History of the Fifth Massachusetts Battery : organized October 3, 1861, mustered out June 12, 1865, v.1, Part 1

Author:
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Boston : L.E. Cowles
Number of Pages: 1046


USA > Massachusetts > History of the Fifth Massachusetts Battery : organized October 3, 1861, mustered out June 12, 1865, v.1 > Part 1


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.


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 | Part 36



GENEALOGY 973.74 M38HIS FT.1


M. L.


REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION


-


Gc


ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01757 0851


GENEA 973.74 M38HI PT.1


Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012


http://archive.org/details/historyoffifthm00bost


HISTORY


OF THE


KIFTIL


BATTERY. MASSACHUSETTS


ORGANIZED OCTOBER 3, 1861, MUSTERED OUT JUNE 12, 1865.


5 TH CORPS


BOSTON : LUTHER E. COWLES, PUBLISHER, 60 FEDERAL STREET. 1902.


-


165543


1


Massachusetts artillery, 5th battery, 1861-1865.


349


History of the Fifth Massachusetts battery. Organ- ized October 3, 1861, mustered out June 12, 1865. Bos- ton, L. E. Cowles, 1902.


xiv, 991 p. col. front., plates, ports., maps. 25cm.


SHALF CARE


1. U. S .- Hist .- Civil war-Regimental histories-Mass. art .- 5th bat- 166229 tery.


3-17523


Library of Congress


E513.7.5th Copyright


PREFACE.


In submitting these pages to the general public, made doubly and more profoundly critical by new opportuni- ties for observation, furnished by the recent war with Spain, we are aware that our most appreciative readers will be found among the daily diminishing ranks of our comrades and their circle of friends whose memories reach back to the period of which it treats, - forty years ago.


It is not without some feeling of complacence that we have reviewed these records of the endurance of hard- ships, which, in the inexperience of early youth, we accepted as the inevitable, and carelessly turned into jest as the easiest and quickest way of getting over the mis- fortunes of war, and we have closely followed the trials to which were submitted those innate impulses of courage inspired by patriotism, that found us all ready to mount at the call of " Boots and Saddles," and, harnessing our impatience to the wheels of the grumbling cannon and caissons, to seek the field wherever, whenever and how- soever we were directed.


To our aid in this work we have called the sister of a soldier of the 18th Massachusetts Regiment Infantry, who has brought to her task that which is considered indispensable in the historian of a distant period, " the familiarized knowledge of many years." Her impres- sions do not all come at second hand. They are the product of memories transplanted from a living past, to assist in the selection of scenes in camp, on the march,


iii


iv


PREFACE.


and in the field, and to present them in a form of ready reference for the use of its members and their descendants for all time, to bear witness to the labors, sacrifices and achievements of the 5th Massachusetts Battery, Light Artillery.


NATHAN APPLETON, HENRY D. SCOTT, JOHN F. MURRAY, THOMAS E. CHASE, GEORGE L. NEWTON, Committee.


The committee desire to acknowledge the receipt of historical data, loan of books, letters, diaries and other means of information necessary to the compilation, from the following persons : ---


Massachusetts : Miss Katharine Phillips, Miss Jane Phillips, Mrs. Stephen H. Phillips, Brevet Brigadier- General Augustus P. Martin, Stephen F. Keyes, Judge Advocate, Department of Massachusetts, G. A. R., George H. Freeman, Quartermaster R. A. Peirce, Post G. A. R., Charles F. Shaw, R. C. Ingraham, Charles W. Coggeshall (Coggeshall, Maxfield & Co.), B. F. Bright- man (Alaska Oil Co.), Isaac S. Mullen, Ward Room Steward U. S. ships Portsmouth and Chocura, Milo J. Proctor, 6th Massachusetts Infantry, Charles O. Eaton, Custodian of State Flags, Rev. George Batchelor, Wm. G. Kirschbaum, New Bedford Standard.


