such as came from short trips away, the visits of friends, the
receiving of uniforms, arms and equipments and the presentation of
gifts to officers and men. Sept. 1st brought Col. P. Stearns Davis,
the new commander of the Thirty-ninth Regiment. A brigadier general in
the militia, he had been one of the most efficient of those assisting
Governor Andrew in organizing and forwarding regiments, and the
governor parted from the officer with regret; he succeeded Colonel
Jones in the command of the Camp. Company officers were remembered
by their friends, both those in the ranks and outside; on the 29th
of August, his company gave to Captain Richardson of "K" a set of
equipments and on the 1st of September, when on leave of absence in
Woburn, Lieutenants Tidd and Wyman were presented by citizens with
swords and sashes. Sept. 2nd, Company E, from Somerville, appeared in
camp, the very last to report. On the 3rd, the commissioned officers
of Company F, Taunton, were given revolvers by their fellow townsmen,
of whom there was a goodly number present, their representative being
George Childs, Esq. On this day also Springfield rifles were placed
in the men's hands, accoutrements following on the 4th, so that they
began to feel like real soldiers. On the 3rd also appeared Lieutenant
Ladd, U. S. A., who began paying out one month's pay in advance. During
these days the ladies of Woburn made and presented to the Woburn
Company (K) a National flag, Miss Henrietta M. Young making the address
of presentation and Lieutenant Tidd receiving, though the acceptance
speech, in the absence of the captain, was made by Lieutenant Wyman.
The flag was returned to Woburn to be retained there until the return
of the company from its three years' term of service.
BOXFORD TO WASHINGTON.
On Friday, the 5th, came the regimental colors and orders to prepare
three days' rations against the expected departure of the Thirty-ninth
on the following day, and the same day saw the first dress-parade of
the regiment under the command of Colonel Davis, also the efforts of
embryo soldiers as they tried to pack into a knapsack two or three
times as much as it would hold. When the active campaigning began, they
were to learn some of the wisdom of Socrates when he exclaimed, "How
many things there are that I do not need." Breaking camp on the morning
of the 6th was a spirited affair and, after an early breakfast, line
was formed and the men marched to the station not far from 8 o'clock
a. m. Here came a lesson in delay that was to be repeated many times
as the years moved on. Boston was sighted between 1 and 2 p. m. and,
speedily disembarking, the regiment took its way through the city to
the Boston and Worcester station. The day was extremely hot, the men
had overloaded their knapsacks, hence many suffered badly, some having
to fall out, though all reached the station in time for the train.
Company E, Somerville, held the right of the line and "C" Medford, the
left, so that double-quick, with the Medford men, was the order
occasionally which, considering the heat, was a trying test. Of the
march through Washington Street, the _Boston Journal_ has this comment,
"The men appeared hardy, robust and of excellent fighting material and
were evidently superior in drill to many of the new regiments."
[Sidenote: SEPT. 6, '62]
Though the crowds were great and friends by the hundred, not to say
thousands, were there to say "Good-bye," the greetings and partings
were had in passing, as the quickstep was kept through the city. At
the station, the regiment was soon entrained for Worcester, as its
next step on its southern way. There was no lack of interest in the
departure by people all along the route to Worcester, and there the
good citizens were not slow in supplying food, somewhat more appetizing
than the rations borne in the haversacks; said rations in many cases
became useless through the taste imparted by the recently painted
receptacles, the traces of turpentine working through. One veteran
relates, at this late day, his anguish over the spoiling of a quantity
of fresh mother's made doughnuts. Thence, via the Norwich route, the
way was southward, the first train reaching Groton, Connecticut, the
summer terminus, about 10.30 in the evening. As the soldier-laden train
was in two sections, there was a somewhat prolonged wait here for
the arrival of the second part. However, sometime between 10.30 and
midnight the steamer "City of New York" proceeded on its way to the
great city, along the Sound, over which had passed so many New England
men and boys on their Union-preserving mission. Though there was ample
space on the soft side of the respective decks for the soldiers to lie
down, there was altogether too much novelty for them to encamp at once.
While the majority secured some sleep during the passage, there were
those who watched the night through and were ready to greet the dawn
and to experience the sensations of an early approach to the mightiest
city of the Western Continent. Those who saw that sunrise and the
course through East River and the final round-up at the Jersey City
landing never forgot it; besides, the morning sights included a view of
the "Great Eastern", the famous British steamship, then the greatest in
the world and the wonder of all beholders.
