observed day in New England. For several preceding days there had
been a steady stream of packages from the homeland, indicative of the
appreciation in which every soldier was held somewhere. Of course these
boxes and bundles contained articles of comfort both for internal
and external use. The approach of the day on which the Governor and
State Secretary unite in "God Save the Commonwealth" brought out many
expressions of wonder among the soldiers as to how the day would or
could pass without something unusual in the way of food. The care and
foresight of the home-army supplied the answer to the query, whether
expressed or not, and though there was no general table around which
the hundreds gathered, in some way it was possible for the greater
portion of the men to feel that the day had its special significance
even if they were far from home. Company K, which hailed from Woburn,
was especially well served, and the display of boxes and other
receptacles in the company street excited no little admiration, not to
say envy, in the minds of some not so well provided for. It is stated
that even fluids, particularly interdicted, were smuggled through
some of the packages, notwithstanding the thorough search of the
captain, and specimens of Northern distillations were submitted to that
officer's approval. From that date, "canned tomatoes" acquired a new
distinction. There was a release from the greater part of camp duties
and the time thus secured was devoted to baseball, football and the
other diversions so easily devised by the American youth.
[Sidenote: NOV.-DEC., '62]
A feature of the Thanksgiving spread, possibly not wholly understood
at the time, came out subsequently when the "boys" learned how much
work their pleasure had cost others. C. F. Whitney of Company I was
serving as wagoner, and the night before the 27th, soon after "Taps,"
he was aroused by the wagon-master with the statement that there was no
hardbread for the men, that the morrow brought Thanksgiving; he ordered
Whitney to proceed to the Canal Locks, about three miles away, and with
the commissary sergeant get a load of 'tack. Having worked hard all
day, Whitney naturally demurred, but he had to comply, so he harnessed
his six mules, took in Sergeant Hilton and started on his night ride.
It was after 10 o'clock, the sergeant went to sleep at once on a bed
of bags in the bottom of the wagon, but no such comfort attended the
driver who, in his saddle on the wheel-mule, had to look after things.
About halfway to his destination, he had to pass through a stretch of
always muddy road, now actually overflowing with water, so deep in
places that he had to take his feet from the stirrups to keep them dry.
Night work of late had fallen to Whitney's lot, hence he was sleepy to
the point of actually dozing off while in the saddle, this of course,
after getting through the morass, and from this semi-sleeping state
he was suddenly roused with the cry of "halt," uttered seemingly by a
dozen voices. With as many bayonets pointed at his breast, his first
thought was of "Johnnies," but he put on a bold front and shouted, "Let
the mules alone, I can handle them myself." He would not tell them
where he was going neither would he give the countersign, because he
had none, nor had there been any picket-line along the way before. All
this time the sergeant had slept on in his cosy bed, but he was roused
and proved equally ignorant of the password. It seemed that the Tenth
Vermont, camped near, had just established a picket-post at the place,
and the men were acting according to instructions; much to the disgust
of the two men of the Thirty-ninth they were compelled to turn about
and return to their camp; nor did their troubles end there for, having
cared for his animals and being on the point of turning in himself,
the quartermaster again informed the driver and the sergeant that they
would have to go back for that load of 'tack. So back they went, mules,
mud and all, and with the countersign, getting by the Green Mountain
boys, they reached the canal boat which they found having a great pile
of Thanksgiving boxes from the North; wisely choosing these instead of
the hardbread, they took the offerings to camp, reaching the same just
after reveillé, and had no trouble in unloading; and this is how the
regiment got its spread for Thanksgiving.
