Commanding Second Battalion.
]
Captain Lombard, with "B" Battery, had drawn what was perhaps the least
desirable of all the posts falling to the regiment, that at Plum Island,
covering Newburyport and the entrance to the Merrimac. After a rough
passage around Cape Ann, he arrived with his command at this station on
June 7th. The island is a low, sandy formation, ten miles in length,
commanding at its northern extremity the channel leading into the harbor
of Newburyport. At this point, lying but three miles and a half from the
railway bridge marking the centre of the city, the command pitched its
camp, and threw up an earthwork of slight profile for the reception of
its field guns. Shallow waters and a treacherous bar deter vessels of
any considerable draft from attempting to enter this harbor; but the
city offers a tempting and easy mark for torpedo-boat raids, and it was
to discourage any enterprise of this sort that "B" Battery was condemned
to a month of dreary duty among the sand dunes. The order of July 2nd,
directing the command to change station to Fort McClary, Maine, was
received at the post with delight, and little time was lost in preparing
to leave behind the brackish water, mosquitoes, and monotony of Plum
Island.
Before this order could be executed, it was amended. These were the days
when ugly rumors were coming from before Santiago, and the Government
was making hurried efforts to meet a possible disaster on land. Captain
Curtis, with his battery ("K") of the Second Artillery, was garrisoning
the defenses at Portsmouth, of which McClary was a subpost, and to him
on July 6th came rush orders to hasten with his battery to Tampa, to
join the siege train there organizing, while Captain Lombard was
directed to relieve him in the command of the Portsmouth defenses. On
the 8th, "B" Battery reached its new station, taking post at Fort
Constitution, and placing detachments at Fort McClary, on the Maine
shore opposite, and at Jerry's Point, in the outer line of defenses. The
command now occupied a most responsible position, with more than enough
work for its small enlisted strength, for here there was much modern
artillery material to be cared for, while the guard duty of the
scattered posts made heavy drafts on the endurance of the men. These
important defenses, covering not only the city of Portsmouth, but also
the Kittery Navy Yard, were now added to the other posts under command
of Colonel Pfaff, who on the last day of July visited the station, and
inspected the works and the garrison. After becoming settled in
quarters, details were made for post administration, Lieutenant Day
being appointed post adjutant and Lieutenant Underwood post
quartermaster and commissary. On August 19th, the Santiago campaign
having turned out luckily after all, Captain Curtis was ordered with his
battery back from Tampa, arriving a few days later to relieve Captain
Lombard. At this time Major Crozier, A.I.G., reached the post on his
tour of inspection, and by his direction "B" Battery demonstrated its
ability to handle modern ordnance by conducting the test-firing of the
newly mounted 8-inch breech-loading rifles, on their disappearing
carriages. Shortly afterwards, Captain Lombard and his command changed
station to Pickering, reporting to Colonel Pfaff on August 27th.
The garrison for Marblehead, "H" Battery, under command of Captain
Pratt, arrived on June 6th at its station at Fort Sewall. This old
fortification, which properly should be classed as a mere field work,
not only commands the entrance to the harbor of Marblehead, but also
plays an important part in the outer line of defence for Salem. Having
been ungarrisoned for more than thirty years, it naturally was in a
dilapidated condition, and on the arrival of "H" Battery it was without
armament. As in the case of Stage Fort, the request of Colonel Pfaff for
two 8-inch converted rifles was ignored, and reliance had to be placed
upon the rapid-fire guns brought to the post by the incoming troops.
After pitching its camp and making the required repairs on the works,
the garrison settled itself for what proved to be an uneventful tour of
occupation. At this post Lieutenant Renfrew acted as adjutant, with
Lieutenant Grant as quartermaster and commissary. The only break in the
monotony of the summer came when a battalion from Pickering, after a
forced march from Salem, feigned an attack on the post by a landing
party, which was met and repulsed in a workmanlike manner by Captain
Pratt and his command.
The mining-casemate at Nahant, from which the mine-fields in Broad
Sound, Boston Harbor, were to have been controlled, was placed in charge
of Captain Bordman, who arrived with his command ("A" Battery) at this
station on June 6th, and at once laid out his camp near the work to be
guarded. Rapid-fire field guns were issued to this post, but infantry
guard duty was practically all that was required of its garrison.
Lieutenant Fullerton served as post adjutant until ordered to Fort
Columbus, New York Harbor, on July 18th, where he remained on detached
service until the muster-out of the regiment. The quartermaster and
commissary duties were performed by Lieutenant Sumner Paine. Lacking the
material for artillery work, Captain Bordman turned to infantry drill,
and by constant road marches and field exercises brought his command
into prime physical condition. The tour of the battery at this station
was not destined to be a long one. In the rush of emergency harbor-work
during the early days of the war, the Engineers first gave their
attention to the mining of the main ship channel and Nantasket Roads,
leaving Broad Sound—the water area for bombardment of Boston, Lynn, and
Chelsea—for later consideration; but with the destruction of Cervera's
fleet, all active mining operations came abruptly to a close, and the
Broad Sound system remained uninstalled. The post at Nahant, therefore,
was ordered to be abandoned on July 25th, its garrison reporting at Fort
Pickering on that date.