USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts in the war, 1861-1865 Pt. 1 > Part 41
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
THE TWENTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT.
T HE Twenty-eighth Regiment, like the Ninth, was composed principally of men of Irish birth or descent, and was organ- ized at Camp Cameron, Cambridge, where it went into camp September 22, 1861. Most of the officers were commissioned from October 8, but the companies were not ready for the mustering officer till the 13th of December, and additional detachments were added during the month to make up the complement of the regi- ment. The roster of officers was as follows :-
Colonel, William Monteith of New York City ; lieutenant colonel, Maclelland Moore ; major, George W. Cartwright ; surgeon, Patrick A. O'Connell, all of Boston; assistant surgeon, George W. Snow of Chel- sea ; chaplain, Nicholas O'Brien of Roxbury ; adjutant, Charles H. Sanborn of Boston; quartermaster, Addison A. Hosmer of West Boyls- ton; sergeant major, Levi C. Brackett of Boston; quartermaster ser- geant, Edmund J. Reed of Shrewsbury; commissary sergeant, William C. Oliver of Boston; leader of band, Samuel Curry of Salem.
Company A-Captain, Andrew P. Caraher of Lynn; first lieuten- ant, Humphrey Sullivan; second lieutenant, Jeremiah W. Coveney, both of Cambridge.
Company B-Captain, Lawrence P. Barrett; first lieutenant, William J. Lemoyne; second lieutenant, Josiah F. Kennison, all of Boston.
Company C-Captain, John H. Brennan; first lieutenant, James Magee; second lieutenant, William H. Flynn, all of Boston.
Company D-Captain, Andrew J. Lawler; first lieutenant, Hugh P. Boyle, both of Boston; second lieutenant, Florence Buckley of Natick.
Company E-Captain, Samuel Moore; first lieutenant, James Mc- Ardle; second lieutenant, Jolin Carleton, all of Boston.
Company F-Captain, John Riley of Boston; first lieutenant, Ben- jamin F. Bartlett of Chelsea; second lieutenant, Alexander Barrett of Boston.
Company G-Captain, Alexander Blaney of Natick; first lieutenant, William Mitchell: second lieutenant, James Devine, both of Boston.
Company HI-Captain, John A. McDonald of Holden; first lieu- tenant, James O'Keefe; second lieutenant, Nicholas J. Barrett, both of Worcester.
420
MASSACHUSETTS IN THIE WAR.
Company I-Captain, George F. McDonald; first lieutenant, Moses J. Emery, both of Boston; second lieutenant, Edmund H. Fitzpatrick of New Bedford.
Company K-Captain, John J. Cooley ; first lieutenant, John Ahern, both of Milford; second lieutenant, John Killian of Roxbury.
The regiment left Camp Cameron January 11, 1862, going to Fort Columbus, New York harbor, where it remained till the 14th of February. It then embarked on the steamer Ericsson for Hilton Head, off the South Carolina coast, which had been occupied the previous autumn by Union troops. The destination was reached on the 23d, and the regiment debarked and went into camp, though not at the time brigaded, being attached to General Thomas W. Sherman's " Expeditionary Corps," then in occupation of the coast islands, with head-quarters at Port Royal.
The regiment was transported on the 7th of April to Dawfuskie Island, marching the following day to the upper end opposite Fort Pulaski. Companies A and K were detached for service at Jones and Bird Islands, Savannah river, being relieved ten days later by Companies D and I, which remained till May 6. Colonel Monteith with the five companies of the right wing was ordered on the 12th to Tybee Island, Georgia, the companies returning on the 28th under command of Major Cartwright, the colonel having been placed under arrest by General Hunter. He did not again return to the regiment, resigning at Newport News August 12. Just before the return of the right wing the left had been ordered back to Hilton Head, and on the 30th the whole regiment under command of the lieutenant colonel left the latter place for James Island, where it landed on the 1st of June, having been made part of the First Bri- gade, General Isaac 1. Stevens's (Second) Division, the other regi- ments of the brigade being the Seventh Connecticut and Eighth Michigan, Colonel Fenton being the brigade commander.
