IN SERVICE FOR ONE HUNDRED DAYS--ORGANIZATION--READVILLE--OFF FOR
WASHINGTON--AT ALEXANDRIA--AT GREAT FALLS--RETURN HOME.
A scare existed in Washington, caused by Confederate operations under
General Jubal Early, who threatened an invasion of Pennsylvania in
order to mask a contemplated dash on Baltimore and Washington.[19]
[19] Governor Andrew was in Washington at the time, and telegraphed
his adjutant-general (received July 5th) as follows: “I have arranged
with the Secretary of War that men who volunteer for one hundred
days’ service, as requested by him to-day, shall be exempted from
any draft that may be ordered during such hundred days’ service, not
from any future draft, but only from such as may be ordered during
the term of hundred days for which they are asked. I direct you, at
request of Secretary, to issue an order calling for four thousand
one-hundred-days’ infantry, on the terms above mentioned. The details
in connection with the project will not differ materially, otherwise,
from those heretofore prescribed in like cases. I shall have another
consultation to-morrow. Have sent home Peirce to-night.” General Orders
No. 24, calling for five thousand hundred-day men, was issued July 6th,
1864, by Adjutant-General Schouler.
Adjutant-General Schouler casually informed Adjutant Davis, whom he met
on the street, a call had been received from Washington to send troops
immediately for one hundred days’ service. The adjutant had kept up
a correspondence with all of the old line officers, for an ultimate
purpose of again calling the regiment together when Colonel Burrell was
exchanged. Davis mentioned this fact to General Schouler, who at once
advanced the idea of again going into service and advised an attempt
to do so. The old line officers were consulted, and, as the idea was
favored by a majority of them, official orders were issued to go into
camp at Readville, Mass., July 18th, 1864.
The following companies were designated to compose the regiment:
Company A, Captain Isaac Scott, of Roxbury; Company B, Captain Benjamin
C. Tinkham, of Medway; Company C, Captain Isaac B. White, of Boston;
Company D, Captain Samuel A. Waterman, of Roxbury; Company E, Captain
Augustus Ford, of Worcester; Company F, Captain Samuel S. Eddy, of
Worcester; Company G, Captain Alanson H. Ward, of Worcester; Company
H, Captain F. M. Prouty, of Worcester; Company I, Captain James T.
Stevens, of Dorchester; Company K, Captain Benjamin R. Wales, of
Dorchester.
Active measures were at once instituted to clothe, arm with Enfield
rifles, and equip these companies, to be in readiness for a quick
departure. Complete uniforms, with equipments, were issued at
Readville. Many companies went into camp several days previous to July
18th, gaining recruits every day until ready for muster in for service.
Captain Scott failed to recruit more than thirty men. Captain Prouty
failed to recruit his company, although at one time it promised well;
from some cause his men scattered to other companies or went home.
Companies commanded by Captains French and Stewart, already mustered
into service, were assigned to the regiment as Companies A and H.
The first regimental morning report was made up July 20th, and showed
a strength of thirty-five officers, seven hundred and thirty-eight
enlisted men, present and absent. The regiment was ready for marching
orders July 23d, with the following strength:
Officers. Enlisted men. Mustered in.
Field and Staff, 5 3 July 22d.
Company A, 3 95 “ 14th.
“ B, 3 81 “ 22d.
“ C, 3 93 “ 14th.
“ D, 3 97 “ 20th.
“ E, 3 90 “ 22d.
“ F, 3 98 “ 15th.
“ G, 3 87 “ 21st.
“ H, 3 88 “ 16th.
“ I, 3 84 “ 19th.
“ K, 3 90 “ 18th.
-- ---
Total, 35 906
The roster of the regiment was as follows:
Colonel--Isaac S. Burrell.
Lieutenant-Colonel--Joseph Stedman.
Major--Frederick G. Stiles.
Adjutant--Charles A. Davis.
Quartermaster--Alonzo I. Hodsdon.
Surgeon--Albert B. Robinson.
Sergeant-Major--Jediah P. Jordan.
Quartermaster-Sergeant--Charles E. Noyes.
Commissary-Sergeant--Augustus C. Jordan.
Hospital-Steward--Robert White, Jr.
Principal-Musician--Thomas Bowe.
Company A--Captain, Warren French; Lieutenants, Charles W. Baxter and
Joseph M. Thomas.
Company B--Captain, Benjamin C. Tinkham; Lieutenants, George W. Ballou
and George E. Fuller.
Company C--Captain, Isaac B. White; Lieutenants, Joseph Sanderson, Jr.,
and David C. Smith.
Company D--Captain, Samuel A. Waterman; Lieutenants, George H. Bates
and Almon D. Hodges, Jr.
