USA > Connecticut > New London County > Norwich > The Norwich memorial; the annals of Norwich, New London County, Connecticut, in the great rebellion of 1861-65 > Part 9
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Volunteer enlistments in the United States Navy, . 2,135 Enlistments in United States Army and Veteran
Reserve Corps, 1,044
Recruits obtained in Rebel States, .
1,156
Substitutes, for enrolled men, not drafted, . 3,849
Substitutes, for drafted men (of draft of 1864), 89
Drafted men (by draft of 1864), .
15
Total,
54,872
Reducing the above credits to the standard of three years, the account of the State stands (taking Adjutant-general Morse's figures) thus, not including the three months' men.
Nine Months' Men,
5,602
Equal to
1,400
One Year Men,
529
I76
Two Years' Men,
25
16
Three Years' Men,
44,142
16
44,142
Four Years' Men,
26
4 €
34
Not known,
1,804
=
1,804
Total,
47,572
"
Of the enlisted men connected with the various regi- ments and organizations, one thousand and eighty-four (1,084) were killed. . Six hundred and eighty-three (683) died from wounds. Three thousand and eighty-nine (3,089) died from disease. Three hundred and eighty-nine (389) were reported as missing. Five thousand four hundred and fifty-one (5,451) were honorably discharged prior to the mustering of the regiments with which connected. Four thousand three hundred and sixty-one (4,361) were dis-
124
THE NORWICH MEMORIAL.
charged for disability. Forty-nine were dishonorably dis- charged. Fourteen hundred and eighty-eight (1,488) were transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps. Twenty-seven (27) were executed. Six thousand two hundred and eighty-one (6,281) deserted. Thirty-five (35) were drowned. Nineteen (19) were taken out of their regiments by civil authority, Fifty-six (56) were dropped from the rolls. From these statistics, it appears that one thousand three hundred and twenty-three (1,323) more men died of disease, than were killed or died from effects of wounds received. The whole number of commissioned officers furnished by Connecticut during the war was nineteen hundred and sixty-two (1,962), of whom, eighty-four (84) were killed, forty-two (42) died in consequence of wounds received while in the service, and seventy-nine (79) died from disease.
TABULAR EXHIBIT
OF THE LOSSES SUSTAINED BY EACH REGIMENT AND MILITARY ORGANIZATION IN SERVICE
2 1 Cav |Art. |Art. Bat. |Bat.
2
5
8
7 8 9 .10.11
12
13
14
15
16 17
18
20
21
22
23 24 25
26
27
28 Total.
Killed in Action .
24
26 143
-
I
73
43
90
72
5
57
35
5º
32
132
15
46
29
52
50
26
3
14
14
15
28
9
1084
Wounds
S
23
So
I
1
29
40
44
40
Ï
59
41
16
13
65
15
24
15
14
37
33
3
30
9
682
Died of
Disease .
125
101
186
21
co
SI
119,
179
132
240
152
165
129
169
143
224
74
72
77
IOS
20
44
47
56
72
22
65
3089
Total of
Cas'alties
157
210
409
22
20
183
208
313
244, 246
241
54
174 366
173
294
138
164
167
51
65
83
II7
67
83
4855
Aggregate
of Regt.
2611 3307 2719
296|
220 1782 1608 1057 2000 1285 1844 2127 1408 1492 1712 1617 1093 1175 1198 1281 1046
PERCENT.
OF LOSS .*
Killed .
. 009 . 007 . 052
.041 .026 . 085; . 036
.03 . 016 . 035 . 021 . 077
. 042 . 025 . 043 . 038 . 025
-
-
. 021 . 014 . 018 . 034 . CI4
. 028
Died of
wounds .
.003 .006 .03
.016 . 027 . 042 .02
. 032, .019 .011 .008 .038 . -
.022 . 012 . 012 . 029 . 033
-
-
-
.016 . 037 . 021 .014
.017
Died of
Disease ..
. 047 . 048 .06S
.07
. OS
.045 . 071
. 169 . 066; . 187 . 082 . 078
. 133 . 086 . 098 . 088 . 205 .062 .00
. 06
. 103 . 022 . 053 . 068 .069 .088
. 027 .097
. OS
Total . .
