USA > Massachusetts > Wearing the blue in the Twenty-fifth Mass. volunteer infantry, with Burnside's coast division, 18th army corps, and Army of the James > Part 1
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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 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
Gc 973.74 M38d 1755351
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
7
G
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00824 8046
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012
http://archive.org/details/wearingblueintw00denn
WEARING THE BLUE
IN THE
TWENTY-FIFTH 25 th
MASS. VOLUNTEER INFANTRY WITH 1 BURNSIDE'S COAST DIVISION,
18TH ARMY CORPS,
ARMY OF. THE JAMES.
BY J. WALDO DENNY.
WORCESTER: PUTNAM & DAVIS, PUBLISHERS, 359 MAIN STREET. 1879.
1755051.
/
U
F
Denny, Joseph Waldo, b. 1823 or 1826.
8349
.4407
Wearing the blue in the Twenty-fifth Mass. volunteer in- fantry, with Burnside's coast division, 18th army corps, and Army of the James. By J. Waldo Denny. Worcester, Put- nam & Davis, 1879.
xi, [1], 523 p. front., port. 23cm.
SHELF CARD
1. Massachusetts infantry. 25th regt., 1861-1865. 2. U. S .- Hist .--- Civil war-Regimental histories-Mass. inf .- 25th. I. Title.
62314
2-14322
Library of Congress
E513.5.23th
m.S/11 .. ..
.
1
F 8349.4407
1
J. F. Cetter & Co.,
Printers, 14 STATE STREET, BOSTON.
2314
CorYBIGkr, 1873, By J. W. DENNY.
S. H. SANBORN, BINDER, 13 FEDERAL STREET, BOSTON.
NOV 29 1895
PREFACE.
THE writer has performed to the best of his ability the duty assigned him by the too kind partiality of his comrades, and submits the pages -" Wearing the Blue "-without claiming for it literary excellence, perfection in choice of words or construction of sentences. He adopts the beautiful lines of Dr. Holmes : -
"Deal gently with us, ye who read! Our largest hope is unfulfilled, --- The promise still outruns the deed, --- The tower, but not the spire, we build."
For nearly three years, with such time as was at his disposal, the writer has labored diligently in obtaining information and in building with the material at his command : he now expresses his warmest thanks to John B. Moulton of Washington, D. C., for most valuable aid, first, in obtaining permission to do so, and secondly, for active service in making copies of orders, reports, etc., on tile and upon the books of the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteers in the War Department. This labor was very important and furnished substantial aid in compiling this work.
The writer is under obligation to Captain Arthur P. Forbes of St. Louis, Edwin T. Witherby of Alabama, Lieutenant James C. Woodworth of Fort Wayne, Ind., Sergeant-Major Samuel H. Putnam of Worcester, Captain V. P. Parkhurst of Templeton, and the Adjutant General's office of Massachusetts, for valuable statistics, journals and records of the war. Others who have loaned diaries, furnished letters, and by other methods proved their readiness to be helpers, have rendered services which are gratefully acknowledged, and
IV
PREFACE.
which very materially enhance the value of these pages. To all who have given us sympathetic words and needed aid, we say in the language of Shakesperian eloquence -
"Your pains are registered where every day I turn the leaf to look at them."
In writing a truthful history, speaking of our foes as we felt and describing conduct which cannot be too strongly denounced, there is no desire to rekindle the fires of hate or reopen the animosities of the late conflict. Vengeance belongs alone to God. Be it ours to calin the waters of strife, cultivate the noblest virtue of charity, and, while making history truthful, draw a veil over the action of men which proves that war at best is terror, destruction and inhumanity combined.
While the writer has intended to do full justice to all participants, be is well satisfied that he has failed in many respects. If every member of the Twenty- fifth Regiment is not duly credited with "brave acts and noble deeds," it is either because they were so situated as not to command particular attention, or their modesty has prevented a knowledge of their personal merit reaching the author.
Happy indeed is that writer of history who finds no shadows in his path- way -- happy indeed if he finds that way always illumined by the sunlight and fringed with fragrant blossoms. As the painter is less than perfect in his art, so is he who sketches the historic panorama, as it passes before him, less than perfect with his pen. He searches after truth and sees the shadows, observes the dark spots, for there is no perfect goodness below the celestial -and so, as the historian sketches, he endeavors to avoid the defects, strives to cover the shadows with the light, or throws out the dark spots altogether. None know so well as the sketcher how much he covers, and how much discards.
