Civil War Veterans

Charles B. Delanah and Amos H. Herrick couldn’t have known each other before that fateful day on December 14, 1861. Delanah hailed from Utica, New York; Herrick was from Holland, Massachusetts. But on that day in late 1861, war bound them together – and death made the tie eternal, as they both rest in Grace Church Cemetery. 

Delanah, who entered the service that day as a sergeant, and Herrick, a private, both arrived at frostbitten Riding Park in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The regiment settled there for the winter at Camp Arnold, named after Rhode Island’s Lieutenant Governor Samuel G. Arnold. 

Originally named the 1st New England Cavalry, the force was culled from all over the young New England states. But by March 12, 1862, when they broke camp and headed south to join the war, the regiment had been renamed the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry. 

Under Major William Sanford, Delanah and Herrick marched from Pawtucket to Washington, D.C., where the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry was assigned to the Cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, the Union’s most potent fighting force. 

Delanah and Herrick, along with the rest of the brave volunteers, served in the defense of the nation’s capital for about a month. On March 30, the regiment was attached to General John P. Hatch’s Cavalry Brigade of the Fifth Corps. The larger Fifth Corps, commanded by Major General N. P. Banks, was then engaged in fighting in the Shenandoah Valley. A few days later, Gen. Hatch marched the unit to Warrenton Junction, Virginia, and settled into Camp Mud --- the soldiers’ designation for the marshy land. 

On April 16, Delanah and Herrick were part of a small reconnaissance team sent to Rappahannock River and Liberty Church. The next day, four companies of the brigade marched to and occupied Mt. Jackson, recently won by the Union. 

Another month passed there before the brigade, including Delanah and Herrick, joined Brigadier General James Shields’ Division in the Army of the Rappahannock, which was marching to Fredericksburg, Virginia. On May 24, the 1st Regiment, Rhode Island Cavalry was transferred again – this time to Brigadier General John W. Geary’s unit at Thoroughfare Gap. 

Five days later, Geary’s force joined Major General Irvin McDowell’s First Corps as they marched to Front Royal, Virginia, where Confederate General “Stonewall” Jackson had just outmaneuvered the Union forces to score a decisive victory in the Shenandoah Valley campaign. When Delanah and Herrick arrived in Front Royal the next day, they helped rout Confederate forces occupying the town, taking 133 men prisoner. Delanah and Herrick watched 10 of their comrades perish in the skirmish. 

The regiment then joined General John C. Fremont’s force, which was in hot pursuit of Jackson as he stormed up the Shenandoah Valley. Delanah, Herrick, and the men of the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry made stops in Strasburg, Columbia Bridge, Edenburg, Miller’s Bridge, New Market, and Harrisonburg to camp each night as they followed Jackson’s force northward through Virginia. 

Finally, on June 7, they caught up and engaged Brigadier General Richard S. Ewell’s division just outside the village of Cross Keys, Virginia. Union forces outnumbered the Confederates by nearly two to one: 11,500 men against 5,800. Ewell, however, had managed to fortify his position, posting troops on a ridge fronted by several hundred acres of open fields; thick woods lay on either side. The Confederate leader strengthened the center of his line with four batteries of artillery. General “Stonewall” Jackson maneuvered two divisions and a brigade from Louisiana back toward Cross Keys by the next morning and posted them just north of Port Republic in range of support.

That morning, Delanah, Herrick and the rest of the troops of the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry watched a Union force sweep out to the left to attack the Confederate’s right flank. The 18th Alabama Infantry under General Isaac R. Trimble, posted in advance of the main Confederate body on the right flank, withered under Union fire. Union infantry advanced into the rest of Trimble’s brigade, which responded with artillery until the infantry closed in on their position. Trimble’s infantry then unleashed three volleys of fire, repulsing the Union probe. As the North staggered and retreated in confusion, Trimble pushed out from the ridge and went to overrun their artillery position. Trimble advanced a mile into Union ground while the Louisiana brigade advanced from the rear in support. 

Herrick, Delanah and the others traded intermittent fire with the rebels as the entire Union force pulled back to Keezletown Road to lick their wounds. Delanah and Herrick watched 951 men die that day. 

