The Connecticut war record, 1863-1865, Part 141

Author: Morris, John M., ed
Publication date: 1863
Publisher: New Haven : Peck, White & Peck
Number of Pages: 886

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Sergt. H. D. Bishop.

Sergeant JI. D. Bishop, of Plymouth, being ro- leased from a long imprisonment at Florence and Andersonville, was just able to reach his home, where he died Jau. 1st, 1865. Wallace, a younger brother, died in the army a year ago. They were devoted to the eanse of Freedom, and their death is deeply regretted by all.

How varied is thy greeting, new born rear, From overflowing cups, some quaff their joy,

Their homes are happy for the loved are near, And the dark angel comes not to destroy. Others are tasting of the bitter cup That Jeans drank in dark Gethsemane-

Are bending 'neath the eross Ho carried up The agonizing hill of Calvary.

The cup of suffering and the cross of pain, The cry of Egypt goeth up to God.

For the destroyer hovereth o'er the slain, And mourners follow where his feet havo trod, And now behold a doubly bitter cup- Smitten nyain those hearts which lately blod, That other memory comes swelling up : Two sons : two brothers, numbered with the dead.

One in a Southern clime has found a gravo, And whersoever be his resting place, Let us record a tribute to the brave Upon our hearts, which time eannot efface.

The other taken on the field of strife, Has felt the power of Southern tyranny- Imprisoned. rubbed of comfort and of life, They left him nothing but his misery.

Too late, was : for him, deliverance came ; Too many suffering days had beon his lot, Ilis life just burning with a flickering flame, Ouly sufffeed to light him to the spot-

That well beloved spot-his " dear old home ;" What thronging memories crowd mound his heart, What words of welcome from those dear lips come They little think that they so soon must part.

Little they think that on the year's first morn, His sonl must answer to a deeper call Than ever tang from soldier's bugle horn ; That last stern summons that must come to all. Down through the valley with his shadowy guide, He trod a darksome path that New Year's Day ; Not dark to him, for Jesus walked beside, And took all terror of the vale away.

Many must fall, before the light of pence Shall dawn again on our beloved land : Many will live until the storm shall cease, And wave the olive branch with victory's hand. But let us not forget in future years, When blessings follow war's receding trend- Oh ! let us not forget the mourners' teurs, And let us not forget our Patriot Dend ! TERRYVILLE, Jan., 1565.

THE CONNECTICUT WAR RECORD.

OUR STATE POINTS TO DEEDS, NOT ACRES.

EXTRA NUMBER, WITH ANALYTICAL INDEX, PRICE 15 CENTS.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Major Edward F. Blake,.

PAGE 311

Chaplain Jacob Eaton,

513

Lieut. Henry B. Lee, Chas. A. Upson, ..

514

Thanks to the Soldiers-(Proclamation,).

514

The Tribute Book,.

511

The 11th Regiment,

514

Our Regiments .. .

515

Analytical Index of The RECORD ... 515

Our Analytical Index.

The protracted and wearisome labor of prepar- ing a careful index to the WAR RECORD, has been doubly compensated by the real satisfaction de- rived from a consecutive review of the vast amount of valuable historical material, which we have been instrumental in preserving.

Our numbers may not, in the exciting days of actual war, have been so attractive as the swifter dailies, but they will increase in interest and value with advancing years, until we shall be

glad and proud that Connecticut liad her WAR leader, also, in all the little Societies, which RECORD. .

Major Edward F. Blake.

EDWARD FOSTER BLAKE, son of Eli Whitney Blake, was born November 25th, 1837, at New Haven, Conn.

In boyhood, not less than in manhood, he was a marked character, distinguished among his school companions for his energy, fearless- ness, enterprise and perseverance, for his skill in everything, which boys ever undertake to do, from trout fishing to whittling jack-straws, and for a generous warmth of feeling, that made him friends everywhere. Not that he was one, either, whose friendship was at everybody's service, given withont discrimination or differ- ence. lle had his close friends ; he had his pleasant acquaintanceships; he had, also, those, whom the strong prejudices and quick jndg- ments, which belong to an impulsive nature, made him dislike, and from whom he used no art to conceal it. Of enemies, however, he had none. Where he withheld his friendship, he never substituted ill-will for it, himself, nor gave occasion for such a feeling in others.