Maine : Brevet Major-General Joshua L. Chamber- lain, Brevet Major Henry S. Burrage, Major Holman S. Melcher, 20th Maine Regiment Association, Captain Harvey H. Webber.


New York : Brevet Colonel Horatio C. King, Hugh Hastings, State Historian, Frank H. Norton, Edmund


V


PREFACE.


B. Taber, New York Herald, R. G. Butler, New York San.


North Dakota : Colonel C. A. Lounsberry, 20th Michi- gran Infantry.


Pennsylvania : Colonel John P. Nicholson, Gettys- burg National Park Commission.


Rhode Island: Major Geo. E. Randolph (Denver, Col.), William Ames Card (New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad), Captain Wm. B. Weeden, 4th ( Weeden's ) Rhode Island Battery, First Lieutenant Gideon Spencer, ist Rhode Island Light Artillery, Captain Wm. B. Rhodes, Battery E, Ist Rhode Island, John Galvin and J. B. Peck, Battery C, Ist Rhode Island, Frederic M. Sackett, Adjutant General State of Rhode Island.


l'irginia: Colonel Wm. Thompson, Governor Na- tional Soldiers' Home, W. W. Scott, Librarian State Library, Richmond.


W'ashington, D. C .: Captain Charles E. Troutman, Colonel Lee Crandall, William Crozier, Brigadier-Gen- eral, Chief of Ordnance, U. S. A.


Norr. - Parentheses are used to explain the text and for cross-references. Paren- .fr . al remarks by the writers quoted are between dashes.


TABLE OF CONTENTS.


CHAPTER FIRST. December 29, 1861-December 22, 1865.


The Battery Flags, 3; The Color Bearers, 4; The Flags Unfurled, 5; The Flags Replaced, 6; The Worn Colors, 11; Corps and Brigade Flags and Badges, 18.


CHAPTER SECOND. December 3, 1860 -- August 23, 1861.


In 'Sixty-One, 23; The Safety of Washington, 24; The Massachusetts Legislature, 24; Massachusetts in the National Congress, 24: The Re- port of a Committee, 25; General Order No. 4, 26; Interview with U. S. Attorney General Stanton, 30; The Roads to Washington, 36.


CHAPTER THIRD. April 2, 1863-June 1, 1865.


The Composition of the Battery, 49; Light Artillery in the Field, 52 ; Artil- lery Tactics, 63.


CHAPTER FOURTH. August 20, 1861-December 26, 1861.


Recruiting the Battery, 66 ; The Defences of Washington, 67; Mcclellan and the Artillery, 68; City of New Bedford, 69; Boston and Vicinity, 70; Recruiting Office in New Bedford, 71; Recruiting Office in Boston, 72 ; Enlistment Rolls of Lieut. John B. Hyde, 78: Original Commissioned and Non-Commissioned Officers, 82 ; Enlistment Rolls of Lieut. George D. Allen, 87; Camp Schouler, Lynnfield, 83 ; Camp Massasoit, Readville, 90; Departure for the Seat of War, 93.


CHAPTER FIFTH. December 25, 1861 --- March 9, 1862.


Washington, D. C., and Hall's Hill, Va., 95 ; Camp at Washington, D. C., 98 Camp at Hall's Hill, 131 ; The Target Shooting, 139.


vii


.


J


.


viii


TABLE OF CONTENTS.


CHAPTER SIXTH. March 10, 1862-April 4, 1862.


The Advance upon Richmond, 136 ; The President's War Order, 158; McClel- lan's Address to the Army, 162; The Peninsula, 163 ; Centreville and Manassas, 165; The Embarkation, 169; The Situation, 192; Banks' Fifth Corps, 195 ; Howard's Mills, 195 ; The First Gun Fired, 195.


CHAPTER SEVENTH. April 6, 1862-May 8, 1862 ..


