USA > Connecticut > New London County > Groton > Groton, Conn. 1705-1905 > Part 24
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35
At eight o'clock in the evening, just as the moon was rising, the four launches were seen swiftly approaching the brig. Captain Reid was prepared for the onslaught and, as the first boat attempted to board him, it was met with a withering fire which made its occupants beg for quarter, while the other three boats were repelled with a broadside of grape and canister. After a fierce struggle they were compelled to withdraw in confusion and, receiving re- enforcements from the ships lying outside the harbor, four- teen launches returned to the attack, containing a force of not less than five or six hundred men.
Against the odds of six to one Captain Reid's men fought with the desperation of fiends. When the hand-to-hand conflict on the deck of the "General Armstrong" was ended by the death of the English lieutenant who had fought Captain Reid, the enemy withdrew. Their losses were frightful, the English themselves acknowledging a loss of one-hundred and twenty killed and one-hundred and thirty wounded in an engagement lasting forty minutes.
After the withdrawal of the boats the governor of the port again protested against the violation of neutrality, but was informed by Commodore Lloyd that he was deter- mined to have the "Armstrong" at all hazards and if the governor suffered the Americans to injure her in any way
293
WAR OF 1812
he should consider the place an enemy's port and treat it accordingly. At this Captain Reid determined to defend the ship to the last and when at daylight the "Carnation" sailed in and opened fire with all her guns, the "Arm- strong" gave her such a warm reception that she was forced to retire.
With the "Rota" and "Plantagenet" preparing to take a hand in the struggle, Captain Reid deemed further resist- ence useless, so turned Long Tom down the hatch and blew a hole through the bottom of the ship and removed his crew to the shore. The "Carnation," discovering that the brig was abandoned, sent two boats to take possession of her but, finding her scuttled, set her on fire and she blew up.
In the whole engagement the loss of the British was two- hundred and ten killed and one-hundred and forty wounded against a loss to the Americans of two killed and eleven wounded, but this was not all the damage the British suf- fered. The fleet convoying Packenham's army to New Orleans was at Jamaica anxiously awaiting the arrival of Lloyd's squadron, which was detained ten or twelve days at Fayal burying its dead and repairing damages, and a further delay of a week occurred at Jamaica on account of the crippled condition of his ships. This delay enabled General Jackson to arrive first at New Orleans and to place the city in such a state of defence as resulted in the complete defeat of Packenham a few weeks later.
Thus the last naval and the last military engagements resulted in brilliant victories for the American arms. Cap- tain Reid rendered distinguished service in the mercantile marine as well as in the navy and his memory is perpetu- ated in the flag of our country, the present design of which originated with him.
CHAPTER XIV
CIVIL WAR
TN THE POLITICAL events leading up to the Civil War Groton took a keen interest. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise and the resulting political upheaval led to a readjustment of party lines, and the formation of the new Republican party found a soil ready prepared. The Mystic Lyceum, an organization of young men, furnished a forum for the discussion of public questions, which discussions were not only carried on orally, but found expression in the columns of a paper written by members of the Lyceum. Albert G. Stark, a young man of much promise, was editor, and among the contributors to its columns were John I. Denison, George H. Murphy, Rev. William B. Smith and others whose "nom-de-plumes" render them difficult of identification at this late date. The Free Soil party had a strong following in Groton. On the other hand business relations with the South were close. Many of the ships owned in the town were employed in the cotton carrying trade and the men engaged in navigating them were con- stantly in touch with the better class of Southern merchants in the ports. Many of the fishermen sailed south in the winter and quite a Groton colony was engaged in business at Key West. The Reliance Machine Company-the largest manufacturing industry in the town-found its chief mar- ket in the South, being engaged in the manufacture of cot- ton gin machinery. These business connections made a friendly feeling towards the South, and in consequence up to the actual breaking out of hostilities the political parties were quite evenly divided. The firing upon Fort Sumter, however, aroused the whole population and with a very few
1
1
294
295
CIVIL WAR
exceptions the town was consistently loyal during the whole term of the war. "At Mystic* a great Union meeting was held in Floral Hall; and war speeches were made by Colonel Amos Clift (who afterwards furnished three sons for the army .- C. R. S.), Hiram Appelman, Lucius M. Slade, Rev. S. S. Griswold and others. Chauncey D. Rice was sec- retary. A subscription was opened and Isaac Randall, George Greenman & Company, Silas B. Randall and Charles Mallory & Sons gave a thousand dollars each for the prosecution of the war. Others subscribed largely." Twenty-four young men volunteered and became the nucleus of a company that was shortly after organized by the choice of Warren W. Packer as captain, Henry W. Daboll 1st lieutenant and Jedediah Randall 2nd lieutenant.
