History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 164

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 164

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The great Civil War was the third period in the military history of Worcester, as of New England. The first period, covering nearly a century, was a war for existence, against the savage tribes at first, and later against the French of Canada, and their Indian allies. Then, after a short interval of peace, began the war for political independence-a strenuous and

exhausting struggle of seven years, against the military power of Great Britain, demanding intense exertion and grievous sacrifices, which were given with a cheerful resolution and intrepid constancy that win our admiration. Then followed eighty years of peace, for in the War of 1812, with Great Britain, and that with Mexico, in 1846, Worcester, as a town had no part, and very few of her citizens were in the mili- tary service.

The third military period was shorter, but the con- fliet was not less terrible, and the demands of the country for men and supplies, peremptory and exact- ing as they were, were all honorably and cheerfully met. It is interesting to note how the methods and couduct of the rural village of Worcester, in 1775, were repeated by the busy city eighty-six years later, with such variations as the enlarged resources of the community, and the changed conditions, brought about by the wonderful progress of nearly a century in science and the mechanical arts, made possible and necessary. In each case, popular assemblies were stimulated to patriotic efforts by ardent orators. Iu each the people, in their municipal capacity, promptly took the initiative, without waiting for the slower movement of State and national governments. In each the town or the city raised money for the equip- ment and training of soldiers. In each the citizens, and especially the women, by voluntary organization and effort, provided for the relief of the families of soldiers in the field. In each the municipal govern- ment offered liberal bounties to encourage enlistments. In each resolutions were passed and pledges given by the town or city to fortify the courage of the soldiers in the field and the patriotic purpose of the general government. This close repetition by the men of Worcester, in 1861, of the acts of their forefathers, in 1775, was not the result of conscious imitation, but was due to the fact that the spirit of the people was the same and their native vigor of character had not diminished ; that they had kept their political insti- tutions and habits substantially unchanged, and there- fore met an emergency in the nineteenth century with the means suggested by the genius of the people and supplied by their municipal institutions and habits of association, as their fathers had met a like emergency nearly a century before. Like causes, acting under similar conditions, produced like effects, differing chiefly in magnitude, because the people were now more numerous and their resources larger.

On Sunday, the 14th of April, 1861, the news of the evacuation of Fort Sumter, after a bombardment of two days, was received in Worcester. The heart of the people was stirred as it had never been before within the memory of men then living. Wrathful and determined, they gathered in the streets, snatched eagerly and read with fierce indignation the shame- ful story, hastily printed in special editions of the newspapers, that the flag of their country had been displaced on one of the national forts by the ensign

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of rebellion. The next day came the President's proclamation convening Congress in extraordinary session, and calling for a force of seventy-five thou- sand men to take the field immediately. The Gov- ernor's order promptly tollowed, requiring the militia companies to hold themselves in readiness for active service. There were then two militia companies in the city,-the Light Infantry and the City Guards, both having been organized for many years and having officers of long experience in the militia ser- vice. The former was attached to the Sixth Regi- ment of the State militia; the latter, to the Third Battalion of Rifles. Besides these, was another vol- unteer company, - the Emmet Guards, -a purely voluntary organization, not a part of the State mil- itia, but efficiently officered and well drilled.

All these companies were promptly recruited to their full standard ; private business was arranged, and every man held himself in readiness for the word of command. In the mean time the citizens who had yet no call to arms cheered the young sol- diers by act and word. Young men and maidens, and many whose blood age could not cool, wore the national colors as a symbol and pledge of loyalty. From every flag-staff-and there were never before so many in Worcester-flew the flag of our Union, " not a stripe erased or polluted, not a single star obscured." The air was crisp with patriotism; men inhaled it with every breath. The whole community was aglow with devotion to the Union and defiance to its enemies. Doubtless the general belief was that the conflict would be short. The bombastic vaunts of the Southern politicians had become so familiar, and seemed so ridiculously inflated to Northern ears, that our people could not believe that every fantas- tic display of the garb of rebellion had a real man inside it, and that behind the melodramatic elo- quence of treason was a resolute and solid purpose. Northern people also knew their immense supe- riority in numbers, wealth and military resources, and therefore had no doubt that the Rebellion would be crushed by a few heavy blows or speedily stran- gled in the grasp of its mighty antagonist. These beliefs made the popular spirit more cheerful, if not more determined. The soldiers about to respond to the call of their country were encouraged by the sympathy and admiration of their companions. Banks and other employers assured their clerks that enlistment should not deprive them of employ- ment at home; but their places should be reserved for them on their return. A meeting of citizens passed without dissent a resolution, which was con- firmed by the City Council at its next meeting called for the purpose, that four thousand dollars, as the citizens' meeting passed it,-five thousand, as it was adopted by the Council, -should be appro- priated "in aid of the families of such of the troops of the city as have been or may hereafter be called into the service of the country, and to provide uni-