Company E--Captain, Augustus Ford; Lieutenants, James Conner and Frank
H. Cook.
Company F--Captain, Samuel S. Eddy; Lieutenants, Henry J. Jennings and
Edward I. Galvin.
Company G--Captain, Alanson H. Ward; Lieutenants, Moses A. Aldrich and
E. Lincoln Shattuck.
Company H--Captain, George M. Stewart; Lieutenants, Julius M. Lyon and
Joseph T. Spear.
Company I--Captain, James T. Stevens; Lieutenants, Edward Merrill, Jr.,
and Charles A. Arnold.
Company K--Captain, Benjamin R. Wales; Lieutenants, Alfred G. Gray and
Charles P. Hawley.
Officers who resigned and did not accompany the regiment on this second
term were: Quartermaster Burrell, Surgeons Hitchcock and Heintzelman,
Chaplain Sanger, Sergeant-Major Bosson, Commissary-Sergeant Courtney,
Hospital-Steward Wood, Principal-Musician Neuert.[20] Of the thirty
line officers who served during this second term, Captains Tinkham,
White, Waterman and Ford, Lieutenants Sanderson, Ballou, Smith, Cook
and Merrill were with the regiment in 1862 and 1863. Colonel Burrell
arrived home, from Texas, August 9th, was mustered in for this second
term August 10th, and reported at Alexandria September 1st.
[20] Neuert was known as “Dick.” By mistake he was enlisted and borne
on the rolls as Richard A. Neuert. Young in years, he never thought of
correcting the error, and retained the name when he reënlisted in the
11th Battery as a bugler. His right name was Charles A. Neuert.
The Dorchester Cornet Band volunteered to enlist and become the
regimental band. The members were: Leader, Thomas Bowe; Privates Conrad
H. Gurlack, Company A; Perham Orcutt, Company B; Horace A. Allyn,
George Burleigh, William A. Cowles, John W. Capen, Nathaniel Clark,
Lewis Eddy, Edward Lovejoy, Fred. H. Macintosh, Henry B. Sargent,
Phillip Sawyer, Andrew J. Wheeler, of Company D; Wells F. Johnson,
Company H; Jesse K. Webster, Company I; William A. Cobb and Edward H.
Marshall, of Company K.
Two men deserted at Readville, viz.: Private Frederick D. Goodwin,
Company C, July 15th; Private Robert Bryden, Company D, July 22d.
The rank and file were a true representative body of Massachusetts
citizen soldiery. Three-fourths of the men were born in the State;
seventy men were foreign born. Men from a great variety of professions
and trades enlisted. About one-half of the regiment were as follows:
one hundred and seventy-six salesmen, book-keepers and clerks;
twenty-seven students; one hundred and twenty farmers; one hundred
and twenty-four journeymen boot and shoe workmen; twenty-seven mill
operatives.
The old regimental colors were received in camp July 23d, and under
orders to take transports for Washington, promptly at five o’clock
A.M., July 24th, the regiment left Readville by special
train for Boston, and marched down State Street, about half-past six
o’clock, to Battery Wharf, where Companies C, D and E, two hundred
and seventy-one men, under command of Major Stiles, embarked on
steamer _Montauk_. The other companies and the band, under command of
Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman, embarked on steamer _McClellan_. At nine
o’clock both steamers sailed for Washington, and arrived there at noon
July 28th, after a good passage, without an important event occurring.
This landing the regiment in Washington in ten days after being ordered
into camp to recruit and organize can be called quick work.
Reporting to General Augur, commanding Department of Washington, the
regiment was sent to Brigadier-General Slough, Military Governor of
Alexandria, who ordered it into camp on Shuter’s Hill, near Fort
Ellsworth, about one mile from the city. On the morning of July 29th,
after breakfast was eaten at the Soldiers’ Rest, in Alexandria, the
regiment marched to the ground assigned and occupied log huts, built
by other troops when stationed on this hill. In Slough’s command were
Battery H, Indiana Light Artillery, one battalion First District
Columbia Volunteers, the Second District Columbia Volunteers, the
Fifth Wisconsin Volunteers, the Twelfth Regiment Veteran Reserve Corps
and the Forty-Second Massachusetts Volunteers. These troops were soon
organized into a provisional-brigade and attached to the Twenty-Second
Army Corps.
Details for guards and for provost duty were immediately ordered
by General Slough, as follows: July 29th--Two officers and one
hundred and fifteen men for provost duty. July 31st--Eighteen men
every day for patrol duty in Alexandria; thirty-one men to relieve a
detachment Veteran Reserve Corps at Sickel’s Barracks Hospital. July
30th--Lieutenants Sanderson, Company C, and Spear, Company H, were
detached for duty at headquarters provost-marshal-general, Defences
South of Potomac.