Sunday morning at 8 o'clock, the steamer was docked at Jersey City and
soon afterward the regiment was again embarked on a train for the trip
through New Jersey and, though it was Sunday and, presumably, many
people were at church, there seemed to be no lack of generous citizens,
ready to supply the most luscious of fruit and to prove that whatever
fun might be had at the expense of the state's being a "foreign
country" the hearts of the people were all right. The day itself was
in that delightful early fall, when Dame Nature does her best to outdo
her June wonders, and the hearts of the Massachusetts travellers
were all aglow as they saw the possibilities of the Garden State and
when, having been ferried across the Delaware River, Philadelphia was
reached, every man was in splendid appetite for the lavish lunch that
the ladies of the City of Brotherly Love had prepared for them in the
Cooper Refreshment Rooms. Few Eastern soldiers failed at some time in
their experience to test the hospitality of William Penn's great city
and that veteran is yet to be found who does not wax eloquent over the
spread there afforded, and that was his without money and without price.
[Sidenote: SEPT. 7, '62]
The march through Philadelphia was an enjoyable one, the people
being in such evident sympathy with the men, who at every step were
going further from their own homes and loved ones. When the station
was reached, whence they were to start for Baltimore, there was a
considerable halt during which the Massachusetts boys had a fine
chance to make the acquaintances of certain of the fair daughters of
the Keystone State and addresses were exchanged which, in subsequent
months, afforded pleasure to both man and maiden, as letters passed
between those in the field and the loyal dwellers on the banks of the
Schuylkill. The ride southward, according to some of the chroniclers,
was not as enjoyable as the previous portions had been; indeed one
careful writer says, "Here the comfort of our journey ceased for we
were put aboard cattle cars, with rough and hard seats"; in most
cases, no seats at all; yet the time would come when that writer would
be delighted to ride standing, on platform cars even, if thereby he
could the sooner gain his destination. Wilmington, Delaware, reached
at midnight or thereabouts, was the first stop and, notwithstanding
the lateness of the hour there was a modified repetition of the
Philadelphia reception, every one being anxious to contribute to the
well being of the "boys in blue." Among those in waiting were former
dwellers in the Bay State who were delighted to grasp the hands of men
just from the old home.
The crossing of the Susquehanna River from Perryville, Delaware, to
Havre-de-Grace was a source of great interest to these tyros of travel,
and whole trains of cars, run aboard great ferryboats at once, for a
trip over the river to the Maryland town opposite, excited not a little
wonder, if not admiration. On reaching the further side of the river,
the usual waiting was experienced and, though it was in the dead of
night, those young soldiers were too full of life to allow the time to
waste and in their search for mischief they discovered that the place
abounded in geese and, long after midnight, these representatives of
staid and sober New England awoke not alone the squawking fowls but the
people as well and, over and through the gullied ways of this first
bit of "Maryland, My Maryland" that they had encountered, these men,
on fierce battle bent, pursued these poor feathered bipeds, though
what they were to accomplish by a complete round-up, they had not the
least notion. However, from any such test they were happily saved by
the appearance on the scene of Colonel Davis who, apprised by the noise
of the need of his presence, admonished his valiant followers to cease
harrying the birds; nor were the mischievous fellows sorry, for they
had gone about as far as they could and not have their fun changed
into serious fault.
The regiment had reached the region where constant watch was kept
over stations, railroad bridges and all points where it might be easy
to obstruct transportation; hence the sight of dimly seen figures
performing sentinel duty as the train swept along was not a little
interesting to the men who were, as rapidly as possible, advancing from
the abode of peace and plenty to that of privation and danger. Dawn
of the 8th brought with it the entrance of Baltimore by the latest
Massachusetts organization and, as the men marched through the silent
streets in the early morning, many of them contrasted the reception
accorded them in the unquestionably loyal city of Philadelphia, and
that in the Monument City, which a year and five months before had
caused the first bloodshed in the Civil War. A substantial breakfast
was served at the Union refreshment rooms, though nothing like the
generous spread made the day before by the ladies of the city on the
Schuylkill. Several regiments, like the Thirty-ninth on their way
South, were found waiting orders and transportation and the situation
was somewhat emphasized by the sudden and serious illness of a number
of soldiers, the rumor gaining circulation that they had been poisoned.
Fortunately before the irate soldiers could begin retaliatory measures
against the people, it was decided that the ailment was simply _cholera
morbus_, occasioned by injudicious eating of green fruit obtained in
transit.
[Sidenote: SEPT. 9, '62]
Ellicott's Mills, not so very far from Baltimore, towards the west, was
at first announced as the destination of the regiment, but, as there
was no supply of tents or wagons, the order was countermanded and cars
were taken for Washington. The sight of the incomplete Capitol and
other public buildings was a glad one to these Massachusetts men who,
in spite of warlike intentions, were alive to all of the geographical
attractions that they might encounter. Reaching the Nation's centre of
activity somewhat late in the afternoon there was some time in which
to take cursory glances of many edifices, already familiar through
picture and print. Supper and lodgings were found in the barracks,
close by the Baltimore and Ohio depot, and those who did not like the
fare at the barracks, and could afford the price, had the privilege of
supping outside. Weariness can sleep upon a flinty bed while lazy sloth
may toss upon the softest of couches, hence the floor of the so-called
"Soldiers' Rest" afforded comfort for the cattle car travellers. In
the morning of the 9th, it was discovered that the Tenth Vermont had
arrived during the night and was encamped outside, a regiment with
which the Thirty-ninth was eventually to be brigaded for a time.