Yorktown, 205; " In Battery," 205; In the Earthworks, 210; The Masked Battery, 213; Guarding the Bridge over Wormley's Creek by Sections, 217; The Trenches, 231 : The Camp, 233; Batteries of Siege Guns, 240 ; The Charge on the Right Fort, 244.


CHAPTER EIGHTH. May 9, 1862 -- May 31, 1862.


The Battle of Hanover Court House, 252; Up York River, 253; West Point to Cumberland Creek, 257; White House Landing, 263; Fifth Pro- visional Army Corps, 264; In Hanover County, 271.


CHAPTER NINTH. May 31, 1862-June 27, 1862.


The Valley of the Chickahominy, 287: Battle of Mechanicsville, 288; The Battery at the Bridge, 289; Leaves of Absence, 225; Review of the Fifth Corps, 296; On Picket at New Bridge, 299; In the Earthworks, 299; The First Death in Camp, 300; On Gaines Hill, 302; The Bridges across the Chickahominy River, 304; Battery No. 4, 310.


CHAPTER TENTH.


June 26, 1862 -June 28, 1862.


The Battle of Gaines Mills, 314: The Situation, 315; In Battery, 319; The March, 319 ; Casualties, 320; The Retreat of the Forces, 336.


CHAPTER ELEVENTH. June 29, 1862- July 1, 1862.


The Battle of Malvern Hill, 361; The March, 361 ; The Navy Assists, 362 ; The Gunboats, 303 ; Mcclellan and the Artillery, 367 ; Casualties, 370.


CHAPTER TWELFTH. July 2, 1862-August 14, 1862.


The Battery divided, 381 : Harrison's Landing, 382; The Inspection, 383; Review by Gen. H. W. Halleck, 383; Special Order No. 200 Divid- ing the Battery, 357; Officers Resigned, 388: Officers Promoted, 390; The Sick and Wounded, 392 ; An Artillery Demonstration, 398.


ix


TABLE OF CONTENTS.


CHAPTER THIRTEENTH.


August 14, 1862-September 3, 1862.


From Harrison's Landing to Acquia Creek, 413; The Battle of Second Manassas, 413; The Relief of Major General John Pope, 414; The March to Williamsburg, 414; The Sick and Wounded, 415; Acquia Creek, 415; The Fourth R. I. Contingent, 423; Casualties, 423; The Peril of the National Capital, 428.


CHAPTER FOURTEENTH.


September 3, 1862-October 9, 1862.


The Battery Reunited and Reinstated, 432; The Battery Concentrated, 439; Battle of Antietam, 445; Reported to Gen. Whipple, 145; Re-recruit- ing the Battery, 447; Emancipation, 448; Full Equipment, 452; Re- ported to General Morell, 158.


CHAPTER FIFTEENTH. October 11, 1852-January 25, 1863.


The Battle of Fredericksburg, 459; Men of Massachusetts and Michigan, 464 ; Crossing the River, 465; Joined the Division at Harper's Ferry, 477; Snicker's Gap, 479; Camp near Warrenton, Va., 483; Near Fal- mouth, Va., 489; Hooker in Command of the Fifth Corps, 495; In Battery, 496 ; Casualties, 497.


CHAPTER SIXTEENTH. January 26, 1863 - June 13, 1863.


The Battle of Chancellorsville, 544; A Cavalry Review, 568; Grand Re- view, 569; Invalid Corps, 576: In Line of Battle, 582; Recrossed the River, 583; Report of Captain Phillips, 586; Reduced to Four Guns, 505 ; Drew another Section, 508.


CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH. June 13, 1863-August S, 1863.


The Battle of Gettysburg, 602; Rebels said to be in Maryland, 603; Veteran Volunteers, 617 ; Duty and the Death Penalty, 621 ; Positions of the Bat- tery, 626, 651; " Fix Prolonge to Fire Retiring," 630; Tenth New York Battery, 664; Fifth Massachusetts Battery Monument, 676; High Water Mark, 678; Progress South of the Armies, 682.


CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH. August 9, 1863 -- November 23, 1863.


The Battle of Rappahannock Station, 605; Massachusetts State Agency, 607; White Sulphur Springs, 703; Target Practice, 706; The Invalid


x


TABLE OF CONTENTS.


Corps, 709; The Fight at Bristoe, 716; Manœuvring for Position, 721; Music in the Army, 728; Attack on the Earthworks, 732; Under Fire, 733.


CHAPTER NINETEENTH.


November 23, 1863-February 29, 1864.


The Battle of Mine Run, 740; Brigade Drill, 744; The Crossing of the Rap- idan, 745; In Line of Battle, 746; Longfellow's Son Shot, 747; A Fatal Mistake, 749; Reenlistments, 761; Music for the Army, 762 ; Money Paid by Drafted Persons, 767.


CHAPTER TWENTIETH. March 1, 1864-May 7, 1864.


The Battle of the Wilderness, 776; Grant takes Command, 777; The Invalid Corps, 784; Lieut. Scott Resigns, 785 ; " Wanted, - Recruits." Poster, 787; Ball at General J. J. Bartlett's Headquarters, 789; Veteran Reserve Corps, 790 ; Reduction of Army Corps, 792 ; The Countersign, 797; The Demi-Brigade, 798; The Demi-Brigade Dissolved, 803; The Fight of May 5, 805 ; The Fight of May 6, 807; The Fight of May 7, 80S.


CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST. May 8, 1864-May 18, 1864.


The Battle of Spottsylvania Court House and Laurel Hill, $11; Captain A. P. Martin Wounded, $16; The Fight of May 8, 816; The Fight of May 9, 81S; Casualties, 818; The Fight of May 10, 819; The Fight of May 11, 820; The Fight of May 12, 822 : Casualties, 823; Turned in a Section, 825 ; The Fight of May 18, 826.


CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND. May 19, 1864-May 25, 1864.


The Battle of the North Anna River and Virginia Central Railroad, S27; The Fight of May 19, 831; Rounds Fired by the Battery in Eighteen Days, 833: The Fight of May 23, 834; The Crossing at Jericho Ford, 834; The Fifth Battery Men as Barn Movers, 835; The Fight of May 25, 839; Casualties, 839; Lieutenant Appleton's Promotion and Resigna- tion, 847.


CHAPTER TWENTY-THIRD.


May 26, 1864-June 14, 1864.


The Battle of Bethesda Church, 851 ; Officers Promoted, 857; Casualties, June 2, 858; Bethesda Church, 858; The Charge of the Battery, 863 The Company Fund, 864.


-


xi


TABLE OF CONTENTS.


CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURTH.


June 15, 1864 -- August 18, 1804.


The Battle of Petersburg, 869; The Assault of June 18, 877; Casualties, 877; The Fortifications, 879; The Norfolk Railroad Cut, 881; The Sani- tary Commission, 886; The Army Ration, S87; A Work Built for the Battery, 889; The Rebel Raid into Maryland, S90; Bombardment of July 30, 803; Casualties, 804.


CHAPTER TWENTY-FIFTH. August 18, 1864 -- September 1, 1864.


The Battle of the Weldon Railroad, 899; Expiration of Term of Service, 901; The Possession of the Weldon Railroad, 901; Casualties, 905; The Third Massachusetts Battery, 906; Officers Promoted, 907; Mem- bers of the Third Massachusetts Battery Transferred, 908.


CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXTH. September 2, 1861 -- November 19, 1864.


The Battle of Hatcher's Run, 910; Disposal of Transferred Non-Commis- sioned Officers, 915; Commission Officers Promoted, 917; Non-Commis- sioned Officers Promoted, 91S; The Battery in Fort Davison, 919; Mus- tered Out at Expiration of Term of Service, 923; New Section (Centre) Added, $24; The Fight at Hatcher's Run, 924; The Defences of Wash- ington, 927.


CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENTH. November 4, 1864-April 6, 1865.


The Assault on Petersburg, 930; Examination of Recruits at the Hospital, 935; The Weldon Railroad, 936; In the Advance Going Out: In the Rear Coming Back, 938; Four Guns in Fort Hays, 938; Two Guns in Battery 22, 93S; Retired from the Forts, 939 ; Returned to the Forts, 940 ; Hfatcher's Run, 941 ; Back to the Old Camp, 941; Turned in a Section 942 ; The Final Attack, 943; The Last Shot, 943; Casualties, 947.


CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHTH. April 3, 1865 -- June 24, 1855.


Guns removed from Fort Hays, 953; The Artillery Reserve, 954; The Artil- lery Brigade, 955; The Last Camp in Virginia, 956; The Last March, 957; Mustered Out of the United States Service, 958.


Proceedings of the Fifth Massachusetts Battery Association, 969.


-


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


PAGE


THE BATTERY FLAGS


Frontispiece


THE COMMISSIONED OFFICERS


66


EQUIPMENTS . 75


LIEUT. HYDE AND "BLACK CHARLEY " ·


92


PLAN OF OPERATIONS: YORKTOWN


204


BUGLE CALL -- " IN BATTERY "


205


BUGLE CALL-"TO THE COLOR " . 209


SIGNAL FLAG :


219


REDOUBT


225


LUNETTE


226


CAMP CHAIR


228.


HOUSE NEAR WORMLEY'S CREEK . 234


REPEL REDOUBT


247 286


VALLEY OF THE CHICKAHOMINY : PLAN .


BATTLE of GAINES MILLS: PLAN . ·


314


BATTLE OF MALVERN HILL: PLAN · 360


SECOND POSITION AT MALVERN HILL 372


CANNONEER'S SWORD


·


386


ARMY DESK


441 .


BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG: PLAN


.


459


BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE: PLAN


.


544


BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, JULY 2, 1863: PLAN


.


602


xiii


xiv


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


PAGE


PORTRAIT OF CAPTAIN AUGUSTUS P. MARTIN 613


BRINGING OFF THE GUN . 636


BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, JULY 3, 1863 ; PLAN 648


CAPTAIN PHILLIPS AND HIS HORSE 662


FIFTH MASS. BATTERY MONUMENT 676


HIGH WATER MARK: TABLET 678


LIEUT. APPLETON AND HIS HORSE "FOLKO" 707


RAILROAD BRIDGE OVER THE RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER 733


CAMP OF THE FIFTH MASS. BATTERY, RAPPAHAN- NOCK STATION, VA., DEC. 1863,-APRIL, 1864 . 740


"ACTION FRONT." DRILL AT WINTER QUARTERS


CAMP, RAPPAHANNOCK STATION, VA., MAR. 1864 793 ONE PIECE OF THE FIFTH MASS. BATTERY, RAPPA- HANNOCK STATION, VA., APRIL, 1864. LIEUT. SIMONDS STANDING IN THE REAR . 797


BATTLE OF PETERSBURG: PLAN .


.


. 869


REUNION AT NEW BEDFORD, MASS., AUG. 9, 1892 967


CHAPTER I.


THE BATTERY FLAGS.


"An' didn't we flock to the colors when the drums began to beat, An' didn't we march with proud step along this village street? An' didn't the people cheer us when we got aboard the cars, With the flag a-wavin' o'er us, and went away to the wars?" -- CAPTAIN JACK CRAWFORD.


There never was a time when the American Flag stood for so much in the estimation of the people of the Common- wealth of Massachusetts, as in the spring and summer of 1861 : there was never a time when the emblem of the in- divisibility of the Union stood so much in need of appre- ciation and respect.


Emotions of alarm and anxiety for the security of the individual and all he held most dear, mingled with and intensified the enthusiasm which called together great con- vocations of all classes and both sexes, to witness the simple raising of the flag which represented all that the constitu- tion of the United States was intended to guarantee. In the capital of the state vast assemblages breathlessly watched the unfolding of flags of immense size, made of the costliest material, across the principal streets, in the most conspicuous places, to the music of the national airs.


