USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts in the war, 1861-1865 Pt. 2 > Part 13
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Colonel, Charles L. Holbrook; lieutenant colonel, John C. Whiton, both of Boston; major, Everett Lane of Abington; surgeon, A. Carter Webber of Charlestown; assistant surgeon, Augustus Mason of Brigh- ton; adjutant, James M. Whitney of West Roxbury; quartermaster, Henry A. Turner; chaplain, Jacob M. Manning, both of Boston; ser- geant major, James E. Gilman of Chelsea; quartermaster sergeant, William W. Tuttle of Roxbury; commissary sergeant, Augustus C. Jordan of West Roxbury; hospital steward, William H. Mansfield of Roxbury.
Company A -- Captain, Henry J. Hallgreen of Chelsea; first lieu- tenant, George Chadbourne of Roxbury; second lieutenant, Lucius A. Wheelock of Boston.
Company B-Captain, Edward G. Quincy .; first lieutenant, William Jordan, both of Boston; second lieutenant, John C. Sanborn of Braintree.
Company C-Captain, William B. Fowle, Jr., of Boston; first lieu- tenant, Augustine Sanderson of Brighton; second lieutenant, John F. Thayer of Boston.
Company D-Captain, Thomas G. Whytal of West Roxbury; first lieutenant, Edward A. Sumner; second lieutenant, James Schouler, both of Dedham.
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THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT.
Company E-Captain, Henry Doane of Charlestown; first lieuten- ant, Joseph W. Paine of Roxbury; second lieutenant, Charles M. Upham of Chatham.
Company F-Captain, Charles W. Soule of Scituate; first lieuten -. ant, Henry S. Bates of Marshfield; second lieutenant, Nathan S. Oak- man of Hanover.
Company G-Captain, Josiah Soule, Jr .; first lieutenant, Lysander Poole; second lieutenant, Joseph B. Warne, all of Abington.
Company H, Chelsea-Captain, George B. Hanover; first lieuten- ant, William Bradbury; second lieutenant, D. C. Colesworthy, Jr.
Company I-Captain, George G. Tyler; first lieutenant, Robert Torry, Jr .; second lieutenant, Oliver H. Webber, all of Cambridge.
Company K-Captain, J. Emory Round of Cambridge; first lieu- tenant, Lucius P. Kimpton of West Roxbury; second lieutenant, John W. Fletcher of Chelsea.
The organization of the regiment being practically completed, it was armed with the Springfield rifle and ordered on the 24th of October to prepare to join the force in North Carolina under Major General Foster. It was not ready for departure, however, till the 5th of the following month, when it took cars to Boston, was re- viewed on the Common and received its colors from the hands of Robert C. Winthrop, in behalf of the Boston Light Infantry Asso- ciation. Late in the evening the command embarked on the steamer Merrimac, with one-half of the Forty-sixth Regiment, the transport anchoring near Deer Island in company with the Missis- sippi, carrying the rest of the Forty-sixth and the Forty-fifth. The Confederate crusier Alabama being off the coast, it was not deemed safe for the unarmed steamers to put to sea with their important human freight till the gun-boat Huron, then undergoing repairs at. the Charlestown navy-yard, was ready to escort them and they waited during a heavy storm from the east, which with snow and rain and a heavy sea made the anchorage in the harbor anything but de- lightful. The steamers being overcrowded, the Saxon was sent down and took on board the Forty-sixth. ยท
The gun-boat finally appeared on the afternoon of the 10th and the flotilla at once began the slow trip, which ended at Beaufort at noon of the 15th, when the regiment debarked and took cars to Newbern. Marching thence two miles northwesterly along the course of the river Trent, it halted for the night on the spot where in a day or two it was very comfortably located in "Camp Rogers," which proved its permanent abiding place during nearly the entire
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THIE WAR.
term of its sojourn in North Carolina. The regiment became a part of the First Brigade, First Division, of General Foster's com- mand, the regiments with which it was brigaded being all from Massachusetts and comprising the Seventeenth, Twenty-third, Forty- fifth and Fifty-first, the brigade being commanded by Colonel Thomas J. C. Amory of the Seventeenth.
Company C having been sent to Beaufort (where it remained on duty till March 4, 1863), the remainder of the regiment set out on the 11th of December as a part of General Foster's Goldsboro ex- pedition. At the battle of Kinston, on the 14th, it was under fire, and manenvered somewhat on the field, but was not engaged and suffered no loss. It was more exposed at the battle of Whitehall on the 16th, where it was in support and lost one man killed and a few wounded, but without taking an active part in the contest. As the column drew near Goldsboro next day, the Forty-third were de- tached and sent under guidance of a staff officer several miles to the right, to Spring Bank Bridge, accompanied by a section of artil- lery and a company of cavalry. The bridge being burned as the force approached, a skirmish with the Confederates across the river ensued, in which the artillery and four companies of the Forty-third took part, the latter losing two killed and one mortally wounded. The other companies lay in reserve, and after midnight the regiment was directed to rejoin the column on its return march toward Newbern.
