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112 The Soldier, 1864–65 (2) Trench Fighting, Virginia WITH LITTLE WARNING AND IN SECRECY, IN EARLY AUGUST THE army shipped the 29th Connecticut and other black units from South Carolina to Virginia.1 Much had happened there since Bacon left Maryland in early April. In May Grant had launched his three-pronged spring offensive, with mixed results. Advancing in the Shenandoah Valley, the ineffectual Major General Franz Sigel had met defeat. Moving up from Fortress Monroe with his Army of the James, Benjamin F. Butler proved again his ineptitude and got himself bottled up on the Bermuda Hundred front, losing heavily at Drewry’s Bluff, while his 18th Corps commander had bungled an opportunity to capture Petersburg. Grant himself had crossed the Rappahannock and hammered his way toward Richmond and Petersburg, losing fifty thousand men in just one month. In June and July the armies had settled down to attritional trench warfare with occasional attacks and counterattacks. But on July 30, 1864, Federals exploded four tons of gunpowder beneath a Confederate salient at Petersburg, blasting a big hole in Lee’s lines, opening the way to split Lee’s army, capture Petersburg, and then to trap or destroy the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia, perhaps shortening the war by months. Command failures turned the affair into a bloody fiasco, including the largest massacre of black soldiers during the war when Confederates slew hundreds of them.2 While in South Carolina, the 29th’s officers and men saw Northern newspapers and so knew something of events in Virginia. But they might not have known that the private no-quarter war between Confederate and black soldiers raged in full and merciless fury on the Petersburg-Richmond front. One of the first news reports about this did not appear until mid-August. Then a black correspondent for the Philadelphia Press who covered Butler’s Army of the James reported, “Between the negroes and the enemy it is war to the death. . . . Those here have not the least idea of living after they fall into the hands of the enemy and the rebels act very much as if they entertained similar sentiments with reference to the blacks.”3 On arrival in Virginia, the 29th Connecticut joined Butler’s army where no-quarter tales circulated around the campfires. Soon Bacon made his first elliptical reference to this grim reality. Immediately, however, he denied it, declaring “such is needless fear.”4  [Much of the following letter is missing because the writing has faded so much, making accurate transcription impossible] U.S. Transport Trade Wind, Off Hatteras, Aug. 11, 1864 Dear Father, Probably you do not expect to find a letter postmarked Fortress Monroe from the 29th Connecticut. Such is, however, the case. At day break on Tuesday [August 9] we embarked for Hilton Head for our destination was withheld even from our Brig. Gen’l, so we were able to surmise that it was Md. All day Tuesday was spent in turning over our extra Camp & Garrison equipage & at 6 p.m. we were able fairly to start. Fortress Monroe will probably be reached tomorrow noon & then up the James & report to Butler for the 10th Army Corps. So we are really to be set to work.5 I cannot say that I am sorry for the change, though our work in Virginia will be excessively disagreeable, for the climate of South Carolina was beginning to wear upon us all. Indeed, I was quite astonished upon getting before a large mirror the other day to see how old I looked; the constant care of my large family having made wrinkles in my face, unless they were caused by thinness. Our battalion is divided: on the Trade Wind—Col. Wooster, Cos. F, G. H, I, K; James Green—Maj. Torrance, Cos. E, A, B; Beaufort—Lt. Col. Ward, Cos. C & D and Co. B of the 7th U.S., Capt. [Lewis T.] Weld.6 We are part of a Brigade under Gen’l Birney (who will have a division, it is understood) consisting of the 7th, 8th & 9th U.S. & this Regt. Our going to the 10th Corps is because Maj. Gen’l [David B.] Birney, who commands it, is our Birney’s brother. I hope, then, to overhaul the 7th C. V. some how or other & meet Theodore before he goes North. You may therefore address Capt. E. W. B 29th Connecticut Birney’s Brigade 10th Army Corps7 The sending North of this Regt. was very sudden. It seems the choice lay...

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