This company was enlisted for ninety days but owing to the refusal of the Federal Government to accept further three-months men was disbanded, although most of the men later enlisted in some one of the various regiments that went from this State, or in a few instances from other States. William C. Rockwell, who headed the list, subsequently enlisted with Captain Packer in the Fifth Regiment, but is credited to New Haven, he having signed enlistment papers in that city.
"A flag ** was raised from the ramparts of Fort Rachel by the hands of Captain Jonathan Wheeler, a veteran of four-score years, who commanded the guard on duty at the fort in 1812, and its appearance was hailed with cheers and music and saluted with cannon."
Groton furnished seven men for the three-months cam- paign, viz: Hiram Appelman, J. Alden Rathbun, Herbert E. Maxson, James H. Latham, William P. Latham, John P. Wilbur and Robert P. Wilbur, who all, with the exception of John P. Wilbur, served in a New London company in the Second Regiment. They were present at the battle of Bull Run, forming part of General Tyler's brigade, which re- tired in good order from that ill-fated field.
* History of Connecticut during the Recent War, 1861-5, p. 48. ** Ibid, p. 49.
29€
GROTON, CONN. 1705-1905
Connecticut furnished three regiments of three-months men and nearly as many more volunteers were declined, but the State was allowed to furnish two additional regi- ments for three years. The first three-year volunteer from Groton was Elisha Rathbun, a private in Co. D, Fourth Regiment, afterwards the First Connecticut Heavy Artil- lery.
By a singular circumstance this enlistment was credited to the town of Stonington. On enlistment Rathbun gave his residence as Mystic and the authorities, finding that there was no town of that name but that the Mystic Post Office was in the town of Stonington, credited him to that town.
Warren W. Packer recruited a company mainly from Groton and Stonington which became Company G of the Fifth Regiment. The roster of the regiment shows that eleven men from Groton were enlisted, viz:
Warren W. Packer, captain, promoted to colonel.
Henry W. Daboll, 1st lieutenant, promoted to colonel.
William C. Rockwell, sergeant, promoted to 1st lieutenant, Co. G. Alfred L. Packer, sergeant, promoted to captain, Co. D.
Eugene H. Corey, sergeant, promoted to 1st lieutenant, Co. D. James P. Howard, private, promoted to sergeant, Co. G.
James M. Starr, corporal, promoted to sergeant, Co. G.
Edward Fowler, private, promoted to corporal, Co. G.
Asa B. Fish.
William H. Newbury.
Horatio H. Pollard.
George J. Ridley .*
The Adjutant General's report shows the names of Thomas A. Brown and Leonard Heath, and the name of William C. Rockwell given above should also be added. Nathaniel P. Wolfe also served in this regiment.
This company left Mystic May 21, 1862, and was in- tended to be a part of a crack rifle regiment to be raised and equipped by Colonel Colt of the Colt Fire Arms Co. No man less than 5 feet 10 inches in height was to be ac- cepted and it was rumored that it was the intention to make the regiment a part of the regular army. This was not agreeable to the rank and file and a vigorous protest was * Fifth Connecticut Regiment, Marvin, Appendix.
297
CIVIL WAR
made to the Governor, who on "June 18 wrote to the Sec- retary of War that the regiment refuses to belong to the regular army and that he therefore organizes them regu- larly."*
The regiment was mustered into the United States serv- ice July 22, 1861, the day following the battle of Bull Run, and on the 29th of the same month took its departure for the front. It first struck the "sacred soil" at Harpers Ferry, where it came under the command of General George H. Thomas, and the first contact with the enemy was with troops under the command of Stonewall Jackson, which the regimental historian speaks of as "this cavalry, ever after- wards to be opposed to us in every march and contest in which we were engaged, until that night of chaos when Jackson's campaigning was ended at Chancellorsville, nearly a year and a half later, May 2, 1863." **
August 9, 1862, at Cedar Mountain the regiment had its first and most severe battle. Co. G lost five men killed, three wounded (one of these being Captain Packer) and twelve captured. While at home on furlough Captain Packer was promoted to be major of the regiment. In January 1863 Colonel Chapman of the Fifth, on account of ill health, was obliged to resign and Major Packer was appointed in his place. "A correspondent wrote the Provi- dence Journalt at this time as follows: 'We learned a day or two ago some interesting facts of the Fifth Connecticut Regiment, which for army life is as anomalous as it is pleasing. Its commander, Colonel Packer, we are assured, is a teetotaler: neither drinking any intoxicating liquors himself nor allowing any to his men. Its chaplain, Rev. Mr. Welch, is declared to be the very best in the army though never preaching a sermon, and its sutler, Mr. Ran- dall, who acted in this capacity over two years, never sold or offered for sale a single drop of liquor.'"
