USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts in the war, 1861-1865 Pt. 1 > Part 46
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The winter was devoted largely to strengthening the cavalry branch of the Army of the Gulf, in anticipation of the spring campaign, and several infantry regiments were armed and mounted as cavalry, among them the Thirty-first Massachusetts. The latter was ordered to New Orleans on the 9th of December and reported to General Lee, Banks's chief of cavalry, being ordered to Carrollton for en- campment. On the 19th the command was formally changed to the new arm, the men being supplied with sabers and revolvers at once. The scarcity of horses prevented an immediate mounting of the entire regiment; but that was hardly regretable, for the condi- tion of the ground in the vicinity of the camp necessitated both that the animals should stand in the mud and water which was un-
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avoidable, and that the men should flounder through the mire in caring for them. In fact the camp itself was little better, and much sickness resulted from the inevitable exposure to dampness and malaria. But a change was made on the 13th of January, 1864, to New Orleans, where the regiment was quartered in the Levee Cotton Press ; the outfit was here completed and the men were hard drilled to accustom them to the new order of things. The regiment formed a part of the Fourth Cavalry Brigade, umder command of Colonel Dudley of the Thirtieth Massachusetts; the regiments associated with it being the Third Massachusetts, Second New Hampshire (Eighth Infantry), and Second Illinois. It was thenceforth famil- iarly known as the Sixth Massachusetts Cavalry, though officially it continued to be designated as the Thirty-first. During the latter part of the winter many of the original members re-enlisted, 330 being mustered on the 23d of February.
The campaign of. 1864, so far as the cavalry was concerned, be- gan on the 29th of February, when the Fourth Brigade crossed the Mississippi to Algiers and set out upon the march to Berwick City. The route led up the river to Donaldsonville, down the La Fourche Bayou via Thibodeaux, the distance being 150 miles, the last 50 of which were made by the Thirty-first and the Second Wisconsin on the 8th of April in compliance with orders for two regiments of the brigade to reach Brashear that night. Four days more brought the regiment to the vicinity of Franklin where the infantry of the Nine- teenth Corps had passed the winter and was now in readiness for the forward movement toward the Red river. The march was re- sumed on the 13th, and passing Opelousas on the 16th, the column on the 20th reached Alexandria and the regiment encamped two miles beyond the town. It marched 20 miles further the next day, in a severe storm, in support of a force sent out to surprise a post of the enemy at Henderson Hill, and on the successful termina- tion of that enterprise returned to Alexandria on the 22d and en- joyed a few days of rest after the hard marching for three weeks. Only eight companies shared in the subsequent experiences of the expedition, Company I being detached for duty at the division head- quarter's and Company D at those of the brigade.
The advance up the Red river began on the 26th, the cavalry in the lead, and continued, now rapidly, now slowly, till the 8th of April, when Sabine Cross Roads were reached. During these 12
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days the Thirty-first had their full share of the hardships of such an undertaking. Almost continually in the advance, now skirmishing with the enemy, whose forces constantly fell back with more or less resistance, now sending out detachments for long and dangerous excursions ; on the alert by day and night, feeling the way for the coming of the main body, the Thirty-first with the rest of the cavalry penetrated the country till on the morning of the Sth the main force of the enemy was encountered. The battle which followed was a disastrous one for the small part of Banks's army on which the Con- federate attack fell, but the Thirty-first, posted in the woods at the extreme left of the Union line, with the Third Massachusetts at its right, held its ground bravely till after the entire Union right had been forced from the field; and difficult as was the ground, a portion of the regiment charged desperately against the advancing enemy, though unable to do more than give temporary check. The regiment was under command of Captain Nettleton, the senior offi- cer present, and suffered a total loss of 62, eight of whom were killed and 28 wounded, the remainder being taken prisoners. That night the Union army fell back to Pleasant Hill, and in the battle there the Thirty-first took no part, being detailed as guard of wagon trains and reaching Grand Ecore at night of the 10th. There the regiment remained for 11 days, and while there some changes took place among its commanders. Lieutenant Colonel Hopkins and Major Bache resigned on the 14th, Captain Nettleton becoming senior officer. Ile was in due time commissioned lieutenant colonel and Captain Fordham was promoted to major. At the same time the command of the brigade was transferred to Colonel E. J. Davis of the First Texas Cavalry, and Company D was relieved from duty at brigade head-quarters.
