USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > History of Newton, Massachusetts : town and city, from its earliest settlement to the present time, 1630-1880 > Part 59
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George Kimball.
Roger S. Kingsbury, Mass. 32nd, Co. K, died of wounds received at Get- tysburg, after expiration of service, October, 1870.
Jefferson Lakin, Mass. 2nd, Co. D, killed at Winchester, Va., May 25, 1862. He is believed to have been the first Newton soldier killed in the war.
Henry T. Lawson, 2nd Mass. Heavy Artillery, major, died of yellow fever October 1, 1864, in North Carolina.
Charles A. Leavitt, Mass. 32nd, Co. K, died at Sharpsburg, Va., October 21, 1862.
Elliot Littlefield, 1st Mass. Cavalry, Co. G, died at Belle Isle, Va.
Edward Lyman, Mass. 16th, corporal Co. K, died of wounds at Falmouth, Va., June 7, 1863.
Michael Martin, Mass. 16th, Co. G, killed at Bull Run, Va., August 29, 1862.
John Meirs, jr., 1st Mass Cavalry, Co. H, died August 20, 1864.
Daniel H. Miller, U. S. Engineers, died
William B. Neff, Mass. 32nd, Co. K, killed in a charge, Laurel Hill, Va. (battle of the Wilderness), May 12, 1864. His body was never recovered.
George H. Nichols, Mass. 32nd, Co. C, taken prisoner at Gettysburg, died at Belle Isle.
Stephen L. Nichols, Mass. 32d, Co. K, killed in a charge, Laurel Hill, Va. (battle of the Wilderness), May 12, 1864. His body was never recovered, but there is a tablet to his memory in the new Cemetery.
Thomas C. Norcross, Mass. 16th, sergeant Co. K, died at Washington, D. C., June, 1863.
William E. Parker, First Mass. Cavalry, Co. C, died after expiration of service.
Henry J. Poole, Mass. 22nd, Co. D, killed at Fredericksburg, Va., Decem- ber, 1862.
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Albert F. Potter, Mass. 44th, sergeant Co. B, died at Newbern, N. C., January 29, 1863. Buried at Brookfield.
Joseph R. Pratt, Mass. 32nd, Co. K., died at Shepardstown, Va., October 12, 1862.
John McQuade, Mass. 24th, Co. E, died after expiration of service.
George P. Ramsdell, Mass. 32nd, corporal Co. K, died April 23, 1875.
William J. Rand, Mass. 45th, Co. K, mortally wounded at Kinston, N. C., December 17, 1862. Buried in Cambridge Cemetery.
William H. Rice, Mass. 32nd, Co. K, died at Washington, D. C., January 14, 1863.
George H. Rich, Mass. 45th, Co. K, died after expiration of service.
John B. Rogers, Mass. 57th, Co. K, died of wounds, Petersburg, Va., July 26, 1864.
John P. Rogers, Mass. 16th, Co. I, died September 11, 1862.
Matthew T. H. Roffe, Ist Mass. Cavalry, Co. A, died after expiration of service.
Daniel Sanger, Mass. 32nd, Co. K, killed at Petersburg, Va., June 19, 1864.
Edward H. Tombs, Mass. 32nd, Co. K, died after expiration of service.
Lucius F. Trowbridge, Mass. 32nd, Co. K, died at Falmouth, Va., Decem- ber 29, 1862.
William H. Trowbridge, Mass. 1st, Co. A, dropped dead July, 1862,, at Malvern Hill, Va.
Michael Vaughn, Mass. 18th, Co. F, died
Harvey L. Vinton, 1st Mass. Cavalry, Co. G, died in the prison at Belle Isle, Va., and was buried near the prison.
Charles Ward, Mass. 32nd, Co. K, died of wounds received at Gettysburg, July 9, 1863.
Grafton H. Ward, Mass. 32nd, Co. K, killed at Bethesda Church, June 3, 1864.
Eben White, U. S. colored troops, killed in Maryland, while enlisting freed- men in the Union army.
Alfred Washburn, U. S. Navy, acting Master, U. S. ship "Chocorua," died of wounds at New Orleans, May 14, 1865.
Samuel F. Woodward, Mass. 32nd, Co. K, killed at Shady Grove Church, Va., May 31, 1864.
