USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts in the war, 1861-1865 Pt. 2 > Part 30
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Following the battle of Chancellorsville the disposition of the artillery with the Army of the Potomac was changed, the batteries attached to each corps being reduced in numbers and organized into a brigade, while the surplus was formed into five brigades known as the Reserve Artillery, General Robert O. Tyler commanding. Under this arrangement the Fifth Massachusetts became one of the bat- teries of the First Volunteer Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel F. Mc- Gilvery commanding. The other batteries of the brigade were the Fifteenth New York, Independent Battery of Pennsylvania and the Ninth Massachusetts. Camp was changed to White Oak Church on the 27th, and on the 13th of June the march northward was begun. The company reached Fairfax Court House on the 15th, having made but two short stops on the way, and remained there till the /25th, when it marched by way of Edwards Ferry and Frederick City to Taneytown, which it reached on the 30th.
The Artillery Reserve were summoned to Gettysburg on the 2d of July and reached there during the forenoon, being parked a mile or more east of the town between the Baltimore pike and the Taney- town road. Shortly before Longstreet's attack on the Union left McGilvery's Brigade was ordered into position to the left of the Third Corps, the Fifth being placed next to the Ninth Massachu- setts. The attack on the Third Corps was desperately resisted by the artillery, but the ground could not be held and the battery was obliged to retire. It brought off all its guns, though one of them by hand, and only abandoned one caisson owing to the loss of horses. On the following day it was posted in the line of the Second Corps and assisted in repulsing the great attack by the Confederates. Dur-
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THE FIFTHI BATTERY.
ing the two days the battery lost seven men killed and died of wounds ; 13 were wounded, including Lieutenant Scott shot through the face while directing the removal of the gun brought off by hand. Two of the killed and three of the wounded belonged to the Tenth New York Battery, being temporarily attached to the Fifth. The command lost 59 horses, and fired 700 rounds during the two days.
After this battle the battery followed the fortunes of the Army of the Potomac in its marchings during the remainder of the sun- mer and the autumn, without being brought into action. At the close of July, First Lieutenant Lull was commissioned in the Second Heavy Artillery Regiment ; Second Lieutenant Blake was promoted to first lieutenant, the junior second lieutenancy being filled by Nathan Appleton of Boston. Soon after leaving Gettysburg the battery was ordered back to its corps, and with it made the various marches of the season, finally going into action at Rappahannock Station on the 7th of November, but without loss. It encamped after this near Mountain Creek. south of the Rappahannock, occupy- ing quarters constructed by a Georgia regiment of Confederates who had expected to pass the winter there. The Mine Run cam- paign opened on the 26th, when the battery crossed the Rapidan at Culpeper Ford, and next day on the Orange Plank road engaged the enemy at New Hope Church, Lieutenant Scott being wounded. It occupied various positions in the line of battle during the time that the two armies confronted each other across Mine Run, and on the 1st of December with a large part of the Army of the Potomac artillery was ordered to the rear, recrossing the Rapidan at Ely's Ford and a few days later going into winter quarters within the carthworks at Rappahannock Station.
There it remained till the opening of the spring campaign of 1864. During that time 45 of Its members re-enlisted for an additional term of service. Lieutenant Scott was commissioned captain of the Sixteenth Massachusetts Battery and the other lieutenants being advanced one grade, First Sergeant Harrison O. Simonds of Boston was promoted to junior second lieutenant. The battery still re- mained a part of the artillery brigade of the Fifth Corps commanded by Colonel Charles S. Wainwright, and on the 1st of May left its quarters for Culpeper Court House, where the corps was ordered to assemble. It crossed the Rapidan at Germania Ford on the 4tli, and next day its right section was one of the few which engaged
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
the enemy during the battle of the Wilderness. It took no import- ant part in the engagements which followed till the 12th, when it was placed at the extreme right of the Union line, at Corbin's bridge over the Po river, and had a sharp duel with a Confederate battery in its front, which was finally driven out of position, the loss to the Fifth being a limber exploded, a few horses killed and three men wounded, most of them by the fire of a Union battery. A few days later, in common with all the light batteries attached to the Army of the Potomac, it was reduced from six guns to four, and on the 18th was again in action.