At the close of July there was present for duty thirty-two officers
and eight hundred and seventy-three men; twenty-eight men sick; three
officers and six men absent.
During August the officers and men were kept busy at drill, on guard,
provost and patrol duty, which inured them to endure fatigue and become
acquainted with the tedious side of a soldier’s life. Train-guards were
furnished for trains on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, to protect
working and construction parties in constant danger of attacks from
guerrillas and obstructions placed upon the track to delay trains; at
Fairfax Station, August 15th, the enemy greased the rails, and a train
could not proceed--the enemy decamped, not waiting for the train-guard
to get a blow at them. Details were sent to Burke’s Station and other
places for logs, used to build additional huts for the men. What duty
was done in August is shown by the following details, ordered by
General Slough:
August 2d--One hundred and thirteen men detailed each day for
grand-guard line.
August 6th--Two officers and one hundred and fifty-seven men relieved
the Twelfth Regiment Veteran Reserve Corps, in Alexandria; next day
this detachment was relieved by the Second Regiment District Columbia
Volunteers.
August 7th--A regimental camp guard of fifty men was established.
August 7th--Seventy-five men for train-guards to Fairfax Station,
detailed each day until the twenty-third.
August 4th--Seventeen men were detached for permanent duty on the
military police in Alexandria.
August 28th--Seventy-five men were detached for duty as hospital
attendants in the general hospitals in Alexandria. The hospitals were
full of patients.
Details for August were:
4th--Sergeant Alfred Davenport, Company K, clerk at headquarters
Department Washington, Twenty-Second Army Corps. Relieved October 29th.
For duty at general court-martial rooms in Alexandria: 1st--Private
George S. Partridge, Company B, orderly. 3d--Corporal Thomas J.
Rooney, Company B, clerk. 4th--Corporal Edwin H. Holbrook, Company B,
clerk.--Private Alfred Noon, Company H, orderly.--Private Richard M.
Sabin, Company G, orderly. 9th--Private Ellery C. Bartlett, Company K,
clerk. 13th--Private J. H. S. Pearson, Company C, clerk.
On detached service at headquarters provost-marshal-general:
1st--Private H. W. Tolman, Company A, orderly. 2d--Private William
S. French, Company F, orderly.--Private Alvin S. Pratt, Company
F, orderly. 10th--Private Jno. R. Graham, Company A, orderly.
24th--Private William G. Kidder, Company C, clerk.--Corporal George
Dunbar, Company D, clerk.
On detached service at headquarters military governor: 4th--Private
Herbert W. Hitchcock, Company H, orderly. 5th--Private Fred. S.
Dickinson, Company G, orderly. 11th--Private Hiram E. Smith, Company H,
clerk. 13th--Private J. Clark Reed, Company C, clerk.--Private Thomas
J. McKay, Company F, clerk.
The officers on detached service were: 2d--Lieutenant Shattuck,
Company G, on permanent duty with city patrol in Alexandria.
9th--Lieutenant Hodges, Company D, on permanent duty at headquarters
provost-marshal-general. 10th--Lieutenant Thomas, Company A, on
permanent duty in command of guard at Hunting Creek Bridge block-house,
under the orders of provost-marshal-general. 12th--Lieutenant Ballou,
Company B, was detailed for permanent duty with the military police
of Alexandria, to relieve Lieutenant Shattuck, who was not active and
experienced enough to suit General Slough.
The officers detailed for general court-martial duty were: Captains
Tinkham, Waterman, Ford and Ward, from July 31st; Major Stiles,
Lieutenants Baxter and Jennings, from August 6th.
The enlisted men on detailed daily duty were: Private W. A. G. Hooton,
Company A, nurse at regimental hospital; Private Mathias F. Chaffin,
Company E, nurse at regimental hospital; Private Albert H. Newhall,
Company E, nurse at regimental hospital; Private Henry C. Chenery,
Company F, nurse at regimental hospital; Private Seth Albee, Company E,
nurse at regimental hospital; Private Simon C. Spear, Company C, nurse
at regimental hospital; Private Ezra Abbott, Company A, chief wagoner;
Private George A. Harwood, Company B, wagoner; Private Thomas Belton,
Company C, wagoner; Private Elma H. French, Company F, wagoner; Private
Samuel W. Whittemore, Company I, wagoner; Private George W. Abbott,
Company I, wagoner; Privates Oliver C. Andrews, Alonzo D. Crockett,
Mark Heathcote, of Company G, as a permanent guard at the reservoir in
rear of camp near Fort Ellsworth, from August 6th; Privates William
G. Kidder, Company C, James Allen, Company E, Hermion J. Gilbert and
Charles E. Chase, of Company F, orderlies at regimental headquarters;
Private Henry R. Gilmore, Company F, acting drum-major.
