USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts in the war, 1861-1865 Pt. 1 > Part 10
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James Buffinton of Fall River represented the Second district in the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses. In both he was a member of the Committee on Military Affairs, and in the latter as well of the Committee on Accounts.
Oakes Ames of Easton succeeded Mr. Buffinton. in the election of 1862, and represented the district in the Thirty-eighth and suc- ceeding Congresses. On taking his seat, Mr. Ames, who was an influential business man, was appointed on three committees,-those on Revolutionary Claims, Manufactures, and the select Committee
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on the Pacific Railroad, serving on the two last named during the Thirty-ninth Congress.
Charles Francis Adams of Quincy, who had represented the Third district in the Thirty-sixth Congress, was re-elected in 1860 for another term, but before the assembling of the special session of the Thirty-seventh he had been appointed minister to England by the new administration and was succeeded in Congress by Benjamin F. Thomas of Boston, who during the Thirty-seventh Congress was a member of the Committee on the Judiciary. The re-apportionment of the state into ten congressional districts, previous to the election for the Thirty-eighth Congress, had virtually the effect of abolish- ing what had been the Third district. Mr. Rice of the old Fourth district became the representative of the new Third, and the other districts, with more or less changes in their territorial limits, changed their numbers to correspond.
Alexander II. Rice of Boston had been elected to the Thirty-sixth Congress from the Fourth district, serving on the Committee on the District of Columbia, and was re-elected to the Thirty-seventh, being placed on the Committees on Naval Affairs and Expenditures in the Treasury Department. By the changes in districts, Mr. Rice in the fall of 1862 was a candidate for re-election in the Third dis- triet, and it was at first supposed that his competitor, John S. Sleeper of Boston, the People's party candidate, had been elected, and it was so declared. An error was discovered, however in the vote of South Boston, then the Twelfth ward of Boston, which gave Mr. Rice the election by a small margin, and the case being taken to the House of Representatives in regular form, he was on the 4th of March, 1864, declared entitled to the seat. He was during that Congress and the following chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs, and in the Thirty-ninth also a member of the Committee on Revisal and Unfinished Business. But it was in connection with naval matters that the great influence of Mr. Rice was exerted. In that field he was a power during the entire course of the war, giving careful attention to the various phases of the subject as they came into prominence from time to time, and dealing with them thoroughly and with power.
William Appleton of Boston was the only member of the Mas- sachusetts delegation in the Thirty-seventh Congress not a republi- can. He was elected from the Fifth district in the fall of 1860 by
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a coalition of the voters opposed to Anson Burlingame of Cam- bridge, the representative of the district in the Thirty-sixth Con- gress, who had been a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Mr. Appleton was assigned to the Committee on Ways and Means at the organization of the House in July, 1861, but resigned his seat at the close of the special session.
Samuel Hooper of Boston was elected to succeed Mr. Appleton, and was sworn in at the opening of the second session of the Thirty-seventh Congress in December, 1861. He took the place of his predecessor on the Committee on Ways and Means, holding it through the two succeeding Congresses, to which he was re-elected, the number of his district being changed to the Fourth. In the Thirty-ninth Congress he was also made a member of the Commit- tee on Banking and Currency. Mr. Hooper was an active member of Congress, especially well qualified for the consideration of finan- cial affairs. His opinions consequently had much weight, and he speedily became a valued adviser to the treasury department as well as an honored member of the state delegation.
Jolin B. Alley of Lynn was elected to the Thirty-sixth Congress as representative of the Sixth district, serving during the four terms which succeeded. During the eight years he was a member of the Committee on Post-offices and Post-roads, being its chairman during the last four years. He was also a member of the Commit- tee on Manufactures in the Thirty-seventh Congress and of the select Committee on the Bankrupt Law of the Thirty-ninth. While he was by no means an obscure Congressman, the nature of his committees was such as to call for patient work and sound, prompt judgment rather than to bring him prominently to public notice. Yet his voice was ever ready in support of the right as he saw it, whether in dealing with the intricate matters before his committee or those occupying the attention of the House.
