CIVIL WAR CHAPLAIN 15th CT INFANTRY TRENTON NJ BAPTIST CLERGYMAN HISTORY BOOK VF

Description

HERE’S A VERY RARE
1867
ANTIQUARIAN BAPTIST CHURCH HISTORY BOOK TITLED:
“BAPTISTS OF TRENTON, 1787-1867:
AN HISTORICAL DISCOURSE DELIVERED AT THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH,
OCTOBER 6TH, 1867.
By
Civil War Chaplain
of the ‘
hard fighting’
15
th
Connecticut Infantry (1862-1863)
-and-
Important New Jersey Reverend and Author,
DANIEL HENRY MILLER (1825-1867), D.D.,
PASTOR.”
“Published by Request of the Church.
Trenton, N. J.: Printed at the True American Office
1867
.”
About this Item:
A thin 48-page pamphlet providing a detailed history of notable Baptists of Trenton, and local area Baptist Church history.
Condition:
Very Fine, interior unmarked, tight and clean, covers in VF clean condition. Size: 5½” x 8¾”
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Early in September, 1863,
the
Rev. D. Henry Miller
was invited to visit the 1
st
Baptist Church, in view of settling as pastor. When he was invited, he was serving his country as Chaplain in the Union Army, and was located near Portsmouth, Virginia, with the 15
th
Connecticut Infantry, U.S.V..  In October he was on the field. He preached morning and evening in his house, and under "the large tree" near the residence of W. M. Lenox, Esq., in the Sixth Ward, in the afternoon, of his first Sabbath in Trenton. He was invited to become pastor, and entered upon his duties as such on the first of the following December '63.
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BIOGRAPHY OF CIVIL WAR REVEREND, DANIEL HENRY MILLER
REV. D. HENRY MILLER D. D.,
Trenton N.J., Civil War Chaplain and important New Jersey Reverend and Author. Pastor of the First Baptist Church, Trenton, New Jersey.
In 1863 Rev. Miller was Union Army Chaplain with the 15th. Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, and was located near Portsmouth, Virginia. Later that same year he became Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Trenton, N.J.
In 1867 Rev. Miller became Pastor of the Broad Street Baptist Church in Elizabeth, N. J.
He was invited to Trenton, New Jersey to become Pastor of The First Baptist Church
in Trenton, N.J. He later left there to assume the Pastorship of The Broad Street Baptist Church in Elizabeth, N. J.,
Below are several references to Rev. Miller's activities, need research.
REFERENCE about one of Rev. Millers Published works. From ; Annual Report of the State Librarian of New Jersey. John L. Murphy Publishing Company, 1900. The Baptists of Trenton, 1867. An Historical Discourse, delivered at the First Baptist Church [Trenton], October 6th, 1867. By D. Henry Miller, D.D., pastor. Published by request of the Church. Trenton, N. J., 1867 [ This is a Reference for one of Rev. Millers 1867 published Sermons.]
Another REFERENCE about the same published sermon from ; "The Baptists of Trenton 1787 to 1867 A Historical Discourse Delivered at The First Baptist Church October 6, 1867. PRINTED AT THE TRUE AMERICAN OFFICE. Trenton, N.J. 1867.
"Early in September, 1863,. the Rev. D. Henry Miller was invited to visit the church, in view of settling as pastor. When he was invited, he was serving his country as Chaplain in the Union Army, and was located near Portsmouth, Virginia, with the Fifteenth Regiment of Connecticut Volunteers. In October he was on the field. He preached morning and evening in this house, and under "the large tree" near the residence of W. M. Lenox, Esq., in the Sixth Ward, in the afternoon, of his first Sabbath in Trenton. He was invited to become pastor, and entered upon his duties as such on the first of the following December. This much your speaker may be allowed to say, it has been a pleasant though laborious pastorate. It is hardly necessary to add, he does not know of a more pleasant field of labor or kinder people, in all the State of New Jersey. As this is my last Sabbath with you, and this discourse, in its historical value, is to perpetuate the facts and events of the past and 'present, as far as practicable, an extract from the last associational letter, prepared by W. I. Yannest, Esq., and approved by vote of the church, will be here introduced, as valuable to this history and the day, but especially of interest to those who may follow us. The letter says "We have been prospered both spiritually and temporally. The church has been strengthened and the congregation so increased that not an eligible pew is to be obtained in our beautiful church edifice. In view of these facts, our pastor proposed the formation of a new church by a colony from us, as a duty and necessity, and finally made it the turning point of his continuance with us, being willing to remain with the mother church or to go out with the new organization, but absolutely declining to remain as pastor of so large a church when there was such an inviting field...