For hard study, he had little inclination. He was in his true element when, -the long after- noon over,-he escaped from the school-room, and led the way to the play-grond, where his strong arm and ringing voice made him the first in every game ; or when, heading a merry par- ty bound for West Rock or Saltonstall Lake, his was the mind and histhe experience to which every proposition and every difficulty werej referred for decision. There was no plant in the pastures, no tree in the woods, no bird, no | graphie and brilliant composition. snake, no fish, of which Ed. Blake did not

know the name and nature. If,-arrived at the Lake, -while the pie-nie dinner was engaging everybody's attention on the bank, an nlucky wind floated over the boat to the opposite shore, it was Ed. Blake that swam across to bring it baek ; if, when the time came to return, every- body else was too tired or too lazy to row, his arm was always ready for the pull; if, in the night walk back to town, a thunder-storin arose, with no shelter near, and the shivering boys huddled together in a fenee-corner, till it passed by, it was his courage that laughed all fears away, and made a new frolic of the discomfort and the danger. He was one of the few, to whom Nature gives a rare executive ability, that makes them everywhere leaders in action ; looked up to, trusted in, and followed, by a com- mon consent. Ilis strong spirit of sociality and good fellowship, supported by ready hu- mor and animated conversation, made him the

A talent for literary composition he had pos- sessed from his earliest boyhood and, upon en- tering College, this soon gained him distinction there. While never a hard student, he had a strong taste for general and self-selected read- ing. inclining particularly to the belles-lettres in our literature. From these sources, his mind could rely on ready illustrations, when the moment called for them, and they were ap- plied with a rare quickness and felicity of ex- pression. Ils compositions in the Division- room-sometimes humorous, sometimes argu- mentative, always original-were among the few to which all gave their close attention. In his Senior year, he was chosen by his class- mates as one of the five editors of the Yale Literary Magazine, where his essays amused and interested a larger circle; and an article contributed at a later period to the University Quarterly, under the title. "Shall I join a Boat Club ?" was much applauded by the press at large, and that portion of it describing a boat race, as looked at and felt by one of the win- ning crew, extensively copied as a piece of

always felt and evinced a deep interest, In 1858, he was one of the University erew cho- sen to pull for Yale against Harvard, at the regatta proposed at Springfickl ; and, shortly after his graduation, he drew up and published a plan for systematizing and regulating boating among the students, which at once received the approbation of the College, and has ever since been closely and successfully followed.

Major Blake's religious character- was first publicly declared by his uniting with the Col- lege church during his Senior year and in the course of the great "Revival" of 1858, but it had been formed and fixed, as all knew, who knew him, by a life-long spirit of honest con- scientiousness and steadfast principle, upheld, as his years advanced, by a strengthened rever- enee for the doctrines of christianity, and a solid determination to do nothing which he be- lieved that they condemned. There was noth- ing of gloom or aseeticisin in his religion. It schoolboys, in a College town especially, love so well to maintain. Of these, one, formed when he was a boy of ten, was sustained, prin- eipally by his enthusiasmn, among the same set who entered it as children, until years after the did not lead him to seelude himself from the world, or from what is pleasant and gay in it, but rather by a bright and sunny example to show that a man, and a young man, may be- come a hristian without Ceeasing to be himself, youngest of them had grown up and graduated [ and that cheerfulness, vivacity, and buoyancy from College ;- until, indeed, by the death of Major Blake, it was felt that the centre of the circle was taken away, and the charm broken forever. of spirit are graces to every character. For years, he taught a class of boys in one of the mission Sabbath Schools of New Haven,-a task far from congenial to his tastes, but most faithfully performed,-and his contributions to benevolent objects were always generous, though so quietly made that few, outside his own fam- ily, knew in what directions his charity went, and regularly continued, during all the en- gagements and vicissitudes of his military ser- vice, to the end of life.

In the Summer of 1838, Major Blake was graduated from Yale College, and for a time was midecided in what profession to engage. lle had inherited a fine mechanical taste, and in that direction, his inventive mind, fully sce- onded by skill in executing his designs, might have promised him success. An exquisite model of old Fort Hale, long one of the land- marks of New Haven harbor, ent from a bit of ivory, at odd hours, with his penknife, might be mentioned out of innumerable other instances to attest this ingenuity, and his pencil was al- ways ready to illustrate the comic side of any little thing that struck his fancy, with a humor and life that Leech himself might have envied. For one of his designs, an improvement in the form of a nut-eracker, a patent was obtained shortly before his death, and the centrivance

The subject of Boating was one in which he | has since been extensively sokl.

