A Stillness at Appomattox (10 page)

What
the
soldiers
liked
most
of
all
was
the
far-reaching hand
with
which
Grant
hauled
men
out
of
the
safe
dugouts in
Washington
and
brought
them
into
the
army.

The
Washington
fortifications
had
been
manned
for
two years
with
what
were
known
as
heavy
artillery
regiments-oversized
regiments
mustering
around
1,800
men
apiece, trained
both
to
act
as
infantry,
with
muskets,
and
to
man
heavy guns
in
the
forts—and
these
regiments
never
had
any
trouble keeping
their
ranks
filled,
because
men
could
enlist
in
them in
full
confidence
that
they
would
have
to
fight
very
little
and march
not
at
all.
They
led
what
the
Army
of
the
Potomac
considered
an
excessively
soft
life,
with
permanent
barracks,
no trouble
about
rations,
and
every
night
in
bed.

Their
possessions
were
many,
because
infantry
commands leaving
Washington
for
the
front
always
discarded
(or
could be
quietly
despoiled
of)
much
property,
and
so
the
"heavies" had
extra
blankets,
stoves,
civilian-type
bedsteads,
and
good table
equipment.
Their
hospitals
boasted
white
sheets
and pillowcases,
and
some
regiments
even
maintained
regimental libraries.
Certain
regiments
actually
kept
pigs,
feeding
them on
swill
from
the
company
kitchens
and
dining
frequently
on fresh
pork.
One
outfit
of
mechanically
minded
Yankees
set
up a
little
machine
shop,
and
before
inspection
they
would
take their
muskets
in
and
have
the
barrels
turned
in
lathes
to
take on
a
dazzling
gleam
and
polish,
with
machine-driven
buffers to
put
a
glossy
sheen
on
the
stocks.
These
men
had
been
enjoying
a
very
comfortable
war,
and
the
combat
troops
had been
resenting
it
(and
envying
them)
for
a
long
time.

Now,
without
warning,
these
huge
regiments
left
their happy
homes,
marched
down
to
the
Rapidan,
and
began
to pitch
their
shelter
tents
in
the
mud
just
like
everybody
else, and
the
infantry
was
jubilant.
Veterans
would
line
the
roads, whooping
with
delight,
calling
out
all
manner
of
greetings-asking
the
new
regiments
why
they
had
not
brought
their fortifications
along,
referring
to
them
derisively
as
"heavy
infantry,"
inquiring
when
their
guns
would
arrive,
and
offering instruction
about
various
aspects
of
the
soldier's
life.
These heavy
artillery
regiments
were
many
times
as
large
as
the veteran
infantry
outfits—the
colonel
of
the
12th
Massachusetts
was
protesting
just
now
that
his
regiment
could
muster only
207
enlisted
men
for
duty—and
the
veterans
would
make heavy-handed
remarks
on
the
fact;
when
a
new
regiment came
in
they
would
ask
what
division
this
was.
²⁰

Certain
cavalry
commands
met
a
similar
fate,
and
got
just as
much
sympathy.
Some
of
these
had
been
in
camp
at
Washington
for
a
refit,
waiting
with
perfect
resignation
for
the
slow processes
of
government
to
provide
them
with
remounts. These
abruptly
found
themselves
deprived
of
sabers,
of
carbines,
and
of
all
hope
of
new
horses,
given
infantry
muskets instead,
and
sent
down
to
the
Rapidan
on
foot.
A
Connecticut heavy
artillery
regiment,
meeting
such
a
command
of
dismounted
Maryland
cavalry,
asked
incautiously:
"Where
are your
horses?"
A
Marylander
replied
sourly:
"Gone
to
fetch your
heavy
guns."
The
Official
Records
contain
a
plaintive and
quite
useless
protest
by
an
outraged
colonel,
who
recited that
he
led
a
spanking
new
regiment
of
Pennsylvania
cavalry into
Washington
that
spring—1,200
men,
well
mounted,
disciplined,
drilled,
and
equipped—only
to
be
ordered
to
turn
in his
horses
and
weapons,
draw
muskets,
and
consider
his
command
infantry
thenceforward.
²¹

All
of
this
pleased
the
infantry
greatly,
cavalry
in
general not
being
too
popular
with
foot
soldiers,
and
there
was
admiration
for
the
general
who
had
brought
it
all
to
pass.
With this
admiration
came
a
dawning
respect
for
his
power.
Pulling
the
heavy
artillery
and
the
dismounted
cavalry
down
to the
Rapidan
meant
that
Washington
was
being
left
almost
defenseless.
In
earlier
times,
White
House
and
War
Department had
insisted
on
keeping
40,000
men
or
more
within
the
Washington
lines,
even
though
no
enemies
ever
came
within
miles of
them.
If
this
new
general
could
override
that
insistence
he must
have
prodigious
strength.
Apparently
he
could
have things
just
about
the
way
he
wanted
them,
and
the
army would
move
with
greater
power.
At
the
very
least,
it
seemed that
the
country's
strength
was
going
to
be
used.
When
he rode
the
lines,
a
soldier
wrote
that
the
men
would
'look
with awe
at
Grant's
silent
figure."
²²