USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Spencer > Historical sketches relating to Spencer, Mass., Volume III > Part 11
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Of the twenty-one Spencer men in Co. C, 21st Mass. Vols. who incurred the perils of war, nine (three-sevenths or forty- three per cent) were either killed in battle or otherwise lost their lives in the line of duty. Their names are: Lieut. Frederick A. Bemis, Corp. Elbridge G. Barr, Corp. George W. Henry, Henry F. Adams, Louis Dana, Lyman C. Gibbs, James Lackey, Joseph Mead, Samuel D. Sargent. -- Maj. Wm. T. Harlow.
3 ALLEN, ANDREW J. Private in Co. D, 2d Mass. Hy. Art. A shoemaker, aged twenty-eight and resided at Spencer. He enlisted Dec. 10, 1863, mustered in Jan. 2, 1864, mustered out Sept. 3, 1865, died in Spencer Nov. 30, 1897 and was buried at Pine Grove cemetery.
4 ALLEN, CHARLES. Son of Alanson and Martha Allen, born in Brimfield, Sept. 30, 1842. He was a teamster. Enlisted Oct. 5, 1861 as a private in Co. C, 25th Mass. Vols., dis- charged Dec. 17, 1863, re-enlisted in the same regiment Dec. 18, 1863, receiving $409.99 as bounty, was discharged Dec. 16, 1864 for disability. Now living at Worcester.
5 ALLEN, CHARLES HENRY. Son of Pliny Allen, was born in Spencer, June 17, 1841. He entered the service Aug. 20, 1862, as a private in Co. F, 42d regiment, Mass. Vols. and was discharged Aug. 20, 1863 at Readville by expiration of term of service. His most intimate comrades were John B. Lyon, Henry Bisco, Henry A. Knowlton, George Mann, Charles Brown and Charles A. Boyden. Since the war he was for many years a successful boot manufacturer but is now engaged in the insurance business. He has served the town as selectman and the district two terms as representative to the General Court.
6 AMES, JAMES H. A native of Charlton. Private in Co. F, 60th Mass. Vols. Enlisted from Spencer at the age of
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twenty-two, mustered in July 20, 1864, discharged at expiration of service Nov. 30, 1864. Is a leading dry goods merchant. Served the district one term in the legislature. Has been identi- fied with many of the town's interests and elected a deacon of the Congregational Church.
7 BACON, ARTHUR B. Born in Charlton, May 18, 1846. Private in Co. F, 60th Mass. Vols., mustered in July 20, 1864, mustered out at expiration of service Nov. 30, 1864. Was engaged for many years in the manufacture of boots and shoes
CHARLES H. ALLEN.
under the firm name of Bacon & Sibley. Is now proprietor of a grain store.
8 BALL, DANIEL AMASA. Was born in Spencer, Aug. 16, 1832. Entered the service Aug. 18, 1863 as corporal in Co. F, 42d regiment, Mass. Vols., and was discharged as corporal Aug. 24, 1864 at Readville, Mass., on account of expiration of service. He died Jan. 3, 1878 and was buried at Pine Grove cemetery. His widow now lives at Spencer. His only son, Frank D. Ball, is superintendent of schools for Douglas Co., Colorado and lives at Castle Rock.
9 BARR, ELBRIDGE GERRY. He was a native of Spencer and twenty-three years old when he enlisted in Co. C,
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21st Massachusetts. He brought with him when he came to enlist, his friend George W. Henry, and his brother Wil- liam H. Barr, who survived the war and still lives. When the color guard of the 21st was formed Colonel Clark, who had a sharp eye for a good soldier, picked out Corporal Barr to carry the white colors of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which he carried with the most undaunted courage and gallantry till it fell from his dying grasp as he charged at the head of his regi- ment the Heights of Marye, where thundered and volleyed sixty
ARTHUR B. BACON.
