Three Years in the Sixth Corps

Years in the Sixth Corps, by
George T. Stevens

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Title: Three Years in the Sixth Corps A Concise Narrative of Events in
the Army of the Potomac, from 1861 to the Close of the Rebellion,
April, 1865
Author: George T. Stevens
Release Date: June 30, 2007 [EBook #21976]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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YEARS IN THE SIXTH CORPS ***

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THREE YEARS IN THE SIXTH CORPS.

A CONCISE NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN THE ARMY OF THE
POTOMAC, FROM 1861 TO THE CLOSE OF THE REBELLION,
APRIL, 1865.
By GEORGE T. STEVENS, SURGEON OF THE 77TH REGIMENT
NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
ALBANY: S. R. GRAY, PUBLISHER.
1866.
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and
sixty-six,
By GEORGE T. STEVENS,
in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the
Northern District of New York.
WEED, PARSONS AND COMPANY, PRINTERS, STEREOTYPERS
AND BOOKBINDERS, ALBANY, N. Y.

[Illustration: MAJ.-GEN. JOHN SEDGWICK]

PREFACE.
The following pages are offered to my old comrades of the Sixth Corps,
with the hope that they may pleasantly recall the many varied
experiences of that unparalleled body of men. If much has been omitted
which should have been written, or if anything has been said which
should have been left out, I rely upon the generosity of brave men to
treat with leniency the failings they may detect.
I have endeavored to present without exaggeration or embellishment of
imagination, a truthful picture of army life in all its vicissitudes; its
marches, its battles, its camps, and the sad scenes when the victims of

war languish in hospitals. The story is written mostly from extensive
notes taken by myself amid the scenes described; but official reports
and letters from officers have been used freely in correcting these notes,
and gathering fresh material. The narrative commences with the
experiences of my own regiment; then when that regiment became a
part of Smith's division, its incidents and history includes the whole.
From the organization of the Sixth Corps to the close of the rebellion, I
have endeavored without partiality to give the story of the Corps. If I
have failed to do justice to any of the noble troops of the Corps, it has
been from no want of desire to give to each regiment the praise due to
it.
I cannot close without acknowledging my many obligations to the
numerous friends, officers and soldiers of the Corps, and others who
have favored me with their assistance. I take especial pleasure in
acknowledging the kindness of Miss Emily Sedgwick, sister of our
lamented commander; Vermont's honored son, Major-General L. A.
Grant, Major-General Thomas H. Neill, Colonel James B. McKean,
Colonel W. B. French, Chaplain Norman Fox, and Mr. Henry M.
Myers. I am also indebted to the friends of Samuel S. Craig for the use
of his diary, extending from the early history of the Army of the
Potomac, to the death of the talented young soldier in the Wilderness.
The engravings are nearly all from sketches taken by myself on the
ground, the others are from the pencil of the well known artist, Captain
J. Hope, and all have been submitted to his finishing touch. Mr.
Ferguson has executed the wood cuts in a style creditable to his art.
The typographical portion of the work has been done in a style of
beauty and finish for which the work of Weed, Parsons and Company
is so well known.
18 North Pearl Street, Albany, N. Y.
September 5, 1866.
[Illustration]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
1. Portrait of General Sedgwick.
2. Illustrated Title Page.
3. The Old Church at Hampton.
4. The Quaker at Newport News.
5. Charge of the Vermonters at Lee's Mills.
6. Charge of Hancock's Brigade at Williamsburgh.
7. Charge of the Seventy-seventh New York at Mechanicsville.
8. Portrait of Colonel James B. McKean.
9. Charge of the Sixth Corps at Burkettsville.
10. White Oak Church, Va.
11. Storming Fredericksburgh Heights by Howe's Division.
12. "What'll Ole Missus do Now?"
13. Church Call.
14. Battle of Fort Stevens.
15. "Why Don't he Come?"
16. "Going Norf."
17. Diagram of the Charge of the Sixth Corps, April 2, 1865.

CONTENTS.

Chapter I.
A New Regiment goes to the War.
Organization of the Seventy-seventh N. Y. V.--Departure from
Saratoga--Greetings by the way--New emotions--The noble dead--On