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[Illustration: COLONEL P. STEARNS DAVIS]
THE THIRTY-NINTH REGIMENT MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS
1862-1865
by
ALFRED S. ROE
A Veteran of the Civil War
Regimental Committee on History
John H. Dusseault, Chairman
J. Fred. Leslie, Secretary
Geo. F. Moses, Treasurer
John F. Locke
Wm. P. Brown[A]
Milton F. Roberts
Channing Whittaker[A]
[Illustration]
Published by the
Regimental Veteran Association
Worcester, Massachusetts
1914
Copyright, 1914, by
Thirty-Ninth Regiment
Veteran Association
The Commonwealth Press
Worcester, Mass.
CONTENTS
PREFACE 1
BATTLES IN WHICH THE THIRTY-NINTH BORE A PART 6
IN THE BEGINNING 7
LYNNFIELD 11
COMPANY A 12
COMPANY B. 13
COMPANY C. 14
COMPANY D. 15
COMPANY E. 16
COMPANY G. 17
COMPANY H. 19
COMPANY I. 20
COMPANY K. 22
BOXFORD 24
BOXFORD TO WASHINGTON. 26
POTOMAC CROSSED. 31
ON THE MARCH. 34
PICKET DUTY. 38
STUART'S RAID. 40
MOVING AGAIN 43
OFFUTT'S CROSS ROADS 47
POOLESVILLE 52
1863 56
A RAINY MARCH 65
WASHINGTON. 68
JOINING THE POTOMAC ARMY 80
AT THE FRONT 83
IN VIRGINIA 89
FIRST ARMY CORPS. 94
FIRST ANNIVERSARY. 102
THE RAPIDAN. 106
A BACKWARD MOVE 110
CAMPAIGN OF MANEUVERS. 113
BRANDY STATION 124
MINE RUN 126
TOWARDS WINTER QUARTERS 133
MITCHELL'S STATION 136
1864 137
MASONIC LODGE 145
MITCHELL'S STATION AND THE SCHOOL IN CAMP 146
STILL IN CAMP. 150
THE WILDERNESS 161
THE BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS By Channing Whittaker 172
SPOTTSYLVANIA 178
NORTH ANNA RIVER 204
COLD HARBOR 209
TOWARDS THE JAMES RIVER 215
PETERSBURG 219
1865. 269
IN REBEL PRISONS. 296
CORPORAL F. A. GLINES' DIARY. 299
CORPORAL JOHN E. HORTON'S DIARY. 303
FROM DIARY OF CORPORAL EDWARD H. LEWIS, CO. B. 306
JOHN F. LOCKE'S RECOLLECTIONS. 308
SERGT. MAJOR C. K. CONN 317
J. F. LESLIE'S RUSE 318
CORPORAL CHARLES H. BARNES' STORY. 319
REGIMENTAL VETERAN ASSOCIATION 322
REGIMENTAL ROSTER 330
FIELD AND STAFF COLONELS 333
LIEUTENANT COLONELS 335
MAJORS 336
ADJUTANTS 337
QUARTERMASTER 337
SURGEONS 338
ASSISTANT SURGEONS 338
CHAPLAIN 338
NON-COMMISSIONED STAFF 339
COMPANY A 340
COMPANY B 353
COMPANY C 365
COMPANY D. 378
COMPANY E 389
COMPANY F 401
COMPANY G 414
COMPANY H 425
COMPANY I 436
COMPANY K 449
TABLE OF AGGREGATES. 466
INDEX 467
PREFACE
More than fifty years after the organization of the Thirty-ninth
Regiment and its departure for the seat of war, its printed history
makes its appearance. The long delay has not arisen from any lack of
desire for its preparation, nor on account of want of material. For
many long years it was supposed that the recital was in preparation,
but the comrade to whom the task was intrusted went away into the other
world before its completion, and survivors of the Regiment began to
wonder if their story of long marches, fierce fighting and unspeakable
suffering in Rebel prisons ever would be told. At the annual reunion of
the Veteran Association in 1911 it was voted to proceed with the long
cherished proposition, and a committee was appointed to carry out the
proposal; after two years and a half the survivors of that committee
present this volume to the patient waiters among the living veterans
and to the families and descendants of those who have made the final
crossing.
Readers of the book should bear in mind that it is very far from being
a history of the war, nor does it discuss campaigns and battles in
their entirety; on the contrary every effort has been made to describe
the part borne by the Regiment in said campaigns and engagements.
Long shelves in the large libraries of the country are already laden
with great volumes descriptive of the War of the Rebellion as a whole
and of detached portions thereof; as many more have been written
of eminent individual experience, like the recollections of Grant,
Sherman, Sheridan on the Union side and of Beauregard, Johnston
and Longstreet among the Confederates, but the story of the great
struggle will not be fully told until that of every regiment finds its
way into print. Regimental histories occupy a golden mean between
the comprehensiveness of the general history and the minuteness of
individual records.
Massachusetts veterans can not be too grateful that the Commonwealth in
its wisdom, a number of years ago, offered to assist in the preparation
and publication of regimental histories by the purchase of five hundred
copies of the same, under certain conditions of size and contents. In
this manner and otherwise, more than one-half of the organizations
of the Bay State which participated in the effort to maintain the
Union have been written and it is hoped that the generosity of the
Commonwealth and the courage of the veterans will continue until every
regiment, battery and battalion will have been adequately described.