The Massachusetts Second regiment, in which there were sol- diers from Newton, being included in the above list, we copy the following testimonials to this regiment. The statements are con- tained in a report, in the Newton Journal, of a lecture by a citizen of Newton, General Underwood, before the Newton Lyceum,
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entitled "Citizen Soldiering during the late War; its Trials and Compensations."
Perhaps no man could be found better able, from long experience of all the vicissitudes of the life of a soldier, suddenly called from peaceful home avocations to the stormy scenes of the battle-field, in defence of flag and country, to furnish for the information and enjoyment of his townsmen an interesting lecture upon this important subject, than tlie gentleman above named [General A. B. Underwood].
We cannot at this time give a better idea of the material of General Under- wood's grand old regiment, the Massachusetts Second, with others equally brave and heroic, the pride of the Old Bay State, than by the reproduction of the following article, which appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal, of June 15, 1865 :
"The Second Massachusetts and the Third Wisconsin Infantry have fought in the same brigade, side by side, throughout the war. Among the earliest regiments in the field, they first saw active service under Banks, in the Shenandoah Valley. When Stonewall Jackson, with his usual force of 'forty thousand men,' fell upon Banks, these two regiments covered the rear, and bore the brunt of the fighting. They stood together at Cedar Mountain, under the withering cross-fire of the enemy, when the noble Crane laid down his life for his country. They fought at Antietam, and Gettysburg, and Chancellorsville. Subsequently transferred to the West, they formed a part of that invincible column, which under Sherman hewed its way through the central mountain fastnesses of the South, and poured down, an irresistible torrent, through Georgia and the Carolinas. Both regiments were among those that re-enlisted for the war.
"We remember a conversation had, about a year ago, with an officer of the Third, respecting the comparative merits of Eastern and Western troops. He had served in the Army of the Potomac and at the West, and had there- fore large opportunities for seeing and judging upon the subject. The best troops in the service, the steadiest, bravest, and most trustworthy, he said, were those from New England and the Northwest. . . . He spoke particu- larly of the Second Massachusetts, as a specimen of New England troops ; and said that, when the Third Wisconsin was first brigaded with them, the Wisconsin men conceived a strong antipathy against them. The Massachu- setts men were fitted up in the height of military style. They had the finest tents and wagons in the service, their uniforms were of the best mate- rial, they wore white gloves on parade; and the Wisconsin men looked upon them as a set of dandies and counter-jumpers, who would take to their lieels at the first approach of actual danger. By and by the hour of trial came. Stonewall Jackson launched his thunderbolt upon Banks' little army. And lo! while most of the troops were hastening out of harm's way, there were the brawny boys of the old Third, and those ' white-gloved fellows' of the Second Massachusetts, side by side, hanging stubbornly at the rear, their hearts swollen with rage, covering the retreat, contesting every inch of ground, and chastening the exultant foe with terrible punishment from their
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well-aimed muskets. 'After that,' said the officer, 'there was no further dis- trust or contempt on either side between the Third Wisconsin and the Sec- ond Massachusetts, but mutual good-will, affection and pride in each other, which were only increased as they became better acquainted, under yet severer trials.' "
The following notes by General Underwood on the battle of Gettysburg, in which some of Newton's bravest and best young men were slain, and others received wounds which ultimately ter- minated in their death, are of deep interest. The General writes,-
The two armies came in collision, unexpectedly, at Gettysburg, instead of at White Creek, where General Mead, the Federal commander, proposed to give battle. Terrible was the shock, as these two great armies came together upon the first day of the contest, the rebel General holding his men well in hand, while the Federal army was scattered over a large extent of country. On the first day, the Federal force, greatly outnumbered, exhibited a wonder- ful power of endurance, with difficulty, and at the expense of many valuable lives, retaining Cemetery Hill as the base for the second day's contest. The death of General Reynolds occurred on the first day, causing a thrill of sorrow to pass through the army. At nightfall of the first day, the largest corps of the Union army was thirty-five miles away, too distant to be of ser- vice unless the battle could be prolonged until late in the second day. Words would fail us to describe the events of the second day; the fearful charges made by the rebels, and often with largely superior numbers; the stubborn valor with which they were met; the varying fortunes of the day ; at times the rebels obtaining advantages, which the resolute pluck of the Federal soldiers alone prevented from culminating in a decided victory; the fearful cannonade by General Lee along his six-mile line, which it almost seemed would destroy not only men, horses and trees, but the very moun- tains themselves ; the grand rebel charge that followed, and how unflinch- ingly it was met, column firing into column, men falling by hundreds and thousands ; the grey-backs promptly drawing up, as the close range artillery depleted their lines ; their advance at first wavering, and then, by the mere force of numbers, pressing forward and forcing the Union soldiers reluc- tantly to give way. Finally, at this most opportune moment, arrived the long expected corps, after a forced march occupying the greater portion of a night and day. This force, thrown upon the enemy, decided thie fortunes of the hour. General Lee, though sanguine of success in the early part of the day, perceived that his last great effort to break and disperse the Union host had proved an utter failure, and, leaving his dead and dying on the field, ere daylight of the following morning he was found to be in full retreat to Virginia.