POTOMAC CROSSED.
The breakfast was not of a sort to elicit any great amount of praise
from the soldiers and once more those who could got their food outside,
and the forenoon was passed largely in seeing the sights of the
Capital. Very likely the folks at home were thinking that their boys
were so much needed that they were to be ordered into battle-line at
once; but all concerned were to learn that in the fiercest of wars
there are many waits, and this delay in Washington was incident to
finding out just where the Thirty-ninth was to report, for all knew
very well they were not to halt there long. The orders came from Gen.
Silas Casey in time for them to move out of the city about noon and so
to take their way across the Long Bridge, the thoroughfare connection
between Washington and Alexandria, then the most famous structure
of its kind in America; on account of the vibrations the regular
route-step was broken. The day was hot and sultry, the dust intense,
made so by the constant passing of horses and men, and the newly
enlisted soldiers, loaded down with their bloated knapsacks and other
burdens, began to think that soldiering was no joking matter.
While thus advancing into Virginia the Thirteenth Massachusetts
Infantry was encountered, the men having all of the activity and swing
that come from long experience, though thinned ranks spoke volumes for
the encounters they had passed through, but they were in no halting
mood and with only the greetings possible in passing the Bay State
men kept in motion. It was the time when the disastrous Second Bull
Run had necessitated realignment, and measures were afoot which in a
little more than a week were to lead up to Antietam. It was a march
of seven miles which brought the dust begrimed men to the vicinity of
Fort Albany, an extensive fortification situated on the estate of Gen.
Robert E. Lee, the famous Virginian so prominent in the Confederate
Army, a locality rapidly growing in reputation as Arlington. Though
camp equipage had not as yet made its appearance, the weather was so
dry and warm no trouble was found in camping without other outfit. In
every direction the eye could see very little save tents and campfires,
with the passing of long baggage trains, and the night air bore the
strains of many bands of music, all joining in a mighty effort to keep
the minds of the soldiers alert and free from the care which besets
solitude and repose.
[Sidenote: SEPT. 12, '62]
On the slopes of Arlington the morning of the 10th found the regiment,
its members all alert to observe and learn the lessons of each
successive day. The night had brought about great changes, for a large
portion of the camps so apparent during the watches of the night had
entirely disappeared; to be sure there had been some extra fires during
the preceding hours when, as it appeared later, camp debris had been
burned, but all of these indications were lost on the newcomers, to
whom the symptoms of breaking camp were unfamiliar, and how should they
know that already the fates were preparing for Antietam, the bloodiest
single day's fight of the entire war? That the enemy was not very
remote was currently reported and many of the young soldiers thought
they might be ordered into the fray at an early hour. Then too, for
the first time, they saw the coming into the Union line of escaped
negroes, the "contrabands" of General Butler's ruling; "strange looking
beings," one of the observers remarks. The 11th day differed in no
essential from its predecessor save that the arrival of tents permitted
the pitching of them and the instituting of regular and strict camp
orders. The proximity of great earthworks, known as forts, prompted
many to visit them and thus to appreciate the efforts that had been
made to render safe the nation's capital. Drills were begun, roll-calls
were frequent and the first dress parade in Dixie was recorded for the
Thirty-ninth on this day.
After a day of routine on the 12th, while companies were forming for
battalion drill, orders came to pack up and be ready to move out. It
was after dark and in the midst of a driving rain that the start was
made, but through the mud and darkness the regiment proceeded with as
much willingness as the circumstances would permit till, at last, after
what seemed a very long time and a great distance, really the latter
was only two miles, the welcome command, "halt," was heard, and as it
was not followed by one to move forward the men were content, the rain
having stopped, to throw themselves upon the ground and there to find
the rest that ever comes to the weary whatever the conditions. The
regiment was now near the outermost lines and pickets were thrown out.
The next morning, 13th, revealed the location as near Fort Tillinghast,
and work was immediately begun on clearing the ground for a camp, this
being the third effort for this purpose made by the men and some of
them hoped they might be allowed to remain long enough to see just
how a real camp at the front would look. It appeared that to the
Thirty-ninth had been assigned the duty of picketing the line between
Forts Tillinghast and Craig. Here Sibley tents were received, the
same having been left by the Sixteenth Maine on the departure of the
latter for the march into Maryland. This was the introduction of the
Thirty-ninth to an organization whose later history was considerably
involved with that of our Massachusetts men.
