthcoming...Sunrise came at 7:10 A.M. (according to a meticulous staff officer’s account), and the orders were nowhere to be had. Debate raged over what they should do. Franklin apparently refused to risk another rebuff via the telegraph, because he made no more inquiries"
He didn't sleep that night. At 7:30 A.M., Brigadier General James A. Hardie of Burnside’s staff finally arrived.
General James A Hardie
"Franklin opened the penciled orders and scanned an astonishingly vague and rambling directive. He read little that resembled the generals’ counsel from the night before. Burnside’s orders directed Franklin to 'keep your whole command in position for a rapid movement down the old Richmond Road and… send … a division at least... to seize, if possible, the height near Captain Hamilton’s… taking care to keep it well supported and its line of retreat open.' Franklin learned that it was not Hooker’s Center Grand Division that was coming to protect his rear, but only two under-strength divisions from George Stoneman’s Third Corps."
Franklin thought the wording - 'seize if possible' - weak. He's expected bolder language. Take. Overrun. Charge. He expected more manpower. He assumed Burnside changed his mind, and the attack was taking place at Marye's Heights. His forces were the distraction.
"Rather than ask Burnside for clarification, Franklin stuck to what he perceived as the tone of the order and, instead of launching 65,000 Federals on an assault, he sent forward “a division at least”—some 4,200 men—and he kept “it well supported” with another division of some 4,000 soldiers." - O'Reilly, Francis Augustín
The Merricks were part of the small group Franklin sent to confront Stonewall Jackson's forces. At the war hearings after this disaster Burnside "...claimed that he did not give half of the army to Franklin to do an armed reconnaissance with a single division." - Horror and Heroism at the Slaughter Pen Farm
The Attack
"Most of the regiments in Gibbon’s division that day came from Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts. The men were veterans of the vicious Virginia campaigns of 1862, including the battles of Second Manassas and Cedar Mountain. The division was badly bloodied at Antietam in September of that same year in fighting at Miller’s Cornfield and the East Woods, suffering more than 1,000 casualties.-Following the Battle of Antietam, the battered division was joined by two new regiments, the 16th Maine and the 136th Pennsylvania, that had not yet been tested in battle."
Read more: HISTORYNET
These were kids. The 16th of Maine had marched to Fredericksburg without their gear, thinking it would be shipped to them. They wintered without tents. They gained the nickname 'the blanket brigade' because they regularly borrowed bed covers.
General Meade
"December 13 began cold and overcast. A dense fog blanketed the ground and made it impossible for the armies to see each other. Franklin ordered his I Corps commander, Maj. Gen. John F. Reynolds, to select a division for the attack. Reynolds chose his smallest division, about 4,500 men commanded by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, and assigned Brig. Gen. John Gibbon's division to support Meade's attack. ...Meade's division began moving out at 8:30 a.m., with Gibbon following behind. At around 10:30, the fog started lifting. O'Reilly, Francis Augustín
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| Gen George Meade |
John Pelham
They moved parallel to the river initially, turning right to face the Richmond Road, where they began to be struck by enfilading fire from the Virginia Horse Artillery under Major John Pelham."
Read more: Wikipedia
Thinking the battle was on downriver, the attack began on Marye's Heights. Despite being told by Stonewall Jackson he could stop firing at any time, Pelham kept the Union soldiers laying on the soggy ground for nearly an hour. All along, the men upriver were marching towards the stone wall and into history.
"Around 12 PM, the Federal offensive lurched forward once more. This time, the Confederates responded with a roar. The full force of Southern artillery, some 56 cannon, came to bear on the Federals, who were easy targets on an open plain. Federal artillery countered in what proved to be the largest artillery duel in the war's Eastern Theater from December of 1862 until Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg." - O'Reilly, Francis Augustín
"The First Corps paid little attention to the skirmish fire as it prepared to advance. Meade’s and Gibbon’s divisions stood one hundred yards behind the Bowling Green Road. Meade’s Pennsylvania Reserves halted and unslung their knapsacks and excess gear. Gibbon’s men kept their equipment with them. As the Reserves piled their gear, Reynolds conferred briefly with Meade and Gibbon. The First Corps commander and Meade rode across the Bowling Green thoroughfare and reconnoitered the Confederate defenses."
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| Slaughter Pen ditch-fence |
"Ditches topped with dense cedars flanked the highway, making it difficult to cross. It also hid most of the field from view. Reynolds and his subordinates studied the open plain that ran from the Bowling Green Road to the RF&P Railroad, a thousand yards away. Beyond the tracks, the Confederates held a wooded ridge. The field of the attack appeared to be flat and unobstructed, but unbeknownst to Reynolds, it held several small ridges, which strung across their front from north to south. Unusual Virginia “ditch fences,” or irrigation ditches, sliced across the fields, some of them four or five feet deep. ...Meade’s primary objective was to cut the road and sever the Confederate communications." O'Reilly, Francis Augustín
Mission Accomplished
Just after 1 PM, two Confederate ammunition chests exploded along the Southern lines - one right after the other. Some Federals leaped to their feet and cheered wildly. One officer seized the initiative. General George G. Meade called all of his 4,200 Pennsylvanians to their feet. The Keystone State men pressed forward into a point of woods and flowed onto a low rise named Prospect Hill. Although outnumbered, Meade’s men burst like a shell in all directions and, amazingly, breached the dense Confederate line. They desperately needed support, though.
Read more: Horror and Heroism at the Slaughter Pen Farm
General John Gibbons
Although his family lived in the South, John Gibbon felt compelled by duty to stay with the Union, where he amassed a stellar reputation as the leader of the famed Iron Brigade. And on the afternoon of December 13th, he stood at the head of an entire Union division. As Gibbon steeled himself for battle, he could not have known that the Confederate force he was about to assault—across what has been dubbed as the “Slaughter Pen”—contained three of his brothers.
