"We are now to leave our log huts for different quarters; some, perhaps, will find a home under the sod. For my part I am willing, if necessary, to give up my life for the sake of victory."
Private Iraneous Woodman - April 1863
Mortally wounded May 2, 1863 at Chancellorsville, Virginia
Contents
Part One
Pistol of Captain William Lacey, Co. D
The Seventeenth at Chancellorsville - Part 1
After the debacle at Fredericksburg, the command of the Army of the Potomac was given to Major General Joseph Hooker. Another change occurred for the men of the Seventeenth when command of the XI Corps was given to Major General Oliver O. Howard. Although this was a blow to the morale of the many German born soldiers in the corps, it did not seem to affect the troops of the Seventeenth.
In the spring of 1863, Hooker made ready to start another campaign against Richmond. After a long winter, the soldiers of the Seventeenth would finally get their chance to "see the elephant". Private Justus Silliman of Company H noted in a letter home that not all were looking forward to it:
"...On Sunday eve at dress parade the order to march was read to us, previous to that all our extra clothing etc not needed during the summer was packed and sent to Hope Land where they were to be stored for us.
Monday morning was bright and pleasant though rather too cool for comfort the boys appeared in good spirits and ready for the march. George Waterbury plead sickness but the doctors thought him playing off and placed him in the ranks. he left us soon after starting and has since been reported a deserter."
Private Silliman continued:
"...we finally halted for the night at 7 oclock cooked our supper and being tired and sore retired early to our shelter tents and snoozed till half past two the next morning when we were awakened by our Col. (as no tattoo or revielle were allowed to be sounded) and soon recommenced our journey. there was no singing or shouting allowed in the ranks, and evrything was conducted quietly...
"...we came to a halt after the second days march at 6 oclock but were obliged to take down our tents as we were liable to march at 5 minutes notice. the order came at 10 1/2 and off we started for Kellys ford on the Rappahannock about two miles distant. we marched about 1/2 mile and halted a long time in the road. it had rained some that afternoon and being coolish we took out our blankets and finaly built fires along the road."
After waiting in the road for some time, the regiment crossed at Kelly's Ford, finally stopping for the night at four in the morning. Although the men awoke at six, no movement was undertaken until nearly eleven o'clock, when the march resumed. Marching though the afternoon in a drizzling rain, the Seventeenth was halted on the banks of the Rapidan River. Here they slept until one in the morning, when they were awakened to cross the rain swollen and fast moving water. Writing to his wife, Captain Albert Wilcoxson of Company I described the crossing as such:
"A wild and weird scene it was. Moving down the road to the abrupt bank of the river, we came upon the abutment where had been the old bridge, and where the rebels had lately begun the construction of the new. Here, dividing our ranks, each man groped for himself a way down the steep bank to the foot of the abutment, from which a rude and trembling structure scarcely four feet, and raised but a trifle above the surface of the rushing and foaming river, led from one pier to another, and so on to the opposite bank. The night was pitchy dark, and to enable us to avoid a tumble into the boiling flood, fires had been built on the piers, which lighted up the tortuous course of the phantom-like train as it slowly crawled out of the darkness on one side, across the flimsy bridge in the ruddy glare, and into the darkness beyond."
After marching another mile or so, the regiment camped for the rest of the night. Marching again by eleven, the heat had now become so oppressive to the marching soldiers that many began to discard their greatcoats and blankets along the route. By dark on April 30th, the Seventeenth was in camp near the Talley farm (also called the Hatch house). Hooker's plan had thus far worked -- the Army of the Potomac had flanked Robert E. Lee.
The Talley House (view C.1912) looking S.E.
from Chancellorsville Battlefield Sites,
by Noel G. HarrisonOn Friday morning, May 1st, Private Silliman recalled that:
"...I heard a great cheering in camp and after being relieved from picket found it to have been caused by the reading of a circular issued by Gen Hooker in which he complemented the 5th, 11th and 12th corps...
"...old Joes complements put us in high spirits & the bands played like all possessed...."
At about 10 AM the regiment broke camp and began an advance to the east, where the 5th and 12th Corps were becoming hotly engaged with Confederate troops. After marching for a short while, the order was countermanded and the regiment returned to its old camp on the high ground near the Talley farm. In the late afternoon, the regiment was again ordered into line of battle along the turnpike, and then placed into position supporting 4 guns of Captain Julius Dieckman's 13th NY Independent Light Artillery. The left wing of the regiment, under command of Major Allen Brady, was placed to the rear of the battery along the Orange Turnpike. The right wing, under Colonel Noble and Lt. Colonel Charles Walter, was placed south and west of the Talley house, in the small garden of the residence. The house itself served as Division and Brigade HQ for General Charles Devens and General Nathaniel McLean, respectively.
On this evening of May 1st, Captain Frederick Winkler of the 26th Wisconsin, attached to the staff of Maj. Gen. Carl Schurz of the nearby 3rd Division, wrote that:
"...Our troops are in excellent spirits, and this morning the weather was so fair, all felt so happy and enthusiastic that it may well be said that we had our May Day."
Captain Winkler made mention in the same letter of a "rebel battery" that had fired on them from the woods. Positioned to the front and right of Schurz's Division the evening, the shelling was seen by the soldiers of the 17th, prompting Private Silliman to state that:
"...we had a fine opportunity of wittnesing the performance, though had they known our exact position they might have troubled us some. No fires were allowed at night, so satisfying myself with some raw beef and hard tack, I rolled in...until morning."