It was necessary to discipline one man in August--Private Samuel Young,
Company E, for firing his musket without permission or orders. He had
to carry a forty-pound log of wood tied to his back for a stated number
of hours each day for two days.
At the close of August there was present for duty: twenty-nine
officers, seven hundred and forty-eight men; one officer, forty-two
men sick. Absent: five officers, one hundred and seven men on detached
service, four men sick, two men in arrest.
Duty in September was about the same as in August, the regiment
constantly furnishing details of men for grand-guard and other guards.
Drills were maintained with what few men were in camp and some progress
made in this direction, but all efforts to advance the regiment in
drill could not be satisfactory to officers in command, because of this
absence of men each day.
September 14th--Company G, Captain Ward, went on duty as a permanent
guard at the Soldiers’ Rest in Alexandria.
September 16th--All troops in the command were paraded to witness
an execution of a private Fourth Maryland Volunteers, shot for
desertion, at eleven A.M., in the open field northwest of
Sickel Barracks Hospital. The negroes in and around Alexandria made
a gala occasion of the affair, with tents pitched near the spot for
sales of cake, pies, lemonade, etc. So far as appearances went the
man to be shot, a thick-set fellow, with heavy, black whiskers, was
more indifferent to his fate than the soldiers formed to occupy three
sides of a square, obliged to be unwilling witnesses. On the open side
were gathered a curious crowd of colored people. The condemned man was
marched upon the ground, a band playing a dirge. He was followed by a
faithful Newfoundland dog, who had to be taken away when his master
took position in front of his coffin, face to the firing party. In a
speech he confessed to being a professional bounty-jumper, worth at
that moment near twenty thousand dollars, the proceeds of his work in
jumping sixteen bounties. When the detail of soldiers fired upon him
he fell lengthwise upon his coffin. The troops were then filed past
him, and had just commenced the movement when signs of life were shown,
necessitating a second file of men to be ordered up and put another
volley into him.
At nine o’clock P.M., September 22d, orders were received
to march four companies at once to Great Falls, on the Potomac,
above Washington, and relieve the Eighty-Fourth N. Y. S. V. Militia,
on picket duty for protection of the water works. This order came
from headquarters Department Washington, and urged promptness in its
execution. A guide was also sent to pilot the detachment. Companies
B, C, D and E, with enough detailed men to fill up the ranks, with
three days’ rations, and forty rounds of ammunition in the boxes, were
at once started on a march of about twenty-five miles, under command
of Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman. This march was not made in a manner
creditable to the regiment. At first it was believed a fight was in
progress or imminent, and while such belief lasted the men should have
been kept well in hand to be of any use. The facts are: a halt was
made about one o’clock A.M., and the men slept on the ground
until after daylight, and then straggled into Great Falls during the
afternoon and evening in a manner not suggestive of a well-conducted
march. Fortunately no fight took place, and no harm resulted. Officers
and men of this Eighty-Fourth New York (an Irish regiment) were
found loitering around a tavern, more or less under the effects of
liquor. This tavern was kept by a Mr. Jackson, brother to the Jackson
who killed Colonel Ellsworth in Alexandria at the commencement of
hostilities.
Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman reported on the twenty-fourth that so far
as he could ascertain the duty at Great Falls would be to take care
of themselves as well as they could, to keep a few pickets out on the
roads leading to his camp, with a few men on the canal to prevent
smuggling. The colonel Eighty-Fourth New York said he never had any
orders, and acted as his judgment dictated in all matters at the
post; he never made any reports to any one, and had been visited by
a staff-officer but once. Stedman also reported the place extremely
unhealthy, with chills and fever a prevailing complaint. Stedman’s
strength was then three hundred and fifty-six men. The Eighty-Fourth
numbered six hundred and fifty men, and did have, at one time, two
hundred and fifty men sick.
Stedman wrote Colonel Burrell, on the twenty-fifth, as follows:
“Captain Stewart has arrived, and I learn that arrangements have
been made for four companies to remain here permanently, and that the
balance of the men belonging to these four companies are soon to be
sent here. Allow me to inquire if the balance of the officers have been
thought of--viz., Lieutenant Sanderson, Company C, Lieutenant Ballou,
Company B, and Lieutenant Hodges, Company D? I cannot get along without
the full complement of officers for these companies, and I trust they
will be relieved at once and ordered to report to me at this post. I
shall be obliged to have one for adjutant and one for quartermaster,
thus leaving me only ten others for duty; hence the necessity of these
officers above named being sent.
