AT GETTYSBURG. 233 tice, they did us little harm: but two men slightly wounded during the whole shelling. After following up the enemy two miles, the second division were ordered back to the city, the Fifteenth to the north bank of the river, supporting Battery A, First Rhode-Island Artillery, which covered the pontoon-bridge, where we remained until the following day about dusk, when Companies A, B, E, and G moved into the rifle-pits above and below the bridge to cover its removal. The regiment camped near the banks of the river until the 8th inst., when we moved half a mile to the rear to get better ground for campingpurposes. Here the regiment remained, doing picket-duty along the river, until Sunday, the 14th of June. It moved about nine o'clock, P.M., towards Stafford Court House. The march northward now commenced. On the 26th, the army crossed the Potomac at Edward's Ferry, when the following order was issued: GENERAL ORDERS, No. 105. HEADQUARTERS SECOND DIVISION, SECOND CORPS, The Fifteenth and Nineteenth Massachusetts Volunteers, for marching to-day in the best and most compact order, and with the least straggling from their ranks, are excused from all picket-duty and outside details for four days. By command of BRIG.-GEN. GIBBON. July 1, about noon, heavy cannonading was heard to the northward; and the troops were soon marching rapidly towards the Pennsylvania line. At night, they bivouacked behind a barricade of rails, three miles south of Gettysburg. Next morning, about sunrise, the Fifteenth got into position behind Cemetery Ridge, where a large part of the Second Corps was massed. No demonstration was made on either side until one, P.M.; when the enemy opened fire with artillery on the Second Corps. The Fifteenth, with another regiment of the brigade, was now moved out to a position full three hundred yards in front of the main line: here a barricade of rails was hastily thrown up. About sunset, the enemy made a furious assault upon our lines. Having driven in the Third Corps, they speedily gained the flank of this advanced detachment of the Second. The batteries on the ridge opened on their advance with grape and case-shot; but, through some deplorable mistake, most of the shots fell short, and tore with destructive effect through the ranks of the Fifteenth. Exposed thus, front, flank, and rear, the regiment was forced, after considerable loss, back to a position behind the ridge. Next day, at one, P.M., the rebels opened upon our lines with a hundred pieces of artillery. This terrible fire was continued for about two hours; and, though the air seemed filled with the fragments of bursting shells, comparatively little damage was done. At three, P.M., the rebel infantry moved to the assault. Our men sprang promptly to meet them, glad at a prospect of work, relieving them from their painful recumbent position, which a broiling sun rendered the more intolerable. This contest lasted an hour or twc, during which both armies showed a determination to hold their ground, regardless of the results. A slight wavering of the rebel line was detected; and at the suggestion of Col. Hall, commanding third brigade, the colors of the Fifteenth were ordered to advance, when the remnant of the regiment rallied promptly around them, and the whole line, as if moved by one impulse, rushed forward, and carried the position. The regiment was sent out to picket the field; and at daylight, on the morning of the 4th, skirmishing commenced, and continued until the regiment was relieved at eight o'clock. The regiment went into action with eighteen officers and two hundred and twenty-one enlisted men. During the three days, it lost three officers (Col. Ward and Capts. Murkland and Jörgensen) killed and eight wounded, and nineteen enlisted men killed and eighty-five wounded, many of which have since died. Saturday, July 4, was spent on the field. At two, P.M., of the 5th, the regiment left the battle-field, and marched in pursuit of the discomfited rebels. On the 18th, it crossed the Potomac, and, on the 23d, hastened over paths frightfully rough to the assistance of the Third Corps, which had become engaged with the enemy at Manassas Gap. The march was continued, via Warrenton Junction and Bealton Station, to the Camp near Morrisville. On the 31st, the regiment, with a part of the Second Corps, was ordered to the fords of the Rappahannock to assist in destroying two small steamers which had been captured by the enemy a few days before. The object of the expedition successfully accomplished, the Fifteenth returned to camp. Oct. 14, the regiment took part in the action at Bristow's Station, when the enemy were severely repulsed, and with heavy loss to them, but comparatively little to the Fifteenth. It was again engaged at Robertson's Tavern. Here it was deployed as skirmishers, joining on the right of the second brigade. Nov. 30, moved out in front of the enemy's fortifications, which the Second and Third Corps, and one division of the Sixth, expected to assault at eight, A.M. The enemy, having anticipated the movement, were re-enforced to such an extent with both artillery and infantry, that the assault was abandoned, and the line withdrawn after dark. Next, under orders to relieve another regiment, the Fifteenth marched