That night, Ewell moved the bulk of his force across the river to reinforce Gen. Jackson’s divisions just outside the Union foothold in Port Republic.

Early the next morning, the remaining Confederate forces crossed the river, burning the North River Bridge behind them. Now the Southern troops had the advantage as 6,000 Confederate soldiers lined up against the 3,500 troops under Union Gen. Erastus Tyler. Tyler’s two brigades were isolated from the bulk of the Union force, and Jackson took straight aim at them, concentrating his army east of the South Fork of the Shenandoah. Jackson launched his attack early on June 9 with a rush across the valley, which was repulsed by superior defensive position. But Jackson countered by sending a column of troops in a sweep to the right, which disrupted the Union position. 

General Tyler attempted to re-establish the line, but was eventually forced to retreat. Meanwhile, Delanah, Herrick and the troops of the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry, fresh from the defeat at Cross Keys, arrived on the wrong side of a burning bridge. Rain poured from the sky as shots ripped through flesh, washing the blood of 1,818 men into the river.

Badly beaten, Union forces ceded upper and middle Shenandoah Valley to Jackson and withdrew to Manassas to reorganize. The men of the 1st R.I. Cavalry reached the infamous northern Virginia town on June 17 and rejoined Gen. Irvin McDowell’s force. At the end of the month, Rhode Island Governor William Sprague visited the troops for encouragement. On July 4, Major Alfred N. Duffie was 

given command of the regiment. 

For the next four weeks, the troops of the 1st R.I. Cavalry underwent drill exercises under the new commander’s supervision.

At the beginning of August, the 1st R.I. Cavalry was assigned to Major General John Pope’s new Army of Virginia, and they marched to Culpeper to join him. Pope assigned his new troops to picket duty at Raccoon Ford, where Delanah and Herrick fired the first shots of the battle at Cedar Mountain on August 9. Seven men from the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry fell in the opening exchanges of that battle, but Sgt. Delanah’s company helped Pope’s Union forces, constituting about 8,000 men, gain an initial advantage over Gen. Jackson’s forces, which were almost 14,000 men strong. 

But, later in the battle, Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill, with approximately 3,000 men, joined Gen. Jackson and led a counterattack at the rail junction at Gordonsville. Each side lost over 1,300 men, but Hill’s counterattack gained the ground and Delanah and Herrick were forced to retreat with the rest of Pope’s forces. 

The Union forces, now on the run from Jackson’s offensive, withdrew to the Rappahannock River.

On August 23, 1862, Confederate General Stuart’s cavalry swept into Pope’s headquarters at Catlett Station in a surprise raid. For three days, the superior Confederate forces, now commanded by Gen. Robert E. Lee himself, harassed the Union troops along the river. Delanah, Herrick, and the men of the 1st R.I. Cavalry skirmished with the rebels. All told, 225 fell in minor exchanges. 

Meanwhile, however, the bulk of the Confederate army marched through Thoroughfare Gap to seize Bristoe Station and destroy Union supplies back at Manassas Junction.

Pope directed the army back to Manassas to engage Jackson’s forces. On August 29, while passing through Groveton, Rhode Island’s men came under fire. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, and the day ended in a stalemate. 

Confederate Gen. James Longstreet arrived later that day and fortified Jackson’s army on the right flank. Pope, unaware of Longstreet’s arrival, renewed his attack on Jackson’s position the next day. In one of the largest battles of the war – Second Bull Run – Confederate artillery shelled Union forces mercilessly, opening a gap for Longstreet’s army of 28,000 men to march right into the heart of the Union force. 

It was the largest simultaneous mass assault of the war and Rhode Island’s cavalry looked on helplessly as the Union left flank disintegrated. 

Pope withdrew all his forces to Bull Run after losing nearly 14,000 men.

Smelling blood, Gen. Jackson took his Confederate forces on a wide flank march in hopes of cutting off the Union retreat. On September 1, just outside Chantilly Plantation, Jackson’s forces caught up with beleaguered Union forces. Riding on the Union army’s flank, the fatigued soldiers of the 1st R.I. Cavalry took the brunt of the initial attack. Delanah and Herrick watched as two men and their horses dropped. The forces engaged briefly and, before the smoke cleared that morning, another 2,100 men were dead. 