“We shall have to secure some transportation here, but as yet I do
not know what arrangements we can make for this necessity. We have a
post-commissary here, but have to go eleven miles for soft bread. The
nearest post-quartermaster is six miles away, at Muddy Branch. After a
few days we can make the men quite comfortable, but the place is not a
very agreeable one to be in.”
Company C, Captain White, was sent to Orcutt’s Cross Roads, three miles
away, September 30th, where was stored a quantity of quartermaster’s
property. Guerrillas were operating in the vicinity. A stockade was
set on fire and destroyed by them, and an attempt made to blow up the
aqueduct, frustrated by tavern-keeper Jackson, who was well known to
the Confederates and on good terms with them. General Sheridan, by
his operations in the Shenandoah Valley, caused a lull in the fun
carried on by these guerrillas, so that the Forty-Second Massachusetts
detachment did not have much to do beyond picket and guard duty.
Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman remained at Great Falls until October 15th,
when he was ordered back to his regiment with three companies. Captain
Tinkham, with Company B, was left at the post. A suggestion from
Colonel Burrell, October 18th, to build a stockade, as the position
invited an attack, brought the following reply:
“HEADQUARTERS COMPANY B, 42D MASS. VOLS.,
“GREAT FALLS, MD., October 19th, 1864.
“_Colonel_,--I received your dispatch of the eighteenth, for which I
am very grateful. My company is small, and what men I have are getting
sick very fast, so that I have not men enough to carry out your advice.
However, I will do the best I can, and shall not leave here until
I know what I leave for. There are several of my company still in
Alexandria, whom I wish could be sent to me. Would like to have General
Slough informed of my situation.
“Very respectfully yours,
“B. C. TINKHAM,
“_Captain commanding post_.”
The enemy began to make trouble immediately after the three companies
left. Guerrillas would stop canal boats, untie the horses and make off
with them, until this nuisance was partly abated by the use of old,
worn-out mules that did not present such temptation. The canal traffic
was seriously interrupted, and caused Captain Tinkham to picket the
canal for two miles, until ordered back to his regiment October 28th.
Pennsylvania troops relieved Company B, and a short time after were
attacked by the enemy.
Cases for discipline in September were as follows: 1st--Private Martin
Monighan, Company E, for firing his musket without permission, was
sentenced to carry a forty-pound log of wood tied to his back for a
stated number of hours each day for three days. 17th--Corporal Pond,
Company B, and three privates on duty with him in Alexandria, were
sent to that city, by orders from General Slough, to serve sentences
for neglect of duty. 27th--Private Elisha Atwood, Company A, was sent
to Alexandria for confinement in the slave pen, for neglect of duty.
30th--Corporal William Bacon, Company A, was reduced to the ranks for
intoxication, by regimental Special Orders No. 78.
This is not a bad record for a raw regiment of short-term men. A
practice had been in vogue for captains to assume the power to order
punishment of men in their companies guilty of trifling indiscretions.
Captain French was noted for this stretch of power. This was stopped by
the colonel on assuming command. He maintained that no man should be
punished without a hearing.
Details in September were as follows:
On detached service at headquarters military governor: 6th--Private
Sidney W. Knowles, Company C, clerk. 20th--Corporal John Stetson, Jr.,
Company K, clerk.--Private Herbert W. Fay, Company F, clerk.--Private
Edward S. Averill, Company B, clerk. 22d--Private Frederick A. Clark,
Company K, clerk.--Private Christopher F. Snelling, Company K, clerk.
On detached service at general court-martial rooms in Alexandria:
1st--Private Ansel F. Temple, Company I, clerk. 13th--Private Davis
W. Howard, Company I, clerk.--Private Edward L. Harvey, Company B,
clerk.--Private Benjamin W. Kenyon, Company E, clerk.--Private James
L. Martin, Company C, clerk.--Private Arthur E. Hotchkiss, Company B,
clerk.--Private William L. Gage, Company I, clerk.--Private George E.
Sparr, Company H, orderly. 14th--Private Charles Curtis, Company D,
clerk.
On detailed duty with the regiment: 7th--Corporal James L. Prouty,
Company D, clerk at headquarters. 14th--Privates W. F. Adams, W. H. S.
Ritchie, George E. Buttrick, of Company A, were placed on permanent
guard at the reservoir, relieving Privates Edgerton, Heathcote and
Andrews, of Company G. 16th--Private George L. Simpson, Company
F, hospital attendant. 21st--Private George W. Brooks, Company K,
hospital attendant. 24th--Private Albert S. Barpee, Company E, hospital
attendant. 29th--Private Ezra K. Garvin, Company F, with quartermaster.