Daniel W. Gooch of Melrose had completed two terms in Con- gress as the representative from the Seventh district when the war broke out, and was also re-elected to the Thirty-seventh and Thirty- eighth Congress. Under President Buchanan he had been a member of the Committee on Territories ; in the Thirty-seventh Congress he was appointed on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in the Thirty-eighth on Private Land Claims and the select Committee on Rebellious States. His most important work, however, was done
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as a member of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, to which he was appointed on the 24th of December, 1861, heading the House delegation.
Nathaniel P. Banks of Waltham, who had previously been a mem- ber of Congress and speaker of the House of Representatives, was elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress as the successor of Mr. Gooch, and at once became a power in the body, being made chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and a member of the select Committee on Rules. His congressional services, however, need not be especially noticed here, as they were rendered subsequent to the close of the war.
Charles R. Train of Framingham, who had been a member of the Thirty-sixth Congress, was re-elected to represent the Eighth dis- trict in the Thirty-seventh. He was in both bodies chairman of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds ; in the Thirty-sixth he was in addition on the Expenditures in the Treasury Department, and in the Thirty-seventh on Public Expenditures. Mr. Train was a faithful and prized member of the delegation.
George S. Boutwell of Groton succeeded Mr. Train in the Thirty- eighth Congress, the number of the district having been changed to the Seventh. Mr. Boutwell's eminent abilities at once asserted themselves, making him one of the prominent representatives of the Bay State in the lower house of Congress. He was made a member of the Committee on the Judiciary, and in the Thirty-ninth Congress was in addition on the Committee on Private Land Claims. His services were especially valuable in the perplexing period of re- construction which followed the war.
Goldsmith F. Bailey of Fitchburg was elected from the Ninth district in the autumn of 1860 as the successor of Eli Thayer, who in the Thirty-sixth Congress had been chairman of the Committee on Public Lands. Mr. Bailey was appointed on the Committee on Territories, but his congressional service was a constant struggle with failing health. He became entirely prostrated early in 1862, making his last appearance in the House about the close of February, and died at his home in Fitchburg on the 8th of May.
Amasa Walker of North Brookfield served in the third session of the Thirty-seventh Congress as Mr. Goldsmith's successor for the unexpired portion of his term.
John D. Baldwin of Worcester represented the Eighth district
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THE LEADER OF THE DELEGATION.
(formerly the Ninth) in the Thirty-eighth Congress. He at once proved himself a " working member " and an carnest and able ad- vocate of the principles of his party and the hearty supporter of the cause of the national government. Early in his service he offered a resolution which was adopted, calling for the rejection of "all propositions for negotiation with the so-called authorities at Rich- mond, short of the unconditional submission of the revolted states to the general government." During his first term he was a mem- ber of the Committee on Expenditures on Public Buildings, the joint Committee on Printing and the special Committee on Emigration. Being re-elected for a second term, he continued on the first named committee and was also on the Committee on the District of Colum- bia.
Charles Delano of Northampton, from the Tenth district was a member of the Committee on the District of Columbia and the Committee on the Militia, in the Thirty-seventh Congress, and rendered especially valuable service in the House in regard to the development of the capacity of the Springfield Armory and other matters pertaining to the arming of the troops which were being called into the field.
William B. Washburn of Greenfield represented the Ninth dis- trict in the Thirty-eighth Congress, being a member of the Com- mittee on Invalid Pensions and that on Roads and Canals. Being re-elected for the succeeding term, he served on the Committees on Claims and on Revolutionary Pensions. While a faithful and re- spected member of the delegation, Mr. Washburn was by nature and inclination rather adapted to work in the committee room than to oratorical appeals to his associates and the country.
