USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts in the war, 1861-1865 Pt. 2 > Part 17
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At the opening of the battle on that day it was formed in support of the Thirty-eighth Massachusetts, and was presently detached for the support of two batteries, but sometime before noon was ordered to relieve the Ninety-first New York on the skirmish line at the brow of a hill within 200 feet of the Confederate intrenehments. This position was held for more than 24 hours, under the fire of the enemy's sharpshooters, by which the regiment lost a number wounded, including Captain George H. Bailey of Company A, just commissioned, who died during the 27th. (This company was es- pecially unfortunate in the loss of its officers ; Captain Miles had resigned before the regiment left New York ; Captain Bailey was succeeded by Jerome K. Taft, who had already been promoted from sergeant to first lieutenant vice Nutting killed, Captain Taft in turn dying of wounds on the 2d of July. ) Being relieved the regiment rejoined the brigade at the right, and till and during the 1st of June was occupied in picket and fatigue duty. 'That evening it relieved the Fourth Wisconsin at the front, remaining till the 4th, during which time it had two men killed and three wounded.
Early in the morning of the 5th it set out as part of an expedi- tion to drive away a threatening band of hostile cavalry in the vicin-
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THE FIFTY-THIRD REGIMENT.
ity of Clinton, some 25 or 30 miles to the northeast-a four-days' jaunt during which the command suffered much from the heat, but accomplished its purpose without a fight. After the return a sea- son of quiet ensued till the evening of the 13th, when the regiment was selected to form part of the storming column for an assault on the works at dawn of the following morning. With the Thirty- eighth Regiment, the Fifty-third supported two other regiments deployed as skirmishers, and advanced under a heavy fire. The order to charge was bravely responded to, some of the men even reaching the Confederate lines and being captured; but the force was inadequate and the slanghter so terrible that the survivors were forced to seek shelter at the foot of a slight hill close by, where they remained through the day, being unable till dark to re- tire or to assist their wounded. The eight companies of the regi- ment taking part-two being on detached duty during the entire campaign-had a total of some 300 present, of whom 18 were killed or fatally wounded, and 68 wounded. Among the killed was Lieutenant Glover of Company C. On the same day Lieutenant Vose died of wounds.previously received.
After this heroic endeavor the Fifty-third rested till the 19th, when they again went to the front to support a battery, in which position they remained till the surrender of Port Hudson. They then performed picket duty a few miles to the rear for two days, marching toward Baton Rouge on the 11th of July and reached there next day. On the 15th the regiment took transport for Don- aldsonville, where it encamped near the junction of Bayou Fourche and the Mississippi till the 2d of August, when it returned to Baton Rouge. Ten days later it set out for home, embarking on the steamer Meteor for Cairo, Ill., taking cars thence on the 19th and reaching Fitchburg on the 24th. After a formal reception the mem- bers were furloughed for a week, when they re-assembled at Camp Stevens, and on the 2d of September, the final papers having been completed, the command was mustered out by Captain Lawrence.
Of the 950 officers and men composing the regiment, 165 gave their lives for their country during the term of service, 33 being killed in battle or dying of wounds and 132 from disease,-a total loss of life much exceeding that of any other nine-months' regiment from the state. "The Forty-ninth Regiment only of the short-term organizations lost a larger number killed in action.
THE FIFTY-FOURTH REGIMENT.
T HE Fifty-fourth Regiment was recruited under authority granted by the Secretary of War in an order dated January 26, 1863, authorizing Governor Andrew to include in the troops which he was to raise "persons of African descent, organ- ized into special corps." This authority reached Massachusetts four days after its date, and on the 9th of February recruiting began at Boston for the proposed colored regiment, to be officered by white men. A squad of 27 forming the nucleus of the organization reached Camp Meigs at Readville on the 21st, and by the close of March four companies had been filled and mustered. Three more were mustered April 23, and the remainder May 13, when the regi- ment was more than filled, the surplus going to form the Fifty-fifth Regiment. The men came from all parts of Massachusetts and from many other states, actuated by patriotic motives alone, as no bounty was offered, though $50 per man was voluntarily paid by the state after the regiment was filled. The matter of securing proper offi- cers for this special corps was an important one, to which the gov- ernor gave careful attention, and his selections seem generally to have been made with excellent judgment. Captain Robert G. Shaw of the Second Massachusetts was promoted to the rank of major and placed in charge of the regiment during its formation, being commissioned colonel April 17, with Captain N. P. Hallowell of the Twentieth Regiment as lieutenant colonel. The latter was placed in command of the Fifty-fifth, however, and did not after- ward serve with the Fifty-fourth. It was also found necessary to assign several other officers from the completed regiment to the Fifty-fifth, so that when the Fifty-fourth left the state it was with a somewhat incomplete roster. The list in actual service at that time was as follows :-
Colonel, Robert G. Shaw of Boston ; major, Edward N. Hallowell of Medford; surgeon, Lincoln R. Stone of Salem; assistant surgeon,
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IFT
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THE FIFTY-FOURTH REGIMENT.