pieces of artillery and where bristled and gleamed bayonets un- counted. The story of the 21st color guard at Fredericksburg is an oft-told tale, but men will never tire of hearing it. Colonel Clark has briefly stated the facts of which he and his command were witnesses thus :-
"The 2d brigade was ordered to the front, and forming in double lines of battle most gallantly and steadily moved across the plain, swept by the destructive fire of the enemy. When about sixty rods from the city, Color-Sergeant Collins of Co. A was shot and fell to the ground. Sergeant Plunkett of Co. E. instantly seized the colors and carried them forward to the farthest point reached by our troops during the battle, when a shell from the rebels was thrown with fatal accuracy at the olors and brought them to the ground, wet with the life blood of
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the brave Plunkett, both of whose arms were carried away .. The glorious flag was then raised by Color-Corporal Olney, of Co. H. and carried by him during the remainder of the day. Color- Corporal Barr, of Co. C, was shot while carrying the state colors, and the post of honor and danger was quickly filled by Color- Corporal Wheeler of Co. I."
Let us pause here long enough to say of this rash and ut- terly useless charge, what was said of the famous charge of the
DANIEL A. BALL. Co. F., 42d Mass. Vols. See V. 1. II. Page 43.
"Six Hundred" at Balaklava. "It was magnificent but it was not war."
The portrait of Sergeant Plunkett hangs in Mechanics' Hall at Worcester. Query whether it would not be an appropriate thing to hang a portrait of the sergeant's comrade, Color-Corporal Barr in Spencer Town Hall. At his first as well as his last battle- Barr bore his snowy colors at the fore-front. At Roanoke when the Union troops charged the rebel redan at the front and on both flanks at the same time, of the many flags each rushing to get in before the others, his was the very first to wave over the enemy's cannon, and at Antietam Bridge and everywhere else that the 21st fought during Barr's lifetime; it was an inspiring
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sight to see him bearing aloft in the van the spotless color of Massachusetts with its noble motto .*- Maj. Wm. T. Harlow.
It is thought a portion of the same shell which destroyed both arıns of the late Sergeant Plunkett, at Fredericksburg, also did a similar destructive work on one arm of young Barr. Unfitted for further duty and weak from loss of blood he was carried to the field hospital, where all further information in re- gard to him ends. He probably died and with others was carried out and buried en masse. There was no time then for taking memoranda, or digging individual graves. The flag this brave boy carried, or what there is left of it, with the standard, is with many others preserved by the state in large glass cases in the rotunda of the Capitol at Boston and so jealous is the state as custodian of these significant war relics that these flags cannot be touched or removed without an order from the legislature. Some years since, at the time of the funeral of Sergeant Plunket at Worcester, the state allowed the flag that Plunkett carried to be taken there and exhibited. Four men were detailed for the work with strict instructions to guard this historic flag day and night until it was again safely in its place at the state house. The value the state places upon these mementoes is well illus- trated in the following classic, selected from a speech delivered in Boston at the close of the war by the great war governor John A. Andrew.
"These banners are returned to the government of the Com- monwealth through welcome hands. Borne one by one out of this Capitol during more than four years of civil war as the sym- bols of the nation and Commonwealth under which the battalions of Massachusetts departed to the fields, they came back again borne hither by surviving representatives of the same heroic regi- inents and companies to which they were intrusted.
"Proud memories of many fields; sweet memories alike of
*The motto is a smooth flowing Latin hexameter, and the second line of a famous distich written in the album of the University of Copenhagen in 1660 by Al- gernon Sidney.
"Manus haec inimica tyrannis
Ense petit placidam sub libertate quiete11,"
of which a famous translation was written by John Quincy Adams in a lady's album in January, 1842, in his seat in the House of Representatives at Washington, during a roll call of its members by the Clerk on the question of his expulsion for presenting an anti- :slavery petition.
This hand to tyrants ever sworn the foe,
For freedom only deals the deadly blow,
These sheaths in calm repose the vengeful blade, For gentle peace in freedom's hallowed shade.
Omission of the first line of the distich which con- tains the subject (Manus haec, this hand) would seem to leave the second line standing alone. as it does in the state motto, without a subject. But according to a frequent usage in her heraldic designs. the subject is " represented" though unexpressed in words by the raised hand or right arm on the crest of the state arms grasping a sword.