Trusting the fair minded and reasonable will find some satisfaction in reading these pages and that others will not undertake the task, the writer submits them with his warmest affection for all who shared the marches, bivouacs, privations and dangers of the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts with Burnside's Coast Division, the Eighteenth Army Corps and the Army of the James.
THE AUTHOR.
.
-
HELIOTYPE PORTRAITS.
WE present upwards of two hundred Heliotype illustrations of those who were connected with the Regiment of which this work specially treats.
These illustrations are the work of "The Heliotype Printing Company" of Boston, and it is only proper that we should say, in explanation of the varying quality of the representations, that in many cases suitable originals could not be supplied. In the Heliotype process, in order to produce the best results, it is essential that negatives made directly from life should be used. The most unsatisfactory results are produced when old and faded photographs have to be copied, or the representations made from copies of the original photographs, as occurs in several instances in the groups. In many cases these were the ouly possible material to be obtained, and when several had to be combined upon one plate, the difficulty was by no means diminished. In spite of these and other drawbacks, it may be safely stated, that, from the available material supplied, more faithful representations could not have been produced by any other means at the same cost, and to this may be added, that, unlike the original photographs, these illustrations are printed in printer's ink and are good for all time.
J. W. D.
INDEX OF PORTRAITS.
FRONTISPIECE.
Edwin Upton.
. Opposite page 11
Josiah Pickett.
66
141
Horace James.
21
A. B. R. Sprague
219
Orson Moulton
¥
66
323
M. J. MeCafferty
66
117
J. Marcus Rice.
6:
6. 3SS
J. M. Drennan
= 280
J. W. Denny
170
Wm. F. Draper.
60
James Tucker
= 420
V. P. Parkhurst.
66 346
Thomas O'Neill .
326
James O'Neill.
66
259
GROUPS.
COMP.LNY A.
COMPANY A.
M. B. Bessey.
Geo. Burr. .
F. E. Goodwin
opposite page 345
Henry H. Pratt
Frank L. R. Coes. .
Jaalain Gates.
Calvin A. Wesson.
Samuel S. Dresser
Walter S. Bugbee.
Reuben Heywood
Jos. P. Eaton.
Augustus Stone.
opposite page 24
Henry W. Reed.
Lonis J. Elwell.
Chas. E. Benson
Daniel T. Laton.
David B. Bigelow
Jerome H. Faller
Wmn. L. Lyon.
Reuben H. DeLuce. .
Jus. H. Thompson
opposite page 437
Horace E. Brooks. . Walter H. Richards ..
opposite page 202
Nelson Tiffany
Henry Goulding, 2d. .
L. G. Manning.
Samuel H. Putnam ...
James B. MeLane .... Timothy M. Ward .... opposite page 187
Frank Wright
opposite page 152
161
George B. Proctor
Ambrose E. Burnside
230
C. G. Attwood
VII
INDEX OF PORTRAITS.
COMPANY A.
Amos E. Stearns ..
Geo. F. Stearns
Wm. E. Holman.
opposite page 181
Hiram Staples.
Hale Wesson.
Albert N. Bonn.
t'has. H. Knowlton
Geo. F. Penniman
opposite page 198
Daniel W. Burt.
James Wesson
COMPANY B.
Harrison T. Bosworth .. 1
Perry C. Alexander
Chas. H. Pelton
opposite page 333
Eli_G. Ball.
Chas. A. Rogers
Leonard D. Hadley.
Nathan Wheelock.
John G. MeCarter.
opposite page 166
Edwin M. Wheelock.
Chas. H. Spencer ...
Chas. E. Buffington
P. C. H. Belcher.
William Emery
opposite page 13
William Burke
HI. R. Wood.
Aaron Aldrich
William A. Tilton
Edwin C. Balcom
opposite page 55
George S. Adams
Andrew Bagley
H. C. Dunton.
George E. Batchelor
Amasa H. Fisher
opposite page 124
O. F. Carpenter Albert Cook
Davil L. Day
Sylvester P. Krum
Ira D. Bates.
opposite page 190
Michael Keating
John A. MeGaffey
COMPANY C.
C. A. Garland.
Edwin A. Moody
John W. Davis opposite page 359
Samuel P. Jones
John R. Hill
John Howard. Jer ome M. Stone
opposite page 174
Frank W. Perry, of D .. John G. Leach Charles Allen. ..
COMPANY D.
