Cleaned Out at Sabine Crossroads

After waiting all afternoon to go into action at Sabine Crossroads, Dan Dickinson and the 2nd Massachusetts Light Artillery were quickly overwhelmed once the action began. 

    "At every discharge, terrible gateways were made in their ranks and the shells we plunged into their midst scattered death and destruction far and wide," he wrote. "Their bullets swept the hill upon which we were posted in perfect showers but happily they aimed too low and none on our piece were killed, though two men were mortally wounded and eight of ten cannoneers were wounded. I am one of the lucky two who were not wounded though how I escaped is a miracle and a great wonder to me. One ball went through my pants at the knee, another struck my belt but did not penetrate. We brought our limber forward when there was no longer any hope of support or succor coming to aid us, limbering our gun when the Rebels were only 75 feet or so from our cannon. Five of the six horses attached to the limber were shot dead and the other was badly wounded. We were ordered to retreat and as there was no hope of bringing off our piece, we left going down the hill while the enemy with oaths yelled surrender."

          Dan Dickinson’s account of his batterybeing overrun at the Battle of Sabine Crossroads, written to his father inWaukegan, Illinois, first appeared on page one of the May 21, 1864, edition ofthe Waukegan Weekly Gazette.

 

The 2nd Massachusetts Light Battery under Captain Ormand F. Nims lost all six of its guns, 82 horses, and 24 casualties at Sabine Crossroads. 

Grand Ecore,Louisiana

April 16,1864

My dearfather,

          We have had a great battle. On theafternoon of Thursday April 7th our battery was ordered to the frontas skirmishing was going on. We galloped through the village of Pleasant Hilland again entered the pine woods. We were unable to get into position owing tothe woods being very thick and dense and we were ordered back. We were alldisappointed for since leaving Alexandria our cavalry had been constantlyskirmishing and we had not be able to get into any of it. But little we thoughtthat speedily Nim’s battery would see a hard day…

          On Friday morning the 8thwe started at 6 o’clock. The Rebels made a very obstinate stand at a mill creeksix miles from Pleasant Hill but were driven out before our battery came up. Atthis place, my section (the left) halted while the right and center sectionswent on under the command of Second Lieutenant [Joseph W.] Greenleaf. These sectionsrepulsed a charge of the enemy about 1 o’clock before we came up. Our sectionmarched slowly and easily along, arriving at the position of the rest of ourbattery at about 2:30 in the afternoon. We went into battery and as the timehad come to open action, some threw themselves on the ground and went to sleepwhile other reclined against the pines, passing the time in conversation.

          At 3:30, orders came for us to openthe ball. On our right in the woods we heard heavy skirmishing which slowlyapproached near to us. We directed our piece to the right and our infantryentered the woods on the right. In the short space of 10 minutes, beingoutflanked and driven round to the center, our infantry reappeared right beforeout battery not more than 200 feet from us, followed by an overwhelming forceof drunken, yelling Rebels. They halted before us for a minute, poured aterrible, withering volley into the enemy, then came back towards the artilleryin a crouching run and passed by us, going down the hill and across the fieldas fast as they possibly could.

Captain Ormand F. Nims
2nd Massachusetts Light Artillery

          We fired very fast indeed, and theroar of our pieces would not have ceased 10 seconds before it boomed forthagain. I doubt not but that their generals could say like Marshal Lannes “I couldhear the bones crush in my command like glass in a hailstorm.” Rebel prisonerssince captured say that the taking of our battery proved to be the mostterrible work they ever had and if we had had only a small force of infantry tosupport us that they never could have stood such fire. At every discharge,terrible gateways were made in their ranks and the shells we plunged into theirmidst scattered death and destruction far and wide. They only halted once, asif debating upon the expediency of their plan, and no doubt but those inadvance would have been glad to have fallen back. But they were charging infour deep, long columned lines and those in the rear forced those on who werein the advance.