While those who made the history are rapidly passing over the divide
'twixt life and death, and personal recollections are more difficult to
obtain, yet their stories are not written so much, at this late date,
from word of mouth as from letters, diaries and jottings made at the
time and now are carefully preserved either by the writers or those to
whom they have passed as precious legacies.
A history like this of the Thirty-ninth represents many letters written
to veterans or to their surviving families in the effort to secure for
transcription whatever note the soldier may have made in camp, field
or prison-pen, bearing on the period in which the writer wore the
blue. In several cases, through fear of losing the precious documents,
friends of deceased soldiers have declined to lend them for use; of
course it is too late to secure them for utility in this instance but,
for the sake of other efforts in this direction, let us hope that
those people possessing any written observations on the trying times
of 1861-'65 will freely proffer their employment by those interested
in their permanent preservation. It is a lamentable fact that many
papers prepared under the fire of the enemy or, at least, in that
indefinite region known as the "Front," have disappeared through the
extra diligence of careful housekeepers and the general dislike of "old
things lying 'round."
While many months in the earlier portions of the service of the
Thirty-ninth were devoted to drill and thorough preparation, including
a prolonged stay in the city of Washington, yet the call to the field,
soon after Gettysburg, was so obeyed that before the seal of Appomattox
was set upon the fate of the Confederacy, Colonel Davis' men had proved
beyond any chance for cavil that they were of the same stuff that had
rallied so readily at Concord and Lexington; had bled in the streets
of Baltimore and, on the decks of the Constitution and the Monitor,
had shown the world what was meant by resistance to tyranny. Its first
officer was killed at the front; the third mortally wounded, and the
second so severely injured that his life was long despaired of and
seemingly was saved as by a miracle. At the Weldon R. R., on the 19th
of August, 1864, so completely was the Regiment swept off the field,
through no fault of its own, its organization was nearly lost, and the
deaths in the prisons of the South of these victims exceeded those of
all other Massachusetts Infantry Regiments with a single exception.
In seeking printed data for condensation in this narrative the
committee was rewarded in finding in the Fourth Volume of the Printed
Papers of the Massachusetts Military Historical Society a very
clear and interesting description of the "Operations of the Army of
the Potomac, May 7-11, 1864" by Brevet Brigadier-General Charles
Lawrence Peirson, the universally loved and respected Colonel of the
Thirty-ninth, and from his observations liberal abstracts have been
made for the edification of readers of this history. In the same volume
also are found papers by Captain Charles H. Porter, Companies D and A
of the Regiment, and always so active in the councils of the Veteran
Association, who discusses the "Opening of the Campaign of 1864" and
the "Battle of Cold Harbor," valuable in considering the parts taken
in those incidents by the Regiment in which he served. Access also has
been had to typewritten papers on the part borne by the Fifth Corps in
the last three days of March, '65, and "The Fifth Corps at Five Forks"
also prepared by Captain Porter and which have proved of great utility
in this compilation.
Naturally, the papers of General Peirson and Captain Porter are of a
general character, somewhat removed from the individual, but quite the
reverse is found in the well preserved accounts of company experience
as presented in contributions to the Woburn Journal by Albert P.
Barrett of Co. K, to the Medford Mercury by John S. Beck of "C" and in
the monograph of Lieut. John H. Dusseault of Company E. Unfortunately,
the spirited story, as told by the Woburn scribe, goes no further than
the Mine Run campaign, leaving the reader longing for a continuation
of his glowing recital; Diarist Beck returns his comrades, those who
survived, to their home-town, while the Somerville chronicler, whose
observations are clear and instructive up to the date of his wound and
consequent invalidism is compelled to end his direct comments on that
direful August day of '64 at the Weldon R. R. However, whether general
or specific, extended or condensed, the readers of the history owe much
to the careful annalist of those trying days of the early sixties.
Thanks are due the survivors who by their answers to circular letters
rendered possible the exceedingly full roster, wherein are found the
individual records whence must be drawn in coming years the facts for
those seeking admission to patriotic organizations on the strength of
ancestral service in preserving the Union. It is a source of regret
that data could not be obtained for extending the descriptive list
of every name in the Regiment. Especially are thanks due to General
Peirson for his unflagging interest in the work of preparation and
for his generosity in helping on the undertaking. The committee
representing the Veteran Association is entitled to the thanks of all
concerned for its careful attention to details, for the time given
to rehearsals of the story as it progressed and for its unfailing
willingness and promptness in assisting in every possible manner. At
the same time it is impossible to suppress the regrets that inevitably
rise over the seemingly untimely deaths of comrades Brown and
Whittaker. Possibly no one had been more prominent than the first named
in laying out the work and securing data for the story, but he was
called away in the very midst of the preparation; Comrade Whittaker
entered into the scheme with all the zeal and ardor so characteristic
of his intense nature, and died, as it were, pen in hand, inditing the
story of the terrible opening of The Battle Summer as he remembered it.
Thanks also should be rendered to the Brothers Mentzer and Mitchell
of "A" for anecdotes and incidents; to Geo. V. Shedd and Edward H.
