USA > Massachusetts > The story of the Thirty-second regiment, Massachusetts infantry. Whence it came; where it went; what it saw, and what it did > Part 1
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M.L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
1 7
Go
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00824 3252
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012
http://archive.org/details/storyofthirtyse00park
.
THE STORY
OF THE 32d
THIRTY-SECOND REGIMENT
MASSACHUSETTS INFANTRY.
WHENCE IT CAME; WHERE IT' WENT; WHAT IT SAW; AND WHAT IT DID.
BY FRANCIS J. PARKER, COLONEL.
BOSTON: C. W. CALKINS & CO., PUBLISHERS. ISSO.
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1758063
F 8349 . 45
Parker, Francis Jewett, d. 1909.
The story of the Thirty-second regiment, Massachu- setts infantry. Whence it came; where it went; what it saw, and what it did. By Francis J. Parker, colonel. Boston, C. W. Calkins & co., 18S0.
Dawes F 8349 . 45
xi, 260 p. 20cm.
another copy.
1. Massachusetts infantry. 32d regt., 1862-1865. 2. U. S .- Hist .- Civil war-Regimental histories-Mass. inf .- 32d.
2-14309 -
, Library of Congress
. JE513 5 32d :
1
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C. W. CALKINS & CO., PRINTERS, 286 Washington St., Boston. 46 17 / kč
حنه
TO THE OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS OF THE THIRTY-SECOND MASSACHUSETTS, IN MEMORY OF THE DEAD AND IN HONOR OF THE LIVING.
·
ERRATUM.
On page 3, twelfth line, for " Brevet Brigadier-General," read " Colonel." Colonel Prescott was never breveted.
PREFACE.
THIS book is not a history of the civil war, nor even of the Army of the Potomac ; but merely the story of one of the regiments which composed that Army. It does not relate the biography of the many distinguished generals under whose command the battalion served, and the endeavor has been made to exclude from it not only dis- cussions as to the merits of individuals, but even favorable or unfavorable opinions, save when the facts related implied or seemed to require such reflections.
The book is intended chiefly to collect and present in narrative form, descriptions of some of the experiences of our Regiment, in order to preserve them in the memory of those who were actors in the scenes described, and enable the officers and men of the 32d to place in the hands of their children and friends vivid pictures of the dangers, trials, and pleasures which attended the service of our soldiers in the war for the Union.
In the preparation of the book, I have received, and gratefully acknowledge, the assistance of many of my old comrades, officers, and men. not only by way of incidents related verbally, but also-and this especially concerning events which occurred after my own resignation - by way of written contributions. Many of these are embodied in the text almost in the language of the writers, and others in a more or less condensed form. Among those to whom I am thus indebted should be particularly named General
(vii.)
viii.
PREFACE.
Luther Stephenson, jr., Surgeon Z. B. Adams, Major E. S. Farnsworth, General J. A. Cunningham, Sergeant S. C. Spaulding, Major Ambrose Bancroft, Captains G. W. Lauriat and J. C. Fuller ; and last, but by no means least, Surgeon W. L. Faxon and Mrs. Faxon, whose memories have provided stores of incident. To Colonel I. F. Kingsbury I am indebted for the result of time- consuming researches in the Adjutant-General's Depart- ment of the State.
'While making these just acknowledgments I absolve all those named from any responsibility for such literary imperfections as may appear herein and, assuming to myself all blame for such defects, must ask my readers to consider in charity to me the difficulties which must attend a work so composed, and at the last somewhat hastily completed.
Boston, April 30th, 1880.
F. J. P.
E
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CONTENTS.
PREFACE
vii
I.
IN GARRISON
I
II.
ON OUR OWN HOOK
28
III.
ON THE PENINSULA
43
IV.
CAMPAIGNING UNDER POPE .
64
V.
OUR THIRD BATTALION
.
(ix.)
.
75
x.
CONTENTS.
VI.
THE ANTIETAM CAMPAIGN
85
VII.
AFTER ANTIETAM . 107
,
VIII.
To FREDERICKSBURG
117
IX.
BETWEEN CAMPAIGNS
136
x.
CHANCELLORSVILLE
150
XI.
FREDERICKSBURG TO GETTYSBURG
159
XII. .
AFTER GETTYSBURG
175
1
XIII.
A LADY AT WINTER QUARTERS
IS3
XIV.
AT LIBERTY
189
CONTENTS. xi. t
XV.
OUT ON PICKET
196
XVI.