.06
. 06
. 15
. 075 .091 . 10
. 12
. 296 . 122 . 192 . 145; . 113 . 18
. 116 . 215 . 106 . 27
. 10
. 115 . 128 . 15
.022 .06
.093 . 102 . 144 .08
. 121
. 126
BATTLES +
27
13
5
IO
4
II
7
19
II
4
23
IO
7
9
25
4
5
4
7
IO
7
-
-
I
3
2
3
I
1
-
This percentage is based on the time each Regiment was in service, and not on their several times reduced to a three years' basis.
* Percentage of Loss per Regiment, based on the actual time each was in service.
t Number of Battles, according to Regimental Reports,
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
118
20
928|
848
698'
811
810
829
678 38540
6 Died of
-
-
ISS
268
1
126
THE NORWICH MEMORIAL.
Among the general officers furnished by Connecticut, numbering in all thirty, Lyon, Mansfield, and Sedgwick were killed on the field of battle. The aggregate loss to the State of commissioned officers is reckoned at two hun- dred and twenty-nine.
The total number of men inclusive of unassigned recruits and substitutes, furnished by Norwich for the war, for the several lesser terms of service, of all arms, not counting those in the Navy or those enlisting in other States, was over thirteen hundred ; of these, one hundred and fifty-five (155) lost their lives, thirty-six (36) being killed in battle, one (1) was accidentally shot, thirty-one (31) died of wounds, and eighty-seven (87) of disease contracted while in ser- vice, of whom twenty-two (22) met death in rebel prisons.
The whole number of commissioned officers furnished by Norwich was one hundred and fifty-five (155). This includes several who were natives of the town, but who, having removed to other parts of the country, received their appointments from other States, and also several officers in colored regiments, or in other general service, who were commissioned by the United States. The number credited to Norwich, and commissioned by the State, was about one hundred and sixteen (116), of whom thirteen (13) lost their lives, five (5) on the battle-field, five (5) died of wounds, and threc (3) of disease.
The whole number of men apportioned to Connecticut under the different quotas, reduced to the three years' standard, was forty-one thousand four hundred and eighty- three (41,483). The number furnished by the State, reduc- ing all the different terms of service to the three years' standard, was forty-eight thousand one hundred and eighty- one (48,181), which shows a surplus of six thousand six hundred and ninety-eight (6,698) in three years' men, with- out reference to the quota under the call of December,
OFFICERS AND MEN FURNISHED BY THE TOWN. 127
1864. Under this last call no troops were required to be furnished by the State, as no quota was assigned by the government.
It is a satisfaction to be able to record the fact that Nor- wich raised its quota under the several apportionments made by the Adjutant-general, and when the war closed, she had a surplus in her favor above the different calls made upon her, to furnish her proportion of the troops required by the General Government. In the early part of the war the town contributed from the resident population to the service of the country. The raising of volunteers was under its own management until July, 1863, up to which time through liberal bounties and the popular maintenance of the war- spirit, there was no lack of enlistments. After the above date the recruiting business was conducted by the provost- marshal of the district, and substitutes and hired recruits were largely procured to meet the call upon the town for men. Notwithstanding the largely increased expenses of the town, necessitated by the war, there was no curtailment in the usual appropriations for schools, for the poor, for gen- eral public and civic improvements. There was never a more generous spirit displayed in providing for all that re- lated to the town and city's needs, than during the years of this gigantic civil strife. The war, in fact, created for Nor- wich, as it did for other places, new business enterprises, and there was even an augmented industry which gave to these trying years the appearance of outward thrift and prosperity. City improvements were projected as in ordinary times, and the citizens, while constantly called upon to give, were able to meet, in the spirit of unquestioned liberality, all the appeals which came to them. Private and public charity received a new impulse, and all classes learned the great lesson of self-sacrificing benevolence. One of the brightest chapters of the war, is the one which contains the history of the
128
THE NORWICH MEMORIAL.
Nation's offerings to general benevolent purposes. In no other way was so strikingly displayed the earnestness and ability of the people, not only to meet the military neces- sities of the conflict itself, immense as they were, but to pro- vide as they did, with marvelous and unstinted liberality, for the usual and exceptional charities of those crucial years.
The city, during the war, became quite noted for its armo- ries. These were very extensive, and for the time added largely to the industrial enterprise and growth of the town.
A writer in "Harpers' Magazine" in 1864, describing the activity displayed in this line, thus wrote concerning what was doing in this branch of labor : --
" We bid the reader to Norwich, rather than to some other of the many similar enterprises which have grown up in various parts of the land, because the works there, are of all others, the first in the magnitude of their operation, and in the assurance of perpet- uity, when minor establishments may, and no doubt will, pass with the passing of the necessity which has called them into existence.
