USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Essex > History of the town of Essex : from 1634 to 1868 > Part 35
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The duties of the company were more or less active, consisting largely in guarding the ammunition, the commissary stores, teams and forage belonging to the brigade, and the plantations in the rear, as well as keeping the roads well guarded leading into the camp. It was in this position and discharging these duties, that the company was occupied until the final surrender of Port Hudson, which took place on the 8th of July following. Company E were ordered to join their regiment on the next morning, July 9th, and march into that long rebellious Port Hudson, now rebellious, it is believed, no more. The steamers at the landing received them, and at dark started down the river, stopping a few minutes only at Baton Rouge, and proceeding on to Donaldsonville, arriving there at eight o'clock next morning. The 10th of July, was excessively hot, and while lying upon the ground, Capt. H. re- ceived a sun-stroke, on account of which the surgeon ordered him to Baton Rouge, as unfit for duty.
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 7.
The Forty-eighth came up from Donaldsonville on the 2d of August, and on the 8th, they received orders to turn in their muskets and equipments to the Quartermaster, which was done on Sunday the 9th. At four o'clock they embarked on board the steamer Sunny South for Cairo, Ill., where they arrived August 17th, having stopped at Natchez, Vicksburg, Memphis, Helena and Columbus.
From Cairo, they disembarked on the afternoon of the 18th, taking the cars for Boston, via Indianapolis, Cleveland, Buffalo and Albany. They reached Boston on Sabbath morning, August 23d, and arrived at the old homestead in Essex, on the afternoon of the same day.
Capt. H. and his men were mustered out of the United States service September 3d, being eleven and a half months from the time of mustering in. The event gave great joy to all households, except, of course, those which had been made desolate by the death of loved ones away. For those smitten and mourning families, the feelings and the tears of sympathy are not and shall not be wanting.
LAMONT G. BURNHAM.
Lamont G. Burnham was born August 5, 1844, and was the son of Wash- ington and Mary Burnham. He was a volunteer in Capt. Howes' company.
Mr. B's. journal commences on the 8th of June, after arriving in the Mississippi River, and immediately after a raid on Clinton, under date of June 8th, being eighteen days after the fight at Plain Store, Port Hudson. Our company, says Mr. B., is guard over the baggage train. The regiment is encamped at the Plain Store. During the night two regiments came out from the fort and attempted to spike some of the guns in Gen. Sherman's division, but were repulsed, and driven back to the fort. In the morning of the 9th of June, he went one and one-half miles for a canteen of water, and although at that early season, he found blackberries on the way. That night " heavy firing was commenced by our batteries about dark, and continued through the night." This continued through Wednesday, June 10th, and the night following. "Several of our men were wounded. Received the Boston Journal and the Essex Register of May 25th." The firing seems to have been continued through Thursday the 11th. An election of a Lieuten- ant-Colonel took place on the 12th, to supply the vacancy occasioned by the death of Lieut-Col. O'Brien. Capt. Stanwood of Company B was chosen, and by this election, says Mr. Burnham, "we lost our place on the right wing of the regiment, which was much regretted. Numbers of rebels came from the fort and gave themselves up-two hundred in the whole. Our regiment was moved from Plain Store to the front ; and part of the day was employed in clearing a road through the ravine, to carry ammunition to the battery in front, and the remainder of the day in supporting a marine battery of nine inch Dahlgren guns. Back to the store at night, and again to the front, marching in all about twelve miles that day. At twelve o'clock the firing of the large guns ceased; and a flag of truce was sent in, demanding the surren-
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1861-1865.] LAMONT G. BURNHAM'S SKETCHI.
der of the fort, which was replied to by Gen. Gardiner, that his duties to the Southern Confederacy would not permit him to surrender the fort.
" Severe fighting commenced on Sunday morning the 14th, all along the whole front. At about eight o'clock, our forces under Gen. Grover, charged and took the outer line of fortifications on the right. Along the whole line we were within a few hundred yards of the fort, and a continual fire of mus- ketry was kept up through the day. Some of the officers on the left of the Forty-eighth were wounded."
" There is something grand," remarks this young soldier, " in the flashes of musketry, and the sheet of flame and the heavy booming of the big guns, and the line of fire from the shell as it flies through the air, and the explo- sion, dealing death to those around." Ah ! how many like Lamont G. Burn- ham have seen those flashings of the musket and that sheet of flame ; how many have heard the booming of the big guns and seen the line of fire, and instead of recording it at the battle's close in poetic style almost like the above, have been numbered among those to whom the "explosion " was death! Well may Lamont add, as he does, "I hope I may never again see such a sight !"
