Regiment routs rebels at Williamsburg
By John Russell
Scenes of Yesteryear
Sunday, September 14, 2008 7:08 AM CDT
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Click to enlarge image
Upon arrival at Fort Monroe, the 5th Regiment camped near Newport News, then followed a road to the Warwick Court- house to engage with the enemy along the length of the Warwick River, a line of battle that led to the routing of the rebels from Yorktown. From there, the Confederates fled to defend Williamsburg, where the 5th joined others to fight under General Hancock to a successful defeat of the enemy on May 5, 1862. Six rebel regiments of 4,000 men were defeated by 1,500 of the 5th Wisconsin, the 6th and 7th Maine regiments, and three companies of the 33rd New York.
Submitted Illustration/For Dunn County News
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A dotted line marks the movement of the 5th Regiment from Camp Griffin to a temporary camp on the Potomac River south of Alexandria. Originally, the unit was to march the Warrenton Turnpike to confront the rebels at Bull Run but the foe had left the area. This was learned when the regiment spent the night at Flint Hill. In the morning, the unit headed east on the Little River Turnpike at Fairfax Courthouse.
Submitted illustration/For Dunn County News
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During the winter of 1861-1862, the yet to be battle tried Dunn County Pinery Rifles (officially known as Company “K,” Fifth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment) maintained picket and outpost duty in Camp Griffin near Lewinsville, Va. Life was pretty simple, except for daily drills in military fundamentals for 200 men from the county and about three dozen recruits from other counties.
But then there was the “Daughter of the Regiment” Eliza Wilson, whose father, Captain William Wilson of the Knapp, Stout & Company, financed her travel and provided her with a horse, a servant/groomsman, a tent, food and clothing. Her task would be to take care of the wounded.
Safekeeping
She had other concerns. One was what would happen to the baptismal font and other items in the Congregational Church near the camp grounds when the rebels would use the church as a stable for their horses and steal or damage to the contents of the sacred place. It bothered her so much that she stole the font and its heavy white marble stand, packed them up, and sent them by train back to Menomonie for “safe keeping.”
Within days, on March 10, 1862, Company K — a part of General W. S. Hancock’s brigade in the division, led by General William Farrar Smith — became a unit in General George McClellan’s renewed advance on Manassas, Va.
There was word that the rebels were back at the site of the first battle of Bull Run in July, 1861. Following the main roads heading south, the Fifth Regiment reach-ed Fling Hill, and set up camp there, two miles north of the Fairfax, Va., courthouse.
On the move
There it was learned that the Confederate force had abandoned Manassas, so the combined army units turned to the east at Fairfax and marched along the Little River Turnpike, reaching a campsite on the Potomac near Alexandria, Va. on March 16. Six days later, on March 23, McClellan’s Army of the Peninsula sailed down the Potomac and into Chesapeake Bay, landing on the morning of the 25th at Fort Monroe, Va.
On April 4, the Fifth left Newport News, located across the bay from Ft. Monroe, and were soon marching to within a short distance of the Warwick Courthouse near the banks of the Warwick River.
An account of the move tells us, “Five companies of the Fifth deployed as skirmishers, drove in the enemy’s pickets, encamping for the night within the rebel lines, and returned to camp the following day.
Mortal wounds
“An attack was made on a ... fort of the rebels, near Lee’s Mills [see map], in which the Fifth took no part, but afterwards took position in the rear of a battery, which had been posted opposite the fort. On the April 24th, Charles L. Fourt, of Company K, was wounded while on picket, and on the 30th, Burton Millard, a commissary Sergeant, was mortally wounded and died the same day.”
Millard was attached to the staff of the regiment. Fourt was a member of the Dunn County Pinery Rifles, but a native of DeSoto, Vernon County. He was Company K’s first soldier wounded in battle. The company was involved in the siege of Yorktown, Va., from April 5 to May 4.
In pursuit
On May 3, the rebel forces left Yorktown and retreated to Williamsburg. On the 4th, the Fifth Regiment joined with the rest of the army to pursue the Confederates.
At 10 a.m. on May 5, General Hancock’s brigade, one that included the Fifth Regiment, was sent to attack the enemy on the enemy’s left. It was a difficult assignment because of a succession of earth works thrown up by the rebels.
The Wisconsin Fifth was the first to cross them with Companies A, E and G sent out as skirmishers, followed by skirmishers from Company D, and Company K from Dunn County led by Lt. Col. Harvey W. Emery of Portage. At about four in the afternoon, the enemy began advancing on the skirmishers.
‘Fire and charge’
Colonel Amasa Cobb of the 5th Regiment called for a retreat, ordering his men to “fall back fighting”, and soon exposing the men to full enemy fire. When the companies of the 5th retreated to the main line held by Hancock, the general ordered his brigade to “fire and charge,” and the entire brigade, along with the skirmishers from Company K, pushed back the rebels, pushing them in a full retreat from the battlefield.
Hancock’s brigade had defeated Confederate General Richard Ewell’s forces, nearly annihilating the Fifth North Carolina regiment. There were 15 members of the Wisconsin Fifth Regiment killed or died of wounds, none of whom were from Company K. There were 60 members of the 10 companies in the Fifth Regiment, but only two from Company K, Corporal John Nolan of Menomonie, and Albert B. Moore, a native of New Boston, Minn., who died four months later of disease.
On the Seventh, General McClellan addressed the regiment, “My lads, I have come to thank you for your gallant conduct the other day. You have gained honor for your country your state, and the army to which you belong. Through you we won the day, and Williamsburg shall be inscribed on your banner. I cannot thank you enough for what you have done, I trust you in the future and know that you sustain the reputation you have won for yourselves.”
The rebels had evacuated Williamsburg on the 5th of May. The “Pinery Rifles” moved with their regiment, now assigned to Brigadier General William Franklin’s Sixth Corps of the Army of the Potomac. On May 27, at Gaines’ Mill a serious blow to Company K and its leadership occurred.
On a lighter note, the baptismal font and one or two other items were returned to the church, at their request, by the Dunn County Historical Society about eight years ago.
John Russell, a local photographer and Dunn County resident, writes a weekly column for The Dunn County News. He is curator emeritus of the Dunn County Historical Society. |
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