54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment

“ The enemy’s cavalry were constantly raiding over the country through which the roads passed, and every train went strongly guarded. On the 21st, a detail of fifty men was made from the Twenty-ninth, to guard a train of thirty-five teams, which went to the Landing for provisions; the roads were so heavy, that two days were occupied by the journey, several of the horses and mules dying on the way.
On the 22d, the regiment moved its camp in order to get out of the range of the enemy’s guns, which were stationed on the westerly side of the Rappahannock. ”

“ On the left of the Ninth was the Fifth Corps, in the following order of divisions: from right to left—Crawford (3) , Griffin (1) , Cutler (4) , Ayers (2) . At early morning the advance was made and the enemy's withdrawal discovered. The Corps then prepared for a new advance, meanwhile keeping up a fierce fire of infantry and artillery. At noon, simultaneously with the attack of the Second Corps, a determined and vigorous advance was made. ”

“ The regiment had already received orders to go to Massachusetts on its veteran furlough. It had been arranged for a part of the men—those who were the most destitute and unfit to march—to go by rail by way of Chattanooga and Nashville; while the balance, by far the minority, were to perform the march over the Cumberland Mountains. ”

“ With the end of April, 1862, we had fairly drilled through the book, and on the first day of May the battalion was reviewed by Governor Andrew, and exercised in battalion movements in presence of the Governor and a staff which had become critical in military movements. At the close of the parade, Colonel Dimmock, who was not wont to abound in compliments, publicly congratulated the Major as the commander of a body of thoroughly-disciplined soldiers.
The Union armies were now everywhere victorious, and at the North we expected every day to hear that the rebels had come to that “last ditch.” ”

“ It is not our purpose or province to write a complete history of the Third Regiment; but the fact is eminently worthy of notice, that it rendered some of the most important service performed by any body of militia that went into the war from Massachusetts. It is also a noticeable fact, that many of its officers and men, subsequently to their three months’ service at Fortress Monroe, filled high military positions. Thus its Colonel was commissioned Colonel of the Ninety-ninth New York Regiment; Lieutenant-Colonel Raymond was appointed to the same office in the Seventh Massachusetts Infantry ”

“ On the march Lieutenant Mason was always at the head of the [190] company. He never ordered his men to go where he would not lead. He served his company and his country as a man who believed that shoulder straps are honorable only when honored by the wearer. His slogan was that every man has rights, which must be respected by all regardless of rank or position, and he should be protected in those rights.
After serving his nine months in the Third Regiment and being mustered out, he recruited Company G, Fifty-eighth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, being second lieutenant Sept. ”

“ There were over a thousand men of the First Division in camp there, who had done duty through the siege, but who could not march at this time because of their sick and enfeebled condition and lack of suitable clothing. All who were not absolutely sick and destitute were put in readiness for active duty in the course of ten days, and sent to their regiments. In order to fit out these men, the sutlers’ shops and stores of the town were ransacked for clothing, blankets, etc. ”

“ This writer could not have been familiar with the record of the brave men whose courage he thus flippantly assails. Among the troops of this division were the Twenty-first, Twenty-ninth, Thirty-fifth, Fifty-sixth, Fifty-seventh, and Fifty-ninth Massachusetts regiments, Third Maryland, an old and excellent regiment, and the One Hundredth Pennsylvania. The Twenty-first regiment entered the service as early as August, 1861. It fought with Burnside in North Carolina, was engaged in the second battle of Bull Run, Chantilly, Antietam, and Fredericksburg, and afterwards in East Tennessee. ”

“ The retreat of Lee from Gettysburg had involved the entire region in uncertainty, hence the ordering out of regiments from Washington, and the presence in the immediate locality of the Eighth, Forty-sixth and Fifty-first Massachusetts, nine months' regiments, which on their way home from North Carolina were shunted off into this section, along with the Thirty-ninth, forming a brigade under the command of General Henry S. Briggs, first colonel of the Tenth Infantry, also a Bay State organization. ”

“ The First Massachusetts Regiment of Infantry quartered for a week in Faneuil Hall; but, this not being a suitable place for so large a body of men to remain, “on the first day of June the regiment marched out to Cambridge, and took possession of an old ice-house on the borders of Fresh Pond, which had been procured by the State authorities and partially fitted up for barracks, and established their first camp.” But this was not the first camp established in the State, for three years troops had already been ordered into camp on Long Island and at Fort Warren. ”

“ Colonel Phelps was a superior soldier, and a most valuable acquisition to the army in any department.
The troops which composed the expedition to Newport News were the Fourth Massachusetts Militia, First Vermont Militia, and Colonel Bendix’s Seventh New York (German) ,—all infantry. Captains Barnes’s and Clarke’s companies went with the Fourth Regiment, while Captain Leach’s company was, by order of General Butler, retained in the fort to perform garrison duty. The troops embarked at an early hour on the morning of the 27th. ”

“ The regiment, containing the transferred men of the Twenty-ninth, reached Annapolis, Md., April 6, and went into camp. The corps had been ordered to this place to recruit, and during the seventeen days that it remained here, its numbers were considerably increased. The old regiments were filled up, to some extent, by re-enlistments and new levies; five cavalry and twelve infantry regiments, and five batteries of artillery, beside an entire division (Fourth) of colored troops, were added to the corps, making its strength about twenty-five thousand men. ”

“ When the Brigade arrived at this point, the noise of the battle was almost deafening. A thick cloud of smoke overhung the field. The Confederates had just made the last of a series of brave but desperate charges upon the artillery, and the remnant of the Ninth Massachusetts Regiment, which had been in support during the most of the day, was engaged in a severe struggle with the only partially-repulsed enemy. ”