Lewis of "B" for the use of their diaries; to the family of the late
John S. Beck of "C" for the loan of his well preserved diary, and to
M. F. Roberts for other Company C facts; to the widow of Captain C.
H. Porter, "D" and "A," for the use of his scrapbook, manuscripts
and other data; to Lieut. J. H. Dusseault, "E," for his accurate and
interesting account of the Somerville Company; to the family of John
E. Horton for his painstaking diary; and to Ex-mayor Edward Glines,
Somerville, for the use of the carefully kept diary of his brother
Frederick A.; to Lieut. Jas. E. Seaver, secretary of the Old Colony
Historical Society, Taunton, for valuable data concerning Company F,
its officers and men; to Lieut. Chas. H. Chapman and Sergt. J. H.
Prouty, "G," for facts concerning that company; to George Monk, "H,"
for his brother Robert's diary; to Lieut. H. F. Felch, W. H. Garfield
and the Hon. H. C. Mulligan, son of Lieut. Simon Mulligan, for facts
pertaining to Company I; and to the family of A. P. Barrett, "K,"
for the scrapbook having his letters to the Woburn Journal; George
E. Fowle, Abijah Thompson and Capt. E. F. Wyer (Fifth M. V. M.)
for Company K data and incidents; to all those whose journals and
recollections rendered possible the unexcelled accounts of prison
experiences. Finally, all concerned unite in thanks to the ever
efficient and courteous corps of officers and assistants in the office
of the adjutant-general at the State House for favors there extended.
Worcester, December, 1913 ALFRED S. ROE.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] DECEASED
BATTLES IN WHICH THE THIRTY-NINTH BORE A PART
1863
MINE RUN, November 28
1864
WILDERNESS, May 5-7
SPOTTSYLVANIA (Alsop's Farm and Laurel Hill), May 8-18
NORTH ANNA RIVER, May 23
COLD HARBOR, June 1-11
PETERSBURG, June 17-August 17
WELDON R. R., August 18-19
1865
HATCHER'S RUN or DABNEY'S MILLS, February 6
GRAVELLY RUN or WHITE OAK ROAD, March 31
FIVE FORKS, April 1
SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX,
April 9
IN THE BEGINNING
While patriotism never flagged for a moment, and the determination
to maintain the Union at all hazards was still as strong as ever, it
must be confessed that the midsummer military outlook in 1862 was not
altogether inspiring for the Nation. Whatever hopes had been raised
by the success of Burnside in North Carolina, by Grant's campaign in
Tennessee, and through the occupation of New Orleans by the combined
forces of Butler and Farragut, they had been more than offset by the
failure of McClellan's efforts on the peninsula and the unfruitful
outcome of Halleck's movement against Corinth. An army that had
displayed prodigies of valor from Fair Oaks to Malvern Hill, now
catching its breath on the banks of the James River, and an enemy
leisurely departing from the depot which Halleck had thought thoroughly
invested, were bitter morsels for Northern people who had been led to
expect the capture of Richmond and a like fate for the rebel forces
which had fallen back from Shiloh.
The slopes of Malvern were still red with the blood of fallen heroes
when President Lincoln, on the 4th of July, 1862, startled the nation
with a call for three hundred thousand additional troops. The land was
rapidly becoming one vast armed camp; Massachusetts already had sent
nearly or quite fifty thousand men into the army and navy, out of her
population of less than one and a half million people, but before the
year was done, the aggregate was swollen to more than eighty thousand.
Out of the great number called for, the assignment to Massachusetts
was fifteen thousand and, on the seventh of the month, Governor Andrew
formally presented the demand to the people of the Commonwealth.
Hitherto, there had been no regular apportionment, each division of
the state having been ready and anxious to aid in filling whatever
quota might be required. In this case there was a clear statement of
what each city and town, from Abington to Yarmouth would be expected to
do.
Concerning the number called for, the president in a private telegram
to Governor Morgan of New York said, "It was thought safest to mark
high enough. I should not want the half of 300,000 new troops if I
could have them now. If I had 50,000 additional troops here now, I
believe I could substantially close the war in two weeks. But time is
everything; and if I get 50,000 new men in a month I shall have lost
20,000 old ones during the same month, having gained only 30,000 with
the difference between old and new troops still against me. The quicker
you send, the less you will have to send. Time is everything, please
act in view of this." All this time, it must be remembered, Governor
Andrew, in a mild way, was criticising the National Administration for
its failure to liberate the slaves and for not imposing upon them many
of the hardships borne by the regularly enlisted men.
Nor were the needs of the Government satisfied with the demand of July
4th, however large it may have seemed, for, while the entire loyal
North was putting forth every possible effort to secure the required
enlistments there came from Washington, on the 4th of August, another
call for troops, this time also demanding three hundred thousand men,
just as though there were a never-ending source of supply. This call
was accompanied by the possibility of a draft, that most dreaded of
all methods for securing reinforcements, provided the volunteers did
not appear within a certain limited period; the apportionment, 19,080
men, it will be observed was more than a fourth larger than that in
the preceding call, an excess explained on the basis that the total
number, 34,080, bore the same proportion to the 600,000, the sum of the
two calls, that the free population of Massachusetts did to the free
population in the states that had shown themselves loyal to the Union,
and were supporting the Government in the struggle.
A very prominent question in the emergency was just how should the
newly enlisted men be placed; should they be added to regiments already
in the field or should new organizations be made for their reception?
