"If I do anything glorious I shall expect you to be proud of
me."
The letters of Lt. Colonel Rufus R. Dawes on the Gettysburg Campaign
Rufus Dawes began his military career in 1861. A twenty-two year old college graduate, Dawes was immediately caught up in the patriotic fervor that swept the north after the firing upon of Fort Sumter, South Carolina. "What seemed to most concern our patriotic and ambitious young men was the fear that some one else would get ahead and crush the rebellion before they got there," Dawes wrote. Gathering support, he and several other young men raised a company of volunteers for state service, to which Dawes was elected captain. Like many other volunteer officers in 1861, Dawes had no formal military training and "worked like a beaver" to get his new company, "The Lemonweir Minute Men", into shape and into state service. The organization was eventually assigned to the 6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry as Company K. Dawes saw extensive service with the regiment at Second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. He rose to the rank of major and lieutenant colonel to replace promoted officers. On July 1st, 1863, Lt. Colonel Dawes led his 6th Wisconsin Infantry of the famous "Iron Brigade" onto the field of Gettysburg.
After the war, Dawes authored Service With The Sixth Wisconsin
Volunteers, a wonderful account of his service with the regiment.
Included were a number of letters written to Miss Mary Gates during the
Gettysburg Campaign which are both factual and enlightening from the Union
perspective. These are a few of those letters.
Bivouac near Centreville, VA
June 15, 1863
"Here we are again on our annual visit to Bull Run. I think, however, we shall miss our annual drubbing. We broke camp at daylight Friday morning, (the twelfth.) We marched that day about twenty miles under a scorching sun and through suffocating clouds of dust. You can hardly imagine what our poor loaded soldiers suffer on these marches. We camped Friday night at Deep Run. We marched at daylight Saturday and camped for the night near Bealton station. We marched Sunday morning and all day Sunday and all night, and until the middle of the afternoon today, when we reached this point, tired, sore, sleepy, hungry, dusty, and dirty as pigs. I have had no wink of sleep for two nights. Our army is in a great hurry for something. I hope we can be allowed to stay here to-morrow, to recruit our energies. The indications are now that we will. Indeed our poor worn out fellows must have some rest. We have had no mail and no papers since leaving camp. I must go to sleep. Our darky boy, William, has got my oil cloth fixed for a shade, and I am going to wrap up in my blanket and lie down on the ground with my haversack for a pillow, and I will have a sounder, sweeter, more refreshing sleep, than if I was in the softest bed. When you pity my deplorable condition, remember my noble boys who have had ten times the toil and have come through without a murmur."
Bivouac near Leesburg, VA
June 18, 1863
"We are still toiling along on our wary way with only such halts or rests
as are absolutely essential to renew the strength of man and beast. We are
hurrying to the rescue of Pennsylvania and Maryland as I never knew the Army
of the Potomac to hurry before. And yet I suspect that we are anathematized
for our slow motions. 'Where is the Army of the Potomac?' is, I presume,
the indignant exclamation of many good people in the land to-day. Our march
yesterday was terribly severe. The sun was like a furnace, and the dust thick
and suffocating. Many a poor fellow marched his last day yesterday. Several
men fell dead on the road. Our boys have all come through so far, accepting
the hardships as a matter of course, and remaining cheerful and obedient
I assure you I feel proud of them.
"One of the greatest hardships is to get no mail. Sometimes a little package
of headquarters letters are brought through. We got the newspapers to-day.
Our brigade newsboy got them through in some way. The head-lines say: 'Rebels
in Pennsylvania' - 'Another battle at Antietam on the tapis.' I hope not.
I never want to fight there again. The flower of our regiment was slaughtered
in that terrible cornfield. I dread the thought of the place. If there is
a battle, watch the papers to see if General John F. Reynolds and General
James S. Wadsworth figure in it. By them you can trace me.
Bivouac on Broad Run, ten miles from Leesburg, VA.
June 19, 1863
"I have pitched my tent tonight in a splendid grove of grand old oaks on the banks of Broad Run. Nothing could be more pleasant or romantic than our situation tonight, but the boom of hostile cannon toward Aldie Gap takes away something from the romance. Our march today was short and well conducted, and our men are washing themselves in the pure waters of Broad Run and so are feeling fresh and more cheerful. It is eight days tonight since we have had a regular mail... It rains through my tent on the paper which causes the spots. The impression was, when we camped this evening, that we would remain here a day or two and I had my camp systematically arranged with reference to regularity and cleanliness."
