History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, by Samuel P. Bates.

1170 EIGHTY-FIRST REGIMENT. 1863
support of artillery, until the morning of the 12th, when it crossed the river
and was posted along the wharf, where it remained twenty-four hours. While
here, thirty boxes of tobacco, which the enemy had sought to destroy by throwing them into the stream, were rescued. On the morning of the 13th, it moved
up Front streetto therailroad bridge, the rightresting near the grist mill. At ten
o'clock it went into action. Moving down Sophia Street, under a heavy artillery
fire directed uponitsflank, it gained the position, close up to the enemy's rifle-pits,
which has been appropriately termed the slaughter pen, but from which it was
quickly forced back to the line, which it held, under a terrific artillery fire,
until ordered from the field. Of the five thousand men comprised in the
division, two thousand fell in the charge. In the Eighty-first, Lieutenant Clinton Swain was among the killed, and Lieutenant Zadoc Aydelott mortally
wounded. Colonel M'Keen, and Captains Conner, Mercer, Munyan, Harkness,
and Wilson were also wounded.
The regiment returned to its quarters, and remained until the 26th of April,
when the brigade moved from camp towards United States Ford. Four
miles out, the Eighty-first Pennsylvania and the Fifth New Hampshire were
detached, and ordered to move in advance, as guard to the column. At each
house on the way, for half a mile on either side, guards were posted, who allowed no persons to leave until the column was across the river. On the 1st
of May, the brigade marched, at double quick, from United States Ford to
Chancellorsville, and out upon the Fredericksburg Road, to a position occupied
by a portion of the Fifth Corps, which it relieved. A part of the brigade,
under Colonel Miles, of the Sixty-first New York, was thrown out upon the
skirmish line, which was gallantly defended when attacked by Lee in his cooperative movement in favor of Jackson. The Eighty-first was engaged
throughout the remainder of the battle, and suffered considerable loss. Colonel M'Keen and Major Harkness were severely wounded. With the army it
returned again to its camp near Falmnouth.
Remaining here until near the close of May it broke up winter quarters and
moved to Stoneman's Switch, near Potomac Creek. On the 6th of June, a
detachment, under command of Colonel M'Keen, was sent out, in light marching order, to the support of the cavalry, across the Rappahannock. At sundown of the 18th, the regiment broke camp and moved to Stafford Court House,
where there was considerable skirmishing. Proceeding through Dumfries to
Sangster's Station, it was re-joined by the detachment, and thence moved to
Thoroughfare Gap. Here it remained four days, engaged in picket duty in
the mountains above the gap. At Haymarket, four miles from the gap, the
enemy attacked the corps train, throwing his shells in rapid rounds. On the
28th, the regiment reached a point on the Monocacy Creek, Maryland, where
it is crossed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. At eight o'clock in the evening, it was sent, with a section of artillery, to guard the bridge on the pike,
and was on duty all night after a fatiguing day's march. On the following
day it marched to Uniontown, a distance of thirty-eight miles, some of the
men barefooted and suffering severely, as they moved rapidly on over the
sharp macadamized way. On the 1st of July, the command was ordered
to move to Gettysburg. At Taneytown, an escort of cavalry was met, bearing
the body of General Reynolds, who had fallen that morning. At evening the
regiment arrived upon the field with the corps, and was posted two miles in
the rear of the town, to cover the communications, where, during the night,