On May 2, 1863, the second day of the battle of Chan-
* Fifth Connecticut Regiment, Marvin, p. 18, Appendix.
Ibid.
1 History of Connecticut during the Recent War, 1861-5, p. 302.
-------
298
GROTON, CONN. 1705-1905
cellorsville, Colonel Packer and about twenty men of the Fifth regiment were taken prisoners. He had been ordered to leave the breastworks thrown up by his men and to take part in a movement to intercept Jackson's troops, who, moving across the Union front, finally gained and turned its right. The Fifth Connecticut was among the regiments that on returning to their breastworks walked directly into the midst of the enemy. The Colonel's punctilious observ- ance of the etiquette of surrender enabled most of the regi- ment to creep away in the darkness, so that but twenty men were made prisoners. It was in this flank movement that the Confederate general, Stonewall Jackson, lost his life.
Captain Henry W. Daboll won distinction in this battle and was soon after promoted to be major of the regiment. Colonel Packer rejoined the regiment June 12 and it was soon after on the march for what proved to be the Gettys- burg campaign. The Fifth was held in reserve during that battle and its casualties were consequently light-three wounded and six captured. Among the wounded was Ed- ward Fowler of Company G.
September 27 the Fifth Regiment with the rest of Hook- er's corps started by rail for Tennessee to reinforce the Army of the Cumberland. For several months it was engaged in guarding the communications, justifying the name it had earned in the East: "foot cavalry." During the Atlanta campaign it was almost constantly engaged and at Resaca, Cassville, Dallas, Pine Mountain, Marietta, Peach Tree Creek and finally Atlanta, the regiment fully sustained its reputation. It was allowed the honor of being the first Union regiment to enter Atlanta. At Peach Tree Creek the Fifth sustained the heaviest loss that it met with during the war, with the exception of Cedar Mountain, sixty-three killed, wounded and missing. Of these Com- pany G lost five killed, one mortally and nine less seriously wounded.
Colonel Packer for a short time commanded the brigade but, his three-year term of service having expired, he was mustered out October 20, 1861. The march to the sea com
299
CIVIL WAR
menced November 16 and the regiment under command of Lieutenant Colonel Henry W. Daboll was in strenuous service until the final surrender of Johnston's army. It then marched to Washington and participated in the grand review. On July 23, 1865, the regiment reached Hartford and the final good byes were said during the next two days.
August 18, 1861, the Governor gave orders for the en- listment of volunteers for the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth regiments for three years, the Eighth to rendezvous at Hartford. Hiram Appelman, who had served in the Second Regiment for three months, was chosen to com- mand Company G, which contained nineteen men from Groton :
Hiram Appelman, Captain Benjamin F. Crumb
Alcanza O. Wells
Alfred A. Davis
William Doyle
John Alden Rathbun
Rensellaer Babcock
William H. Durfee
Amos Clift, Jr.
Edwin S. Batty
Phineas W. Davis
Lemuel Clift
Elias W. Burrows
Levi Eccleston
James H. Alexander
Austin Daniels
William A. Parke
Thomas W. Ryan
Elias W. Watrous
The adjutant general's report gives the names of the following Groton men in the Eighth Regiment:
James Ashbey Lorenzo D. Burrows Frederick Gallup John Smith, 1st
By September 15 the regiment was full, Company G being among the first to be mustered in. On October 17 it left Camp Buckingham for Annapolis, where the troops were being assembled for Burnside's expedition to North Car- olina. The Eighth Regiment had its full share of the pri- vations of the perilous voyage from Hampton Roads to Roanoke Island and also of the glory of the campaign in North Carolina.
