1840-1861
Gen. William Henry Harrison had been elected President in 1840 at the
conclusion of one of the most exciting political contests ever known in
America. A month after assuming office, in April, 1841, he suddenly
died. Public feeling which had been so stirred over the election, now
reacted; and men everywhere vied with one another in expressing
heart-felt sorrow. Amidst circumstances of deep gloom, intensified by
bad weather, the battalions, in the very midst of the confusion
attendant upon their reorganization, made a funeral parade notable for
its sadness. It was not until July, 1862, that the regiment again came
in touch with Harrison; then they were stationed at his birthplace,
Harrison’s Landing on the James River, Virginia. And greatly did they
enjoy their days of rest after the torture of the Chickahominy swamp,
and the opportunity to use plenty of clean, fresh water for bathing;
possibly some of the older soldiers remembered the obsequies of April
22, 1841.
June, 1843, was a red-letter period in Boston history. Bunker Hill
monument was at last completed after eighteen years building, and a vast
concourse of people assembled for its dedication. The New York 7th
Regiment, then known as the “National Guard Battalion,” arrived on the
16th, and was received and entertained by the Fusiliers. Indeed troops
were present from four outside states--Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode
Island and New York. That same day the artillery battalions met
President John Tyler at Roxbury Crossing, and escorted him to the
Tremont House, the parade taking place amidst a drenching rain-storm.
The morning of the 17th was clear, cool, and delightful. At an early
hour, the military part of the procession, which consisted of four grand
divisions, was formed on Boston Common. As the procession moved toward
Bunker Hill, the enthusiasm which was produced by the admirable
appearance of the troops was only equalled by that which greeted the
distinguished Webster, the gifted orator of the day; while President
Tyler, in melancholy contrast, was received with ominous silence and
coolness. Arriving at Bunker Hill, the orator of the day and the guests
and officials passed into the already crowded square. While Webster was
speaking, the soldiers were necessarily far beyond the sound of his
voice, and were entertained by “a bountiful collation,” which the
hospitable authorities of Boston had prepared. After the ceremonies,
oratorical and gustatory, the procession returned to Boston, and the
troops were reviewed by the President at the State House. At a dinner
the same evening in Faneuil Hall, President Tyler gave the following
toast:--“The Union,--a union of purpose, a union of feeling, the Union
established by our fathers.” A few years later, he was an active enemy
of that Union, which he had complimented in the most solemn manner
within the sacred walls of the Cradle of Liberty.
Boston’s division of the force, thereafter to be known as the
Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, paraded in two brigades, with a total
strength of 2,500 men. Incidentally we might note that there were two
other such divisions in the state. Under the circumstances the 1st and
2d Battalions of Artillery added to their already creditable reputation
and presented a fine appearance. There were five companies in the two
battalions, each consisting of a captain, two lieutenants, four
sergeants, four corporals, six gunners, six bombardiers, one drummer,
one fifer, and sixty-four privates or “matrosses.” Part of each company
was armed, equipped and drilled as infantry; but each company proudly
exhibited two bronze six-pounder cannon with limbers, and a single
caisson. The ordnance had increased in caliber since 1784, the change
being made in 1840. The state prescribed by law what manner of uniform
the artillery companies should wear. Inasmuch however as the members had
to purchase their own clothing without state assistance, and since they
were mostly interested in the glory of their own companies, they were
pardonable for regarding the regulation state uniform as merely a point
of departure from which fancy might soar in devising distinctive
costumes for the company units. Caps, short jackets, and frock coats,
soon to become popularized as a result of the Mexican War, were
beginning to be in vogue.
The year 1844 marked a still more important step in the development of
the artillery battalions. Train-band companies of each district had
always been organized into regiments, and the regiment was conceded to
be the fundamental unit in importance. It was the tactical unit, that
is, the troops maneuvered as regiments when in the presence of an enemy.