ON FURLOUGH
204
1
XVII.
THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN
208
XVIII.
THE BOMB PROOFS
223
XIX.
OUR CORPS HOSPITAL
228
$
XX.
ABOUT PETERSBURG
234
XXI.
THE LAST CAMPAIGN
245
há cả
THE STORY OF THE
THIRTY-SECOND REGIMENT
MASSACHUSETTS INFANTRY.
I.
IN GARRISON. į
T T HE story of the 32d Massachusetts Infantry was, of course, in most respects like that of others, but not in all. The immortal Topsy thought she was not made, but "'spect she growed." So our regi- ment was not made a regiment at the start, but it grew to be one. Other battalions from New Eng- land gathered into camps and acquired their prelim- inary education among neighbors, and cheered by the presence of visitors, who looked on and admired their guard-mountings at morning, and their dress- parades at evening ; and these hardened into soldiers by a rough experience in mud or dust on the line of the Potomac, while our beginning was in a walled fort, on a bleak island, isolated even from the visits of friends, and under the most exact discipline of ante-bellum regular-army rule.
B
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IN GARRISON.
Fort Warren, which was our cradle, is the outpost of Boston, and it was very nearly, but not entirely, completed when the war broke out. Until 1861 it had never been occupied as a military post. The 12th and 14th Massachusetts had been in occupation of the island while the organization of those battal- ions was in progress, during the summer of that year, and when they left, the post was somewhat hurriedly prepared for the reception of prisoners, a large number having been captured in North Carolina by the column under General Burnside.
Early in the autumn of the year 1861 Colonel Justin E. Dimmock was assigned to the command at Fort Warren. At the first outbreak of the rebellion this patriotic officer, fortunately for the cause of the Union, was in command at Fort Munroe, and resist- ing every attempt made upon his loyalty, he held that important post for the government under whose flag he had fought, and in whose service he had passed his active life.
As the war progressed Fort Munroe became a great centre for the operations of the army, and the duties required of its commandant were too severe for a man of Colonel Dimmock's age and infirmities, and he was transferred to the more quiet scenes in Boston Harbor. A temporary garrison was detailed from the 24th Massachusetts Infantry, then in pro- cess of formation, but upon the application of Colo- nel Dimmock, a new battalion of four companies of infantry was raised to be used as a garrison until the exigencies of the service required their presence
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IN GARRISON.
elsewhere, and this body of men, called the First Battalion Massachusetts Infantry, relieved the same number of companies of the 24th.
Company A, recruited in Hingham by Captain (afterward Brevet-Brigadier-General) Luther Ste- phenson, jr., was mustered into service November 16th, 1861, and reported for duty at the fort on the following day. Charles A. Dearborn, jr., was First Lieutenant, and Nathaniel French, jr., Second Lieutenant.
Company B, recruited in Concord, Massachusetts, by Captain (afterward Brevet-Brigadier-General) George L. Prescott, was mustered in November 15th, 1861. Cyrus L. Tay, First Lieutenant, and Isaiah F. Hoyt, Second Lieutenant.
Company C, recruited in Boston by Captain Jona- than Pierce, was mustered in November 16th, 1861. Joseph Austin, First Lieutenant, and Robert Hamil- ton, Second Lieutenant.
Company D was recruited in Gloucester, and was almost entirely composed of fishermen and sailors. It was commanded by Captain James P. Draper. The late Adjutant-General James A. Cunningham was First Lieutenant, and Stephen Rich, Second Lieutenant.
These companies were rapidly recruited, and were immediately despatched to their post, no time being allowed for drill, and hardly time to say good-bye. It may be presumed that when they reported. their discipline was nothing, and their ideas of military order exceedingly crude.
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IN GARRISON.
Perhaps this was more particularly the case with Company D, which, as we have already said, was composed almost entirely of Gloucester fishermen, - or it may have been the excessive hospitality of the friends of that company, that led to a little scene im- mediately upon its arrival.
The more jovial of the soldiers were weeded out at the landing, and quietly deposited in the guard- house ; the remainder were marched into the fort, and soon after to the cook house, where an ample supper of soft bread and tea awaited them. A few months later such a repast would have been hailed as the height of luxury, but by the raw sailor- soldiers it was now regarded with contempt. The loaves, instead of being devoted to their proper use as the staff of life, were converted into missiles, and the air was alive with them, -the dim evening light favoring an impartial distribution.
