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

250 FIFTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT. 1862
by this time driven some of our troops from the woods, and were coming upon
us, yelling, as they advanced, like savages. Our men soon got into position
in a ditch, but we could not return his fire for fear of shooting our own men.
As soon as our front was cleared, we opened with telling effect, and held him
in check for some time. In the midst of the engagement, Colonel Campbell
received several severe wounds, and was borne from the field, the command
devolving on Captain Maxwell, of company F. The regiments on our right
and left had been posted beyond our reach, or had now been driven back, and
seeing that resistance by our regiment alone was useless, Captain Maxwell
gave the order to retreat. As soon as we had cleared Randolph's Battery, which
was posted about ten rods in our rear, Randolph opened on the masses of the
enemy rushing forward, checking their impetuosity, and causing fearful
slaughter."
On the 14th the regiment was employed as provost guard to bring up stragglers, and in the evening in company with the One Hundred and Forty-first
Pennsylvania, was ordered to the extreme front line, where it remained until
the night of the 15th. In the afternoon a truce was sounded, which lasted
for an hour and a half, for the burial of the dead and taking off the wounded.
During this time, the men of the two opposing armies, which but a few hours
before had joined in deadly conflict, were peaceably intermingled upon thebattlefield, each party seeking out its wounded companions, and bearing them away.
The Fifty-seventh brought off not only all of its wounded, but its dead. As
soon as night set in, preparations were made for burying the latter but before
it could be completed, the order to retire was received, and the long line of dead
bodies which the men had labored so industriously to bring together, was left
finally unburied. Upon re-crossing the river, the regiment returned to its old
camp. It went into the engagement with three hundred and sixteen men, and
lost twenty-one killed, seventy-six wounded, and seventy-eight missing. Among
the wounded were Colonel Campbell, Captain Strohecker, and Surgeon Kennedy.
Colonel Campbell had, a few days previous to the battle, received his commission
as Brigadier General, but chose to lead his old regiment once more into action
before leaving it. "As we resumed our old campn says Colonel Perkins, "'on
our return, after the battle, we began, again, the work of recuperation. Our
losses had been very heavy. A striking proof of this, and a sad one, was the
number of vacant huts in each company street."
Captain Peter Sides, of company A, who had been promoted to be Lieutenant Colonel after the discharge of Colonel Woods, assumed command of the
regiment upon the fall of Colonel Campbell. About the 1st of March, the
army, now under Hooker, was re-organized, and the Fifty-seventh was re-assigned to the First Brigade, commanded by Colonel C. H. T. Collis, subsequently
by General Charles K. Graham, which now consisted of the Fifty-seventh, Sixtythird, Sixty-eighth, One Hundred and Fifth, One Hundred and Fourteenth, and
One Hundred and Forty-first Pennsylvania Regiments. General Birney commanded the division, and General Sickles the corps.
On the 28th of April the corps moved on the Chancellorsville campaign,
and after marching down the river to Franklin's crossing, and manoeuvring in
front of it, making feints to cross, it finally on the evening of the 30th, moved
fifteen miles up the river, to United States Ford, where it crossed, and marched
to Chancellorsville. The Fifth, Eleventh, and Twelfth corps were already in
position, and after marching back and forth upon the plank road, at evening,