ACI DAN
SUB
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valor and friendship; sad memories of fraternal strife ; tender mem- ories of our fallen brothers and sons whose dying eyes looked last upon these flaming folds; grand memories of heroic virtues sublime with grief; exultant memories of the great and final victories of our Country, our Union and the righteous cause ; thankful memories of a deliverance wrought for human nature itself, unexampled by any former achievement of arms; immortal
CORPORAL ELBRIDGE G. BARR,
Born in Spencer, May 26, 1839. Died from loss of arm in battle, Dec, 13, 1862. memories with immortal honors blended twine around these staffs, splintered, worn, begrimed and baptized with blood."
10 BARR, LUTHER A. Bootmaker, single, aged eight- een, a private in Co. I, 2d Mass. Hy. Art., enlisted Dec. 1, 1863, mustered in Dec. 11, 1863, mustered out Sept. 3, 1865.
11 BARR, WILLIAM H. Wagoner, Co. C, 21st Mass. Vols., teamster aged 20, single, Spencer. Enlisted July 23, 1861, mustered in Aug. 23, 1861, transferred to 36th Mass. Vols., re-en- listed Jan. 1, 1864, mustered in Jan. 2, 1864, credited to Spencer, transferred to Co. F, 56th Mass. Vols., June 8, 1865, mustered out July 12, 1865.
12 BARTON, RENSSELAER. Private Co. G, 15th Mass. Vols., married, mason by trade, age forty-three, enlisted Aug. 31, 1862, mustered in Aug. 31, 1862, discharged Jan. 27, 1863.
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13 BEAUMONT. CORP. JOHN J. Co. K, 10th Mass. Vols. Born at Lepton, England, Feb. 19, 1840. Enlisted May 31, 1861, aged twenty-two, made corporal Jan. 1863, severely wounded in. head at Salem Heights, Va., May 3. 1863, mustered out July 1, 1864 at expiration of service. Since the war has been until re- cently a dry goods merchant at Worcester, where he now re- sides.
14 BEGLEY, PATRICK. Aged nineteen, enlisted from Spencer as private in Co. G, 42d Mass. Vols., mustered in July 21, 1864. Discharged at expiration of service Nov. 11, 1864.
15 BELCHER, GILBERT G. Married, blacksmith, aged thirty-three. Private in Co. F, 42d Mass. Vols., enlisted Sept. 1, 1862, mustered in Sept. 30, 1862, mustered out Aug 20, 1863. A mechanic of unusual ability. Died in Spencer Aug. 28, 1897 and buried at Pine Grove cemetery.
16 BELCHER, JOHN W. Son of Henry Belcher, student, aged eighteen and single. Enlisted as a private in Co. E, 34th Mass. Vols., July 19, 1862, mustered in July 31, 1862, made corporal Jan. 29, 1864, mustered out June 16, 1865. Lives in New York. Engaged in manufacturing straw goods.
17 BEMIS, ALVIN. Farmer, single, son of Cheney Be- mis, Sr., born at South Spencer, Oct. 16, 1839, enlisted Sept. 19, 1861 as private in Co. I, 24th Mass. Vols , mustered in Sept. 19, 1861, discharged for disability April 15, 1863. As a soldier he was enchanted with Shenandoah Valley and at the close of the war settled there at Woodstock, where he now resides.
18 BEMIS, CHARLES E. Son of Cheney Bemis, Sr., of South Spencer, was born Aug. 5, 1839. He entered the ser- vice at Spencer Aug. 20, 1862, as a private in Co. F, 42d regi- ment, Mass. Vol. Inf., and was discharged at Readville, Mass., Aug. 20, 1863, by reason of expiration of service. He was con- fined through illness for three weeks in the hospital while sta- tioned at Lake Pontchartrain, La. His most intimate contrades. in the service were: Charles H. Allen, Henry A. Knowlton, Charles Sargent, Charles Lyon, Henry Lyon, and Sergeant Hiram Cowan. After the war he removed to South Bend, In1- diana, where he now resides.
