Here are the excerpts from Cpl. Mark S. Nickersons account of the Civil War, read by Efraim Hermes at the Town of Cornwalls Memorial Day commemoration this past Monday: ...I heard of a Company being formed in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, so I determined to take the [train] cars at Falls Village, 6 miles above West Cornwall for Great Barrington and join the Barrington Company. I didn’t want any of my friends to know anything about it, so in order not to meet anyone I knew who might ask me questions as to where I was going, I went over mountains, through woods and across lots most of the way to Falls Village which place I reached in time to take the noon train for Great Barrington. I soon found the Captain of the Company, who informed me that his Company was already full; but that he could find room for one more. I was under age but gave my age as 21, fearing I would be rejected if I gave my right age—So I was not as good a man as George Washington. I was given a uniform, and when I had put that on I felt that I was just as much of a soldier as any of them. At first we occupied round Sibley Tents and were packed in like Sardines in a box—we slept with our heads to the outside of the Tent and our feet towards the center. If one man wanted to turn over, they must all turn over at the same time. To avoid confusion one man was appointed Captain of the Tent. If he waked up in the night and thought it time to turn over, he would sing out –Attention Company – Turn to the right or turn to the left, and every man was supposed to obey the order. If any man was too sound asleep to hear the order the man next to him would punch him in the ribs until he obeyed the order. [In May of 1862] We had heard that the Rebels had a strong line of Forts and other fortifications at Williamsburg [Virginia], and expected our first Battle would be there. The roads improved as we advanced, and after being well supplied with ammunition and rations, the Order came one night to be ready to march the next morning at daylight. Our Regiment was near the rear of the column when we started on the march, but our Colonel was ambitious for promotion and very anxious to get his Regiment to the front to take part in the Battle which he thought was soon to come. He was continually urging the men forward. We passed Regiment after Regiment and Battery after Battery, being obliged to turn out and go in the side of the Road in order to get to the front. Well along in the afternoon we heard the sound of Battle at the front. We filed out of the road into an open field where we could see the Rebel line of works. Our Colonel was more excited than ever, and led us rapidly across the field to where the fighting was going on, and were in time to see Hancock’s men capture the first Fort in the Rebel line of works by assault. As night was coming on the fighting for the day ended with the general understanding that the next Fort in the line was to be attacked at day break the next morning. We were awakened next morning some time before daylight and had orders not to build any fires. After a hurried Breakfast of Hard Tack and Pork, our Regiment marched around through the woods to the rear of the next, for at a point where there was only a narrow clearing between the Fort and the Woods. Here we halted and fixed Bayonets, expecting every moment to be fired on from the Forts. As everything was quiet at the Fort, our Colonel was suspicious that the Rebels had set some trap for us, so he called for 3 or 4 men to volunteer to go forward and investigate. 3 men stepped out of the ranks, and moved forward cautiously, stopping to listen when near the Fort, then they climbed over the breast works and disappeared inside the Fort. In a few minutes they returned with the information that the Rebels had evacuated the Fort during the night. The program was for 2 other Regiments to attack the Fort in front while our Regiment was to attack in the rear, but the Rebels evacuated their whole line of works and were in full retreat towards Richmond. Thus ended the Battle of Williamsburg and our Colonel had to wait a while longer for his promotion. I had a chance to walk over the Battlefield while burial parties were burying the dead. About 30 dead men were thrown into a trench, 2 or 3 woolen blankets were thrown over them, and covered with about 2 feet of dirt. This was my first chance to see what war really meant, and I thought to myself, if this is war I have seen enough of it. ... You may read about war, and hear others tell about it, but in order to know what war really means, you have got to be in it, and walk over a Battlefield after a big Battle and see them burying the dead, then visit a field Hospital where the worst cases of wounded are taken. Then you will begin to realize what war really means.
Posted on: Wed, 28 May 2014 18:28:27 +0000
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