512

THE CONNECTICUT WAR RECORD.

[.Aval'st,

During this time, he busied himself in pur- field, near Darnestown, Md., and, though the

suing his studies in the modern languages and commission came quite unexpectedly, within three days he had prepared his outfit and was in general literature, accepting for a year the position of Librarian of the Young Mens' Insti- off' to join his regiment. Ilis industry-always tute in New Haven. In 1860, he made his choice between active business and professional life, and commenced the study of the Law in the Yale Law School. One with whom he was intimately associated, during this period, has 'often said since his death, "There seemed to be no fault in him." unflagging and systematie in whatever he once undertook to accomplish-had been so sheeess- ful in the pursuit of his military studies, that he found himself able to discharge the duties of ing-out parties and long rowing excursions, last- his new position, immediately on his arrival, to ing for weeks together, deprived army life to the acceptance of the regimeut and his superior [him of what often renders it especially repel- lent, because unaeeustomed, to others, and ex- eitement, novelty, and activity of work, always had charms for him; but the deprivation from general society, the exclusion of literary pleas- ures, and the vices of the eamp were enough to make the service a burden, to be cheerfully borne so long as patriotism demanded it, but so long only. officers. He had to encounter at first a little natural coolness from those officers of his own rank in the command, passed over in filling the post of Adjutant, in favor of a civilian, but his attention to duty, and genial courtesy of man- ner soon melted this away, and made him the favorite in the army that he had been at home. The long Winter passed away in that series of marches and counter-marches which gave the regiment the name in the army of the "Foot Cavalry," but early in the Spring, Adjutant Blake was introduced to more active campaign- ing in the disastrous expedition under General Banks, up-and down-the Shenandoah Val- ley. A brother officer, writing of Major Blake, at this time, says :

In a few months, war broke out, and, though uncertain whether duty was to call him to the field; he almost immediately joined two organ- izations for military drill, a thing in which he had had no previous instruction, studying in connection with this the ordinary text books upon army taeties. With rare social qualities, and surrounded by a large family cirele in which domestic attachments and sympathy were cherished with more than usual warmth, it eost him a hard struggle to deeide upon entering army life, so many phases of which were re- pugnant to his tastes and feelings. He felt however that he could be useful in the field, and was not one to shut his eyes on anything that seemed to be his duty. From month to month, he grew more restless at remaining at home. " Who would believe," said he, one day in July, to a party of friends with whom he was out on one of the long camping-out expe- ditions he loved so well, (and of whom five out of seven have sinee served their country in the South,) "who would believe, fifty years henee, that we spent a month, roving in this way up the Connecticut River, when great ar- mies were fighting for the life of our Govern- ment ?" Soon after his return from this exeur- sion, he tendered his serviees to the Governor, in the latter part of August, 1861. An early

The final engagement of the campaign oe- eurred at Winchester, May 25th, 1862, when friend, writes to his father, his recollections of the Fifth with the Brigade in which they then a conversation he had at this time with Major Blake, as they chanced to meet upon the street, one moonlight evening in September.

" Although perfectly cheerful, as he always was, he was less gay,-not in such exuberant spirits. as I had often seen him. He had evidently been thinking very seriously and deliberately. IIe told me that he had not yielded to a first impulse,- | his long march, almost the whole of which he to any hasty enthusiasm-which might have had made on foot with the men, with all his prompted him to go at once into the army. He equipments on, and was at once busy in collect- ing the returns of casualties from company offi- cers, for his report to the Adjutant General. had preferred to wait, to satisfy himself that the war was what it seemed to him, 'one of the pivo- tal wars of the world'-( I remember his expres- sion perfectly.) He had thought about it, he said, calmly, and was sure, now, that it was so,-a war of principles; a war on which the most immense results for the whole world depended. And he said that, with this conviction, he was resolved to go, as soon ns he could, to have his share in it.

I wish that I could remember our talk, word for word. I can only recall its general tone, and his manner and expression, so serious, so unsel. fish, so good,-and that particular phrase 'one of for two months of the Summer. During this the pivotal wars of the world.'"