forms and supplies for such members of the company as may need them."

The call came first to the Light Infantry, who, in the evening of Tuesday, April 16th, received orders to report in Boston to the commander of the Sixth Regiment. At ten o'clock the next morning the company marched with full ranks to the Boston and Worcester Railroad station. The rollicking, yet pathetic, strains of "The Girl I Left Behind Me," filled the air of that raw April morning with a mel- ody which was to become sadly familiar during the next four years. People of the city and from neigh- boring towns thronged the streets to see the martial display, and bid the departing heroes God-speed. Several eminent citizens made parting addresses of praise and cheer, and thus the first Worcester men, with high hopes and dauntless courage, marched gaily into that vortex of Civil War, whose awful depths would engulf so many of our worthiest and dearest. Captain Harrison W. Pratt commanded this com- pany ; George W. Prouty was first lieutenant, and J. Waldo Denny second lieutenant. The company left Boston for the seat of war in the evening of the same day, and on Friday, the 19th, passed through Balti- more, where the regiment was attacked by a city mob. The regiment was the first militia regiment from any State to report with arms and equipments com- plete, ready for active service. Its term of service was three months, and it was employed chiefly in guard duty at Washington and Baltimore and on the railroad line between those cities.

In the mean time the Emmet Guards had been in- corporated with the State militia and assigned to the Third Battalion of Rifles, which now consisted of three companies-the City Guards, Company A; the Holden Rifles, Company B, and the Emmet Guards, Company C. Their ranks were full ; the men were hardy young fellows, instinct with courage and pa- triotism. They waited with impatience the order of march. Charles Devens, Jr., then the foremost advo- cate at the Worcester bar, who had formerly held rank in the militia, was elected major, and reluct- antly accepted the responsibility for which he doubted his own fitness, and the honor which he thought should be given to one who had earned it by more continuons service in the militia. He was persuaded, however, to withdraw his objection and to accept the command of the battalion. On Saturday, the 20th, permission came from the Governor that the battal- ion should go to the front. That afternoon, affect- ing farewells having been spoken at a public meeting in Mechanics' Hall, Major Devens started for the front. His command comprised two hun- dred and thirty-eight men of all ranks. The com- missioned officers were : Major, Charles Devens, Jr. ; Adjutant, John M. Goodhue; Quartermaster, James E. Estabrook ; Surgeon, Oramel Martin.

Company officers-Company A, Worcester City Guard : Captain, A. B. R. Sprague ; First Lieutenant,

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Josiah Pickett ; Second Lieutenant, George C. Jos- lin ; Third Lieutenant, Orson Moulton ; Fourth Lieu- tenant, E. A. Harkness.

Company B, Holden Rifles: Captain, Charles Knowlton ; First Lieutenant, J. H. Gleason ; Second Lieutenant, P. R. Newell; Third Lieutenant, Ed- ward Devens; Fourth Lieutenant, Samuel F. Woods. Company C, Emmet Guards : Captain, Michael S. McConville; First Lieutenant, Michael O'Dris- coll; Second Lieutenant, Matthew J. McCafferty ; Third Lieutenant, Thomas O'Neil ; Fourth Lieuten- ant, Morris Melavin.