19 BEMIS, EDMUND J. Farmer, aged twenty, son of Joshua Bemis, enlisted Aug. 18, 1862, as a private in Co. F, 42d Mass. Vols., mustered in Sept. 20, 1862, mustered out Aug. 20, 1863. Died suddenly of heart disease on board train near Al -- bany, New York, June 25, 1868, buried in the old cemetery.
20 BEMIS, ELIAS Private, Co. F, 60th Mass. Vols., aged twenty-seven. Mustered in July 20, 1864, mustered out at expi- ration of service Nov. 30, 1864. Deceased, buried at Charlton.
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21 BEMIS, LIEUT. FREDERICK AUGUSTUS. Better known as and commonly called in his life time, Fred Bemis. He was a native of Spencer, and great-great-grandson of pioneer Samuel Bemis, who settled in what was then called the Western- half of the township of Leicester, 1721, when and
" Where nothing dwelt but beasts of prey, And men as fierce and wild as thev,"
and to whom a permanent memorial has recently been erected by his descendants at his homestead. Fred's ancestors had served the British crown with distinction in Colonial days -- notably at Crown Point and the seige of Louisburg, and in a generation later fourteen soldiers of the Bemis name, all of them his kindred, and one of them his great-grandfather, had fought for American Independence from Lexington to Yorktown. And in peace as well as in war, from the original pioneer down to his honored father, they had been prominently identified with the annals of this town.
Fred was fitted for college at Leicester Academy, and entered Tale in "the famous class of 1856,"* but at the end of Fresh- man year, on account of embarrassments in business at the time, his father took him out of college. After his father died, Novem- ber, 1856, Fred continued to carry on for two years the business (powder making), established by his father, but did not make a success of it. Before 1861 powder had been so little in demand and the risks of making it had been so great that neither father nor son could make profits out of it. If the father had lived to make powder during the war, and his son had stayed at home to help him, the Lord only knows what hoards they might have garnered. But, as the Turks say, it was not fated.
From the obituary notices of officers of the 21st, killed at Chantilly Sept. 1, 1862, written by General Walcott for his his- tory of the 21st regiment (page 170), we quote the following :
"First Lieut. Fred A. Bemis of Spencer (Co. A) was killed by an unexpected volley in the woods. He was a brave, deter- mined officer, and of an open, genial disposition. When the company was formed he confidently expected to be commissioned as second lieutenant ; failing to receive the commission, he entered the service willingly and cheerfully as an enlisted man, and was at once appointed first sergeant of the company, and doing his duty simply for duty's sake, was commissioned second lieutenant Feb. 28, 1862, and first lieutenant July 28, 1862."
His promotion as second lieutenant directly followed the
* So called on account of its distinguished graduates-such as Senator Depew, Judges Brown and Brewer of the United States Supreme Court, and others too mitmerous to mention. Of lesser lights better known in this vicinity were Judge Andrew J. Bartholo- mew of Southbridge and his brother, Lieut. Nelson Bartholomew of the 15th Mass. Vols.
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battle of Roanoke Island ; his promotion as first lieutenant was first announced to him and to his regiment only four days before his death at Chantilly. It was during the battle of the second Bull Run, while the 21st was supporting a battery, that General Reno's order for the latter's promotion, to date from July 28, was read to the regiment.
Lieut Bemis's whole term of service was only one year and eight days, but in that brief period he was honored with more promotions than any other Spencer soldier during the whole war, and at the beginning of what promised to be a brilliant career, he fell in battle, honored and lamented by his companions in arms. If he had lived to longer serve his country he would have risen to higher rank. At the time of his death he had been recom- mended for appointment as captain in one of the new regiments then forming in the state, and would probably have been appoint- ed, had he lived. The life and duties of a soldier were congenial to him- which could be said of only a few of those who took up arms in the emergency of our country's needs from sense of duty rather than choice. He was ambitious of advancement, and made no secret of his ambition. Had he survived the war he would have sought and easily obtained a commission in the regu- lar army.