Some skirmishing ensued, by which the Twenty-eighth had five men wounded, and early in the morning of the 16th an attack was made on the Confederate works near Secessionville, known as Fort Johnson. The only avenue of approach to the stronghold was by a narrow causeway and deployment immediately in front of the hostile works, and the regiment strove faithfully to obtain a position whence it could make an attack or co-operate in the firing; but owing to the nature of the ground and the mingling of the different
421
THIE TWENTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT.
commands it became necessary to withdraw the Twenty-eighth with other troops that their lines might be reformed. This had been done and the command was ready for a renewal of the attack when General Benham, in command of the field, relinquished the pur- pose. The loss of the eight companies engaged, A and F being on detail, was 70, of whom 18 were killed or mortally wounded. Re- turning to camp, the regiment remained on the island till the 6th of July, when it was taken back in the transport Ben Deford to Hilton Head. At that time General Hunter had been called upon to for- ward all troops which could be spared from his department for the reinforcement of the Army of the Potomac, and on the 12th of July six regiments under command of General I. I. Stevens, including the Twenty-eighth, embarked for Fortress Monroe, landing at New- port News on the 18th.
These regiments were assigned to General Burnside's command- the Ninth Corps-and organized as the First Division, comprising three brigades of two regiments each. The Twenty-eighth with the Seventy-ninth New York formed the Third Brigade, commanded by Colonel Addison Farnsworth of the Seventy-ninth, General Stevens continuing as division commander. A week later Lieutenant Colonel Moore resigned, leaving Major Cartwright, who was soon promoted to the lieutenant colonelcy, in command of the Twenty-eighth.
Active campaigning began after some two weeks of waiting and preparation. Embarking on the steamer Merrimac on the 3d of August, the regiment was taken to Acquia Creek, where it landed on the 6th, going at once to Fredericksburg, in which vicinity it en- camped until the 12th. Then it marched to join General Pope's Army of Virginia, near Culpeper, crossing the Rappahannock to Falmouth, ascending the river to Rappahannock Station, recrossing there to the south side and continuing the journey, bivouacking on the night of the 15th some seven miles south of Culpeper. Next day the march was continued to the vicinity of Raccoon Ford on the Rapidan, where the command. remained till the night of the 18th. During this time it bade adieu to its brass-band, which was mustered out of service in obedience to the general orders dismiss- ing regimental bands. Until the disastrous Second Bull Run bat- tle at the close of the month, the regiment spent much of the time marching back and forth over the country, going on the 19th to Barnett's Ford on the Rappahannock ; next day to Ely's Ford, cross-
422
MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
ing the river on the 21st in support of a cavalry skirmish, return- ing during the night and taking up the march to White Sulphur Springs ; thence on the 25th to Warrenton, starting back the same night toward Warrenton Junction, going on the 27th to Manassas Junction and next day to Centerville.
The battle opened on the 20th and the Twenty-eighth marching to Bull Run, six miles, were ordered to support a battery, which they did during the day. That night they were shifted to the left of the field, taking position in front of a forest held by the enemy, into which they were ordered the next afternoon, receiving and re- turning a severe fire, continuing to advance till orders were received to fall back, after which position was again taken in support of a battery. There the command remained till the close of the day's fighting, when with the rest of the army it fell back to Centerville, having suffered a loss of 18 killed, 109 wounded, including Major Cartwright, and ,cight missing. Captain Caraher temporarily as- sumed command. Second Lieutenant Flynn was among the killed.
The day after the battle the regiment was on picket, and Septem- ber 1, with other troops, started toward Manassas, marched a few miles and then returned. Moving back on the road to Fairfax Court House, the two divisions of the Ninth Corps, commanded by General Reno, with Kearny's Division of the Third, met and checked the movement of the Confederate General Jackson threat- ening the Union right flank and rear, fighting the battle of Chan- tilly. That battle was brief, ending at dark in a heavy rain, Gen- erals Stevens and Kearny being killed and their commands suffer- ing severely, but the intentions of the enemy were thwarted and Pope's army was saved from an additional disaster. The Twenty- eighth with their division drove in the enemy's pickets and then pressed the main line back through a piece of forest toward Ox Hill, in which brief engagement their loss was 15 killed, including Second Lieutenant Alexander Barrett, 79 wounded and five missing.
It was decided next day to withdraw the army within the de- fenses of Washington, and the Twenty-eighth, which had bivouacked near the field of battle, marched by way of Fairfax Court House to Alexandria ; thence on the 5th crossing to Washington and encamp- ing on Meridian Hill. General Mcclellan had again taken com- mand, and even during the march northward, which began on the 7th, the work of reorganization went on. General Reno retained
423
THIE TWENTY-EIGHTHI REGIMENT.
command of the Ninth Corps, to which a Third Division was added ; General O. B. Willcox succeeded the fallen Stevens in command of the First Division, which was reduced to two brigades, the Twenty- eighth being assigned to the Second, under command of Colonel Thomas Welsh. Going by way of Leesboro, Brookville and Frede- rick, the regiment on the 14th reached South Mountain, but did not take an active part in the battle in which the commander of the corps lost his life. General Reno was succeeded as corps com- mander by General J. D. Cox, whose "Kanawha Division " was also temporarily attached to the Ninth Corps. The Twenty-eighth supported a battery during the afternoon, and at night went on pieket, losing during the engagement six men wounded.
