Today in History:

801 Series I Volume XLII-I Serial 87 - Richmond-Fort Fisher Part I

Page 801 Chapter LIV. THE RICHMOND CAMPAIGN.

ion, and kept there until the action was concluded. It was in full view and but a short musket-range from the enemy, yet Captain Brydon gallantly held his mules, three of which were shot while he was don gallantly held his mules, three of which were shot while he was thus occupied, while Lieutenants Burbank and Cook, of my staff, distributed the ammunition to the command. I mention this circumstance thus particularly because it was owing to the promptness with which my order was obeyed and the gallant manner in which it was executed that my command was enabled to repulse the enemy's second and his successive assaults.

During the progress of this second attempt to carry our position, I received a musket-ball in the right arm, which shattered the bone above the elbow and necessitated my removal from the field and amputation on my arrival at the hospital. A moment later Captain Kent, acting assistant adjutant-general, who was on the way to inform the senior colonel that he commanded the division, was struck by a musket-ball in the leg, incapacitating for further duty, making the fourth officer of my staff disabled during the two days' operations.

My report of the operations of the division must necessarily close here, but I cannot close the report without a slight tribute to the steady valor and gallant bearing of the officers and men of this division, which I have had the honor to command. Among the officers who were noted for gallant bearing, and whose names have not appeared in the report, are Lieutenant Colonel J. B. Raulston, Eighty-first New York Volunteers, and Colonel E. M. Cullen, Ninety-sixth New York Volunteers, both of whom were conspicuous in the charge on Battery Harrison; Lieutenant W. S. Hubbell, Twenty-first Connecticut Volunteers, and acting assistant adjutant-general, Third Brigade, who was severely wounded through the shoulder while taking a party of prisoners to the rear which he had captured during the second day's operation, and Captain C. Clay, Fifty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers; and I would recommend that those officers also be promoted for gallant conduct.

The record will scarcely show an instance where so small a body of men carried so strong a position as the works on Chaffin's farm, and after a loss of one man in five held their position without assistance against all attempts to dislodge them by an enemy vastly superior in numbers and nearly all composed of fresh troops.

The whole number of pieces of artillery captured by my command in the works on Chaffin's farm, including Battery Harrison (now called Fort Burnham, in honor of the gallant and lamented general), was 22.

I wishing connection with this report to favorably mention the members of my staff-viz, Captain William L. Kent, Twenty-third Massachusetts Volunteers, acting assistant adjutant-general; Captain M. B. Bessey, Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteers, acting assistant inspector-general; Captain L. N. Converse, Second New Hampshire Volunteers, assistant provost-marshal; Captain John Brydon, One hundred and eighteenth New York Volunteers, acting ordnance officer; Captain Male, one hundred and thirty-ninth New York Volunteers, aide-de-camp; First Lieutenant C. W. Cook, Twenty-first Connecticut Volunteers, chief of pioneers; First Lieutenant William J. Ladd, Thirteenth New Hampshire Volunteers, assistant commissary of musters; First Lieutenant William B. Burbank, Seventeenth Vermont Volunteers, aide-de-camp; Second Lieutenant Fenton, Twenty-first Connecticut Volunteers, acting assistant provost-marshal-for meritorious conduct, and I have the honor to ask that their just claims for promotion may be favorably considered.

GEO. J. STANNARD,

Brevet Major-General of Volunteers.

51 R R-VOL XLII, PT I


Page 801 Chapter LIV. THE RICHMOND CAMPAIGN.