O.R.--
SERIES I--VOLUME XXV/1 [S# 39]
APRIL
27-MAY 6, 1863.--The Chancellorsville Campaign.
No.
255.--Report of Lieut. Col. Adolph von Hartung, Seventy-fourth Pennsylvania
Infantry.
I
am, general, your most obedient servant,
A.
VON HARTUNG,
Lieut.
Col., Comdg. 74th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers.
HDQRS.
74TH REGT. PENNSYLVANIA VOLS.,
May
4, 1863.
GENERAL: Herewith I
have the honor to send to you a report concerning that part of the battle of
Chancellor's farm in which the Seventy-fourth was engaged, May 2.
Before beginning the
fight, the regiment was formed in line of battle facing the Plank road from
Fredericksburg to Orange Court-House, Different regiments of the First Division
of the Eleventh Corps were in the same manner posted on our right and the
Sixty-first Ohio on our left.
At about 5.30 p.m. the
regiments on our right were suddenly attacked in very great force by the enemy,
and his attack was directed on our right flank and back. The regiment on our
right broke through the ranks of the Seventy-fourth Regiment in such a manner
that the regiment got at once thrown in such disorder that a restoring of order
was an utter impossibility. The first we ever knew of the enemy was that our
men, while sitting on their knapsacks and ready to spring to their arms, were
shot from the rear and flank. A surprise in broad daylight, a case not yet
heard of in the history of any war, was so complete that the men had not even
time to take their arms before they were thrown in the wildest confusion. The
different regiments on our right were in a few minutes all mixed up with the
Seventy-fourth. The enemy pressed heavily. Some guns of Dieckmann's battery in
front, without firing a single shot, broke through the whole mixed crowd, and
the regiment could, under such circumstances, do nothing else but retreat
through the woods.
Preserving as much
order as possible, I led the regiment back behind a rifle-pit near the old
headquarters of Major-General Howard. About 50 paces in front of this
rifle-pit, right near the road, I found Major-General Howard, who was crying,
"Stop; face about; do not retreat any farther!" This was well said,
but impossible to be done. The troops were entirely mixed up, the panic was
great, the enemy pressed heavily, the rifle-pits in the rear was already
glittering with bayonets, and occasional shots from behind were showing the
greatness of the danger of trying to rally the troops in front of the pit. To
obey the order of Major-General Howard at this moment and at this place would
have been certain useless destruction to every man of my regiment. The
rifle-pit alone and nowhere else was the right place for rallying the troops.
There the greatest order was soon restored, and the regiment awaited calmly the
approach of the enemy. Different regiments were on our right and left. On our
right I remember the One hundred and nineteenth and Sixty-eighth New York
Regiments, all well rallied again. We were soon furiously attacked, but the
enemy was handsomely checked and driven back. The men stuck to their colors and
fought bravely, but renewed attacks of superior forces and flank movements of
the enemy made all the troops on our left fall back. Our artillery, too,
retreated, and broke through the rifle-pits and through our ranks. The troops
on our right, too, withdrew, and the Seventy-fourth Regiment, nearly left
alone, could not keep up the defense any longer, and consequently retreated. A
part of the men, as it does always happen, got separated from the main part of
the regiment and retreated on their own hook.
The main part of the regiment retreated in the greatest order up to a
point near Major-General Hooker's headquarters, where the whole Eleventh Corps
was rallied again. The whole regiment was soon rallied again, some few
stragglers excepted, who joined during the night and next morning.
At roll-call, held at
about 10 p.m., 60 men were missing; of these 3 officers and 16 men are
positively either killed or wounded, the rest taken prisoners or missing.
I have the honor to
take this opportunity to mention to you the names of the following sergeants of
this regiment detailed for color guard, who, in a moment of the greatest
danger, behaved most nobly and bravely, and to whom the whole regiment is
indebted for not losing its flag: Sergeant [George] Ekert, color-bearer;
Sergeant [Henry] Bender, Company A; Sergeant [George] Nissel, Company D:
Sergeant [Joseph] Frey, Company G, and Sergt. W. Kruger, Company B.
I am, general, your
most obedient servant,
A. VON HARTUNG,
Lieut. Col., Comdg. 74th Regiment
Pennsylvania Volunteers.
Brig. Gen. A. SCHIMMELFENNIG,
Commanding First Brigade.