The 7th Maine lads faced a hillside alive with 16,000 Confederates

After capturing Fredericksburg on Sunday, May 3, 1863 and then fighting the bloody and inconclusive Battle of Salem Church later in the day, what else could possibly go wrong for Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick and his VI Corps — and indirectly for the 7th Maine Infantry Regiment?

A whole lot, it seems.

Confusing orders led Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick and his VI Corps to capture Fredericksburg in late morning, May 3, 1863 and then fight the bloody Battle of Salem Church in late afternoon. His road west to Chancellorsville blocked by enemy troops, Sedgwick soon found his troops surrounded on three sides and trapped against the Rappahannock River. (Library of Congress)

Sedgwick learned early on Monday, May 4 that Confederates “15,000 strong” had recaptured Fredericksburg, cutting off VI Corps and leading Robert E. Lee to seek its destruction. Another late-arriving Joe Hooker order informed Sedgwick “that I must look well to the safety of my corps,” with no help coming from the federals within the “contracted … lines at Chancellorsville.”

Forming a perimeter “fronting in three directions” and anchored on the Rappahannock River on May 4, Sedgwick received “subsequent dispatches” telling him “to hold the position until” Tuesday morning.

Early Monday morning, “the enemy showed himself on my left and rear,” said Brig. Gen. Albion P. Howe, commanding the 2nd Division to which the 7th Maine Infantry was assigned.

A 7th Maine officer growled about “the questionable generalship that permitted our whole left flank (VI Corps) to lay exposed all night, without” even a picket line “thrown out to protect it.” The Confederates marched hard along the River Road to grab Banks’ Ford; “we were ordered out at the double quick,” the Mainer said.

The bridges [at Banks’ Ford] were imperiled, and it was a foot race to see which would reach the river first,” he recalled. “We won the heat, and the 6th corps was saved.”

Combat artist sketched this scene at Banks’ Ford on the Rappahannock River supposedly on May 4, 1863. The trapped VI Corps escaped that night across pontoon bridges erected at the ford. (Library of Congress)

His left flank now anchored “on the river, between Fredericksburg and Banks’ Ford” and his right flank on the Orange Plank Road, Howe held a line “some 2 miles in length, with less than 6,000 men …”

Brig. Gen. Albion Howe commanded the 2nd Division to which the 7th Maine Infantry was attached during the Chancellorsville campaign. (Library of Congress)

Prior to Sunday’s assault on Marye’s Heights, the 2nd Division had deployed near Hazel Run outside Fredericksburg. Sedgwick “wished me to assist” the main assault, said Howe, forming “three storming columns” to advance “with the bayonet, upon Cemetery Hill” southwest of the Sunken Road.

Howe’s 2nd Brigade commander, Brig. Gen. Thomas H. Neill, led the first column, comprising the 7th Maine Infantry (Lt. Col. Seldon Connor), the 33rd New York, the 77th New York, “and a portion of” the 21st New Jersey. These regiments, plus the 20th and 49th New Yorks, comprised the 2nd Brigade.

A native Pennsylvanian, Neill had graduated from West Point (’47) and had held various staff positions before taking over the 23rd Pennsylvania in 1861and then becoming a brigadier in mid-April 1863. Born in Fairfield in Kennebec County, Connor had served as a 1st Vermont Infantry private before becoming the 7th Maine’s lieutenant colonel in August 1861.

Cp;/ Seldon Connor commanded the 7th Maine Infantry during the Chancellorsville campaign. The regiment’s role in the May 3-4, 1863 fighting has been overlooked for the most part. (Maine State Archives)

Ordered to attack Cemetery Hill, “off we went at double quick,” advancing “about a mile … under the enemy’s fire, and we got peppered,” recalled the 7th Maine officer. Reaching a ravine beneath the hill, “we catch it worse—but up we rushed” with the other regiments to plant “‘Old Glory’ … on the enemy’s works.”

The 2nd Division had then “moved to assault, on our right, the main works on Marye’s Hill,” Howe said. Advancing in Neill’s column, the 7th Maine had helped capture “the strong covered way leading from the first work” on the heights “to Hazel Run.”

Damaged by enemy fire, all three columns had “gallantly dashed on and carried with the bayonet” three more defensive positions, Howe noted.

With the VI Corps’ perimeter on May 4, Confederates “in force attacked my right center” around 11 a.m., he said. “Neill’s brigade” and Battery F, 5th U.S. Artillery (1st Lt. Leonard Martin) “successfully repulsed” the attack.”

Seen here as a lieutenant colonel, Thomas Hyde of the 7th Maine was a major when he helped lead a crazy charge against thousands of advancing Confederates near the Rappahannock River on May 4, 1863. (MSA)

Neill estimated that “a brigade of rebels” attacked “an earthwork” near the Orange Plank Road. Assisted by the artillery, one 7th Maine company and two 49th New York companies “entirely routed the whole brigade” and “captured 200 prisoners.”

Corp. Charles A. Boston of the 7th Maine captured the 58th Virginia Infantry’s colors, noted Maj. Thomas Hyde, on detached duty from the regiment to Sedgwick’s staff. He was visiting with Connor at approximately 4:45 p.m. “when the rebel yell broke from the woods in front, and the whole hillside” beyond the Union lines “was alive with men” in “three lines, about 16,000 strong.”

Neill ordered, “Forward! 3rd Brigade!” and led his men into the disruptive ravines between him and the Confederates. Positioning himself on the 7th Maine’s right flank (with Connor over on the left), Hyde advanced until higher ground diverted his side of the regiment into one ravine and Connor and the remaining 7th Mainers into another ravine.

Blistering enemy fire devastated the brigade. Connors caught a bullet and survived, Neill and two aides lost their horses to Confederate lead, and “after losing about 1,000 men,” Neill ordered a withdrawal.

Suddenly immersed in Union artillery gunsmoke, Hyde feared catching canister or a cannonball, but escaped unscathed to rejoin Sedgwick and help bring up reinforcements to help “the Vermonters … as firm as a rock” in repulsing the attack.

Why it did not succeed is hard to tell,” Hyde commented.

Sources: Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick, War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (OR), Series 1, Vol. 25, part 1, No. 206, pp. 560-561; Brig. Gen. Albion P. Howe, OR, Series 1, Vol. 25, part 1, 226, pp. 599-600; Brig. Gen. Thomas H. Neill, OR, Series 1, Vol. 25, part 1, No. 230, pp.609-610; Thomas W. Hyde, Following the Greek Cross; Or, Memories of the Sixth Army Corps, originally printed 1894; University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, S.C., 2005, pp. 130-132; Maine Regiments at Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg, Maine Farmer, Thursday, May 28, 1863


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Brian Swartz can be reached at visionsofmaine@tds.net. He enjoys hearing from Civil War buffs interested in Maine’s involvement in the war.

Brian Swartz

About Brian Swartz

Welcome to "Maine at War," the blog about the roles played by Maine and her sons and daughters in the Civil War. I am a Civil War buff and a newspaper editor recently retired from the Bangor Daily News. Maine sent hero upon hero — soldiers, nurses, sailors, chaplains, physicians — south to preserve their country in the 1860s. “Maine at War” introduces these heroes and heroines, who, for the most part, upheld the state's honor during that terrible conflict. We tour the battlefields where they fought, and we learn about the Civil War by focusing on Maine’s involvement with it. Be prepared: As I discover to this very day, the facts taught in American classrooms don’t always jibe with Civil War reality. I can be reached at visionsofmaine@tds.net.