USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts in the war, 1861-1865 Pt. 1 > Part 26
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The regimental camp was located near Stevensburg, and the third set of winter-quarter huts was built, but this time the command was allowed to occupy them till the opening of the campaign the follow- ing spring. During the winter 64 members of the Fifteenth re- enlisted for an additional term of three years, and some 50 recruits were received. The duty required was principally on picket and outpost, but as this involved a constant detail of one-third of the regiment, in addition to the ordinary requirements of the camp, it was no light tax on the men. The winter, too, was severe, but de- spite all the health of the command remained reasonably good. The spring reorganization of the army did not change the status of the Fifteenth Regiment, which remained in the First Brigade, Second Division, Second Corps, as it had done since the opening of the
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MASSACHUSETTS IN TIIE WAR.
Peninsular campaign two years before. The make-up of the brigade was much changed, however, it consisting in addition to the Fif- teenth Regiment and the Andrew Sharpshooters of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Massachusetts, Nineteenth Maine, Forty-second, Fifty-ninth and Eighty-second New York and Seventh Michigan Regiments. General Alexander S. Webb commanded the brigade, while Generals Gibbon and Hancock remained in charge of the division and corps respectively.
The winter camps were abandoned about the first of May and the troops remained in temporary bivouac till the movement of the army began on the night of the 3d or early morning of the 4th. Reaching the battle-field of the Wilderness on the afternoon of the 5th, the brigade was in reserve and support the remainder of the day. Next morning it was moved forward to the assistance of other troops, and coming suddenly upon the enemy suffered severe loss and was thrown into some confusion. It is impossible to give the exact figures for the Fifteenth Regiment, either in this battle or those in which it was subsequently engaged up to the time of its muster out; but four of its members are reported to have been killed at the Wilderness, and its loss in wounded and missing was heavy-about 50 per cent of the force taken into action. In the various operations of its division and brigade at Spottsylvania the Fifteenth Regiment shared, constantly losing men killed and wounded or missing. A notable loss was that of First Lientenant George B. Simonds of Fitchburg, killed on the 10th. Five other members of the regiment were reported killed at Spottsylvania, and the next fatal casualties, three in number, were at Cold Harbor, during the early days of June. These deaths, with the proportion- ate number of wounded and missing, had by this time reduced the regiment to a total of five officers and about 70 enlisted men.
On the 22d of June this remnant was stationed with its corps on the Jerusalem Plank road, where an attempt was being made to ex- tend the Union lines. In the course of the movements the flank of the brigade became exposed to the enemy, who took prompt ad- vantage of the opportunity and captured all but one officer and five men of the regiment present. The officer being wounded soon after, the few men remaining were attached to the Twentieth Mas- sachusetts Regiment. On the 12th of July the Fifteenth were ordered to proceed to Worcester for muster out, with the exception
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THIE FIFTEENTII REGIMENT.
of Company I, which had some three weeks longer to serve. The re-enlisted men and recruits were accordingly assigned to a battalion, but afterward formally consolidated with the Twentieth Regiment, while such as could be gathered, representing those recalled from detached duty, such sick and wounded as could stand transporta- tion, with the small remnant of those still on duty, numbering in all about 150, reached Worcester on the 21st of July, receiv- ing an ovation of which they might well be proud. A week later the men were formally mustered out and returned to their homes, Company I being discharged in the field early in August. Few regiments had a worthier record than the Fifteenth ; none could have given more freely the blood of its bravest and best.
THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT.
T HE Sixteenth Regiment was principally composed of com- panies which had been formed when the first call to arms was heard, and had patiently waited an opportunity to enter the service. It being decided to organize the regiment, various com- panies-mostly of Middlesex county men-were ordered to report at Camp Cameron, North Cambridge, and as they arrived were mus- tered into service by Captain Amory of the Seventh United States Infantry-Company H June 29, 1861, A, B, C and K the 2d of July, and the others the 12th. Colonel Wyman and the lieutenant colonel were commissioned on the 13th, the former, a West Point graduate and an officer of high military acquirement, having re- turned from Europe to offer his sword in attestation of his loyalty. The line officers were mustered August 1, the roster of the regi- ment being :-
Colonel, Powell T. Wyman of Boston ; lieutenant colonel, George A. Meacham of Cambridge; major, David S. Lamson of Weston ; surgeon, Charles C. Jewett of Holliston; assistant surgeon, Edward A. Whiston of Framingham; chaplain, Arthur B. Fuller of Water- town: adjutant, Waldo Merriam of Boston ; quartermaster, Edward M. Livermore of Cambridge; sergeant major, James E. Sharp of Watertown; quartermaster sergeant, Ira A. Merritt of Boston; com- missary sergeant, Isaac HI. Pinkham of Cambridgeport ; hospital stew- ard, William R. Willis of Waltham; leader of band, Felix Viliett of Lowell.