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CONNECTICUT
FIFTEENTH REGIMENT C. V. INFANTRY.
(Three Years.)
WRITTEN BY COLONEL GEORGE M. WHITE, LATE CAPTAIN OF COMPANY E,
FIFTEENTH CONNECTICUT VOLUNTEERS.
THE Fifteenth Regiment was recruited in New Haven County
in July and August, 1862, and was mustered into United States
service in camp at Oyster Point, New Haven, August 25th.
Under
the organization thus effected, Dexter R. Wright of Meriden
became Colonel, Samuel Tolles of New Haven Lieutenant-Colonel,
and E. Walter Osborn of New Haven Major.
Of these, only Major
Osborn had seen prior service in the civil war, though
Lieutenant-Colonel Tolles had at an earlier period been
identified with the State militia as Captain of the "New Haven
Grays."
On August 28th, without arms, but with a fine stand of
colors presented through Hon. O. H. Platt by the ladies of
Meriden, the regiment left New Haven for Washington, D. C.,
where it arrived on the 30th and went into camp on Arlington
Heights.
It spent its first day and night in this camp without
arms or tents, and in this condition listened to the artillery
of the second battle of Bull Run, only twenty miles away.
The
regiment received its arms and camp equipage next day, and was
at once assigned to the duty of guarding Long Bridge.
Orders were received on September 5th for the regiment to
join the Union forces hurrying into Maryland to repel the
invasion of Lee's army, but they were at once countermanded,
and during that critical period the Fifteenth continued
guarding Long Bridge, a part of the time encamped near the
unfinished Washington monument, but most of the time at "Camp
Chase," on Arlington Heights.
Here it remained until November,
the night duty in the malarial atmosphere and fogs of the
Potomac flats working serious harm to the health of the men.
During November the regiment was encamped at Fairfax
Seminary, Va., guarding an extended picket line, attending
numerous parades and reviews, and suffering fearfully from
malaria contracted while on duty at Long Bridge.
On December
1st the Fifteenth recrossed Long Bridge into Washington and
began its march down the Maryland side of the Potomac.
On
December 6th, having reached a point nearly opposite Aquia
Creek, Va., it crossed the river and bivouacked, without tents
or cooking utensils, in eight inches of snow, on the Virginia
side.
Four days later the Fifteenth was a part of the
"Connecticut Brigade" encamped at Falmouth, Va., opposite
Fredericksburg, amid surroundings which fastened upon the
location the name of "Camp Mud."
The Fifteenth was now in
"Harland's Brigade," made up of the Eighth, Eleventh,
Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Twenty-first Connecticut regiments,
and designated the Third Brigade, First Division, Ninth Army
Corps.
Burnside's attack on Fredericksburg began with heavy
artillery on December 11th, and on the 12th the Fifteenth
crossed with its brigade into the town, and bivouacked in the
streets with the shells from both armies flying or bursting
over head.
On the 13th the regiment saw repeated and desperate
assaults upon the rebel lines repulsed with fearful loss, and
at 6 P. M., with the entire Connecticut Brigade, marched out
and bivouacked for the night within short range of the rebel
guns which had so effectually defended Marye's Heights.
This
was probably the most quiet night the regiment or the brigade
ever passed in bivouac, and never was quietness less expected.
With the dawn of Sunday, December 14th, the brigade filed back
into the main street of Fredericksburg.
The regimental and
company officers were soon called to headquarters, and on their
return the brigade was called into line to await orders for a
grand assault upon the Heights, to be headed by the old Ninth
Corps, with General Burnside personally in command.
During six
hours of suspense the men stood in line fully realizing what
was before them, but the slaughter was averted by the wise
council of corps commanders.
At midnight of next day Harland's Brigade was silently
wending its way over the pontoon bridge, and daylight found it
at its former camp ready for picket duty on the same lines as
before the battle.
The Fifteenth had borne its share of
marching and suspense, but its casualties in this terrible
contest amounted to but two killed and eight wounded.
By being
held in reserve for the final assault, Harland's Brigade had
unwittingly been kept out of active participation in the
bloodiest part of the fight.
From the disaster at Fredericksburg, for nearly two months
the Fifteenth was occupied only by camp duties and the ordinary
alarms, until Feb. 6, 1863, when with the Connecticut Brigade,
it left its camp before Fredericksburg for Newport News, Va.,
where it went into comfortable barracks on February 8th.