Desperate, Pope ordered his forces in full retreat to Washington, D.C., where Gen. George McClellan relieved him of his command.

Earning a much deserved rest, the troops of the 1st R.I. Cavalry were assigned to the Corps of Observation in Poolesville, Maryland, where they rested until October 27. Then the corps set off for Falmouth, Virginia, with Rhode Island’s mounted troops on the flanks performing picket duty the entire march. On October 31, Rhode Island’s contingent absorbed much of the blow from Confederate Gen. Stuart’s surprise cavalry attack. Delanah and Herrick watched as their Captain Lorenzo D. Gove was killed and Lieutenant Joseph F. Andrews and several privates were taken prisoner. But the bulk of the regiment withdrew unscathed and remained at Falmouth to prepare for a particularly harsh winter. 

On December 1, the 1st R.I. Cavalry was assigned to the second brigade of cavalry of the Centre Grand Division. After two days of battle at Fredericksburg, the 1st R.I. Cavalry was dispatched to Dumfries, Virginia to protect the trains from Confederate raiders. Nearly 18,000 men lost their lives at Fredericksburg that week, but again, Delanah and Herrick escaped injury. 

At a dress parade on December 19, the men received much-needed encouragement when Gov. Sprague presented the 1st R.I. Cavalry with a handmade flag from the mothers and wives back in Providence. Delanah, Herrick and the others cheered loudly. They hung on to the thoughtful gift from their loved ones over the harsh winter months. 

On March 1, 1863, 1st R.I. Cavalry commander Col. Duffie’s leadership was rewarded, as he assumed command of the entire first brigade of the first cavalry division. The 1st Massachusetts Cavalry, the 4th New York Cavalry and the 6th Ohio Cavalry now saddled up alongside the troops from Rhode Island. 

Herrick and Delanah participated in what has been called the first cavalry fight of the war at Kelly’s Ford, Virginia on March 17. The regiment charged across the Rappahannock River to attack a fortified Confederate position that day. Col. Duffie, leading the charge across the river, had his horse wounded and fall under him. Meanwhile, Lt. Simeon A. Brown continued the advance with Delanah, Herrick, and 20 other men. Brown’s group drove the Confederate soldiers from their entrenched rifle pits and opened the way for the rest of the brigade to cross the river. In the open fields on the other side of the river, the Union cavalry made three charges, pushing the enemy back each time. 

About 200 men died in the skirmish that day, a full 26 of which came from Col. Duffie’s pioneering brigade. Delanah’s fellow sergeant, Jeremiah Fitzgerald, was one of those who lost his life. But the moral victory scored that day was a big boost to the sagging Union forces. Colonel Duffie, in his official report to Adjutant General Edward Mauran, wrote of his men, “They have fully justified every high hope, every noble impulse with which you sent them, and with which they came to the field of war, to share either its glories or its honorable graves.” 

In April, Duffie’s men accompanied the Corps of 

Observation to Richmond, where they participated in the historic battle of Chancellorsville. Herrick and Delanah again escaped injury, even as they watched 24,000 men die that week. 

On June 9, the regiment fought at the battle of Brandy Station, where it was employed in scouting the flanks and rear. Eight days later, Duffie’s troops marched to Middleburg, where they encountered Maj. Gen. Stuart’s army, which was screening for Lee’s invasion route. The 1st R.I. Cavalry, on scouting duty, was isolated from the bulk of Union forces. They proved easy prey as Stuart launched two full brigades against them. 

Delanah and Herrick were fortunate -- 250 of Rhode Island’s best were slaughtered all around them in only 30 minutes. Finally, both sides withdrew and re-organized, with Union forces holding and barricading Middleburg. Around 5:00 p.m., Duffie dispatched three men to Aldie, Virginia to enlist the aid of Gen. Kilpatrick. 

Meanwhile, Stuart had re-organized his forces and attempted to storm Middleburg’s barricades. Herrick and Delanah helped fend off three successive charges in the next few hours. Duffie, still without aid, withdrew his forces to the other side of Little River under the cover of night. Receiving reports that they were surrounded, Duffie made a bid to take his troops to join Gen. Kilpatrick at Aldie. But while they were en route, Confederate soldiers swarmed the hopelessly outnumbered Rhode Island cavalrymen. 