The following incident is related in regard to the Massachusetts Second. During the contest, Colonel Mudge* received an order to charge with his regiment upon a largely superior rebel array, passing across a field where the
* Col. Charles R. Mudge was killed at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863.
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Massachusetts boys would be exposed to the full force of the enemy's fire. Though apparently an act of madness, Colonel Mudge bowed to the order of his superiors, and gave the word, "Forward." Steadily, in the face of death, the men moved on, never quailing, though their comrades fell fast around them. They reached the rebel defences and planted their colors ; but, overwhelmed by superior numbers, were forced back, retreating slowly, and passing their dead and dying strewed along the meadow crossed in the advance. That glorious, but fatal, charge put nearly all Boston in mourning. " Some one had blundered."
The following notes of the movements of the Massachusetts Thirty-second, commencing with the battle of Gettysburg, and continuing the narrative of events till the close of the war, are from Headley's "History of Massachusetts in the Rebellion."
June 26, 1863, the Thirty-second moved through Leesburg, crossed the Potomac at Edward's Ferry, and bivouacked near Poolesville, in Maryland. The marches northward were resumed the next day. The regiment reached Hanover in Pennsylvania, July 1, and the next day advanced towards Get- tysburg, and formed a line of battle within two miles of that town. At two o'clock, P. M., it moved forward, and took a position on an eminence, just in the rear of the line of the Third Corps. In the engagements of this and the succeeding day, the Thirty-second took an active part, losing heavily in men, - eighty-one in killed, wounded and missing, out of a total of two hundred and twenty-nine who went into battle.
Leaving the battle-field on the evening of July 5, the regiment pursued the retreating columns of the enemy towards the Potomac, which it crossed on the 19th ; continued its marchi to Manassas Gap, and took part in support- ing the troops engaged there in the fight of the 23d of July. It advanced as far as Culpepper, September 15, and remained there until October 10.
May 1, 1864, the Thirty-second crossed the Rappahannock for the fif- teentli time, and the Rapidan, May 4, for the fifth time; continuing the march through a part of the Wilderness, till dark. It bivouacked near the Wilderness Tavern ; and the next day, May 5, was put in line of battle, and became engaged with the enemy, and for seventeen successive days and nights was under arms without an hour's respite, and in the front line always. In the hardships, victories and losses of this unparalleled campaign, it shared with all the regiments in the Army of the Potomac.
On the 16th of June, the James River was crossed in transports, and the regiment marched to within three miles of Petersburg. On the 18th, it went to the front, was formed in line of battle, charged the enemy, and drove them over an open field into their last line of intrenchments. A second charge was made later in the day, with but partial success; the enemy were not driven from their works; but the crest of the hill was gained, which afterwards formed the line of the part of the Ninth Corps, when the famous mine was made.
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In the first charge of that day, Colonel George L. Prescott fell, mortally wounded. He was one of the best and bravest of officers. " In his veins flowed the pure blood of the Revolution." July 21 and September 1, the regiment was engaged with the enemy on the Weldon Railroad. In both engagements it was attacked, and in both, repulsed its assailants with heavy loss.
September 30, the regiment made an advance to Poplar-Grove Church, two miles distant, where the enemy had forts, and lines of earthworks. The regiment was drawn up in front of Fort M'Rae, charged aeross an open field, a thousand yards, under a heavy fire, and took the fort with one piece of artillery and sixty prisoners. Soon after, the second line of works, to which the enemy had fallen baek, was charged and taken.
At dusk, the same day, when the Ninth Corps, which had advanced in front, was coming baek in confusion, General Griffin threw his division upon the pursuing enemy, and checked and drove them baek; thus saving the whole of the Ninth Corps and the fortunes of the day. This fighting is ealled the battle of Peeble's Farm. Colonel Edmands was wounded in the beginning of this engagement.