Upon October 7th, 1861, he was appointed Adjutant of the Fifth Connecticut, then in the'

" The foremost to be mounted in ease of emer- gency, untiring upon long marches, and in detail- ing complete arrangements for the encampments, gnards, piekets, de., after the days' march was over; the general estimation of the officers placed him, early in his career, nmong the foremost as a elicerfnl, ready and brave soldier. We knew him, too, as an earnest, devoted christian, who would not countenance even the least appearance of those convivialities nnd pastimes, which men employed as time- killers and which he looked upon as wrong in their tendency."

were, were driven from that town, and made a forced march of forty-three miles, to the Poto- inae, which they reached at midnight. Adjn- tant Blake was honorably mentioned in the Colonel's official report of the action, as having rendered him efficient service in the field, and the next morning rose, as fresh as ever, after

The army of Virginia under Major-General Pope was now organized, and the Fifth ordered to that department under the command of Brig. Gen. Crawford. Adjutant Blake's prompt- ness and efficiency, now well known through hard experience, procured him the appointment of Acting Assistant Adjutant-General on Gen- eral Crawford's staff, and, being detailed for that service, he was absent from his regiment

time, his good qualities as an officer so impress- ed General Crawford, that he offered to use his influence to procure him a commission in the

regular army, but received the unhesitating answer that nothing but the immediate exi- gencies of the country eould retain him in the service, and that he could never think of the army as a profession for life. Ilis love for out- door life and for "roughing it" in the woods, cultivated since early boyhood by annual camp-

While serving, thus, as a staff offeer, Adju- tant Blake received a commission as Major of his regiment, dating from June 12th, 1862, and was shortly afterwards ordered to Connecticut as bearer of dispatches to the Governor. It so happened that this brought him home on the day of the College Commencement, when elass- mates and friends were present in unusual numbers to join with his family in welcoming his return. It was a dark hour of the war, and his heart was full of thought and solicitude for the country : young men, he said, when his advice was asked in private conversation, and said, when called up for a speech on a more public occasion, of intelligence and education ought to join the army ; they were needed and eould do much. The next Sabbath he was at the communion table in the church where his family worshipped, with father and mother, brothers and sisters around him ; by the next, he had returned to the field, led his men into action, and led them for the last time. Satur- day, August 9th, 1862, was the battle of Ce- dar Mountain. In the heat of the action, a few men on the left of the Fifth faltered in the advance and songht shelter behind some rocks and bushes ; Major Blake, ran up on foot, and, shouting "Never let it be said that Connecti- cut men wavered, to-day !" rallied them and led the way forward to the woods, in which the rest of the regiment were still gallantly fighting against great odds of numbers and position. The conflict, here, was short ; the advance could not be maintained; and when the remnants of the command were swept back across the plain, with but three officers left, who were not either killed, wounded, or eap- tured, Major Blake had just fallen, killed in- stantly by a rebel bullet, as he was waving his sword and encouraging his men to stand by their colors, which he had himself grasped, as they were falling before the storm.

So fell a noble, generous, unselfish spirit : far from his friends, his body sleeps in an un- known grave, but few are they who leave more to keep their memory green. More tears, than those of kindred, have been shed for him.

S. E. B.

1865.]

THE CONNECTCUT WAR RECORD.

513

Great perils in the life of a nation are like great daagers in the individual life, testing the nation or individual and showing to the world how much of real worth they have.

The great peril of the nation now happily past, has proved how much of real worth the American people possessed. Money has been poured out like water, and more freely still blood has flowed, and noble lives been given in a holy cause.