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As Meade’s men fought for their lives atop Prospect Hill, Gibbon readied his division for action, stacking his three brigades one behind the other. His outnumbered division would act as a battering ram, entering the fray in three successive waves.
Sometime between 1:15 and 1:30, Gibbon’s first wave trudged across the field. The fields were marshy and muddy. The ground tried to suck the shoes right off the men’s feet. Their wool uniforms were made heavy by the water they had absorbed while lying in the open, waiting to go into action. Confederate artillery fire still fell among the ranks. -
Read more: Horror and Heroism at the Slaughter Pen Farm
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A map at Fredericksburg - Blue Star = Medal of Honor
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The 136th of Pennsylvania was assigned to Colonel Peter Lyle's 90th Pennsylvania row. General Gibbons...
Col Peter Lyle
"...advanced Brigadier General Nelson Taylor’s brigade on line with Sinclair’s command. Taylor stopped 300 yards from the road with Lyle’s brigade 100 yards behind him. Root’s brigade formed a third line 100 yards behind Lyle, near the road. Lyle’s and Root’s brigades aligned parallel to the Bowling Green Road, but Taylor’s command was slightly askew, with its left pushed ahead. The left regiments took advantage of one of the subtle wrinkles in the field for cover." - O'Reilly, Francis AugustínMedals of Honor
When the Union forces advanced...
"Confederates leaped atop the embankment of the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad and singled out many of the Federal color bearers. The color bearer of the 26th New York Infantry fell wounded as the unit advanced across the Slaughter Pen. ...a German immigrant sprang forward.
Martin Schubert should not have been on the battlefield at Fredericksburg. Schubert was sickly and had just received a medical discharge from the army. Rather than abandon his comrades and flag in their time of need, though, Schubert had stayed to fight. He scooped up the flag and, rather than just stand his ground, he strode forward, urging his unit to follow. Moments later, Schubert was felled by a bullet—but another immigrant stepped in to take up the colors and the advance.
Joseph Keene, a former Englishman, took the flag from Schubert and helped to keep the advance going. Both Schubert and Keene received the Medal of Honor.
Just down the line from the 26th New York was the brand-new 136th Pennsylvania Infantry. These 9-month soldiers, who hailed from Western Pennsylvania, had joined the Union cause when President Lincoln called for 300,000 more men in response to Robert E. Lee’s move into Maryland earlier in the fall.
The fight at the Slaughter Pen was overwhelming for some of the green Keystone Staters. The color bearer of the unit was a 250-pound man who made a perfect target for the rebels. As this fact dawned on him, he abandoned his flag.
Pvt Phillip Petty
Phillip Petty saw the discarded banner and snatched it up. Like Schubert, Petty led by example and moved forward with the flag, helping to urge his men across the field. He stomped forward for a few yards, planted the flag in the ground, knelt beside it, and fired on the enemy. His fellow Pennsylvanians rallied around him. Petty was later presented the Medal of Honor."Five Medals of Honor went to men fighting at the Slaughter Pen. Three of those men were flag bearers.
"Meanwhile, John Gibbon added the weight of his third and final brigade to the attack. His men drove the Confederates from the railroad, and like Meade’s men to their left, breached the Confederate line. The success, though, was short-lived. Fierce rebel counterattacks struck home, and Gibbon’s men poured back from whence they came. One soldier admitted that “the noise was terrific, almost deafening.”
Read more: Horror and Heroism at the Slaughter Pen FarmGeneral Meade requested - and was denied - back up troops several times. The other Generals were ordered to follow the chain of command but General Reynolds, First Corp commander, couldn't be located. Messages were sent to head-quarters with the request, but no one there had training on the new telegraph machines. Their forces were repelled by two o-clock. Any hope of victory was gone. Yet upriver, men would march into hails of rifle fire to join the dead and dying until nightfall.
Consequences
President Lincoln was furious at the loss, and war hearings were held. As a result, General Burnside lost his command, and General Franklin was relieved of his duties.
"The delay in orders is difficult to understand and served as a point of contention between Franklin and Burnside—and between Burnside and Hardie. The army commander alleged that Hardie had delayed the order by stopping for breakfast along the way. Hardie, however, answered with a peevish memo detailing how he went to Burnside’s tent twice that morning only to be informed “the order I was to take was not prepared.” Burnside told Hardie that he had several orders yet to write, but he hoped to expedite matters by sending Hardie with an “interlined order in pencil.” Burnside explained the nature of both Franklin’s and Sumner’s orders, and then dispatched the brigadier to the Left Grand Division with the unofficial pencil copy."” - O'Reilly, Francis Augustín.Hardie was asked why he didn't explain Burnsides' true intentions to Franklin when he delivered the letter. He said General Franklin was in a furiously lousy mood, so he had himself dismissed. He was not disciplined. We blogged about the aftermath of our ancestors here.
Gibbon's Attack at the Slaughter Pen Farm
Joseph S Merrick: The Fredericksburg Campaign - Winter of 1862
Terms of relationship - grandmother, uncle, aunt, cousin, etc. - are used here generically to include relatives such as fourth great grandfathers, great grand uncles, second cousins twice removed, etc.
Original Military Records (hosted large zoomable files)
Joseph Sylvester Merrick: Pension Index Death Certificate Burial Card
Velorous C Merrick: Muster Roll US Register of Deaths US Burial Register Pension Index National Internment Card
Wheeler Otis Merrick: Pension Index Death Certificate Obituary
Moses Merrick: Muster Roll US Burial Register Burial Card
Bradford William Merrick: 1890 Veterans Schedules Pension Index Burial Card
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