The Union army continued its retreat down the river on the 21st, the cavalry again feeling the way for the infantry column. There was skirmishing on the 22d, and next day the battle of Cane River was fought. After opening the fight the troopers relinquished it to the infantry when they came up, the Fourth Brigade being sent on a detour to operate against the Confederate right. The enemy were forced from their position, the Thirty-first not being seriously en- gaged during the day and losing but one man killed. They were in the advance on the 24th to Henderson's Hill, and during the night and next day remained in line of battle while the army passed.
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They then became a part of the rear guard, and during the next three days were much of the time skirmishing with the enemy, who closely followed the retiring army. Alexandria was reached on the 28th, and a halt was made there by the main body for some two weeks; but during that time the cavalry were far from idle.
The brigade, having been reinforced by the addition of the Third Maryland Cavalry, crossed the Red river on the 30th and advanced some 25 miles inland to destroy a mill and look for any hostile force which might be in that direction. An infantry division of the Six- teenth Corps followed for a few miles as a support. The Thirty- first led the column on the outward movement, and when the return began on the 1st of May formed the rear guard. An encounter with the enemy occurred at Hudnot's Plantation, one-third of the way back to Alexandria, the latter making an attack which was re- pulsed after a short fight, the Thirty-first in the closing moments delivering a counter charge which was very successful. The return to Alexandria was then continued without further molestation. In the engagement at Hudnot's the loss was one killed and eight wounded, among the latter being Captain Nettleton. The command devolved upon Captain Fordham during the subsequent operations. A part of the regiment under his direction had a sharp brush with the Confederates on the 3d while on a foraging expedition with troops of General Mower's command, and won a high compliment from that officer for their gallant and efficient action. The loss was two killed and four wounded. Six days later the brigade relieved other troops as an outpost on the Opelousas road, seven miles from Alexandria, and remained there till the movement toward the Mis- sissippi was resumed on the 14th.
The regiment with the Second Illinois formed the rear guard on that day, and early in the afternoon repelled an attack in which the Thirty-first lost two men killed and one wounded. Skirmishing followed daily, in which they took active part, with the loss of two members captured on the 17th, one of whom was Assistant Surgeon Elisha P. Clark of Milford. In the battle of Yellow Bayou on the 18th the regiment took an important part. At the opening of the engagement one-half of the command was sent to the right and the other half to the left of the Union line ; but as the action developed the former detachment, after fighting till its ammunition was ex- hausted, withdrew and joined the wing at the left. The latter was
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posted covering the flank, but at the approach of the Confederates in force the defection of the infantry connection left the regiment in a critical condition. It was in fact at one time almost sur- rounded; but fighting its way resolutely back it gained at length a more favorable position, and when the fire of a friendly battery had checked the advance of the enemy Captain Fordham and his com- mand gallantly charged and drove them back in rout, capturing a considerable number of prisoners. The Union forces then held the ground till late in the evening, when they retired across the bayou. The Thirty-first lost at Yellow Bayou eight killed and 24 wounded.
The army continued its march on the 19th to Simmsport, crossing the Atchafalaya by a bridge of river steamers anchored across the stream. The Thirty-first again resumed its familiar place as rear guard on the 20th, but there was no further skirmishing, as the Confederates did not cross the Atchafalaya, and on the 22d the col- umn halted at Morganzia. From that time till the 29th of June the regiment was almost constantly engaged in scouting duty and expeditions of some sort, often encountering the enemy, but having no serious conflict. On the 29th the members turned in their horses in preparation for the veteran furlough to which they were entitled on account of re-enlistment, and on the 3d of July descended the Mississippi to Algiers, where until the 21st they reoccupied their old camp of some two years before. Transportation was then taken on the steamer Pauline Carroll to Cairo, en route to Massachusetts, where the veterans arrived on the 4th of August, leaving those not entitled to furlough under command of Captain Morse at New Orleans, guarding Confederate prisoners of war. The veterans were quartered at Boylston Hall, Boston, till the 6th, when a reception was tendered them and the men were furloughed for a month, to reassemble at Pittsfield.