to Ely's Ford; crossed the Rapidan on the 2d of December, and, on the 5th, moved to a position near Stevensburg, and there, for the third time, built winter-quarters. These were neither regularly built, nor ornamental in design, but were well arranged and comfortable within. During April, 1864, preparations for the spring campaign were in full operation. This opened on or about the 1st of May. A field return on that day gave the strength of the Fifteenth Regiment, present for duty, as about three hundred officers and men of this number," two hundred and seventy-five were rank and file. In the battle of the Wil derness, the regiment lost about one-half its number in killed and wounded. The simple statement, that, in all the marches and battles from the Rapidan to Petersburg in which the Second Corps was engaged, the Fifteenth Regiment bore its part, is in itself sufficient history. On the 22d of June, the regiment, dwindled down to five officers and about seventy muskets, confronted the enemy near the Jerusalem Plank-road, before Petersburg. A break, or gap, in the line of battle, allowed the enemy to throw a large force on the flank and in the rear of the second division, Second Corps. Hidden from view by a dense undergrowth, the manœuvre was not comprehended until too late. The first intimation of the position of affairs was a demand from the enemy to surrender. Taken thus by surprise, and overwhelmed by numbers, the remnant of the regiment was captured almost entire. Four officers and about sixty-five men were marched off prisoners of war: one officer and some five men escaped to tell the story. This officer was wounded the same day, and shortly after the disaster, with the few remaining men, whose number was increased by the arrival of convalescents, was placed for a few days in another command, until officers of the regi ment, who had been wounded in the campaign, and who were on their way to the front from hospital, should arrive. On the twelfth day of July, the regiment was ordered to proceed to the city of Worcester, Mass., to be mustered out of service; its term of three years having expired. One company, not mustered in until Aug. 5, 1861, was left in the field the balance, increased by detachments of sick and wounded men whose condition was such as enabled them to travel, men on detached service, &c., entered the city of Worcester about one hundred and fifty strong. The reception these men received will never be forgotten as long as life and memory shall be granted them. His Excellency Gov. Andrew and staff, together with his Honor Mayor Lincoln and the city authorities of Boston, welcomed the regiment home, thanking the men in eloquent words for the part they had borne in their country's struggle, and alluding with tender respect to the honored dead who had fallen in the fight. Both state and city were represented in the military escort and procession. The city, decorated with flags, wore a holiday aspect; and the crowded streets and welcoming shouts gave proof of the heartiness and spirit of the people. One week later, the regiment was formally mustered out of the service of the United States, and to-day exists only in memory. Its members yet held to service by reason of re-enlistment, or non-expiration of term of service, were transferred to the Twentieth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers. Four officers were prisoners of war. During the year 1864, one officer only of the regiment was killed; namely, Lieut. Simonds, of Fitchburg. A brave soldier, a pure man, his character and deeds will ever be remembered by his comrades. CHAPTER XI. SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH REGIMENTS. Petersburg Sixteenth. Where raised.-Officers.-Col. Wyman.- Capt. Lombard's Accourt. - Peninsula. Fredericksburg. - Wapping Heights and Locust Grove. - Chancellorsville. -Gettysburg. - Wilderness. - Death of Capt. Rowe. Cold Harbor. -Mustered out. - Seventeenth. Where recruited. - Officers. Near Baltimore. Join Gen. Foster.- Expedition from Newbern.-Operations in North Carolina. - Mustered out. - Return Home. SIXTEENTH REGIMENT. HIS regiment was composed of troops raised in Middlesex County. It was ordered, June 25, to Camp Cameron, Cambridge; and in August left for the seat of war, officered as follows: Col. Wyman, a graduate of West Point, whose service in the regular army was highly honorable, was in Europe when the great struggle commenced. Hastening home, he offered himself to the country, impatient to lead a regiment to the field of conflict. He was placed in command of the Sixteenth. The history of this noble regiment is well presented in the sketch given of it by Capt. Lombard, which, omitting unimportant particulars, is given below. He says, The Sixteenth left the State, Aug. 17, 1861, and proceeded to Baltimore, where it remained until Sept. 1; when it was ordered to Fortress Monroe, Va. It remained at the latter post until May, 1862; when it triumphantly marched into Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Suffolk, it being the first Union regiment which entered those cities. It marched, and joined the Army of the Potomac at Fair Oaks, June 13, 1862, and shed its first blood on the 18th of the same month in an action known as "Woodland Skirmish." For its |