Early in February, 1865, orders were received to march. On the 6th, it was in rifle-pits at Hateher's Run, upon the extreme left of the Fifth Corps. At two o'elock P. M., the division having taken the place of Crawford's, which had given way, General Warren leading the brigade, a hot engage- ment followed, ealled the battle of Dabney's Mills, or Second Hateher's Run.
Re-forming the lines as before the fight, the troops remained thus until the 11th, annoyed a great deal by the enemy's artillery. The regiment then moved to the Vaughan Road to protect the left flank of the extended army. Here it performed picket and other duty, until the last of Mareh.
The 25th, it started for Fort Stedman, where the Ninth Corps was attacked, but turned back to support the Second Corps in its assault on the enemy's right. At midnight it went to camp, where it remained until the commencement of the final campaign. March 29, the mareh was made to the vicinity of Dinwiddie Court House; thenee towards Boydtown Plank- road, near which the enemy was posted in strong force. Lines of battle were formed and a charge made, driving baek the rebel ranks, with severe loss to them, following by the pursuit of them until dark.
This was called the battle of Gravelly Run. The next day, the regiment relieved the skirmish line in front of the brigade, and about noon was ordered to advance, and feel the enemy. He was found to be strongly intrenehed behind hastily built works, on which an impetuous and successful eharge was made, only to be reversed two hours later, when the ammunition of our troops was exhausted.
The Confederate foree then advaneed on the main line, and were repulsed; and the Thirty-seeond was thrown out on the skirmish line, and occupied the just now contested works. Near dark, it again felt the enemy, and moved towards his second line of works, over an open field, under a cross-fire, but could not take them.
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It was next on the left of the Fifth Corps; and six companies, under Cap- tain Lauriat, were deployed as skirmishers, while the rest remained with the corps until three o'clock in the morning, and then marched to the assistance of Sheridan, hotly engaging the enemy. It moved, April 1, towards the Five Forks, and again was ordered to the front of the brigade. skirmishers, and helped in the conflicts and victories of that memorable day, whose setting sun shone on thousands of small-arms thickly strewn by the fleeing rebels over the field that sealed the fate of Petersburg and Richmond, and ruined Lee's army of Northern Virginia.
Then South-side Railroad, Sutherland Station, Jettersville, Appomattox Court House, High Bridge, and Ramplin's Station, were soon passed, in the wake of Lee's flying army.
April 9th was a fighting day, and one of peculiar and intense excitement, over the report of General Lee's negotiations for a surrender, which was at length confirmed.
Stacking of arms, and the funeral-like processions of defeated rebels, were the next exciting scenes. The Thirty-second guarded the surrendered arms until the homeward march commenced, the 1st of May; pitching tents, on the 12th, upon the heights opposite Washington.
The 29th, the cars were taken for Boston, followed by refreshing wel- comes at Philadelphia and Providence; and, July 4th, the men were within sight of their homes, for the first time in three " terrible years."
A well-deserved tribute to General Underwood, of Newton, recorded in Headley's "History of Massachusetts in the Rebellion," is worthy of a place in this connection. In a sketch of the cam- paigns of the Massachusetts Thirty-third, it is stated that this reg- iment, after fighting bravely in many of the battles of Virginia. was sent to the assistance of " fighting Joe Hooker," hardly pressed by the enemy in the vicinity of Chattanooga. It was necessary to dislodge the rebels from the heights of Lookout Mountain, and the part which the Thirty-third took in that encounter is thus described in the account of the author :
Colonel Underwood started up the hill with but seven companies, three having been sent on a secret expedition the evening before. The hill was very steep, covered with woods and underbrush, and almost inaccessible. The night was dark; but this little band of Massachusetts men, almost alone, carried the rebel intrenchments, after two assaults, with fixed bayonets, fighting, some of the time, hand-to-hand, and, before the supports were called into the fight, drove a brigade of Longstreet's men, their old foes in the East, from the hill. It met with a fearful loss. Wrote the correspondent of the Cincinnati Times,-
" The brave Colonel Underwood, of the Thirty-third Massachusetts regi- ment, was also wounded. This officer had passed through some of the hard- est fights on the Potomac, to meet this hard fate on the banks of the Tennes- see in a midnight fight.