It was also the administrative unit, in the sense that all records and
reports centered at regimental headquarters. In drill regulations, the
regiment was called a battalion; but no battalion could claim to be a
regiment unless it had approximately ten companies, and was commanded by
a colonel; one thousand was the membership standard. In other words the
regiment was the only complete battalion. When the train-band ceased to
be, the battalions of artillery began to aspire after regimental dignity
in the Volunteer Militia. The 1st Battalion had actually been a regiment
for a few months, ten years previously. Nor was it forgotten that the
two battalions were originally one, that the regimental consolidation to
be was really a reunion of those who, forty-six years before, had been a
single body. On June 4, 1844, their wish was gratified; and the 5th
Regiment of Artillery came into being. With the promotion on June 24 of
Andrew Chase, Jr., to the colonelcy the new organization was completed.
Economy reigned in the Adjutant General’s office of that day, and the
state did not feel that it could afford much expenditure for printing.
Our earliest rosters come from 1858, and we are unable to name many of
the distinguished men who made up the 5th Regiment at its inception. It
contained five companies: 1st, the Roxbury Artillery; 4th, the
Dorchester Artillery; 6th, the Columbian Artillery; 7th, the Washington
Artillery; and 8th, the Boston Artillery. Since all excepting the
Dorchester company were strong organizations with established
reputations, the regiment, from the very beginning, became the most
distinguished military body in the city and state. In recognition of
this fact Col. Chase was promoted to the brigadier-generalship Aug. 28,
1847.
Military affairs were stimulated by the Mexican war in 1846. While no
militia organization went from Massachusetts, individuals from all
regiments enlisted in the 1st Massachusetts Volunteers, the single
regiment sent out by the state; and tales of American valor in the
southwest served to arouse all to do better work. Mexican veterans
afterward organized a company in our command; and became the recognized
custodians of the 1st Volunteers’ Mexican battle-flag.
[Illustration: ARTILLERY IN 1917]
[Illustration: Copyright by Continental Ins. Co.
ARTILLERY IN 1784]
Regimental responsibility was too much for the Dorchester Artillery, and
it was disbanded in 1845. Only four companies remained in the 5th
Regiment. In fact there was too much disbanding for the good of the
militia. The state authorities seemed to think that it was cheaper to
disband a company which had fallen into “hard luck” than it was to cure
the difficulty by paying a little money for the restoration and support
of the sufferer. This was a false economy. Of the one hundred forty-two
companies which existed in 1840 in the new Volunteer Militia,
seventy-eight were disbanded within the first seven years, and one
hundred two passed out of existence within twenty-five years. With so
many surgical operations it is marvelous that any militia survived at
all.
Altho few in number, the four companies of the 5th Regiment who paraded
as an escort to President Polk June 29, 1847, and who welcomed Daniel
Webster upon his return to Boston, gave evidence of increased
efficiency. The legislature was making more liberal appropriations--was
indeed spending each year (1844-1852) all of $6 per man on the militia;
even this moderate expenditure was far better than nothing. The state
authorities were very well satisfied with themselves and with their
handiwork, reporting to inquirers that the Massachusetts system “met
every need.” A fairly liberal allowance of ammunition was made to each
artillery company--forty round shot, forty canister, and one hundred
pounds of powder every year.
