History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 19

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1534

USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 19

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With such a spirit animating them, others were en- rolled, and soon the number was complete. Uniting with men from Needham and Weston, they consti- tuted Company I, Thirty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry, Col. Edward A. Wild. The captain was Sidney Willard, of Weston, but its first lieutenant was John Lathrop, and the second lieutenant was William Hill,

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both of Dedham. Without any opportunities for drill or organization, the regiment left Boston Aug. 22, 1862, for the seat of war. On their arrival in Washington they were immediately assigned to the defenses of the city, throwing up earthworks and doing picket-duty. They were near their townsmen who were in the Eighteenth Regiment, who had pre- ceded them one year in the service, and they heard the guns around Centreville on the day of the dis- astrous battle of Bull Run.

Both companies were now in the Army of the Po- tomac, the first having the discipline of veterans but with thinned ranks, while the second, as yet imperfect in the duties of the soldier, was fresh and vigorous. The Eighteenth still remained with Porter's corps, and the Thirty-fifth was in the Ninth Corps, under Burn- side. The ariny was then in motion towards Mary- land, to meet Lee in his first invasion of what may be termed the neutral ground of the Rebellion. The necessities of those days were inexorable, and called for long and rapid marches. Burnside's corps started first, and on the 14th September-only three weeks after they had left their homes-our men of the Thirty-fifth met the enemy at South Mountain. The Thirty-fifth on that day dislodged rebel sharp- shooters from an extensive tract of forest, and received a sharp attack from the enemy. Here private George F. Whiting was mortally wounded, and died on the 7th of October. Sergt. Henry W. Tisdale and private Clinton Bagley were wounded, the former severely. With no knowledge of battalion movements, and having had but a brief period for drill, this new regiment encountered the disciplined brigades of the enemy, and stood the test firmly.

But South Mountain was a prelude only to the memorable battle of Antietam, three days after. Porter's corps, which left Washington on the 12th, now joined the main army, and on the 17th supported batteries in the battle. The Thirty-fifth was engaged in the movements of Burnside's corps, which had a highly important part in the battle. They charged the enemy, drove him over the bridge, and held the crest of the second hill beyond, until ordered to retire. They behaved with such steadiness and gallantry as to receive the highest encomiums of their commander. Thus within a month from their departure from home this regiment had been twice on hard-fought fields, and in the thickest of the battles. But they had told fearfully upon the regiment. Of those pres- ent, two-thirds of the officers and nearly one-third of the men had been disabled. At Antietam, Corp. Edward E. Hatton (a true man and a brave sol- dier), and privates Charles H. Sulkoski and Joseph

P. White, of South Dedham, were killed. Corp. Edmund Davis was very severely wounded, and six others were wounded more or less severely, of whom private Nathan C. Treadwell died about a month after. Besides these, there were two of the company killed and several wounded who belonged elsewhere. Such was the share of Company I in the glory and sacrifices of Antietam.

Company F of the Eighteenth surtained no loss at Antietam, but at Shepardstown, on the 20th, they were engaged with their regiment, which lost three killed and eleven wounded. The Maryland campaign ended with the retirement of Lee into Virginia, and whither also returned the Army of the Potomac, but with unequal steps.

Soon after the call under which Dedham had fur- nished sixty-nine men for the Thirty-fifth Regiment, there came yet another call from the President, with an order for a draft, to which Dedham was required to respond with one hundred and twenty-two men for nine months' service. In anticipation of the draft, the town offered a bounty of two hundred dol- lars, with aid to families, to volunteers. The short term of service was a great inducement to some who were unable to enlist for three years, and soon the requisite number was made up, almost exclusively from Dedham. These chiefly constituted Company D, Forty-third Regiment Massachusetts Infantry. Its captain was Thomas G. Whytal, of West Rox- bury, the first lieutenant, Edward A. Sumner, and the second lieutenant, James Schouler, both of Ded- ham. On the 24th of October, 1862, it was ordered to North Carolina, where it remained during nearly the whole term of its service. The regiment was under fire at Kinston and Whitehall in December. The Dedham company, with two others, was detached for picket-duty for a time, and afterwards marched with the regiment on Trenton ; was ordered to thie relief of Little Washington, and encountered the enemy at Blount's Creek. It was then occupied in picket-duty and those other nameless duties which constitute so large a part of a soldier's life in camp. On the 27th of June it was ordered to report to Gen. Dix, and proceeded to White House, on the Pamun- key, in Virginia, thence to Fortress Monroe, and thence to Baltimore. On the 7th of July, the term of service having expired, it was left to the option of the men to go to the front (this being immediately after the battle of Gettysburg), or to return home, and two hundred of the regiment remained, among whom were thirteen of the Dedham company. These returned home July 21st, and all were mustered out July 30, 1863.

HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Such briefly is the record of the company of nine , pride the deeds performed on that bloody and unsuc- months' men. But one of its number had died, and cessful day at Fredericksburg. his was an accidental death at Readville. It will not do, however, to infer from this that their service was light or unimportant. They were in a department where no considerable active operations were carried on during their term of service. But whenever called upon, as they often were, for special duty, their record shows it was well performed ; and there is no doubt but they would have acquitted themselves with honor in any exigency of the service.

Nothing decisive had occurred with the Army of the Potomac after the battle of Antietam until the 13th of December, 1862, when occurred that saddest of all the battles of the war, the assault upon Fred- ericksburg. The army was now under Burnside, and his name is inseparably associated with that ill- starred movement. In this assault, both of the com- panies bore a very prominent part. The Eighteenth was the leading regiment of its corps, and on the 13th, having remained until one o'clock on the oppo- site side of the river, then crossed and engaged in the battle, which lasted until dark. The regiment charged the enemy and nearly penetrated his forti- fied position and stronghold on Mary's Heights, when it was compelled to return. It rallied again, however, and was in advance of the corps throughout the battle. The record adds: "It is believed that the dead of this regiment lay nearer the enemy's works than those of any other engaged upon that part of the field." Two Dedham men in this regiment were killed, privates Jonathan H. Keyes and Daniel Leahey, and several were wounded. The regiment lost in this engagement two officers and eleven men killed, and nine officers and one hundred and twelve men wounded.

The position of the Thirty-fifth was scarcely less | again moved into Maryland and Pennsylvania to repel exposed, being in the advance of its corps, and they received a deadly fire at short range. They held their ground until, their ammunition being exhausted, their brigade was relieved. It was the last regiment but one to leave Fredericksburg. The gallant Maj. Willard, who commanded the regiment in the assault, was mortally wounded while leading his men sword in hand. He was the first captain of Company I, although not a resident of Dedham. Lieut. William Hill, of Company I, but who on that day was in command of Company K, and private George C. Bunker were killed on the heights and buried on the field. Four Dedham soldiers of this company were wounded more or less severely. The whole loss of the regiment was about sixty. The survivors of both The Thirty-fifth, in October, marched across the mountains through Cumberland Gap to Knoxville, companies may recall with satisfaction and soldierly

The army now ceased active operations until the spring of 1863, when Gen. Hooker assumed command, and it entered upon the Chancellorsville campaign. On the 2d and 3d of May the Eighteenth was engaged, and lost one officer and thirteen men killed, but none of these were from Dedham. In the Second Massa- chusetts Infantry, private Michael Henihan, a Ded- ham soldier, was killed, his being the only name in that heroic regiment of a Dedham man who was killed during the war.

The Thirty-fifth had now been detached from the Army of the Potomac and sent to another and dis- tant department. In March, 1863, it had proceeded with the reorganized Ninth Corps (Burnside's) to the Southwest, where its services were much needed. April and May it passed in Kentucky. Thence it was transported down the Mississippi to the vi- cinity of Vicksburg, where the men threw up earth- works and defenses. They were now with the Army of the Tennessee, under the command of Gen. Grant. Under Sherman, after the surrender of Vicksburg, they marched into the interior of Mississippi in pur- suit of the force of Gen. Johnston. After days of toilsome and painful marches, with frequent skir- mishing and a brief siege, they captured Jackson, the capital of the State. Here the Thirty-fifth had the honor of being the first regiment to plant its colors within the city, pulling down the rebel ensign from the State-House and of throwing to the breeze the stars and stripes. In this campaign, private David Phalen died in camp of disease. In August, the regiment almost exactly retraced its steps, and on the 1st of October was in Kentucky.

