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

48 FIFTY-SECOND REGIMENT. 1'862
much sickness prevailed, many being attacked with typhoid fever and small
pox, and several died. Through the kindness and benevolent enthusiasm of
friends, many of the substantial comforts and delicacies of home were afforded
the camp, boxes for the tent, the mess-chest, and the hospital being freely contributed. While in barracks the regiment was called on for a detail of ten
men for duty in the gunboat service on the western waters. Volunteers were
readily found. They never returned to the regiment, most of them having
been killed by the explosion of the steamer Mound City, on which they were
serving, while in action on the White River, in June, 1862. In the organization
of the army for the field, the Fifty-second was assigned to the First Brigade*
of the Third Division of the Fourth Corps, Colonel Davis in command, but subsequently, on reaching the field, Brigadier General Henry M. Naglee.
Impatient of the monotony of the camp, the men hailed with delight the
order to take the field. It came on the 23th of March, and at four o'clock P.
M., at the bugle signal from headquarters, the brigade left camp, and crossing
Long Bridge, marched to Alexandria, where it embarked upon the steamer
Constitution, four thousand two hundred officers and men with their baggage.
Soon after getting under way she grounded, and the One Hundred and Fourth
was transferred to another boat; near Acquia Creek she again grounded, and
remained fast during the night within easy range of the rebel batteries upon the
Virginia shore. She arrived in Hampton Roads on the morning of the 1st ol
April, and the Fifty-second, transferred to a smaller steamer, was landed at
Newport News. During their passage up, the men g;ot their first view of a rebel
flag, and their first experience of being shot at, the batteries on Craney Island
giving them a passing salute. It was a sixty-pounder, and fell splashing in
the water five hundred yards short; but was a good line shot. Remaining in
camp a few days awaiting the arrival of its baggage, the brigade, on the 17th
of April, advanced and took position in front of the enemy's lines at Lee7s
Mills, Smith's Division on the right, and Couch's on the left. By judicious use
of the Warwick River, which flowed in front of their lines, the rebels had made
their works unassailable by direct attack. The main operations of the s:aege
were consequently directed against his fortifications about Yorktown. About
the 1st of May, as the great siege guns were about ready to open, it was discovered that the enemy was falling back. Early on the morning of Sunday, May
4th, the brigade moved from camp and advancing in line of battle soon reached
his deserted works. As the head of the column, the Fifty-second in advance,
wound up under the parapet of the fort, the malignity of rebel hate was made
manifest. General Naglee and staff, and company A, had passed over it, when
a torpedo, which had been sklillfully planted in the way, exploded under company F, instantly killing one man and horribly mutilating six others. For an
instant the men shrank from the line, but in a moment were re-assured and
pressed forward in the pursuit. As the troops emerged from the valley of the
Warwick, upon the high plateau beyond, as far as the eye could reach, were
* Organization of the First Brigade, Brigadier General Henry M. Naglee, Third Division,
Brigadier General Silas Casey, Fourth Corps, Major General E. D. Keyes. Fifty-second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel John C. Dodge, Jr.; One Hundred and Fourth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel V'illiam 1. H. Davis; Fifty-sixth Regiment New
York Volunteers, Colonel Charles H. Van Wyck; Eleventh Regiment Maine Volunteers, Colonel John C. Caldwell; One Hundredth Regiment New York Volunteers, Colonel James M.
Brown.