At Newberne it was in the forefront and at Fort Macon it shared with the Fourth Rhode Island the most advanced position. On April 21 under cover of darkness Major Appelman with a company of volunteers under the command of Lieutenant Henry E. Morgan made an attempt to locate rifle pits much nearer the fort. The attempt was discovered and "just as Sergeant Amos Clift was stationing
300
GROTON, CONN. 1705-1905
the pickets, a gun opened with canister, wounding Major Appelman severely in the thigh and Private James H. Alex- ander in the body."*
After the surrender of Fort Macon a few weeks were spent in recuperation. Burnside's troops, including the Eighth Regiment, were transferred to Virginia and next saw fighting at Antietam on September 17, 1862. Here Co. G lost its first man killed in battle-Corporal Oscar W. Hewitt of Stonington-and Lieutenant Colonel Hiram Appelman, who was in command of the regiment, was so severely wounded as to force his resignation. This wound was the indirect cause of his death a few years later. The regiment "lost thirty-four killed and one-hundred and · thirty-nine wounded or nearly fifty per cent. of the entire number present for duty." ** The Eighth Regiment bore a minor part in the disastrous affair at Fredericksburg, and at the close of that campaign was ordered to Newport News and later to Suffolk, where it participated in the long-drawn-out defence of that town, concerning which the historian already quoted writes:f "Considerable valor and vigilance were expended on both sides over the possession of a town so utterly without strategic importance as not to be worth capturing or defending. It was not long before the men became pretty thoroughly disgusted, feeling (for even enlisted men frequently took that liberty) the uselessness of the work upon which they were engaged."
After the raising of the siege, and while Lee was en route to Gettysburg, the Eighth, with other troops under General Dix, was engaged in a movement to cut Lee's communica- tions with Richmond, an affair which resulted in no military advantage, and which earned for itself among the men who participated in it the name of the "Blackberry raid." The name was given on account of the abundance of black- berries, and if no other good resulted from the raid the health of the men was promoted by their indulgence in the
* History of Connecticut in the Recent War, 1861, 1861-5, p. 178. ** Ibid, p. 274.
+ lbid, p. 332.
301
CIVIL WAR
berries, which the men from New England had never seen growing in such profusion.
The Eighth formed part of the Army of the James, which under the command of General Butler was sent up the James River to operate against Richmond while Grant grappled with Lee in the Wilderness. The regiment was in the forefront of the fighting at Fort Darling and Drury's Bluff, in the engagement of May 16 losing seventy-two men killed and wounded, Colonel Ward being one of the latter. Elias W. Watrous of Groton was wounded and taken pris- oner, dying in captivity. From a newspaper account of the time we read: "Lieutenant J. A. Rathbun, 8th C. V., led Co. C. into the field with twenty men and came out with only eleven men. One was killed, five wounded and three miss- ing. His company numbered thirty-six men when the army landed at Bermuda Hundred."
Butler's movement resulted in no important military suc- cess and his army was "bottled up" at Bermuda Hundred, as expressed by General Grant. This position, while a strong one for defence, did not permit of an offensive move- ment, so the Army of the James was divided, a portion being left to defend the position on the James while the balance -- about sixteen thousand men-were sent to the Army of the Potomac under the command of General W. F. Smith of the Eighteenth Corps. The Eighth Regiment was part of that corps and arrived in time to participate in the bat- tles of Cold Harbor on June 1 and 3. In the bloody repulse on the latter date the Eighth Regiment, being held in re- serve, suffered least of any of the Connecticut regiments engaged-eight killed and thirty wounded.
After the disastrous repulse at Cold Harbor, "Smith's Eighteenth Corps took transports at White House and ar- rived at Bermuda Hundred in advance of the rest of the army on June 14."* He moved at once on Petersburg and met with initial success, which for some unexplained reason was not followed up .** The Eighth Regiment had a con-
* Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. IV, p. 151.
** History of Connecticut in the Recent War, 1861-5, p. 605.
302
GROTON, CONN. 1705-1905
spicuous part in this movement. After the failure of Smith to capture Petersburg, General Grant settled down to reduce the place by regular siege.