The Army of the Potomac, in the mean time, had Lee's second invasion. In the great victory of Get- tysburg the Eighteenth was engaged, and lost one man killed and thirteen wounded, but the name of no Dedham soldier appears among them. But Ded- ham was not without its representative in the sacrifices of that victorious field. On the 3d of July, Sergt. Edward Hutchins, of the First Company Andrews' Sharpshooters, received his death-wound, and lin- gered but two hours. He was a faithful and fearless soldier, and one well qualified for his peculiar service. The Eighteenth was in the battle at Rappahannock Station, Nov. 7th, and at Mine Creek on the 29th and 30th of the same month. These concluded its ' campaigns in 1863.

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Tenn. It was engaged at Loudon Bridge and Camp- the Eighteenth was engaged in skirmishing and in assaults upon intrenchments. No fatal casualties occurred among our Dedham men, but Col. Hayes was severely wounded, and several were killed and wounded in the regiment. bell's Station, and afterwards fell back to Knoxville, then besieged by the enemy under Gen. Longstreet. It was during this campaign, that private Charles Henry Ellis, the regimental clerk, was taken prisoner, was confined in Belle Isle prison, and, it is supposed, The Thirty-fifth, with the Ninth Corps, crossed 1 the Rapidan two days later, and passing over the battle-grounds at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, arrived in the Wilderness during the second day's died in Richmond the succeeding year. During this winter, the regiment suffered much for want of food and clothing. In March its Western campaign ended, and it was transported again to Annapolis, Md., where | battle. In the movement towards Spottsylvania the the Ninth Corps was again reorganized.

Fifth Corps were charged with the duty of seizing We are now brought to the last and greatest act of the drama,-Grant's overland campaign,-which on the one hand is characterized as " a campaign un- surpassed by any on record in the elements which make war grand, terrible, and bloody," but on the other, it should also be said, a campaign invested with a glory that will never fade, since it brought a victory and peace. At home the summer and autumn of 1864 were the darkest period of the war. Men had learned to feel the dread perils of battle to the cause of the country, as well as to the lives of our soldiers. All available able-bodied men had been sent to the field. The draft, like a heavy cloud, | brooded over the community. A Presidential cam- Spottsylvania Court-House. Both the Fifth and Ninth Corps were in line of battle on the north of Spottsylvania. Here occurred one of the most fierce and deadly struggles of the war. In the engagement of the 18th of May the Thirty-fifth participated. The result of the battles leaving the Union lines intact, another turning movement was determined upon. On the 20th of May the hostile armies again confronted each other at the North Anna River. The Eight- eenth, crossing at Jericho Ford, was then detached from its brigade to occupy an eminence where it was exposed to a heavy fire from Hill's corps, during which assault Lieut .- Col. White was wounded. The Thirty-fifth crossed on the 24th, when it began a paign had intervened to divide men in their counsels, | brilliant skirmish, followed by the whole brigade. The enemy were driven into their works, but a sud- den storm and a fresh force of the enemy compelled the regiment to retire.

if it did not destroy their harmony of action. The country seemed to rest under a shadow which nothing could dispel. It was, however, the darkness which precedes the dawn, though the day was as yet afar off.

Again the two Dedham companies were in Vir- ginia ; the Eighteenth Regiment being in Ayre's brigade, Fifth Corps (Warren's), numbering about three hundred men. The Thirty-fifth remained in the Ninth Corps, with about two hundred and fifty men ready for duty. The corps was still under Burnside, whose command was independent of Gen. Meade, then commanding the Army of the Potomac. All acted under the orders of Gen. Grant.

On the 3d of May, 1864, at midnight, the march began, the Fifth Corps having the right of the column. On the 5th of May, while reconnoitring for the enemy, the Eighteenth was the first regiment to encounter Ewell's corps, then moving in pursuit. The first infantry man killed in the campaign be- longed to the Eighteenth, and it received the brunt of the first assault of the enemy in the battles of the Wilderness. During all those marvelous battles lasting three days, where neither cavalry nor artillery could be used, where " not only were the lines of battle entirely hidden from the sight of the com- mander, but no officer could see ten files from him," a representative in the list of the killed.

On the 23d of May, at the battle on the North Anna River, Sergt. John Finn, Jr., Twenty-second Massachusetts Infantry,-a Dedham soldier who had well earned promotion,-received a wound on his arm which rendered amputation necessary, and he died from its effects on the 5th of June.

