Lt. Col. Stewart Lyndon Woodford, of the 127th
The next morning (Saturday) at 8 a.m. the regiment marched for White House. The roads were still heavy with mud and marching was very tedious. The ground at White House has a beautiful flat two miles long, lying about thirty feet above the level of the river, where boats were passing up and down within fifty feet of the bank. This plantation was the property of the Widow Custis when Washington married her, and it was here that the first three months of their married life was spent. The house had been destroyed, but the ruins, including the large chimney, were plainly visible.
At sunset the steamer John Brooks passed up the river loaded with troops; also a schooner which brought up a locomotive and freight cars. On the next day we had a regimental inspection, followed by a storm in the afternoon; seven transports with troops arrived, among whom were the 13th Indiana that was camped alongside our regiment at Suffolk; our men cooked supper for them, and their officers were entertained by ours. Troops continued arriving all day. Rain had fallen every day from the 24th, when the regiment left the Six Mile Ordinary. The confederate Adjutant General Cooper advised General Lee that the concentration of 20,000 to 30,000 Federal troops on the Peninsula, either for the purpose of assaulting Richmond or interrupting Lee's communication, rendered it impracticable to carry out General Lee's wish to have an auxiliary force concentrated at Culpeper, Virginia.
On the 29th a conference of Generals Dix, Keyes, Terry, Getty, Gordon, Harlan and Foster was held, at which Colonel Spear of the 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry reported that in his raid he had destroyed the Fredericksburg and Richmond Railroad Bridge over the South Anna and had captured General Fitz-Hugh Lee and one hundred prisoners; he also reported that the available force protecting Richmond was from twelve to fourteen thousand men. It was then decided that the Richmond fortifications could not be successfully attacked with our force of 20,510 men, and it was decided to request General Halleck to transfer the troops to General Meade's army.
On June 30th it was still raining, and troops were still arriving; the regiment was mustered for pay and the lost shoulder scales were charged to the men. On July 1st General Getty with 10,000 troops started to seize and destroy the railroad bridges over the North and South Anna Rivers, while General Keyes with about 6,000 men was to cause a diversion in his favor by vigorously attacking the enemy at Bottoms Bridge, with orders to maintain his position two or three days; while General Gordon, reinforced by Spinola's Brigade, was ordered to Tunstall’s Station as a reserve for both columns. The 127th were kept on guard at White House with pickets well thrown out, all the troops but our brigade having marched with these two expeditions. July 2d was very hot; at 4 p. m. firing was heard from the direction of Bottoms Bridge and continued for half an hour and at intervals during the evening and through the night there was both heavy musketry and cannon firing.
General Keyes, who had been ordered to vigorously attack the enemy at Bottoms Bridge and to hold his position for two or three days, made the attack, but afterwards fell back, and the Confederate General Hill reported to the Richmond War Office that the Yankees had been driven back toward White House, and offered to send up Cooke's Brigade, 2,751 strong, to reinforce the troops defending the bridges over the Annas. It was therefore evident that General Keyes' attack was of little value as a diversion in favor of General Getty.
On July 3d the men of our regiment on picket were relieved at 3 a.m. and were ordered to pack up and be ready to move; wagons were loaded and horses kept harnessed, and it was rumored that we were going to Baltimore or Washington; but after waiting all day marching orders were countermanded.
July 4th, which was another very hot day, was observed by firing a national salute at noon, while the sound of distant guns indicated that General Getty was attacking the bridges over the Annas. Troops in camp kept pretty quiet during the day, but at night we were allowed to build a large fire and addresses were made by General Gordon, Colonel Gurney and Lieutenant Colonel Woodford. General Gordon read a dispatch from General Halleck announcing General Meade's victory over Lee at Gettysburg, and our drum corps played patriotic airs.
-The History of the 127th New York Volunteers, "Monitors," in the War for the Preservation of the Union -- September 8th, 1862, June 30th, 1865
by McGrath, Franklin, ed
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