Officers on detached service in September were: Lieutenants Sanderson
and Spear on permanent duty with grand-guard, a line of sentinels
stationed between the Forty-Second camp and Alexandria. Lieutenants
Hodges and Ballou on permanent duty with provost-marshal-general.
Lieutenant Thomas with a permanent guard at Hunting Creek Bridge, where
an artillery block-house was built. Lieutenant Hawley was detached on
mounted patrol service, in answer to a request from General Slough for
an experienced cavalry-officer. Captain Ward, Lieutenants Aldrich and
Shattuck, Company G, on guard at Soldier’s Rest since September 14th.
On detached service at Great Falls were Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman,
Captains Tinkham, White, Waterman and Ford, Lieutenants Fuller, Smith,
Bates, Conner and Cook. Lieutenant Galvin was absent in Philadelphia on
sick leave.
At the close of September there was present for duty: seventeen
officers, three hundred and seventy-eight men; twenty-six men sick.
Absent: eighteen officers, four hundred and sixty men on detached
service; one officer, twenty-two men sick; three men in arrest.
There was no chance for any camp fun in October, for officers and men
were constantly on duty, day and night, in obedience to orders for
guards, patrols and pickets, that came thick and fast. Details of
men were called for by mounted orderlies, with verbal orders, at all
hours of the day and night, in addition to details mentioned later
on. Adjutant Davis, not in good health, manfully stood to his duty in
exceptionally trying circumstances. To fill these constant requisitions
from among grumbling men in a raw regiment, already overworked, was not
an easy matter. To do so, men who just reported in camp from some long
tour of guard or patrol service were obliged to again depart from camp,
swearing like troopers, on a like service. After four companies left
for Great Falls, members of the band were made to resume duty in the
ranks and go on the regular camp guard; at one time not relieved for
sixteen days, men were so scarce and the difficulty so great to comply
with these orders.
Duty done by the regiment, required by written orders, was: September
29th and 30th--One officer and forty men sent to guard stores to
Fairfax Station. October 2d--One officer and fifty men as train-guard
on Orange and Alexandria Railroad. October 2d--Captain Ward, with fifty
men, to guard a telegraph construction party running a line of wire
from Manassas or Warrenton Junction, on the Manassas Gap Railroad.
Captain Ward and his men had a skirmish with the enemy’s cavalry, on
the fourth, near Gainesville, and drove them back without loss. October
3d--One officer and fifty men, with detachments First and Second D. C.
Volunteers, as guard for a construction train on Orange and Alexandria
Railroad. October 4th--One officer and forty men on same service.
October 5th--One officer and fifty men on same service. October
5th--Seven men as permanent guard at coal wharf. October 6th--One
officer and twenty-five men to guard a special train. October 12th--One
officer and thirty picked men on duty for three days with mounted
patrols and pickets, to be relieved every three days. This order was
in force until October 27th. October 13th--One officer and twenty-five
men for train-guard. October 17th--Four officers and one hundred men,
with two days’ rations, were sent every day, until October 27th, for
train-guards. Of this detail two officers and fifty men went on duty at
3.45 A.M., and two officers and fifty men at ten A.M.
These details were in addition to the regular camp-guard, men for
grand-guard duty and men for the pickets stationed outside the
grand-guard line. Nearly all the trains were freighted with supplies
for General Sheridan, after communication with him was opened.
Every two or three miles along the railroad were guard-stations, in
block-houses, on account of the guerrillas who infested the line of
road. None of the Forty-Second detachments had a chance to test their
mettle with the enemy, except the slight skirmish by Captain Ward’s
men. At Rectortown one train came along just in time to allow the
Forty-Second guard to help get a cavalry-post out of an unpleasant
position; the enemy retreated without a fight.
Details in October for daily duty with the regiment were: 1st--Private
Peter Broso, Company F, on duty with quartermaster. 1st--Private A. W.
Mitchell, Company A, orderly at headquarters. 1st--Private Edwin H.
Alger, Company D, as wagoner.
One case for discipline occurred: Corporal Albert F. Burnham, Company
A, was reduced to the ranks October 24th, for leaving camp without
leave. On an appeal for a hearing, made by Burnham, an inquiry was held
in his case by officers detailed for the purpose. They justified the
degradation.
The officers detailed on court-martial duty in September were:
Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman, Captains French, Eddy, Stewart, Stevens
and Wales, and Lieutenant Gray. Every captain in the regiment, except
White, did service on general court-martial duty. Major Stiles was
constantly on general court-martial duty by details of August 6th and
September 20th, and not relieved until October 15th, when the following
order was issued:
“HEADQUARTERS MILITARY GOVERNOR,
“ALEXANDRIA, VA., October 15th, 1864.
“GENERAL ORDERS NO. 84.