After
a pleasant month here it embarked with the brigade for Norfolk,
Va., and on March 14th arrived at Suffolk, where it went into
camp west of the town.
Here Colonel Charles L. Upham assumed
command of the Fifteenth, Colonel Wright having resigned soon
after the battle of Fredericksburg, in consequence of
disability incurred at Long Bridge.
The Post was commanded by General Peck, and he soon had
all the troops shoveling dirt and making gabions in defense of
a place which seemed as destitute of strategical importance as
any in the Southern Confederacy.
But the work went on, despite
grumbling, and by April 10th the reason for it was apparent.
Suffolk was besieged by Longstreet, who, almost as soon as his
presence was known, held the town as in a vise.
From then
until May 3d, when a determined sortie, in which the Fifteenth
participated, disclosed the fact that he was preparing to
retreat, Longstreet was given no rest, and on the 4th he
hurried his main force across the Black Water, leaving many of
his rear guard to fall into our hands.
From the raising of the siege until June 20th the regiment
was very pleasantly quartered in various camps in or near
Suffolk, but on the latter date it took cars for Portsmouth,
and soon after arriving there joined the raid up the Peninsula
organized by General Dix for the purpose of drawing Lee from
Pennsylvania by threatening Richmond.
This raid, leaving White
House Landing, whither it had gone by water on July 1st, was
simply a forced march, in the hottest season of the year, to
the immediate vicinity of the rebel capital, and then back down
the Peninsula to Hampton, Va.; a distance from start to finish
of 120 miles.
On July 4th the Union forces were within twelve miles of
Richmond, but Lee was already fleeing from Gettysburg, and it
was too late to take Richmond by surprise.
Terrible as was the
strain of this march upon the men, it really accomplished
nothing in a military sense, and on July 14th the regiment was
back in its camp at Portsmouth in a most dilapidated and
exhausted condition.
The Fifteenth was occupied with camp and
picket duty at Portsmouth and South Mills from now until
January 21, 1864, when it took steamer for Morehead City, N.
C., arriving January 23d.
It went at once to Newbern, thence
directly to Plymouth, N. C., and back again to Newbern on
February 3d, and on April 18th started for Little Washington,
N. C., where it arrived on the 19th.
On the next day the rebel
general, Hoke, captured Plymouth and its garrison, including
the Sixteenth Connecticut, and on the 27th Hoke's force
appeared in front of Little Washington.
He left without a
serious attack, and on the 29th, in obedience to orders from
the commanding officer at Newbern, who expected an attack,
General Harland dismantled the forts at Little Washington,
burned the government buildings, and embarked the troops for
Newbern with all possible haste.
Arriving in Newbern, the
Fifteenth was assigned to provost duty, and the town was for
several days threatened with siege, but like Little Washington
it was watchfully defended, and the stubborn defense of
Plymouth had given the rebel general, Hoke, little ambition to
assail a town which he could not surprise.
With the Fifteenth on provost duty in Newbern, the time
passed with only ordinary camp duty and occasional raids until
the last of August, when an enemy appeared against which
watchfulness and personal bravery were of no avail.
That enemy
was the yellow fever, and its presence in the Department was
first announced by Surgeon Holcomb of the Fifteenth.
The
Medical Director of the Department was at first inclined to
dispute Dr. Holcomb's assertion, but its truth was soon so
unmistakably manifest that, instead of being ordered in arrest
as an alarmist, Surgeon Holcomb was invited to a consultation
to determine how best to care for the cases actually in hand,
and arrest the spread of the disease.
Surgeon Holcomb was
thoroughly prepared, by previous practical experience, for this
emergency, and he was the only medical officer at Newbern at
that time of whom this could be said.
All other troops save
the Fifteenth were soon moved out of Newbern, and the
abandonment of property by such of the native residents as
could get away, together with the care of the deserted sick
residents who remained, largely increased the duty required of
the Fifteenth as provost guard of the stricken city.
In a
short time, more than half the regiment were down with the
disease.
A little later the muffled drums of the burial
parties were sounding constantly from sunrise till dark.
A few
more days and all burial ceremony was dispensed with, and the
bodies of the victims were hurried under ground in the quickest
manner possible, the burial details often necessarily
consisting of soldiers who were themselves under treatment in
the incipient stage of the disease.
For more than two months,
with all its convalescents on duty, the regiment employed every
known means to extirpate the disease.