In the midst of the racket, Colonel Dimmock ap- peared upon the scene, lantern in hand, and imme- - diately received plump in the head one of the finest of the loaves, which, with a refinement of ingenuity, had been dipped in hot tea. The scene which fol- lowed was one not easily to be forgotten. The out- raged old soldier dashed in among the turbulent men, and by his habit of command at once over- awed and controlled them. Ordering them into a line, throwing some into position apparently by main strength, he passed along the ranks, throwing his light into each face until he came to the real culprit, six solid feet of man and tar, whose face declared
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IN GARRISON.
his guilt. Seizing the burly giant by the arm, the old colonel fairly dragged him out of the casemate, as if he had been a child; but when the man had humbled himself sufficiently, protesting that "he didn't mean anything," the commandant dismissed him after a brief but forcible lecture on discipline, and an injunction to beware of any second offence.
Late in November the battalion organization was completed by the appointment of the Field and Staff, Francis J. Parker, Major ; Charles K. Cobb, Adjutant ; and George W. Pearson, Quartermaster ; and the Major assumed command December 2d, 1861.
The Post-Commander, Colonel Justin E. Dim- mock, was also Colonel of the First United States Artillery, and the headquarters of the regiment was with him; but with the exception of the excellent band of the regiment, there were none other of its 'officers or men at the post.
Fort Warren at this time was occupied as a depot for Confederate war and state prisoners-the former consisted mainly of some 800 men, captured in North Carolina, and included also a number of Confederate officers, among whom were Commo- dore Barron and Colonel Pegram; and among the latter were the Confederate ambassadors, Mason and Slidell, Mayor Brown, Chief of Police Kane of Baltimore, and others.
The first duty to be taught and learned under such circumstances was guard duty, and that was no holiday work. The daily detail consisted of about
செட்
6
IN GARRISON.
seventy-five men, and was divided into the interior and exterior guard. During the daytime a line of sentinels enclosed a space in front of the prisoners' quarters, within which they were permitted to exer- cise, and these sentinels at retreat were drawn in to the casemate entrances. Guards were also placed at the sally-port and postern, and near the stair- cases leading up to the ramparts. Outside, a picket line entirely surrounded the fortifications ; watch being kept not only to prevent escape from within, but also to forbid the approach of boats from the sea or the shore.
Such duty on a bleak island, exposed to the terri- ble cold and storms of a New England winter, was no pastime. Occasionally some of the outposts would be untenable by reason of the dash of waves, and often inspection and relief of the posts was effected with great difficulty because of the icy con- dition of the ground. In the most severe storms the guard was replaced by patrols, each of two men, who walked the line, one patrol being despatched every fifteen or twenty minutes.
One dark howling night the sentinel, on post near what was called the grave-yard, reported to the officer that a white form had twice passed between him and the fort, and upon close question- ing the soldier admitted that he had not challenged, because he feared it was a ghost. There was con- siderable stir, in and outside the fort, until an inspec- tion had shown that no prisoner had escaped and no intruder could be found.
.
7
IN GARRISON.
The sentinel was allowed two hours of extra guard duty, and an order was posted at the guard house denouncing severe punishment in any future case where ghosts were allowed to pass a beat with- out challenge and arrest.
*
* *
Inasmuch as many who will read these pages may never have seen the inside of a fort, a few words descriptive of Fort Warren, may not be amiss.
The Fort proper is constructed almost entirely of hewn granite. The area enclosed is not far from six acres, of which the parade ground occupies five. The general form of the area is a pentagon, but at each of its five angles a bastion projects in such manner that every portion of the ditch which sur- rounds the walls, can, in case of need, be reached by musketry and howitzers from the casemates.
This area is surrounded by casemated walls, which are in fact huge bomb-proof buildings, structures of stone with heavy arches of brick to support the great mass of earth which is required to protect them from shells thrown from mortars. In these casemates are quarters for the officers and men of the garrison, magazines for ammunition, storehouses for all manner of supplies, a hospital of generous dimensions, a huge cistern for water, an ice-house, cook, and mess-room, besides space for a large battery of heavy guns facing towards the sea. Some of these vaulted chambers are lighted through the outer walls by means of embrasures calculated for howitzers, or by loop-holes intended for defence
8
IN GARRISON.
by musketry. Others look out upon the parade ground, and have upon that face the appearance of stone dwellings of one storey, entered by ordinary doorways, and lighted through spacious windows. Those which occupy the northwest side of the parade are of two stories, one being below the level of the interior grade. These are for use as officers' quarters, and during the war, those which are entered from the doors nearest to, and on either side of the entrance arch, were occupied by the civilians and officers among the prisoners confined in the fort.