These three months' troops were not actually en- gaged with the enemy. But their service was valu- able. They protected Washington from attack, and opened and maintained a new route to the city, avoiding the dangers which, for a time, attended the passage of Union troops through Baltimore. The turbulent and treasonable elements of that city were, however, speedily quelled by the energy of General Butler and the efficiency of the troops he command- ed, prominent among which were the Worcester com- pany of the Sixth Regiment and the battalion of Major Devens, which latter was stationed during most of its term of service at Annapolis or at Fort McHenry, near Baltimore. The term of service of both these corps expired just before the disastrous battle of Bull Run. They had not been mustered out when the confusion and discouragement conse- quent upon the defeat of onr army before Washing- ton made it necessary to retain in the service all the troops near the Capitol whose courage and organiza- tion had not been shaken by the disaster. They cheerfully responded to the appeal to remain on duty for a few days longer, while the defeated army was reorganized. The Light Infantry, with the Sixth Regiment, had marching orders for home on the 29th of July, and arrived in Worcester on the Ist of August. The battalion of rifles began their return on the 30th of July, and were welcomed in Worcester on the 2d of August. Both, of course, were received with rejoicing and hearty congratula- tions.

Major Devens did not return in command of the battalion, for he had already been commissioned as colonel, and had taken command of the Fifteenth Regiment, comprising ten companies, recruited in Worcester and the towns of the county, which, since the 28th of June, had been encamped on the Brooks Farm, near South Worcester, the place being known then and for years after as Camp Scott. The regi- ment was busily occupied with the work of organi- zation, discipline and instruction, under the com- mand of Lieutenant-Colonel George H. Ward, a capable and hard-working officer. This regiment was composed of the stanchest material, the sturdy yeomen and mechanics of Worcester County. Ex- cept the colonel, the surgeons and the chaplain, there was scarcely a professional man in the regi-

ment, commissioned or enlisted. Colonel Devens took command June 26th. As the military plans of the commander-in-chief did not call for large and rapid additions to the force already assembled near Washington, and as this regiment was composed for the most part of officers and men who had the whole duty of the soldier to learn, not having yet been even in the militia service, it was the original purpose to retain them in their camp of instruction for two months longer. But the result of the battle of Bull Run changed the plans of campuign. The army was to be reorganized by General Mcclellan, and troops were hurried forward to Washington from all quarters.

On August 8th the Fifteenth left the city, having received the day before a beautiful flag at the hands of the Hon. George F. Hoar, as a gift from the ladies of Worcester. Mr. Hoar's speech in presenting the flag and Colonel Devens' remarks in accepting it were eloquent and affecting. The Fifteenth passed through Baltimore near midnight of the 10th of August. The streets were thronged with people, many of them sullen and defiant in manner, but quiet. They did not want a lesson in deportment from the men of those ten great companies, a full thousand in line, all told, who marched steadily and swiftly through the streets in that hot summer night, with their muskets loaded and their ranks as firm and well closed as if they were marching in re- view. The accidental discharge of one of the sol- dier's muskets caused a momentary apprehension that the Baltimore mob would have a lesson, but nothing came of it. The next day the regiment ar- rived in Washington, and as it marched up Pennsyl- vania Avenue by company front, with alert and mar- tial tread, its long company lines, with one hundred men in each, filling that spacious avenue from curb to curb, with the National and State colors waving in the summer air and the muskets flashing bright in the August sun, the Fifteenth presented a spectacle such as Washington, even in those days of military activity, had seldom seen.

From Washington the regiment marched, a few days later, to Poolesville, a little Maryland village, about half-way to Harper's Ferry, and there came under the command of General Charles P. Stone, who was forming a corps of observation for the Up- per Potomac. With daily drills and the routine du- ties of camp life, varied by picket duty at the river, the time passed until October 21st, when the regi- ment first met the enemy and showed by the trial of battle of what stuff its soldiers were made.