The city was fumigated
as effectively as possible by means of huge bonfires,
commissary buildings were burned, and every unsanitary locality
was cleansed, but not until frost came in November was there
any relief.
During this terrible ordeal the Fifteenth lost
over seventy men by death, and as many more disabled by the
fever, while of those remaining for duty there were few who had
not suffered from the disease.
The regiment continued on provost duty at Newbern through
the winter, and received a large number of recruits.
On
December 9th a brigade under Colonel Upham, of which the
Fifteenth formed a part, started on short notice in the
direction of Kinston.
Its object was to surprise Kinston by
fording the Neuse River, destroy the rebel ram lying there, and
by this means to so occupy the attention of the rebels as to
facilitate a movement by General Grant to extend his lines in
the direction of Weldon, N. C.
The brigade was scarcely out of
Newbern before a heavy winter rain came on, ending in snow; but
despite this the crossings at Jackson's Creek were carried and
the force pushed on only to find the river so swollen by the
rains as to render fording impossible.
Rebel re-enforcements
were hurried up from Goldsboro', and Colonel Upham had no
alternative but to retire to Newbern.
Early in February the rapid accumulation of stores at
Newbern indicated that important movements were to be made from
that point.
General Schofield was assigned to the command of
the Department of North Carolina, and his Army Corps, the
Twenty-third, began soon to arrive.
With it came a large
number of recruits from the West to join their regiments with
General Sherman.
Nearly three hundred of these Western
recruits were temporarily assigned to the Fifteenth, and the
regiment thus enlarged was divided into two battalions,
commanded respectively by Lieutenant-Colonel Tolles and Major
Osborn, and incorporated in a provisional brigade, to which was
added the Twenty-seventh Massachusetts Infantry, a section of a
New York battery, and a detachment of cavalry, all under
command of Colonel Upham of the Fifteenth.
The advance
encountered no serious opposition until on the 7th it reached
the rebel entrenched line at South West Creek; and here the
brigade was disposed within short range of the rebel lines to
await further orders and the disposition of the main force
under General Cox.
Skirmishing now became lively, and the
morning of the 8th showed a determined rebel line in Upham's
immediate front, with his nearest support two miles in the
rear.
Desultory fighting continued till afternoon of the 8th,
when suddenly a furious attack from the left, and almost
simultaneously from the rear, showed that the brigade was
surrounded by an immensely superior force.
Hoke with his
entire rebel division had reached the rear by the left, and was
dealing the little brigade an overwhelming blow in the belief
that he was attacking Schofield's entire force.
The two
battalions of the Fifteenth and the Twenty-seventh
Massachusetts fought desperately for an hour, changing front
first to left and then to rear, until, almost in the form of a
hollow square, the doomed brigade was receiving a murderous
fire from all directions.
Not until the rebels broke through
and occupied even the centre of the square did the fighting
cease, and then simply because further fighting was impossible.
There was no surrender--it was simply a capture; and when it
was over the rebel general for the first time realized that he
had been fighting but a small fraction of the Union forces in
his front.
This sacrifice of Upham's brigade was probably not
intended, but had it been deliberately planned, it might
possibly be justified as good tactics.
By means of it the
rebel general lost two days in what he intended to be a
surprise which should hurl back the Union force upon Newbern,
and effectually cripple that river port as a future base of
supply to either Grant or Sherman.
When on the 10th he made a
second attempt, he found the entire Union force ready to
receive him, and was repulsed with a loss which crippled his
own force and left the way open for Schofield to join Sherman
and Terry at Goldsboro'.
The Fifteenth now had a short tour off duty as prisoners
of war, being paroled from Libby Prison March 26th, and was
soon back at Kinston, N. C., on duty as provost guard, where it
remained until June 6, 1865, when it was ordered to Newbern for
muster-out.
All members of the regiment whose terms of service
did not expire prior to September 30, 1865, were transferred by
order of General Schofield to the Seventh Connecticut, and on
June 30th the Fifteenth embarked for New Haven, where it
arrived on July 4th, and was finally mustered out July 12,
1865.
ENGAGEMENTS.
Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. 13, 1862.
Edenton Road, Va., Apr. 24, 1863.
Providence Church Road, Va., May 3, 1863.
Siege of Suffolk, Va., Apr. 12 to May 4, 1863.
Kinston, N. C., Mch. 8, 1865.
Source:
Connecticut: Record of Service of Men during War of Rebellion
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