Excellent arguments were offered on both sides; the question had been
discussed from the very moment that battles or disease had begun
making gaps in the ranks. When Mayor Isaac Davis, after the disastrous
engagement of Ball's Bluff, telegraphed to Colonel Charles Devens, of
the Fifteenth Massachusetts Infantry, asking what Worcester could do
for the regiment, the subsequently distinguished officer replied, "Send
us three hundred and ten men to fill our gaps; also a blanket and a
pair of mittens for each of us; that will do for the present." The good
mayor found it much easier to supply the woolen requirements than the
men, who, for certain reasons, were unwilling to enter an old regiment
where promotion would inevitably go to those who had been in the ranks
longest, and soldiering without the possibilities of promotion is dull
business.
Those who have considered carefully the subject of war, its progress
and development, have, in many cases, taken occasion to censure some
of the Northern States, and especially Massachusetts, forgetful of the
fact that local feelings and a confidence in leaders whom the men know
go a long way in imparting confidence to the citizen soldier. Governor
John A. Andrew would have filled the old regiments, rather than form
new ones, and to the newly formed organizations he would have given
experienced officers instead of those elected by the men, but the
latter would not have it so. In this connection that great man is said
to have exclaimed, "Julius Caesar himself couldn't raise a company for
an old regiment as long as there is a shoemaker left to make a captain
of." The town system, so prominent a feature in New England life,
had much to do with the fellow-feeling in companies and when these
different companies, representing as many townships, all belonged
to the same county, seemingly little was left to be desired in the
background of the organization.
The numbering of Massachusetts Infantry organizations had already
mounted to thirty before the call of the President in July, 1862.
Recruiting was very active, notwithstanding the horrors of war, so
graphically set forth in the daily press. Meetings to stimulate
enlistments were held throughout the Commonwealth, becoming a daily
occurrence in the City of Boston, where her historic buildings and
public places resounded with eloquence in behalf of the Union and
its preservation. Points of rendezvous were provided at Pittsfield,
Worcester, Lynnfield, Readville, and other places for regiments, while
Camp Cameron at North Cambridge was reserved for recruits to the
older organizations. Within two months from the issuing of Governor
Andrew's Order Number 26[B], dated July 7th, more than four thousand
men had been enlisted and sent forward to old regiments, nine new
ones had been raised and equipped, and eight of them had been sent
forward to strengthen the hands of the Government. So diligently had
the governor and his assistants labored, the dreaded draft was averted
and, long before the first snowfall, the last of the great demand upon
Massachusetts for the sons whom she had reared for other purposes, had
gone southward, gun in hand, following the flag.
Sometimes regiments were raised by officers commissioned for this
purpose; in other cases companies were raised in cities or large
towns which, when full, were sent forward to the nearest rendezvous
and, when a sufficient number had been thus assembled, the regimental
organization followed. Many towns could not furnish men enough for a
company, so the men went forward in squads or individually and these
recruits either pieced out some company, not quite filled, or were
thrown together to constitute a new company, this being the case with
Company G of the Thirty-ninth, which had no central source like those
of the others. Lynnfield had been designated as the point to which
should be sent all Eastern Massachusetts volunteers for new regiments,
while to North Cambridge, Camp Cameron, were forwarded the men who had
enlisted in old organizations. These two points were to receive the
three years' soldiers from the counties of Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes,
Essex, Middlesex, Nantucket, Norfolk, Plymouth and Suffolk. Already in
Camp Edwin M. Stanton, Lynnfield, usually called Camp Stanton, were the
Thirty-fifth and the Thirty-eighth Regiments in process of formation
and along with the Thirty-ninth in reporting there was the Fortieth;
later came the Forty-first, the last of the three years' regiments
under the July call.
FOOTNOTES:
[B] The order wherein were given the quotas of all the towns in the
Commonwealth and the several conditions of enlistment.
LYNNFIELD
Several of the companies constituting the Thirty-ninth, had left
their respective towns under the belief that they were to join the
Thirty-fifth, but that organization and also the Thirty-eighth were
so far completed, that the numerals "39" became the designation of
the regiment, whose story is progressing here. Lynnfield had been a
rendezvous, already, for the Seventeenth, Nineteenth, Twenty-second and
Twenty-third regiments and, however satisfactory it may have proved for
those bodies, it was clearly inadequate to the demands of the several
thousand men to congregate here during July and August. Placed on a
branch railroad, it was difficult of access and did not have space
for the formation of a regimental line; so rapidly did the volunteers
report, they found only scant comforts in their rendezvous. While only
thirteen miles from Boston and being nearer still to Lynn, the rush of
recruits to the rendezvous sadly tried the resources of the commissary,
and made many a boy wish he were elsewhere. Says one observer, "No
preparation had been made for our reception; finally however, tents
were found for a portion of the company and we passed the first night
in camp in anything but a peaceful frame of mind or body. Quite a
number of the men left camp for home, or found quarters elsewhere.
Rations, too, were conspicuously absent and for a time we depended on
outside sources for our supply." Time, and patience however, relieved
many of these distresses. The companies as they reached camp were known
only by the name of the town whence they came, or that of the officer
who was in command. Their designation by letters of the alphabet came
later. Herewith follows a brief account of the several companies, their
respective beginnings, their organization and time of reporting at Camp
Stanton.
COMPANY A
SOUTH DANVERS, since 1868 PEABODY.