Charles E. Bridgham of Buekfield, Me. : adjutant, Garth W. James of Newport, R. I. ; quartermaster, John Ritchie of Boston ; sergeant major, Lewis HI. Douglass; commissary sergeant, Arthur B. Lee of Boston; hospital steward, Theodore J. Becker of Fitchburg; principal musician, Thomas E. Platner.
Company A-Captain, John W. M. Appleton of Boston; first lieu- tenant, William II. Homans of Malden.
Company B-Captain, Samuel Willard of Boston; first lieutenant, James M. Walton of Philadelphia, Pa .; second lieutenant, Thomas L. Appleton of Brighton.
Company C-First lieutenant. James W. Grace of New Bedford; second lieutenant, Benjamin F. Dexter of Boston.
Company D-Captain, Edward L. Jones of Boston ; first lieuten- ant, Richard H. L. Jewett of Chicago, Ill.
Company E-Captain, Luis F. Emilio of Salem; second lieutenant, David Reed of Boston.
Company F-Captain, Watson W. Bridge of Springfield ; second lieutenant, Alexander Johnston of Manchester, N. II.
Company G- First lieutenant, Orin E. Smith of Webster; second lieutenant, James A. Pratt of West Roxbury.
Company HI-Captain, Cabot J. Russel of New York City; second lieutenant, Willard Howard of Boston.
Company I-Captain, George Pope of Brookline; first lieutenant, Francis L. Higginson; second lientenant, Charles E. Tucker, both of Boston.
Company K-Captain, William H. Simpkins of West Roxbury; second lieutenant, Henry W. Littlefield of Milton.
Probably at the time of leaving the state the roster of officers was nominally filled; but while some necessarily remained to assist in the formation of the Fifty-fifth Regiment, others were on staff or detached duty from which they did not return to their places in the Fifty-fourth, and yet others did not report for service. The regiment left camp on the 28th of May, 1863, under orders to re- port to General David Hunter, commanding the Department of the South, took cars to Boston, and after being reviewed on the Com- mon by Governor Andrew embarked from Battery Wharf on the transport De Molay. On reporting at Hilton Head with his regi- ment June 3, Colonel Shaw was directed to proceed to Beaufort, where the transport arrived the same day, and on the 4th the regi- ment debarked and went into eamp on Thompson's Plantation, a short distance out of town. After a stop there of four days, dur- ing which details assisted on fortifications being built in the vicinity, Colonel Shaw was directed to report with his regiment to Colonel James Montgomery of the Second South Carolina Regiment, stationed
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
on St. Simon's Island off the Georgia coast some 60 miles south of Savannah. The regiment went aboard the De Molay and reached its destination the following day, debarking at New Frederica and bivouacking for the night. Next afternoon eight companies of the Fifty-fourth with a part of the Second South Carolina, the whole commanded by Colonel Montgomery, embarked on the steamer Sentinel and proceeded up the Altamaha river, reaching Darien the next day. The place was found deserted, the inhabitants having received news of the coming expedition and retired to the interior, taking their slaves with them. The town was burned, by order of Colonel Montgomery and much against the wish of the Fifty-fourth officers and men, and with no other prize than a schooner load of cotton the party returned to Frederica. After encamping there for two weeks the Fifty-fourth again followed Colonel Montgomery, this time to Hilton Head by the Transport Ben Deford, where it re- ported on the 25th and proceeded at once to St. Helena Island, and going into camp a mile from the landing remained for two weeks busy with drill and camp dnties.