There is an inscription on the west face of his father's monument in the old graveyard in Spencer, in these words :
Lieut. Fred'k A. Bemis, Son of Lewis and Maria S. Bemis, born Dec. 10, 1834. Fell in the service of his country Sept. 1, 1862, at Chantilly, Va., Where his body rests in an unknown grave. To his memory belongs a sbare of the imperishable glory of the 21st Mass. Infantry, Won upon the bloody fields of Roanoke Island, Newberne, Camden, Bull Run and Chantilly. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
The losses at Chantilly were the greatest suffered by the 21st. at any one battle during the whole war. Officers killed or died of wounds, six ; severely wounded and a prisoner, one ; prisoners not wounded, three ; enlisted men killed or died of wounds, thirty-two ; wounded, seventy-five ; prisoners, not wounded, twenty-three ; missing in action, twenty-total, one hundred and sixty. To Gen. Reno, with only the Second Brigade (three reg- iments, of which the 21st was one) and Graham's battery of his old Division, was assigned the duty of covering the retreat of Pope's army after the second Bull Run. The general threw the brigade across the Warrenton turnpike on the Henry House hill just before sundown Aug. 30, 1862, and succeeded in holding at bay the whole rebel army, flushed with its great success of the
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day, till after it was too dark for farther fighting and the rebels gave it up for the night. During the night Gen. Reno, with his command, retired from his position and followed the retreating army of Pope to Centreville, where (Sunday, Aug. 31,) a halt was made till Monday, Sept. 1. In the afternoon it was discov- ered that the rebels in strong force had reached a position on the left of the Union line at Chantilly, and were preparing to attack, with a view to cut off the retreat and capture the baggage and artillery of the army. It was Reno again who was trusted with
IST LIEUT. FREDERICK A. BEMIS, Born in Spencer, Dec. 20, 1834. Died on the field of battle at Chantilly, Va., Sept. 1, 1862.
the duty of counteracting this movement of the enemy. With- out going into the details of the battle, the 21st was thrown upon the enemy, first in the woods during a thunder storm, just at night, and again, before it was quite dark, in a great cornfield. The fighting was most desperate on both sides, the famous Stone- wall Jackson being in command of the rebel troops. But again Gen. Reno succeeded in prolonging the fight till after dark, when the rebels again gave it up. During the night the whole of Pope's army, with all its baggage and artillery, made good its
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SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
retreat to the defenses of Washington, followed by Reno and the remnant of his command at daylight.
It was in the first encounter of the 21st with the enemy in the woods that Lieut. Bemis fell. The 21st, marching in line, had come unexpectedly upon a body of troops in the woods directly on its right flank, and not more than twenty feet distant. Lieut. Col. Rice, with Lieut. Bemis, was proceeding to go to them to ascertain what troops they were, supposing them to be another regiment of the second brigade, when they fired a volley, in which both these officers were killed.
The service done by the 21st at the second Bull Run and Chantilly was of more value to the country than all the rest it did during the war. With Graham's battery and the rest of the second brigade, it succeeded in preventing the capture of the baggage and artillery of Pope's army and in preventing the second Bull Run becoming a panic and rout like the first. It was a very costly and a very thankless service to the 21st. It cost the town of Spencer a young man of great promise as a soldier .- By Maj. Wmn. T. Harlow.
Matthew Webster, a survivor of the battle of Chantilly, now living in Spencer (1903), says: "At the time Lieut. Bemis lost his life we were in the woods, and heard firing in front, but we were afraid to fire as we thought the soldiers in front were a portion of the Northern army. Lieut. Fred was a little in advance, and was the first to discover the enemy. He gave the order, 'Fire, boys! It's the Rebs!' He was never heard to speak nor was he seen again by his own men after this."
22 BEMIS, HENRY. Co. E, 34th Mass. Vol. Inf. En- tered the service July 19, 1862 at Worcester, Mass. Discharged at Hampton hospital near Fortress Monroe, June 13, 1865 at the end of war. Was in Battles of New Market May 15, 1864, Berryville Sept. 3, 1864, Strasburg Oct. 13, 1864, Winchester Sept. 19, 1864, Fisher's Hill Sept. 22, 1864, and at Fort Gregg April 3, 1865. At the battle near Strasburg the regiment lost 102 men, killed, wounded and missing, of the 240 men engaged. Was wounded at New Market and Fort Gregg, made corporal Nov. 13, 1864. Now lives at Spencer.