While in Massachusetts the Thirty-first was by order of the War Department restored to its former status of an infantry regiment, and armed with Springfield muskets. It left Pittsfield on the 8th of September, passing that night in the barracks at New York and the following day sailing for New Orleans on the steamer Victor. Arriving at its destination on the 19th, the command reported to General T. W. Sherman commanding the defenses of New Orleans, but was almost immediately ordered by General Canby, command- ing the Department of the Gulf, to be remounted as cavalry, in pur-
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suance of which it was sent to the cavalry camp at New Orleans. While there Companies F and II were detached for duty at Plaque- mine, where they remained till February of the following year, on outpost and scouting. While thus occupied the detachment several times came in conflict with the enemy, having two men killed and a few wounded and captured. The main body of the regiment was on the 15th of November attached to the Fifth Cavalry Brigade, where it once more came under the command of Colonel Gooding, who had been at the head of that brigade during the year. This relation did not long continue, however, for on the 19th the term of the non-veteran members of the first four companies of the regiment expired and they were mustered out of service, with a portion of the officers, including Colonel Gooding and Major Fordham. This com- pleted on the 26th, the command was reduced to a battalion of five companies, under Lieutenant Colonel Nettleton. The latter, how- ever, being on court-martial duty at the time, the command of the regiment temporarily devolved upon Captain W. Irving Allen.
On the 27th of November Captain Allen with his command was ordered to occupy the eastern shore of the Mississippi river opposite Donaldsonville. The territory to be covered extended to the Amite river, and as much trouble had been experienced there from the in- cursions of guerrilla bands, the assignment of the regiment to so extensive and important a field was sufficient assurance of the con- fidence reposed in it. The event showed that it was not misplaced. Previous garrisons of the region had been surprised and outwitted generally by the enemy; but not so the Thirty-first. They im- mediately began to hunt out the bands and squads that were to be found in the vicinity ; two notorious guerrilla leaders, McRory and King, were slain, and the reign of good order and security was established through the section. So marked was this result that when the battalion was ordered to other duty, General Sherman, commanding the defenses of New Orleans, issued a General Order thanking Captain Allen and his command for their "uniform good conduct and the signal success which had attended their opera- tions." The original term of enlistment of all the companies ex- pired before the close of the year 1864, but it was not till near the close of February, 1865, that the consolidation to a battalion of five companies was completed, and in the early days of March 33 re- cruits from Massachusetts were received.
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Meantime, an order had been issued on the 8th of February creat- ing what was called the Separate Cavalry Brigade, consisting of the Thirty-first, the Second New York, Second Illinois and First Louis- iana Cavalry Regiments, with General Thomas J. Lucas as brigade commander. The regiments were ordered to assemble at Carrollton immediately, and Lieutenant Colonel Nettleton, at his urgent re- quest, was excused from court-martial duty at New Orleans to take command of his battalion. The detachment at Plaquemine sailed down the Mississippi on the 6th of March, destined for Barrancas, Fla., where General Steele's column was gathering for the intended movement against Mobile, Ala., and the remainder of the battalion followed in a day or two, embarking at Hickox's Landing on Lake Pontchartrain. After a few days in camp the column began the march on the 19th, fording to the main land that afternoon and set- ting out from Pensacola the next day. The column was composed of two divisions of infantry (one colored ), the Separate Brigade of Cavalry, to which was attached the Second Massachusetts Battery, and two other light batteries, and was intended to reach the defenses of Mobile from the rear while the main army under General Canby operated in front. The roads were very bad and the progress of the troops was slow and difficult ; there were numerous slight skirmishes with the enemy; but the most serious difficulty came from the im- possibility of adequately provisioning the men and obtaining forage for the horses. The troops were put upon half rations on the 26th, and even these failed a few days later till on the 31st a grist-mill with a quantity of corn was found which was at once put in opera- tion and soon furnished a moderate supply of corn meal.