Somehow, Duffie managed to lead the force through Hopeville Gap, but not before five men were killed, 14 men wounded, and 200 taken prisoner. Private Amos Herrick was among those taken prisoner that day on the road to Aldie. 

Herrick and his fellow prisoners were marched to Richmond, where they were held until their exchange was negotiated over the course of the next several months. 

Meanwhile, Delanah proceeded north with the bulk of Union forces to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. There, he helped lead the remaining men of the 1st R.I. Cavalry in all the cavalry reconnaissance and skirmishes of that famous three-day battle. After the gunpowder smoke lifted, 51,000 men lay dead. Lee’s defeated army had a trail of wounded nearly 14 miles long. 

The 1st R.I. Cavalry split in the weeks following Gettysburg, assigned to various duties such as defending the Union capital in Washington. At the beginning of September, the regiment re-grouped at Warrenton. There, Delanah was rejoined by Herrick, fresh from his Richmond prison. 

The respite was brief, for the troops from Rhode Island were once again in the thick of the war. On September 12, the regiment began a series of battles against the retreating Confederate army across Virginia, stretching from Culpeper Court House, through Rapidan Station, to Pony Mountain. One month later, in a prelude to the skirmish at Auburn and the battle at Bristoe Station, Delanah and Herrick were captured by Confederate forces. At a brief engagement at Sulphur Spring, Virginia, the two men were isolated from the rest of the regiment during a brief firefight and taken prisoner. 

Delanah and Herrick were marched to the Confederate prison in Richmond. For Herrick, this was a return trip. It wouldn’t end as happily, however. Unfortunately, for the young men from Rhode Island’s regiment, the two sides suspended prisoner negotiations. As the number of prisoners mounted, the Confederate forces constructed a new prison officially known as Camp Sumter in Andersonville, Georgia in early 1864. 

It was originally designed to hold 10,000 prisoners. Due to the breakdown in the prisoner exchange program, however, the population soon swelled to 32,000. The prison became infamous through the north for its horrendous conditions. As economic conditions in the South waned as a result of the war, food and materials for additional shelter was scarce. Some of the prisoners, including Delanah and Herrick, lived in crude huts made of scrap wood and tent fragments – or sometimes simply a hole in the ground. 

Like most of the prisoners, the two fought the rain and cold with only the rags of clothing in which they had been captured. Delanah and Herrick were watched by Confederate guards perched in sentry boxes, or “pigeon roosts” as they called them. Anyone who crossed the wooden railing demarcating the prison’s boundaries – known literally as “the deadline” – was shot. 

Finally, on April 19, 1864, Sgt. Delanah, like 13,000 other Union men, died in Andersonville from disease. His remains were sent back to Providence and interred, with all honors, at Grace Church Cemetery in South Providence. 

Meanwhile, Pvt. Herrick managed to survive another seven months until he was released in a prisoner exchange on November 27, 1864 – after 14 months in prison. He rejoined the 1st R.I. Cavalry on January 1, 1865 and participated in Gen. Sheridan’s Raid from Winchester, Virginia up the Shenandoah Valley from February 27 until March 3, including the battle at Waynesboro. 

The Union’s fortune had shifted dramatically in the 14 months Herrick spent in prison. Now, at Waynesboro, he helped rout the last of Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal Early’s Shenandoah Valley army. 

Union forces imprisoned most of the remaining army – 1,500 men – that day. Herrick and the 1st R.I. Cavalry escorted the prisoners back to Winchester, where they remained until March 24, when they marched to Mount Jackson to guard the prisoners of Gen. Lee’s surrendered army. On June 22, the men were relieved from duty in the Shenandoah and moved on to Baltimore, where they were officially mustered out of service on August 3, 1865.

Homesick, Herrick and the 335 remaining men of the regiment left immediately for Providence, arriving home early Saturday morning, August 5. They were greeted by an honorary salute from the Marine Artillery and escorted by Providence Horse Guards to the city’s Washington Hall, where they celebrated with a feast. On August 15, all the men were paid for their duty by Major Hapgood, the Paymaster of the United States of America. 

Amos Herrick lived the rest of his days in peace in Providence until he joined his old comrade in arms, Charles Delanah, in Grace Church Cemetery.