          Their bullets swept the hill uponwhich we were posted in perfect showers but happily they aimed too low and noneon our piece were killed, though two men were mortally wounded and eight of tencannoneers were wounded. I am one of the lucky two who were not wounded thoughhow I escaped is a miracle and a great wonder to me. One ball went through mypants at the knee, another struck my belt but did not penetrate. We brought ourlimber forward when there was no longer any hope of support or succor coming toaid us, limbering our gun when the Rebels were only 75 feet or so from ourcannon. Five of the six horses attached to the limber were shot dead and theother was badly wounded. We were ordered to retreat and as there was no hope ofbringing off our piece, we left going down the hill while the enemy with oathsyelled surrender.

          I escaped being wounded again bymiracle. There was a man behind who was shot through the brain and nearlystruck me when he fell over. Another on my left was shot through the groin andfell. There was quite a number shot while going down the hill. When I arrivedin the woods on the east, I found the road blocked up with wagons from whichthe mules had been detached filled with infantry and cavalry without officers,officers without men, the utmost confusion reigning on all sides as everyonesought as best he could to save his own life.

          Soldiers, panic-stricken, heedless,and paying not the slightest attention to the prayers of officers to rallyagain. The road was jammed, crammed with a demoralized, crowded mass, woundedmen crawling to the rear to be cared for, General Banks and his staff almostpraying the men to form in line. The enemy was close upon us and the shellsshrieking through the air burst on all sides, adding to the terrible panic.

General Nathaniel P. Banks and wife

          Although this was the first time I hadbeen under fire, yet I felt perfectly cool throughout and did not feel theleast fear and would have been perfectly willing to have gone into action againif I had known that I should be killed. My companions were perfectly cool andwe all endeavored to rally the troops but in vain. I saw three men cut down forrefusing to halt. Three of our pieces were left on the hill and three that werenot so exposed to the enemy’s fire were brought away from the field and gotinto the woods, but the wagon train completely blocked the road and we wereordered to spike the guns and leave them since it was impossible to get themaway.

          The mass retreated in a mannerperfectly terrible and frightful for eight miles. It was nearly dark when webeheld the 19th Corps drawn up before us in a line of battle. It wasthe 13th Corps that retreated so disgracefully and it was the 19thCorps that saved us all from being captured. As the enemy came up, they weremet by a withering volley from the whole corps which lasted for two minutes ormore. The enemy was checked. That day was a reenactment of Bull Run and theenemy captured 22 pieces of artillery. I am not acquainted with the loss on ourside but it must have been heavy in killed and wounded.

          That night our army fell back 18 milesto Pleasant Hill and on Saturday [April 9, 1864] the Rebels got worsted.Western troops fought that day under General Smith who drove the enemy sixmiles. All the artillery had been recaptured except one battery which theRebels will keep out of our way since they have been fighting for it for overtwo years. General Sims, the chief of Rebel artillery in this department, senthis regards to Captain Nims yesterday saying that our battery was the best hehad ever seen and that he should take the best of care of it.

          To use an expression, I am completelycleaned out of everything. My knapsack containing all my clothing and otherindispensables was strapped to the caisson and was left behind. Please give Mr.Lindsay an order to make me some clothes and send them to me and I will sendhim the money the first pay day. I have nothing but one pair of torn, dirty,ragged pants, one shirt, a suit of underclothes, and a torn, dirty blouse, nostockings, no change of clothing, no paper, no money, no postage stamps.

          As for our battery, it is rumored thatwe go to New Orleans to refit and reorganize. I hope so. General Lee was on thetop of the hill during the fight and is, in my opinion, a very brave man. Whenwe were ordered to leave our pieces, I noticed him on his horse perfectlycomposed amid a terrible shower of bullets. Porter Scott conducted himself in avery courageous and gallant manner and is worthy the name of a brave man.

          Goodbye and may God protect andprosper you is the prayer of your affectionate son, D.O. Dickenson, Jr. Don’tforget my clothes.

To learn more about the Red River campaign and the Battle of Sabine Crossroads, please check out the following posts:

Worse Than Madness for Us: The 56th Ohio at Sabine CrossroadsEvery Man for His Own Pork & Beans: The 29th Wisconsin at Mansfield

Cursing Banks and Franklin: With the 77th Illinois at Sabine Crossroads

Source:

Letter fromPrivate Daniel O. Dickinson, Jr., 2nd Massachusetts Light Artillery, WaukeganWeekly Gazette (Illinois), May 21, 1864, pg. 1