After this the organization remained in camp, with the exception of ordinary duties and some details, till the 17th of January, 1863, when with the other nine-months' regiments of the brigade it started for Trenton, a small village on the Trent some 25 miles to the northwest. The destination was reached the following day, but no enemy was found. Marching back on the 19th to Pollocksville, the regiment halted while Companies F and G went on with the rest of the column some eight miles in a southerly direction to Young's Cross Roads. After a very heavy rain-storm, the expedi- tion returned on the 21st to the camps at Newbern.
In connection with the demonstration against Newbern by the enemy on the 13th and 14th of March, the regiment was put under marching orders during the night of the 13th, and early the follow- ing morning marched out upon the Kinston road, but was soon ordered back and remained till afternoon, when it again moved out some six miles and relieved the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts, which
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THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT.
had been holding the Confederates in check. No further attack was made at that point, and late the next afternoon the regiment marched some miles further out, halting over night and continuing in the morning till a total distance of 15 miles from Newbern had been made. Then, as the cavalry scouts reported no enemy within several miles, the return march was taken up and Camp Rogers was reached late that afternoon.
Early in April the regiment took part in a movement intended for the relief of General Foster and a small force at Little Washing- ton, then besieged by the Confederates. On the afternoon of the 7th it went aboard gun-boats and was carried across the Neuse, where it waited till General Spinola had gathered a force of some 10,000 men, when on the afternoon of the 8th it started upon the march, going some nine miles that day and continuing the movement the next. Soon after noon the enemy was encom- tered at Blonnt's Creek, the Seventeenth Massachusetts and the artillery engaging them while the Forty-third formed the support. After a sharp skirmish the Union forces were withdrawn and marched rapidly back to Newbern.
With a single day's rest the regiment went aboard a transport and sailed for the scene of the blockade in the Pamlico river below Little Washington, where it remained at anchor till the 14th, during which time some of its members volunteered to assist in running other craft through the blockade, some of them being wounded in the dangerous service. Afterward three companies landed at Hill's Point, the site of one of the strongest Confederate works, while the command, after sailing back to Newbern, was taken up to Little . Washington, where it remained from the 18th to the 24th on duty. The entire regiment then returned by the steamer Long Island to Newbern, resting in camp from the 25th to the 27th, when as part of a considerable force it took cars at Newbern and went out some miles beyond Batchelder's Creek, whenee after some repairs to the road and various demonstrations, it returned to the old camp at Newbern on the 1st of May.
During May and most of June the Forty-third remained in the vicinity of Newbern, often engaged in fatigue duty upon the forts and other fortifications thereabout, but having no part in marches or battle. The movement of the regiment northward began on the 24th of June, when it was ordered on board transports and pro-
628
MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
ceeded with other troops of General Foster's command to Fortress Monroe for orders. Without disembarking the troops sailed up the York river to White House Landing, by way of demonstration, and on the 29th were ordered back to Fortress Monroe to await direc- tions from Washington. Landing at Hampton the next day and going into camp till the 2d of July, the regiment was then ordered on board the steamer Kennebec, landing at Baltimore near Fort McHenry the following afternoon.
That night was passed in barracks, and during the 4th the regi- ment marched through the city to Camp Bradford on the north, where three days were passed. The term of service of most of the men had now expired, and there was some dissatisfaction at their being retained in the service; this coming to the knowledge of Gen- eral Naglee, he gave the men individually the option of returning to their homes or of joining for brief service the Army of the Potomac, then in pursuit of Lee on his retreat from Gettysburg. Under this option 203 officers and men volunteered to go to the front, while the remainder of the regiment took cars on the 8th for Massachu- setts, going by way of Philadelphia to New York, thence by boat to New Haven and rail by Springfield to Boston.
The volunteers for further service proceeded to Sandy Hook op- posite Harper's Ferry, where they were detailed for provost duty, Major Lane being made provost marshal, General Naglee command- ing the post. This duty continued till the 18th, when the detach- ment was relieved by the Nineteenth Maryland and started for Boston, having won the right to wear the badge of the First Bri- gade, Second Division, Sixth Corps. Boston was reached on the 21st by steamer from New York, where the detachment was re- ceived with honor. After a parade the men were furloughed until the 30th, when the regiment gathered in the camp at Readville and was mustered out of service.
