CONNECTICUT SIXTH REGIMENT C. V. INFANTRY. (Three Years.)

WRITTEN BY CHARLES K. CADWELL, LATE SERGEANT OF COMPANY F, SIXTH CONNECTICUT VOLUNTEERS. THE Sixth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers was organized August, 1861, under the efficient leadership of Colonel John L. Chatfield, and was the third regiment furnished by the State of Connecticut under the first call of the President for volunteers for three years. Its companies were organized in the following localities: Company A, Putnam; Company B, Hartford; Companies C, F, and K, New Haven; Company D, Stamford; Company E, Waterbury; Company G, New Britain; Companies H and I, Bridgeport. It encamped at Oyster Point, New Haven, and was mustered into the State service September 3, 1861, and into the United States service September 12th. On September 17, 1861, the regiment, numbering one thousand and eight (1,008) officers and men, left New Haven for the seat of war, and arrived at Washington, D. C., September 19th, where it encamped on Meridian Hill, and was brigaded with the Seventh Connecticut Volunteers and Third and Fourth New Hampshire Volunteers, under command of Brigadier-General H. G. Wright, afterwards commander of the Sixth Army Corps. The twenty days of camp life here was a period of unceasing drill and discipline, only broken by a visit to the camp of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, upon a tour of inspection. October 8, 1861, the regiment left Washington for Annapolis, Md., where it joined the forces then being organized under Gen. W. T. Sherman of the army, and Admiral Dupont of the navy, for an expedition to the Southern coast. On October 19th, this expedition, being then the largest land and naval expeditionary force of modern ages, in number of naval vessels and troops, sailed from Annapolis, encountering a terrific storm off Cape Hatteras, which disabled and wrecked a number of the vessels, and arrived off Port Royal, S. C., Nov. 5, 1861. On the 7th of November the bombardment of Forts Walker and Beauregard in the harbor, and the battle between the Union and Confederate naval forces, being the first naval engagement of the war, took place in full view of the regiment, which was in the advance to land as soon as the forts were reduced. The engagement lasted five hours, and at its close, the regiment, with the Seventh Connecticut Volunteers, landed in small boats, and, taking possession of the forts, immediately pushed forward after the flying enemy, and drove them from the island, capturing a number of prisoners. For some months the time was occupied in building fortifications, and in making raids upon the surrounding country, in which a large quantity of supplies was captured. In January, 1862, the regiment took part in an expedition to capture Savannah, Ga., by the way of Warsaw Sound, Ga. The attempt was a failure, and in consequence of the regiment being kept on a small, over-crowded vessel sixteen days without cooked food, with no vegetables, with hard-tack full of vermin, and water that was stored in kerosene-oil barrels, and without sufficient room on the vessel for all of the men to lie down at once, spotted fever broke out in the regiment, and many lives were unnecessarily lost. On March, 1862, the regiment was a part of the force engaged in the siege and capture of Fort Pulaski, on Savannah River, Ga., its more particular operations in the siege being the construction and maintenance of a battery upon Jones Island, which was between the fort and the city of Savannah, for the double purpose of preventing reinforcements reaching the fort, and to prevent the rebel iron-clad "Atlanta" from passing down the river. As the island was covered with water at high tide, the duty was laborious as well as dangerous, and many of the men suffered from disease and hardship. On April 11, 1862, Fort Pulaski surrendered, and the regiment returned to pleasant quarters on Dawfuski Island. In June, 1862, the regiment took part in the expedition against Charleston, S. C., under General Hunter, marching over Jones Island, and suffering many hardships, being three days without food, as the wagon trains were cut off, but finally arriving at James Island, where, on the 10th of June, they were engaged in a skirmish, and on the 16th of June, 1862, took part in the battle of Secessionville, S. C., after which they went into camp at Beaufort, S. C., and performed picket and guard duty until October 22, 1862, when they were engaged in the battle of Pocotaligo, S. C., in which the regiment suffered its first large loss in battle, the casualties being thirty-eight killed and wounded. Among the severely wounded were Colonel Chatfield, who was then commanding the brigade, and LieutenantColonel John Speidel commanding the regiment. The following-named members of the regiment were honorably mentioned, for bravery in this battle, by the commander of the department, in his report to the War Department:* Lieutenant S. S. Stevens, Company I; Commissary-Sergeant William H. Johnson; Sergeant Charles H. Grogan, Company I; privates Robert Wilson, Company D, Granville Platt and Alfred B. Beers, Company