Flags were flung out from the steeples of churches. The clergy were among the most patriotic of those who ad- dressed the multitude, the exercises opening with prayer. Far as the eye could see, above the crowd in the street, in the windows and on the roofs of houses, the people waited for the orator's closing words: "Our Country, the United States of America," which were the signal for the running


1


2


HISTORY OF THE


out of the flag, and for long continued and hearty cheering, while the bands played "The Star Spangled Banner" and "Hail Columbia."


Members of Congress anxious to show their colors, and returned travellers from the turbulent South, made soul stirring speeches and roused their youthful hearers to a wild fervor which from the first was unrestrainable, and sooner or later carried them "away to the wars." Ardent, unfaltering, undying devotion to the beautiful ensign was inculcated by the speakers and punctuated by the fife, drum and bugle.


In the hush of the church vostries mission circles were formed by women, ten thousand of them in this state, who, fearing they knew not what, saw their stitches set through tears, by hurrying, tremulous hands, while the men cheered at the "flag raisings." They organized little bands called "Soldiers' Aid Societies."


Sweethearts and wives, and sisters, made red, white and blute neckties, which the young soldiers wore in the state camps or on brief furloughs home.


Young ladies in private schools took up subscriptions and purchased handsome standards which they presented to the volunteer companies. Young gentlemen in theirs presented flags and equipments to graduates. Note paper and envelopes ornamented with flags were the correct thing in correspondence.


A large and elegantly wrought shawl was presented to the wife of Governor Andrew by R. H. Stearns & Co., popu- lar dry goods merchants, designed and executed, by a lady in Newton. It was of the finest worsted in red, white and blue colors, with thirty-four stars and the Union shield of the same material so arranged as to give to the whole a symmetrical appearance and an exceedingly fine effect.


And underlying all this ebullition of feeling absorbed by one object; in the participation of which political lines were effaced and a "war democrat" was as good a fighting man


3


FIFTH MASS. BATTERY.


as a republican, there was absolute, uncompromising fealty to the government, and a grim determination to stand by the flag at whatever cost to themselves or to others.


Major C. A. Woodruff, U. S. A., in a speech at one of the reunions of the Society of the Army of the Potomac, has given the best expression to this sentiment :


"No patriotic citizen of this Government can admit that there was any equality of flags: for true Americans there was but one national flag, and that the one the Union sol- diers bore to complete victory : nor that there was any co- honor of causes : for true Americans there was but one just cause, and that the preservation of the Federal Union."


To prove this fealty by action there was an ever increas- ing necessity in the danger which threatened Washington, and called forth from Wendell Phillips the following enun- ciation :


"The war, then, is not aggressive, but in self-defence, and Washington has become the Thermopyla of liberty and justice. Rather than surrender that Capital, cover every square foot of it with a living body; crowd it with millions of men and empty every bank vault at the North to pay the cost. Teach the world, once for all, that North America belongs to the stars and stripes, and under them no man shall wear a chain. . . . Cannon think in the 19th century; and you must put the North in the right before you can justify her in the face of the world : before you can pour Massachusetts like an avalanche through the streets of Bal- timore, and carry Lexington on the 19th of April, south of Mason and Dixon's line."


THE FLAGS OF THE BATTERY.


NOTES OF FRANCIS P. WASHBURN, MAY 5, 1900.


"As regards the Battery flags : two were given us by the state when we were organized; one a full-sized silk battle flag. the stars and stripes, the other a white silk guidon with


4


HISTORY OF THE


cross cannon and number and name of the Battery. The first had the staff shot off at Gaines Mills, and after the battle, was spliced, and did service through the Seven Days fight. Both flags were so badly used up in the campaign that when the men were transferred to the Third Mass. and Fourth R. I. batteries at Harrison's Landing the flags were sent back to the state. The only flags we ever carried after this were the regular U. S. Artillery guidons.