At night of the 1st of April the vicinity of the Confederate out- posts at Blakely was reached and the enemy were driven behind their works. 'The force under Canby joined that of Stecle on the 2d, and a week later Spanish Fort and Blakely had fallen, involving the surrender of Mobile, which came on the 12th. In the mean time, the Thirty-first had on the 4th been detached from the brigade and ordered to duty at General Canby's head-quarters. The bat- talion engaged at once in the duties of the new position, furnishing escorts and orderlies for the various head-quarters till the removal of General Canby to New Orleans on the 29th of May, when it re- ported to General Granger, commanding the Thirteenth Corps. The duty required of the troops after the fall of Mobile, however,
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was merely of a routine nature, and the Thirty-first, after entering Mobile on the 14th of April, knew only the pleasant side of soldier life. Dating from the 7th of June those promotions were made to which the regiment would have been entitled with a full quota- Lieutenant Colonel Nettleton to be colonel, Captain Allen to be lieutenant colonel, Captain Rice to be major, with corresponding advancement among the line officers-but the recipients of these commissions could not, of course, be mustered to the new rank.
From the 19th of July to the 6th of September the battalion was under command of Lieutenant Colonel Allen, Colonel Nettleton being detached as provost marshal general of the Department of Alabama under its new commander, General Charles R. Woods. Orders for the muster out of the command were received on the 23d of August, and the preliminary steps were taken, horses and arms being turned in to the proper officers; but it was not till the 9th of September that the battalion was formally mustered out of the United States service. It sailed on the transport Warrior for New Orleans on the 11th, arriving there on the 13th and the same day taking passage by the Concordia for Massachusetts. Gallop's Island in Boston Harbor was reached on the 24th, and there the command waited for the paymaster and the final words which should send them to their homes and the duties of citizens once more. These came on the 30th, when the battalion was paid and discharged.
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THE THIRTY-SECOND REGIMENT.
T HE Thirty-second Regiment was the outgrowth of the First Battalion of Massachusetts Infantry, formed about the mid- dle of November, 1861, to garrison Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. That formidable fortification was nearly completed at the outbreak of the rebellion, but having no garrison it was left to such care as the state of Massachusetts could give in connection with the other calls upon the patriotism of her sons. After being occupied during the summer by the Eleventh, Twelfth and Fourteenth Regi- ments, it was garrisoned for a time by four companies of the Twenty- fourth ; but when in the autumn Colonel Justin E. Dimmock was placed in command at the fort he recommended the formation of a battalion especially for its defense. Companies 1, B, C and D were hurriedly raised and immediately assigned to that duty; Com- pany E came three weeks afterward and F about the first of March. Not till the regiment had joined the Army of the Potomac in the July following did it receive another company, and the three com- pleting its quota did not join its standard till September 3, 1861. The roster of officers, when the battalion had grown into a regiment, giving that for each company at the time it entered the service, was as follows :-
Colonel, Francis J. Parker of Boston; lieutenant colonel, George L. Prescott of Concord; major, Luther Stephenson, Jr., of Hing- ham ; surgeon, Z. Boylston Adams of Boston ; assistant surgeons, William L. Faxon of Quincy and W. IT. Bigelow of Bolton; adjutant, Charles K. Cobb of Boston; quartermaster, George W. Pearson of Boston; sergeant major, James P. Wade of Chelsea; quartermaster sergeant, James A. White of Somerville; commissary sergeant, George W. Barnes of Concord; hospital steward, W. T. M. Odiorne of Bos- ton; principal musician, Freeman Field of Charlestown.
Company A-Captain, Luther Stephenson, Jr .: first lieutenant, Charles A. Dearborn, Jr., of Salem; second lieutenant, Nathaniel French, Jr., of Hingham.
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Company B-Captain, George L. Prescott; first lieutenant, Cyrus L. Tay of Woburn; second lieutenant, Isaiah F'. Hoyt of Beverly.
Company C-Captain, Jonathan Pierce of Boston; first lieutenant, Joseph Austin of Somerville; second lieutenant, Robert Hamilton of Boston.
Company D-Captain, James P. Draper of Boston; first lieutenant, James A. Cunningham; second lieutenant, Stephen Rich, both of Gloucester.
Company E-Captain, Cephas C. Bumpus of Braintree; first lieu- tenant, Josiah C. Fuller of Plymouth; second lieutenant, Lyman B. Whiton of Hingham.
Company F'- Captain, James A. Cunningham: first lieutenant, Charles K. Cobb of Boston; second lieutenant, William H. Gertz of Cambridge.
