The Humphreys family in America - citizen hylbom blog

een no exception, for that cost us some unnecessary fighting. After the unfortunate issue of the campaign of the
Army of Virginia, * Humphreys, to his great contentment, was transferred from the staff and engineer's duty
to the command of a division of new troops, with which he hastened to reinforce the army at Antietam.
" His alacrity and energy were equally commendable. He prided himself greatly on this march, and refers
to it even eight months later, in his report after Chancellorsville, dated May lo, 1863, as follows: 'In making this
my la^t report of the operations of my division as at present constituted, I trust I may be excused for recurring to
the service it has performed. Hastily organized in September last, near Washington, the regiments newly raised, it
made a long and painful march of more than twenty-three miles in a dark night to take part in the expected battle
of the next day at Antietam.' A few weeks subsequent to this march, Humphreys made a reconnoissance— October
16-19, >S62—into Virginia, which was an operation perfect in its kind. This report bears the following indorsement
of his superior: 'General Humphreys accomplished in a most satisfactory manner the object of the expedition, and
carried out most judiciously the instructions of the commanding general.' It was on this occasion Humphreys first
acted in conjunction with Hancock, and it laid the foundation of that mutual esteem and confidence in each other's
trustworthiness under every circumstance of peril, which grew stronger and stronger throughout the war.
" Although Fortune had hitherto frowned upon his advancement, she afforded him opportunity, about three
months afterward, at the first battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862. There Humphreys displayed himself in
the full magnificence of his imexceeded and unsurpassable intrepidity and commandership. * * « « «
In this battle excellent troops were coldly and cruelly ordered to dash themselves to pieces to no purpose. They
were ordered into a shambles to be slaughtered, and they were so. The Confederates' charge, on the third day at
(Gettysburg, courageous as it was, will nevertheless, upon examination, scarcely enter into a close comparison with
the Union assaults upon Marye's Heights. The Confederates in July, 1863, had clear ground before them, and there
were no works to carry in their front; whereas the Union troops had not only to cross a bridgeless canal, but to
assail a wall which was equal to a fortification, under every species of deadly and concentrated fire of sheltered
musketry, including Barksdale's unerring riflemen, with heavy reserves in the rear, and of tiers of batteries. * *
When Bumside ordered Sumner to storm Marye's Heights, the sturdy veteran, while clearly estimating the perils in
his front, simply remarked, 'An order is an order and must be obeyed.' * * * He afterward described
'those fortifications' in these pregnant words: 'They were tier upon tier for two or three tiers. If we had carried
the first tier we could not have held it, because their next tier was a much more formidable row of fortifications,
only a mile distant, and in a higher position still; and no doubt large masses of infantry were between the two
crests; and having got on the top of one crest, we would have been compelled to contend with large masses of fresh
troops, over whom their own batteries could fire [upon us]. I was ordered by the general commanding to select
the corps to make the attack. I selected the corps [divisions] of General French and General Hancock, two of the
most gallant officers in our army, and two corps [divisions] that had neither of them never turned their backs to
the enemy.' * * * ** «*«*«««*«««*»«
"The experienced French General of Brigade, V. de Chanal, in reporting to the Emperor Napoleon III.,
remarks as follows of Humphreys at Fredericksburg: 'At the battle [of Fredericksburg], a major in the United
States Topographical Engineers, whom the war had elevated into a general in the volunteer army, Humphreys,
desired to lead back his command, composed of Pennsylvanians—whose three months' term of service was to expire
the next day— to the attack of an important position. These poor fellows, disheartened by several checks, and thinking
perhaps as well of their liberation so near at hand, had lain down and continued deaf to the threats as well as to
the enUeaties of their conunander. Then Humphreys dismounted, and accompanied by his son, a youth of sixteen,
who never left his father's side, advanced slowly toward the enemy. The Pennsylvanians, shamed by this example,
started to their leet, and rushed to the attack.'
"The first surge up the slippery slope was made by French, Third Division, Second corps, with a boldness
and backbone that carried his front line to within thirty or forty paces of the never-to-be-forgotten ' Ha ! Ha ! stone
wall.' The undertow of repulse swept it back, leaving behind 1,200 dead and wounded out of about twice that
number. The second surge forward was made by Hancock's First Division, Second corps. It broke within twenty-
five paces of the stone wall, when the reflux occurred. In an 'evil quarter of an hour,' of 5,600 hale men 2,013
lifeless or mutilated forms lay mingled with the mass of victims to the preceding attempt. Bumside was not yet
satisfied ! Humphreys was next sent in over the palpitating or stiffening wrecks with his Third Division of the Fifth
corps. 'Humphreys,' says General de Trobriand, 'was probably the best officer in the Army of the Potomac that
day. He had a quick eye and a clear head. That the fighting, which his division did—some of the very best fighting
that was done at Fredericksburg— was so good, was due to him. He had only two brigades, and among these were
several regiments which had never before been in battle.' As ordered, his men divested themselves of their knapsacks,
haversacks and overcoats—in fact, everything not indispensable to service or which could encumber their movements.
No smooth, meadowy field rose gently, as at Gettysburg, after the canal was crossed, to the position to be carried.
On the contrary, the interval was broken, crossed by fences and sprinkled with buildings, which afforded admirable
covers [to the defenders], and just at the foot of the ascent proper to Marye's Heights, a sunken road between deep