The interior depth of the casemates, from the inner to the outer wall, does not vary much from sixty feet, giving ample space, equal indeed to the depth of a large city residence. The barracks for the soldiers are divided into rooms. generally about sixty by twenty feet, and during a part of the war many of them were assigned to the enlisted men who were prisoners.
A full garrison for Fort Warren would be not far from twenty-five hundred men, and that number could be quartered in the casemates.
Above these buildings are the ramparts, on which the chief part of the armament is placed, and these ramparts are walled in by a parapet of about five feet in height, of very thick masonry, intended to pro- tect the men while working the guns, from the fire of an enemy. These ramparts are now provided with a full armament of ten inch and fifteen inch guns, placed as near together as convenience in
9
IN GARRISON.
working would permit, but in our day the greater part of the guns were four inch and thirty-two pounders, the casemate battery alone, consisting of eight inch columbiads.
The entire equipment of the Fort comprises over three hundred of these heavy guns, of which some seventy may always be concentrated upon any one point of the channel which they defend. Outside, and immediately surrounding the walls of the case- mated fort is a fosse, or ditch, some fifty feet in width, and outside of this are other defences, (which outwardly, are earthworks,) including an exterior curtain on the north, a ravelin on the south, and a water battery on the northwest, the whole composing in fact a fortress of great strength, even in these days of iron-clads and great guns.
To one who thoroughly explores the Island there will recur vivid reminiscences of the mysterious cas- tles of romance and of history. He will find here a sally-port, a postern, a drawbridge, and a portcullis. Here, too, are passages under ground and in the walls ; turret staircases, huge vaulted apartments, and safe and dark dungeons, the ways to and through which may be set down upon the plans of the engineer corps, but are familiar to no living man. One can be easily bewildered among the crooks and turns, the ups and downs of the corri- dors, and it needs only a dark and windy night to make almost real the romantic descriptions of the Castle of Udolfo, with its clanging sounds of chains, its sweeping gusts of air, its strange moanings and
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IN GARRISON.
howlings, and the startling noise of some sudden clang of a shutting door reverberating among the arches.
More than twelve years had passed since the 32d Regiment left Fort Warren for more stirring scenes, when the writer for the first time since that day, again visited the Island.
Escaping for a time from the courteous hospitality of the officers of the post, he started alone through the once accustomed scenes. Grim visaged war had smoothed his wrinkled front. There were no sentinels to challenge or salute ; no familiar faces in the well-remembered quarters. Even the uniforms were changed ; officers seemed to be wearing ser- geants' stripes on their trousers, and unknown orna- ments on their shoulders. There were women about the landing, newspapers in the guard-house ( ! ), and a peaceful fishing pole and tackle leaned quietly against the sole survivor of all our sentry boxes.
The doorways to the officers' casemates were shielded from the hot sun by gaily painted. veranda- like porches, about which shrubs and vines, with bright foliage and blossoms, glistened in the sun- light, and in the very room where erstwhile Mason and Slidell pursued the warlike game of poker, and spat upon the bare flooring, there was a most lady- like parlor, with carpets, mirrors, and an attractive- looking case of book-shelves, well loaded with. seemly books.
Again was paced the line of our outposts. Every step awakened old memories-every pebble seemed
II
IN GARRISON.
a friend ; but there was no ice upon the glacis or the "shelf" at post eighteen, and instead of the cold winds, came grateful breezes from the sea, which no longer leaden in color dashed against the rock, but blue and smooth basked in the hot noon- day, and laughingly rippled on the beach. It would have been a sad walk but for the beauty of the summer scenes-it would have been a joyous one but for clinging memories.
During the time of our stay in garrison at Fort Warren, the battalion was increased to six compa- nies by the addition of Companies E and F, recruited during the winter.
Company E was raised in the Old Colony by Cap- tain Cephas C. Bumpus. First Lieutenant, Josiah C. Fuller ; Second Lieutenant, Lyman B. Whiton. The Company was mustered into service December 7th, 1861, and joined immediately.
Company F was enlisted in Boston, also by Cap- tain Bumpus, who was detailed for the duty, and was mustered in about the first of March, 1861, its officers being, Captain. James A. Cunningham ; First Lieutenant, Charles K. Cobb, (Adjutant) ; Second Lieutenant, William H. Gertz.