Company G-Captain, Charles Bowers; first lieutenant, Edward O. Shepard, both of Concord; second lieutenant, Edward T. Bouve of Boston.
Company H -Captain, Henry W. Moulton of Newburyport; first lientenant, Joseph H. Whidden of Gloucester; second lieutenant, Joseph W. Wheelwright of Boston.
Company I-Captain, Hannibal D. Norton of Chelsea; first lieuten- ant, Charles H. Hurd; second lieutenant, Lucius H. Warren, both of Charlestown.
Company K-Captain, J. Cushing Edmands; first lieutenant, Am- brose Bancroft; second lieutenant, John F. Boyd, all of Newton.
Francis J. Parker was commissioned major and assumed com- mand of the battalion at Fort Warren December 2, 1861, and through the winter and a part of the following spring the detach- ment continued its routine duties. These were by no means insig- nificant. In addition to infantry drill, the men were obliged to perfect themselves in heavy artillery practice; and as the fort was made a depot for both military and civil prisoners, guard duty was important and exacting. Among the illustrious captives immured within the walls during this time were the Confederate ambassadors, Mason and Slidell, and the complication with England following their arrest caused many a speenlation on the part of the garrison till the affair was adjusted and the captives were turned over to the protection of the British flag.
Major Parker resigned his commission on the 2d of May and re- turned to business life; but on the 25th of May came an appeal to Massachusetts for troops to hasten at once to the protection of the national capital. As a result, Major Parker was immediately summoned, commissioned lieutenant colonel, and the following morning with the six companies of his command took cars for Fall
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River, thence by steamer to Jersey City and rail to Washington, scoring again for Massachusetts the first arrival of troops under a call for immediate assistance.
Camp Alexander, located on a bluff overlooking the East Branch of the Potomac near the Washington Navy Yard, was the first stop- ping place of the organization, thenceforth officially known as the Thirty-second Massachusetts Regiment. On the 24th of June Lieu- tenant Colonel Parker was ordered to Alexandria with his com- mand, to be brigaded, and after some annoyance succeeded in ob- taining a camping place, several. miles out; but no assignment to brigade was made, and on the 30th, according to orders, the regi- ment returned to Alexandria to take transportation to Fortress Monroe. After waiting several hours for instructions, the com- mander took possession of the steamer Hero, at one of the wharves, and set out for the destination to which he had been directed.
Arriving at Fortress Monroe carly on the 2d of July and report- ing to General Dix, commanding that post, the regiment was di- rected to proceed up the James river till it found the Army of the Potomac. The following morning the command debarked at Har- rison's Landing, reporting to General Fitz John Porter, and was as- signed to the brigade of General Charles Griffin-the Second Bri- gade, First (Morell's) Division, Fifth Corps. The other regiments of the brigade were the Ninth Massachusetts, Fourth Michigan, Fourteenth New York and Sixty-second Pennsylvania. For six weeks the encampment at Harrison's Landing continued, during which time the Thirty-second suffered greatly from malarial dis- eases, among those who died being Lieutenant French, while very many left the service never to return, broken down in health or dying from the fatal infection. So enervated were those who re- mained on duty that when the army started on its movement to Yorktown, August 15, only 30 were able to keep their places during the first day's long march.
Newport News was reached on the 19th, where the Thirty-second took the steamer Belvidere to Acquia Creek, going thence by rail to Stafford Court House; whence moving to the vicinity of Barnard's Ford on the Rappahannock they encamped in a pleasant grove for some days, with no greater discomfort than a seareity of rations. General Porter's corps had now become a part of the Army of Vir- sinia under General Pope, and on the morning of the 27th the
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Thirty-second began the movement toward what proved the battle- field of Manassas, or the Second Bull Run. Moving up the river to Bealton, on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, they followed the course of the railroad northward, halting after a very severe day's march in a dense forest near Warrenton Junction. With lit- tle rest the command was called up long before daylight to resume the journey, but owing to the thick darkness very little progress was made till after dawn. That night a halt was made soon after crossing Broad Run, and the morning of the 20th saw the column again in motion toward Manassas Junction. After a short halt in that vicinity the column countermarched, taking the road to Gaines- ville, and in the afternoon took position on a hill overlooking the march of Longstreet's column to a junction with Jackson's forces further to the northeast.
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