Regiment, with the Fortieth and Forty-first was to be assigned to the
nine months' quota, the Government having found that the State had
exceeded its three years' allotment by three regiments. If the origin
of such insane propositions could be ascertained a great boon would be
conferred upon humanity, since many a man found himself most grievously
disappointed when the whole affair was recognized as an illusion. A
great snow storm began on the 17th, and for twenty-four hours raged
fiercely, changing finally into rain, which effectually removed what
otherwise would have occasioned many a backache; the men counted the
time well spent in checkers, cards and other camp diversions, in place
of regular drill. It was a sorry time though for those on guard. The
20th brought pleasure to the quarters of Colonel Davis, for, on this
day, his wife came to pay him a visit. Washington's birthday brought
another old fashioned storm of wind and snow, testing fully the texture
and endurance of the Sibley tents; fuel was scarce also, and, orders to
the contrary notwithstanding, neighboring fence rails found their way
into the fireplaces, thus giving a measure of comfort to the shivering
occupants. The only official notice of the day was the firing of a
salute by Sleeper's Battery, thirty-four guns, the report of which
could hardly be heard above the roar of the storm.
As soon as the storm abated there was the usual heavy detail of men
from the several companies for the purpose of clearing the streets and
parade ground, the wisdom of such procedure had, by this time, become
apparent to the men, since they could go about their several duties
dry shod, while neighboring regiments plodded with wet feet through
the slush and mud which followed the disappearance of the rapidly
melting snow. Experience and observation are the best of teachers. A
very pleasant instance of camp amenities was exhibited in this month,
when First Sergeant Oscar Persons, of Company K, having been promoted
to a second Lieutenancy and assigned to Company D, was presented by
his late comrades with the equipments essential to his new position.
The presentation was made by Lieutenant Wyman, and the recipient
very happily responded. The ever obliging band of the Fourteenth New
Hampshire accompanied the men on their errand of love, and discoursed
music fitting to the occasion. The month ended with the bi-monthly
muster for pay, the same making the Government just four months in
arrears.
[Sidenote: MARCH 17, '63]
March will not be much, if any, improvement on the preceding month.
The demand for fuel to supply heat for cooking and also for rendering
the tents comfortable makes it necessary for details to go further
and further from camp, and it is very fortunate that so much of the
country has been allowed to grow up to forests. All men have to take
their portion of the chopping exercise and in the performance of all
camp duties. Possibly there was some abatement in drill on account
of the weather and consequent condition of the grounds, and if the
wearied soldiers were allowed a little more time in quarters, they
accounted it no real loss. Pertaining to the variable character of
the March weather, and illustrative of certain most admirable racial
characteristics, Abijah Thompson, of "K," tells the story of a certain
Irishman among the Woburn boys, the very best natured lad in the
company, who was on guard duty in the midst of one of the hardest
downpours of that torrential period. The weather, however, made no
difference with Colonel Davis, for his regular rounds were made,
rain or shine; when he neared Patrick the latter faced the officer,
presented arms and said, "Good marnin, Kurnel! It's a foin mornin'
this, if wan't for the rain." 'Tis said the Colonel laughed so hard he
almost fell off his horse. Both February and March witnessed a steady
coming into the lines of rebel soldiers, really deserters, whom it was
necessary to escort down to the City of Washington. To serve on the
squad which thus guarded the men-in-gray to the Capital was considered
to be a privilege. Also in this month, the authorities pursuing their
investigations determined that several so-called Union citizens of the
vicinity were really sympathizers with the South, and for such reasons
a Mr. Pleasants and Colonel Leonards were arrested and sent to the old
Capital prison.
The 17th was "house cleaning" day and, the tents having been removed
from the stockades and everything carried out, the spaces were
carefully inspected by the surgeon, the lieut. colonel and Captain
J. Henry Sleeper of the Battery; the report of the officers was very
complimentary to the Regiment. Whatever the coincidence, the event
had no connection with the British evacuation of Boston nor with St.
Patrick's day. The two months were notable in the number of furloughs
that officers and men obtained for trips back to Massachusetts, not
long ones, but sufficient for a taste of home comforts and a sight of
the dear ones there. The month ended with the severest storm of the
season, the snow falling in great quantities, but at the period of the
equinox, snow cannot be expected to remain a very great while and it
departed more rapidly than it came. An observer on the spot wrote thus
in his journal for the 31st, "Woke up and found the ground covered with
snow; realization of the sunny South is very different from what I had
fancied it."