The remainder of November and the beginning of December had no special
variants from the recent routine of drill, police and picket duty,
though the scribe of Company K makes mention of the formation of a
"construction corps" from a portion of that company, the object being
the erection and equipping of a structure which should be used as a
bath-house and a barber-shop. The labor essential to the cutting down
of the necessary timber, the transportation to camp and its preparation
there for use, absorbed the time and attention of a large number of
men, who welcomed a relief from the constant round of drill with its
endless repetition of facings, pacings and flank-movements, though
the work performed was by no means light. At the same time increased
labor fell on those who were obliged to perform the picket, sentinel,
guard and other duties which were incessant. In the night of the 14th,
a party of rebel raiders surprised in Poolesville a detachment of
Scott's Nine Hundred, a New York Cavalry regiment, resulting in the
capture of a number of the Union soldiers, with the death of one and
the wounding of others. The place being so near the earlier camps of
the Thirty-ninth, on or near the Potomac, the men were not surprised at
increased vigilance in the placing of pickets all along the interval
between the Cross Roads and the Leesburg pike. An observer in Company
B says for this day, "Buried one of our men by the name of Hiedenway
(David), the first one in our company."
During these days, news from the terrible battle of Fredericksburg
began to filter into the camp, at first very favorable for the Union
side and then the awful truth came in all of its horrors. Our men of
the Thirty-ninth had brothers and friends by the hundreds in the Bay
State regiments that suffered there, the news, by no means, making
easier the duties of the guardsmen along the Potomac. The weather was
cold and any proposition to move from the well established camp was
exceedingly unpopular, but just such intimation came in the evening
of the 20th, when orders were received to be ready to march. The boy
who wrote in his diary "We have just got nicely settled for winter"
learned, ere he was many months older, that wars are not conducted
on the basis of being comfortable. The four regiments of the brigade
were in line by nine o'clock in the morning of the 21st. Fortunately
the weather was fine and the start was made, with music by the band,
and six of the miles were marched, before the halt was made for the
preparation of dinner. As Poolesville, the destination, is about twenty
miles away from the Cross Roads (Offutt's) there yet remained a deal of
walking to be done. With all of their camp belongings, over the frozen
ground, the distance seemed greater than it really was.
POOLESVILLE
[Sidenote: DEC. 21, '62]
It was after dark, 6 o'clock on the evening, when the village was
reached. Once a fairly prosperous Southern town, Poolesville revealed
at this time a sorry spectacle of the ravages of war. Many of the
men had straggled, unable to keep the pace of the hard march and only
about one-fifth of the entire body arrived with the colors, but the
delinquents limped loyally in, though late. Accommodations for the
night had to be found wherever available, the village church holding
many, the schoolhouse others; many found shelter in barns and not a few
sought sleep on fence rails whose native hardness was softened a bit by
straw obtained from a nearby strawstack, though its complete demolition
was prevented by those soldiers who had managed to burrow into it. A
sergeant of Company E who kept a small quantity of "commissary" for
medicinal purposes had entrusted the precious flask to the keeping of
John Locke, the most likely member to be faithful to his trust. Alas,
when the sergeant called for the flask he got it empty, the contents
had gone to help dry the thoroughly saturated comrades of Locke, who
thought the boys would never have greater need. While in the morning
of the 22d, some of the regiment were detailed for picket at Edward's
Ferry, more remained in the village. Some of Scott's Nine Hundred, the
regiment that had suffered from White's guerrillas about a week before,
chose this day as one for wreaking vengeance on certain storekeepers,
one of them Jesse Higgins by name, these natives being suspected of
complicity with the enemy. The goods of the merchants were thrown
out regardless and the lucky soldiers who chanced to be near helped
themselves to whatever they liked best, though Companies B, H and K,
being at the Ferry, missed their share of the wreckage. In Poolesville
were thus halted the Thirty-ninth and the Fourteenth New Hampshire;
the Tenth Vermont went further up the river and the Twenty-third Maine
found its post lower down.
Duty along the Potomac was not unlike that performed some weeks before,
but in the interval these men had learned a deal; not only had they
been drilled but they had observed that all of the people resident in
the vicinity were not wholly loyal, that many of them were ready to
pass the desired word along to the enemy whenever opportunity offered,
and for such reasons they determined to piece out their own rations
with whatever was obtainable from the citizens. Nothing that was
edible and transportable was safe from the predatory hands of the men
and boys who, a very few months before, had been conspicuous in their
own localities for their sterling honesty and straightforwardness.