I cannot here describe the battle in detail or dis- cuss the causes of the disaster in which it ended. Briefly, General Stone was apprised by General McClellan of certain operations of the right wing of the Army of the Potomac, and was directed to re- connoitre the enemy's position at Leesburg, on the Virginia side of the river, opposite the station of the

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Fifteenth. A scouting party having reported a small camp of the enemy between Leesburg and the river, and a mile or two from either, Colonel Devens was directed with five companies of his regiment to cross the Potomac on the night of the 20th, surprise this eamp, if possible, and then reconnoitre in the direc- tion of Leesburg. The remaining five companies, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Ward, were to march to the river and be prepared to sup- port Colonel Devens if necessary. Some companies of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Massachusetts and a portion of Baker's California regiment were also ordered to the river in the morning. Colonel Devens found that the scouts had been deceived and that there was no camp where he expected to find one. Recon noitering cautiously toward Leesburg in the early morning, he encountered a troop of cavalry with which he had a short skirmish, and then fell back toward the river.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ward, hearing the firing, hur- ried his battalion across the river to reinforce Dev- ens. In the river at this point was Harrison's Is- land, about a mile long, which delayed and embar- rassed the crossing. The river was much too deep to be forded ; the boats provided were few and small ; not more than a company at a time could be trans- ported, and it was necessary to cross the Maryland arm of the river, then march across the island and embark again for the Virginia shore. The landing was at the foot of a steep bluff; along the face of this ran a narrow, crooked trail, up which men could scramble with difficulty. Colonel Ward's battalion arrived at the top of the bluff a little before noon, and moved forward at once across an open field of a few acres surrounded by wood to join Devens, who was still skirmishing with the enemy. After the regiment was united the firing ceased for a short time, but a brisk attack was soon made upon our position, and easily repulsed. The regiment then fell back to the bluff and there found that the por- tions of regiments already mentioned had arrived and also three pieces of artillery-a twelve-pound rifle-gun and two light howitzers. Colonel Baker took command by seniority of commission and formed his line of battle with the Fifteenth on the right and his own regiment on the left. Colonel Cogswell came up soon after with two companies of his, known as the Tammany Regiment. During nearly the whole of the action the enemy were concealed in the woods in the front and on the flanks of the Union force, which they considerably outnumbered. A scattering fire of skirmishers and sharp-shooters had been going on for some time, when about two o'clock the regiment forming the enemy's left wing opened the action with a volley which silenced the light guns in front of the position of the Fifteenth, killing or disabling almost every man serving them. They had been discharged not more than twice.

One incident of the battle deserves mention as

illustrating the steadiness of these Worcester County boys under fire for the first time: While the Fif- teenth was exchanging a sharp fire with the rebels in its front a small force of the enemy, under cover of the woods, passed around its flank and opened fire from the rear. The line did not waver, but at the word of command faced "about," charged into the woods, dispersed the force attacking from that diree- tion and then returned to its former position and re- newed the fight with the enemy in front. The steadiness which this unexpected and most alarming attack did not shake would have been creditable to veteran troops of any army.

Toward the close of the afternoon the right wing was drawn in and the Fifteenth took position at what had been the centre of the line, and another vigorous attempt was made to drive the rebels from their posi- tion. By this time Colonel Baker had been killed and Colonel Cogswell had assumed command. The ammunition of our men was exhausted ; the rebel fire continued. Further resistance seemed hopeless, and Colonel Cogswell directed Colonel Devens to retreat. " Will you please repeat the order in the presence of my major?" said Devens. Major Kimball was called up (Lieutenant-Colonel Ward having some time be- fore been carried from the field severely wounded) and the order was repeated and obeyed. The regi- ment fell back to the river-bank, where some were shot by the enemy from above, some escaped across the river, some were drowned and some were shot in attempting to cross, and the remainder were taken prisoners. To whatever causes the disaster may have been due, it was not the fault of the soldiers of the Fifteenth, whose valor and steadiness could not have been surpassed. They saw many greater battles in the three following years, but it is not too much to say of them, on their first battle-field, that they would have gone anywhere and done anything that could have been expected of veteran troops in the highest state of efficiency. They would then have attempted some things which they would not, after three years of experience had taught them the limitations of military achievement.