Company A, Cambridge City Guard-Captain, Samuel W. Richard- son ; first lieutenant, Samuel Mckeever; second lieutenant, George II. Howard, all of East Cambridge.
Company B, Winthrop Guard of Holliston-Captain, James M. Mason of Milford; first lieutenant, William A. Amcry of West Rox- bury; second lieutenant, Cassander Flagg of Holliston.
Company C, Union Guard-Captain, Leander G. King; first lieu- tenant, William HI. H. Hinds, both of Groton; second lieutenant, William Metcalf of Westford.
Company D, Hill Cadets of Lowell-Captain, Patrick S. Proctor ;
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TIIE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT.
first lieutenant, Matthew Donovan ; second lieutenant, David W. Roche.
Company E, Wiley Light Infantry - Captain, John Wiley 2d of South Reading; first lieutenant, James R. Darracott of Boston; second lieutenant, James Oliver of South Reading.
Company F-Captain, Charles Robinson Johnson of Lexingtony first lieutenant, Charles Henry Mayo of Roxbury; second lieutenant, Payson E. Tucker of Cambridge.
Company G, Butler Rifles-Captain Thomas O'Hare of Lowell; first lieutenant, Alexander J. Dallas of Cambridge ; second lieutenant, James B. Thompson of Lowell.
Company H-Captain, Gardner Banks of Boston; first hentenant, William A. Smith; second lieutenant, Francis P. H. Rogers, both of Waltham.
Company I, Newton Guards-Captain, Henry T. Lawson of New- ton; first lientenant, John B. Brown of Ipswich; second lieutenant, Lothrop Wight of Framingham.
Company K, Watertown Volunteers-Captain, Henry C. Lindley; first lieutenant, Stephen E. Meserve; second lieutenant, Francis W. Hilton.
The regiment left Boston on the afternoon of August 17, going by rail to Fall River, thence by boat to New York and resuming cars, passing through Baltimore on the 19th, where an order was received to make quarters in Camp McClellan on the McKim estate. Here it remained till the 1st of September, when orders came for an im- mediate departure to Fortress Monroe, and that evening passage was taken on the steamer Louisiana, the destination being reached the following day and the regiment going into quarters at Camp Hamilton, near the village of Hampton, where with no more excit- ing duty than picket service, with an occasional exchange of shots with hostile reconnoitering parties, some eight months were passed. Camp Hamilton was under command of Colonel Max Weber of the Twentieth New York, and the force present, in addition to the Six- teenth Massachusetts and Twentieth New York, consisted of the First Delaware, Twentieth Indiana, a part of the Ninety-ninth New York, the Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavalry and four companies of Mounted Rifles.
The Sixteenth changed camp to the Gosport Navy Yard on the 8th of May, 1862, moved from there to Suffolk, Va., a week later, and on the 12th of June joined the Army of the Potomac, being attached to Grover's Brigade, Hooker's Division, Heintzelman's Corps. The other regiments of the brigade were the First and Eleventh Massachusetts, Second New Hampshire and Twenty-sixth
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THIE WAR.
Pennsylvania. The first test of the regiment in battle was on the 18th of June when it was assigned the duty of making a recon- naissance in front of the position held by a portion of the Union troops, which it did with much spirit, moving through dense woods and encountering the enemy in strong force at short range, fighting valiantly until ordered to retire, the purpose of the expedition hav- ing been accomplished. The loss of the Sixteenth was 17 killed, 28 wounded and 14 missing, among the slain being First Lieutenant Francis P. H. Rogers.
In the engagement at Oak Grove on the 25th, the regiment was during the carly part of the fight in reserve, some companies being detached to threatened points; but later it was placed in position at the left to guard against an expected flanking movement by the enemy. It was at first in support of a battery, but that retired soon afterward, and presently the advance of the Confederates in strong force and the falling back of the rest of Hooker's Division carried back the Sixteenth as well to the cover of the forest, where a stand was made, and next morning the two detachments into which the regiment had become divided during the confusion were reunited at the camp, the command having suffered a loss of three men killed, 22 wounded and four missing. In the change of base of the army to the James river which followed the regiment per- formed an honorable part. Its most signal service was on the 30th, at the battle of Glendale, when it was posted across a road by which the enemy advanced to attack the Union troops defending the left of the retiring Army of the Potomac. This attack the Sixteenth met with exceptional coolness and bravery, their deadly fire sending the assailants back in confusion. Colonel Wyman heroically en- couraged his soldiers to stand firm, but was himself instantly killed. The lieutenant colonel and adjutant were wounded, and the regi- ment was commanded during the remainder of the action by Major Lamson. Of the enlisted meu, three were killed, 22 wounded and 32 missing. In a reconnaissance made to Malvern Hill from the camp at Harrison's Landing August 8, the regiment lost eight men wounded, but apart from that experience it only shared the general camp life of the Army of the Potomac till summoned to Alexandria to reinforce the Army of Virginia under General Pope.
Hooker's Division marched from Harrison's Landing on the 16th of August, reached Yorktown the 18th, and taking transports on
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THE SIXTEENTHI REGIMENT.
the 20th reached Alexandria the 22d. By the 26th General Heintz- elman had assembled his corps in the vicinity of Warrenton Junc- tion and was ordered to move toward Bristoe, which Hooker's Divis- ion did the following day, encountering and routing the enemy at Kettle Run, in which the Sixteenth were not engaged. On the 28th the brigade marched toward the battle-field of Manassas, by way of Centerville, reaching the field on the morning of the 29th, after the engagement began. It remained in reserve under the shelter of a hillock till the middle of the afternoon, when General Grover was ordered to charge the enemy in his front. This was at once done, the single brigade striking and breaking two lines of the foe but failing to break the third. The Sixteenth were on the left of the brigade, and with them General Grover attempted to turn the Con- federate flank ; but the odds was too great, and after one of the most heroic contests of the war the brigade was obliged to fall back, rallying near the point from which it had started and bivouacking on the field in that vicinity. Near evening of the following day it set out on the march to Centerville, reaching there soon after midnight.
In this sharp conflict of but a few minutes the regiment lost 110, five of whom were killed, 64 wounded and 41 missing. First Lieu- tenant Darracott and Second Lieutenant Hiram B. Banks of Waltham were among the killed, the latter a brother of General N. P. Banks. The regiment was commanded during the battle by Major Gardner Banks, another brother of the general, who had recently been pro- moted from a captaincy. Following the death of Colonel Wyman, Thomas R. Tannatt of Salem had been commissioned colonel, dating from July 14, and on the 22d Lieutenant Colonel Meacham resigned, Major Lamson being promoted and succeeded by Captain Banks.
The Third Corps did not accompany the Army of the Potomac on the Antietam campaign which followed, but remained about the defenses of Washington and in that vicinity. The regiment went to Fort Lyon near Alexandria on the 3d of September, rested there for three days and then moved to Fairfax Seminary. On the 4th of November it advanced to Manassas Junction, on the 6th to Bris- toe Station, and on the 8th to Warrenton Junction, where it was for a time on duty as part of a provisional brigade under command of Colonel Blaisdell of the Eleventh Massachusetts. It still re- mained in fact a part of the First Brigade, Second Division, Third Corps. The Corps was commanded by General George Stoneman,
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the division by General Sickles and the brigade-to which the Eleventh New Jersey had been added-by General Joseph B. Carr. In the Sixteenth, Lieutenant Colonel Lamson had resigned from the 29th of September, Major Banks being promoted and Captain Waldo Merriam becoming major. Second Lieutenant George S. Evans of Groton had died of disease November 11.
The regiment began its movement southward on the 18th of November, marching to Wolf Run Shoals, where it rested till the 25th, when with the rest of the corps it moved toward Falmouth, encamping near there on the 28th. This camp was occupied till the 10th of December, when the Sixteenth moved toward the river near Fredericksburg and on the 12th crossed the pontons and took position on the southern bank below the town ; but beyond picket duty, in which three men were killed and ten wounded on the skirm- ish line, the command was not actively engaged in the battle. It met a notable loss, however, in the death of Chaplain Fuller, who had resigned his commission and was about to leave for Massachu- setts. Seeing the Union troops crossing the bridge into the city he obtained a musket and accompanied them as a volunteer, but was soon shot dead in the street. The regiment reoccupied its old camp on the 14th, and with the exception of the " Mud March," on which it was absent eight days, remained there till the opening of the 1863 campaign under General Hooker. Colonel Tannatt having been transferred to the command of the First Heavy Artillery left the regiment soon after the battle of Fredericksburg. Lieutenant Colonel Banks, Major Merriam and Captain S. W. Richardson were each promoted in turn ; Charles W. Homer of Lowell was commis- sioned to the vacant chaplaincy, but he resigned soon after his ap- pointment and the place was not again filled.
General Sickles had taken command of the Third Corps and General Berry succeeded him at the head of the division, when the winter camps were broken and on the 28th of April the Army of the Potomac began another movement against the enemy. After dem- onstrating below Fredericksburg for a day or two the Third Corps ascended the Rappahannock to United States Ford, where it crossed on the 1st of May. At dusk of the following day the division was thrown to the right in support of the Eleventh Corps, badly shat- tered by the attack of "Stonewall " Jackson's column, and took position in the forest on the right of the turnpike. There was scat-
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THE SIXTEENTII REGIMENT.
tering firing during the night, but in the morning a strong attack was delivered, and though the regiment and its division fouglit val- iantly, the line was pressed back for some distance, General Berry being killed. The casualties in the Sixteenth were 11 killed, 62 wounded and nine prisoners. Captain A. J. Dallas was killed and Second Lieutenants Hiram Rowe of Cambridge and Samuel G. Savage of Waltham were fatally wounded. Second Lieutenant James E. Sharp of Watertown had been accidentally killed at Kings- ton, R. I., while absent on leave, March 20.
The river was recrossed the night of the 5th and the regiment returned the following afternoon to its old camp, where it remained till the beginning of the Gettysburg movement. Under command of Lieutenant Colonel Merriam it marched on the 11th of June toward Beverly Ford, which it reached the following day and guarded till the 14th, when it moved by easy stages to Gum Springs, stop- ping there from the 19th till the 25th. It then marched to Edwards Ferry and crossed the Potomac, bivouacking that night at the mouth of the Monocacy, and proceeding thence by Jefferson, Crampton's Pass, Middletown and Frederick to Taneytown, where the corps encamped on the 29th. The division was now commanded by Gen- eral Humphreys, and the brigade had been strengthened by the ad- dition of the Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania and Twelfth New Hamp- shire regiments.
During the 1st of July, the Third Corps marched to Gettysburg where it arrived about midnight, and the following day was placed in position at the Union left, the Sixteenth being near the right of the corps line along the Emmittsburg road. In the terrible conflict of that afternoon the regiment fought nobly, losing fully one-third of its members present, but being forced back with the rest of its division. Out of but little more than 200 on the field, it had 14 killed, 57 wounded and 14 missing. Among the dead were Cap- tains Leander G. King and David W. Roche and First Lieutenant George F. Brown of Waltham, while Captain Charles R. Johnson died of his wounds two weeks later. On its movement southward the Sixteenth Regiment was under command of Captain Donovan, the senior officer present for duty, and followed the various move- ments of the Army of the Potomac to Warrenton, where it arrived on the 26th of July, marching on the 1st of August to Beverly Ford, where the brigade was for some time encamped, Lieutenant
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THIE WAR.
Colonel Merriam resuming command on the 16th. A month later the river was crossed at Freeman's Ford and the regiment advanced to Culpeper, where it encamped till the 8th of October.
A lively series of movements then followed, the division march- ing to James City on the Rapidan in support of a cavalry move- ment on the 8th, but at the termination of that service returning to camp and at once setting forth on the march northward. Stop- ping from the 11th to the 13th at Freeman's Ford, the regiment . marched from there and scarcely stopped for rest till it halted at Centerville, late the following day. On the 15th it took position at Union Mills and remained there in hourly expectation of a battle till the 19th, when it being found that the Confederate army had relinquished its demonstration against Washington the Union army followed it back again to the old fields bordering the Rappahannock. The Sixteenth halted at Catlett's Station on the 21st, and on the 30th moved to Bealton Station, where they remained till the 7th of November, when in conjunction with the battle of Rappahannock Station the Third Corps with other troops crossed the river at Kelly's Ford and next day followed the retreating Confederates to Brandy Station, where the loyal army encamped. The Mine Run movement began on the 26th of that month, the corps crossing the Rapidan at Jacob's Ford, and next day while General French, the corps commander, was endeavoring to make his way through the forest to connect with the Second Corps, which had crossed the river at a higher ford, his command encountered the enemy and the battle of Locust Grove ensued. In this the Sixteenth took part, its brigade being in the lead, and the regiment lost 15 men wounded and three missing. From that time to the 2d of December the regi- ment marched from point to point or remained expectant in front of the enemy's strong position ; but the weather becoming very cold and there being no prospect that an engagement could be success- fully fought by the Union troops, General Meade abandoned the attempt and on the 3d, after a hard march, the old camps about Brandy Station were reoccupied.