William B. Perkins became Colonel Sept. 10, 1847. Altho he did not enjoy
good physical health, and died in office November 16, 1849, his
administration was signalized by several important events. On March 10,
1848, occurred the funeral of Ex-President John Quincy Adams. The
regiment, or part of it, paraded on Oct. 25 of the same year in
celebration of the completion of the Cochituate water system. On Aug. 8
and 9, 1849, the regiment participated in its first state camp, at
Neponset, continuing two and one-half days. A curious old print of this
encampment has come down to us showing how the 1st Brigade of the 1st
Division looked at the time. The 5th Artillery was present, four
companies strong, clad conspicuously in bearskin and other towering
shakos; the balance of the brigade consisted of the National Lancers in
their uhlan costumes, as at present, which had been adopted four years
before, and the 1st Light Infantry, wearing distinctive company
uniforms. The Lancers were at that time attached to the 1st Light
Infantry, and were the only cavalry command in the state. Was any
prophet present in Neponset on those August days gifted with ability to
read the future? Did anyone even guess that twenty-nine years later the
5th Artillery and the remnant of the 1st Light Infantry were to
consolidate in a new 1st Regiment? While a two and one-half day camp
must necessarily be chiefly occupied with pitching tents, escorting
visitors, engaging in those social festivities which are “absolutely
essential” on all military occasions, and then taking down the tents,
there is no doubt that the men acquired much real military knowledge in
between-times, and that the new custom registered a long step forward.
Col. Asa Law commanded the regiment from Jan. 4 to July 10, 1850.
July 26, 1850, witnessed another change in the colonelcy, Robert Cowdin
assuming command of the regiment. Col. Cowdin, in his peaceful moments,
was a Boston lumber-dealer; but members of the regiment will always
remember him as a soldier, except when they recall some more intimate
contact with the man whom they loved; then they speak of him as
“father.” It makes a great deal of difference that he commanded them
during the year of fearful hardship and sanguinary strife on the
Virginia Peninsula; but even before that he had endeared himself to his
men, while he was merely a militia commander. He had been Captain of Co.
K, in the 1st Inf. during 1848 and 1849; and came into the artillery as
Major. It is hardly over-stating it, to say that Col. Cowdin is the man
who made the regiment great.
What he assumed command over was actually four splendid artillery
companies, loosely yoked together in the 5th Regiment. The conception
was nine-tenths “company” and only one-tenth “regiment.” Inter-company
rivalry had prevented the development of real regimental spirit. The new
colonel was determined to command a true regiment; and since he was a
man of masterly force and boundless enthusiasm, he speedily had his way.
Distinctive company costumes yielded place to a regimental uniform, and
thereafter the company was a subordinate unit. The obsequies of
Ex-President Taylor were the last occasion on which inter-company
diversity appeared; and that was in the very month of Col. Cowdin’s
accession. In all his reforms he was ably seconded by Capt. Moses H.
Webber of Roxbury, commanding the 1st Company. In 1851 percussion
muskets displaced the flint-locks. The same year a new 4th Company, the
Cowdin Artillery, was organized, followed in 1852 by the 9th Company,
the Webster Artillery, and in 1853 by the 3d Company or Bay State
Artillery and the 5th Company or Shields Artillery. The regiment thus
had eight companies. That year Isaac S. Burrell became Captain of the
1st Company.
Col. Cowdin’s first camp was held at Medford, and drew warm compliments
from the Adjutant General. Neponset was occupied as a camp-ground for
the second time in 1851; Boston Common in 1852; and the regiment
participated in divisional camp at North Abington in 1853. In 1854 the
division was at Quincy. How conditions have changed with the increase
of Massachusetts population! Who would think of these places as suitable
camp-sites today, least of all, Boston Common?
Col. Cowdin’s regiment paraded as escort to President Fillmore Sept. 17,
1851; they helped welcome the Hungarian patriot, Louis Kossuth, April
27, 1852; and they participated in the funeral parade for Daniel Webster
in Marshfield, Nov. 30, 1852. It came to be a custom at this time for
Boston military critics and newspaper reporters to accord chief praise,
after a parade, to the 5th Regiment.
Anthony Burns’ name is associated with the next important event in the
regiment’s history, the most unpleasant event with which it ever had
anything to do. No more painful duty can confront the militiaman than
the task of maintaining public order, for no American likes to have part
in coercing his fellow citizens. And on June 2, 1854, the regiment was
called upon to enforce the most unpopular statute ever enacted by
Congress, the “Fugitive Slave” law. Burns had escaped from his owner in
Virginia, and found employment with a Boston clothing-dealer.
