died of his wounds August 16th. Wounded: 1st Lieutenants George E. Davis (Adjutant), arm; Henry S. Hitchcock, side; Jonas R. Davis, neck; Robert B. Chamberlain, head. Captain Clark, while gallantly leading the regiment into action, received his mortal wound close to the edge of the crater; his body was paralyzed below the shoulders from injury to the spinal cord, but he lived to be taken to his home in Pittsfield, where he died August 16th. He was an officer of strong character and even courage, and had previously been very severely wounded in the body at the battle of Chantilly. ENLISTED MEN. Company A. Wounded: Private August Dabers, head. Company B. Wounded: Corporal James Caldwell, side. Prisoner, Corporal George V. Barker. Company C. Prisoner: Private Joseph Mead. Mead died in the rebel prison at Danville, Virginia, January 15, 1865. Company E. Killed First Sergeant Horace Gardner. Wounded: Private Lucian Webster, leg. Sergeant Gardner, noted from the earliest days of the regiment as one of its most gallant soldiers, was struck by a bullet in the breast, put his hand to the wound, and uttering the single word “ Wife,” fell dead.1 Company F. Killed and mortally wounded: Private Charles H. Morse, killed; Sergeant Charles R. Renner, wounded in the leg, and died of the wound August 22d. Prisoner: Joseph Tirrell. Tirrell was confined in the prison at Danville, Virginia, but obtained his release by a pretended enlistment in the rebel army, from which he soon made his escape and rejoined the regiment. Company G. Died of wounds: Private Frank Lumazette, wounded in the shoulder and breast; left on the field, and taken by the rebels to Danville Prison, where he died of his wounds August 12th. Wounded: Sergeant (Acting SergeantMajor) Harrison C. Cheney, face. Lumazette remained in the crater after the regiment had been ordered back to our 1 Reported by his comrade, Sergeant Henry White. — ED. lines; and as the rebels entered it, shot two of them before he was disabled.1 Company H. Killed: Corporal Fred. S. Fairbanks. Wounded: Corporal William H. Simpson, lost an arm; Privates Samuel G. Irish, shoulder; Benjamin J. Watson, head and arm. Company I. Wounded: Private Jean B. Cortour, lost an årm. Company K. Killed: Corporal Wm. Harrington. Wounded: Sergeant Brigham W. Barnes, lost an arm; Sergeant Erastus B. Richardson, sun-stroke. The small proportion of prisoners from the 21st shows how well they stuck together in this discouraging fight, in which half of the loss suffered by the 9th Corps was in prisoners. On the 1st of August, under a flag of truce, from six to eleven o'clock A. M., details from the white and colored regiments of the corps were engaged in the ghastly duty of burying the dead at the crater. The bodies, owing to the intense heat, were in a horrid condition, and all rejoiced when the dreadful work was over and picket firing recommenced. 1 Reported by Corporal Barker, who was with him. - ED. CHAPTER XIX. AUGUST 1, 1864-MARCH 24, 1865. THE RETURN HOME OF THE NON-REENLISTED MEN OF THE 21ST.THE VETERANS IN THE FIELD TAKE PART IN THE BATTLE ON THE WELDON RAILROAD OF AUGUST 19, 1864. BATTLE OF POPLAR SPRING CHURCH, SEPTEMBER 30TH, AND DEATH OF CAPTAIN SAMPSON. CONSOLIDATION OF THE 21ST BATTALION WITH THE 36TH MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. — BATTLE OF HATCHER'S RUN, OCTO. BER 27, 1864. — THE LAST WINTER OF THE REBELLION.-ORDER FOR A GENERAL ADVANCE OF THE ARMIES IN VIRGINIA. AFTER the battle of the Mine, the regiment returned to the wearisome and perilous duty in the trenches, on which they had been engaged before the battle. August 8th. Corporal Richard B. Loomis, of Company H, was wounded severely in the side by a musket ball. August 12th. First Sergeant William H. Morrow, of Company K, was wounded in the breast by a piece of shell. August 13th. Sergeant Albert Patterson, of Company C, was wounded in the thigh. On the 13th of August, General Burnside, the esteemed and loved commander of the 9th Corps, turned the command of the corps over to General Parke, and retired from further active service during the war. On the 18th of August, the men who had not reënlisted, and most of the officers, were ordered home for muster out. Leaving City Point by steamer for Washington on the 19th, they arrived in