SURRENDER OF NORFOLK - MAY 10, 1862
PAGE 2
GENERAL WOOL’S BODY GUARD.
After the Tenth, comes the well behaved sturdy First Delaware, Colonel Andrews. Now the cavalry is up. Major Wool’s body guard of mounted rifles, known as Major Dodge’s first battalion, the long looked for, have come at last. If we had had these this morning, we might have saved the Tanner’s creek bridge, and would have been at Norfolk now. But alas, it is the heat of the day, and we have eight miles yet before us. The troopers dash ahead of the infantry and protecting their beloved general.
THE ADVANCE REGIMENT – AN INCIDENT.
Now the brave Colonel Weise, of the Twentieth New York, who has done all the hard of the day, insists that his regiment is not weary, and that as they were the first to advance upon land, they have the right to be the first in Norfolk. He makes the request, and it is granted by the commanding general.
“Who is that grotesquely dressed officer in command of the New York Twentieth?” asked Mr. Chase of General Wool.
“It is Lieut. Col Weiss” said the General.
“No, sir,” said Mr. Chase, “It is Colonel Weiss. He has earned the title and shall have it.”
HEAVY REDOUBTS – SUNSTROKE.
Five regiments are now in line, and are moving up the road to Norfolk. It is an old road, a long road, a road that is commanded by redoubts extending for a distance of five miles. The soldiers say they will take it, hot as the weather is, and exhausted though they be by the long march. Two men of the Sixteenth Massachusetts are heard to shriek out, and drop by the roadside. The surgeons gallop up and decide that they are sun-struck. They are carried to a shady spot in the woods, but it is impossible for them to recover. The whole road is strewed with blankets, knapsacks, overcoats, and everything that the troops can spare in order that those who are weak may not be overburdened and may keep up with the advance.
Surrender of Nofolk Continued
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Source of Information
The Press, Philadelphia, PA Newspaper, Tuesday, May 13, 1862.
Image from Harper's Weekly May 24, 1862.