Bivouac near Broad Run
June 21, 1863
"Our long watched for mail caught us last night. The cannon are sounding
in the direction of Leesburg and there is quite a battle being fought there
this Sabbath morning. Our men seem to have driven the rebels and the firing
seems to have receded. Have had a busy forenoon. Ordnance to inspect, camp
to be put in condition, candidates for the invalid corps to be examined,
and I got twelve letters in the mail. We are in camp again. I suppose we
are waiting for the 'favorable opportunity to fall upon Lee and destroy him.'
Lee, meanwhile, ravages Pennsylvania at his leasure, but there is one thing-
'Washington is safe.'
"Our regiment numbers in the aggregate 595, of whom 535 are present for duty.
We have no sick men and have but one man die of disease with the regiment
in six months, though we have marched several hundred miles. The week's marching
in the dust and heat has been hard on the men. One of our men in company
'I' has become a lunatic from the effect of the heat. The newspapers say
there were a thousand cases of sunstroke in our army. I stand the sun very
well, but it has made me brown as sole leather. We are no longer holiday
soldiers.
"Did you ever eat a hard tack? Get one and eat it if you can for my sake.
There are reports of a chicken of rebel proclivities and Billy has laid a
campaign to capture it. So I hope for better things tomorrow. My boy, Billy,
is a good provider, but this desert is too much for him. Hard tack, ham,
fresh beef and coffee without milk is the ceaseless round of our bill of
fare."
Camp on Broad Run
June 24th, 1863
"General Hooker shows no disposition to press the enemy so long as he confines
his attention to the Pennsylvania Dutchmen and leaves Washington alone. The
prospect is very dark with us just now. But if we open the Mississippi and
I think we will, and can thwart General Lee in his effort to carry the war,
as the rebels say, 'into Africa,' we will have accomplished for this summer
perhaps, all we have any right to expect. Our cause is just and we will get
success as soon as we deserve it.
"I had a chance to do a good thing this morning and it gave me pleasure.
One of our men of Company 'C', a fat cheeked, sleepy boy was sent to me under
guard... to be dealt with for sleeping on his picket post, for which the
penalty is death when in the presence of the enemy, The poor fellow, who...
slept because of a big supper on rebel chicken, was sadly frightened. That
demon, official duty, required that I should prefer charges and send him
to a general court martial for trial. But with a sharp lecture and warning,
I released him from arrest and sent him to his company. His demonstration
of gratitude was quite affecting.
"Our living has improved much within two a day or two. We now get butter,
eggs, milk, mutton, and almost everything but fruit. I do not expect to taste
a strawberry this year. When in camp we live comfortably enough. It is on
the march that we have to suffer. Our provisions and a wedge tent, we carry
on a pack mule. Everything else I carry on my horse. I have a good horse.
She knows the orders on battalion drill almost as well as the men do. She
will follow the column on a night march no matter how dark. This is important
as to lose the road in the night is fatal to a Colonel. He leads astray all
troops behind him."
Bivouac near Middleton, MD.
June 27, 1863
"We left our camp near Guilford station on Broad Run, early on the morning
of the twenty fifth. We marched all night and crossed the Potomac at Edwards
Ferry.. We proceeded via Poolsville and encamped for the night near Barnesville.
We marched next morning at daylight... through deep mud and a drizzling rain
all day and encamped near Jefferson in the valley of Middleton. This morning
we started early and reached this point at two o'clock. Our marches have
been long and toilsome. What do you think of trudging along all day in a
soaking rain, getting as wet as a drowned rat, taking supper on hard tack
and salt pork, and then wrapping up in a wet woolen blanket and lying down
for a sleep, but waked up during the night three or four times to receive
and attend to orders and finally turning out at three o'clock in the morning
to get the regiment ready to march? Well, that is soldiering and it is a
great deal more comfortable soldiering than to march through suffocating
clouds of dust under a hot sun. In the dust men are dogged and silent. In
the rain they are often even hilarious and jolly.
"The campaign has now been fairly inaugurated on Northern soil. General Meredith
and I rode together over our battle ground on South Mountain. The grass has
grown green over the graves of our brave boys who lie buried there. The
inscriptions on the head boards are already scarcely legible and with their
destruction seems to go the last poor chance that the sacrifice these men
made for their country shall be recognized and commemorated."
Bivouac in Pennsylvania on Marsh Creek near Gettysburg
June 30, 1863
"We left South Mountain in great haste on the 28th and marched to Frederick
through a drizzling rain as usual. Next day we moved from Frederick to
Emmitsburg, Md., and today we came here, where we are having a muster for
pay. I don't think I ever before saw at this time of the year such a long
continued, misty, drizzling storm as we have been marching through since
we crossed the Potomac. General Meade as commander of the army was a
surprise.