THE FORTY-FOURTH REGIMENT.
T HE Forty-fourth Regiment was an outgrowth of the Fourth Battalion, M. V. M., which, having volunteered promptly and almost unanimously when the call was made for enlist- ments for the nine-months' quota, was sent to Camp Meigs at Read- ville, then commanded by General Peirce, to be transformed into a full regiment. This was quickly done; the camp was occupied during the last days of . August, and on the 12th of September the several companies were mustered into the United States service with full ranks by Captain MeLaughlen, U. S. A. The commis- sions of the officers bore date from that time, and the roster was as follows :-
Colonel, Francis L. Lee of Newton ; lieutenant colonel, Edward C. Cabot of Brookline ; major, Charles W. Dabney of West Roxbury ; surgeon, Robert Ware of Boston ; assistant surgeon, Theodore W. Fisher of Medway ; chaplain, Edward HI. Hall of Plymouth ; adju- tant, Wallace Hinckley of Lowell ; quartermaster. Francis Bush, Jr., of Boston ; sergeant major, William H. Bird of Roxbury; quarter- master sergeant, Frederick S. Gifford of New Bedford ; commissary sergeant, Charles D. Woodbury of Boston ; hospital steward, William C. Brigham of New Bedford ; principal musician, George L. Babcock of Boston.
Company A-Captain, James M. Richardson of Hubbardston ; first lieutenant, Jared Coffin ; second lieutenant, Charles G. Kendall, both of Boston.
Company B, Newton-Captain, John M. Griswold ; first lieuten- ant, Frank H. Forbes; second lieutenant, John A. Kenrick. (Forbes resigned a month later, Kenrick was promoted and Charles C. Soule of Brookline was commissioned second lieutenant.)
Company C-Captain, Jacob H. Lombard ; first lieutenant, George B. Lombard ; second lientenant, James W. Briggs, all of Boston.
Company D-Captain, Henry D. Sullivan ; first lieutenant, James HI. Blake, Jr .; second lieutenant, Asa HI. Stebbins, all of Boston.
Company E-Captain, Spencer W. Richardson ; first lieutenant, James S. Newell ; second lieutenant, James S. Cumston, all of Boston. Company F-Captain, Charles Storrow of Boston ; first lieutenant,
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THIE WAR.'
Alfred S. Hartwell of Natick ; second lieutenant, Theodore E. Taylor of Newton.
Company G-Captain, Charles Hunt of Boston ; first lieutenant, James C. White of Milton ; second lieutenant, Frederick Odiorne of Boston.
Company H-Captain, William V. Smith ; first lieutenant, Edward C. Johnson, both of Boston ; second lieutenant, Albert R. Howe of Brookline.
Company I-Captain, Joseph R. Kendall ; first lieutenant, William D. Hooper ; second lieutenant, Benjamin F. Field, Jr., all of Boston.
Company K-Captain, Frank W. Reynolds of Boston ; first lieu- tenant, Richard H. Weld ; second lieutenant, Fred T. Brown, both of West Roxbury.
Colonel Lee had been promoted from major of the Fourth Battal- ion, and many of his associate officers were those who had formerly served under him in various capacities. The command was armed with the Enfield rifle, and through its commanding officer was pre- sented by Miss Josie Gregg of Boston with an elegant national flag. Marching orders were received on the 2d of October, but did not take immediate effect. The regiment was reviewed by Governor Andrew on the 15th and one week later took cars for Boston, where with one-half of the Third Regiment it went aboard the transport Merrimac, destined for North Carolina.
A landing was made at Morehead City, near Beaufort, on the 26th, whence the journey to Newbern was made on platform cars during a rain storm, giving the regiment an unpleasant introdue- tion to active service. Quarters were secured in barracks north of the city, the command forming part of a brigade composed of the Twenty-fourth and Forty-fourth Massachusetts, Fifth Rhode Island and Tenth Connecticut. The brigade was commanded by Colonel Thomas G. Stevenson of the Twenty-fourth.
The warfare in North Carolina at that time largely consisted of expeditions from either side to feel the position of the enemy and occupy strategic points, and on one of these the Forty-fourth were soon engaged. On the 30th of October, as part of a large forec under General Foster, the regiment went on board transports, sail_ ing down the Neuse river into Pamlico Sound and ascending the Tar river to Washington, where they debarked next day, and on the 2d of November set forth on their march northward. Nearly 20 miles were covered that day, and about dusk the Confederates were found in some force at Rawles Mills or Little Creek, near
631
THIE FORTY-FOURTHI REGIMENT.