I. The Sixth returned to Beaufort after this engagement, from which place they were transferred, March 18, 1863, to Jacksonville, Fla. Here they fortified the town, and defended it against the attacks of the enemy, performing duties that were dangerous and harassing in the extreme. About April 1, 1863, the regiment left Jacksonville, and after a short tour of duty at Hilton Head, Beaufort, and some scouting upon the islands along the coast, were landed, about May 1st, on Folly Island, S. C., to engage in the second attack on Charleston and Fort Sumter, by the way of Morris Island. The regiment worked nights for three weeks in constructing fortifications, during which time they and the remainder of the brigade built ten batteries and mounted forty-eight heavy siege-guns in them, within four hundred yards of the enemy's works on Morris Island, without being discovered. At midnight of July 9th, the regiment, with other forces under General Strong, ascended Folly River in boats, and at daybreak on the 10th, after a desperate resistance, and under a galling fire, effected a landing on Morris Island in the face of the enemy's guns, and charged and carried the fortifications, capturing during the day 125 prisoners and two battle-flags, one of which was taken by Roper Hounslow, of Company D, the rebel standard-bearer losing his life in the attempt to save his flag. The regiment was at the front during the whole day, but lost only ten men. On July 18, 1863, the Sixth led the charge upon the sea face of Fort Wagner. In this charge Colonel Chatfield, who resigned command of a brigade to lead his regiment, received his death-wound, and Lieutenant S. S. Stevens was killed, and Lieutenants West and Kost were taken prisoners. Color-Sergeant Gustave DeBonge was killed, also six others who took the colors one after the other, and Captain F. B. Osborn finally rescued and saved the flag. The Sixth, almost unaided, held an angle of the fort for about three hours, but not being supported, was compelled to retire, a portion of the regiment being captured. The regiment took into the charge about four hundred men, and its loss was about one hundred and forty, or thirty-five per cent, of the number engaged. Of the conduct of the Sixth Connecticut Volunteers in this engagement, Paul H. Hayne, a Southern writer upon the siege of Wagner in the March, 1886, "Southern Bivouac," says:-"Then a grand deed, what the old Northmen would have called a deed of 'derring-do,' was performed by men of the ever-dominant Caucasian race, the thought of which, as I write, a quarter of a century after its occurrence, here in the tranquil Indian summer, makes my heart beat and pulses throb tumultuously. Across the narrow and fatal stretch before the fort, every inch of which was swept by a hurricane of fire, a besom of destruction, the Sixth Connecticut, Colonel John L. Chatfield, charged with such undaunted resolution upon the southeast salient, that they succeeded, in the very face of hell, one may say, in capturing it. "What though their victory was a barren achievement? What though for three hours they were penned in, no support daring to follow them? Friend and foe alike now, as then, must honor and salute them as the bravest of the brave. "The history of the war, rife with desperate conflicts, can show no more terrific strife than this. It was, in more than one particular, a battle of giants." The losses in this action were so great that the regiment was sent to Hilton Head to recuperate. Colonel Chatfield died of his wounds, and Lieutenant-Colonel Speidel, by reason of his wounds, was transferred to the Invalid Corps. During the fall and winter of 1863, many of the men re-enlisted, and the regiment was engaged in routine duty. Adjutant Redfield Duryee was promoted to be Colonel. In April, 1864, the regiment was transferred to Virginia, and took part in the campaign of that year, being in the command of General Butler. May 9th, it was engaged in the action at Chester Station on the Petersburg road, and again on May 10th, at the same place. On May 16th it was engaged in the battle of Drewry's Bluff on Proctor's Creek, and on May 20th and June 2d in skirmishes at Bermuda Hundred. May 27th Colonel Duryea resigned, and subsequently Alfred P. Rockwell, Captain of the First Connecticut Light Battery, was promoted Colonel, and proved to be a brave and capable officer. On June 9th the regiment took part in the attack on Petersburg, Va., under General Gilmore. June 17th the regiment advanced from Bermuda Hundred and tore up the Petersburg railroad, but was attacked by General Lee's army, which was on its way to Petersburg to defend that point against General Grant, and driven back to the intrenchments again. The losses of the regiment in the several engagements referred to, from May 10th to June 18th inclusive, were 184 officers and men. June 25th the regiment crossed the James River and covered the movement of General Sheridan, who was returning turning from his famous raid around Richmond. From June 25th to August 13th the Sixth was in the intrenchments at Bermuda Hundred, doing picket duty and guarding