Massachusetts was called upon to render him up under the terms of the
new statute, and the U. S. Marshal arrested him on May 25. Public
sympathy was strongly with the colored man, funeral draperies appeared
upon the fronts of private residences, many threatened mob violence, and
a great popular meeting was held in Faneuil Hall, May 27, addressed by
Wendell Phillips and other prominent anti-slavery men, to protest
against this humiliation to which Massachusetts was about to submit. The
speakers even counseled a rescue by force. Under the U. S. law, a man
“held to service” in another state, could be extradited and transported
to that state for trial. The trouble was, that in the case of a fugitive
slave, extradition involved the entire question--if Burns should be
carried back to Virginia, his chance of liberty would be gone; and
Boston believed in liberty. An attempt was made to take him from jail,
but this proved unsuccessful.
Col. Cowdin’s 5th Regiment, Col. Holbrook’s 1st Regiment, the 3d
Battalion, the Cadets and the Lancers were ordered out to assist the
police in enforcing the law. Guards were posted along the streets
leading from the court-house to the “T Wharf,” where a steamer lay in
readiness; and the Lancers, with a strong detachment of police, and U.
S. artillery, surrounded the prisoner. It was on June 2 that the U. S.
Commissioner rendered his decision; and the grim procession started at
once. Red pepper and acid were thrown at the troops, clubs and stones
were used, a Lancer’s horse was stabbed; but the display of force proved
too strong for the rioters.
Both Col. Cowdin and Col. Holbrook later proved the genuineness of their
devotion to freedom’s cause by commanding regiments in the Civil War.
What they and their commands did on June 2, 1854, was entirely
distasteful to them; but the call came to them as soldiers. Like true
soldiers they performed their duty; and Burns went back to the south.
His fidelity to duty was eight years later to be instrumental in
preventing the confirmation of Col. Cowdin’s appointment as Brigadier
General.
Happily, with the modern increase in police efficiency occasions for
such service grow less and less frequent. Our professional police
officers are now capable of handling all but the most severe crises
without military assistance.
Another state-wide reorganization of the militia was engineered by the
legislature on Feb. 26, 1855; and in some ways this was the most
unfortunate of them all. It was primarily caused by racial and sectarian
jealousy, a spirit which has no rightful place whatever in American
life. The principles of the “Know Nothing” party were regnant that
year. No less a man than Thomas Cass was forced to resign his military
commission--today his statue stands in honor in the Public Gardens. It
almost seemed that the dominant faction were determined to prove
themselves in the military and other diverse fields, as well as in the
field of partizan politics, to be “know nothings.” The 5th Regiment,
Boston’s best, was ordered disbanded; but the State House authorities
did not really mean this. They only reorganized the command, with the
intention that the resultant “2d Regiment of Infantry” should continue
its service record. The 6th Company, the old Columbian Artillery
commanded by Cass, together with the Webster Artillery and Shields
Artillery of the 5th, were actually disbanded. Worst of all, Col. Cowdin
found his commission vacated, apparently for political reasons. Capt.
Cass’s company continued its existence as the “Columbian Association,”
and in 1861 developed into the 9th Infantry.
[Illustration: MAJ. POORE PAYS HIS BET
Page 99]
Moses H. Webber was commissioned Colonel of the new 2d Infantry on April
18, 1855, and continued in office until Dec. 19 of that year. It
consequently fell to his lot to adapt the regiment to its new
conditions. Since the regiment had been drilling more and more as
infantry and less and less as artillery, the change from one branch of
the service to the other was less abrupt than it appeared to be. And be
it noted that the regiment never lost interest in its native
artillery--until in 1897 it re-entered the artillery branch. Col. Webber
had four companies from the 5th, three of them old and strong ones. Two
companies were transferred from the 1st Regiment, the 6th and 9th, of
which both were already distinguished under their names, the “Union
Guards” and the “National Guards.” The artillery companies signalized
their transition to infantry by changing their names, the Roxbury
Artillery becoming the Roxbury City Guard, the Washington Artillery the
Washington Light Guard, and the Boston Artillery the Boston Phalanx. The
regiment, so reorganized, was paraded by Col. Webber as escort to
President Franklin Pierce, when the latter visited Boston.