Williamston. They were in command of a ford in the midst of dense dark woods, and as Companies H and C, detached as skirmishers, undertook to cross the creek they were fired upon, but made the crossing and engaged the foe till their guns became useless, when they were relieved by Company E, supported by Company 1. This little force fonght its way to the top of a hill beyond the creek, and the ford being thus secured the column crossed and pushed its way slowly along most of the night, making but little progress, with some skirmishing, though the casualties of the Forty-fourth were confined to the skirmishers, being two killed and six wounded.
The march was continued the following morning, leading by way of Hamilton toward Tarboro, within a few miles of which it ended on the 5th, the column retracing its steps to Hamilton next day, and thenee by easier stages back to Plymouth, where steamer was taken for Newbern and camp was reached after an absence of two weeks. The Massachusetts Thanksgiving Day was celebrated very appro- priately on the 27th, after which the routine of camp life was not broken till the Goldsboro expedition, which left Newbern December 11, consisting of four brigades. The first engagement occurred at Kinston on the 14th, but it was fought and won before the Forty- fourth were called into service, they being merely in time to receive the surrender of a considerable number of prisoners. Two days later, on reaching Whitehall, it was found that a bridge across the creek had been burned, the southern troops being strongly posted on the opposite bank to dispute the crossing. The Forty-fourth took position behind a hill-crest on the Federal side of the stream but received a very severe fire, and were soon ordered back to the support of Belger's Battery, having lost eight killed and 14 wounded. In the battle near Goldsboro the following day the regiment was on the reserve, and after this event the column turned its steps toward Newbern once more, where it arrived on the 20th.
No other expedition in which it had part took place till the 1st of February, 1863, when the regiment marched to Plymouth, whence it moved out several miles through the country, gathering a large quantity of forage without adventure, reaching Newbern on the 10th. Companies B and F' were at this time dispatched to Batchel- der's Creek, for picket duty under Colonel Jones of the Fifty-eighth Pennsylvania, where they remained till the 1st of May. The quiet of camp life was stirred on the 14th of March by an attack on the
632
MASSACHUSETTS IN THIE WAR.
Union outposts on the east shore of the Neuse, and the day after the eight companies of the Forty-fourth present for duty started to reinforce the small garrison at Washington, a post of some import- ance at the confluence of the Tar and Pamlico rivers. On reaching the place Colonel Lee took command of the forces at Washington, consisting in addition to his own regiment of eight companies of the Twenty-seventh Massachusetts, two companies of loyal North Carolinians and one each of cavalry and artillery.
The Confederates began the siege of Washington on the 30th, on which date Companies A and G of the Forty-fourth, while making a reconnaissance across the river, nearly walked into an ambush and were fired upon, leaving three of Company G severely wounded, one fatally, in the hands of the enemy. Captain James M. Rich- ardson was also badly wounded, and others slightly. The force withdrew to the town, and the enemy at once began the investment, firing their first shots into the place on the 1st of April. The small force of defenders and the few gun-boats in the river made so determined a resistance, however, that the besiegers were held at bay till the arrival of reinforcements on the 14th, when the Con- federates retired.
During the occupation of Washington the Forty-fourth met with a severe loss in the death of their esteemed surgeon, Dr. Ware, from malarial fever. He was not only devoted to the interests of the men under his professional charge, but delighted to serve the inhabitants who needed his assistance, and in this manner is sup- posed to have contracted his own fatal disease.
Companies C, D and I, under Major Dabney, were taken on board the gun-boat Eagle on the evening of the 16th, and the fol- lowing day landed at Hill's Point, on the south side of the Sound, eight miles below Washington, where they occupied and destroyed the Confederate fortifications, building defenses to guard against an attack from the land side and remaining till the 22d, when the detachment at Hill's Point was relieved by part of the Forty-third and that at Washington by the rest of the Forty-third and the Twenty-seventh Massachusetts, and the regiment started back to Newbern once more. After passing one night in the barracks the command was sent into Newbern as provost guard, relieving the Forty-fifth, and in the somewhat irksome details of that duty pass- ing the time till the expiration of its term of service.
633
THE FORTY-FOURTHI REGIMENT.
The Forty-fourth were relieved by the Twenty-seventh on the 6th of June, and going by cars to Morchead City embarked on the transport steamers Guide and George Peabody. After a decidedly rough passage Boston was reached early in the morning of the 10th, when the returning regiment paraded under escort, received a cor- dial welcome from Mayor Lincoln and the city government of Boston, and was furloughed until the 16th. Re-assembling then at Read- ville, the command passed three days in camp, when it was mustered out of the United States service and disbanded. Owing to the danger of a draft riot, however, the state authorities on the 14th of July called on the Forty-fourth, with other militia organizations. They reported promptly and remained on duty for a week.
THE FORTY-FIFTH REGIMENT.
T HE Forty-fifth, from the fact that its field and many of its line officers had been prominently identified with the First Company of Cadets, was known as the "Cadet Regiment." It was one of those recruited for nine months' service at Camp Meigs, Readville. Eight of the companies were mustered on the 26th of September, 1862, and the others on the 7th of October; though additions were made later to bring the command up to the maximum. The field and staff were commissioned October 8, and mustered the 28th. Though the officers were largely from Boston and the immediate vicinity, over 200 cities and towns of the state were represented in the ranks of the regiment. The original roster of officers follows :-
Colonel, Charles R. Codman; lieutenant colonel, Oliver W. Peabody; major, Russell Sturgis, Jr .; surgeon, Samuel Kneeland; assistant sur- geon, Joshua B. Treadwell; chaplain, Andrew L. Stone, all of Bos- ton ; adjutant, Gershom C. Winsor of Brookline; quartermaster, Francis A. Dewson of Newton; sergeant major, Henry G. Wheelock of Walpole, N. H .; quartermaster sergeant, Arthur Reed ; commis- sary sergeant, Charles F. Richardson; hospital steward, Edward Wig- glesworth, Jr., all of Boston.
Company A-Captain, George P. Denny; first lieutenant, George E. Pond, both of Boston; second lieutenant, Edward B. Richardson of Brookline.
Company B-Captain, Joseph M. Churchill of Milton; first lieu- tenant, William S. Bond of West Roxbury; second lieutenant, Abijah Hollis of . Milton.
Company (-Captain, Edward J. Minot of Boston; first lieuten- ant, Harrison Gardner of Newton; second lieutenant, Lewis R. Whit- taker of Franklin.
Company D-Captain, Nathaniel Willis Bumstead; first lieutenant, Samuel Thaxter; second lientenant, Cyrus A. Sears, all of Boston.
Company E-Captain, Thomas II. Wales. Jr .; first lieutenant, Alpheus II. Hardy; second lieutenant, J. Frank Emmons, all of Boston.
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THIE FORTY-FIFTII REGIMENT.
Company F-Captain, Edward F. Deland; first lieutenant, Samuel ( !. Ellis, both of Boston; second lieutenant, Theodore C. Hurd of Framingham.
Company G-Captain, Joseph Murdock of Roxbury; first lieuten- ant, Theodore A. Thayer of Boston; second lieutenant, Benjamin H. Tieknor of West Roxbury.
Company H-Captain, Lewis W. Tappan, Jr., of West Roxbury; first lieutenant, Alfred Winsor, Jr., of Brookline; second lieutenant, Albert K. Post of New York.
Company I-Captain, Charles O. Rich; first lieutenant, John D. Thompson; second heutenant, Edward R. Bladgen, all of Boston.
Company K-Captain, George HI. Homans; first lieutenant, Charles A. Walker, both of Boston; second lieutenant, John H. Robinson of Newton.
The regiment was ordered on the 24th of October to prepare for departure to North Carolina, and on the 5th of November embarked on the transport steamer Mississippi. Some days of waiting fol- lowed in Boston harbor, made more tedious by the prevalence of a heavy storm, but the Mississippi, in company with two other steam- ers carrying the Forty-third and Forty-sixth Regiments, finally sailed under the protection of a gun-boat and reached Beaufort on the 15th. The regiment was at once transported by rail to New- bern and assigned to Colonel Amory's Brigade, consisting of the Seventeenth and Twenty-third Regiments, to which the Forty-third and Fifty-first were added on their arrival-a fine brigade of Mas- sachusetts volunteers. Camp was established on the bank of the Trent some two miles from Newbern, where the command remained without incident until the 12th of December. On that date the eight companies in camp (C having been detached for special duty at Morchead City and G to Fort Macon ) set forth upon the Golds- boro expedition. Two days later, in the battle of Kinston, the regi- ment was engaged, winning much praise for its gallantry and effi- ciency. Being ordered to charge the enemy, it advanced steadily over difficult ground, through a swampy forest under a severe cross fire, driving the Confederates from their position, suffering a loss of 15 killed and 43 wounded. On the 16th, at Whitehall, the Forty- fifth again bore an honorable part, fighting the Confederates across the creek, the bridge having been burned, and losing four killed and 16 wounded, among the former being Color Sergeant Theodore Parkman of Boston. In the action at Goldsboro on the following day the regiment was not actively engaged, and after the burning
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