The brigade under Colonel Montgomery-the two regiments- again embarked on the Sth of July and proceeded to Stono Inlet, where it was made part of the force under General A. H. Terry destined for an expedition to James Island. A landing was made on the 11th and a position occupied some two miles from the Con- federate works at Secessionville. The Fifty-fourth were first called to action on the morning of the 16th, when a force of the enemy made a strong attack under command of General Hagood, the brunt of which fell upon Colonel Shaw's command. The attack was gal- lantly met by the Fifty-fourth, their determined resistance giving time for the formation of the division and the withdrawal of the pickets of the Tenth Connecticut, which were in danger of capture. Two com- panies of the regiment were cut off during the fight, but refused to surrender and fought their way back to the main body, though with serious loss. The attack was repulsed after two hours of fighting, when the Fifty-fourth reoccupied the battle-field, having lost in the engagement 14 killed, 18 wounded and 13 missing.
That night the island was evacuated, the column marching through a heavy rain storm over a dangerous and very difficult route to Cole's Island. There the regiment lay during the following day in the glare of a July sun, and at night, with the rain again pouring
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THE FIFTY-FOURTH REGIMENT.
in torrents, went aboard a transport, the embarkation by means of a single dilapidated long boat taking all night. Colonel Shaw was now directed to report with his regiment to General George C. Strong on Morris Island, and at 9 o'clock on the morning of the 18th the transport made its way to Pawnee Landing on Folly Island, where the regiment debarked and at once began the march of some miles to Light Honse Inlet. It reached there at 2 o'clock and after a rest crossed the inlet to Morris Island, reporting to General Strong about 6 o'clock that evening, without rations and worn out with loss of sleep for two nights and the hardships endured. The Fifty- fourth numbered some 600 men, and was assigned to lead the ad- vance of General Strong's Brigade in the contemplated assault on Fort Wagner,-the other regiments of the brigade being the Ninth Maine, Third New Hampshire, Sixth Connecticut, Forty-eight New York and Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania. The regiment marched to the front of the column and formed by wings, Colonel Shaw in im- mediate command of the right wing and Lieutenant Colonel E. N. Hallowell of the left wing. The men loaded but did not cap their pieces, fixed bayonets, and with no incumbrance but their equipments dashed forward at the word of command in the most heroic manner.
The advance at quick time was steady and the artillery fire to which the regiment was subjected was not effective till Vincent's Creek, some 200 yards in front of the fort, was reached. There the creek and the sea approach each other within 100 feet, and on that narrow causeway the concentrated fire of the enemy's batteries and infantry was poured. Great numbers fell, but the undaunted men dashed forward at a double-quick, following their gallant young colonel, stumbling into the huge holes blown by exploding shells from the Union gun-boats, mutilated by the torpedoes which ex- ploded beneath them, till the outer works were reached. A terrible flank as well as direet fire of artillery and musketry was encoun- tered at that moment, but what was left of the line closed to the colors and climbed upon the curtain where both flags were planted on the parapet, and about them for a short time a hand to hand fight took place. The Confederates who had mounted the parapet were driven back and the fire of some of the guns was presented by the musketry of the survivors of the Fifty-fourth, who clung to the front of the works, and when later the Sixth Connectient and Forty- eighth New York made a charge and effected a lodgment inside the
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THIE WAR.
fort at another point some of the Massachusetts men made their way inside, where Captains Appleton and Jones were wounded. When at length it became necessary to retire owing to the utterly hopeless nature of the struggle, Captain Emilio, the junior captain of the regiment, rallied the fragments of the Fifty-fourth at a point some 700 yards from Fort Wagner, and with some fugitive white soldiers also rallied at the same point added to his meager force held an important part of the front line in readiness to repel the expected sortie from the fort. The latter was not made, however, and in the morning the soldiers of the Fifty-fourth were relieved by General Stevenson with the Tenth Connecticut.
The loss of the regiment had been severe, especially in officers, Captain Emilio being the only one above the rank of lieutenant left for duty. Colonel Shaw had been killed on the parapet, and Cap- tains Russel and Simpkins were also among the slain. The lieu- tenant colonel, adjutant and nine other commissioned officers were wounded. Of the enlisted men, 20 were known to be killed, 102 were missing and 125 wounded, making a total loss of 261. Of the missing many were never traced afterward and were undoubtedly among the slain. During the 19th Captain Emilio was directed to report his command as a part of General Stevenson's Third Brigade, the other regiments of which were the Twenty-fourth Massachusetts, Tenth Connecticut, Ninety-seventh Pennsylvania and Second South Carolina. The regiment encamped near the landing on Morris Island and was at once engaged in fatigue duty, constructing the intrenchments and parallels by which the operations against Fort Wagner were carried on. Captain Emilio retained the command till the 22d, when Captain D. A. Partridge of Medway, who had been left sick in Massachusetts, joined the regiment and took com- mand, ranking Emilio; but two days later Colonel M. S. Littlefield of the Fourth South Carolina was temporarily placed in command of the Fifty-fourth by order of General Gilmore. On the 24th of August another change in the brigade was made, the colored regi- ments, the Second South Carolina and Third United States, in ad- dition to the Fifty-fourth, being gathered in a brigade known as the Fourth, under command of Colonel Montgomery. The number of the brigade was soon after changed to the Third, but without change in its composition.
