WAR FROM THE INSIDE
Reading edition
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THE STORY OF THE 132nd REGIMENT PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY IN THE WAR FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF THE REBELLION
1862-1863
BY
FREDERICK L. HITCHCOCK
Late Adjutant and Major 132ND Pennsylvania Volunteers.
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Published by authority of the 132nd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Association.
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PRESS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY PHILADELPHIA 1904
Copyright, 1903 By F. L. Hitchcock
PREFACE
This narrative was originally written without the least idea of publication, but to gratify the oft-repeated requests of my children. During the work, the ubiquitous newspaper reporter learned of it, and persuaded me to permit its publication in a local paper, where it appeared in weekly instalments. Since then the demand that I should put it in more permanent form has been so persistent and wide-spread, that I have been constrained to comply, and have carefully revised and in part rewritten it. I have endeavored to confine myself to my own observations, experiences, and impressions, giving the inner life of the soldier as we experienced it. It was my good fortune to be associated with one of the best bodies of men who took part in the great Civil War; to share in their hardships and their achievements. For this I am profoundly grateful. Their story is my own. If these splendid gray-headed "boys"—those who have not yet passed the mortal firing-line—shall find some pleasure in again tramping over that glorious route, and recalling the historic scenes, and if the younger generation shall gather inspiration for a like patriotic dedication to country and to liberty, I shall be more than paid for my imperfect work. In conclusion, I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness to Major James W. Oakford, son of our intrepid colonel, who was the first of the regiment to fall, and to Mr. Lewis B. Stillwell, son of that brave and splendid officer, Captain Richard Stillwell, Company K, who was wounded and disabled at Fredericksburg, for constant encouragement in the preparation of the work and for assistance in its publication.
Scranton, Pa., April 5, 1904.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I.—First Lessons; or, Doing the Impossible
II.—The Organization and Make-up of the Fighting Machine called "The Army"
III.—On the March—Preliminary Skirmishes
IV.—Drawing near the Enemy—Battle of South Mountain—Preliminary Skirmishes
V.—The Battle of Antietam
VI.—The Battle of Antietam—Continued
VII.—Harper's Ferry and the Leesburg and Halltown Expeditions
VIII.—From Harper's Ferry to Fredericksburg
IX.—The Fredericksburg Campaign
X.—The Battle of Fredericksburg—Continued
XI.—Why Fredericksburg was Lost
XII.—Lost Colors recovered
XIII.—The Winter at Falmouth
XIV.—The Winter at Falmouth—Continued
XV.—The Battle of Chancellorsville
XVI.—The Battle of Chancellorsville—Continued
XVII.—The Muster Out and Home Again
Appendix
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
After the lapse of more than forty years, I hardly hoped to be able to publish pictures of all our officers, and have been more than pleased to secure so many. The others, I regret to say, could not be obtained. The youthful appearance of these officers will be remarked. All, I believe, with the exception of Colonel Oakford were below thirty years, and most between twenty and twenty-five.
Colonel Frederick L. Hitchcock—Frontispiece
The Monument—Facing title-page
Groups of Captains
Group, Chaplain and Surgeons
Colonel Charles Albright
Colonel Vincent M. Wilcox
Colonel Richard A. Oakford
The Silenced Confederate Battery
The Sunken Road
Field Hospital
Groups of Lieutenants
Major Frederick L. Hitchcock
Don and I, and glimpse of Camp of Hancock's Division, Falmouth, Va.
Reunion 132d Regiment, P. V., 1891, on Battle-field of Antietam.