Of the regiment's experience in the summer of 1864, Moses Smith, its chaplain, writes as follows :* "A month of siege work ; lying in the trenches ; eyeing the rebels ; digging by moonlight; broiling in the sun; shooting through a knot hole; shot at if a head is lifted; artillery compliments pass- ing and repassing; our lives endangered by shells from both sides; officers falling; comrades dying; everybody wearied by the monotony and exhausted by heat and watch- ing; dull hours enlivened and lonely hearts encouraged by kind words in the mail bag and good fruits in the sanitary issues; members growing less, but hope never dying, ---- such is the epitome of the month since I wrote you before. Here we have remained constantly under the enemy's fire. Occasionally, for one or two days, the regiment has been withdrawn from the pits beyond bullet range, but not from artillery shots. Rebel sharpshooters and rebel mortars have been busy upon us, both while in the front and when relieved. In return our men have played the sharpshooter and burrowed under ground. Twenty casualties have oc- curred in our regiment during these thirty days. Most of the wounds have been severe and five of the men are dead. Among our losses we sorrowfully record three honored captains -- Roger M. Ford, commanding Co. C, wounded in right leg; Elam F. Goodrich, commanding company H, wounded in right leg, and Henry C. Hall, commanding Co. F, instantly killed by a rifle ball. It is said 'death loves a shining mark.' Surely he selected such a one amongst us-Captain Hall, young and vigorous, cool and resolute, faithful unto death, whose words were never tar- nished by an oath, nor his taste defiled by poison of drink or drug. The death of no other officer of the line would have caused wider or sadder disappointment than did his. We cannot think of him as never to return to us again. . .
* History of Connecticut in the Civil War, 1861-65, pp. 618-19.
303
CIVIL WAR
A soldier of the Eighth wrote :* "We are in the pits two and sometimes four days at a time through night and day, rain and sun, mud and water. When a shell comes bowling along down we all go with a jerk. There is nothing lost I notice by being polite. We have to lie low, of course, and when we are relieved and get behind our breastworks it is not much better, for if a head or hand is lifted in sight fifty bullets are sent after it. The enemy's guns have good range upon our camps and sometimes open upon us about midnight, supposing us sound asleep after our fatigue in the trenches, and keep us awake all night and many times drive us into our gopher holes. Thus we stand the storm: our works growing stronger day by day and our faith strengthening with our works."
Thus passed the time until September 28, when General Butler was ordered to make a demonstration against Rich- mond from the North. He crossed the river with the Tenth and Eighteenth Army Corps, and the next day occurred the capture of Fort Harrison. The Eighth lost eight killed and sixty-five wounded in this affair, among the latter being Lieutenant John Alden Rathbun of Groton, commanding Company C. His term of service had expired and he had been ordered to Fortress Monroe to be mustered out, but hearing the sound of the battle he remarked "he would never march to the rear to that music" and so led his company into the fight, and received his first wound after a service of three years and three months.
The capture of Fort Harrison was the last severe fight of the regiment, although it lay in the trenches about the fort for nearly a month, repulsing all attempts of the enemy to recapture it. The Eighth and the Twenty-first were among the first of the Union forces to enter Richmond. The regiment was mustered out December 12, 1865.
In the summer of 1862, after the failure of Mcclellan's Peninsular campaign, and while Lee was mustering his forces for an invasion of the North, which culminated in the battle of Antietam, President Lincoln issued his call for
* History of Connecticut during the Recent War, 1861-5, p. 661.
304
GROTON, CONN. 1705-1905
300,000 men for three years, followed a few weeks later by the call for a like number for nine months.
The Governor's proclamation of July 11 was a stirring appeal for enlistment and the urgency of the matter re- quired haste. Groton promptly responded, and the enlist- ment of a company to serve for three years was commenced immediately. Mass meetings were held, bounties were offered by the National Government, by the State and by the town, and the summer was one of great activity. July 17, 1862, a town meeting voted fifty dollars to any man enlisting before August 20, and on the 2nd of August this amount was increased fifty dollars, and at a meeting on August 16 this same bounty was voted to volunteers in the Fifth and Eighth Regiments, and to members of Co. C, First Connecticut Cavalry.
The efforts of Groton resulted in the enlistment of a com- pany under Rev. John E. Wood, which became Co. C, Twenty-first C. V. The regimental historian says of this company :* "Company C was recruited by Rev. J. E. Wood, 86 men, Robert Dennison the remainder. From Groton there came 95 men, from Ledyard 5, from Norwich 1. No other company had so large a proportion of its members from one town. Ninety-eight were Americans and there were only three foreigners-the smallest number in any company. Average age 25.5; 52 were married. Twenty-five different occupations were represented-21 carpenters, four of them shipwrights, the largest number in any company ; 18 farmers, the smallest number in any company ; 12 sail- ors; 5 mechanics." Company C was first to arrive in Norwich."
The regimental history (page 21) relates that on "August 14 Company C, the Groton company, arrived, one-hundred and one strong, Captain John E. Wood commanding, who left his work as clergyman to recruit and lead his company. James H. Latham was first lieutenant and John F. Randall was second lieutenant, both of Groton. In the absence of any other place they were quartered in Apollo Hall." On
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.