In consequence of the death of Colonel Shaw, E. N. Hallowell,
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THIE FIFTY-FOURTHI REGIMENT.
who had already been advanced from major to lieutenant colonel, was commissioned colonel, Henry N. Hooper of Roxbury became lieutenant colonel, and Captain Appleton was promoted to the ยท majority. These commissions dated from July 18, but the officers named were not mustered to the positions till a long time afterward. Rev. Samnel Harrison of Pittsfield was commissioned chaplain from the 8th of September. Under Colonel Littlefield the regiment was constantly employed in fatigue duty, principally upon the fortifica- tions ; and when on the 7th of September the approaches had been carried close to the fort and it was deserted by the Confederates, the men of the Fifty-fourth, being at work on detail in the vicinity, were among the first to enter the walls. Colonel Hallowell resumed the command of the regiment October 17, having recovered from the wounds received at Fort Wagner, and somewhat later a hundred recruits were received from the North, which with the return of convalescents restored the command to respectable munbers. The task of fortifying continued till the close of the year, when, the works being considered sufficiently formidable, the regiment was for a few weeks allowed to perfect itself in drill and the regular duties of the camp.
Late in Jannary, 1864, an expedition to Florida under command of General Seymour was organized, of which the Fifty-fourth formed a part. The regiment left camp the 29th and reported at the ren- dezvous at Hilton Head the following day, encamping outside the fortifications till the 5th of February, when the entire force sailed for Jacksonville and landed there on the 7th; the Fifty-fourth being the first regiment ashore and receiving the fire of the Confederate pickets. The regimental head-quarters with four companies re- mained in the town till the 18th, when they pushed forward to Baldwin's, 40 miles westward, where on the evening of the 19th the six companies under Major Appleton were overtaken. A march of 16 miles next day brought the regiment to the battle-field of Ohstec, where it was actively engaged. It formed the rear guard, covering the withdrawal of General Seymour's main body, and by an opportune advance against the enemy doing much to save the Union troops from utter rout. Its loss out of a little over 500 taken into action was 13 killed, 66 wounded and eight missing. Late in the evening of the 22d Jacksonville was again entered, the regiment having for the last 11 miles of the distance drawn in a disabled loco-
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THIE WAR.
motive and train of cars loaded with wounded. The official report of the affair records that the Fifty-fourth had within 102 hours marched 120 miles and engaged for four hours in a hard-fought bat- tle, yet returned to camp without a straggler.
Then followed some months of comparative inactivity, during which the regiment remained at Jacksonville till the 17th of April, when it went aboard transports and landed on Morris Island next day. Four companies were detailed to garrison various points in the vicinity, while the others went into camp. The location was under fire from the Confederate batteries, by which two men were killed.
A movement to James Island began on the 1st of July, the Fifty- fourth, Lieutenant Colonel Hooper, forming part of a provisional brigade commanded by Colonel William Heine of the One Hun- dred and Third New York, General Schimmelfennig command- ing the column. The troops, gathering on Folly Island, moved dur- ing the night across Cole Island and next morning landed on James Island, where the Fifty-fourth deployed as skirmishers on the field of their first battle of a year before .. This line was held during the day under a harmless artillery fire, though owing to the intense heat more than 50 men in the regiment suffered sun-strokes, some of them fatal. The force was withdrawn from the island on the 10th and the Fifty-fourth returned to their camp on Morris Island, where the remainder of the summer and autumn were passed. Six companies were specially detailed on the 7th of September to guard 600 Confederate officers who were placed near Fort Wagner under fire of the rebel batteries, in retaliation for the exposure of Union officers in the city of Charleston to the fire of the loyal artil- lery. This duty continued till the 21st of October, when the prison- ers were removed and the detail returned to the regiment.
For 16 months after entering the service the men of the regiment had received no pay. Seven times they had been mustered and $10 a month offered them; but as often every one had refused to take less than the $13 a month paid to white soldiers, to which they were entitled according to the terms of their enlistment. Finally on the 28th of September the victory was won and the men were paid the amount to which they were entitled; the gross sum being $160,000, of which it is recorded that two-thirds the entire amount was sent home to families and relatives. At the same time the colored man had not been recognized to the extent of admitting
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THE FIFTY-FOURTHI REGIMENT.
the disabled to the Veteran Reserve Corps or of promoting their gallant and capable enlisted men to serve as officers, even in regi- ments of their own color.
Eight companies of the Fifty-fourth under Lieutenant Colonel Hooper were transported on the 27th of November to Hilton Head, where they became part of Colonel Hartwell's Second Brigade, the other regiments being the Fifty-fifth Massachusetts and the Twenty- sixth and One Hundred and Second United States Colored Troops- the whole forming part of the Coast Division under General Hatch. This division was transferred on the 20th to Boyd's Neck on Broad river, where it debarked, and the following day, after marching a few miles inland, encountered the enemy at Honey Hill. Six com- panies of the Fifty-fourth took part in the fight which succeeded, lasting from noon till after dark, and these were separated, four being on the right and two at the left; but the detachments fought well, having three killed, including First Lieutenant David Reed, 38 wounded and four missing. Colonel Hartwell was wounded in the battle and Colonel Silliman succeeded to the command of the bri- gade. That night a retreat was made to the landing, but on the 1st of December the lines were advanced two miles and intrenched. The division remained there but a few days, however, and on the night of the 6th the regiment followed other troops of the command up the Tilifenny river, landing at Deveau Neck, where in an engage- ment on the 9th Colonel Silliman, the brigade commander, was mortally wounded. Colonel Hallowell, who had just rejoined his regiment after commanding the post on Morris Island, took com- mand of the brigade, an intrenched position near the Charleston and Savannah Railroad being occupied.
The regiment crossed the Tilifeniny to Graham's Neck on the 19th, and Jannary 15, 1865, at Pocotaligo, five miles distant, met the Seventeenth Corps of General Sherman's army, which in the early part of February began its march toward Charleston. After meeting Blair's corps, the Fifty-fourth returned to its camp at Tili- feny, and after Sherman's army had moved northward Hatch's Coast Division, of which the Fifty-fourth formed part, held Poco- taligo as Sherman's base of supplies, making demonstrations, mean- time, to cross the Sallahatchie and Cambahee rivers, held by small forces of the enemy. The latter river was crossed on the 16th and the column moved along the line of the railroad toward Charleston,
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
rain falling almost incessantly, the roads being necessarily very bad, and almost daily skirmishes occurring. The Ashley river was reached opposite Charleston February 23, the city having been evacuated by the Confederates five days before; the river was crossed and the city entered on the 27th, where the regiment found its two companies, B and F, which had been left on Morris Island. These companies had entered the city directly after its evacuation, being among the first Union soldiers to do so. During this time Second Lieutenant Frederick II. Webster of Boston had died of' disease, January 25, and about the same time Sergeant Stephen A. Swails, of Elmira, N. Y., who had long before been commissioned by Governor Andrew, was, by authority of an order from the War Department, mustered in that rank,-being one of the first colored men to become a commissioned officer in the United States service. Before the regiment's term closed, however, four others were commissioned, two of whom were mustered as officers in the Fifty-fourth.
On the 12th of March the regiment set out by transport for Savannah, where brigaded with the Thirty-third and One Hundred and Second Colored Troops it remained till the 27th. It then took passage for Georgetown, S. C., where it arrived on the 31st, having been driven into Charleston Harbor by a storm. A provisional division was organized at Georgetown under command of General Edward E. Potter for a raid into central South Carolina, of which the Second Brigade, commanded by Colonel Hallowell, consisted of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts, Thirty-second and One Hundred and Second Colored Troops. Lieutenant Colonel Hooper commanded the Fifty-fourth. The expedition set forth on the 5th of April and was absent for 20 days, incessantly marching, skirmishing or en- gaged in fatigne duty. On the 7th a detachment from the regi- ment engaged in the destruction of a bridge over Black river had a skirmish with the enemy and lost four wounded; the night of the 8th was occupied by the building of a bridge at Pocotaligo Swamp. The Confederate skirmishers were frequently encountered, Lieutenant Swails and two men being wounded on the 12th.
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