The allotment of this town on account of the call for troops was
seventy-five. An enthusiastic meeting was held July 11, in the Town
Hall, over which B. C. Perkins presided and at which the Rev. Mr.
Barber and others spoke. A committee on resolutions was appointed
consisting of Messrs. F. Poole, Lewis Allen, John D. Poore, Alfred
McKenzie and Dr. George Osborne. A committee of nine members was also
appointed who were to assist or supervise enlistments. On the 21st,
the anniversary of the Battle of Bull Run, a special town meeting was
held at which it was voted to pay one hundred and fifty dollars' bounty
to each volunteer. Speeches were numerous and a committee of forty
citizens was appointed, five for each school district, to co-operate
with that of nine men already in existence. One-fourth of the quota
had been raised in two days. It was voted to borrow twelve thousand
dollars, and a committee was appointed to secure the money on time at
six per cent.; on the 25th, Friday, a great open air meeting was held
in the town square, a platform having been erected in front of the
Warren Bank Building. Isaac Hardy presided and spoke as did others. On
the next day, Saturday, the recruits, accompanied by about one hundred
citizens, under the direction of Roberts S. Daniels, Jr., and having a
brass band, marched from the recruiting station to Lynnfield, distant
several miles away, an exacting experience for raw recruits on a hot
July day. Among those witnessing the departure was one who, fifty years
before, had been a prisoner in Dartmoor. All of these newly enlisted
men supposed that they were going into the Thirty-fifth Regiment. July
31st, an adjourned town-meeting was held in which it was announced that
Eben Sutton, a public spirited citizen, had volunteered to take the
entire loan at five and one half per cent., an act that was greeted
with great applause by all present. Captain, George S. Nelson; first
Lieutenant, Henry W. Moulton; second lieutenant, George H. Wiley; all
of South Danvers.
COMPANY B.
ROXBURY.
Recruiting began early in Roxbury and on the 10th, there was a special
meeting of both branches of the City Government, at which it was voted
to give seventy-five dollars to each recruit in addition to whatever
the General Government might offer. It was also voted to appropriate
thirty thousand dollars for expenses, and the treasurer was directed
to borrow. Roxbury's quota was three hundred and eighty-nine; Saturday
night, to inspirit enlistments, a public meeting was held in Institute
Hall at which Mayor William Gaston (subsequently governor) presided and
numerous and eloquent speeches were made, and the previous action of
the City Government was publicly endorsed. July 17th, the bounty was
raised to one hundred dollars, and on the 19th a brass band concert
was given in front of Institute Hall, with an address by the Hon. John
C. Park. August 7, the Company, numbering sixty-nine men, under the
command of Captain Graham, escorted by the militia of the city, paraded
and all were entertained by Colonel Hodges of the Horse Guards in
Bacon's Hall, where Judge Russell spoke. Sunday, the 10th, the Company
attended service in the first Universalist Church; on the 11th, again
escorted by the Horse Guards, the Company paraded through the principal
streets to Bacon's Hall where speeches were made by several persons,
including Private George F. Moses, of the Company, the latter being
filled to its maximum. It was on the 15th of August that the Company
assembled and through lines of friends and relatives, at a little
before noon, started for Boston, whence it took train for Lynnfield,
arriving at about three o'clock, p. m. Captain, William W. Graham;
first lieutenant, William T. Spear; second lieutenant, Julius M. Swain.
COMPANY C.
MEDFORD.
Medford's popular company, the Lawrence Light Guard, had already
distinguished itself in the Fifth M. V. M., under the first call
for troops, and was enjoying something akin to dignified ease when
the president's call for three hundred thousand men placed new
responsibilities upon all the cities and towns, Medford having to raise
eighty-eight men as her quota. Though the selectmen, acting under the
governor's orders, did their best as recruiting officers, and though
there was an offer of seventy-five dollars' bounty, voted by the town,
and though on the 21st of July the offer was increased to one hundred
dollars, the eligible men did not seem disposed to enlist until, on
the 29th of the month, the selectmen addressed a letter to the Light
Guard, asking its members to step to the front and assist in filling
the requisition. The request was complied with at once and, on the 14th
of August, the company was complete with its complement of one hundred
and one men, including many who had served under the earlier demand.
Mustered in on the 14th, it left Medford for Lynnfield on the 25th of
August under most auspicious circumstances, these including religious
exercises, speeches and the presence of thousands of sympathetic
people. The commissioned officers, all of whom had been out with
Colonel Lawrence, were captain, John Hutchins; first lieutenant, Perry
Coleman; second lieutenant, Isaac F. R. Hosea.
COMPANY D.
QUINCY.
The quota of Quincy was one hundred and five men; and to secure this
number of new soldiers the first meeting was held in the Town Hall,
July 12th; a special one, called by the selectmen, and the crowd was so
great that the hall would not hold it. Chief Justice Bigelow, presided
and spoke, being followed by Josiah Quincy, Jr., John Quincy Adams and
others; it was voted to offer a bounty of seventy-five dollars, and
patriotic resolutions were adopted. At a meeting held July 21st, it was
voted to raise the bounty to one hundred and twenty-five dollars. The
third meeting was held July 29th, with William S. Morton presiding;
addresses were made by Lieut. Colonel Henry Walker of Quincy, Lieut.