The next day was one of comparative rest. Appearances indicated that the rebels were in much stronger force than had been supposed. Long trains of ammunition wagons poured into the enemy at intervals all day (the 15th). Neither was the fighting really renewed on Tuesday, although our siege bat- teries and sharp shooters were not wholly silent. Preparations were, however, made for another attack. Volunteers to the number of one thousand were called for as a storming party. "The brave Forty-eighth furnished twenty- seven." The term for which the nine months' men of Co. A, in the Forty- eighth, enlisted, expired on the 16th of June. The journal of this youthful soldier is so instructive that it ought not to be lost. On the 17th of June (1863), still at Port Hudson, he says " Co. A, which refused duty yesterday on account of their time being up, were drawn up in line before Col. Paine, and a company with fixed bayonets and loaded guns behind them, and each man was asked separately if he would do duty. All but four complied, who were placed under arrest to be sentenced by court martial."
On the 19th of June, the time for which Company E enlisted, expired, but nothing appeared like preparations for leaving for home. It was not for- gotten of course, but the experience of Company A, the day before, operated to prevent a man from refusing to do duty. News of the surrender of Vicks- burg reached Port Hudson. The journalist makes the affecting entry on the 21st of June, that F. Gilbert Mears died of chronic diarrhoea.
AARON LOW.
Aaron Low, aged 29 years, was born in Essex ; he was a farmer, and the son of Warren and Mary Low. He enlisted September 8, 1862, in Com- pany E, Forty-eighth regiment, Capt. Howes ; went into camp at Wenham, and there remained until December. At this time the regiment was sent to
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
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Readville, where they remained until they were ordered to New York. The passage was made on board the Constellation.
Mr. Low's journal is filled with the result of his observations at almost every stage of the expedition. It is difficult from such a superabundance of matter to make a selection. He arrived at Fortress Monroe, however, on the 8th of January, 1863. " It (the fort,) can be seen," he observes, " oppo- site the Rip Raps, and further away is Sewall's Point." On the morning of the 9th, when they were expecting a Virginia sun, they encountered a snow- storm. On the 10th, he writes that there had not been much sickness on board, although three of Company E had been in the hospital, and to-day he says there has been a gloom and sadness cast over the men by the sudden death of. Mr. Peabody, one of their number, a man not far from fifty years of age. This was the second death that had then occurred in the company. The funeral took place on Sunday, the 11th, at a short distance from Hamp- ton. From the cupola of the hospital they had a splendid view of the ruins of the village of Hampton that had been burnt by the rebels. Mr. Low's habit of observation would not allow him to be idle when there was anything to instruct. The country around the hospital, he observes, is level, and most of it apparently productive, notwithstanding the air of desolation around. The large, smooth fields that were apparently in a high state of cultivation when the rebellion commenced, are now covered over with a rank, coarse vegetation. On the road to Hampton they saw a few scattering apple-trees, and one small orchard of apple and peach-trees, though untrimmed and thrift- less, and in sad contrast with the productive orchards of old Massachusetts. " The Hygiene hospital," Mr. Low writes, " where poor O. H. P. Sargent's life went out, in the flush of his manhood, has been taken down, to give bet- ter range to the guns of the fort, as after McClellan's defeat before Richmond, an attack on the fort was anticipated." "It was with feelings of sadness," he continues, "that I stood upon the spot, consecrated by the sufferings of so many of those who have left all to serve the country. I took a sprig or two from the shrubbery as mementos of Sargent, whose eyes mayhap have looked on them before they were closed in death."
On Wednesday, January 14th, the ship sailed for New Orleans with a good breeze, and on the 16th, the sea had become very rough, producing sea- sickness, as a matter of course. On Sabbath, the 18th, it is interesting to observe that the New Testament is read; the men were around on the deck, some reading the Bible, or whatever they could find to while away the time.
Mr. L. complains of the absence of books and papers as one of the most serious of privations, though he admits that " one cannot feel lonesome among so many, as there are so many phases of human nature to study."
We find our Forty-eighth up the Mississippi River shortly after the above, and from Baton Rouge on the 7th of February, Mr. L. records the feeling of transport which pervaded the troops on the arrival of their chaplain, Rev. Dr. Spaulding of Newburyport, with letters from home. On the 9th the unusual appearance of the season is thus described : " Robins and sparrows
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AARON LOW'S SKETCH.
1861-1865.]
are quite plenty, and the frogs peeping in the evening, make it seem more like Spring than Winter ;" and at 10 o'clock on the night of the 10th of February, after posting his guard, he says, the air is as warm as September or June, and the peeping of frogs and the hum of inseets make the illusion complete. Lieut. Brown of Ipswich inspeeted them, the 12th of February. After a stroll in the woods in the afternoon of the same day, he says, there are many very large trees of sweet gum and white wood, measuring from four to seven feet through, and fifty to seventy-five feet high, elear of limbs. There are also noble specimens of lime and white oak and magnolia. There does not appear to have been any eare taken of these noble trees for a long time, as many are standing thirty to fifty feet high, branchless and barkless. Within the eirele of a few rods, I counted the remains of five enormous trees, seven to eight feet in diameter, and from one hundred to two hundred feet high, which had been eut down years ago, and a small part carried away.
Sickness is mentioned on the 27th of February. " Have been down to the general hospital where Solomon A. Riggs, Horace Burnham, J. Daniels, and J. Jewett are. The boys are all getting along well. The hospital was formerly a deaf and dumb asylum. Went to see the ruins of the State House, once a splendid building, costing nearly a million and a half of dol- lars. At the time it was burnt it was occupied by our troops and by rebel prisoners ; it is supposed to have been set on fire. The charred remains of State documents, pamphlets, marble mantles, and fire-places besides the ruins of costly furniture are all lying in a confused mass in the tanks below. The building stood a short distance from the river, the banks on this side being much higher than on the other."
IRA FRANCIS BURNHAM.
Ira Franeis Burnham was born in Essex, November 21, 1844 ; his father's name was Ira Burnham, and his mother's Harriet; occupation formerly, farming ; sinee the war, vessel-building. He enlisted in the Forty-eighth Regiment, in September, 1862; was mustered in at Wenham, and was there from the middle of September to the last of November. "Our regiment con- sisted of eight companies, and near the last of November, six companies were ordered to Readville, where we remained till after Christmas. Near the last of December we were ordered to Groton, Ct., by rail, thence by steamer to New York, where we remained about five days, and thenee by sailing vessel, the Constellation, left for Fortress Monroe, and again, in about one week, left in same vessel for New Orleans, where we arrived February 1st. The grass was then green ; oranges upon the trees looked inviting. Our next place of destination was Baton Rouge. Some siekness made its appearance about this time. Solomon A. Riggs and Horace Burnham, also Maurice Callehan had been sick on the voyage from New York. We left the two former at New Orleans. Andrews came up about the 1st of May. Horace B. was discharged for disability, at New Orleans. Our first fight was at Plain Store, so ealled, near Port Hudson. Not being able to do full duty, I
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was appointed Col. Stone's orderly. Col. Chapin commanded our brigade at the time of our attack on Port Hudson. My duty as orderly, was to report to the adjutant-general of the brigade, the state and condition of our regiment, which statement was prepared by our Adjutant Ogden, showing the number sick or in any way disabled, and the number ready for duty. I was in both assaults on Port Hudson, one in May and the other in June. After the May attack, our regiment was sent back to Plain Store, as a rear guard. We remained there till the evening before the June attack ; this attack was on the Sabbath. Neither attack, as is well-known, was successful ; the fort did not surrender till July 8th. I received my bounty of $200 after being mustered in, and $13 per month while in the service. In case of our advan- cing money for our uniforms, it was afterwards refunded. I was in the hos- pital at Baton Rouge about nine weeks, with fever."
SOLOMON A. RIGGS.
Solomon A. Riggs, the son of Asa and Anna Riggs, was born in Essex, November 7, 1834. He enlisted in the Forty-eighth Massachusetts Volun- teers, Company E, at the time of its formation. Mr. Riggs' fortunes as a soldier are almost told when it is stated that he was in Company E, inasmuch as the history of the company has already been so particularly told by the captain and others. He was sick, however, and sent to the hospital at New Orleans ; though we find him, when only partially recovered, namely, on the 13th of May, leaving the hospital to join the company, though still unable, says the captain, to do duty. This it will be recollected, was on the same day when Wilkins James died, and was buried.
JOHN F. HART.
John F. Hart enlisted in the Fourteenth Regiment, Company A, afterwards made First Heavy Artillery. His enlistment was in August, 1862, and they reached Camp Cameron at Cambridge the same day. They remained there about one week, when they received their uniforms and equipments, and left for Washington, being ordered to join the said First Heavy Artillery, then numbering about fifteen hundred men. The history of this soldier is so nearly identified with that of Joseph W. Tucker, that perhaps little more need be said, than to refer the reader to the sketch of Mr. Tucker, except where the statements are strictly personal.