As the Civil War approached, Massachusetts grew more liberal in
providing for her soldiers. In 1852 the expenditure per man was
increased to $6.50 a year, in 1857 to $9.00, and in 1858 the expenditure
was fixed at $7.50 and remained there until 1869.
The New York 7th Regiment visited Boston and participated in the Bunker
Hill celebration of June 17, 1857. Their ease and precision of movement,
their evident regimental spirit, their large numbers, and their
serviceable yet dressy gray uniform, worn uninterruptedly since
1824,--all made a deep impression upon Boston military men. As the 7th
had stopped to suppress an incipient riot on its way to the boat in New
York the night before, its practical efficiency added force to the
impression. The Lancers and the 2d, who acted as special escort to the
visiting troops, came most strongly under this spell. An impulse was
given to the movement for improving the 2d. In 1859 the regiment adopted
a gray uniform closely patterned after the dress of the 7th, and
continued the new bill of dress until July, 1861. Again after the war
the same gray uniform was in use between 1869 and 1880.
Col. William W. Bullock commanded the regiment from Jan. 11, 1856, until
April 14, 1858, when he was promoted to be Brigadier General. Camp was
held at Quincy in 1856; at Chelsea in 1857; and the latter occasion was
notable because Robert Cowdin then rejoined his old command, accepting
the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
In 1858 (May 11) Col. Cowdin was again in command; and continued in
office until the second year of the war, when on Sept. 26, 1862, he was
advanced to the rank of Brigadier General. In connection with the
regimental camp at North Bridgewater, 1858, the regiment received its
long-desired rifled muskets.
So many companies had been transferred from the old 1st Regiment, that
it finally seemed best to disband that organization altogether. By
contrast with the 5th-2d, its regimental spirit had grown weaker and
weaker with each passing year until Boston’s oldest regiment was nothing
but a loosely connected group of separate companies. So on March 1,
1859, four of its companies, the Washington Guards, the Independent
Boston Fusiliers, the Pulaski Guards and the Mechanic Rifles, were
transferred to Col. Cowdin’s regiment, where they took place as the 2d,
3d, 4th and 5th Companies respectively. As separate companies these
already possessed proud records; and in their new regimental connection
the 3d and 4th immediately found a vigorous new life. The Mechanic
Rifles soon disbanded, and most of the members joined the Ancient and
Honorable Artillery Company. Later on, we shall follow the adventures of
the three remaining companies of the old 1st.
Meanwhile Massachusetts was getting ready for the approaching war and
putting her military forces in condition for active service. Sept. 7 to
9, 1859, Col. Cowdin led his reinforced command to camp at Concord,
winning highest praise for the numbers and skill of his men. This was a
notable occasion in Massachusetts military history, and as it later
proved, in U. S. history. Had not the Bay State been more ready for war
than her sisters, there would have been no “minute-men of ’61” available
to rush southward, and save the National capital. The Concord encampment
for the entire Volunteer Militia, three divisions with a total
membership of 7,500 men, was the pet project of Gov. Nathaniel Banks.
While other executives of the state had regarded their office of
commander-in-chief as a somewhat perfunctory affair, Gov. Banks took it
exceedingly seriously; and even went so far as to uniform himself in
clothing appropriate to his military office. Surely he “came to the
kingdom for such a time as this.” While the pacifist governors of many
northern states were ridiculing the very idea of war, Gov. Banks put his
state in an attitude of preparedness--and was largely instrumental in
saving the Union.
As the encampment continued only three days, it was mainly occupied with
making and breaking camp, and escorting distinguished official visitors.