War and so-called necessity worked wonderful transformations in these
well reared New Englanders. If all the stories that have been told in
subsequent years may be believed, the marvel is that the natives had
anything left to subsist upon. December 23rd brought the camp-stores
and equipage by way of the canal, and a large force was set at work
cutting away trees to make ready for the new camp. The site chosen
for the camp was that on which the regiment had halted at the end of
its first considerable march, that from Arlington in the preceding
September. A large detail of men from the several companies, not on
picket, worked hard through Wednesday the 27th, to properly pitch the
tents and so collect the men into camp once more.
[Sidenote: DEC. 28, '62]
Of course the 25th of December came to Camp Davis, the name of the new
winter quarters, just as it did to the rest of the world, but signs of
Christmas were painfully lacking. One youth made this record, "To-day
is Christmas; four of us went out of the lines and got a Christmas
dinner and had it charged to Uncle Sam." Furnishing food to Union
soldiers in those parts must have been like a lottery with the chances
against getting anything back. Said another observer, "Christmas day!
And we would not know it by the work going on in camp; dined on salt
beef, more commonly known as 'salt-horse'." The later days of the month
were devoted to properly equipping the camp which, for location, was
the best yet occupied except for wood and water, the latter having to
be brought fully half a mile, and the former was two miles off. For
purposes of drill the parade ground was unexcelled and was extensive
enough to admit of the maneuvers of an entire division at one time.
Once more the Sibley tents are stockaded and the men believe that
winter quarters are really realized. In the light of later years, the
occupants of that camp claim that there was no better in the entire
army. Though located on a level plain, it was so well drained that no
amount of rain was able to render it disagreeable underfoot, a fact
which no doubt contributed to the prevailing health of the men.
On Sunday, the 28th, as the men were falling in for inspection, their
eyes were gladdened by the sight of the Tenth Massachusetts Battery,
subsequently known to fame as "Sleepers," approaching Camp Davis. This
event is thus cheerfully alluded to in John D. Billing's excellent
history of the Battery, "'How are you, Boxford?' was the greeting
from the Thirty-ninth Regiment, as soon as we were recognized, and it
seemed like meeting old friends to fall in with those who had been
encamped with us on the soil of Massachusetts." It was a strange stroke
of fortune that should bring these Boxford neighbors again so near to
each other, for the battery was assigned to the brigade and found a
camping place close by. This day, too, brought to the ears of many,
for the first time since leaving Massachusetts, the sound of a church
bell, but it was not for these soldiers, who were still perfecting
themselves in the school of the soldier; lessons so well learned that
the Thirty-ninth stood second to none in discipline and soldierly
appearance, and better still in general health, conditions largely due
to the unceasing diligence of the Colonel, with whom drill seemed to be
the chief end of man, especially those wearing uniforms. Long before
daylight in the morning of the 30th, an alarm brought the men into
line and four companies of the Thirty-ninth with a single section of
Sleeper's Battery started off towards Conrad's Ferry where, as usual, a
crossing of the rebels was reported. In light marching order, over the
most difficult of roads, the party hastened to the scene, as supposed,
of trouble. Though there were the reaching of an island in the river
by means of a boat and a certain amount of fortifying, nothing came
of the affair and at 1 p. m., tired and hungry the return trip was
begun, ending at 4 o'clock, with every one out of conceit with military
movements. On the last day in the month the Regiment was mustered for
two months' pay, always a welcome exercise.