Chaplain Jacob Eaton. observed to Capt. Russell, " that man will make his mark if he lives." The Regiment soon left for the field, and its history is well known. Pri- vate Eaton carried his musket, shared in all its toils nnd hardships, and at length having honor- ably earned it, he was promoted to a Lieutenancy. On the terrible field of Antietam, he was wound- ed by a musket hall which entered his body just above the hip, and which he carried for the rest of his life. Worn down by disease, fatigue and Among the latter stands prominently the name of Jacob Eaton, Chaplain of the 7th Regt. C. V. He was born in Mount Pleasant, Wayne Co., Penn., March 12th, 1833, the youngest of a large family, his father dying before his birth. De- seended from New England stock, he inherited many of the traits of character peculiar to New England people. Having decided to enter the ministry, he entered Yale College, graduated in 1856, and soon commenced preaching. While thus engaged, he became acquainted with the widow of Hon. Julius B. Harrison, ( who was for many years a prominent member of the Litchfield Co. Bar,) which acquaintance resulted in a happy exposure, disabled by his wound, he at length resigned, giving as a reason, " that he would not draw pay from the Government when he could not earn it, and returned to his home in Ilanover, resuming his pastoral labors. In the summer of '63 he was drafted by the U. S. Government and accepted; knowing his unfitness for the service, he procured as a substitute, a good soldier, not a "bounty jumper." To assist in quelling the riot- ous spirit which was abroad in the land during that summer, n number of the young men in Meriden, many of whom had been in the service in various regiments, organized Co. I, 2d Reg. C. M. Eaton was unanimously chosen Captain-he marriage. In the spring of 1857, he was called f accepted, was duly commissioned as such, and to the charge of the Third Congregational Church, held it until he again entered the service. IIe in Meriden, (Hanover Society.) This was his only had always said that when he had fully recovered he should enlist again. Bettlement, and rare indeed nre the cases of a more complete union between pastor and people. Bound together by ardent friendship, they labored zealonsly and successfully to build up the Redeemer's kingdom in the earth, and thus the time passed pleasantly along until the " war cloud" darkened the land. Being an anti- slavery man by religious conviction, he could not stand idly by while the Nation was struggling in a death grapple with " the sum of all villanies." Ilis Society were onwilling to part with him ; home and friends were dearly loved. But after the first Bull Run had shown the North that the contest would be long and desperate, he deter- mined to wait no longer. He enlisted as a pri- vate in a company then forming in Meriden, which was assigned to the 8th Regiment, and Boon left for the camp in Hartford. Here the writer first saw him under eireumstances which will never be forgotten.

Accordingly in March, 1864, he enlisted as a private in the 7th Reg. His zeal in the canse was well known, his services were appreciated and he was elected Chaplain, and soon left for the front. But by severe labors, and the malaria of the Southern climate, was soon prostrated by fever and came home to reernit. His recovery was slow, but last November he returned to his post never ngain to leave it. He accompanied to Fort Fisher the regiment whose first Col., now Major- General Terry, succeeded when others had failed-thenee to Wilmington where the seenes of sorrow and suffering, cansed by the infernal treatment of prisoners by our enemies, aronsed all his sympathies; he could not negleet them even to save himself; worn down by labor and anxiety, he easily yielded to another attack of fever ; on the 13th of March, he was obliged to abandon his work ; all that could be done was in vain, and on the 20th ( just one week,) the great and noble heart of Jacob Eaton ceased to beat. He died as truly a martyr to the canse as though a rebel bullet had pierced his brain. Many a tear started and lip quivered when the news came home, "Chaplain Eaton is dead." In n quiet grave-yard, in the same town where the hero Sedgwick sleeps, his remains were deposited just oue year from the day he preached his last fare- well to his church, with the solemn Masonic rites due " a worthy Brother," and with military cere- monies.

Capt. Russell, afterwards Col. of the 10th Regt. had invited all those who felt disposed, to ineet in his tent, for religions services; it was a gloomy Sunday, Sept. 22d. The leaves were falling aronnd ns, and the summer flowers had faded, beautiful emblems of mortal life; aroun 1 were gathered stalwart men from city, town and hamn. let, rendy to do and die for " native land." Each spoke or prayed as he felt di-posed. The services were drawing to a close, when there stepped forth from the crowd a man, a stranger to almost every one, full six feet high, of wiry, muscular build, and commanding mien, and with an earnest. ness of manner that showed his whole sonl was in dangers that surrounded them, moral as well as physical : of the great Father's care that was over all, bidding them to trust Him as their Leader | out bigotry, he appealed directly to the consci- and Friend; and urged the soldiers to pattern after Cromwell's Army, showing them that in such a cause and animated by such a faith they would be invincible.

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The Connecticut war record, 1863-1865, Part 141

Author: Morris, John M., ed Publication date: 1863 Publisher: New Haven : Peck, White & Peck Number of Pages: 886

Author: Morris, John M., ed
Publication date: 1863
Publisher: New Haven : Peck, White & Peck
Number of Pages: 886