23 BEMIS, OSCAR R. Son of Danforth Bemis. Shoe- maker was born in Spencer, Jan. 23, 1834, enlisted June 14, 1861, as a private in Co. K, 10th Mass. Vols. He was dis- charged for disability Sept. 30, 1861. After recovering he again enlisted at Baltimore in Co. E, 34th Mass. Vols, Aug. 26, 1862. Died in hospital July 31, 1863. His body was brought home and buried at Pine Grove cemetery. [See portrait page 50 this volunie.
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24 BENJAMIN, JOSEPH. Private Co. E, 34th Mass. Vols., farmer, forty-one, married. Enlisted Dec. 1, 1863, mus- tered in Dec. 1, 1863, transferred to Co. A, 24th Mass. Vols., June 14, 1865, mustered out Jan. 20, 1866. He lived near N. Spencer on the Paxton road. Died in 1887 and was buried at St. Mary's cemetery.
25 BENWAY, JOSEPH. Was born May 15, 1841, in Manchester, New Hampshire. Entered the service Dec. 26, 1863, as a private in Co. A, 4th regiment Mass. Cavalry and was discharged on account of expiration of service Nov. 14, 1865.
26 BERCUME, ANTHONY. Married, mechanic, age thirty-five, enlisted as private in Co. F, 42d Mass. Vols., Aug. 18. 1862, mustered in Sept. 30, 1862, mustered out Aug. 20, 1863. Died April 20, 1900 and was buried in St. Mary's cemetery.
27 BERCUME, SILAS. Single, bootmaker, aged twenty- four, enlisted as a private in Co. K, 10th Mass. Vols., mustered in June 21, 1861, discharged July 29, 1862.
28 BIGELOW, JAMES G. Private Co. E, 34th Mass. Vols., farmer, eighteen, single, Spencer. Enlisted Dec. 7, 1863, mus- tered in Dec. 7, 1863, transferred to Co. A, 24th Mass. Vols., June 14, 1865, corporal July 1, 1865, sergeant Jan. 1, 1866, mustered out Jan 20, 1866. After the civil war enlisted and served several years in the regular army. Finally settled at Delphos, Kansas, where he now resides.
29 BIGELOW, JOHN WINTHROP. Was born the first day of Oct. 1832, in Boston, Mass. He entered the service at Springfield, Mass., June 21, 1861 as corporal in Co. H, 10th reg- iment, Mass. Vols. and was discharged at Boston, June 21, 1864, his term of service having expired. July 1, 1862, he was pro- moted to sergeant which rank he held when discharged. The first battle in which he engaged was Williamsburg, Va. Sub- sequently he participated in the battles of Fair Oaks, Glendale and Malvern Hill, Va. He was wounded in the shoulder at Fair Oaks, May 31, 1862. After the regiment reached Harrison's Landing he was detailed to Boston as recruiting officer and kept in that position during the remainder of his service. He re peatedly urged the war department to send him back to the . front but he was too valuable in his position to justify the de- partment in making such a change. Has lived in Spencer since the war. Served one term in the legislature. Engaged in the florist business. Has charge of the North United States Postal Route, Spencer.
30 BINGHAM, THOMAS A. Married, aged thirty-eight, mechanic. Enlisted Aug. 18, 1862, as corporal, Co .. F, 42d
9
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Mass. Vols., mustered in Sept. 30, 1862, mustered out Aug. 20, 1863.
31 BIRD, FRANK. Son of Amable and Mary (Semino) Bird, was born at St. Hugues, P. Q., Canada, July 12, 1846. He was by trade a tanner. While on a visit to the home of his brother, Joseplı Bird of South Spencer, he enlisted Feb. 18, 1864, in Co. C, 57th regiment, Mass. Vols., killed May 6, 1864, at the battle of the Wilderness and buried on the field in an unknown grave. [See portrait, page 81, this volume.
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