"There the regiment remained during the winter under command of Lieutenant Colonel Merriam, Colonel Banks having been obliged through ill-health to resign early in September, 1863. While in winter quarters nearly 100 of the Sixteenth re-enlisted for an ad- ditional three years. In the reorganization of the Army of the
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TIIE SIXTEENTII REGIMENT.
Potomac into three corps, the Third was one of the corps abolished, and the Sixteenth for the first time fond itself attached to a differ- ent brigade, though accompanied by several of the regiments with which it had formerly served. The new organization was the First Brigade, Fourth Division, Second Corps, composed of the First and Sixteenth Massachusetts, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Eleventh New Jersey, Twenty-sixth and One Hundred and Fifteenth Penn- sylvania. Colonel Robert MeAllister of the Eleventh commanded the brigade, General Gershom Mott the division and General Han- cock the corps.
The spring campaign of 1864 opened on the 3d of May with orders to move at midnight, and promptly at the hour the winter huts if not already destroyed in anticipation of the movement were abandoned and next day before noon the Rapidan had been erossed at Ely's Ford, and at the middle of the afternoon the command bivouacked on the Chancellorsville battle-ground. Late in the afternoon of the following day the division was ordered to the as- sistance of Getty's Division of the Sixth Corps, which was engaged in battle near the junction of the Brock and Orange Plank roads, and took position on his left, Mott's two brigades at that time form- ing the Union left. Advancing through the tangled forest the divis- ion soon became engaged, and fought obstinately till dark. The fight was resumed in the morning, the division making a consider- able advance until Confederate reinforcements were encountered when the Union troops were in turn pushed back to the intrenel- ments from which they had first advanced, the Sixteenth taking position at the right of the brigade in the second line of works. 'Toward the close of the afternoon a fierce assault was made by the Confederates on the first line of works, from which after a stubborn defense the Federal soldiers were driven and a portion of the works occupied by the enemy. The Sixteenth at once joined in a counter charge for their repossession, and it is claimed that Lieutenant William Ross was first to reach the works and the colors of the regiment the first to wave over them. The loss of the regiment was heavy, though it cannot be exactly stated owing to the loss of regi- mental papers. It included Captain Joseph S. Hills of Boston and First Lientenant John H. Woodfin of Marblehead among the killed.
Moving with the corps to the left after the fighting ceased in the Wilderness, the Sixteenth were next engaged at Spottsylvania on
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
the 10th, where they were deployed as skirmishers, serving gallantly all day with considerable loss. The Fourth Division now being con- solidated with the Third, of the same corps, the brigade became the Third of that division. The regiment was next engaged on the 12th, when in the defense of the works captured in the morning by the corps it fired during the afternoon and evening of that day over 300 rounds of ammunition per man. The loss was severe, includ- ing the brave Lieutenant Colonel Merriam killed.
The regiment took its full share in the subsequent operations about Spottsylvania, and marched thence to the North Anna, where it arrived on the 23d and was at once placed on the skirmish line. Crossing the river next day and operating with the corps in the various movements which followed, it recrossed on the evening of the 26th and on the 28th crossed the Pamunkey, taking position within 13 miles of Richmond. An advance of three miles was made on the 29th and fortifications were thrown up during that and the ensuing days. On the 31st the regiment advanced through a swamp and charged across a field swept by artillery, obtaining possession of a road beyond and holding it during the day, being relieved at night, after which the enemy repossessed the ground. In this en- gagement, which was very creditable to the Sixteenth, Captain John Rowe of Lowell, a brave officer who had risen from the rank of ser- geant, was mortally wounded and fell into the hands of the enemy, dying at Richmond June 24.
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