Henry A. Browning .. Jos. N. Tourtellotte .. Orlando Hodgkins .... opposite page 426
Ferdinand Andrews. . George W. Brewer
Oscar Tourtellotte.
E. D. Goodell. ..
Joseph B. Knox opposite page 207
George R. Browning .. John E. Bassett ..
John W. Partridge. 1 Hiram N. Parkhurst ..
Thomas Cotton. opposite page 92
John M. Lamb.
Peter Rice.
COMPANY E. 1
Patrick Doherty
Michael Donahue ... ...
Patrick Curran. opposite page 103
James McHannon
John B. MeLane
COMPANY F.
Levi Lawrence. - J. Henry Richardson.
Charles H. Foss. opposite page 330
Charles E. Upton
James Graham.
J. Calvin Spaulding ..
W. H. Partridge.
Charles Hall. opposite page 45
F. D. Lacount.
George C. Nichols
COMPANY G.
Rudolph A. Hacker. . -
Christian Schlenker ..
Louis Wagely . . opposite page 132
Charles W. Wilson .. George W. Wallbery ..
COMPANY H.
James C. Woodworth.
Willard Cheney, Jr ... Nathaniel HI. Foster .. Julius D. Hill ... Charles H. Ashby
opposite page 288
Walter S. Clemmence.
Aaron B. Metcalf.
George A. Bixby. opposite page 35 .
E. R. Lawrence. Albert S. Hurd.
VIII
INDEX OF PORTRAITS.
COMPANY I.
Lorenzo K. Lovell r
David O. Lovell.
Francis Bridges
opposite page 150
William .1: Watson
Edwin Wilbur.
Henry W. Fernald
Frank W. Wellington ...
Edward W. Wellington.
opposite page 30
Charles F. Howard. -
Henry H. Legg.
Thomas Gleason Randall Mann.
. D. M. Woodward. Charles F. Curtis
opposite page 80
George E. Kent
H. Arthur White
Moses S. Forbes
Charles S. Seagrave,
opposite page 138
John D. Mirick.
Braman Grout.
William H. Eveleth
George M. Eveleth.
F. L. Smith.
opposite page 249
George L. Grout.
George C. Larned
COMPANY K.
Emerson Stone. ..
Charles C. Munlock
Arthur P. Forbes.
opposite page 204
William E. Murdock
Edwin T. Witherby
Walter S. Clark. John B. Moulton
Joseph Billings
opposite page 306
Otis D. Cooper.
C. W. Putnam
John E. Jowis .
W. O. Collester
Robert T. Chapman.
opposite page 318
C. P. Demond
Rowland Pond.
COMPANY K.
Theo lore N. Gates. .. Diah Ball . Luke I. Drury. .. Charles F. Tenney .. .
opposite page 70
Thomas C. Bond ...
VARIOUS COMPANIES.
Frank S. Sibley, of K.
Thomas Windle, " K. H. Butterfield, " A. Charles L. Rice, " ET. 1 opposite page 376 John S. Chase, I.
Geo. W. Bigelow, of A.
John P. Coulter, " A.
Francis L. Moore," I.
opposite page 408
W. O. Wildler, " H. Elwin C. Abbott," K. )
QUARTERMASTERS' DEP'T.
Edward A. Brown .
John Simouds ..
William O. Brown.
opposite page 223
William M. Willis
Daniel C. Putnam ..
ADJUTANTS' GROUP.
Henry MeConville ..
Charles B. Kendall .. .
E. A. Harkness. opposite page 329
Henry Mathews.
Charles H. Davis
REGIMENTAL BAND.
John W. Gould.
Daniel A. White .. William E. Cilmore .. George N. Newhall. . George H. Wilson ....
opposite page 18
-
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Battles, Skirmishes, etc. Page XII
Introductory Chapter
1
CHAPTER I.
Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteers -Camp Lincoln - Field, "Staff, and Line Officers-Band -- Warrant Officers -Marching along!
CHAPTER II .. . 28
... En route -- Remarks of Parke Godwin- Astor House vs. Park Barracks - Philadelphia Cooper shop and Union saloons -Annapolis- Army ration -- Thanksgiving Day - First Sunday in camp -- Brigade formations - Burnside-Foster -Regimental Commanders - Embarkation.
CHAPTER III. . 47
Burnside's North Carolina expedition- Hatteras Inlet -The storm -Signal Corps- The fleet of transports and gunboats-The Swash.
