USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Clinton > History of the origin of the town of Clinton, Massachusetts, 1653-1865 > Part 45
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* See Individual Record.
562
FIFTEENTH, AND COMPANION REGIMENTS.
Out of the twenty who had enlisted in the other regi- ments attached to the Army of the Potomac, only six remained. This gives a possible total of sixty-eight Clinton men still in McClellan's army when it returned from the Peninsular Campaign, with probably less than forty on actual duty.
Although General McClellan brought from the Peninsular a sadly diminished army, yet it was an army of far greater effective force than it was when he had taken command of it a year before. The loose aggregation of troops under his admirable system of discipline and through hard experience, had become one of the most perfect armies the world has ever seen. Our Clinton men, who had endured the service up to this time, must henceforth be looked upon as hardened veterans.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
CLINTON MEN IN NORTH CAROLINA, AND THE . VOLUNTEER RECORD.
THE Twenty-first Regiment received a large number of recruits from Clinton .* Many of these were of Irish birth. The enlistments, though numerous, do not seem to have been the result of any organized effort on the part of the people of the town. The only mention given to the subject in the Courant is a list of the officers of the regiment. As will be seen by consulting the individual record, there were eighteen Clinton men in the regiment, mostly in companies B and E. The average age of the men was about twenty-three, or two years less than that of the men in the Fifteenth. The mus- ter was somewhat informally conducted at the Agricultural Fair Grounds at Worcester, from August 16th to 23d, 1861, and more formally repeated in Maryland on the 17th of September following. The colonel of the regiment was Augustus Morse; the lieutenant-colonel, Albert C. Maggi ; the major, William S. Clark.
Without delaying in Worcester, the Twenty-first set out for the seat of war on the 23d of August. It was in camp at Annapolis and Annapolis Junction for four months. During this time, nothing of any great importance occurred to break the regular routine of camp life. In December, it was assigned to General Reno's Brigade.
The Twenty-fifth received a larger number of recruits
* See Individual Record.
564
CLINTON MEN IN NORTH CAROLINA.
from Clinton than any other regiment, except the Fifteenth. The total number was thirty-nine, although there were only twenty-nine at first. During the last of August, Louis Wageley of Worcester, met the Germans of Clinton in an open field back of the school-house near the Lancaster Mills Bridge. He told them of his plan of organizing a company of Germans to join the Twenty-fifth Regiment. He per- suaded twenty-three men, nearly all of them operatives in Lancaster Mills, to serve under him .* The other members of Company G, of which Louis Wageley was captain, were mostly from Worcester. The average age of the Clinton men, which was over thirty-one, is especially noticeable as compared with that of the men who enlisted in the Fifteenth and Twenty-first. The other six men were in Companies A, C and E and in the band.
The Twenty-fifth was mustered in at Camp Lincoln, on the Agricultural Fair Grounds in Worcester, during the month of October. Edwin Upton of Fitchburg, was made colonel; Augustus B. R. Sprague, lieutenant-colonel, and Matthew J. McCafferty, major. The regiment was for- tunately supplied at once with Enfield rifles. On the 29th of October, Colonel Upton was ordered to report to General A. E. Burnside at Annapolis, Maryland. The following day, Governor Andrew reviewed the regiment. The battle of Ball's Bluff was then present in every mind, and the Gover- nor charged the Twenty-fifth to take righteous vengeance for the Massachusetts blood that had been shed in that un- equal contest. On the 31st, after a farewell of more than usual sadness, since those left behind could now realize, as they could not have done before Ball's Bluff, the dangers to which their loved ones would be exposed, they started for Annapolis. When they arrived, they went into quarters at Camp Hicks, near the city. In December, the regiment was organized in a brigade under General John S. Foster, with
* See Individual Record.
565
VOYAGE.
the Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth and Twenty-seventh Massa- chusetts Volunteers and the Tenth Connecticut Volunteers. The Twenty-third contained three Clinton men, all in Com- pany H. This regiment was organized at Lynnfield, and on the 16th of November went into camp on the outskirts of Annapolis. The Twenty-fourth had one Clinton man. Abraham Childs of the Twenty-seventh, re-enlisted as from Clinton.
General Foster's Brigade was made the First Brigade of the Coast Division; General Reno's Brigade, containing the Twenty-first Massachusetts, the Second, and General Parke's, the Third. Thus, the division contained fifty-one Clinton men. This Coast Division under General Burnside had the following work marked out for it during the winter and spring of 1862: Capture Roanoke Island and all the posts north of it; capture Newbern and the railroad going through it as far west as Goldsborough ; reduce Fort Macon and open Port Beaufort; seize Raleigh, and destroy the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad.
The regiments embarked January 6th, but lay at anchor in the harbor until the 9th. The fleet was perhaps the largest that has ever been gathered in American waters, and must have formed a most imposing spectacle as it moved from the harbor. The Twenty-first, under Lieutenant- colonel Maggi, as Colonel Morse remained at Annapolis, was on the transport Northerner, and the Twenty-fifth on the New York. As it was desirable that the points to be attacked should not be known to the rebels, lest they should be reënforced, the destination of the fleet was kept secret until it was well under way. Passing by Fortress Munroe and skirting along the shores of Virginia and North Caro- lina, the fleet rounded Cape Hatteras in a strong wind on the 12th. Hatteras Inlet, which had been taken by a Union expedition under Commodore Stringham some months be- fore, is a small opening into the sea from Pamlico Sound.
566
CLINTON MEN IN NORTH CAROLINA.
It was at this time passable only under favorable circum- stances. Here, in the midst of terrible storms, causing severe sea sickness and constant danger of shipwreck, the larger transports lingered for two weeks. The water gave out, the food became unfit to eat. Altogether, the troops had a most miserable time. At last, on the 26th, the Northerner got through, and on the 31st, the New York passed into the open water of the Sound.
It was the 5th of February before the fleet advanced to the attack of the rebel fortifications on Roanoke Island. "Eighty vessels started up Pamlico Sound with every flag flying, moving in precise order and with well-dressed lines." It was at this time that Sergt. Charles Plummer Tidd died. He had just been selected to take command of a band of sixty scouts. "Every man of the sixty was a good shot, fearless and strong, and Tidd the strongest and bravest of them all." On the 7th, Fort Barton, a rude fortification, was silenced by the gunboats. Then, the troops landed just at night, struggling through the deep water and mud to the shore. The next day, an advance was made, the Twenty- fifth Massachusetts taking the lead. The central redoubt of the enemy was reached and an engagement took place at a distance of about two hundred yards, which lasted for three hours. When the ammunition was exhausted, the regiment was commanded to withdraw and did so in good order. Later in the day, this regiment stayed a panic by its steadi- ness, when the New York Zouaves by mistake fired upon a Connecticut regiment. Three Clinton men of the Twenty- fifth were wounded during the day: Christian Lindhardt, in the hand; Ferdinand Schwam, in the hand; George Vetter, in the arm and breast.
At last, General Reno advanced with the Second Brigade with the Twenty-first Massachusetts in the front. When the enemy had been driven in and they were near the redoubt, Reno ordered a bayonet charge. "The Twenty-first Regi- ment now came rapidly into line of battle and started for
567
BATTLE OF ROANOKE ISLAND.
the battery with a shout of exultation. The rebel garrison and reserves firing one more volley, turned and fled before our strong, unwavering line, and we poured into the battery, captured the rebel flag and planted our state colors on the parapet." Thus the key to the enemy's position was seized, and the island was surrendered with all the rebels who had failed to escape in the boats. Some two thousand six hun- dred and seventy-seven prisoners were taken. The rebel flags captured were ordered by the Massachusetts House of Representatives to "be displayed during the present session in the hall of the House as memorials of the heroic valor and energy of the men of the Twenty-first, Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth and Twenty-seventh Regiments. The Speaker of the House said of the Twenty-first: "Led in their impetuous charge by a soldier of Garibaldi, they had plucked one of these trophies of victory from the very crest of battle." Patrick J. Dickson was the only Clinton man of the Twenty-first wounded in the engagement. Lieutenant- colonel Maggi resigned soon after this battle, and Major Clark took command of the Twenty-first. The Twenty-third Regiment took part in the battle of Roanoke Island, but with no casualties, as far as is known, to the Clinton men. The Twenty-fourth was not engaged until the very end of the conflict.
On the 12th of March, the fleet moved once more and entered the Neuse River on its way to Newbern. On the 13th, in the midst of a heavy rain, the Twenty-fifth landed. The men marched forward and passed the night, having .come within range of the enemy's guns, lying on the ground, while the rain fell incessantly. The attack on the outworks began on the 14th. The First Brigade made the attack on the left of the enemy, where the fort and batteries were, while the Second and Third Brigades were to turn their right wing. The Twenty-fifth was exposed to a severe fire for some time, as the men fought on the edge of the wood before the fortifications of the enemy, where the main body of the
568
CLINTON MEN IN NORTH CAROLINA.
enemy was massed, but as they heard a cheer given by the advancing forces on the left, they became uncontrollable and, as Colonel Upton said: "The Twenty-fifth Massachu- setts sent up a hideous yell and sprang forward." The enemy were panic stricken, although outnumbering their assailants, and, without waiting to meet them, fled. The Twenty-fifth pursued and captured some two hundred pris- oners. Meanwhile, on the left, the Twenty-first was severely engaged, and, as General Burnside reported, "from its ex- posed position and the daring of its officers and men, suffered the greatest loss." Four companies of this regiment charged on a battery of flying artillery and took the first gun from the enemy. Patrick J. Dickson was again wounded. The Twenty-third was not severely engaged at Newbern, but the Twenty-fourth lost heavily. There were no casual- ties among Clinton men. The rebels left Newbern and our troops entered the city. General Burnside said of his troops in this battle: "After a tedious march, dragging their how- itzers by hand through swamps and thickets, after a sleepless night passed in a drenching rain, they met the enemy in his chosen position, found him protected by strong earth-works, mounting many and heavy guns, and in an open field them- selves, they conquered. With such soldiers, advance is vic- tory."
On the 17th of April, five regiments, among them the Twenty-first Massachusetts, under General Reno set out to make a demonstration on Camden. The Twenty-first landed at Elizabeth City at seven o'clock in the morning on the 19th and marched in an intense heat through deep mud to South- Mills, a distance of some seventeen miles, reaching there about noon. The men were then sent round a considerable distance through underbrush to flank the line of the rebel fortifications, and there they fought a brisk battle, lasting until nearly night, and drove the rebels from the works. Having accomplished the object of the expedition they returned the seventeen miles to their boats, reaching them at five the next
569
ABOUT NEWBERN.
morning. A march of thirty-four miles and a sharp battle in twenty-two hours is a remarkable record. Thus ended the important work of the Twenty-first in North Carolina, as it was ordered to Virginia in the summer. Notwithstand- ing its difficult work, it carried back with it the seventeen or eighteen Clinton men with whom it had sailed from Annapo- lis in January.
General Foster was made military governor of Newbern. Company G of the Twenty-fifth, being especially musical, took a prominent part in the many entertainments the boys gave in the city, and, on the whole, led a happy and easy life. The men were not free from disease, however. On July 9th, George Vetter died in Newbern, the first Clinton man lost from this regiment. August 6th, John Gordon of Company E was discharged for disability, to die at home on the 6th of the next month. Two other Clinton men were discharged for disability. Meanwhile, the regiment had received nine Clinton recruits. One more was added in August. This gives a total of thirty-five in the regiment at the close of the summer. Of the three in the Twenty-third Regiment, Jonathan Sawyer was discharged May 9th, and died at home May 29th. One was discharged in August for disability, leaving only one at Newbern. There was also one Clinton man in the Twenty-fourth, thus making thirty-seven in all, in the city.
The history of the Twenty-fifth and its companion regi- ments, which remained in North Carolina for the next year and a half is an uneventful one. They took part in several expeditions and fought in a number of minor battles, such as Kingston, Whitehall, Goldsborough and Gum Swamp, but we have no record that any Clinton man was injured in these battles, although Francis A. Bowers lost his right arm while on garrison duty at Hill's Point. The regiment did not, however, escape disease, which is generally more destructive among soldiers than the bullets of the enemy. November 3, 1862, William F. Klein died at Newbern, N. C. Eight were
38
570
CLINTON VOLUNTEERS.
discharged for disability. This left twenty-five Clinton men in the ranks.
The last man from Clinton left in the Twenty-third, was discharged for disability, August 14, 1863. One, Edward Maloy, remained in the Twenty-fourth, but, as he died at home of consumption, April 19, 1864, he must have left the regiment while it was in North Carolina. The Fifth and Fifty-first, nine months regiments, joined the Twenty-fifth in North Carolina. In each of these, there were two Clinton men. As these men were mustered in September, 1862, their term of service expired in June, 1863. Thus there were only twenty-five Clinton men in all, in North Carolina, September I, 1863. This number remained unchanged until the spring of 1864.
In September and October of 1861, three Clinton men enlisted in the First Massachusetts Cavalry. This regiment went into camp at Readville, and the companies in which the Clinton men served, during the spring of 1862 were in the Department of the South at Hilton Head, Beaufort and near Charleston. It took part in no serious engagement before September, 1862, when it joined the Army of the Potomac. One was mustered into the Twenty-eighth Infantry Reg- iment, which also served in the Department of the South until it was assigned to the Ninth Corps and joined its for- tunes with those of the Twenty-first under Pope.
THE lack of success in Virginia convinced the authorities at Washington that more troops would be needed, so that the recruiting, which had been unwisely stopped, was begun again. Lincoln's call for three hundred thousand more troops on July 2d caused a deeper excitement in Clinton than had been felt since the disaster of Ball's Bluff. Patri- otism on the one hand, and the fear of a draft on the other, inspired all to use every effort to see that Clinton's quota should be filled up by volunteering.
July 10th, a meeting of citizens was held to devise meas-
571
RECRUITING.
ures for raising the desired number of men. A committee, consisting of Franklin Forbes, H. C. Greeley, J. H. Vose, J. T. Dame and Josiah Alexander, Jr., was chosen to take the whole matter into consideration and report on Monday, July 14th. The posters for the meeting of Monday, said: "Our country and humanity call us. Let us show by our response to their demand for men and means, that we are not forget- ful of our obligations to preserve the inheritance bequeathed us by our fathers; that we have hearts to feel for those who have braved the perils of battle and have felt the rebels' lead and steel." The meeting proved a very enthusiastic one. The committee reported on the authority of the adjutant- general that no draft need be feared for the present and that, if any such draft should occur in the future, all the men that Clinton furnished would surely be placed to her credit. "It is," said Mr. Forbes, "the voluntary marching forth of free men in defence of the government and the laws which pro- tect them and of the flag which they love and which they will never suffer to be hauled down, much less trampled upon by rampant rebellion or braggart slavocracy." A committee was appointed to assist the selectmen in recruiting, and vari- ous recommendations, tending in the same direction, were voted on. In recommending a bounty, Mr. Forbes in behalf of the committee, said that it was not given with the idea of "paying men in full for services rendered, nor as an offset for hardships and dangers to be undergone, nor as a stimu- lant to doubtful patriotism or reluctant courage, but as a fra- ternal help, a facility to aid them to go forth speedily to the battles, which the love of their country, or for the country of their adoption, urges them to fight."
On the 22d, a town meeting was held with the following result: Voted, "that the sum of six thousand dollars be appropriated for the payment of bounties to such soldiers, inhabitants of this town, as may be enlisted for the war.
"Voted, that the town pay the sum of one hundred dol- lars to each inhabitant thereof, volunteering for the war, to
572
CLINTON VOLUNTEERS.
form the quota called for by the adjutant-general, such bounty to become due and payable to such soldier on his acceptance and taking the requisite oaths as a volunteer.
"Voted, that any inhabitant of this town, who as such inhabitant has already enlisted under the President's call for three hundred thousand men, been accepted and taken the requisite oaths, shall be entitled to and receive the same bounties as those hereafter enlisting.
"Voted, that no inhabitant of Clinton enlisting into the service of the United States be considered as entitled to the bounty, who does not cause his name to be entered on the muster roll as such inhabitant."*
Great amounts of hospital supplies were prepared and forwarded. The ladies, feeling that some permanent organi- zation for the relief of soldiers and their families was needed, held a meeting July 3Ist. August Ist, a second meeting was held, the organization completed and the following board of
* This advertisement appeared for some weeks in the Courant :-
" Citizens of Clinton TO THE RESCUE! Sixty-nine Recruits Wanted! $100 Town Bounty! Sixty-nine Recruits are wanted from this Town to fill up Regiments already in the field, and as an induce- ment, the Town of Clinton offers a bounty of ONE HUNDRED DOL- LARS, to be paid to each man on his being mustered into the United States service. They will also receive $25 BOUNTY, ONE MONTH'S PAY IN ADVANCE, AND $75 AT THE END OF THE WAR!
"Young men, now is your time! Come to the call of your country!
" The Selectmen are authorized by the Commander-in-Chief to raise the above-named number. Also, in connection with the Selectmen, the following named gentlemen are authorized to recruit in Clinton: Col. G. M. Palmer, Edwin A. Harris, Lieut. A. L. Fuller, Donald Cameron, G. W. Beck, F. Forbes, E. K. Gibbs, J. H. Vose, Henry N. Bigelow, Maj. C. C. Stone, J. T. Dame, Felix Nugent, J. Alexander, Jr., H. C. Greeley, D. B. Ingalls, H. Eddy.
An office is opened in the Bigelow Library Building, where some of the members of the Committee will be happy to wait on all who wish to enlist. Also, at the Store of J. F. Maynard, on Union Street.
" PER ORDER OF SELECTMEN.
"Clinton, July 19, 1862."
573
CLINTON SOLDIERS' AID SOCIETY.
directors elected : Franklin Forbes, president; Gilbert Greene, treasurer ; H. C. Greeley, secretary ; Mrs. J. F. Maynard, Mrs. J. M. Heard, Mrs. C. W. Field, Mrs. C. G. Stevens. The balance of the fund collected for the Light Guard, some three hundred and fifty dollars, was given to this association. This circular was issued: "Every inhabi- tant of Clinton, young and old, male and female, is consti- tuted a member, and is invited to cooperate. No conditions of membership are required except a heart in sympathy with the cause." The following is the constitution of the society, adopted at a public meeting of the citizens of Clinton, held at Clinton Hall, August 1, 1862:
"We, the people of Clinton, hereby organize ourselves under the name of the 'Clinton Soldiers' Aid Society,' for the purpose of furnishing assistance and relief to Union soldiers and the families of all such in Clinton, during the present war. The whole power and authority of our association shall be vested in seven directors, three gentlemen and four ladies, who shall choose from their own number a president, secre- tary and treasurer, and may select and appoint any other officers, committees and agents at their discretion. They may also make regulations for their own conduct, and are empowered to fill all vacancies in their own board."
The circular continues: "A room in the Bigelow Library building is opened every day from two to five P. M., for the meeting of all interested in the welfare of our brothers, who are fighting in our behalf for the cause of liberty and law. To this may be carried all articles intended for the soldiers' use, whether in camp or hospital, and here, all information respecting the soldier, his wants, his wishes, and his history can be received and imparted, and all measures for his good and for the good of his family can be presented, discussed and forwarded. The directors will keep a record of all arti- cles sent in and of their donors, and will hasten them to their destination. The articles indicated by the United States Sanitary Commission as most wanted, are shirts, drawers,
574
CLINTON VOLUNTEERS.
towels, handkerchiefs, pillow-cases, socks, sheets, pillows, quilts, bed-ticks, cushions, lint, bandages, old muslin, old cotton cloth, old linen, second-hand pants, coats and vests." The rooms were opened August 8th, and daily meetings were held.
August IIth and 15th, a Drill Club was organized with Franklin Forbes, Maj. C. C. Stone and G. W. Weeks as direc- tors. Sixty-two names were enrolled at the second meeting.
Meanwhile, private patriotism and generosity helped on the work. Franklin Forbes offered ten dollars each to the first ten men who would enlist from Lancaster Mills, with the promise that they should have their places in the mill on their return. To the same ten men, Donald Cameron offered five dollars apiece more. On Sunday, August 10th, a war meeting was held in the Baptist Church, at which Rev. C. M. Bowers offered a copy of the Scriptures, costing twelve dollars, to each of the first four, who would enlist from his congregation.
August 4th, occurred the funeral of Sergt. Edward W. Benson. This was the first public funeral of a soldier that had taken place in town. The services were conducted by Rev. J. M. Heard, assisted by Rev. Mr. Fairchild of Sterling, and were of the most impressive character. Various organiza- tions followed the body to the cemetery. The military band of the Thirty-fourth Regiment played the funeral dirge and a military salute was fired above his open grave. The funeral as a whole was not only a solemn honor paid to the dead soldier, but it was also an appeal to "the devotion and patri- otism of the surviving, to fill the broken ranks."
Asa result of all this depth of feeling and a vast amount of individual work, fifty-eight were enrolled during July and August. As a whole, the class of men that enlisted was surely not inferior to those who had enlisted under the first call for troops. It was, however, a very different thing to enlist, when all the horrors of war were fully realized, from what it was when those, who went forth, did not know what was be-
575
THE THIRTY-FOURTH.
fore them. No simple money inducement could have counted for much in comparison with the dangers to be met and the labors to be undergone. Even with the bounties given, the wages of the men were very small compared with what most of them received at home. There is no doubt that it required as much personal patriotism to enlist in 1862 as in 1861.
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