Another flank movement of the Union army turned it towards the Chickahominy, "a wet diteh on the outer fortifications of Richmond," and a place of sad memories for soldiers of the campaign of 1862. But before the passage of the Chickahominy, another fearful battle awaited them at Cold Harbor. War- ren's corps, a few days previous, had encountered the enemy on the Shady Church road, where a branch of the Tolopotomy crossed it, and had fre- quent skirmishes with the enemy. While near Bethesda Church, and holding a line nearly four miles in extent, the enemy fell upon it with great vigor and inflicted a considerable loss. In the assault at Cold Harbor, the Fifth Corps did not actively par- ticipate. The Ninth Corps was partially engaged, and the Thirty-fifth was employed in throwing up earthworks. But in that bloody battle Dedham had

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Twentieth Massachusetts Infantry was with the Sec- ond Corps (Hancock's) holding the left of the assault- ing column. On the 3d of June, private Albert C. Bean, of Company I, was wounded, and died five days after. On the 7th of June, the Eighteenth reached the Chickahominy, and, after some days' skirmishing, crossed on the 13th of June. They passed the James on the 16th of June, and marched directly to the fortifications in front of Petersburg. Here they were engaged in throwing up earthworks in the presence of the enemy. On the 5th of July, private Cyrus D. Tewksbury, who had served from the be- ginning, was killed,-the last man of the Eighteenth to fall in battle. It is a somewhat curious fact, and perhaps worthy of mention, that the first of the Ded- ham men who fell in battle in 1862 and the last just named, were cousins, both belonging to the same company and regiment, and died on fields not many miles distant from each other.

The Eighteenth had now reached nearly the end of its term of service of three years, and on the 20th of July it was ordered to Washington in anticipation of discharge. Twelve of our Dedham men had re- enlisted, and these, together with those whose term was not ended, remained with the Eighteenth Bat- talion and did good service. When the officers were mustered out, this battalion was merged in the Thirty-second Regiment. Among these men was private Henry C. Everett, who died in Washington Jan. 19, 1865.

On the 3d of September, 1864, the old Eighteenth was mustered out of service, and its honorable record closed. It had participated in some fifteen battles. Of the fifty-eight who enlisted from Dedham, eleven had fallen on the field, six had died from disease and wounds received in battle, eight had been discharged by reason of wounds, and thirteen by reason of dis- ability resulting from wounds. Of the whole com- pany, twenty-three men had either died or fallen in battle.

The regiment bore an honorable part in nearly all the great general battles of the Army of the Potomac, except those of the Peninsula before Richmond, and its tattered battle-flag bears no stain, save from the blood of its defenders. While often called to share in the defeat of the Army of the Potomac, yet in the darkest hours of the war it kept its high discipline, unswerving fidelity, and patriotic faith; and although it did not see the days of final victory, it aided in | service on the 27th.

were welcomed with fitting ceremonies, in which all joined with grateful hearts, though sensible that the formalities of a public occasion but inadequately ex- pressed their debt of gratitude.

The men of the Thirty-fifth were now destined to bear a part in the siege of Petersburg and the closing campaign. At first they were employed " in throw- ing up earthworks and batteries, laying down abattis," and in the construction of works necessary for a be- sieging army. At the memorable explosion of the " Mine," July 30th, it was their duty to advance, after the explosion, and turn the works of the enemy, which they accomplished. Private Michael Colbert was killed in the advance of the regiment over the works, and the regiment lost one officer and nine men killed, and three officers and twenty-eight men wounded. The dead were buried under a flag of truce. Being now in the immediate presence of the enemy, they were frequently engaged, and suffered considerable losses, especially while in position on the Weldon Railroad. At Poplar Spring Church, Septem- ber 30th, the regiment was repulsed by an attack on the right and rear, with a loss of nine killed and one hundred and fifty prisoners. In the same action John W. Fiske, formerly a sergeant in Company I, but re- cently promoted to be first lieutenant in the Fifty- eighth Massachusetts Infantry, which was also en- gaged, was killed, and buried on the field. He was an efficient officer, and much beloved.