CHAPTER IV. .. 66
Landing, and battle of Roanoke Island -- Hospital Scenes-Naval operations - Drudgery - Leave Roanoke.
CHAPTER V. 93
Battle of New Berne-The defence-Life in New Berne -The Progress , newspaper- Edward Stanly -- Fort Macon -Camden -- Little Washing- ton.
CHAPTER VI. 115
Picket duty -Camp Bullock - March to Trenton - Camp Oliver -Attack upon Little Washington -General Hospital at Beaufort, N. C .- Band discharged -- Various marches-Grand rounds.
CHAPTER VIL . ... .139
Lieutenant-Colonel Sprague --- Colonel Upton -Arrival of nine months' regi- ments -- Tarboro' expedition - Raid of the enemy - Flags of Truce- Peter Lawson and Major Whitford on the square.
B
*
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII. . Page 153 Goldsboro' expedition - Battle of Kinston -Foraging - Whitehall - Burning the bridge - Promotions.
CHAPTER IN. .. 167
A story and night attack-Deep Gully-Attack upon New Berne -Grand review.
CHAPTER X. .183
A camp field day - Plymouth - Up the Chowan -Edenton -Winfield- Siege of Washington - Fort Williams.
CHAPTER XI .. 199
Commander Flusser -What was it ? -- Dover Swamp - Shovel brigade - Twenty-fifth Massachusetts in Camp Oliver-End of nine months' service - Little Washington -Twenty-fifth Massachusetts leaves North Carolina for Virginia.
CHAPTER XII ... 233
Reenlistment - Yorktown - Getty's Station - Events in North Carolina - Chaplain Dodd-Reducing officers to the ranks.
CHAPTER XIII. .. 264
Army of the James- Discipline -- Up the James river-Plan of Campaign - Port Walthal Junetion -Chesterfieldl Junction -Arrowfield Church.
CHAPTER XIV. .283
Fort Darling -- A line too long and thin -Drewry's Bluff-Killed, wounded and captured - Butler bottled up. and why - Movement to White House landing-Fifteen miles out of the way -Dust and dead mules.
CHAPTER XV. .... .. . 303 General plan of operations-Army of the Potomac -- The "hammering" commenced -- Eighteenth Corps reach Cold Harbor.
CHAPTER XVI. .. . . . . . . 312 Battle of Cold Harbor-The charge -The "Star" Brigade -Heroism - Rescue of Daly- Officers wounded -Captain O'Neill -- Killed, wounded and captured ..
CHAPTER XVII. . . . . . . . . 341 Attack on Petersburg - Flank movement of the army - The siege of Peters- burg - Mine explosion - A truce.
CONTENTS. XI
CHAPTER XVIII. Page 365 Andersonville and other prisons-Facts and incidents concerning prisoners of war-Prisoners of the Massachusetts Twenty-fifth-Responsibility for cruelty -Deaths of Twenty-fifth Massachusetts in rebel prisons.
CHAPTER XIX. ...... . 387 Medical Department of the regiment -Our hospital nurse - Roster of Medical Officers.
CHAPTER XX. .391
Relieved from the trenches - Return to North Carolina - Yellow fever - Homeward journey -Escape from Fortress Monroe-Quarantine in New York - Reception in Worcester -- Muster out.
CHAPTER XXI .406
Rebel ram Albemarle destroyed-Fort Fisher-Schofield in North Carolina -- Wise's Forks-Armies of Sherman and Schofield unite -Surrender of Johnston -- Charlotte.
CHAPTER XXII. .. . . 427
Review of movements on the James river-Five Forks-Appomattox -- The shell broken -Final muster out.
APPENDIX.
Organization of Company B. 439
Rev. Horace James. .4-41
Roster of Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteers .413
...
BATTLES, SKIRMISHES, ETC.,
IN WHICH THE
25TH MASS. AND ITS DETACHMENTS, . PARTICIPATED.
Roanoke Island.
[February 8, 1862]. 51
New Berne ..
| March 14, 1862] .. 99
Rocky Run. :
[November 11, 1862] 146
Kinston [December 14, 1862] 156
Whitehall. [December 16, 1862] 157
Goldsboro'. [December 18, 1862] 158
Near Kinston.
[March 6, 1863] .. 169
Deep Gully.
[March 13, 1863]. 173
Rocky-hock Creek
[March 23, 1863] .185
Gum Swamp.