“1--The general court-martial convened by paragraph 2, General Orders
No. 57, headquarters Military Governor, Alexandria, Va., dated
September 20th, 1864, of which Major Frederick G. Stiles, Forty-Second
Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, is president, is hereby dissolved.
“2--This court has since its first organization (August 8th, 1864),
disposed of over six hundred cases, and the general commanding desires
to compliment the members composing it for the energetic, faithful and
satisfactory manner in which they have transacted the business referred
to them.
“By command of
“BRIGADIER-GENERAL SLOUGH,
“W. M. GWYNNE,
“_Captain, and A. A. A. General_.”
At the close of October there was present for duty (all officers and
men were relieved from detached or detailed service) thirty-five
officers, seven hundred and ninety-nine men; one officer, seventy-five
men sick. Absent: nine men sick in hospitals.
The term of service expired October 29th. A request was made for
transportation _via_ Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston to
place of muster out, instead of returning home by a sea voyage. The
regiment vacated camp and quartered in the Soldier’s Rest, Alexandria,
October 28th, until relieved from duty in the command. This was on
Sunday, October 30th, after a review by General Slough. Monday morning,
thirty-first, the regiment marched to Washington, and was received by
President Lincoln in front of the White House at nine o’clock. Cheers
from the men, a few remarks by the President, and then the march was
resumed to the depot to take cars _en-route_ home, arriving in Boston
late on Thursday evening, November 3d, and quartered in Faneuil Hall.
After breakfast next morning the regiment marched to Boston Common and
was there dismissed, to assemble on Friday, November 11th, for muster
out of service.[21]
[21] Before dismissal on Boston Common, Governor Andrew requested
Colonel Burrell to take the telegraphic address of every officer,
and instruct his officers and men (the men retained their arms
until mustered out of service) to hold themselves in readiness for
further service. The Governor telegraphed to New York he had a
reliable regiment, just arrived home, at the service of the military
authorities, if wanted to preserve order. No further service was
required.
This journey home was full of discomfort for those officers who did
their duty. It was a time of great political excitement in New York
City. On this account the regiment retained its arms, and twenty rounds
of ammunition was in each cartridge-box. In New York the regiment
remained at the Battery all day, and marched up Broadway about five
P.M. Crowds of people lined the street and cheered alternately
for Lincoln and McClellan, the men answering these cheers impartially
to avoid trouble. While in Forty-Second Street, where the men remained
until late next morning, when a train was made up to proceed on to
Boston, there was bad behaviour by various men of the regiment, who
became drunk and disorderly. Some of these men fired their muskets,
which, coupled with a fire that broke out in the vicinity, was
sufficient to cause considerable alarm among people who resided near.
Much blame is attachable to officers for their lukewarm endeavors to
stop this unsoldierlike conduct.
About one hundred sick men were brought home, some of whom ought not
to have left Alexandria, but they were anxious to go home with their
comrades. To properly look out for these men was no easy matter. A
delay of several hours occurred in Baltimore before transportation
across the city could be found for the sick, Colonel Burrell positively
refusing to move his regiment and leave them to follow after, as he was
advised to do by some of his officers. Orders were given that in case
any sick man was obliged to be left at any place _en-route_, one man
was to be detailed to remain with him.
At Alexandria the aqueduct was out of order, and well-water was used
for drinking purposes; but so bad was this water, a limited quantity
of beer was allowed to be sold in camp. Train-guards, hurriedly called
for and immediately sent away, had no time to fill haversacks with
ample rations, often obliged to start with hard bread as their chief
eatable. Of course, this had an effect on the men, a large proportion
being under twenty-five years of age, many of them under twenty years,
who did not have the advantage of a few months in a camp of instruction
and get well seasoned to a soldier’s life before they were called upon
to endure the arduous and exacting service they saw in Virginia.[22]
During the last weeks in September and through October there was
an average of fifty men sick in camp, and forty men absent sick in
Alexandria hospitals.
[22] The colonel called the attention of General Slough to the fact
that his regiment was overworked, and flesh and blood could not stand
the strain without some rest, which the general admitted, but claimed
he could rely on the Massachusetts men, while some raw Pennsylvania men
in his command (there were several full regiments just arrived), were
not reliable.
The regimental hospital tent, of limited accommodations, was always
full, and all surplus sick men who required hospital care were sent to
Alexandria. The weather was favorable in August and September; October
was stormy, and nights cold.
The regiment lost sixteen men by death during this term of service. The
bodies of those men who died in Alexandria were sent home. The deaths
were:
August 14th--Private George H. Rich, Company B, in third division
hospital, from accidental wounds while on guard.
August 24th--Private Richard M. Sabin, Company G, in third division
hospital, from acute dysentery.