Henry L. Dawes of Adams began his congressional career in the Thirty-sixth Congress, and it is no more than just to designate him as being through the entire period of the war and his subsequent service as a Representative the leader of the Massachusetts delega- tion in the House of Representatives. He was throughout the war period a member of the Committee on Elections, being its chairman during the Thirty-eighth Congress-a position of great difficulty, as questions of the most important and perplexing nature were con- stantly coming before the committee and the House. But his ver- satile nature was not confined to the single line of work in which he perhaps rendered the most valuable service. He served also in
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the Thirty-sixth Congress on the Committee on Expenditures in the State Department, in the Thirty-seventh on the select Commit- tee on Contracts for the Government, and in the Thirty-ninth on Coinage, Weights and Measures ; he was frequently in the chair of the House when in Committee of the Whole, and in whatever per- tained to the welfare of the national government and of his Com- monwealth as a member of the Union, he was ever alert, indefati- gable and able. Mr. Dawes is the only member of the Massachu- setts delegation during the war still in the National Congress. Passing from the House to the Senate in 1875 as the successor of William B. Washburn, who filled Summer's unexpired term, he has served more than 14 years in the upper branch, with good promise for continued usefulness in years to come.
It is not implied, nor must it be understood, that in the very brief outline thus given of the work of each member of Congress any allowance is made for the ceaseless round of routine duties which came to cach, or to the thousand constantly recurring questions of national and local importance which demanded the time and the carnest consideration of all. There is no public record which speci- fies these minor matters-the vigilance, the anxiety, the doubts and fears and sorrows of that crucial time cannot be described ; they can be but very imperfectly imagined. Suffice it to say that in no case did a member from Massachusetts prove other than a faithful patriot, an intelligent legislator and a worthy representative of his Commonwealth. If this be high praise, it is not too high.
It was entirely in keeping with her record in other directions that Massachusetts should be found holding the post of honor in the diplomatic service of the United States at foreign courts. It was early seen that the most important position in this service was to be that at the court of St. James. The sentiment of the English people was largely in favor of the Confederacy, and their natural predilections were strengthened by the arts of diplomacy and the vast material interests entering into the problem. The cotton crop of the Southern states was a necessity to the myriad spindles of British manufacturers ; the new government needed manufactures of every kind, especially munitions of war; its bonds had been placed upon the London market; the blockade of the Southern ports shut off the supply of cotton, the mills stopped and the opera- tives suffered ; the same blockade largely closed the market for the
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goods England would have sent to the South, and made such traffic as was conducted by blockade runners dangerous and disreputable ; the Mason and Slidell affair lashed the excited minds of British leaders to the verge of warlike measures ; the fitting out of priva- teers in British ports further complicated the relations between the two nations.
In the midst of this scene of excitement a strong, able, fearless man represented at London the government of the United States. Charles Francis Adams of Quincy had been appointed by Mr. Lin- coln to that responsible place, and nobly did he justify the wisdom of his selection. The son and the grandson of a president of the United States, he was naturally and by education a statesman ; thoroughly grounded in international law, courtly, patient, shrewd, proud of his country and indefatigable in maintaining her rights, he was eminently fitted for the trying duties upon which he entered about the middle of May, 1861, continuing them till the close of the war. If with his skillful hand upon the hehn of his country's interests there were moments of gravest apprehension, it is easy to realize that with a less able representative there the result might have been far different. In doing this duty faithfully and ably, Mr. Adams won a high place in the regard of those with whom he came in contact, so that at the close of the war he was enabled to render further and scarcely less marked service in connection with the Alabama claims, the Fenian question as it affected American citi- zens, and the Geneva tribunal of 1872, which awarded to the United States fifteen and a half million dollars as compensation for the damages by Confederate cruisers fitted out in British ports. In the latter case he was the representative of his country on the commis- sion, being appointed by President Grant in recognition of his eminent qualifications for the position.
While Mr. Adams filled the position of minister to England, J. Lothrop Motley represented the government at the Austrian court, and Anson Burlingame at the Chinese. Of course neither of these positions compared in importance with that held by Mr. Adams ; yet the two Massachusetts men who held them filled ably their sta- tions, and Mr. Burlingame, in opening the ports of China to the world, though the event had no direct relation to the great civil con- test in this country, did a work which marked an important epoch in the history of the Chinese Empire.
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
The Commonwealth might well be proud of its sons in whatever position they were placed. On the field, those who bore its banners beside those of the Union bore them with honor; in the halls of legislation, on the public forum, in the executive office or in the pregnant sessions of the council chamber, when the most moment- ous issues might rest upon a single word ;- wherever the firm pur- pose of the patriot helped to forge from the fires of a bitter strife a newer and a better life, worthy representatives of the Bay State were found. Those were momentous times, which wrote their im- press deep on the destiny of Humanity, and in the march of the mighty forces which wrought out the problems of those days Mas- sachusetts men and Massachusetts ideas were privileged to lead.
