OR XLII P1 #326: Report of Major Joseph C. Brooks, 9th VT, Sept 29-Oct 7, 1864

No. 326. Report of Major Joseph C. Brooks, Ninth Vermont Infantry, Second Brigade, of operations September 29-October 7.¹

HEADQUARTERS NINTH VERMONT VOLUNTEERS,
Chaffin’s Farm, Va,. October 8, 1864.*

SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith a complete list of casualties* in the Ninth Regiment Vermont Volunteer Infantry, since the advance of the Eighteenth Army Corps to the north side of James River, on the 29th ultimo.

I wish to take this opportunity to express my entire satisfaction with the conduct of the officers and men of this regiment. Notwithstanding many of the men were raw recruits, they all behaved with the greatest courage and gallantry. We left our old camp near Point of Rocks about 1 a.m. September 29, and crossed the James River at Aiken’s Landing about daybreak. We then advanced about four miles to Chaffin’s farm, when our brigade (Eighth Maine and Ninth Vermont) was ordered to charge one of the enemy’s works. The Eighth Maine got entangled in a swamp, leaving the Ninth to accomplish the work unaided. We charged over a half mile, over very uneven ground,

—————

*Embodied in return of casualties, p. 135.

—————

covered with fallen timber and a thick growth of underbrush; but the line advanced steadily and carried the work in good style, capturing 2 pieces of artillery and about 50 prisoners, among them a lieutenant-colonel and major. We also drove the enemy from a line of rifle-pits connecting the captured fort with other forts. The regiment was under fire during the entire day, and not a man but stood up to his work manfully. Vermonters have been tried on many fields and have never been found wanting, and you can rest assured the Ninth will prove itself worthy of being numbered among the gallant representatives of our noble little State. We yesterday received twenty-three more recruits, which gives us an aggregate number of 1,150 men.

While writing the above I learn unofficially that Second Lieutenant Calvin M. Jenkins died of his wounds while on his way to Fort Monroe.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. C. BROOKS,
Major, Commanding Ninth Vermont Volunteers.

PETER T. WASHBURN,
Adjutant and Inspector General of Vermont.

Source: