USA > Massachusetts > History of the Fifth Massachusetts Battery : organized October 3, 1861, mustered out June 12, 1865, v.1 > Part 3
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HISTORY OF THE
March 24. 1862, General Fitz John Porter's Division to which the Fifth Mass. Battery was attached, formed a part of the Third Corps of the Army of the Potomac, and had embarked at Alexandria for the Peninsula campaign and Yorktown.
When the Fifth Corps was permanently established, July 22, 1862, Porter's Division became the Ist Division of that Corps.
General Philip Kearney, who commanded a Division in the old Third Corps, ordered during the Peninsula campaign the wearing of a red diamond-shaped patch on the side of the cap, for identification of the members of his Division, which is said to have suggested the Corps badges devised . by General Daniel Butterfield a year later, and adopted by Major General Joseph Hooker.
The flag of the ist Division, Fifth Corps, in the spring campaign of 1863. was a rectangular white flag, with the red maltese cross in the centre.
DISTINCTIVE CORPS BADGES.
HEAD QUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC March 3Ist 1863.
"Circular "
For the purpose of ready recognition of Corps and Divisions of this Army, and to prevent injustice by reports of straggling and misconduct through mistake as to their organizations, the Chief Quartermaster will furnish without delay the following badges to be worn by the Of- ficers and Enlisted men of all the regiments of the various corps men- tioned. They will be securely fastened upon the centre of the tops of the caps. The inspecting officer will at all inspections see that these badges are worn as designated.
5th Corps, a Maltese Cross. Red for Ist Div: White for 2d Div : Blue for 3d Division.
The size and color will be according to pattern.
By command of MAJ. GEN'L HOOKER. S. WILLIAMS, (Sd.) A. A. G.
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FIFTH MASS. BATTERY.
HEAD QUARTERS 5TH ARMY CORPS, April 1. 1863.
(The Badges are now being prepared and will shortly be furnished.) Official :
(Signed) FRED T. LOCKE, A. A. G.
HEAD QUARTERS IST DIV. 5TH CORPS.
April 1. 1863.
Official : (Sd.) C. W. B. MERVINE, Asst. Adjt. Gen'1. HEAD QUARTERS DIVISION ART'Y
Ist Div. 5th Corps, April 2d. 1863.
Official :
A. P. MARTIN,
Capt. Com'd'g Div. Artillery.
These badges were worn upon the top of the men's caps, and on the sides of officers' hats.
The Reserve Artillery had a swallow-tail flag, red, with cross cannons white, in the centre.
From the Diary of Captain Nathan Appleton.
MARTIN'S BRIGADE BADGE.
"Sunday, November 22, 1863. Captain A. P. Martin gets up a Brigade badge. . . . " "The first time he went to Boston after this, he had one made by the firm of Guild, jewelers on Washington street. It is a maltese cross: the bars being of gold, and the centre a small maltese cross of stones, the white one being pearl, combining the three Division colors, red, white and blue, the pin at the top composed of two crossed cannons."
HOSPITAL FLAGS.
WAR DEPARTMENT ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE WASHINGTON, Jan'y 4. 1864.
General Orders No. 9. The Hospital and Ambulance Flags of the Army are established as
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HISTORY OF THE
follows :-- For General Hospitals, yellow bunting 9 by 5 feet, with the letter 1I, 24 inches long, of green bunting, in centre.
For Post and Field Hospitals, yellow bunting 6 by 4 feet, with letter H, 24 inches long, of green bunting, in centre.
For ambulances, and guidons to mark the way to Field Hospitals, yellow bunting 14 by 28 inches, with a border, one inch deep, of green. By Order of the Secretary of War, E. D. TOWNSEND, Ass't Adjt. General.
HEAD QUARTERS FLAGS.
UNDER GRANT AND MEADE.
HEAD QUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, May 2. 10.30 a. m. 1864.
Circular :
Hereafter the designating flag for these Head Qrs. will be a ma- genta colored swallow tail flag, with an eagle in gold surrounded by a silver wreath for an emblem.
By command of Maj. Gen'l Meade. (Sgd) S. WILLIAMS, Ass't Adjt. Gen'l.
HEAD ORS. 5TH ARMY CORPS.
May 2, 1864. Official :
(Sgd)
FRED T. LOCKE, Ass't Adjt. General.
HEAD QRS ART'Y. BRIG. 5TH A. C.
Official :
May 3, 1864. A. MATTHEWSON, Lieut. & A. A. A. Gen'l.
THE LETTER E.
In the estimate for clothing for October, 1864, in Quar- ter Master Sergeant Win. H. Peacock's Account Book, are 30 blouses, 40 caps, 100 cross cannon, and 100 Letter E. See p. 50 General Order No. 86, Consolidation of Artil- lery.
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CHAPTER II.
IN 'SIXTY- ONE.
"They knew how genuine glory was put on ; Taught us how rightfully a nation shone
In splendor; what strength was, that would not bend But in magnanimous weakness.".
---- WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.
In the first moment of the declaration of a Union of States bearing the title of the United States of America, the germ of expansion had taken root, and following close unon its rapid growth came the anxiety for the safety of the seat of government. John Quincy Adams in a speech in Congress on April 14, 1842, thus gave expression to his belief that the vicinity of Washington would, sooner or later, become the theatre of a great conflict :- "If civil war me" said he, "if insurrection come, is this beleaguered capital, is this besieged government to see inillions of its subjects in arms, and have no right to break the fetters which they are forging into swords? No! The war power f the government can sweep this institution ( slavery) into the Gulf."
The "institution" standing thus between the States, an ever present, ever increasing source of ill feeling, was nev- ertheless not the immediate provocation that roused the North to action in 'Sixty-One. Not the slightest allusion was publicly made to it amidst the bustle and unusual ex- citement of a inilitary character, which unsettled the pub- lic mind; in which decision and hesitation alternated, when men resolved and women pleaded tearfully, then gelded with a proud, fond foreboding, too soon realized,
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HISTORY OF THE
of the sacrifice to come: but the plea was always the dan- ger that menaced the capital and the threatened dissever- ance of the Union; a plea which was comprehended in England as shown by a few words of John Bright in a speech at Rochdale, when he declared :- "If the thirty- three or thirty-four States of the American Union can break off whenever they like, I can see nothing but disas- ter and confusion throughout the whole of that continent. I say that the war, be it successful or not, be it Christian or not, be it wise or not, is a war to sustain the govern- ment and to sustain the authority of a great nation."
In 1861. John A. Andrew was Governor of the state of Massachusetts, John Z. Goodrich Lieutenant Governor, Oliver Warner Secretary. Henry K. Oliver Treasurer. President of the Senate William Claflin, Speaker of the House of Representatives John A. Goodwin. Clerk. of the Senate Stephen N. Gifford, Clerk of the House William Stowe. The Rev. A. L. Stone was Chaplain of the House, the Rev. A. S. Patton of the Senate. Maj. John Morissey was Sergeant-at-Arms.
The Governor's Staff consisted of Lieutenant-Colonels Horace Binney Sargent, Harrison Ritchie, John W. Weth- erell and Henry Lee Jr.
The members of the United States Senate from Massa- chusetts, were Charles Sumner, who was chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Henry Wilson, who was chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. U. S. Representatives from this state were Thomas D. Eliot, James Buffington, Benjamin F. Thomas, Alexander H. Rice, William Appleton, John B. Alley, Daniel W. Gooch, Charles R. Train, Goldsmith F. Bailey, Charles Delano, Henry L. Dawes.
Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, had been elected President of the United States, and Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, Vice President. The election took place on November 6, 1860.
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FIFTH MASS. BATTERY.
South Carolina, the most recalcitrant State, had threat- ened. in case Abraham Lincoln was elected, to secede from the Union, in order to form a new confederacy of those states which upheld the traffic in slaves. Accordingly, not- withstanding Congress was not in session until the 3d of December, 1860, the members of the United States Senate from South Carolina hastened to resign their seats. It was determined that United States law should no longer be administered in that state, and the United States judge for the district of South Carolina resigned his office. Other civil officers of the Government followed suit, the palmetto flag of South Carolina displaced the flag of our Union on several vessels in Charleston harbor, and a con- vention of the people was recommended by the state legis- lature then in session. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina by a unanimous vote formally passed an ordinance of secession; commissioners were appointed to proceed to Washington to treat with the United States, and soon thereafter its representatives in Congress dissolved their connection with that body.
Thus was inaugurated the War of the Rebellion, for Georgia soon joined her fortunes with those of South Carolina, and the "blue cockade" a sign in former years of . South Carolina's nullification, appeared in the streets of Savannah. In 1832, South Carolina nullified the revenue laws of the Union.
January 5. 1861, John A. Andrew was inaugurated Gov- ernor of the Commonwealth and on the 14th a committee of the State Senate made the following report :
Report of a Committee.
IN SENATE, January 14, 1861.
The Committee on the Militia, to whom was referred the portion of the Governor's address relating to the Militia, beg leave to report that they have considered the suggestions therein contained, and in order to give the Commander-in-Chief the power of immediately increasing the efficiency of an active militia by enlarging the number of privates in
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HISTORY OF THE
companies of cavalry and infantry, by organizing new companies, and filling up to their quota the regiments and battalions now existing, and by increasing the whole force on the present basis, to such an extent as in his opinion the exigencies of the times may require, unanimously recommend the passage of the accompanying Act.
For the Committee,
CHARLES O. ROGERS.
This report was accepted but before the bill came up in the Senate the following General Order was issued by the Adjutant General of the State.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. HEAD QUARTERS, BOSTON. January 16, 1861.
[General Order No. 4.]
Events which have recently occurred, and are now in progress, require that Massachusetts should be at all times ready to furnish her quota upon any requisition of the President of the United States, to aid in the maintenance of the laws, and the peace of the Union. His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief therefore orders .---
That the commanding officer of each company of Volunteer Militia examine with care the roll of his company, and cause the name of each member, together with his rank and place of residence, to be properly recorded, and a copy of the same to be forwarded to the office of the Adjutant General. Previous to which commanders of com- panies shall make strict inquiry, whether there are men in their com- mands who from age, physical defect, business, or family causes, may be unable, or indisposed to respond at once to the orders of the Com- mander-in-Chief. made in response to the call of the President of the United States, that they be forthwith discharged, so that their places may be filled by men ready for any public exigency which may arise, whenever called upon.
After the above orders shall have been fulfilled, no discharge, either of officer or private shall be granted, unless for cause satisfactory to the Commander-in-Chief. If any companies have not the number of men allowed by law. the commanders of the same, shall make proper exertions to have the vacancies filled, and the men properly drilled and uniformed, and their names and places of residence forwarded to Head Quarters.
To promote the objects embraced in this order, the general, field, and staff officers, and the Adjutant and Acting Quartermaster General will give all the aid and assistance in their power.
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FIFTH MASS. BATTERY.
Major Generals Sutton, Morse and Andrews, will eause this order to be promulgated throughout their respective divisions.
By command of His Excellency, JOHN A. ANDREW,
Governor and Commander-in-Chief. WILLIAM SCHOULER, Adjutant General.
Adjutant General Schouler in his "History of Massa- chusetts in the Civil War" says that although this order was criticised as unnecessary and sensational, in some quarters, it was obeyed with alacrity by those to whom it was addressed.
Next came the discussion of the Militia Bill in the State Senate:
AN ACT IN RELATION TO THE VOLUNTEER MILITIA.
Be it enaeted by the Senate and House of Representatives in Gen- eral Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows :-
SECTION 1. The volunteer militia companies, as now organized, with their offieers, shall be retained in the service: and, hereafter, as the public exigency may require, the organization of companies of ar- tillery may be authorized, on' petition. by the Commander-in-Chief, with advice of the Council. and the organization of other companies may be authorized on petition by the Commander-in-Chief, or by the miyor and aldermen or seleetmen by his permission; but all additional companies, battalions and regiments which may be organized under the provisions of this Aet, shall be disbanded whenever the Governor, or the legislature, shall deem that their services are no longer needed. Companies of cavalry shall be limited to one hundred privates and a saddler and a farrier: companies of artillery to forty-eight eannoneers. twenty four drivers, and a saddler and a farrier : the eadet companies of the first and second divisions to one hundred, and companies of in- fantry and riflemen to sixty-four privates.
SECTION 2. The fourteenth scetion of the thirteenth chapter of the General Statutes, and all laws or parts of laws now in foree, limiting the number of the volunteer militia, are hereby repealed.
SECTION 3. This aet shall take effeet upon its passage.
SENATE, January 18, 1861.
Passed to be engrossed. Sent down for concurrenee. S. N. GIFFORD, Clerk.
There were several substitute bills but they were re- jected, and the bill as here given passed both branches; amended in Section 1, by the insertion of the words,
----
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HISTORY OF THE
"and said companies so retained and so organized, shall be liable on a requisition of the President of the United States upon the Commander- in-Chief to be marched without the limits of the Commonwealth,"-
after the lines referring to the authorization of the con- . panies and before those referring to their disbandment.
It was signed by the Governor February 15, 1861, but in the mean time Resolutions had passed both branches and received the Governor's signature, for plans for seces- sion were rapidly reaching their consummation in the Southern States, and the situation became more and more one of anxiety and alarm. Mississippi promptly gave cvi- dence of her affiliation with the seceding states. Jefferson Davis, afterwards president of the confederacy, who had been U. S. Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce, and was then U. S. senator from Mississippi, took leave of the U. S. Senate on January 20, 1861. It was months before the other Southern States passed ordinances of secession, and the western portion of Virginia never wavered in her loyalty to the Union, but was made a new state, that of West Virginia, while the conflict raged in the eastern portion of her sacred soil. There was in all the southern states a respectable minority in favor of the Union who found their most distinguished representative in the person of ex-President Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, on the pedestal of whose monument were cut in the solid granite by the order of the citizens of that state, his mem- orable words :- "The Union must and shall be preserved."
It was the union of the State of Virginia with the Con- federacy which placed Washington. the capital of the na- tion in imminent peril for four years. Already, in the win- ter of 'Sixty-One the extremity of the Long Bridge across the Potomac River over which was the passage south out of Washington, was "hostile soil."
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FIFTH MASS. BATTERY.
RESOLUTIONS IN THE MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE.
January 23, 1861, the Governor signed the following :
Resolves tendering the Aid of the Commonwealth to the President of the United States, in enforcing the Laws and Preserving the Union.
WHEREAS, Several states of the Union have through the action of their people and authorities, assumed the attitude of rebellion against the national government; and whereas, treason is still more extensively diffused. and, whereas, the state of South Carolina, having first seized the post office, custom house, moneys, arms, munitions of war and fortifications of the federal government, has, by firing upon a vessel in the service of the United States, committed an act of war: and, whereas. the forts and property of the United States in Georgia, Ala- bama. Louisiana and Florida, have been seized with hostile and trea- sonable intention : and, whereas, senators and representatives in Con- gress avow and sanction these acts of treason and rebellion : therefore,
Resolved. That the legislature of Massachusetts, now, as always, convinced of the inestimable value of the Union, and the necessity of preserving its blessings to ourselves and our posterity, regard with un- mingled satisfaction the determination evinced in the recent firm and patriotic special message of the President of the United States (James Buchanan) to amply and faithfully discharge his constitutional duty of enforcing the laws and preserving the integrity of the Union: and we proffer to him. through the Governor of the Commonwealth, such aid in men and money as he may require, to maintain the authority of the national government.
Resolved, That the Union-loving and patriotic authorities, represent- atives and citizens of those states whose loyalty is endangered or assailed by internal or external treason, who labor in behalf of the Federal Union with unflinching courage and patriotic devotion, will receive the enduring gratitude of the American people.
Resolved, That the Governor be requested to forward, forthwith, copies of the foregoing resolutions, to the President of the United States, and the Governors of the several states.
Approved January 23, 1861.
At this period, and intimately connected with the scenes enacted in the national capital previous to the inaugura- tion of President Lincoln March 4, 1861, immortal names
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HISTORY OF THE
of Massachusetts illumine every page of history, names, some of which are borne by members of the Battery and by others whose influence swayed its fortunes. Here also Rhode Island, so closely connected with the Battery in its marches, camps, and battles, furnishes her quota of lead- ing figures.
It was as members of a commission appointed to repre- sent the interests of Massachusetts on a question of dis- puted boundary between Massachusetts and Rhode Island, -- a question which had long been in dispute, the first re- port of a commission having been made to this Common- wealth February 21, 1792,-in the Supreme Court of the United States, that four lawyers met at Washington in January, 1861: Ex-Governor John HI. Clifford of New Bedford, who had been attorney general of the state from IS49 to 1853, and again from 1854 to 1858, and was then "Of Counsel for the Commonwealth," and Hon. Stephen H. Phillips who had been attorney general since 1858, rep- resented Massachusetts; the Hon. Charles S. Bradley ex- Chief Justice, and the Hon. Thomas A. Jenckes, repre- sented Rhode Island. All arrived in Washington before January 26, 1861. Hon. Edwin M. Stanton was then U. S. Attorney General, holding that office in the Cabinet of the retiring President, James Buchanan.
An account of an interview between Attorney General Stanton and these gentlemen, with attending circumstances. by the late Hon. Stephen H. Phillips, from which these facts are taken, was published in the New York Sun, June II, 1893. He was then the only surviving member of the commission.
On Wednesday evening January 30, 1861, a special mes- senger was sent to Willard's Hotel to convey the gentlemen from Massachusetts to the Attorney General's office in the Treasury Building.
Stanton said when Governor Clifford remarked upon the difficult access to the building, that such strictness might
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FIFTH MASS. BATTERY.
keep honest men out, but that all the public buildings were in !! of traitors. In relation to the seizure of all the ar- chives and muniments of the Government, the following is quoted by Mr. Phillips from a letter written by Governor Clifford to Gen. the Hon. Henry Wilson, dated Feb. 5, :871-
"When it was known with what facility this could have been accom- ¡shed, and a provisional Government declared, with the ready recog- sition of almost every diplomatic representative of foreign governments then in Washington, it is not surprising that I should have felt in young through the corridors of the Treasury building at midnight with two or three superannuated watchmen only for its custody and det oss, as if I were walking over a mined fortress, that might at any ". acht be blown up under my feet."
At the time of this interview of January 30, 1861, the saty had been dispersed where it would do no good, the "Brooklyn" was the only fighting ship at Secretary Tou- cey's disposal, (Isaac Toucey of Connecticut was Secre- taly of the Navy ) the officers of the Naval Academy and the practice ship "Constitution" and the northern cadets generally were loyal.
Secretary Stanton thought that the militia could be iranpily mobilized only in three states, viz., New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
The following is a copy of a letter signed John H. Clif- bed and Stephen H. Phillips to Governor John A. Andrew, written that night after their return to the Hotel from deir call upon the U. S. Attorney General :--
WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY NIGHT, January 30, 1861.
Dear Sir.
In an interview we have had with the Attorney General of the Ured States. we have been authorized to express to you confidentially 5.5 individual opinion that there is imminent if not inevitable peril of w: attack upon the city of Washington, between the 4th and 15th Feb- raary, with a view to secure the symbols of Government, and the power and prestige of possessions by the traitors who are plotting the dissolution of the Union.
د . .لات
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We have a moment before the closing of the mail, to say to you, in this informal way, that no vigilance should be relaxed for Massa- chusetts to be ready at any moment, and upon a sudden emergency. to come to the succor of the Federal Government.
This may be an unnecessary precaution, but we feel that it is a sim- ple discharge of a plain duty on our part, to give you the intimation of what we have heard from a source of such high authority.
In great haste we are very truly and respectfully,
JOHN . H. CLIFFORD. STEPHEN H. PHILLIPS.
Gov. Andrew.
Clifford said to Phillips "Bradley and you must get through your printing by Friday. If the Supreme Court endures till then we will pack up and go home, arouse the people, and await the logic of events."
The "logic of events" was a favorite phrase of the seces- sionists. Phillips says "They reckoned upon getting the revolution well under way, and afterwards trusting to the 'logic of events.'"
Stanton mentioned that General Scott, who was at the head of the Army, had prevailed on the President to send for two more batteries.
Stanton was an old democrat, without as he, himself, said, affiliation with Republican leaders, neither was he in the councils of Mr. Lincoln and his friends, yet he ac- cepted the entire responsibility of publishing to all whom it might concern, his profound sense of the impending peril, and his earnest appeal to all in authority to contribute their utmost energy for the preservation of the Union.
The day after the meeting at the office of the U. S. At- torney General, the gentlemen from Massachusetts sent a letter to the Hon. Horace Gray, explaining much that Mr. Stanton had told them, and especially indicating the route through Annapolis which Mr. Stanton favored. Mr. Gray was to apprise Governor Andrew of the contents of this letter.
£
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FIFTH MASS. BATTERY.
Mir. Felton of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Balti- more Railroad in a conversation with Mr. Clifford that day, said he was alarmed for his bridges.
On Friday, February Ist, Governor Clifford explained the elaborate details of the disputed boundary case to thie Supreme Court, and then alluding to the troubled condi- tion of the country, protested that in New England we should resort to no arms but those of the law to settle troubles between sister states. He used few words, but the placid dignity of his manner made a profound impression. When he got through the Chief Justice gave special direc- tions to the Clerk, carefully notifying that the plat and sur- veys must be returned into court by the Ist of August. (See p. 47. Letter of C. A. Phillips. )
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