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" The conduct of the regiment was of the most praiseworthy character, and they wavered not, though the guns of the enemy were making terrible havoc in their ranks. In fact, all the regiments engaged seemed determined to. prove that not Western troops alone will fight in the West, but they who had met Longstreet's men in Virginia could cope with them in Tennessee. Gen- eral Hooker, in his official report of the battle says, 'This skeleton but brave brigade (Colonel Smith's) charged up the mountain, almost inacces- sible by daylight, under a heavy fire, without returning it, and drove three times their number from behind the hastily thrown up intrenchments, cap- turing prisoners, and scattering the enemy in all directions. No troops ever rendered more brilliant service. Colonel Underwood, of the Thirty- third Massachusetts Volunteers, was also desperately wounded. If only in recognition for his meritorious services on this field, his many martial vir- tues, and great personal worth, it would be a great satisfaction to me to have this officer advanced to the grade of brigadier-general.'"
We must not omit, in this place, to say that while Newton justly claims its due share of praise, for the bravery of her soldiers in this terrible conflict, it is true here, as everywhere else, that woman deserves also to be mentioned with honor. Mrs. Rebecca R. Pom- roy, the superintendent of the " Home for Destitute and Orphan Girls " in Newton from its inception, held a place among the women who shared the perils and hardships of the war, second to no other among the women of America. Having, Providentially, lost her own son at the beginning of the war, she felt it her duty to engage at once in the laborious and self-denying work of caring for the sick and wounded in the army,- the beloved of other mothers, who could not accompany their sons to the camp and the battle-field. With undaunted energy and courage and a heart of the finest mould, with unsurpassed zeal for her country and faith in God, she went forth voluntarily to this work of love. She cheerfully accepted her share in the trials of the hour. With a mother's care, she watched over the wounded, the sick, and the: dying. With unwearied patience, she sympathized with the sor- rows she could not alleviate, softened the pangs of the sufferers, spoke of heaven to the dying, and told them of the heavenly Father and his readiness to pardon the penitent, received the last. messages of affection and transmitted them to the loved ones far away. Above all, she was admitted, in Washington, to the special friendship and confidence of the revered and honored chief Magis- trate of the nation, the beloved and trusted Abraham Lincoln ; she watched over him in sickness and bathed his fevered brow, spoke words of encouragement to him in hours of darkness and
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trial, reminded him of the God who rules the tempest, and strengthened him, perhaps more than any other human being, through grace, to work out the tremendous problem which, during his incumbency, found its true issue.
We cannot contemplate but with profound admiration the names of some of the soldiers of Newton, accompanied, in the Record published by the town, with the information -" Re-enlisted." The names so designated are forty-five in number. And this designa- tion implies a patriotic and self-denying spirit, worthy of all praise .. These men were not moved to enlistment by the romance of war. They had suffered the hardships of the camp, and tried the perils of the battle-field. They knew to what they were exposing them- selves. They had hearts that had felt, and eyes that had wept, and many of them turned away from homes they loved, to encoun- ter again the sober experiences of the conflict. But they were moved by a spirit that could not be conquered. Their love of free- dom was too real to be crushed out by difficulties and hardships. And so, honorably discharged from a briefer service, or cured of sickness or of wounds, the fruit of former exposure, like true pa- triots they rushed into the deadly fray again. How touching is the brief record attached to some of these names,- " Re-enlisted -killed." They made a second offering of their lives to their country. The sacrifice, cheerfully made, was accepted, and their names were delivered over to the immortal honor, which pertains to those who die for their country.
No statistical tables can give an adequate idea of the Herculean efforts incident to the demands of this period of active conflict. Patriotism and its work can no more be reduced to the estimate of figures, than moral truths can be submitted to mathematical dem- onstration. Every house and home felt the tension. The pro- foundest sufferings were endured in silence and in tears. Many a fireside was visited by bitter bereavement ; but the widow and the orphan, with a noble patriotism, forbore to repine. Citizens of various ranks, without asking to be paid for their services, per- formed tedious journeys, incurred heavy expenses, ministered to the sick and wounded soldiers, or looked after the wants of their families at home, with a watchfulness that never slept, with a zeal that never tired. The amount paid by the town and by indi- viduals for military purposes, from the beginning of the war to February, 1865,- near the close, - was $138,457.02. Of this
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sum, $46,918.92 was afterwards refunded to the town by acts of the Legislature. Perhaps, taking all things into the account, as much more was contributed in a thousand various ways, of which no account was ever kept, and no record could be made. None will ever know how many families abridged their luxuries and even their comforts at home, that they might supply the needs and cheer the spirits of the loved ones in the camp.
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