Suffolk was our last regular encampment. From there we went to Yorktown,
expecting to take transportation home, as our term of service had nearly
expired. After remaining there a few days we were, very much to our
surprise, ordered up the peninsula. Somebody evidently made a mistake in
his reckoning, for when we arrived at Williamsburg, only twelve miles
distant from Yorktown, we were ordered back, an order which was not
reluctantly obeyed, although had there been urgent need for the regiment's
services for a longer period, I feel sure that they would have been
cheerfully rendered.
Upon our return to Yorktown we once more pitched our shelter (or "dog")
tents, and made ourselves as comfortable as we could until transportation
was furnished. Finally we embarked on the steamer "John Rice," and after a
three days' sail arrived in Providence on the afternoon of the sixth of
July, 1863, just nine months to a day from the time we left Rhode Island.
The reception of the regiment by the patriotic citizens of Providence was
as generous as it was hospitable. The Pawtucket companies (B and F)
reached home just before six o'clock, and were welcomed with the firing of
cannon, the ringing of bells, and other demonstrations of respect and
kindness. After the warm greetings at the railroad station by friends, the
band meanwhile vigorously playing "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," and
other popular airs, a line was formed, (the escort comprising the Home
Guard and officers of the Light Guard,) and moved through the principal
streets, including a march to Central Falls and back. It was a proud day
for the "raw recruit" and his comrades. In marching through the streets of
both places, cheers and the waving of handkerchiefs testified the delight
of the multitude at our safe return. On arriving at the old Armory Hall in
Pawtucket, where, nine or ten months previously, so many of us had
enlisted, and which never looked so well to us before, a bountiful
collation was partaken of, and then, with good judgment on the part of
somebody, the companies were dismissed without being compelled to listen
to speeches from those who, for "prudential reasons," remained at home.
The second death in Company B occurred on the evening of the first day out
from Yorktown. Frank M. Bliss, the "drummer boy" of the company, had been
sick several days with typhoid fever in the hospital at Yorktown, and his
recovery was considered hopeless when he was carried on board the steamer
by his comrades. The deceased was a son of Captain Albert Bliss, of
Pawtucket, and a young man of excellent qualities. He was very anxious to
serve his country in some capacity, and being only eighteen years of age,
and not physically able to carry the load of an infantry soldier he
enlisted as a drummer, and did good service in that capacity. His remains
were tenderly borne by a detail of his comrades from the steamer to the
home of his afflicted parents, and what in so many other homes was a day
of great joy on account of the return of loved ones, in theirs was a day
of deepest sorrow, for the loved son and brother whose return had been so
long joyously anticipated came not.
The regiment was paid off and "mustered out" of service in Providence on
the thirteenth day of July, 1863. It left Rhode Island a little more than
one thousand strong. It came back numbering eight hundred and
thirty-eight enlisted men and thirty-eight commissioned officers. During
its absence it lost sixty men by discharge, and seven others by death.
Fifty-five of its members were left behind in various hospitals, and
twenty-five sick men were brought home on the steamer. It is a remarkable
fact in the history of the regiment that not one man was killed in an
engagement with the enemy during its entire nine months' campaign. It is
doubtful whether this has its parallel in any other regiment which entered
the service during the civil war.
But there were many other things which the soldier had to do besides
fighting. One thing all had to do, namely, _obey orders_, and when that
was done, the soldier had done all that was required of him, all that he
promised to do when he enlisted. The entire regiment never appeared in
line once after we left Providence, so many of the men being detailed for
various kinds of service, such as hospital nurses, ambulance drivers,
wagoners, and so forth. But, comrades, whatever the service performed by
our regiment, it should be esteemed honor and distinction enough for any
one of us to have it said of him, "_This is the country which he helped to
save_."