[May 22, 186S] 205
Port Walthal Junction. [May 6, 1864]. .270
Chesterfield Junction
[May 7. 1864] .273
Arrowfield Church . IMMay 9, 1864]. .276
Palmer's Creek
[May 15, 1864] 2.8.4
Drewry's Bluff.
[May 16, 1864]
2ST
Cobb's Mill.
[May 21. 1864]
.296
Cold Harbor.
[June.1, 1864]
309
Cold Harbor.
[June 2, 1$64].
.311
Cold Harbor.
[June 3, 1864].
.312
Petersburg June 15, 1864] 344
Petersburg.
[June 16, 1804]
550
Petersburg, Appomattox River. . . June IS, 1864] 352
Petersburg. [June 30, 1864] .358
Petersburg, Crater. [July 30, 1864] .361
Wise's Forks |March 10, 1865]. .413
-----
INTRODUCTORY.
THE PEN.
THE seeds of treason had been well sown upon rich Southern soil, many years before its fruit appeared in armed rebellion against the State.
The pen of political schemers in all the cotton States-adepts . in its use-had been employed in arousing public attention to fancied wrongs, fanning prejudices and kindling the flame of hatred by gross misrepresentation of Northern opinion upon points of public policy, particularly in regard to the Divine right of the slave owner to exercise ownership in territories made free under the compromises of the Constitution,-com- promises which had been first proposed by Southern represen- tatives and accepted as a settlement to be deemed final.
Before proceeding to our main work, we propose a brief notice of events immediately preceding and following the breaking out of hostilities.
The National Democratic Convention met at Charleston, South Carolina, April 23rd, 1860, and there the determination of the Southern delegates to rule or ruin, first became manifest. The delegates divided upon important issues, and finally, most of them from Alabama, . Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas and Georgia formally withdrew. This action divided the democratic party and resulted in the nomination of two presidential tickets-the southern or seceding branch of the party assembled at Baltimore, June
TWENTY-FIFTH MASSACHUSETTS.
23rd, nominating John C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky. The regular convention, composed mostly of northern democrats, assembled at Baltimore, June 18th, and on the 23rd, nominated Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois.
The Republican National Convention assembled at Chicago, May 16th, and on the 19th, upon the third ballot, Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, was nominated for president.
Another party, known as the " American," nominated John Bell, of Tennessee.
On the 6th of November, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president, by the choice of one hundred and eighty electors ; Breckenridge carried seventy-nine electors ; Bell, thirty-nine, and Douglas, twelve.
Of the popular vote, Lincoln had one million eight hundred and sixty-six thousand four hundred and fifty-two; Douglas, one million three hundred and seventy-five thousand one hundred and forty-four; Breckenridge, eight hundred and seventy-four thousand nine hundred and fifty-three ; Bell, five hundred and ninety thousand six hundred and thirty-onc.
Unfortunately several avowed secessionists found positions at the head of important bureaus in the cabinet of President Buchanan. In the Treasury Department was Howell Cobb, of Georgia: John B. Floyd, of Virginia, was Secretary of War, and Jacob Thompson, of Mississippi, presided in the Interior Department. These gentlemen, like Benedict Arnold of the Revolution, prostituted their official position to sell the country to the conspirators.
The election of Mr. Lincoln was seized upon as the ultima thule of southern forbearance, as the time for commencing revolutionary proceedings, and, from the date of that election to the first overt act of treason, the southern heart was unceas- ingly fired by southern agitators.
Congress, assembling in December, 1860, President Buchanan in his annual message uttered the first authoritative words upon a subject concerning which millions of people were extremely
1
3
WEARING THE BLUE.
anxious. After stating the causes the South had for ill-feeling against the North and demanding the repeal. of the Personal Liberty Acts, he said : ---
"The Southern States, standing on the basis of the Constitution, have a right to demand this act of justice from the States of the North. Should it be refused, then the Constitution, to which all the States are parties, will have been wilfully violated by one portion of them in a provision essential to the doniestic security and happiness of the remainder. In that event, the injured States, after having first used all peaceful and constitutional means to obtain redress, would be justified in revolutionary resistance."
Again he said : --
"Congress possesses many means of preserving it [the Union] by conciliation ; but the sword was not placed in their hands to preserve it by force."
The loyal people of the country looked with astonishment and grief upon the position assumed by President Buchanan. The debate following this message was long and interesting.