April found the Thirty-ninth still in its Poolesville camp, that is,
when its members were not out on picket and other duties, the same
extending a long way up as well as down the Potomac. The weather was as
variable as ever, a mixture of good, bad and indifferent, yet through
it all the regiment maintained a fair condition of health. "Many jokes
and sells, for it was All Fools' Day," was the entry in a certain
diary for the first day of the month, and what nonsense a thousand
men of military age could not devise on such an occasion, it would be
difficult to imagine. The 2d was the regular New England Fast Day, and
a holiday was proclaimed by the Colonel, for which he received the
mental if not verbal thanks of all the "boys" who proceeded to enjoy
the day to the limit. Probably as large a proportion of the regiment
attended the religious services at 11 a. m., conducted by Chaplain
French, as were present at similar exercises at home churches in
distant Massachusetts. However this may have been, there was no failure
in taking part in the races, sparring-matches and various games, or
at least witnessing them. The baseball game was between the men of
Sleeper's Battery and those selected from the Thirty-ninth with the
honors remaining with the Infantry, though the cannoniers were supposed
to be particularly skillful in the throwing of balls.
[Sidenote: APR. 11, '63]
The 5th of April found the ground again covered with a heavy fall
of snow, and though it departed quickly it left a deal of mud and
discomfort generally. The roads and by-paths were not so well drained
as the grounds of our Bay State regiment. Thanks to the careful
annalist, we know that the new bakery was in working order on the 8th
and that the first batch of bread was to be baked that night. Too bad
that it had not come earlier or that any necessity for its coming
at all existed when the entire camp was so near the army bakery of
Washington. Once more rumors became current that moving day was near,
and Saturday, the 11th, it was given out that seven days' rations
would be drawn on Monday, the 13th, preparatory to departure. A target
shoot marked this last Saturday in the Poolesville camp. Sunday was
a beautiful spring day, though not as quiet as the day might be
elsewhere, for the bustle of preparation was evident on all sides. The
ever welcome band of the New Hampshire Regiment made the time pass all
the more rapidly with its vibrant melody. There were just two days more
in Camp Davis and then came the change.
A RAINY MARCH
The first orders were to the effect that the whole brigade was to
move, but these were so far modified that only the Thirty-ninth was to
go, though the New Hampshire Regiment followed later. Washington was
known to be the destination, and provost duty was understood to be the
occupation. The start was made in the midst of a driving rain, a fact,
however, which did not prevent the Granite State friends and those of
the Battery thronging about to wish their comrades a "God-speed." It
was pretty generally understood that the Thirty-ninth was selected as
the first to go because of the rasping relations, as to priority of
commissions,[D] existing between the respective colonels of the two
regiments.
The storm did not prevent the New Hampshire band from turning out to
give us a hearty send-off and there was need of it, since the general
sentiment, long before the halt for the night came, was "the hardest
yet." "Now came an awful march through mud and water up to our knees;
many straggled behind, while others found it easier going ahead of the
Regiment." A stop for dinner was made in a wood by the roadside, and by
patience and care fires were made for the preparation of coffee, and
then we were off again till at a distance of fourteen miles from Camp
Davis, about three miles from Rockville, a very moist camping place was
found in some pine woods, and such rest as saturated garments would
permit was sought beneath the protecting cover of shelter-tents though
many, utterly miserable in their soaked condition, preferred to stand
before great fires which they had coaxed into burning. Others, more
thoughtful, but less careful as to orders, had taken the opportunity
to seek cover in barns and other places of refuge along the way, some
even getting good lodgings in dwelling houses, all confident that they
could easily overtake the Regiment after a night's rest and drying.
Appreciation of Maryland villages or hamlets was at the lowest ebb,
one observer charactering Dawsonville as a place of one house, a
blacksmith shop and a few other tumbledown buildings, while Darnstown
was considered appropriately named without further comment.
The morning of the 16th came none too soon, and many of the boys who
were getting great lessons in the "school of the soldier," started
off before the regimental orders to march were given at 9 o'clock,
the rain continuing to fall, though not with all the emphasis and
continuity of yesterday. Those who had the money and started early
enough obtained excellent breakfasts in Rockville, the county seat
of Montgomery County, and by far the prettiest village these blue
clad wanderers had seen since passing through New Jersey, an opinion
coincided with by more than one regiment in subsequent months. Here
began a new experience since, thence onward to the Capital, the road
was macadamized which, however much dryer it might be for the feet,
soon began to make them exceedingly sore, more trying even than the
muddy roads thus far encountered. While thus advancing on Washington,
the headquarter's wagon was met on its way to Poolesville and, on the
order of Colonel Davis, the mail belonging to the Regiment was taken
out and distributed to the men, a most cheerful episode in an otherwise
very dreary day.