The Fifteenth Regiment went into action with six hundred and twenty-one men. The killed, wounded and missing were three hundred and ten. Among the killed was John William Grout, second lieutenant, from Worcester. Lieutenant-Colonel Ward was wounded ; Captain Studley, of Worcester, was taken prisoner. This engagement has been described at some length, because it was the first in which Wor- cester men met the enemy in battle. The news from the regiment caused a great sensation in Worcester. Public meetings were held to express the general ad- miration for the prowess of the regiment and sorrow for its losses. Energetic efforts were made to supply, by enlistments, the places of the fallen and captured and to make good the losses of clothing and personal equipment. Letters of applause, sympathy and en-

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couragement were received in great numbers from friends in Worcester and elsewhere, and the valor of the regiment and its commander received fitting offi- cial commendation.

Other incidents of the war must be mentioned more briefly. The. next regiment organized in Worcester was the Twenty-first, composed of men recruited chiefly in Worcester County, though companies raised in Springfield, Pittsfield and Belchertown were also in- cluded in it. Its camp, on the grounds of the Agri- cultural Society and named Camp Lincoln, was first occupied by six companies on the 19th of July. Its colonel was Augustus Morse. It had one Worcester company, commanded by Captain B. Frank Rogers. This regiment marched for the front August 23d. Within a month Governor Andrew authorized Edwin Upton as colonel and A. B. R. Sprague as lieutenant- colonel to raise another regiment in Worcester. Re- cruiting was begun about the middle of September, and on the last day of October, with full ranks, armed and equipped, the regiment, designated as the Twenty- fifth, left Worcester for the seat of war. This regi- ment, more than any other, was then and has since been regarded as the Worcester Regiment. Seven of its ten companies were recruited in the city; the other three in Milford, Fitchburg and Templeton, re- spectively. It was a splendid regiment of stout- hearted, intelligent, faithful men, and it could be matched hy few in the service for the cheerful hero- ism and gallautry of its soldiers, their hardships, labors and losses in action. These two regiments, the Twenty-first and Twenty-fifth, were assigned to the expedition destined to operate in North Carolina, under the command of General Burnside. Early in the year 1862 they were engaged with great credit in the capture of Roanoke Island and Newbern. The Fifteenth lay at Poolesville all winter. In March, after a short and unimportant advance by way of Harper's Ferry up the Shenandoah Valley, the regi- ment, as a part of the Army of the Potomac, embarked at Alexandria for the momentous Peninsula Cam- paign under General Mcclellan. It fought bravely at Yorktown, Fair Oaks, the seven days' battles before Richmond and returned to the vicinity of Washing- ton in season to take part in the unfortunate campaign of General Pope. In September the Fifteenth was again at the front in the great battle of Antietam and suffered terribly. The number of officers and men of the Fifteenth who went into action was almost pre- cisely the same as that of the famous Light Brigade at Balaklava. The time they were engaged was very nearly the same and the proportion of losses was al- most precisely equal. On that 17th of September, at Antietam, twenty-four officers and five hundred and eighty-two enlisted men of the Fifteenth went into that murderous corner. Twenty minutes later the killed, wounded and missing numbered three hundred and forty-three. Of the killed were five officers and sixty enlisted men; wounded (one officer and many

enlisted men mortally), six officers and two hundred and forty-eight enlisted men ; missing, twenty-four men. A loss of nearly three-fifths in less than half an hour is an experience that has befallen few regi- ments or companies.

The Twenty-first Regiment also had a period of harassing and dangerous service in the autumn and winter of 1861. Transferred from North Carolina to Virginia in August, it was engaged in Pope's cam- paign in the battles of the Second Bull Run, of Chat- tilly and later at Antietam, doing heroic and valuable service and suffering heavy losses, and in December it was in the hottest part of the battle in General Burnside's ill-planned and disastrous attack upon Fredericksburg, in which the Fifteenth, too, as usual, had a place of honor and of danger, and also, as usual, lost heavily. The loss most grievously felt was that of its heroic and devoted surgeon, Samuel Foster Haven, Jr. The Twenty-fifth during this year had been doing ardnous and useful service-marching, scouting and fighting.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 164

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1464

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464