It moved southward with the corps to the North Anna, and took some part in the fighting which occurred there on the 25th, acting with Griffin's Division. Lieutenant Appleton, serving on the staff of Colonel Wainwright, was severely wounded. Continuing the movement toward Richmond, Bethesda Church was reached on the 30th, and while there the battery was attached to Griffin's Division, with which it served till the close of July. On the 2d and 3d of June the Fifth took an active part in the battle of Bethesda Church, on the latter day advancing with the Second Brigade of the division against the enemy's works and driving out a hostile battery with a heavy fire of canister, the loss to the Fifth during the two days being two men killed and one wounded. The battery marched to Cold Harbor June 5, and two days later to the Chickahominy, where on the 8th three men were killed and two or three wounded by a single shell fired from across the river. The command was not again engaged till the 18th, when it took position in front of Peters- burg and advanced with the two other batteries of the division against the hostile works, engaging the Confederate artillery; but the attack was not successful and the company retired with the division, having suffered the loss of First .Lieutenant Blake and one enlisted man killed and two wounded.
The battery moved westward to the Jerusalem Plank road on the 21st, encamping there till the 29th of July, when the preparations had been completed for the explosion of "Burnside's Mine." It was then moved back to Battery VIII, some distance to the right of the mine, and when the explosion took place and the assault was made the following morning it joined in the cannonade of the enemy's line, returning to camp in the evening. From the 6th to the 15th of August it was in the second line of works to the rear
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THE FIFTH BATTERY.
of Battery VIII, being relieved by the Eleventh Massachusetts Bat- tery, and a few days afterward accompanied the Fifth Corps in its movement for the breaking of the Weldon Railroad and took part in repulsing the attempt of the Confederates to regain possession on the 21st. Two men were wounded on this occasion and one at the battle of the Crater.
The Union lines having been firmly established to include the severed railroad, the battery was placed in position on the Halifax road facing to the south, and remained there for some time. Its numbers were augmented on the 30th by the addition of those mem- bers of the Third Massachusetts Battery whose term of service had not expired, that organization being mustered out; and on the 3d of October 30 members of the Fifth whose enlistment had expired were mustered out and left for Massachusetts. A week later the command was stationed in Batteries XXIV and XXV, in the front line of works near the left, and when not absent on expeditions re- mained there most of the time till the close of the year, being re- stored on the 16th of October to a six-gun battery. It was absent from the forts for three weeks from the 25th, moving to Hatcher's Run on the 27th and afterward encamping near Yellow Tavern ; and again on the 7th of December it accompanied the Fifth Corps in its movement to the vicinity of Jarrett's Station for the destruc- tion of the Weldon Railroad in that direction, returning on the 12th.
The death of Lieutenant Blake, the discharge of Lieutenant Apple- ton for disability and of Lieutenant Spear on expiration of his term of enlistment, caused a recast of the roster of officers, and the close of the year 1864 found the lieutenants as follows: First lienten- ants, Harrison O. Simonds of Boston and Samuel H. Hamblett of Salem; second lieutenants, Mason W. Page and Charles M. Tripp, both of New Bedford, all but Hamblett being promotions of ser- geants of the company. These with Captain Phillips served till the final muster out with the exception of Tripp, who was discharged for disability a few weeks carlier.
The battery was withdrawn on the 19th of December from the forts it had been occupying, two of the guns being placed in Battery XXII and the others in Fort Alexander Hays, while the caissons and horses with the members of the command not engaged at the guns went into winter quarters at the rear with the Fifth Corps. During most of the month of January the entire force was relieved
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
and in camp, but on the 28th the guns were returned to their former positions and remained till the 11th of February, 1865. In the mean time the Fifth Corps had moved to the left and extended the lines to Hatcher's Run, and on the 28th the battery moved thither and eneamped till the 11th of March. On the 16th, in preparation for the active movements near at hand, all the light batteries were again reduced to four guns, and on the 18th the command returned to Fort Hays for the last time.