Nothing decisive occurred to the regiment during the winter of 1864-65. In March, 1865, it was re- moved to a part of Fort Sedgwick, about four hun- dred yards from the enemy's works,-a post of great danger, being subject to an almost continuous fire, -- where it remained one month. On the 2d of April it assaulted Fort Mahone, the rebel work opposite, and held a portion of it. During the same night, Petersburg was evacuated by the enemy, and on the next morning the men had the proud satisfaction of marching through the streets of Petersburg with colors flying, band playing, and of receiving, with shouts of victory and welcome, the President of the United States as he rode along their lines. On the 9th of April occurred the surrender of Lee at Appomat- tox Court-House, and at last peace had come, crowned with honor and victory. The regiment passed in review at Washington, May 23d, reached Massachu- setts on the 13th of June, and was mustered out of

The Thirty-fifth saw nearly three years of active of its arrival in the field. On its colors are in-

accomplishing those unparalleled movements, and fighting those continuous battles, which made com- | and arduous service, beginning almost with the day plete victory possible at the last. Upon the return home of the few brave men left of the company, they scribed, by an order of Gen. Meade, the names of

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thirteen battles, to which was afterwards added a fourteenth. The record shows that its campaigns were not limited to a State or a department, but that in Kentucky, East Tennessee, and Mississippi, as well as in Maryland and Virginia, it was actively em- ployed. In many of its battles its position was among the most exposed to the enemy, and sometimes in the most deadly conflicts. Indeed, it became a proverb among the soldiers that the commanding officer of the Thirty-fifth was sure to be struck down in every engagement. Of the sixty-eight who en- listed from Dedham, six were killed in battle, and one more died soon after of his wounds, five died in the service from disease, eight were discharged on account of their wounds, and eleven for disability.

Besides those who served in the army during the war of the Rebellion, there were a number who had various positions in the navy. Prominent among these was Commodore Gershom J. Van Brunt, for many years a resident of Dedham. He was a native of New Jersey, and entered the service from that State in 1818. In the spring of 1861, he was as- | signed to the command of the steam frigate " Minne- sota," was employed in the severe and trying blockade service at Hampton Roads, and also took an important part in the reduction of the Hatteras forts. He At the expiration of their service it was desired to give the men a public welcome, but with a soldierly modesty they declined the invitation, saying they preferred to pass without ceremony from the life of the soldier to that of the citizen. They went when days were dark, and men were few ; they returned when the anthems of victory were resounding through the land, and they would have received shouts of wel- was subsequently intrusted with the supervision and equipment of the expedition to New Orleans under Gen. Banks, and at the time of his death was acting, under the orders of the War Department, as inspector of transports for the New England district. He received his commission as commodore in July, 1862. He died at his residence in Dedham, Dec. 17, 1863. Those who saw him in the early come and of gratitude. Yet in their triumphs, as in | days of the Rebellion, or who knew of his service their trials, they were true to themselves, and chose the conscious rewards of duty done, rather than the' loud plaudits of their fellow-citizens. !

afterwards, will not soon forget his fervent zeal, lofty patriotism, and unswerving faith in the ultimate triumph of the flag of his country.

The roll of the dead is not yet complete. In other The town was liberal in its appropriations of money regiments than those to which reference has been | for bounties and aid to soldiers' families during the made-both of Massachusetts and of other States- i war. The raising of each quota of men required large sums of money and for a considerable period the constant efforts of the selectmen, who were officially charged with the business of obtaining vol- unteers. A statement of moneys expended during the war, made in 1868, is probably nearly accurate. It is taken from the appendix to the pamphlet con- taining the exercises at the dedication of Memorial Hall, Sept. 29, 1868 : are to be found the names of men born and reared in Dedham. The Twenty-fourth, Twenty-eighth, Thirty- ninth, and Fifty-sixth Massachusetts Infantry each had one man from Dedham among those killed in battle. From two regiments of Massachusetts cav- alry three names appear. Three died as prisoners of war, without a friend to minister to their last neces- sities, or even to raise for them a humble headstone. In that hecatomb at Fort Wagner-where the negro so nobly vindicated his right to the name and fame of Amount Expended by the Town of Dedham for Soldiers' Boun- ties and Aid of Soldiers' Families during the War of the Rebellion. the soldier-Dedham had one representative. Vir- ginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia hold the ashes of Whole number of men raised and mustered into the military and naval service, six hundred and seventy-two. Dedham men, and at the battle of Cane River, in Louisiana, while leading his men to the charge, Capt. | Company F, Eighteenth Regiment Massachusetts Julius M. Lathrop fell, closing a long and honorable Infantry-59 men. service, in which rank was nobly earned, with a tri- For outfit, uniforms, etc., under vote of May 6, 1861 $1591.66 umphant and peaceful death.

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History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 19

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1534