JOSEPH W. TUCKER.
Joseph W. Tucker was 35 years and six months old when he enlisted, viz., on the 2d of August, 1862. He was born in Boston, March 20, 1827. The Fourteenth Massachusetts, Company A, into which Mr. Tucker enlisted, was subsequently made, as before stated, the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. Mr. Tucker left Essex August 13, 1862, and arrived at Camp Cameron in Cambridge the same day. On the 21st of August, he found himself in Washington, and along with. other Essex soldiers, attached as above stated, and stationed at the fort five and a half miles from Washington, in Virginia.
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SKETCHES OF THE SOLDIERS.
1861-1865.]
In three days more they were ordered to reinforce Gen. Pope, then at Cloud's Mills, and were in what was called Pope's defeat, and in the battle of Fair- fax, five miles beyond the court-house, and at the close of the battle, the same day, were ordered to Fort De Kalb, there to do garrison duty. In three weeks, Mr. T. was detailed for hospital duty at Fort Craig. Here he re- mained seventeen months.
GEORGE F. BURNHAM.
George F. Burnham, 2d, son of Joel and Mary Burnham, was born April 15, 1837. He enlisted in Company E, Capt. Howes, Forty-eighth Massa- chusetts, Col. Stone, for nine months. His fortunes being identified with those of the company, need not, as indeed in his absence, they cannot be mi- nutely described. He received his discharge with the company, and returned with them.
JAMES HORACE BURNHAM.
James Horace Burnham, son of Michael and Patience Burnham, enlisted at the age of 19 years, being in July, 1862, into the Thirty-ninth Massa- chusetts, Col. P. S. Davis, Company A, Capt. Nelson. This regiment left the State on the 6th of September, and were ordered to the defenses of Washington, where they remained until July 6, 1863, when they joined the Army of the Potomac. Their first engagement was at Mine Run, Va., on the 29th and 30th of December, 1863, although they had had some skir- mishes under Gen. Meade ; indeed the army had been under Gen. Meade wholly till this time, when the command was taken by Gen. Grant. In the following Spring they crossed the Rapidan, and attacked the rebel army, May 6th, at the Wilderness, Va. The fighting continued until the 8th, when he was wounded by a rifle ball in the abdomen. This was the fight near Spottsylvania Court House, and that ball he carried till the 14th of March, 1865, when it was extracted at the Summit House hospital in Philadelphia. Up to the time of being wounded Mr. B. had never been away from the reg- iment, although he had had a typhoid fever, disqualifying him for duty some eight weeks. He never joined the regiment after the ball was extracted, and after the surrender of Lee, was discharged.
ISRAEL F. ANDREWS.
Israel F. Andrews, aged 30 years, shoemaker, was the son of Israel and Kezia Andrews, and born in Essex. IIe enlisted for nine months, in Com- pany E, Capt. Howes, Forty-eighth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, August 28, 1862. He was in the battle at Donaldsonville, and the siege at Port Hudson. His history, except when strictly personal, is so incorporated in the interesting sketch given by Capt. Howes, like many others, that it is thought sufficient to refer the reader to that sketch.
HORACE BURNHAM.
Horace Burnham, son of John and Sarah C. Burnham, was born in Essex, February 20, 1843. He enlisted in August, 1862, into Company E, Capt. 48
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 7.
Howes, Forty-eighth Massachusetts Volunteers, for nine months. He was taken sick before seeing any service, and continued so until discharged. He was absent from home just nine months.
LEWIS BURNHAM.
Lewis Burnham, aged 18 years, was the son of Noah and Caroline Burn- ham ; ship carpenter, born in Essex. He enlisted September 8, 1862, in Company E, Forty-eighth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. His regi- ment left the State on the 27th of December, to join Gen. Banks' command at New Orleans. He was taken prisoner, July 13, 1863, but released on parole the next day. He came home by the way of Cairo, and thence by land.
ALBERT F. BURNHAM.
Albert F. Burnham, 2d, was born in Essex, November 1, 1840. He was a ship carpenter, and the son of Ebenezer and Susan T. Burnham. He en- listed August 30, 1862, in Capt. Wheatland's Company E, afterwards Capt. Howes', Forty-eighth Massachusetts Volunteers. After encamping first at Wenham, September 19, 1862, and then at Readville, the regiment was or- dered to the Mississippi River to join the command of Gen. Banks. Mr. B. states that he was not in any battle, was never wounded, nor in any hospital, nor at any time a prisoner ; received bounty and wages as did all others of that regiment and company.
ALPHONSO M. HARDY.
Alphonso M. Hardy, aged 19 years, and a line maker, was born in Essex, and was the son of Daniel and Mary Hardy. He enlisted August 23, 1862, in Capt. Howes' Company E. He was discharged from Camp Lander, at Wenham, for disability, October 1, 1862.
ANDREW JACKSON.
Andrew Jackson, aged 28 years, was the son of Jotham Jackson. He enlisted in Company E, Massachusetts Forty-eighth Regiment, September 19, 1862. His subsequent history is not known.
LUTHER HAYDEN.
Luther Hayden, aged 44 years, was born in Braintree, and was hotel- keeper and stabler, and the son of Barnabas and Rusby Hayden. He en- listed August 25, 1862, in Capt. Howes' Company E, Forty-eighth Massa- chusetts Regiment. Mr. Hayden's history is part and parcel with that of all the members of this company substantially. He was consequently one of those to whom Capt. Howes' compliment of good soldiership applies, and to which the reader is again referred.
LEONARD BURNHAM.
Leonard Burnham, at the time of enlistment, on the 28th of August, 1862, was 22 years of age, and the son of Michael and Patience Burnham. Mr. B. went into camp at Wenham, September 15th, and was mustered into the service of the United States, in the Forty-eighth Regiment, on the 19th of
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1861-1865.]
September, Company E, Capt. Howes. He was with the regiment and fol- lowed its fortunes until the 11th of April, 1863. when he was taken sick and went to the hospital. [See sketch of Capt. Howes, p. 364 and onward.] Mr. B. remained at the hospital two months and three weeks, at the close of which term he joined the regiment before Port Hudson, on the 3d of June, and was with them through the remainder of that siege, also in a skirmish at Donaldsonville. He came home with the regiment, and was mustered out of service on the 3d of September, 1863, at Wenham.
JOHN McEACHEN.
John McEachen, was born in Port Hood, Nova Scotia, July 2, 1837 ; occupation ship carpenter ; son of John and Mary McEachen. He enlisted on the 30th of August, 1862, in Company E, Forty-eighth Massachusetts; mustered in, September 19, 1862, and his history is fully described in that of the other members of the company from Essex, to which reference is to be made. His own statement, however, is brief and may be inserted in a few words, thus: "I was in the first fight at Port Hudson Plain, May 21, 1863, also in the unsuccessful second attack, May 27th. Our place of encamp- ment was in front of Port Hudson. I have not been wounded or ever been made a prisoner of war. For two months, however, I was in a hospital for medical treatment."
ROBERT PREST.
Robert Prest, aged 37 years, is a wheelwright by trade, and has a wife and four children ; son of William and Jane Prest. He was born near Plymouth in England ; enlisted in Company E, Forty-eighth Massachusetts. He was detailed as ambulance driver at New Orleans, until February 10, 1863, when he was discharged, his time having expired. In October, 1863, he ro-en- listed as artificer, in the Twelfth Company Unattached Heavy Artillery, Capt. Richardson. The regiment was stationed at Fort Pickering, Salem Harbor (February, 1864).
MAURICE CALLEHAN.
Maurice Callehan was born in Ireland, and enlisted in the Massachusetts Forty-eighth, Col. Stone, Company E, Capt. Howes. The history of Maurice Callehan as given by him verbally (except so far as involved with others of Company E, and therefore unnecessary to be repeated, ) informs us that he was taken sick in about two days after going on board the Constella- tion at New York, bound for the Mississippi. "I was better," says he, " on arriving at Baton Rouge, February 4th. I think I remained there about two months, doing guard duty. I was in the battle at Plain Store, and in both attacks on Port Hudson. I was sick again when on the Baton Rouge road for about three weeks, where we were without shelter of any kind, except the shelter-tent and the trees, together with a rubber blanket. This tent con- sists of two pieces of cotton cloth, buttoned together. Our physician was Dr. Hurd, but I was sick nearly a week before he was called. In addition to the fever, I was afflicted with chronic diarrhoea. After the surrender of
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Port Hudson, we were ordered down the river to Donaldsonville. I was with the company the rest of the time, and returned home with them. I was never wounded, though I was several times unwell, besides the two sick- nesses referred to above."
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