The following day the regiment marched to near Antietam Creek, and during the 16th was on picket. The plan of the battle of the 17th at first contemplated placing Willcox's Division as the reserve of the Ninth Corps, and that arrangement was made ; but early in the afternoon it was found when an advance was ordered that the Second Division, General Sturgis, which had led the crossing at the " Burnside bridge," was out of ammunition and had suffered too much to take part, and Willcox was ordered to relieve it. The movement across the bridge was made under fire, and at 3 o'clock, after having lain exposed to the enemy's artillery for an hour, an advance was ordered. A fierce contest ensued, but the Confeder- ates were too strong in men and position and the troops of the Ninth Corps fell back toward the creek, where they bivouacked for the night. Out of less than 200 taken into action the Twenty-eighth lost 12 killed, including Second Lieutenant N. J. Barrett, and 36 wounded. During the 18th the regiment was on the skirmish line, exchanging shots with the enemy but meeting no loss ; on the 19th, Lee having made his retreat into Virginia, it marched some three miles, to the Potomac, remained there till the 22d and then with the rest of the corps took position near Antietam Iron Works.
Then followed a period of rest and reeuperation after the arduous campaigning of a month, during which four important battles had been fought. On the 2d of October the regiment crossed the mount- ains into Pleasant Valley, near Harper's Ferry, where it remained till the 15th, when during two days it marched to Nolan's Ferry on the Potomac, some 15 miles from Harper's Ferry. There it en- camped for two weeks, and on the 18th its new colonel, Richard
424
MASSACHUSETTS IN THIE WAR.
Byrnes, a lieutenant in the Fifth United States Cavalry, arrived and took command. Captain Caraher was made major, dating from July 26. Camp was broken for the movement into Virginia on the 30th, when the regiment forded the Potomac at Point of Rocks and ad- vanced to Waterford. Thence on the 2d of November the route led by slow stages through Harmony, Philemont, Upperville, Rector- ville, Orleans, Waterloo, to White Sulphur Springs and Rappahan- nock Station, thence down the Rappahannock, through Hartwood Church and Falmouth, tents being pitched nearly opposite Fred- ericksburg on the afternoon of the 19th. General Mcclellan had been relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac, Burn- side being his successor. Among the changes which followed was the transfer on the 23d of the Twenty-eighth Regiment from Colonel Welsh's brigade to the Second Brigade, First Division, Second Corps, known as the Irish Brigade and commanded by General Thomas F. Meagher. General Hancock commanded the division and General Couch the corps, which with the Ninth formed under General Sumner the Right Grand Division of the army. The other regiments of the brigade were the Sixty-third, Sixty-ninth and Eighty- eighth New York and One Hundred and Sixteenth Pennsylvania.
Preparations for the battle were completed on the morning of the 11th of December, and camp was broken carly. Owing to the de- lay in laying the bridges, the regiment bivouacked near the river that night, crossing the following morning, and remaining in the streets of Fredericksburg till noon of the 13th. Then the order was given to attempt the capture of the hights in rear of the city. French's Division led, supported by Hancock's and later by How- ard's. The Irish Brigade formed the second line of its division, moving out from the city and across the canal, deploying, advancing, gaining a position scarcely 60 paces from the hostile lines, where it received without faltering a fire which swept down more than half its members; it endured all that human heroism could endure,- then the shattered fragments drifted back. The loss to the Twenty- eighth was 110 killed and wounded, among the dead being Second Lieutenants John Sullivan and William Holland, both of Milford. That night the remnant of the brigade recrossed the river, but re- turned to Fredericksburg the following day and remained till the Union troops were finally withdrawn during the night of the 15th. Winter quarters and some months of comparative inaction ensued.
425
THIE TWENTY-EIGIITII REGIMENT.
In addition to the officers killed in battle during the year, First Lieutenant Boyle had died of disease at Hilton Head, May 31.