Colonel Guiney of the Ninth Regiment, and by one of the recruits,
Charles H. Porter, son of Whitcomb Porter, whose remarks were of a very
enthusiastic character, Captain Spear receiving numerous compliments.
By the 2nd of August, ninety-six men had been secured, the recruiting
being done by a town committee. Monday, the 4th of August, "Good-bye"
was said to the Company; line was formed at the Town Hall under escort
of Niagara Hose Company, Captain Newcomb; an address was given by
Lieut. Colonel Walker, and a collation was served in Lyceum Hall.
Thence by horse cars, accompanied by the firemen and a band, the
soldiers went to and through Boston, and so on by steam to Lynnfield,
reaching that place at about two p. m. There had been one hundred and
twelve enlistments in the company, but some had been rejected. On the
22nd, the town generously voted to pay the recruits one dollar per day
for the time spent in drilling. This same day the company came home on
a furlough, and on the next night, that of Saturday, the men assembled
in the Town Hall and presented Captain Spear with a sword, costing
fifty dollars, and to First Sergeant John Nichols, a sash and belt.
It was a noisily enthusiastic meeting, so much so that very little of
the speaking could be heard. Sunday, the 24th, beheld a part of the
Company at service in the Universalist Church in the morning and, in
the afternoon, Lieutenant McLaughlin, U. S. A., came out from Boston
and mustered the Company into the United States service. Monday, the
25th, the men returned to camp, all save three, who were apprehended as
deserters and sent after their fellows, everyone proving himself a good
soldier afterwards; they were just a trifle dilatory in keeping up.
Captain, Edward A. Spear; first lieutenant, William G. Sheen; second
lieutenant, Charles H. Porter.
COMPANY E.
SOMERVILLE.
For the apportionment of fifteen thousand men to the Commonwealth,
Somerville had to raise ninety-two men and this she succeeded in doing
within the months of July and August. The aggregate bounty paid each
enlisted man was one hundred and twenty-five dollars, one hundred
dollars coming from the town, the remainder from private subscription.
The selectmen, acting as agents, had recommended three men as
commissioned officers of the projected company, and these, all of whom
had seen service in the Somerville Company of the Fifth Regiment, M.
V. M., in its three months' tour of duty, applied themselves diligently
to their task. Camp was pitched on Prospect Hill and the flagstaff,
erected there and then, remained until the digging down of the hill
some fifteen years later; this occupation if possible added to the fame
of the spot on which Israel Putnam had intrenched himself after falling
back from Bunker Hill. The stay on elevated and breezy Prospect was far
from tedious, the nearness of home supplies more than compensating for
any hardships incident to camp duties. Mustered into the U. S. service,
August 12, the Company remained here until September 2nd, when it
proceeded to Boxford, there to join the other companies which were to
constitute the Thirty-ninth Regiment, having had no taste of the stay
in Lynnfield, the rendezvous of the other companies. The Commissioned
officers were captain, Fred R. Kinsley; first lieutenant, Joseph J.
Giles; second lieutenant, Willard C. Kinsley. All of the officers had
been commissioned in the Thirty-eighth Regiment, Captain Kinsley and
Lieutenant Giles, August 14th, and Lieutenant Kinsley, August 8th, but
the assignment of the company to the Thirty-ninth Regiment compelled
the transferal of the officers.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN FREDERICK R. KINSLEY
B'v't Major and Colonel]
COMPANY F.
TAUNTON.
Work for the formation of what was to be Company F did not begin until
the 5th day of August, when a meeting of the sub-committee of the
military committee was held to consider the raising of a new company,
Captain Presbry, one of the selectmen, presiding, with T. Gordon,
secretary. Joseph J. Cooper was authorized to raise a company under
the conditions as stated in a letter of the Adjutant General, dated
July 29, '64, and the general order of the War Department, Number
Seventy-five. The _Taunton Gazette_ comments that the lieutenancies
will be offered to Isaac D. Paul and John D. Reed, both men of
integrity, and "it is believed that the company will be speedily filled
and that it will be one of the most creditable of those provided by
Taunton." The record for the 6th of August was that Captain Cooper had
opened a recruiting office in Templar Hall Building, and had secured
about a dozen names. By the 7th, the total had risen to twenty-four
men; the 8th saw thirty-six names enrolled and, on the 11th, the tide
had risen to forty-seven good and true patriots. The 13th beheld the
citizens assembled in town meeting, wherein it was voted to increase
the bounty to two hundred dollars, thus adding a stimulus which
resulted in filling the company to the maximum. The 18th was a day of
memories for the good old town, since on this date the new company
departed for the rendezvous at Lynnfield. The largest assemblage
of people that the town had seen since the leaving of the Seventh
Regiment, early in the war, was out at seven o'clock in the morning to
witness the going of the new soldiers. They formed on the green, whence
they were escorted by the Light Guard, with music by the Bridgewater
Brass Band, to the railroad station. Followed by the enthusiastic
cheering of the populace, the men were borne away to new scenes and
experiences. Five days later or on the 23rd, the men had a furlough
home for twenty-four hours, returning to camp on the 24th. Of course,
Company F moved with the other companies in the transfer to Boxford,
where on the 3rd of September, a noteworthy incident took place. The
men of Taunton's company were drawn up in front of their tents when
George Childs, Esq., in behalf of Taunton citizens, presented Captain
Cooper and Lieutenants Paul and Reed with elegantly mounted revolvers,
each officer responding in a very happy manner. Captain, Joseph J.