"Meade lacked the martial bearing and presence of Hooker. few of our men
knew him by sight. We have marched through some beautiful country. It is
refreshing to get out of the barren desert of Virginia into this land of
thrift and plenty. Our reception in Maryland was hardly so enthusiastic as
last summer, but in Pennsylvania, everybody, great and small, is overjoyed
at the coming of our banners. Our regiment had the advance and first crossed
the Pennsylvania line.
"The rebel stealing parties are running away ahead of us and I presume the
whole rebel army is concentrating to give us battle. I am kept full of business
on such hurried marches, scarcely from morning to night getting a moment
I can call my own."
Line of battle on a hill near Gettysburg
July 2nd, 1863, 8 A.M.
God has preserved me unharmed through another desperate bloody battle. Regiment lost lost one hundred and sixty (eight) men killed and wounded. I ordered a charge and we captured a regiment. Major (John A. Blair) commanding the second Mississippi surrendered his sword and regiment to me. There are no communications now with the North but sometime I hope you will get this."
In line of battle before Gettysburg
July 4th, 1863
"I am entirely safe through te first three of these terrible days of the
bloody struggle. The fighting has been the most desperate I ever saw. On
July 1st, our corps was thrown in front, unsupported and almost annihilated.
My regiment was detached from the brigade and we charged upon and captured
the second Mississippi rebel regiment. Their battle flag is now at General
Meade's headquarters...
"The Sixth has lost so far one hundred and sixty men. Since the first day
we have lost only six. O, Mary, it is sad to look now at our shattered band
of devoted men. Only four field officers in the brigade have escaped and
I am one of them. I have no opportunity to say more now or write to any one
else. Tell mother I am safe. God has been kind to me and I think he will
spare me."
In line of battle before Gettysburg
July 4th, 6 P.M.
"What a solemn birthday. (Col. Dawes turned twenty five) My little band,
now only two hundred men, have all been out burying the bloody corpses of
friend and foe. No fighting today. Both armies need rest from the exhaustion
of the desperate struggle. My boys have had nothing to eat since yesterday
morning. No regiment in this army or in any other army in te world ever did
better service than ours. We were detached from te brigade early on the first
day and we operated as an independent command. I saved my men all I could
and we suffered terribly to be sure, but less than any other regiment in
the brigade.
"I went in person taking the captured flag to General Meade, at headquarters
Army of the Potomac. The object... was to obtain, if possible, permission
to send the battle flag to the Governor of Wisconsin to be retained in Wisconsin
as a trophy. In this effort I was unsuccessful. As I passed along from General
Meade's headquarters... carrying the rebel flag loosely folded over my arm,
I took my course over the ground where General Pickett made his charge. Many
wounded Confederate soldiers were still lying on this ground. A badly wounded
Confederate sergeant who had lain upon the ground during the night called
to me in a faint voice: 'You have got our flag!' It was a sergeant of the
second Mississippi regiment. The men of this regiment who had escaped from
the railroad cut on July first, had taken part in the attack. I do not know
whether this sergeant survived his wound. I did all in my power to secure
for him aid and attention."
On the march, July 6th, 2 P.M.
"We have stopped for a few moments near Emmitsburg. I am entirely well. I
telegraphed to mother before yesterday. This has been a terrible ordeal.
Our loss is 30 killed outright, 116 wounded, several of whom have died since,
and 25 missing, all from 340 men taken into battle. My horse was shot from
under me early in the fight, which perhaps saved my life. The experience
of the past few days seem more like a horrible dream than the reality. May
God save me and my men from any more such trials. I could tell a thousand
stories of their heroism: One young man, Corporal James Kelly of company
'B', shot through the breast, came staggering up to me before he fell and
opening his shirt to show the wound, said 'Colonel, won't you write to my
folks that I died a soldier.' Every man of our color guard was shot and several
volunteer color bearers. There was not a man of them but would die before
the honor of the old Sixth should be tarnished."
Colonel Dawes survived the Gettysburg Campaign and led his
6th Wisconsin in the Wilderness Campaign to the fighting around Petersburg,
Virginia, where he was mustered out and sent home at the expiration of his
term of service. Dawes had a bright post-war career in the lumber business,
and then served several terms in the United States House of Representatives.
In 1890, he published his private letters and reports in Service With
The Sixth Wisconsin Volunteers from which these letter are
taken.
http://www.nps.gov/gett/gnmpvtour/dawes.htm
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