The winter camp was broken on the 27th of April, 1863, when the regiment marched to United States Ford on the Rappahannock and performed pieket duty in that vicinity till the army was ready. for the crossing on the 30th, then moving forward with the rest of the corps till the night of the 1st of May. The brigade was placed at Scott's Mills, a point some five miles from Chancellorsville, where it remained till the morning of the 3d with no active duty save that of arresting some of the fugitives from the broken Eleventh Corps on the night of the 2d. Meagher's Brigade was then ordered to the front to support the Fifth Maine Battery, which was fiercely engaged when the troops arrived. In a short time nearly every man belonging to the battery was killed or wounded, when the brigade sprang to the guns, checked the Confederates who were advancing for their capture and drew the pieces from the field by hand. In this short episode, which was its most important part in the battle, the Twenty-eighth Regiment lost ten men killed and wounded. That night it moved some two miles down the plank road, a part of its number engaging in the construction of a new line of defenses while the rest went upon picket, and thus the time was employed till the retreat of the army to the north side of the Rappahannock was decided on and carried out in the early morning of the 6th.
A few days after the battle General Meagher resigned command of the brigade, which had become reduced to a few hundred present for duty, and was succeeded by Colonel Patrick Kelly of the Eighty- eighth. The old camps, which had been reoccupied after the bat- tle, were quitted for more healthful quarters, and there the brigade awaited the next move on the great chess-board,-which proved to be the Gettysburg campaign. On the 13th of June the Twenty- eighth went on picket at Deep Run, but at night of the following day took up the march toward Stafford Court House, continuing on to Dumfries, Occaquan Creek and Centerville, whence on the 20th the regiment marched to Thoroughfare Gap, going at once on picket and remaining with a single change of location till the morning of the 25th. Then it moved to Green Springs, closely followed by the enemy, but without serious fighting, stopped for a night and late the next evening crossed the Potomac at Edwards Ferry, the route thence including Poolesville, Brownsville, Urbana, the Monocacy
426
MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
river, Frederick, Liberty and Uniontown. The latter place was reached late at night of the 29th, and there the regiment remained till the morning of July 1, when it marched to Taneytown, halted for a short time and continued on to within a few miles of Gettys- - . burg, where it bivonacked for the night.
One day of the great battle had passed before it reached the field of action, but on the morning of the second day it joined forces with the troops already in position along Cemetery Hill, the First Division, of which it formed a part, under the command of General Caldwell, constituting the left of the Second Corps and connecting with the Third under General Sickles. When the attack of Long- street on the Third Corps was delivered that afternoon, Caldwell's Division was advanced in two lines, of which the brigades of Cross and Kelly formed the first. A fine attack was delivered, and the enemy were driven back, but the flanks of the assaulting column were not covered and were soon almost enveloped by the Confeder- ates. After an obstinate fight the division was extricated, having suffered heavy loss. On the third day the regiment assisted in re- pelling the attack upon the Union center, which in its front was not delivered with great vigor. Its loss during the two days reached 101 in killed, wounded and missing.
When it became evident on the 5th of July that the enemy had retreated, the Twenty-eighth, with other troops, marched as far as Two Taverns, halted there till the morning of the 7th and then moved by way of Taneytown to near Frederick. Thence passing through Crampton's Gap and Keedysville to Jones's Cross Roads, on the 10th, the regiment with a few changes of position remained awaiting the expected battle till the 14th, when it was found that Lee's army had retired into Virginia. The brigade advanced toward Falling Waters, but encountered no foe, bivonacked there for the night, and the 15th marched by way of Sharpsburg and the Antic- tam to near Harper's Ferry, passing that night on the canal tow- path. The next day the command encamped in Pleasant Valley, a few miles distant, stopped there till the 18th and then began a movement into Virginia in pursuit of the Confederate army. That day's march was through Harper's Ferry and some miles up Loudon Valley, thence by easy stages to Snicker's Gap, Bloomfield, Ashby's and Manassas Gaps, Markham and White Plains to Warrenton June- tion, which was reached on the 26th. Halting there till the 30th,
427
THE TWENTY-EIGIITII REGIMENT ..
the regiment marched to the vicinity of Morrisville and encamped some five miles from Kelly's Ford, where with two changes of camp it remained during the month of August; marching on the 31st to the vicinity of United States Ford, it bivouacked till the 4th of September, when it returned to the former camp where it remained till the 12th. It then with its corps marched to Rappahannock Sta- tion in support of the movement of Buford's cavalry, which resulted in driving the enemy's outposts across the Rapidan. In consequence, the Twenty-eighth marched through Culpeper on the 15th and fol- lowing the railroad eneamped that night near the Rapidan. That river then became the dividing line between the two armies, and the regiment remained in that vicinity, much of the time on picket, till the Gth of October, when it moved back some miles to the north of Culpeper, stopped there for three days, advanced a few miles and then marched rapidly to the north, passing Brandy Station, crossing the Rappahannock and going into camp near Bealton. Then followed the sharp series of maneuvers for position between the two armies, comparatively bloodless but displaying fine generalship on both sides.