Cooper; first lieutenant, Isaac D. Paul; second lieutenant, John D.
Reed.
COMPANY G.
BOSTON, HINGHAM, SCITUATE AND THE SOUTH SHORE.
From information furnished chiefly by Lieut. J. H. Prouty it seems that
Hingham was about as liberal a contributor to Company G as any single
place, having thirty-seven men in the ranks of "G" and another in "D."
It was the only company in the regiment that started without some local
head or centre. When the call came, Hingham took action at once, and on
the 5th held a town meeting at four o'clock p. m., with Captain John
Stephenson presiding; it was voted to raise five thousand dollars to
aid the families of volunteers as state aid, and a thousand more to be
distributed under the direction of the selectmen. July 11th brought
the people together again, in the evening of Friday, to take action
towards filling the town's quota of fifty-one men; Luther Stephenson
presided and several patriotic addresses were given; it was voted to
pay seventy-five dollars bounty to every man enlisting, a committee
of twelve was appointed to co-operate with the selectmen in securing
enlistments. This committee met on the 15th, organized, heard a deal
of eloquent speaking and voted to recommend to the townspeople that
a bounty of one hundred dollars be paid to every volunteer. The Town
accepted, July 19th, the recommendation of the citizens' committee.
On the same evening, a number of volunteers put down their names. An
adjourned war meeting was held on the 22nd, and a large committee of
ladies was chosen to help forward the filling of the quota. The next
meeting, August 6th, was on the call of the ladies and was largely
attended; August 15th, the town voted to make the bounty for each
volunteer two hundred dollars. The thirty-seven Hingham men who went
into Company G were not all new to service, for two, at least, had
gone out with the Lincoln Light Infantry in the Fourth Regiment in
1861, on the first call for troops. The volunteers expected to go
with the Thirty third Massachusetts; next with the Thirty-fifth, but
finally fetched up with the Thirty-ninth. They had no officers. The
governor commissioned, as captain, Ezra J. Trull, better known as
"Jack" Trull, who had been a corporal in the Thirteenth Massachusetts,
and he was assigned to the command of "G." Though only nineteen years
old, he was one of the best drilled officers in the regiment and his
active, stirring nature kept his company in excellent shape. He was a
Boston man, as was the first lieutenant, C. W. Thompson; the second
lieutenant, C. Henry Chapman, was from Cambridge. First and last, more
than thirty cities and towns contributed to the roll of the company.
COMPANY H.
DORCHESTER.
Early action was taken in Dorchester towards raising the town's quota
of one hundred and thirty-seven men. On the 15th of July, the citizens
convened at the town hall with James H. Upham, moderator, and they
started proceedings by the singing of patriotic songs. It was voted to
pay all recruits one hundred dollars, and to borrow fourteen thousand
dollars for such purpose. The selectmen were empowered to carry out the
expressed will of the meeting and the same board was directed to see to
the securing of enlistments, by the appointment of a "suitable person"
to raise a military company as a part of the town's quota. The Hall had
been plentifully bedecked with flags, some one hundred in number, among
them there being one that had been borne in the Revolution. Besides,
there were curios and relics to excite the curiosity and patriotism of
all beholders, the display being the work of Frederick F. Hassam, who
received the enthusiastic thanks of the meeting for his thoughtfulness
and action. On the 19th there was a great meeting on Meeting House
Hill, with artillery company firing sixty-eight guns and the Hon.
Marshall P. Wilder presiding; of the event the _Boston Journal_ says:
"Shoulder Arms! Forward, March!" The Company left Dorchester Wednesday,
August 13, receiving a parting salute from Captain Harris' Battery; in
Boston there was a short parade with refreshments, 1.30 p. m., at John
Preston's chocolate establishment on State Street. A hearty escort was
given by the selectmen, many citizens, and Fire Engine Company Number
5, and all kept step to music afforded by a brass band. From Boston,
cars on the Boston and Maine Railroad bore the men, one hundred and
thirty-seven in number, to Lynnfield. Captain, Charles N. Hunt; first
lieutenant, Robert Rhodes; second lieutenant, Robert Williams.
COMPANY I.
NATICK.
Natick was expected to provide one hundred and three men, or just a
company, and this she set about doing through a meeting in the evening
of July 17th, in School House Hall, over which the Hon. J. W. Bacon
presided. To report a plan of action, the following committee was
appointed: Leonard Winch, John J. Perry and E. P. Fay. Another meeting
on the 25th voted to pay volunteers one hundred and fifty dollars each,
and a committee of fifteen was appointed to assist the recruiting
officers. Monday, July 28th, brought out a great meeting which was
addressed by United States Senator Henry Wilson, Capt. Ephraim H.
Brigham and others. By August 1st, matters had reached ignition pitch
with a great meeting in the Town Hall, Captain Brigham presiding; there
were eloquent speeches, but the one which excited the most admiration
was that of Benning Hall, Jr., the village expressman, who on this
occasion made his first public address, chiefly to his comrades, of
whom twenty-two had put down their names. The fourth public meeting
was held August 4th, in School House Hall, Lieut. Simon Mulligan in
the chair, and it was voted to act at once, and to talk afterwards.
