1st Maine Heavy Artillery

The 1st Maine Heavy Artillery was mustered into service in August of 1862 as the 18th Maine Infantry Regiment under the command of Col. Daniel Chaplin. The unit, made up of men from the Penobscot Valley and points east, was detailed to the defense of Washington, DC manning the large siege guns and building fortifications around the city. In January of 1863 they had a name designation change to the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery. In March of 1864 after incurring heavy casualties though out the Army of the Potomac, Maj. Gen. Grant ordered 5 Regiments of Heavy Artillery reassigned to the field as reinforcements. The 1st Maine Heavies would fight as infantry for the remainder of the war.

The regiment would see their first action near Spotsylvania Court House on May 19th, 1864 where they suffered the highest number of casualties by a Union regiment in a single battle thus far in the war with 524 killed or wounded.

Heading south and crossing the James, Grant decides to make one more attempt at taking the city of Petersburg before Lee can further entrench his reinforcements around the city. Lee had installed a formidable earthworks and breastworks around the city that had repelled repeated assaults by the federals.

The Division commander, Maj. Gen. David Birney was under increasing pressure to attack. So there stood the Maine 1st Heavies before Colquitt's Salient, a fortified high ground position defended by Brig. Gen. Alfred Colquitt's Georgia Brigade.

I want to make a couple points here that will come into play in the decision making of this battle.

1. The regiment was pretty green compared to most of the other regiments in the Brigade and this had led to a lot of fun being poked at the the unit by the veteran troops.

2. Col. Chaplin believed in strict military protocol. He believed an order was an order and it was a matter of duty and honor to obey orders from superior command.

The 1st Maine HA had formed a line along the Prince George Courthouse road when Brigade commander Col. Gershom Motts order to charge came down. To his credit Col. Mott had argued against the action but could not dissuade Gen. Birney. The Prince George Courthouse road was a sunken road so the men had been sheltered from the fire but also had not been able to see the enemy position 350 yards away. The Maine unit had been picked to lead the charge with the flanking veteran units to follow close behind. The veteran units were battle hardened men that knew folly when they saw it. There the Maine men stood, their brass and buttons well shined and uniforms barely soiled from battle. They stood in perfect battle order by battalion and company.

Col. Chaplin relayed the order to charge and over the banks of the sunken road they sprang. When the ranks saw the confederate's terrible works for the first time the line wavered for a moment but soon were urged on by their obedient commander. They immediately fell under a withering volley. The veteran troops quickly retreated to shelter and the 16th Mass, being scheduled to muster out in one month, refused to charge at all. This left the Maine regiment crossing the opened field alone.

The entire affair lasted barely 15 minutes. The entire Georgia Brigade had only one regiment of federals to fire at and the loss was severe. The remainder of the unit retreated back across the field still under fire trying to help their wounded comrades as best they could. They had lost 2/3rd of the regiment in less than 20 minutes, 632 casualties. Most men lost by a single unit in an engagement on either side of the war.

Soon after the surviving members reached safety, Maj. Gen. Birney came riding up to Col. Chaplin and asked, "Colonel, where are your men?" It was reported that Col. Chaplin said "There they are, out on that field where your tried veterans dared not go."

He then handed his sword to the General and said," take it fore I have no need for it now", then sat on the ground and wept like a child.

FOOTNOTES

Where at first this story would appear to be a story of failure, I see it differently. The mens desire to prove themselves to the veterans and the commanders belief in his superiors led to one of the biggest examples of bravery in the war. The fact that they had suffered record breaking loses at Spotsylvania and were willing to risk the same fate again at Petersburg is a point of pride not disgrace.

Col. Chaplin would lose his life later in the war from a sharpshooter's bullet while on a scouting mission. It has been said by many close to him that he took unnecessary chances with his life not seeming to care after the tremendous losses that had occurred under his command.

There is a great monument to the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery at Petersburg National Military Park. If you ever visit it is worth the walk to the monument and around Colquitt's Salient. It is right behind Ft. Stedman.