At the final assault on Petersburg on the night of April 1 and the following morning, Captain Phillips with his own battery and three others from the Fifth Corps artillery co-operated with the as- sault made by the Ninth Corps. In addition to the regular battery work, Lieutenant Page with two gun detachments was detailed to. take possession of Confederate Battery XXVII, which had been aban- doned by Battery B, Sumter Artillery of Georgia, leaving the six 12-pounder guns which formed its armament. These were worked by the brave men under Lieutenant Page all day, though exposed to a fire of artillery and musketry, by which Page and three of his little band were wounded. That day saw the last shots fired by the Fifth Battery. The enemy retreated during the night and two or three days later the battery withdrew to City Point, where it was attached to the Second Brigade of the Artillery Reserve.
After a month in camp it began its final series of marches on the 3d of May, and on the 13th encamped in the defenses of Washing- ton, between Forts Reynolds and Barry. This camp was occupied till the 4th of June, when the command started for Massachusetts, reaching Readville on the 6th. It was mustered out on the 12th, and paid and discharged on the 24th.
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THE SIXTH BATTERY.
T HE Sixth Light Battery was recruited at Camp Chase, Lowell, during the fall and winter of 1861-2, for General Butler's ex- peditionary corps. The enlisted men were mustered at various dates during December and January and the officers were commis- sioned January 20, 1862, the list being as follows, all of Boston :-
Captain, Charles Everett; first lieutenants, William W. Carruth and John F. Phelps; second lientenants, William B. Allyn and Frank Bruce; quartermaster sergeant, George D. Wyckoff.
The company left Massachusetts on the 8th of February aboard the ship Idaho, and landed at Ship Island the 8th of March. It comprised 145 men and was armed with two rifled and four smooth- bore six-pounder guns. While encamped at Ship Island, a section under Captain Everett accompanied the Ninth Connectieut Volun- teers to Biloxi, Miss., the whole under command of Major George C. Strong, to obtain from the authorities there an apology for previous firing on a flag of truce. The battery embarked on the steamer Mississippi with the Twenty-sixth and Thirty-first Massachusetts Regiments, when the expedition set out for active operations against New Orleans, and on landing accompanied General Butler to the St. Charles Hotel, where his head-quarters were established.
The peaceful occupation of the city being secured, two sections were quartered there, while the other under Lieutenant Carruth crossed to Algiers and assisted the Twenty-first Indiana Regiment in getting possession of the railroad to Brashear City, with the rolling-stock and equipment. The Sixth were attached to General Williams's Brigade, which was under orders to operate against Vicksburg, and near the middle of May the two sections under Cap- tain Everett embarked on transports while Lieutenant Carruth's section was absent on an expedition. Captain Everett finally landed
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
at Baton Rouge, where the other section arrived after taking part in two or three raids, and on the 16th of June two sections under the captain sailed for Vicksburg while the one commanded by Lieu- tenant Carruth remained as a part of the garrison of Baton Rouge. During the absence of the main body this section was frequently called on for active duty, on two occasions engaging predatory bands of the enemy hovering in the vicinity. The main body at Vicksburg had also a touch of actual war while absent, engaging the Confeder- ate works across the river while Commodore Farragut ran the bat- teries, one man of the Sixth being killed during the affair.
The force returned to Baton Rouge on the 26th of July, sadly- suffering from malarial fever, so that when on the 5th of August the Confederates under General Breekinridge attacked the place and the battle of Baton Rouge was fonght, the Sixth had less than 40 men for duty at the guns. Yet they performed a most heroic part and won great praise for intrepid fighting. Lieutenant Carruth commanded the battery during the battle, Captain Everett being absent on duty and Lieutenant Phelps from sickness, while Lieuten- ant Allyn, who was off duty with a fever, returned to command a section till he was twice wounded. In the early part of the engage- ment, while the Union line was being pressed back, the battery did some of its best work and suffered seriously in men and horses. The rear section under immediate command of Lieutenant Carruth lost all its men either killed or wounded save the sergeants, and was able to work its guns only by the help of volunteers from its in- fantry support. Its well-directed fire did much to save the Union left from disaster, and after the line had been re-established the Sixth could only deliver a shell fire, as the Confederates did not again venture within the reach of canister. The loss to the com. mand was three killed, nine wounded and one missing, fully a third of the complement taken into action.