" The ease and celerity with which the capitalists and artisans of Norwich, and of so many other places, have at a moment's call, turned from their looms and their spindles of a life-time, to so untried, so intricate, and so difficult a lot as that of the manufac- ture of arms, is scarcely less astonishing, than is the wonderful success which has followed their efforts.
" That the national works, as those at Springfield, should be, as they have been, trebled even in extent, as soon as the enlarge- ment was required, is highly creditable to the public capacity and energy ; but how much more commendable and gratifying is it, that such an enterprise - guaranteed in its result and reward by the treasury of a great nation - has been in a degree more than rivaled by individual effort, and that effort made boldly in the dark, almost without precedent, and in a new and most difficult labor.
" The capacity of the Norwich Arms Company is greater than was that of the government foundries at Springfield, before their extensive enlargement at the commencement of the war, and is
129
INDUSTRIES CREATED BY THE WAR.
nearly half as great as is that of these works, now in their in- creased extent. With their present machinery and accommoda- tions, the Company are able to produce about four hundred fin- ished muskets per day, or two hundred of the Springfield arm, and as many more of the new and beautiful breach-loading rifle. Just now, as we write, the works are producing about twelve hundred muskets, three thousand bayonets, and two thousand locks, per week, besides rifles and carbines. The product of the works in their present capacity would reach a value of nearly a quarter of a million of dollars annually, in their yield of four hundred muskets or other arms daily, at the government price of twenty dollars each."
In addition to this large armory, there was an equally enterprising establishment for making pistols, under the charge of Smith & Wesson, and another quite as prosper- ous, run by Allen, Thurber, & Co., besides the Bacon Arms Company, which is the only one that has continued its manufacturing in Norwich. In fact, during the war Norwich showed more thrift than ever before or since. Of course much of the business was such as the military necessities of the times had created, and could hardly be expected to be permanent, or always as remunerative. Still it is a matter of regret that some branches of industry were permitted to be removed hence, to places which they have helped to build up, and where they have proved of permanent and pecuniary advantage.
Norwich, as it appeared in war-years, was indeed " a wide- awake little town, as vociferous in sounds of busy and thriving industry as any place of its size in the good old State of steady habits, or in all the thronged length and breadth of Yankeedom." Its brilliant war record, the public gifts of its citizens for patriotic and charitable purposes, the deep interest felt in the success of the war itself, and the readiness to contribute in any way to that grand result, all stand as memorials of the energy and loyal zeal of the town.
IX.
1861-1865.
NAVY.
" And is the old flag flying still, That o'er your Fathers flew, With bands of white and rosy light, And fields of starry blue ? Aye ! look aloft ! its folds full oft Have braved the roaring blast, And still shall fly when from the sky This black typhoon has past !"
O. W. HOLMES.
T 'HE records of the Navy during the war will constitute one of the proudest chapters in its history. At the breaking out of the rebellion it had only ninety-four war vessels of all classes, designed to carry two thousand four hundred and fifteen (2,415) guns. Only forty-three of these ships were in commission. The deep-seated patriotism and
131
CREATION OF THE NAVY.
generously proffered resources of the loyal masses of the country, provided in the speediest possible time a volun- teer army equal to the demands of the unprecedented emergency.
The Navy, however, had practically to be created, and this could not be done with the same rapidity. And yet in a very brief period of time, the deficiency in this arm of the service was supplied, and six hundred vessels were provided, which maintained not only an unrelaxed blockade from the Chesapeake to the Rio-Grande, but penetrated and patrolled our rivers with a flotilla of gun-boats, and captured blockade- runners, chiefly with British owners, to the value of thirty millions of dollars ($30,000,000). Over two hundred war- ships were constructed, and four hundred and eighteen merchant vessels (of which three hundred and thirteen were steamers), were converted into ships of war. There were fifty-one thousand five hundred men in the naval ser- vice at the close of the rebellion, as contrasted with seven thousand six hundred at the beginning.
