"HOME, SWEET HOME."--ARRIVAL.--FLAG PRESENTATION.
At 9 P. M., 25th, the command was given to "Fall in;" the line was
formed, we marched into the city, and at midnight bid farewell to
Washington, the cars taking us into Baltimore at daylight, where we
waited on the streets all the forenoon for the special train that was
to take us to Philadelphia. We got away from Baltimore at 2 P. M.,
arriving in Philadelphia in the evening. We had been expected, and
were entertained by the citizens with a fine collation at the New
England rooms.
We left that city at 2 A. M., July 27th, arriving in New York soon
after daylight, where the regiment embarked on board steamers Bay
State and State of Maine, for Providence. Each steamer took five
companies, ours being on the State of Maine, on board of which we
were given a nice breakfast. We steamed out of New York at about 11
A. M., July 27th, the transports proceeding slowly to avoid arriving
in Providence at a late hour in the day. At 10.30 P. M. we were off
Beaver Tail light; F Company was called and formed on the hurricane
deck, Captain Tew arranging with the steamer captain to sail through
the inner harbor of Newport. When opposite Fort Greene, a squad of
the Newport Artillery fired a salute, which was answered with
cheering by F Company, and the blowing of the steamer's whistle. Both
steamers proceeded up the bay and anchored, it being the wish to not
land before daylight.
At 6 A. M. Sunday, July 28th, landed, and, escorted by the militia of
the state, marched through the city to Railroad Hall, Exchange Place,
where a substantial breakfast awaited us. After breakfast and
speeches by Bishop Clark and others, the regimental companies
residing outside of Providence were ordered to their homes, to report
again in Providence August 2d.
F Company, escorted by the past members of the Newport Artillery,
Colonel Fludder in command, and the Old Guard, both of which
companies had that morning come from Providence to receive us, left
for Newport on steamer Perry at 11 A. M., arriving at Sayer's Wharf
in Newport, at 1 P. M.
On our arrival we found the wharf and streets of the city through
which we were to pass crowded with people of all ages and both sexes,
as though the whole of Newport had turned out to greet us. Services
were omitted by the churches, all evidently regarding it as a duty
appropriate to the Sabbath to welcome to their homes those who had
gone forth to peril their lives at their country's call. Tears
dropped from many eyes, as those were remembered who had left home
with us, but would never return.
We marched up Thames street, our sick and wounded in carriages,
through Touro street and Bellevue Avenue, to Touro Park, where we
were welcomed in addresses by Mayor Cranston and other city
officials. On invitation of Mr. William Newton, proprietor of the
Atlantic house, we partook of an excellent dinner at that hostelry,
after which a short street parade was made to the armory on Clarke
street, where we were dismissed, with orders to report again on the
2d of August.
On Friday, August 2d, we reported at the armory and proceeded to
Providence; we received our pay and were mustered out of the United
States service, by Colonel Loomis, of the 5th United States Infantry.
In the afternoon a final parade was made by the entire regiment, but
F Company were obliged to leave the line before its conclusion, in
order to take the 5 P. M. boat for home.
A few days after the arrival home of the company, a beautiful set of
flags was received by Mayor Cranston, a gift from Rhode Islanders
residing in California to the color company of the 1st Rhode Island
Regiment, and were accompanied by the following explanatory letter:
San Francisco, Cal., Aug. 30, 1861.
Hon. Wm. H. Cranston, Mayor City Newport:--
_Sir_,--At a meeting of the natives and citizens of Rhode Island
now residents of California, we, the undersigned, were appointed
a committee to forward to your Honor a set of regimental colors
for the First Rhode Island Regiment, to be by you presented to
them in person as a token of our esteem and admiration for the
prompt, noble and efficient response made by them to the
patriotic call of our country to fight for constitutional
liberty, and for the brave, honorable and veteran-like manner in
which they have performed their duties.
Very Respectfully, your obedient servants,
WILLIAM SHERMAN,
E. P. PECKHAM,
JAS. M. OLNEY,
B. H. RANDOLPH,
C. V. S. GIBBS.
On Tuesday, October 29th, 1861, a formal presentation of the flags
to Company F took place on Touro Park. The company were present in
good numbers, and Colonel Burnside was also present by invitation.