September 11th--Private Edwin A. Grant, Company B, in third division
hospital, from typhoid fever.
September 11th--Private Lyman Tucker, Company F, in regimental
hospital, from typhoid fever.
September 18th--Private Samuel Stone, Company F, in third division
hospital, from typhoid fever.
September 20th--Private George G. Harrington, Company F, in third
division hospital, from typhoid fever.
September 23d--Private Herman J. Gilbert, Company F, in third division
hospital, from typhoid fever.
September 25th--Private Edward H. Aldrich, Company G, in Soldier’s Rest
Hospital, from typho-malarial fever. (Aldrich was a student, borne on
the rolls, but never mustered in.)
October 4th--Private Patrick Riley, Company G, in third division
hospital, from pyæmia. Riley was shot in the leg by a secessionist of
Alexandria, on August 27th. Amputation was necessary, from which he did
not recover.
October 5th--Private Henry H. Lowell, Company F, in second division
hospital, from typhoid fever.
October 8th--Private Walter Foster, 2d., Company D, in second division
hospital, from suicide by drowning; insanity.
October 24th--Private William T. Cutler, Company F, in third division
hospital, from typhoid fever.
October 26th--Private Calvin S. Haynes, Company C, Slough Barracks
Hospital, from typhoid fever.
October 30th--Private John J. Bisbee, Company H, Slough Barracks
Hospital, from chronic diarrhœa.
November 7th--Private Thomas E. Flemming, Company A, at Roxbury, Mass.,
from sore leg.
November 17th--Private William H. Perry, Company A, at Boston, Mass.,
from consumption.
There were eight men discharged from service, by Major-General Augur,
Twenty-Second Army Corps, for disability, viz.: Sergeant William H.
Alexander, Company C, September 10th; Private Willard L. Studley,
Company D, September 10th; Private Wendell Davis, Company H, September
13th; Corporal Jerome P. Thurber, Company G, September 13th; Private
Nathan Washburne, Company C, September 16th; Private Jason Whitaker,
Company E, September 19th; Private Henry W. Dean, Company I, September
20th; Private Albert E. Frost, Company K, September 20th.
One man reënlisted for one year in the Thirty-Eighth Massachusetts
Volunteers: Private Andrew C. Hale, Company H, September 8th.
By regimental General Orders No. 111, issued November 6th, at Roxbury,
Mass., the following men were relieved from detailed daily duty at
headquarters, with a complimentary notice for their faithful service:
Private Ezra Abbott, Company A, chief wagoner; Private James Allen,
Company E, orderly; Private Ellery C. Bartlett, Company K, clerk.
As Chaplain Sanger could not get permission from his church people
in Webster, Mass., to serve one hundred days with his regiment, an
attempt was made to obtain a commission for Second-Lieutenant Galvin,
Company F, a regularly ordained clergyman from Brookfield, Mass., who
was unanimously elected by his brother officers, August 10th, to fill
that position. Through unavoidable delays and informality in the proper
papers, no progress was made towards securing his appointment until
late in September. Lieutenant Galvin was then absent in Philadelphia
on sick leave, and it was doubtful if he would be able to rejoin his
regiment before the term of service expired. Difficulties also existed
in obtaining a muster dated back, so his appointment was abandoned. He
officiated as chaplain for a few weeks only.
One payment was made to the regiment, the last week in September, when
the men were paid for July and August. The following ladies, wives of
officers, boarded at a hotel in Alexandria, and saw what constitutes
camp life in time of war: Mrs. Burrell, Mrs. Stedman, Mrs. Stiles, Mrs.
Robinson, Mrs. Ford.
This brief sketch is sufficient to prove that the one-hundred-day men
did not have a picnic during their service. To be sure, the regiment
did not get into an action: a stroke of good luck. The various
train-guard detachments were liable to have a fight at any moment, and,
until back in camp, were kept ready for such a contingency.
In conclusion the writer would add: Let no man who enlisted in a
three years regiment sneer at the nine months troops, or those who
served a shorter term. A large number reënlisted later on in other
organizations, and served to the end of the war. Their previous service
was of great benefit wherever they went; in fact, they were not raw
recruits. The three years man who served continuously with his colors
is a rarity.
It does not follow that every man who enlisted in the army is entitled
to credit for so doing. “Bummers” and shirks were plenty. When a
thousand men are got together there must be a percentage of this
element among them. The most worthy and deserving men do not have much
to say about their army experience, and never drag it into prominence
for selfish reasons.
No undue importance is intended in naming men who were on detached
daily duty as clerks, orderlies, etc.; such places were considered
“soft berths,” although much hard work was done by many of the detailed
men. The soldier who remained with his colors, and did duty like a man,
is the one to whom most praise is due.
[Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]