The Military Organizations.
THE FIRST REGIMENT.
T HE First Massachusetts Infantry Regiment had the honorable distinction of being the first to leave the state for three years' service, and the first for that term of enlistment to reach Washington from any quarter. It was composed of five companies of the original First Militia Regiment reinforced with volunteers to bring the organization up to the national regulation. Its services were offered under the call for militia regiments for three months, though it was not sent at that time; but the call for the longer period was promptly accepted by it. Four companies were mus- tered into service on the 23d of May, 1861, four more on the 24th, one on the 25th, and the last with the field and staff officers on the 27th,-the original commissions bearing date from the 22d to the 25th. As in all the regiments organized during that period, many of the companies adopted distinctive titles, by which they liked best to be known,-a custom taken from the state militia. The make-up of the regiment and the original roster of officers were as follows; Boston being the place of residence unless other- wise designated :-
Colonel, Robert Cowdin; lieutenant colonel, George D. Wells; major, Charles P. Chandler; surgeon, Richard H. Salter ; assistant surgeon, Samuel A. Green; chaplain, Rev. Warren H. Cudworth ; adjutant, William H. Lawrence; quartermaster, John R. Lee of Salem; sergeant major, James H. Hall; commissary sergeant, John B. Gibbs; quartermaster sergeant, William P. Cowie; hospital steward, Alfred C. Dana ; principal musician, Charles C. Cooke.
Company A-Captain, Edward A. Wild; first lieutenant, William L. Candler; second lieutenant, Charles L. Chandler, all of Brookline.
Company B, Union Guards of East Boston - Captain, Edward Pearl; first lieutenant, George II. Smith; second lieutenant, Charles S. Kendall.
Company C, North End True Blues of Boston-Captain, Gardner Walker ; first lieutenant, Joseph Hibbert, Jr .; second lieutenant, Daniel G. E. Dickinson of Cambridge.
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Company D, Roxbury City Guards -Captain, Ebenezer W. Stone, Jr., of Roxbury; first lieutenant, Charles M. Jordan; second lieuten- ant, Oliver Walton, 2d.
Company E, Pulaski Guards of South Boston - Captain, Clark B. Baldwin; first lieutenant, George H. Johnston; second lieutenant, Miles Farwell.
Company F, National Guards of Boston - Captain, Alfred W. Adams; first lieutenant, John L. Rogers of Charlestown; second lieu- tenant, George E. Henry.
Company G, Independent Boston Fusileers - Captain, Henry A. Snow of Somerville; first lieutenant, Francis HI. Ward ; second lieu- tenant, William H. B. Smith of Cambridge.
Company H, Chelsea Volunteers-Captain, Summer Carruth; first lieutenant, Albert S. Austin; second lieutenant, Robert A. Saunders.
Company I, Schouler Guards of Boston-Captain, Charles E. Rand; first lieutenant, Charles E. Mudge; second lieutenant, Elijah B. Gill, Jr.
Company K, Chadwick Light Infantry of Roxbury-Captain, Abial G. Chamberlain ; first lieutenant, William H. Sutherland ; second lieutenant, Francis W. Carruth, all of Roxbury.
From the 25th of May to the 1st of June the regiment made its quarters at Faneuil Hall, but on the latter date a change was made to a vacant ice-house on the borders of Fresh pond in Cambridge, which was named Camp Ellsworth, in honor of the assassinated colonel whose fate was then fresh in the public mind. The new location proving unhealthy, another change was made on the 13th of June-this time to barracks in North Cambridge, which were designated as Camp Cameron, in compliment to the secretary of war.