the line. August 14th the regiment crossed the James River to Deep Bottom, and was engaged in the battle of Strawberry Plains, capturing two lines of earthworks. August 16th it was engaged in the battle of Deep Run, capturing a line of earthworks, two hundred prisoners, and two stands of colors, and lost five killed, sixty-nine wounded, and eleven missing. The regiment was then ordered to Petersburg, and was engaged in the siege of that place, at the front of the line, until September 27th, during which time it performed picket duty, and also built Fort Haskell, one of the largest and strongest forts upon the line. Sleeping here was principally done in holes in the ground, and the luxury of a cooked meal of victuals was not often enjoyed, while the appearance of a head over the breastworks was an invitation to every man on the line to shoot. The exposure and hardships upon the Petersburg line involved more danger than a pitched battle, as it was a continuous skirmish, night and day. The term of three years having expired, the men who did not re-enlist were discharged in front of Petersburg, September 11, 1864, and were received with civic and military honors at New Haven. September 28, 1864, the regiment marched to the north side of the James River, and was engaged in the battle of Fort Harrison and Newmarket Road, at Chapin's Farms, and advanced up the Darbytown Road to within three miles of Richmond. October 1st the regiment was again engaged in a skirmish on the Darbytown Road at Laurel Hill Church. October 7th the enemy made an attack on the lines at Newmarket Road, the brunt of the battle falling upon the division with which the Sixth was connected, and upon that regiment first. Although twice assaulted by the enemy, both attacks were repulsed and the enemy driven from the field. October 13th the regiment was engaged at Darbytown Road, and October 27th at the Charles City Road. Owing to fears of mob violence in the presidential election of November, 1864, the Sixth regiment, with many others, was ordered to New York by boat, and the vessels conveying them were stationed at different points on the East and North Rivers. After the election was over, the men, although within a few miles of home and loved ones, were not permitted to visit them, but were returned to their camp at the front. After this, the time was spent in camp and picket duty until the latter part of December, 1864, when the regiment was ordered to take part in the second attack upon Fort Fisher, N. C., and accompanied General Terry upon that expedition, witnessing the greatest bombardment of modern ages, and participating, on January 16, 1865, in the greatest and most successful assault upon a well-defended fortification made during the war. After the capture of Fort Fisher the regiment took part in the operations for the capture of Wilmington, N. C., and the opening of a base of supplies for Gen. W. T. Sherman in North Carolina. These operations were, a skirmish on January 19, 1865, and the engagements near Fort Fisher, capture of Wilmington, and skirmish at Northeast Branch of Cape Fear River, February 22, 1865. It was then engaged in garrison duty at Wilmington, N. C., along the line of the Wilmington & Weldon railroad, and at Goldsboro, N. C., until August; and was finally mustered out at New Haven, Conn., August 21, 1865. The regiment served in the District of Columbia, and in the States of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. It was attached to the Tenth army corps, and for a short time to the Twenty-third corps and Twenty-fourth corps. Two hundred and five (205) of its original members reenlisted as veterans. Six hundred (600) recruits were credited to it. Add to these the one thousand and eight who went into the field originally, and we have an aggregate of one thousand eight hundred and thirteen men who have served with the regiment. *See page 152, Vol. xiv, Records of War of the Rebellion. ENGAGEMENTS. Bombardment and Capture of Port Royal, S. C., Nov.7, 1861. Siege of Fort Pulaski, Ga., March 20 to April 11, 1862. James Island, S. C., July 10, 1862. James Island, Secessionville, July 16, 1862. Pocotaligo, S. C., Oct. 22, 1862. Morris Island, S. C., July 10, 1863. Fort Wagner, S. C., July 18, 1863. Chester Station, Va., May 10, 1864. Proctor's Creek, Va., May 14, 1864. Drewry's Bluff or Proctor's Creek, Va., May 16, 1864. Near Bermuda Hundred, Va., May 20, 1864. Near Bermuda Hundred, Va., June 2, 1864. Petersburg, Va., June 7, 1864. Near Bermuda Hundred, Va., June 17, 1864. Deep Bottom, Va., Aug. 14 and 15, 1864. Deep Run, Va., Aug. 16, 1864. Siege of Petersburg, Va., August and September, 1864. Chapin's Farms, Va., Sep. 29, 1864. Near Richmond, Va., Oct. 1, 1864. Newmarket Road, or Laurel Hill, Va., Oct. 7, 1864. Darbytown Road, Va., Oct. 13, 1864. Charles City Road, Va., Oct. 27, 1864. Fort Fisher, N. C., Jan. 15, 1865. Near Fort Fisher, N. C., Jan. 19, 1865. Near Fort Fisher, Capture of Wilmington, N. C., and Northeast Branch Cape Fear River, N. C., Feb. 21 and 22, 1865.

Connecticut 6th Volunteer Infantry (Union)

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