Boston on the 22d, and were finally mustered out of service at Worcester on the 30th of August. During their journey home, Private William Phipps, of Company F, was mortally injured by a railroad collision at Madison, Conn., dying of his injuries September 3d. Appomattox R. Southside R.R Ft Slead man Ft. Haskell Ft. Morton PETERSBURG Cemetery Plank Road LINE Ft. Rice FI.Davis Seag wick Boydton LINE Captains Charles W. Davis, Orange S. Sampson, and Edward E. Howe, and First Lieutenants Jonas R. Davis, Felix McDermott, and William H. Sawyer, were selected to remain in the field with the reënlisted men and recruits, who (present and absent), numbered in the aggregate 261 officers and men, but numbered but about seventy-five muskets, all told, for duty in the ranks. By orders from division headquarters on the 18th of August, the veteran volunteers and recruits of the 21st Massachusetts were consolidated into a battalion of three companies, designated by the letters H, I, and K; and on the 24th of September, the non-commissioned officers, rendered supernumerary by this consolidation of companies, were honorably discharged. Captain Sampson commanded the battalion, as Captain Davis, the senior officer, was on detached service, having been provost-mar Ft. Sampson Squirrel Level Road Vaughan Peebles Farm UNION LINE Poplar! Spring C HOWAR REAR CLONE TAVERN Mile Sta. Jerusalem Plank Road SKETCH OF THE UNION AND REBEL LINES IN shal of the 2d Division of the 9th Corps for several months. The 21st in the field, under the command of that ever true soldier, Captain Sampson, were moving to a desperate battle, in which they added new glory to their old flag, on the very day that their non-reënlisted comrades bade them good-by and turned their feet towards home. On the 18th of August the 5th Corps, under General Warren, which had been in position in the works next on the left of the 9th Corps, marched to cut the Weldon Railroad, one of the chief lines of rebel communication with the South, lying but three miles away from the Union left; and the 9th Corps moved to hold the vacated position of the 5th, and support it in its dangerous enterprise. The advance of the 5th Corps, without serious opposition, had established itself on the railroad at Six Mile Station by eight o'clock on the morning of the 18th; and, leaving Griffin's Division to hold the point seized, General Warren, with his two other divisions (Ayres's and Crawford's), moved about a mile up the railroad towards Petersburg, when they were brought to a halt by the rebels in a firm line of battle. Early in the afternoon, when General Warren attempted to resume the advance, the enemy attacked him sharply, and routed part of his command, inflicting a loss of a thousand men in killed, wounded, and prisoners. Warren, still remaining in possession of the railroad, at once set to work to intrench his position. The possession of this line of southern communication was regarded by General Lee as of so great importance, that he determined at all hazards to dislodge the Union force. During the night of the 18th and morning of the 19th, Lee strengthened the rebel force in front of Warren by powerful reinforcements; and as it was evident that Warren's men would need assistance, the three white divisions of the 9th Corps (those of White, Potter, and Willcox) were ordered to reinforce him. The little 21st, still a hard hitter in battle, preserved its independence as a battalion in the 1st brigade, 1st Division, of the 9th Corps. The brigade was commanded by LieutenantColonel J. H. Barnes, of the 29th Massachusetts, and the division by General Julius White. When White's and Potter's 1 General Lee, from the time of first reaching Petersburg, never expected to be able to long hold the Weldon Railroad; and, four days after his arrival, he sent a warning to the Richmond authorities to prepare to supply his army by the Danville line alone. The reply was that they hoped he would do all he could to hold the Weldon road. To this he answered that of course he would do all he could to hold it, but that he had little faith in his ability to do so. The failure of the Confederate authorities to make any provisions in accordance with his admonition was probably the cause of the desperate assaults he made to dislodge War |