Early in January, 1861, the secession leaders began their exodus from the chambers of Congress. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, formally took his leave January 14th, and was followed on the same day by the senators of Alabama and Florida. The withdrawal of Congressmen continued, until before the middle of February, both houses were nearly purged of the secession element.
On the 4th of March, the presidential term of James Buchanan closed. The most impartial summing up of his administration is that offered by the Comte de Paris, who served upon the staff . of General MeClellan, and will be acknowledged as an unbiased historian : -
"The end of his [President Buchanan's] administration has been disastrous. He had tolerated everything; he had done nothing to crush out the rebellion in its inception, and had left his successor
1
TWENTY-FIFTH MASSACHUSETTS.
without the means of fulfilling the task entrusted to him. Ile delivered into his hands the government of a shattered country ; and if civil war had not yet drenched America in blood, it was simply because the rebellion was being organized with impunity on its soil."
The day that relieved the country of James Buchanan, gave it Abraham Lincoln-a loyal chief-magistrate, who, under the most trying circumstances, dared to do right, as God gave him the wisdom to discover and the strength to pursue that way.
THE SWORD.
The pen was mighty as an instrument in plunging us into civil war, but far exceeding it in power was the sword that conquered peace - that made the great proclamation of freedom more than waste paper, and established our country as a nation, respected among the governments of the earth.
The first gun, opening the bloody drama of civil war, was fired January 9th, 1861, being a shot from a battery on Morris Island, against the steamer Star of the West, as she was entering Charleston Harbor.
In Texas, David E. Twiggs, a general next in rank to Lieutenant-General Scott, commanding there the United States troops, deserted his flag, and not only this, but attempted to induce his officers and men to do likewise. On the 18th of January, Twiggs was relieved from command and "dismissed from the Army of the United States for treachery to the flag of his country."
In April [24th ] Major Sibley and seven companies of United States troops endeavoring to make their way north, were captured by the rebels under Van Dorn, but were afterwards paroled and allowed to proceed.
Fort Sumter, after a brave defence, was surrendered April 13th, 1861, and on the 15th of the same month, President Lincoln issued a call for seventy-five thousand troops from the States.
5
WEARING THE BLUE.
As the Sixth Massachusetts regiment was passing through Baltimore [April 19th.] en route to Washington, it was met by an angry mass of citizens determined upon impeding its progress. The troops, in self defence, fired upon the impeders, and many people were wounded and some killed.
Alexandria. near Washington, was occupied by Federal troops May 23rd, when Colonel E. E. Ellsworth lost his life, shot by a man named Jackson, proprietor of the Marshall House in that place.
In Missouri, the Federal troops, under General Nathaniel Lyon, were efficient in measures of defence, and in western Virginia, the campaign of General MeClellan was remarkably successful, and illustrated the organizing genius of that young officer. His success raised the hopes of the Unionists, inspiring the loyal country with a new zeal in support of a menaced government.
On June 10th, the affair at Big Bethel caused much regret.
On the 8th of July, Lieutenant-General Scott, overcome with age and infirmities, surrendered the immediate command of the army designed for the advance into Virginia to Brigadier General Irvin McDowell, a native of Ohio and a graduate of West Point. The troops marching into Virginia were raw and undisciplined. Many of the men, and the same may be said of the officers, were ignorant of battalion or even company movements, and it is a singular fact that Scott prohibited McDowell from manceuvring the battalions, and hence he could not mould them into a systematized body of troops, ready for field movements in face of an enemy.
The Confederate army was at Manassas, some miles beyond Centreville, under the command of G. T. P. Beau- regard. General Joseph E. Johnston, with eight thousand troops, was in the vicinity of Winchester, watching General Patterson, with some fifteen thousand Federal troops, in the vicinity of Martinsburg. Patterson was ordered to hold Johnston in check and prevent him from joining Beauregard,
6
TWENTY-FIFTH MASSACHUSETTS.
and Johnston was expected to keep Patterson in check and at the same time reach Bull Run in season to participate in the battle. The strength of the two armies near Bull Run was about equal, after Johnston united with Beauregard. Johnston bringing up eight thousand men, made the total of the enemy twenty-nine thousand eight hundred and thirty-three; McDowell had thirty thousand men, [one authority says thirty- five thousand] of whom, five companies were mounted. On the 21st of July, the Federal army moved forward, and about six o'clock in the morning, the action became general and continued until about two o'clock, P. M., when Johnston's army reaching the field, a panic seized our troops and a stampede took place all along the line.
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