The guidon was not used at the Seven Days' fight but was in the baggage wagon at that time, and a can of oil was spilled on it which spoiled it for use by the Battery, and I always supposed it was sent home with the other flag.


The flags were furnished by the state, and were a part of the equipment carried by a battery at that time. When we joined the Army we were not allowed a color bearer or a guide : one of the buglers took those places."


THE COLOR BEARERS.


The buglers were James Winters, John C. Tucker, and after Tucker's three years' term expired. Henry M. Gifford. Winters re-enlisted and served through the war. The first guidon was Mortier Gale. He carried a large flag at parade, a small flag or guidon was ordinarily used. On a march both flags were carried in the Battery wagon. He carried the U. S. flag until after the seven days' battles. He was afterwards hospital steward. The second Bugler took his place. The state guidon could not be used because of the white color. It was sent home from Harrison's Land- ing.


Then came Andrew Hosley, a detached man from an in- fantry regiment, who carried the colors, and after him A. K. P. Hayden.


In the memory of some members Chris. Allen of New Bedford at one time acted as color bearer, and George W. Poole as Guidon.


!


5


FIFTH MASS. BATTERY.


According to the report of Colonel Charles Amory, Mas- ter of Ordnance of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for 1861, that department issued to the Fifth Mass. Battery I silk Guidon with staff and socket, I National flag, silk, with staff and socket, 4 camp colors with staves, and 2 bugles.


THE FLAGS UNFURLED. Journal of D. Henry Grows.


"Camp on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, about 8 or 10 minutes' walk from the Capitol, Sunday morning, Dec. 29, 1861: After breakfast put on my uniform and went on dress parade. As it is the first Sunday here, we took our Ensign and Right Guide from their covering and for the first time in our presence our colors were loosed to the breeze.


"They are handsome flags, one an American flag of silk, and the guidon of red and white with golden cannons, and the number of the Battery. After parade, before we were dismissed we had divine service. The officers sang a psalm, then Lieut. Allen acted as chaplain. He read the first chap- ter in the Bible, then sang. then a prayer, and finished the services by all the men singing 'Old Hundred.' "


At this time the state guidon, swallow tail in form, was half red and half white, but subsequently, while retaining its shape, the stars and stripes were added in accordance with the following general order :---


HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, WASHINGTON, January 18, 1862.


General Orders No. 4.


I. Under instructions from the Secretary of War, dated January 7. 1862, guidons and camp colors for the Army will be made like the United States flag, with stars and stripes. . . .


By command of Major General Mcclellan.


L. THOMAS, Adjutant General.


6


HISTORY OF THE


THE FLAGS REPLACED.


His Excellency Governor John A. Andrew in his inaug- ural address, January 9, 1863, recommended replacing the flags torn and worn in battle in the following words:


"Sinee the summer of 1862, several of our volunteer corps which reported that their colors had become unfit for use by being in battle and worn by the exposures of service, have been supplied by the Mas- ter of Ordnance with new flags upon the return to his charge of those which they had borne so honorably through two campaigns. I respect- . fully ask an appropriation to eover the expense thus ineurred, and of the replacement when needed of the colors of all the Massachusetts troops. It is a proud satisfaction to know that never yet has the white standard of this commonwealth been surrendered to the enemy."


In 1863, Joel Hayden was Lieut. Governor, Oliver War- ner, Secretary, Henry K. Oliver, Treasurer. Jonathan E. Field was president of the Senate and Alexander H. Bul- lock was Speaker of the House of Representatives.


The legislature of that year passed the following Resolve :


Resolved, That a sum not exceeding three thousand dollars is hereby appropriated for the purpose of replacing the flags of Massa- chusetts regiments worn out or lost in service, the same to be ex- pended from time to time during the current year, by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Council.




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.