1863
[Sidenote: JAN. 2, '63]
The new year was ushered in on Thursday, and the prevailing sentiment
among the men is indicated by this entry in his diary by one who
evidently had entertained other opinions, "The boys are rather blue
on the war subject; they begin to think they will not get home in the
spring." Very few soldiers had any idea of the many long and weary
months before them. The first men who went out, the Three Months' Men,
thought it hardly possible that it would take all of their projected
term to wipe out the Rebellion, nor were the rebels any less in error
in their estimate of the duration of the conflict. In the middle of the
month, the same writer once more reflects thus, "Our hopes of getting
home in the spring are somewhat blighted," yet he and his comrades
attended strictly to duty just the same. As the month progressed,
the men had full opportunity to size up and adequately estimate the
village near which they were encamped. Like everything that ever fell
under the blighting hand of slavery, it exhibited a lack of paint
and enterprise. Poor Richard long since remarked that he who by the
plow would thrive must either hold himself or drive. In the South the
slave-owner did neither; superintendence was entrusted to the overseer
and what work was done, the slave did. How well this was accomplished,
the surroundings showed. It has been said that there were only two
loyal men in the village, Mr. Metzger, the postmaster; and Dr. Brace.
Under such conditions there need be little wonder that the Yankee boys
thought it no sin to spoil the Egyptians.
It was in the night of the 2nd that some vagrant members of Scott's
Nine Hundred, that redoubtable New York cavalry body, which in December
had cleaned out Higgins' store, came back to do it again. On guard
was F. R. W. Hall of Company F whose brother, Eben A., was performing
similar duty in a neighboring building. "Whiskey" was the battle cry
of the New Yorkers and they sailed in to wreck things. At first, to
oppose them, was only "A little red-headed guard" and they soon found
that that _Hall_ could neither be hired nor scared, though he was
extremely happy to find soon at his side the brother, supposed to be in
another place. Both boys were "Sons of Temperance" and they proved to
the rummies that, once at least, prohibition prohibited, for the Halls
managed to keep the mob out till Lieutenant Paul appeared with the
reserve guard; even then the raiders did not subside, for they formed
under their leader preparatory to a fight. Not having their cavalry
outfit with them, they gave way to discretion, always the better part
of valor; and all the more readily when Lieutenant Paul gave the order
to charge, and they rapidly disappeared in the darkness. They had
succeeded in smashing all of the windows, however, and almost unroofing
Hall, whose gory scalp was proclaimed the first case of bloodshed for
the Regiment. Though Higgins might have been a rebel, he doubtless was,
the boys were set to protect and they always obeyed orders.
The 5th of January beheld the return of Colonel Davis to the Regiment,
the command of the brigade devolving on Col. A. B. Jewett, of the Tenth
Vermont, who after all these weeks had discovered that his commission
antedated that of our Colonel just one day and there were people so
uncharitable as to intimate that he had had the document redated just
for this special purpose. Though there may have been those who did
not altogether love Colonel Davis, because of his excessive devotion
to drill, and the rigors of a soldier's life, all were as one in
their admiration of his military bearing and his fitness for the head
of the brigade, while his successor was notably lacking in all such
characteristics. The Colonel made his first reappearance at dress
parade and was greeted with a round of hearty cheers. In the evening he
was honored by the Regiment's gathering round his quarters, accompanied
by the band of the Fourteenth New Hampshire. The serenade prompted the
officer to make a very happy speech, thanking everybody for progress in
the past and urging a continuance in the same commendable direction.
That the head of the Regiment was deeply interested in the welfare of
his command was evident to every man.
The month was not entirely devoid of interest and the sham-battle
between the battery and a portion of Scott's Nine Hundred (Eleventh
New York Cavalry), on the 6th, roused the admiration of all onlookers
to a high pitch; the rapid firing of the guns and the shouts of the
charging cavalry gave the boys a notion of what the real thing must be,
an impression rendered all the more vivid by the accidental wounding of
several of the combatants, through premature discharges and too close
proximity of certain ones. The endless round of all sorts of drill was
rendered less irksome by the remembrance of those at home who were
constantly sending choice bits of food for the delectation of their
dear ones in the field and, to crown all, on the 17th, came seventeen
barrels of apples for the Woburn company, right from the town that had
first produced the famous Baldwin apple, and the generosity of the "K"
boys was unstinted in distributing their pomological treasures among
their less fortunate friends. Sunday, the 18th, some three hundred
or more of the men repaired to the Presbyterian Church for religious
service, expecting to hear the Chaplain, but in his stead, Private
Batcheller, one of the older members of Company B, preached, a fact
well illustrating the diversity of talent among American soldiers.