[Sidenote: APR. 16, '63]
Whatever the speed of the men who marched ahead of the Regiment, they
were all held up by the vigilant guards at the first post of the
pickets who were stationed around the entire city. This was a few miles
before reaching Tenallytown and, at the post, the advance stragglers
awaited the coming of the main body. Showers had been intermittent
throughout the day and, after a march of sixteen miles, the drenched
sons of Massachusetts were pleased to reach the above named place,
practically a Maryland village, though within the confines of the
District of Columbia. In or near the village was a large edifice, used
as a retreat for the priests and pupils of Georgetown College during
the summer season, and here the bedraggled Regiment found refuge,
reaching it through the great fortifications which surrounded the city,
portions of which had been seen on the Virginia side of the Potomac,
the nearest forts being Reno and Gaines. That straggling was common
became apparent when an entire company found ample space in a single
room, whose comforts were all the more comfortable as the men heard the
rain which persisted through the most of the night.
"Somewhere the sun is shining" never had a more hearty greeting than
when, after so many hours of pitiless pelting, the morning of the
17th dawned clear and bright. Naturally there were orders to dry and
clean up, the house grates affording opportunity for one, and our own
industry accomplishing the other. It was ten o'clock when the start
was made, but alas for human expectations! In vain were all of our
burnishings, for the mud, Georgetown-way, was simply bottomless, and
long ere the latter city was reached, the Thirty-ninth looked even
worse than it did when Tenallytown was attained, though in their
anxiety to retain the morning's polish, in several cases dividing
fences were broken down that men might march between the street-fence
and the houses, thus getting out of some of the mud. The ineffective
rage of some of the protesting housewives is still remembered. But an
excess of mud and water could not efface the results of months of
the hardest kind of discipline and when "company front, by the right
into line" was heard, it was obeyed with a readiness and unanimity
that would have delighted the great Frederick and, baggage-burdened,
mud-bespattered and wearied with forty-eight hours of most trying
marching, the Regiment acquitted itself most admirably through the
streets and avenues of Washington. At last the men realized the value
of their arduous labors on the drilling-grounds of Poolesville; they
believed in their Colonel and his associate officers, and when they saw
their lines as an arrow straight, every one, in spite of all obstacles,
keeping perfect step, best of all they believed in themselves.
FOOTNOTES:
[D] Reference to the records of the officers, as given in the archives
of Vermont and Massachusetts, shows that Colonel Davis was commissioned
August 29, 1862, and Colonel Jewett on the 26th, though the document
was not issued until the 30th. Since possession is universally
considered nine points of law, it would seem that the burden of
evidence was on the side of the Massachusetts Colonel.
WASHINGTON.
The halting place was Martindale Barracks, named thus for General
John H. Martindale who, a West Pointer from New York (1835), had won
distinguished honors in the Peninsular campaign and, from the preceding
November, had been Military Governor of Washington. The barracks,
themselves, large and roomy, were located near the "circle," so called,
where Washington and New Hampshire Avenues intercept Twenty-third
Street, all being to the Northwest of the White House. The men had no
difficulty in recognizing the equestrian statue of Washington, by Clark
Mills, which, since February, 1860, had stood as the principal figure
in the Circle. The buildings to be occupied by the Thirty-ninth were
new, well ventilated and lighted, having all reasonable conveniences,
two stories in height, the first for officer's quarters, cooking and
dining rooms, while in the second story were the best of accommodations
for the men. The quarters had been occupied hitherto by one regiment
only, the One Hundred and sixty-ninth New York, which having reported
in Washington, in October, '62, had been doing provost duty until a few
days before when it was ordered to proceed southward to assist General
John J. Peck in the defense of Suffolk, Virginia. The hospital, large
and well equipped, won the admiration of the men though, fortunately,
there were few occupants during the regiment's stay in the city.
[Sidenote: APR., '63]
Such were the new appointments to which the Thirty-ninth was commended,
something of a change from its former rural surroundings, and a new
course of duties was about to be undertaken, though hardly had the
brightening up of uniforms and equipments begun ere orders came to
stay proceedings, for the regiment was to proceed at once to Fortress
Monroe, possibly to have a part in the Suffolk campaign. Had this order
not been countermanded and the organization had followed after the One
Hundred and Sixty-ninth New York, and had participated in the latter's
services, while the Thirty-ninth would have had enough to do, it would
have entirely escaped the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Weldon Railroad
and other experiences which make up its thrilling war history. Once
more settled in their new quarters, confident that provost work in
the Capital is before them for an unknown period, the men proceed to
burnish up their weapons, to wash, brush and brighten their uniforms
and by the time for dress parade, at the close of this first day in
Washington, the closest observer could not have detected any traces of
the tribulations through which the soldiers had so recently passed.
It is a life of rigid routine to which the regiment is now committed;
military conventionalities in the highest degree are to be the rule for
nearly three months; no more "Go as you please" when on picket, nor
the free and easy conditions of the Poolesville camp for, seemingly,
the eyes of the public are on every man and he must be in the stiffest
form of polished brasses, dustless apparel and shiny shoes. The
discipline that was thought so severe before, now becomes doubly so.