“ Company from Plymouth, Capt. Doten; company from Sandwich, Capt. Chipman, which are to be attached to the Third Regiment, Col. Wardrop, now at Fortress Monroe; company from East Bridgewater, Capt. Leach; company from East Boston, Capt. Barnes; together with 32 men belonging to Co. H of Quincy; 37 men belonging to Co. I of Hingham; 12 men belonging to Co. F, Foxborough; 22 men belonging to Co. D, Randolph; and 45 men belonging to Co. A, Canton, severally of the Fourth Regiment, Col. Packard, now at Fort Monroe, will be attached to the regiment upon their arrival at their place of destination. ”

“ On the next day the Sixth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry started south for the defence of Washington, and was the first fully armed and equipped volunteer regiment to reach the capital. Within six days after the call, nearly four thousand Massachusetts volunteers had departed for Washington. In 1863, at Governor Andrew’s own request, the secretary of war authorized him to raise several regiments of negro troops, with white commissioned officers, and the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry was the first regiment of free negroes raised in the North. ”

“ The Twenty-ninth Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteers had its origin in some of the earliest war actions of the people of this patriotic Commonwealth, though its numerical designation would seem to suggest a state of facts quite the contrary.
The citizen who finds the name of his ancestor on the “Lexington Alarm List” of the 19th of April, 1775, considers himself richer than before in all that constitutes a proud family record, and feels that an honor has been conferred upon him by reason of this early and honorable military service of his progenitor. ”

“ The accession of these new men having given the regiment the necessary number of men, on December 6 an election for field officers was held, and the regiment became the 48th Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry. ”

“ CHAPTER XIII. Captains Leach’s and Wilson’s Companies Leave the Rip-Raps—Ordered to Newport News—General Mansfield Relieves General Phelps—The Drills Continued—Target Practice—Winter Quarters and Building of Barracks—The Organization of the Twenty-ninth Regiment—Dissatisfaction About the Appointment of New Officers—Court-Martial of Colonel Pierce—Bursting of the Sawyer Gun and Death of Two of the Men. ”

“ At sundown, the musketry increased, accompanied by artillery, and the second division of the Nineteenth Corps went through the little town of Marksville on the double-quick, to the assistance of the cavalry, who were reported to have been severely handled. The enemy drew off, however, and the division bivouacked on an open plain beyond the village. Gen. Grover performed an act of kindness that night for the regiment, which was never forgotten. No water could be found nearer than the village, at least half a mile distant ”

“ No one was discharged before the expiration of the term of service, and no one was punished for misbehavior. Since their muster out, the men, so far as I have been able to learn, have proved themselves of no mean order, filling their different stations with honor from humble citizens of toil to judge upon the bench of the Supreme Court.
“Sept. 22, 1862, the company reported at Camp Joe Hooker, in Lakeville, where it remained until October 22d, when the regiment broke camp and proceeded to Boston with orders to report to Major-General Foster, at Newbern, North Carolina. ”

“ The proportion, however, of the troops furnished by the different Colonies, and composing the army that invested Boston, is shown by a general return, signed by Adjutant-General Horatio Gates in July, 1775. It gives twenty-six Massachusetts regiments (an additional regiment not being completed is not included in the number) , four independent companies, also of Massachusetts, with a regiment of artillery, three Connecticut regiments, three New Hampshire regiments, three Rhode Island regiments, and a Rhode Island company of artillery, making altogether a total force of 17,355 men. ”

“ This Regiment was, in fact, what its name represents, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia; not one drafted man was in its ranks. It was made up almost entirely of men from Bristol and Plymouth counties; young men who were raised in good homes and educated in the schools of Massachusetts. Quite a number were attending either high schools, seminaries, or colleges, or were graduates of the same. When the call was made for three hundred thousand men they left home, not for what they would get, but for what they would save ”

“ Company D of this regiment was recruited up to the maximum, one hundred and one men, as required at that time by the laws of the United States governing the service in time of war. The company was composed of [151] men enlisted from Fall River and Westport. When nearly the full number had been recruited, an election of officers was held in the City Hall in Fall River, at which election Col. Silas P. Richmond presided. The election resulted in the choice of Andrew R. Wright as captain, Thomas McFarland as first lieutenant, and George Reynolds as second lieutenant. ”

“ The Third Regiment was detailed immediately upon its arrival at Fortress Monroe for service on United States gunboat Pawnee, which went up to Gosport Navy Yard, there helped destroy the Navy Yard, sink the ships and pulled the Cumberland out, when they re [116] turned to Hampton Roads. At that time the Third Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers were the only troops in the enemy’s country, and were the first troops to invade the same, being at that time the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, not having been sworn into the United States service. ”

“ It was early in the morning of the 17th when the march was resumed, and at 9 a. m. we halted in the rear of breastworks, our entire route having been enlivened by the sound of firing, more or less vigorous, indicating a resumption of the days at Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor. Moreover, Massachusetts men do not forget that it is the 17th of June, and noise they had grown to think a regular accompaniment of that illustrious date. We are at the Union left and massed in the rear of the Ninth Corps, under Burnside, and the duty of our Corps is to act as a support of the Ninth if needed. ”

“ It is in these days that the 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, Second Corps, which received so severe a handling at Harris's Farm, May 19th, yet most manfully held its place, is once more encountered and the ravages of war were never more apparent than in the fact that only three hundred are reported present for duty out of eighteen hundred men who left the defenses in the month of May.
The first third of July, as far as the Thirty-ninth is concerned, is quite uneventful. The comparative quiet that the men are experiencing has become a necessity. ”