The Second Corps left camp on the 12th and crossed the Rappa- hannock at Rappahannock Station in support of the cavalry. Re- crossing during the night, the column moved with little halt till Auburn was reached a few miles north of Warrenton Junction, where the night of the 13th was passed. Early next morning, while preparing breakfast, the regiment with other troops of its division was opened on by hostile artillery from the rear, and hastily formed line of battle ; but the shrewd Confederate General Stuart, who had. allowed his cavalry to penetrate between parallel columns of the Union army and pass the night in that critical situation, succeeded in extricating his troopers during the confusion caused by a dem- onstration against the front of . Caldwell's Division by Ewell's Con- federate corps, to which knowledge of the strait of Stuart had been sent. The Twenty-eighth were deployed as skirmishers and then as flankers accompanied the Union colunm northward. Late in the day as Bristoe Station was reached a fight was found to be in progress between the leading divisions of the Second Corps and a force under General A. P. Hill consisting of Heth's and Anderson's Divisions. The attempt of the Confederates to cut the Union army in two hav- ing failed, the fighting was abandoned at dusk, the Twenty-eighth having been under artillery fire but without loss; at 10 o'clock the
428
MASSACHUSETTS IN THIE WAR.
march was resumed, Bull Run being crossed at Blackburn's Ford, three miles beyond which, General Meade having reached a satis- factory position, the corps was disposed in order of battle, and till the 19th remained in constant expectation of an attack.
General Lee, having failed to obtain the advantage of position for which he hoped, decided not to trust to an engagement and when on the morning of the 19th it was found that he had moved south- ward again the Twenty-eighth with other troops turned their steps in the same direction. In two days Auburn was reached, and on the 23d the regiment changed camp to Warrenton, where it re- mained till the 7th of November, when in support of the attack by the Fifth and Sixth Corps on the Confederate outposts at Rappa- hannock Station it marched to Kelly's Ford, crossed the Rappahan- nock at that point the following morning and during the day ad- vanced in line of battle some seven miles, finally bivouacking for two days at Perry Hill. On the 10th it was detached from the bri- gade and detailed for special duty at East View, four or five miles from Brandy Station, where it remained till the 26th, when it joined in the Mine Run campaign.
Meeting its brigade at Germania Ford, it there crossed the Rap- idan, advanced some distance on the Gordonsville Plank road, and next morning moved forward to Robertson's Tavern. During the afternoon line of battle was formed in the face of the enemy, who next morning was found to have withdrawn to a stronger position. After a day of inaction, the regiment on the morning of the 29th took up the march by way of Robertson's Tavern several miles to the left, reaching the Orange Plank road, when the enemy was presently encountered. The Twenty-eighth were deployed as skir- mishers, and in the engagement which followed pressed the hostile pickets back for some distance to the crest of a hill, losing five men wounded. They held the picket line thus established till evening of the next day, when it was relieved and with the brigade went to the rear as guard to the ammunition train. The purpose of battle being abandoned by General Meade on account of the enemy's strong position and the severe cold weather, the return march was begun at night of the 1st of December. The regiment crossed the Rapidan early in the morning of the 2d, marched that day to Perry Hill, stopped there till the 5th, going then to Stevensburg, where a few days later the winter camp was established.
420
TIIE TWENTY-EIGIITII REGIMENT.
During the winter much effort was made to increase the numbers of the organization, so that at the opening of the Wilderness cam- paign it took the field with 20 officers and 485 men present for duty. Major Caraher having the previous autumn been transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps, Captain Lawler was promoted to the vacancy. The reorganization of the army to three corps did not affect the name or number of the Irish Brigade; but the division was now commanded by General Francis C. Barlow and the brigade by Colonel Thomas A. Smyth. Many of the members had re- enlisted during the winter, and at the opening of the campaign Colonel Byrnes was still in the Bay State gathering recruits for his command, which he presently returned to lead through the bloody scenes awaiting it.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.