The breaking in of the men was upon the regular- army system ; first each man was "set up" by him- self, then the drill was in squads, in increasing num- bers, and afterward in company and battalion. When the weather was such as absolutely to forbid out-of-door drill, the men were taught in the school of artillery, and practiced on the great guns in the casemate battery.
I2
IN GARRISON.
The most exact discipline was necessarily main- tained, and as soldierly discipline is only to be obtained by close attention to minutiæ-not even things apparently trifling were neglected. The fact that one button of a soldier's overcoat was not fast- ened, was noted and the parade was stopped until the defect was remedied. No soldier was allowed to sit in the presence of an officer. The regulation salutes proper to each rank were required and paid by officers and men, sentinels and the guard. Adhering to the letter of the regulations, our manual was that of Scott, because we were armed with mus- kets, not rifles. Every nook and corner of every barrack and bunk, and every portion of the dress of every officer and man, must at all times be satisfac- tory to the keen and critical eye of an "old army" Colonel.
All of this was needed to make perfect soldiers, and all of it was readily accepted and observed by the men, more than nine-tenths of whom were American born, in order that they might become good soldiers. Singularly enough it was more diffi- cult to bring the officers to exact the honors due to rank, than the soldiers to yield them.
Army officers often expressed their surprise at the rapidity with which a command so essentially native, was brought to the extreme of army discipline, and almost without punishment. This result was a complete proof that intelligent Americans can be brought into a state of thorough and exact dis- cipline more readily, by reason of their intelligence,
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IN GARRISON.
than the uneducated immigrants who were once thought to make better soldiers because of their comparative ignorance. Of course there were occa- sional extra hours of guard duty for men returning from leave on shore-people on the mainland were so very hospitable-but rarely was any more serious correction requisite.
There was one case, a second offence perhaps. where the sinner was put on special log duty, and he has since declared that it was sufficiently severe to keep him dry for six months. Two or three sticks of four-foot firewood, not excessively large, but good fair size, were placed in the bastion near the officers' quarters, and. as many more at the extreme end of the parade, near the postern. The offender was ordered to shoulder a billet from one bastion, and to carry it in "common time" to the other ; there to lay it down, and taking up another, to return over his beat and deposit it at the place of departure-and so on for several hours. The pun- ishment consisted, not in the laborious character of his occupation, but in the fact that he knew it was useless labor, and that everybody else knew it also. The occasional inquiries or remarks of comrades about the profits of the carrying trade in fuel, may very likely have aggravated the penalty.
Bearing in mind the fact that Great Britain was wroth at the seizure of the rebel envoys, and con- necting that with the other fact that a large fleet of British men-of-war was gathering at Halifax, it seemed possible that a demonstration might be made
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IN GARRISON.
for the recovery of the lost plenipos; and it was, perhaps, natural that some interest should be felt as to our ability to repel attack, or to endure blockade, and, of course, as to the amount of our stores of food and ammunition.
Perhaps it was just as well for us at this time that no enemy appeared, for our stock of fixed ammuni- tion consisted of thirty rounds, borrowed from Fort Independence. We were unable to salute the Gover- nor, on his visit, for want of powder, and months passed before our magazines contained shot, shell, or powder in any more respectable quantity.
The duties of our battalion at Fort Warren were of course entirely military. The affairs of the prisoners were administered by Colonel Dimmock and his staff, -one of whom inspected the quarters every day to see that all of the prisoners were pres- ent ; and all their correspondence and communica- tions with the outside world passed under the eye of the post officers.
No prisoners could be better cared for or more considerately treated. Each was allowed the full ration of a soldier, and was even allowed to com- mute the ration and expend the money for other food. A liberal portion of the lading of the steamer, whose daily visit was our only tie to the continent, was made up of purchases and gifts for these guests of the nation, and their messes were always abund- antly supplied both with solids and fluids.
Mr. Mason was a portly gentleman, evidently accustomed to good living ; rather jovial in his ap-
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IN GARRISON.
pearance, and courteous in his manner. He took matters very easily, and seemed in no haste to de- part. Mr. Slidell, on the contrary, a lean and dyspeptic looking man, was fretful and impatient, and evidently chafed much under his confinement.
Mayor Brown, of Baltimore, whose case was one of those which perhaps could not be entirely avoid- ed, of unjust confinement, was always easy and bland in manner, and genial and affable to all about him, contrasting very decidedly with Kane, the Chief of the Baltimore Police, who was a thoroughly ugly specimen of a Maryland rebel.
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