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

1862 BULL RUN AND FREDERICKSBURG. 493
then moved to Poolsville, Maryland, where it was posted to act as mountain
scouts. Subsequently it re-joined the army near Leesburg, and moved with it
to Warrenton. For his gallantry in this engagement Colonel Hays was commissioned a Brigadier General. Lieutenant Colonel Morgan was promoted to
Colonel, Major Kirkwood to Lieutenant Colonel, and Captain John A. Danks,
of company E, to Major.
On the 12th of December, the regiment under command of Major Danks,
broke camp near Falmouth, and marched to the bank of the Rappahannock,
opposite Fredericksburg, where it bivouacked for the night in a small grove of
pine. On the following day it moved down the stream and halted on a hill
overlooking the field where the Union forces, which had crossed the river, were
engaging the enemy. In the afternoon it passed over, and moved at doublequick under a fire of artillery, in conjunction with the division, now commanded
by General Birney, to the support of the Pennsylvania Reserves, who had
already gained a decided advantage, and had penetrated the enemy's left
centre. Arriving at the front the regiment was formed in line of battle with
the One Hundred and Fourteenth Pennsylvania on the right, and a Michigan
regiment on the left, and advancing in front of the batteries, opened fire on
the advancing foe, checking his advance and soon causing him to retire. The
line halted in an open field about three hundred yards from a wood in front,
where the enemy with his batteries was posted. The rest of the division was
formed in a second and third line of battle in rear. When the firing had ceased
and the smoke cleared away, it was discovered, that a considerable number of
the enemy, as well as our own men, had taken shelter in a ditch midway between the two lines, friend and foe huddling together. Withremarkable daring
Captain Ryan rode forward to their shelter and brought in about twenty of the
enemy prisoners, escaping unscathed. In this position the regiment remained
with occasional infantry firing, and under a constant discharge of artillery from
either side. At night two companies were sent out to the ditch in front, and
brought in the enemy who still remained there, and some of our own men.
The wounded of both armies, exposed to the frosts of a winter night, filled
the air with their agonizing cries. But the enemy was vigilant, and no aid
could be extended to them. At daylight their groans were drowned by the
roar of artillery and the crash of small arms. In the afternoon the dead wereburied under flag of truce, and the wounded cared for. On the morning of the
15th, after having been forty-eight hours upon the front line, the Sixty-third
was relieved, and late at night fell back, with the entire army, across the river.
Captain Fulton was mortally wounded and died a few days after the battle.
Returning to its old camp, the regiment remained in comparative quiet,
until the 20th of January, 1863, when the army again moved under General
Burnside who purposed to proceed up the Rappahannock, cross the river, and
a second time offer battle. For three days the troops endured unparalleled
sufferings from inclement weather, at the end of which the campaign was
abandoned and they returned to camp.
The Chancellorsville campaign, under General Hooker, opened on the 27th
of April. "On the evening of Tuesday, April 28th, says Captain Ryan in
his official report, "the Sixty-third Regiment, under command of Lieutenant
Colonel Kirkwood, moved with the rest of the brigade to a point near the Rappahannock, and some four or five miles below Fredericksburg, bivouacking
for the night in some small pines. On Wednesday, the 29th, the regiment