[Sidenote: Jan. 20, '63]
The "knapsack-drill" of January 20th has lodgement in the minds of
many, the Colonel ordering that the 1 p. m. company drill be executed
in heavy marching order. Considerable growling and grumbling were heard
in the progress of the duty, and at its end Companies F and G gave
three rousing cheers for "knapsack-drill," an act that roused the ire
of the officer so that the companies were ordered on an hour's drill
without cessation. At the end of the battalion-drill, the Regiment
was formed in solid square and Colonel Davis very clearly explained
to the men his reasons for the heavy task imposed, dwelling on his
mortification at the episode of the morning. He said that whatever
had been done as yet, it was only a prelude to what must follow and
he desired the men to become inured to fatigue through such exercises
as those of the earlier hour, concluding his words by the remark that
if they would act like men, they would receive corresponding usage
from him. The next three days were marked by a very severe rain storm;
tents went down before it, and the sheds for the stalling of the
wagon-train mules, some one hundred and thirty in number, fell in upon
the animals. Covered with straw, and saturated with rain, the burden
became too great and the calamity followed, luckily not to the fatal
injury of any of the beasts. The 25th being Sunday, it is recorded
that some of the men went to prayer meeting and that in the afternoon
the Chaplain preached, though his auditors were chiefly from Company
A, the one in which he had enlisted. Of the 29th and 30th, it is told
that a snow storm that would have befitted Vermont or New Hampshire
raged, much to the discomfort of those on guard, while others had not
only to clear the company street but to free the parade ground for
brigade inspection, the same coming on the afternoon of the 31st and
being conducted by Col. Robert Wilson, of the Fourteenth New Hampshire,
Colonel Davis acting Brigadier-General, in the absence of Colonel
Jewett.
February proved to be a stormy month, severe snow storms reminding the
men of the climate at home, but guard rounds had to be maintained, no
matter what the weather might be. On Monday, the 2nd, a battalion of
the Sixth Michigan Cavalry, Major Kenyon, appeared, and became a part
of the local Union force. Armed with the very latest of breechloading
carbines, they had every sign of ability to put up a good fight with
whatever foe the future might develop. Very likely no event of the
month gave the soldiers any more enjoyment than the coming of the
paymaster on the 6th, with the money that the Regiment had been looking
for so long and anxiously. "He took us all by surprise," says one
writer, "coming on the grounds at 3 p. m., with his four-horse team."
While a considerable part of the sum received went into the tills of
local dealers and of the sutler, by far the larger part was sent home
for the comfort of loved ones there, Company K sending thus fully
$2300. The payment was only to the first of November, and it was the
first coming of the dispenser of Uncle Sam's compensation since leaving
Massachusetts. He was employed two days in passing out the money.
[Sidenote: FEB., '63]
One of the episodes of this snowy Poolesville winter was the effort
that a certain notable member of Company ---- made to get out of the
army. On account of a certain grievance, real or fancied, he simulated
insanity so perfectly that there was a pretty general agreement that he
had lost his head. Having committed to memory the entire contents of
the American First Class Reader, he would station himself in the middle
of the parade ground and in the stillness of the night hours declaim
from the reader; even Colonel Davis began to think his man had lost his
reason. Had the soldier stopped here or had his readiness to say a good
thing, regardless of consequences, been under better control, his ruse
probably would have succeeded. In the system of rigid camp neatness, a
barrel for night refuse was provided for every company, to be carried
off each morning; to the increased astonishment of his comrades our
declaimer now added fishing to his pranks and most soberly bobbed for
bites in the filthy liquid. Finally Colonel Davis, after watching
the performance from the tent of a company officer, approached the
fisherman and asked what he was doing. "Fishing, sir," was the sober
reply. "What do you expect to catch?" says the Colonel; "My discharge,
sir." It was there that the man fell down, but he never could resist
the temptation to make an apt reply. Plenty of hard work soon restored
the orator and emulator of Izaak Walton to all of his normal senses and
to becoming a model soldier.