Reveillé sounds at 5.30 a. m. and thence onward till 8 o'clock, save
for breakfast, the detailed men are preparing for inspection, which
takes place at the office of the provost marshal, Captain Todd. When
on duty, the utmost punctiliousness is demanded and, if the men of
the Thirty-ninth do not approach perfection, it will not be the fault
of the regulations nor of the officers who direct. To such an extent
are the polishing and shining of the rifles carried that some of the
men are actually afraid that they will wear the barrels out by such
constant attrition. When fully settled into the system of provost and
other forms of duty, much of the old time drill is suspended, but there
is something to do every day, as much as if the men were laboring in a
shop, at the desk or on a farm.
The chief exhibition occasions are those of dress parade when
distinguished people are not unlikely to appear. At such times,
President Lincoln is seen, and Senator Henry Watson, that Massachusetts
man of the people, is not an unusual figure. Is Colonel Davis proud
of his men? Rather, how his face lights up at the immediate and
perfect response to his commands, and every movement of the long line
of soldiers is an effectual refutation of the stilted idea that well
informed men cannot make good soldiers. Indeed the entire war was
proof convincing that thinking bayonets are the most reliable. Of the
satisfying spectacle of dress parade, an observer of the time comments,
"So perfect and strict were the drill and personal appearance that in
our line, of from eight hundred to nine hundred men, not the slightest
difference could be detected in any movement from one flank to the
other, as if performed by one man, and, in that test of perfect drill,
'Order arms,' though on a brick sidewalk, not one musket was behind
the other, all striking with one crash, which startled the spectators,
resembling a perfect volley of musketry."
[Sidenote: APR., '63]
It was a great change from picketing the banks of the Potomac and
doing guard duty about the Poolesville region, to patrolling the
thoroughfares of Washington and guarding such points as the War
Department, the White House, the offices of the paymaster and
quartermaster general, General Heintzelman's Headquarters, the medical
purveyor, the post office, the headquarters for forage, corrals for
horses and mules, contraband camps, courts-martial and other places of
kindred character. The men who had all of these duties to look after
grew to consider Washington a paradise for officers not on duty, but
quite the reverse for the enlisted man. The former could come and go
at his own sweet will while the latter, if he got a pass at all, was
subjected to so many conditions that more than half of the pleasure was
lost.
At the same time, in one way or another, the Regiment grew to know
Washington pretty well; the most of the notable points were inspected
and the young men from far away homes took pleasure in seeing the
evidences of real home life on every hand; said one of them, "It seems
good to be in civilization once more." The 21st of April brought
the New Hampshire friends of Poolesville memory and those beholding
bade the Fourteenth a hearty welcome; the regiment was assigned to
quarters on New York Avenue, its principal duty being the care of the
Central guard house; a fact that resulted most happily when Lieut.
Carroll D. Wright, subsequently colonel, was in charge, for certain
inconsiderate members of Scott's Nine Hundred, having run in some of
the Thirty-ninth's men, without sufficient reason, that very efficient
officer released the prisoners at once, the incident being the only one
in which our Massachusetts men were even temporarily under arrest in
Washington. The two regiments partook of the neighborliness, so long
characteristic of the states whence they had come.
Many a soldier boy made mention of the fact that on the 22nd Uncle
Sam's paymaster happened around and left four months' compensation,
squaring accounts to the first of March, and with "plenty of money in
our pockets" even provost guards could be gay and happy. An indication
of the steadiness of at least some of the men is found when a diarist
writes of the city division of the Sons of Temperance and the cordial
reception accorded him and the lieutenant who accompanied him; later
the same writer states that a large number of soldiers were present;
not all soldiers were or are dissolute. In these days the objects of
interest were pretty thoroughly inspected and many a lad thought his
blue coat quite in place in the President's blue room; and few items
near escaped them. They even noted the cow that furnished the milk for
the President's family, and some admired the equestrian Jackson, nearly
opposite the White House; they threaded the mazes of the Smithsonian
Institute, lingering longest over Catlin's wonderful collection of
Indian faces, and one recites his pleasure at meeting Frank Brownell,
the slayer of Jackson, the Mansion House murderer of Colonel Ellsworth
of the New York Fire Zouaves. On the 28th the shoulder-scales that
became a part of the display-uniform thereafter were dealt out, a fact
that secured for the Thirty-ninth the reputation from certain ignorant
fellows of being a regiment of major generals. The month ended with a
general observance of the National Fast Day appointed by the President
in compliance with a request of the National Senate that he set apart a
day for national prayer and humiliation.
[Sidenote: MAY, '63]