The day following the occupation of the new quarters, however, orders were received to prepare for departure to active service, and on the afternoon of the 15th the regiment marched to Boston, where after hurried farewells and the presentation of a national banner, cars were taken for Groton, Ct., by way of Providence. At Groton the cars were exchanged for the steamer Commonwealth on the morning of the 16th, and that afternoon the command de- barked at Jersey City and proceeded by rail toward Washington. Philadelphia was reached at daylight of the 17th, and after enjoy- ing the bountiful hospitality which the Quaker City extended to all Union soldiers who passed through her streets, the journey was resumed.
There was much apprehension as Baltimore was approached, for the riot which had occurred on the passage of the Sixth Regiment was fresh in every mind ; ball cartridges were distributed, muskets
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THIE FIRST REGIMENT.
loaded and capped ; but there was no hostile demonstration, though the streets were filled with a motley throng, and at 7 o'clock that evening the national capital was reached, the command, after marching up Pennsylvania avenue, being quartered later on in some vacant buildings. After enjoying "the freedom of the city " till the 19th the First Regiment resumed its journey, marching through Georgetown to a point on the Potomac some two miles below Chain Bridge, where Camp Banks was established. The First were brigaded with the Second and Third Michigan and Twelfth New York, the brigade commander being Colonel I. B. Richardson of the Second Michigan, for whom the brigade was named.
Camp Banks was occupied till the opening of the Bull Run cam- paign, though on the 8th of July Companies 1 and K were sent to Great Falls on the Potomac under command of Major Chandler, to guard an important part of the Washington aqueduct. They re- turned to the regiment on the night of the 14th, and the afternoon of the 16th witnessed the crossing of the Potomac by the brigade at Chain Bridge, en route to the battle-field. Late in the evening Vienna was reached and bivouac made in an open field, the march being continued next day through Germantown and Fairfax Court House to the outskirts of Centerville, where another night was passed.
In the skirmish at Blackburn's Ford on the following day the regiment had its first taste of battle, losing 13 killed, including Second .Lieutenant William H. B. Smith of Cambridge, and over 20 wounded and missing. The regiment was posted on the left of the road leading to the ford, Companies G and H under Lieutenant Colonel Wells being deployed as skirmishers and sharply engaged, suffering most of the loss. That night the regiment returned to Centerville for its bivouac, but next day advanced to the vicinity of the battle-ground, where its picket line opposed that of the enemy till the battle of Bull Run on the 21st.
During that action three companies of the regiment were posted as skirmishers and on special duty as outposts, but there was no engagement on that part of the field till the Union forces began to retreat ; then the Confederates became demonstrative, but there had been little more than an exchange of shots on the skirmish line when a general retreat was ordered 'and the First withdrew,
THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY CHICAGO
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having lost Lieutenant Gill of Company I killed and one or two wounded. Pausing for a few hours near Centerville to assist in covering the retreat, the regiment made its way through the re- mainder of the night and the following day to its old camp on the Washington side of the Potomac.
The brigade again crossed into Virginia on the 23d, and in a day or two the First found themselves placed in Fort Albany as a garrisoning force, exercise at the heavy guns being added to their other duties. But this did not long continue. The brigade as then constituted was not a harmonious organization, and on the 13th of August a change was made by which the First were attached to General Hooker's brigade, composed of the Eleventh Massachu- setts, Second New Hampshire and Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania. On that day, through a drenching rain, the regiment recrossed the Potomac and marched to a favorably located camp near Bladens- burg, known as Camp Union, where the regiment soon after built Fort Lincoln-one of the cordon surrounding Washington.
On the 9th of September the regiment was ordered into lower Maryland, where strong secession feeling existed, and where con- siderable quantities of arms and other articles contraband of war were found and removed. These operations occupied till the 7th of October, when the First returned to camp, and seven days later, General Hooker having been assigned to command the division, Colonel Cowdin succeeded him as brigade commander,-Lieutenant Colonel Wells taking charge of the regiment.
Soon after this General Hooker's division was removed from the vicinity of Washington and posted along the northern bank of the Lower Potomac to watch the Confederates on the opposite side of the river, where with a strong force and abundant batteries they threatened to entirely close the water-way to the national capital. The First Regiment broke camp October 24, and within three days marched to Posey's plantation, 55 miles from Washington, where in Camp Hooker, at Budd's Point, it remained till the Confederates abandoned the blockade of the Potomac.
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