But some little time was squeezed out for studying the new Hardee’s
tactics, which were just supplanting Scott’s. Great enthusiasm was
aroused by the presence of Gen. John E. Wool, the “hero of Buena Vista,”
who reviewed the troops. But the great day of all came when Gov. Banks
and the members of the legislature reviewed the campers. A famous
lithograph of this scene exists; and does more than anything else to
make the regiment of those days seem real to us. Numbers were small, as
we reckon numbers today; but the finest spirit of determined patriotism
was manifest.
A slight change in organization took place under Hardee’s tactics;
instead of four lieutenants to a company, there were only two.
Consequently few new men were elected to fill vacancies until the
regiment had adjusted itself to the new régime. The officers of the
regiment at the great Concord encampment, besides Col. Cowdin, were:
Lieutenant Colonel, Isaac S. Burrell (postmaster of Roxbury, and later
City Marshal); Major, Isaac F. Shephard. The captains commanding
companies were: 1st, Thomas L. D. Perkins (proprietor of a smoke-house);
3d, Henry A. Snow (treasurer of a bleachery); 6th, Edward Pearl; 7th,
Walter S. Sampson (a mason and builder); 8th, Clark B. Baldwin (a
merchant); 9th, Arthur Dexter; and 10th, Joshua Jenkins. With the Civil
War less than two years off, it is well to look ahead and see how many
of these militiamen rendered service in the hour of their country’s
need. Of the Colonel we have already spoken. The Lieutenant Colonel
commanded the 42d Regiment in 1862, and again in 1864, as we shall see.
The Major presently removed to Missouri for business reasons, where he
served with Nathaniel Lyon, and ultimately commanded the 51st U. S.
Colored Infantry, and was promoted to be Brigadier General. Four of the
seven captains went to war. Capts. Snow and Pearl served three months
each at the beginning of the regiment’s three years of service, and then
received their discharges. Capt. Sampson took his company into the 6th
Regiment, and led them thru Baltimore on April 19, 1862, under deadly
fire from the rioters. Later he served as Captain in the 22d Infantry
during the Peninsular campaign, commanding that regiment at Gaines Mill.
Capt. Baldwin remained in Col. Cowdin’s regiment when his company
transferred themselves to the new 4th Battalion of Rifles and ultimately
to the 13th Regiment; and became commander of a new 4th Company, and
from 1862 to 1864 was Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment. Baldwin was a
most profane man, and during the ensuing campaign stragglers could
identify their regiment from a distance by the sound of his swearing.
When Baldwin was made prisoner at the Wilderness, his captors marvelled
at his vocabulary; and came up to his tent in successive reliefs to
listen. Once a youthful fifer who had been caught by the then Lieutenant
Colonel straggling, was punished by having a log loaded on his shoulder
as he marched. This lad has put on record, that regulations provided for
“a field officer at the head of a regiment and a mule at the rear”; and
that Col. Baldwin was deemed well-qualified for either end of the
column. But the testimony is confessedly biassed.
Boston Common was the site of the 1860 camp, the last camp before the
war. Military interest was then at fever heat, and the very air seemed
electric with the coming struggle. In the midst of the warlike
preparation occurred a peaceful ceremony which gained in interest from
its very contrast with its surroundings; the youthful Prince of Wales,
afterward Edward VII of Great Britain, visited Boston and was accorded
military honors. A member of the regiment has recorded of him that he
was “a really handsome youth with a pleasant blue eye, plump cheeks, and
skin of great fairness.”
On January 24, 1861, the 2d Regiment was redesignated, receiving the
number, “1st,” which had been taken away from the old 1st in 1859. Since
six companies of the old 1st (as well as Col. Cowdin himself) had
previously been added to what now became the “Civil War” 1st, there was
an obvious fitness in allowing the number to be transferred also.
Moreover the future held in store that all remaining of the old 1st
personnel should, in 1878, be consolidated with their quondam comrades
in a new 1st Regiment.