When the post at Baton Rouge was abandoned, not long after, the battery returned to New Orleans and remained in that vicinity some time. Captain Everett was promoted on the 7th of September to an infantry command. Lieutenant Carruth succeeding him as cap- tain, the other lieutenants advancing cach a step, and the vacancy at the bottom being filled by the commissioning of Sergeant John 1. Baker of Lawrence. Soon after the battery was formally attached to the Reserve Brigade, commanded by General Weitzel, with which
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THE SIXTH BATTERY.
it served for a long time. This brigade consisted of the Twelfth Connecticut, Seventy-fifth New York and First Louisiana Regiments, three companies of cavalry and the First Maine Battery, in addition to the Sixth. The armament of the latter at this time comprised two 12-pounder howitzers and four six-pounder Sawyer guns.
Weitzel's command on the 24th of October sailed up the Mississippi to Donaldsonville, where it landed and marched to Thibodeaux, where it went into winter quarters, at Camp Stevens. Meantime Gen- eral Banks had succeeded to the command of the Department of the Gulf, bringing many fresh troops, and the Reserve Brigade was strengthened by the addition of the Eighth Vermont, One Hundred and Fourteenth and One Hundred and Sixtieth New York Regi- ments and Battery A of the First United States Artillery. The brigade left camp on the 11th of January, 1863, to destroy a Con- federate gun-boat on the Teche, returning on the 15th and remain- ing till the 22d of February. It then advanced to Brashear City, but made only a short stop there, falling back to Bayou Bœuf and establishing Camp Mansfield, where it remained till the 2d of April when it again took post at Brashear.
This was the beginning of the movement intended by General Banks to scatter the enemy's force in that vicinity before he laid siege to Port Hudson. Weitzel's command, then known as the Second Brigade, First Division, Nineteenth Corps, crossed Ber- wick's Bay on the 9th, and on the 12th and 13th took part in the battle of Bisland, in which the battery lost one killed and one or two wounded. Opelousas was reached on the 20th, where the column halted for a few days. The brigade with its attachments pushed on to Alexandria on the 4th of May and waited there till the 17th, when the march was taken up for Port Hudson. Approaching that stronghold, the left section commanded by Sergeant Chubbuck was ordered to Point Coupee on the opposite side of the river, where it remained during the siege. The other two sections took part in the direct operations, the right section near the center of the line and the other at the right. While the battery did good service during the siege, its losses were slight, but one man being mortally wounded. As soon as the place surrendered the Sixth with its brigade de- scended the Mississippi to Donaldsonville, to operate against the rebels who had assumed a threatening attitude in that vicinity.
Four guns of the battery joined with the First Brigade of the
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
division on the 12th of July in a reconnaissance to ascertain the position and force of the enemy; but on the following morning, after having pressed back the Confederate outposts some four miles, the column was attacked in force so suddenly that one gun which had been dismounted for repairs was captured. Only one man in the company was wounded, and the command returned to Donald- sonville, were it remained during the rest of the month. On the 30th it marched with its brigade to Thibodeaux, where it was quar- tered in Camp Hubbard till the 25th of September, when it repaired by rail to Algiers for fresh equipment, was reduced to a four-gun battery, and on the 6th of October transferred to Berwick's Bay.
During this time many changes had occurred in the roster of offi- cers. Lientenant Allyn had left the service on the 2d of March, as did Lieutenant Baker on the 28th of May. The regular promotion of Lieutenant Bruce to fill the first vacancy left both second lieu- tenancies vacant, and they were filled by the commissioning of Ser- geant Philip Wachter of Charlestown and Charles C. Cram of Bos- ton. ' The latter, who was not previously connected with the battery, joined it for duty while before Port Hudson, and won the high re- gard of his associates, but fell ill at Berwick, where he died on the 11th of October. On the 3d of that month Captain Carruth, who had been absent on detached duty, was formally transferred from the command of the battery. These vacancies were not at once filled, and at this time the only officer present with the company was Lieutenant Wachter. This fact being reported to General Banks, he detailed Second Lieutenant Edward K. Russell of the. Second Massachusetts Battery to command the Sixth, which he did till the 9th of December, when First Lieutenant John F. Phelps re- turned. He was soon after made captain, Russell being commis- sioned first lieutenant, the vacancy in second remaining unfilled.
