Chaplain William L. Hyde of the 112th New York Infantry Autograph Letter Signed on the Battle of Cold Harbor and Death of Col....

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"The battle just then opened on our left. Whang whang went the cannon pouring forth incessant death. Whiz whiz the bullets all about us though we could see no enemy... the roar of artillery, and the terrific volleys of musketry filled the air with tumult."

Chaplain William L. Hyde of the 112th New York Infantry Autograph Letter Signed on the Battle of Cold Harbor and Death of Col. Jerimiah Drake. Twenty-two pages of bifolia, 5" x 8", "Near Cold Harbor Va"; June 11, 1864. Chaplain William H. Hyde of the 112th New York Infantry mustered into service with the regiment on September 11, 1862. While in Virginia in summer 1864, the 112th took part in the Battle of Cold Harbor, a series of brutal and costly assaults that proved devastating to the Union forces. In this exhaustively detailed letter to his wife, Elizabeth, Hyde describes the fighting, his ministrations for the wounded, and the staggering number of casualties, including the death of the beloved Colonel Jeremiah C. Drake. [Punctuation has occasionally been altered in the description for clarity.] It reads, in part:

"Then we learned we were to go forward to Cold Harbor, but alas how little did we know what awaited us. It was a very warm day and the dust ground up by a thousand wheels and the tramps of tens of thousands was very fine and suffocating but we must march through it. About 12 we reached a place called Old Church Tavern... We pushed on very slowly. And soon met the 6th Corps of the famous army of the Potomac... Then on to the front... A line of battle was formed on the edge of [the] woods such as we rode through in Suffolk. The battle just then opened on our left. Whang whang went the cannon pouring forth incessant death. Whiz whiz the bullets all about us though we could see no enemy. Knowing that the engagement had begun & that our boys would soon be in the thickest I went back to where the Hospital was to be established to assist in arrangements for the wounded... I did all I could to help get ready for the wounded, we were only a mile from the scene of conflict & the roar of artillery, and the terrific volleys of musketry filled the air with tumult. Soon the wounded began to come in. those wounded in the arm or hand or slightly in the legs came in with little help. Others were brought in on stretchers. Everybody soon was busy. I dressed myself quite a number of slight wounds & assisted Surgeon Washburn in others. Soon the number began to increase. The 112th men were coming in thick & fast...

The hours spend on. About 9 one said have you seen the Col. [Drake]. No I replied, 'Well hes gone up I guess,' and just then I saw men bringing in a stretcher with the man I had known and loved so much. I almost reeled with faintness, but recovering myself I went up. His eyes were closed but one of the boys said Chaplain this is the Col. He immediately raised his eyes looked me in the face & groaned. They sat his stretcher down. He looked up again & said in a fine voice, Chaplain, 'I must die.' O I hope not I replied. 'This is a mortal wound he said, and asked me to take his watch, his field glass & send them home. Then again he said Chaplain I must die. Give my love to my wife. Tell my friends & tell the world I died a brave man. I die in peace with all my fellow men & I trust in peace with my God'...during the night I asked the Col if he knew me. He was in extreme of prostration, but endeavored to rally to speak to me but could not. I then bending over him repeated the words of Paul thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. His response was loud & clear, 'Amen, Amen.' Soon the surgeon in charge came to me and requested me to superintend the burying of those who had died. I had a detail of men examined the person of each one and found them scattered all over the field, and by nine o'clock they were all buried...

In regards to the battle. After the line of our brigade was formed in the edge of the woods, they moved forward through it... when they came to an open field and just beyond the field was a belt of woods in which the rebs had their skirmishers, the field they had to cross under heavy fire... they did so & down drove the rebs through the woods towards their breastworks which as across another field not so wide. Then they were to charge their words in face of a murderous fire, and in doing this we lost most of our men...at length they gained the works and rushed over them. The Col moving his sword & cheering Maj Colvin of the 169th said he moved to the parapet and fairly danced with exultation as the brave fellows pressed their way on but a fatal bullet soon struck him and he fell."

This letter was published in Jim Quinlan's Armed Only with Faith, a compilation of Chaplain Hyde's correspondence and journals.

Condition: Smoothed folds.

More Information: William Lyman Hyde (1819-1896) was born in Bath, Sagadahoc County, Maine, to Henry and Maria (Hyde) Hyde (third cousin to Henry). After attending public schools in Bath, Hyde taught for three years at a military and classical school in Ellsworth, Maine, before entering a program of theological study at Bangor Seminary, graduating in 1848. The following year, Hyde began a seven-year tenure as a minister at Gardner, Maine, and later was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Dunkirk, New York, for a number of years. On May 4, 1852 he wed Elizabeth Rice, daughter of Warren and Mary Webster of Wiscasset, Maine. Hyde resigned his ministry in 1862 to serve as Chaplain of the 112th New York Infantry, a position he held until the end of the Civil War. The regiment was organized at Jamestown, New York, and mustered in for three years-service on September 11, 1862. They participated in sixteen battles, including Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Chaffin's Farm, Fair Oaks and Darbytown Road, Fort Fisher, and the Carolinas Campaign. The 112th New York Infantry mustered out of service June 13, 1865. After the war, Hyde served as a pastor in Ripley and in Sherman, New York, until 1874, when he became principal of the Ovid (New York) Academy and Union School. In 1884, Hyde moved to Jamestown, New York, where he was associated with the Jamestown Journal, of which his son was an editor. In 1866, Hyde published a book, History of the One Hundred and Twelfth Regiment N.Y. Volunteers which remains the only regimental history concerning the 112th Infantry. Jim Quinlan edited and published a collection of his correspondence and journals in 2015 in Armed Only with Faith.