Then followed "a scene such as few people ever witness" when
forty-seven men marched up and signed the roll amid waving hats and
handkerchiefs, the very best men in the grand old town. The Hon. Henry
Wilson was present and spoke, as did Edward Choate, G. L. Sawin, H. B.
Moore, C. B. Phillips and B. Hill, Jr. In one week Natick had raised
one hundred and twenty-seven men for her company, twenty-four more than
necessary. It was Saturday, August 9, that, escorted by the Victor and
Union Fire Company, and crowds of citizens, the Natick newly enlisted
men set forth for their rendezvous. After a brief parade in Boston,
Lynnfield was sought in the afternoon, where the reception was not just
what the would-be soldiers expected. So many recruits had reported
there was no room for the Natick people, who had to hire a building
outside for use until the departure of a regiment gave them access to
the regular quarters. Captain, Ephraim H. Brigham; first lieutenant,
Simon Mulligan; second lieutenant, William H. Brown.
COMPANY K.
WOBURN.
[Sidenote: AUG., '62]
Woburn's assignment was ninety-eight men and it came at a time when
recruiting was dull. Still the selectmen, in obedience to State House
orders, called a meeting of Union loving citizens in the Town Hall,
on the evening of Saturday, the 12th of July. The response was large
and enthusiastic; it was voted to give every volunteer a bounty of one
hundred dollars and a committee of fifteen was appointed to forward
enlistments. It was further voted to call a town meeting on the 24th
of the month for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this
popular gathering. Thirty-three men had enlisted or put down their
names before the excitement began or the offer of bounty was made,
and these men became "the immortal thirty-three" in company annals.
Recruiting began on the 15th, and was very slow, though the office
was open day and evening. At the town meeting, it was voted to give
a bounty of one hundred and twenty-five dollars, and enlistments
thereupon increased. Under the encouragement of a grand rally and a
banquet in upper Lyceum Hall in the evening of the 24th, followed by
a march through the streets accompanied by a brass band and speeches
by prominent citizens, the roll of enlistments reached fifty names.
Subsequent rallies and parades resulted in the securing of considerably
more than the required number by the 1st of August. On the 5th of
the month, after a collation in Lyceum Hall, escorted by the Fire
Department, the company departed for the rendezvous, Camp Stanton, in
Lynnfield, having the following commissioned officers: captain, John I.
Richardson; first lieutenant, Luke R. Tidd; second lieutenant, Luther
F. Wyman.
* * * * *
Life at a rendezvous camp is much the same, wherever found. The change
from the untrammeled habits of home to the restrained conditions of
military life is seldom made without friction on the part of the newly
enlisted men, and if there were a lack of quarters, an insufficiency
of food, and if the latter were of indifferent quality, they were
only features to be expected wherever and whenever inexperienced
citizens undertake the transforming act of becoming soldiers. However
disagreeable some of the conditions at Camp Stanton may have been,
nothing was encountered there that would not have been laughed at,
when two years later the men were passing through the exactions of
the "Battle Summer" or later still, when they realized the horrors of
Salisbury and Andersonville. Nor were the days of Lynnfield altogether
disagreeable to the recruits, for were there not the visits of home
friends who always came laden with the best of goodies for the "boys,"
and passes for brief trips to the homes themselves? Besides every day
had its round of duties, such as guard, the policing of the camp and
the early induction to drill, even before the giving out of uniform and
arms.
Col. Edward F. Jones, who had won distinction in the earlier months
of the war as commander of the Sixth Regiment, and later had been
assigned to the colonelcy of the Twenty-sixth Infantry, was in command
of the camp and occasionally the newly made soldiers repined at the
rigor of his commands, quite uncalled for to their undisciplined minds.
Nothing, however, better exhibited the adaptability of the American
soldier than the speed with which the material from school, shop and
farm, caught the step, learned the manual and responded to the command
of superior officers. In the case of the companies that were to
constitute the Thirty-ninth Regiment, they arrived after the most of
the desirable quarters had been taken by the men of the Thirty-fifth
and the Thirty-eighth Regiments. The first named departed for the
front on the 22nd of August; on the 24th, the Thirty-eighth took train
for the South and as colonel went Timothy Ingraham who originally had
been commissioned as the leader of the Thirty-ninth; a Captain in the
Third Infantry during the three months' service, he had been lieutenant
colonel in the Eighteenth Infantry and there were feelings of regret
when the New Bedford officer was transferred to the earlier numbered
organization.
BOXFORD
[Sidenote: SEPT. 1, '62]
The limitations of Lynnfield finally became so apparent that the
authorities determined to seek a new location and officers were
directed to investigate, the result being that Boxford, still further
away from Boston (twenty-eight miles) was selected. Here were the
grounds that had been used as a musterfield by the Second Brigade,
Second Division of the State Militia and, on this extended plain by
the side of a beautiful pond of water, it was determined to pitch the
new camp. Orders were given for the cooking of three days' rations
and on the 28th, by special trains the troops were transferred from
Lynnfield to Boxford. It is possible that had the nearness of the day
of starting for the front been known the trouble of removal had been
avoided. Colonel Jones still commanded the camp which continued to be
called "Stanton" and the commandant's rules were quite as rigid as
ever. On the 29th, some of the soldiers were gladdened by the receipt
from the State of twenty-five dollars' bounty and they soon found ways
enough for disposing of it, though many of them had signed allotment
papers, agreeing to have a portion of their pay reserved for friends at
home.