The forts, which occupied almost every elevation of land, were
conspicuous on every hand, and were a part of the system devised
for the thorough protection of Washington. They numbered in all,
including batteries, sixty-eight, and were for the most part named for
distinguished officers slain in the conflict. All of them were not
constructed at this time, but the record includes those that were built
later as well. The total perimeter of the fortifications was thirteen
miles, and the outer border thus guarded was nearly or quite equal to
that of the original District of Columbia. Besides the forts there were
twenty miles of rifle trenches, thirty-two miles of military roads and
ninety-three unarmed batteries for field guns, with four hundred and
one emplacements. In the total armament of these earthworks there were
nearly a thousand cannon and mortars. Notwithstanding this formidable
array, Early and his men came near getting through and into the city in
July, 1864.
ON THE MARCH.
[Sidenote: SEPT. 15, '62]
Whatever hopes of permanency may have been cherished as to the new camp
they were all destroyed before the day (14th) was done. There were
inspections, always a Sunday feature, the distribution of cartridges,
which had a businesslike aspect, and the dispatching of three companies
to the picket line only to be recalled later with orders to pack up and
be ready for a long march. In addition it was ordered that knapsacks
be left behind, a fact that brought up visions of forced marching
and a possible encounter. To the inexperienced soldiers separation
from their knapsacks was a serious matter and each man debated with
himself as to what he could best leave behind, the upshot of it all
being that generally his blanket, tied in a roll and slung over the
shoulder, was the one item deemed absolutely necessary. It was quite
seven o'clock before the march began, the way being through camps and
along the sides of forts until the Aqueduct Bridge, leading across the
Potomac to Georgetown, was reached; the name of the bridge arising from
the fact that the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal crossed here, terminating
in Alexandria. Over the bridge and through Georgetown the pace was a
brisk one until, after a march of possibly seven miles, a halt for the
remainder of the night was ordered on a prominence back of the village
of Tennallytown.
The 15th began with the soldiers at five o'clock and there was a
march of fully two miles before the halt for breakfast. Apparently in
the same line with our men were the Tenth Vermont and a Pennsylvania
Battery and the news gradually spread through the ranks that the
purpose of the speedy trip was to do picket duty along the Potomac
River. To the undisciplined mind it did seem as though a less headlong
pace might have been set for such an end, but it was not for the men
to complain nor to reason why, but rather to plod along as rapidly as
possible. Inasmuch as the heat was extreme, the roads dusty, many of
the men, quite unused to the strain and wilting under the sun's rays,
fell out. This day, too, the preparation of meals was entirely by the
soldiers themselves, company cooks having done the work before. When
a halt was ordered it was obeyed with the utmost alacrity, the men
throwing themselves upon the ground with expressions of relief. When at
last, after another advance, there came the orders to halt and prepare
coffee, they were heard with gladness, the location being near an old
mill on Waitt's Branch, this being an affluent of the Big Muddy Branch,
but the night was not to be spent here, the officers deciding that it
was not a defensible place, hence the march was continued in the most
quiet manner possible, to the brow of a hill where camp was pitched
for the night. In the light of subsequent knowledge that the enemy was
many miles away, the extreme caution must have been the result of false
information to those leading.
Another day, 16th, began early and the route was still up the Potomac,
though the pace was not so rapid as that of yesterday. At noon dinner
was eaten at Seneca Mills and then followed a stretch of about fifteen
miles, leading up to Poolesville, a village by no means important in
itself, yet it had been heard of frequently in Massachusetts since
here, or in this locality, a year ago were encamped the Fifteenth,
Nineteenth and Twentieth Regiments from the Bay State and through
here had marched the Thirteenth. To Lieut. Colonel Peirson and Major
Tremlett, the place must have seemed very familiar since both had been
officers in the Twentieth. Not a few of the latest visitors thought
that its size and appearance hardly comported with its notoriety. A
sudden and violent rainstorm accompanied the entrance of the place
where were found two cavalry companies on duty, who informed the
inquirers that the Battle of Poolesville, shouted so loudly a few days
before at Arlington, was really only a skirmish, in which the only
casualty was the killing of a horse, the whole affair being one of
many incidents, accompanying the movements of Stuart's Cavalry in the
general advance of General Lee into Maryland. Notwithstanding the rain,
weary men threw themselves upon the ground, glad to rest in any way
anywhere; but long before morning the fierceness of the storm and the
level character of the plain on which the men were lying, reducing the
latter to something like a duck-pond, made the soldiers get up, build
fires and try to dry themselves, but with indifferent success.
[Sidenote: SEPT. 17, '62]