The ordnance of the department was by mechanical and inventive skill greatly improved, and the " Monitor," which rendered such timely and unexpected service, was among the products of this awakened attention to the navy. By the latter our armies were nobly supported in the engagements on the coast, and the Mississippi River, as well as at Forts Henry, Donelson, and Shiloh. There were no braver deeds performed than bý officers and men in the naval service, and to them was largely due the successful termination of the war itself. The loyalty of those in the navy was of the noblest type, and though there were defections on the part of officers at the beginning of the rebellion, numerous enough to occasion embarrassment and dishonor, yet the subsequent service rendered by those who remained true to the flag, reinforced by volunteer recruits, made ample atone-
132
THE NORWICH MEMORIAL.
ment. It is but justice to these gallant men, and those as- sociated with and under them, to make in every possible way this public acknowledgment.
Less has been written concerning the exploits of the Navy and Marine Corps, than of the volunteer armies, re- sulting from the fact, that the several States have not shown that interest in the former that they had in the regi- ments composing the latter, the roster of whose officers and men they were careful to preserve.
We know not the names of those who served in the navy, but the soldiers who enlisted, the officers commissioned in the army, had their respective military records kept for them, through the Adjutant-generals of the several States, and perpetuated by means of the carefully compiled and published registers of the volunteer forces raised.
When the proclamation announcing the blockade of the Southern ports was issued, the Navy Department was com- pelled to prepare for service all the public vessels which were lying dismantled at the various yards. Vessels of every kind that could be purchased, or chartered, were hur- riedly collected, divided into two squadrons, and placed along the coast. One of these two, denominated the Atlan- tic Blockading Squadron, under command of Flag-officer Charles Stringham, had for its field of operations, the entire coast, from the eastern line of Virginia to Cape Florida. The other, the Gulf Squadron, under Flag-officer William Mervine operated from Cape Florida westward to the Rio Grande.
The task of blockading the coast was unattractive, and required the most unceasing vigilance, and yet was carried out with remarkable strictness, and maintained to the close of the war with increasing efficiency. The expedition to Hatteras Inlet in August, 1861, was the first of a series of naval engagements, which resulted in the reoccupation of
I33
EXPLOITS OF THE NAVY.
important points along the seaboard. The Atlantic Block- ading Squadron was subsequently divided into two : the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, to guard the coast of Virginia and North Carolina, under Captain Louis M. Golds- borough ; and the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, un- der Captain S. F. Dupont, to watch the coast from the northern boundary of South Carolina to Cape Florida. The Gulf Squadron was likewise divided into the Eastern and Western Blockading Squadrons ; the latter was as- signed to duty on the coast, from and including Pensacola to the Rio Grande, and was intrusted to Captain D. G. Farragut.
In addition to these four large squadrons, it was found necessary for the navy to place a flotilla on the lower Poto- mac, and also one on the Mississippi and its tributaries.
By all of these squadrons was conspicuous service ren- dered, and some of their exploits will rank among the most brilliant in the annals of naval warfare. The North At- lantic Blockading Squadron captured Hatteras Inlet, August twenty-eighth, 1861, General Butler commanding the co- operating military force. Roanoke Island was taken on February eighth, 1862, Goldsborough commanding the fleet, and General Burnside the army. Fort Fisher fell before . the combined attack of this squadron under Rear-admiral Porter, January fifteenth, 1865, one of Connecticut's most brilliant soldiers, General Terry, leading the auxiliary land forces.
By the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Port Royal was captured, November seventh, 1861, Captain Dupont in charge of the fleet, and General T. W. Sherman of the army. The West Gulf Blockading Squadron, under Farragut, bom- barded successfully in April, 1862, the forts guarding New Orleans, which led to the surrender of the city to the troops under General Butler. The defenses of Mobile Bay were
I34
THE NORWICH MEMORIAL.
captured August fifth, 1864, General Gordon Granger di- recting the military force.
The Mississippi Squadron, under Connecticut's gallant Admiral A. H. Foot, took part in the capture of Fort Henry, February sixth, 1862 ; under C. H. Davis, secured posses- sion of Memphis, June sixth, 1862 ; under Porter, made the famous passage of the Vicksburg batteries, April sixth, 1863. These by no means exhaust the achievements of the navy, for our ships of war were everywhere managed with great skill and courage, and the squadrons, whether engaged in cruising, or in such naval battles like those named, did honor to the nation's flag. The service rendered was of a most varied character, and so effective too, as to entitle this arm to the praise and gratitude of the whole country. Had it not been for the friendly help, and unlawful cooperation Great Britain afforded to rebel privateers and blockade run- ners, as well as its peculiar affection for Confederate pirates who preyed upon our commerce in ships built in English ship-yards, and fitted out in violation of all existing inter- national law, the Confederacy would not have lasted as long as it did, nor won such infamy for its piratical deeds on the high seas. Of this England is probably now con- vinced, and the recent Geneva award is but a mild assess- ment of the damage occasioned us, for which she was . proved before the world to be culpably responsible.
