97th Pennsylvania Infantry - Wounded at Bermuda Hundred & Medal of Honor

Item CDV-9282

Description

97th Pennsylvania Infantry
Wounded at Bermuda Hundred
Medal of Honor for Action at Fort Lamar, VA (June 15, 1862)
Dewitt C. Lewis
Captain, Major & Lieutenant Colonel
No Backmark
Signed in period ink



Fort Lamar, VA
06/15/62

MUD BATHS FOR FUTURE GOOD HEALTH

ON JUNE 15, 1862, the enemy, having secured the range of
our camps from Fort Lamar, opened on them with shell, making it
quite lively for us. General Benham, then in command of the
Union troops, resolved to make an assault on the fort on the
morning of the 16th, at daybreak. The attack was made by
General Stevens' Division, which was repulsed with a loss of
about 600 men. Our brigade commander, Colonel Robert Williams
of the First Massachusetts Cavalry, was ordered to advance two
of his regiments, the Ninety-seventh Pennsylvania and the Third
New Hampshire, to support the assault.

"It was low tide and we forced our way through a thicket,
or hedge, finding ourselves in a swamp, and under fire from the
fort. But we drove the enemy's advance back to the fort, and
located ourselves along the embankment about 200 yards from the
enemy's works. We were able, at that distance, to effectually
keep them from using their guns on two sides of the works.

"About 10 o'clock A. M., re-enforcements for the enemy
commenced to arrive by way of the Charleston and Savannah
Railroad. Their artillery went into position on the ridge and
rendered our position untenable by enfilading our line. The
order was given to retire, and we commenced falling back
towards the swamp we had crossed at daylight. As soon as we
left the embankment the field artillery and fort opened on us
with canister at about 250 yards' range. When we reached the
swamp the tide was well up and the place was a slimy, oozy mass
of mud, which the "Johnnies" were stirring up with canister and
round shot for all they were worth, and making it unfit to swim
in or to drink. After a severe struggle I landed on the far
side from the enemy, as a matter of choice and necessity,
assisting a number of comrades, whose heads were covered with
mud, when their feet reached the bottom. I suppose they were
dodging the canister. We were very good at that.

"I landed, tired, disgusted, and dreadfully covered with
mud, and was trying to find out where I was located in the mass
of filth, when I heard a faint call that sounded thick and
muddy. Looking back over the ground and water, I saw a head
pop up above the sticky mass about one-third of the way back,
and I felt satisfied that some poor fellow was having trouble
and was in need of prompt assistance. The prospect was not
inviting, with the shot flying about, but there was no time to
think, so I drew off my accoutrements, plunged in and got him
to the shore, both of us thoroughly exhausted, and found him to
be one of my own men."

Colonel Lewis, who writes this account of his adventure at
Fort Lamar, was present at the Mine Explosion at Petersburg,
Va. When the attack was made upon the rebels, after the
explosion, he was directly behind the major of the Forty-eighth
New York, whose head was blown off, the bloody fragments
striking him in the face. Soon after, his bravery and
kindheartedness were again called forth by the misfortune of
one of the men of his company who was wounded on the retreat.
In the face of an awful storm of bullets, Colonel Lewis
returned to the wounded man and carried him off the field to a
place of safety.


Source: Deeds of Valor