The battery marched to Franklin on the 11th of October, and a few days later moved to Carrion Crow Bayon, where it rejoined the First Division. Thence on the 23d the corps proceeded to Opelousas; but, the communication being liable to interruption, fell back on the 1st of November to Vermilion and on the 16th to New Iberia, where the winter camp was made. On the 5th of January, 1864, 56 mem- bers of the battery-about all that remained of the original com- pany-re-enlisted as veterans, supposing that they were entitled to the privileges of other commands which had served two years or
THIE SIXTH BATTERY. 821
more; but this claim was not allowed by the War Department. However, the fact was not known for some time, and on the 3d of March the battery left its camp and reported at New Orleans to pre- pare for the 30-days' furlough home, which was one of the compen- sations for re-enlistment. It was not till the 13th of April that the veterans were able to set out for Massachusetts, and Boston was reached on the 20th. A few days later each member was paid the veterans' state bounty of $325 and the command separated to enjoy the brief respite. The return trip began on the 23d of May, though New Orleans was not reached till the 8th of June. The company was partially fitted out with four field pieces, but was not called on for active service, remaining at New Orleans the rest of the year.
The re-enlistment of the men not having been allowed by the War Department, the original members were ordered mustered ont, January 20, 1865, and were sent to Boston for that purpose under command of Captain Hamlin of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Bat- tery. Just as the year 1864 closed Captain Phelps was dismissed the service and the day following Lieutenant Bruce resigned. The organization of the battery was kept up, however, and during Janu- ary, 46 members having been added by transfer from other com- mands and 75 recruits being received from Massachusetts, the aggre- gate membership was brought up to 169; Lieutenant Russell was promoted to captain and Sergeant William E. Wood of Wrentham was made second lieutenant, soon followed by a promotion to first. Daniel A. Sheen of South Danvers was also commissioned second lieutenant during the spring.
During February the company was fully equipped as a six-gun battery, but remained at New Orleans, and in June its numbers were reduced 52 by an order requiring the muster out of all whose term of service expired before the 1st of October following. It was the wish of General Canby, then in command of the Department of the Gulf, that this battery should be filled to the maximum and kept in the service, but the war department decreed that all volunteer light artillery in the department, including the Sixth, should be mus- tered out. On the 21st of July the command sailed on the trans- port steamer Ashland for New York, going thence by the Providence line to Readville, where it went into camp on the 1st of August. The company was mustered out five days later, and paid and dis- banded on the 10th.
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THE SEVENTH BATTERY.
T ITE Seventh Light Battery was among the first troops to leave Massachusetts for three years' service, being recruited in Low- ell as an infantry company directly upon the news of the firing on Fort Sumter. It was at first called the Richardson Light In- fantry, in honor of George F. Richardson of Lowell, who had been very active in its organization. The company at once tendered its services to the governor of the state for three years. On the 21st of May, 1861, it was mustered into the United States service at Boston, and on the following day sailed for Fortress Monroe with this roster of officers, commissioned from the 20th of April, 1861 :-
Captain, Phineas A. Davis of Lowell; first lieutenant. Israel N. Wilson of North Billerica ; second lieutenant, William E. Farrar of Lowell. (Lieutenant Wilson teft the company July 25 to become a captain in the Twenty-ninth Regiment, when Lieutenant Farrar was advanced to the vacancy and Sergeant William A. Fifield of Lowell was promoted to the second lieutenancy. )
It was intended that the company should be attached to the Third Regiment, then at Fortress Monroe, but on reaching its destination it was assigned to provost duty, Captain Davis being made provost marshal at the Fortress. This routine continued till December 25, when the company was assigned to light artillery drill and duty. On the 17th of March, 1862, the War Department consented to the re-organization of the company as a battery of light artillery, and the necessary changes in officers were made. By this arrangement Lieutenant Fifield became junior first lieutenant and Sergeants Cephas L. Hartwell and Andrew J. Devoll, both of Lowell, were promoted to second lientenants. Newman W. Storer of Lowell was appointed quartermaster sergeant.
In the movement against Norfolk on the 10th of May the com- mand as an infantry company led the advance, being first to land
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