The Confederate Navy was made up at first of officers formerly in the United States service, who at the breaking out of the rebellion resigned, thus hoping to escape the charge, which was none the less deserved, of being traitors. At that carly period, our government had not gotten over its fatal tendency to deal leniently, so that the resignations of these runaways were accepted, instead of having their names stricken in ignominy from the naval rolls they had disgraced. These were the first to offer themselves to the
I35
NAVAL RECORDS OF NORWICH OFFICERS.
Confederate Navy, and though educated, honored, and cared for by our government, in the hour of its peril, they re- nounced its service, its flag, and their fealty, to tender their service to those plotting its overthrow. To the honor of the North, it may be said, that by far the greater proportion of traitors were from border States, or else from the " sunny South." And the moiety of Northern officers that became turncoats, had lived just long enough in Dixie to have their loyalty endangered.
So far as Norwich was concerned, comparatively few en- tered the navy. Though near the sea-board, and with more or less interest in this arm of the service, our volunteers preferred enlisting in the army. The State, however, had a distinguished representation in the navy, as the names of Foote, Lanman, Gregory, Rodgers, and others, abundantly show. The number of her citizens holding commissions during the war is estimated as high as three hundred.
Our town stands credited with eighty-nine men, who en- listed at various times, and were mustered into the naval service of the country. Several of these received honorable appointments as commanders, paymasters, and masters of vessels. They maintained the reputation for courage and serviceableness, which those who had entered the army had won.
The names of many of the naval recruits cannot now be obtained, so that the roster of those in this department must necessarily be somewhat incomplete. We are able to pre- sent only brief accounts of most of those who enlisted in the navy, and regret exceedingly that we cannot furnish a full list of all who served on any of our ships of war, and who counted on the quota of volunteers raised by the town for the national service. Once or twice during the war, efforts were made by the town officers to secure, through in- quiry and advertisement, the names of those who entered
I36
THE NORWICH MEMORIAL.
the navy, but they were unavailing. We subjoin as per- fect a list as it was possible to make out, believing that it is complete, so far, at least, as containing the names of those who held naval commissions.
JOSEPH LANMAN was the ranking officer in the service of the country from this town. He was born in Norwich July eighteenth, ISII, and from personal predilections entered the navy at an early age. He received the appointment of mid- shipman, January first, 1825, and was ordered to join the frig- ate " Macedonian," of the Brazil Squadron, in 1827. In 1830, he was attached to the sloop " Peacock," of the West India Squadron. Promoted to Passed-midshipman June fourth, 1831, he next joined the schooner " Dolphin," Pacific Squad- ron. Serving in these early years with great fidelity and skill, he rose steadily by promotion through the various grades, until attaining his present well-earned rank of Rear- admiral.
His distinguished service extends over a period of forty- eight years, and is one in which the town takes a just pride. One of its own boys, he has now for nearly a half century been in the government's service, filling every position he won, with stainless honor, and has come back now to his na- tive place because reaching the age with which, according to naval rules, active service ends. An officer of wide expe- rience, acknowledged courage, and devoted patriotism, he served through the years of the late war, without having a choice as to place or duty, cheerfully obeying orders, and flying from his vessel's mast-head the flag that he helped to make respected at home and abroad.
In 1848, Admiral (then Lieutenant) Lanman was compli- mented by being made the bearer of dispatches from the commanding officer of the Pacific Squadron to the authori- ties at Washington. He was assigned to special duty in 1849-51, and in 1864-65, commanded the frigate “ Minne-
137
NAVAL RECORDS OF NORWICH OFFICERS.
sota," of the North Blockading Squadron. The last years of his active service were spent in command of the South Atlantic Squadron, cruising off the coast of Brazil.
Some of our citizens who have watched with admiring interest his long and honorable career, remember him when as midshipman he began his naval service. Among the episodes of this early period of his life was the following. He had been promised by one, who from the first took no ordinary interest in his course, a sword, whenever he received his first commission. The latter came to him in 1835, when he was commissioned lieutenant. His friend, not forgetful of the promise made to the youth when beginning his public life, immediately took measures to make it good, and finding what the " Regulations of the Navy " permitted, procured an officer's sword and belt, and dispatched them to him with the accompanying note : -
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