Mayor Cranston, after reading the correspondence accompanying the
flags, remarked as follows:
"Company F, accept this offering--our unconquered and
unconquerable national flag--and this State standard, the emblem
of freedom for more than two hundred years--the patriotic and
cheerful gift of Rhode Islanders in the Eden of the Pacific to
you, their brothers in the Eden of the Atlantic. Guard them
sacredly and well--carefully preserve and affectionately cherish
them; if necessary, lay down your lives in their defence against
foreign invasion or domestic insurrection, and your reward will
be the gratitude of honest and loyal men on earth, the
approbation of God, and eternal felicity in that new Paradise
where there will neither be wars nor rumors of wars, and where
the King of Kings and the Prince of Peace will reign supreme
forever."
Colonel Burnside responded. After a few remarks acknowledging the
kindness of the patriotic Californians, he turned to the members of
Company F and addressed them as follows:
"With you, Company F, I leave these colors. For their proper
keeping I need give you no charge. You have been tried and have
indeed been found not wanting. Take them; accept them as a part
of the history of the First Rhode Island Regiment, as a part of
the history of your own gallant state and as an emblem of the
glory of your dearly loved country. Love the one flag and
revere the others. Many dark hours we have already passed
through, and many more are yet to be undergone. But let no man
of us falter as to the success of our glorious cause. In all our
work, however dangerous or arduous, we shall be followed by the
prayers of loved friends at home and of the true and loyal of
all our country, and of the good and true of every land. The
great God above may chasten us in his wisdom, but rest assured
He will never forsake us in His justice. To you, Mr. Mayor, I
render my sincere thanks for your kind words of me. They are
indeed precious to me. The words of commendation which have been
spoken of my conduct by my approving fellow citizens are my
highest reward. And as to Company F, I have no fears but they
will do as they have done before--their whole duty. Better
soldiers never trod the soil of this or any other land. Not a
man of them failed to execute my orders to the letter. Never
soldiers did their duty--their whole duty--more promptly or
gallantly. Take these beautiful flags, Company F, take them and
keep them; you have the well earned right to keep them. Twice
was your own flag stricken down in the field of battle and then
a third man from your ranks seized it and it was borne aloft in
safety from the field though pierced with many bullets.
Then turning to the Mayor, he added:
"And in conclusion allow me to thank you, sir, and all concerned
in this presentation, for this beautiful gift to Rhode Island's
first and gallant regiment.
Company F then made a parade through the city, displaying the flags.
At a meeting held by Company F at the armory of the Artillery
Company, November 5th, 1861, it was voted to place the flags in
charge of three members of Company F, and Corporal Tayer and Privates
DeBlois and Terrell were appointed that committee, with instructions
to place them in the Newport city hall for safe keeping. It was soon
afterwards ascertained that the place allotted to them in the city
hall was damp, and it was decided to remove them to a place where
they would be better preserved, and could be seen at any time. The
place selected was the Artillery Company's armory, where they were
suitably mounted, and will doubtless always remain.
Soon after the muster out of F Company, recruiting commenced at once
for new regiments from Rhode Island, and of 108 officers and men
composing Company F at muster out, 84 re-entered the service either
in the army or navy, many of them occupying positions of rank in both
branches of the service during the war.
CONCLUSION.
Company F, 1st Rhode Island Regiment, is a thing of the past. Thirty
years have come and gone since the enactment of the stirring scenes
in which we participated; but those scenes and incidents still exist
in the minds and memories of the men composing that company. A large
portion of its members have left the city, and many have been carried
to that silent camp where they "sleep their last sleep, have fought
their last battle; no sound can awake them to glory again." But as
each succeeding 17th of April rolls around, the surviving members of
the company meet to talk over the incidents of the long ago, tell
stories of camp and field, and say a word of those who have left us
to return no more; and we shall continue these gatherings at least
once a year, until the last man of Company F shall have been mustered
out to join those who have gone before.