USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts in the war, 1861-1865 Pt. 2 > Part 33
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THE ELEVENTH BATTERY.
T ITE Eleventh Light Battery was the only artillery organization sent forth under the nine-months' call. It was recruited in and about Boston, organizing at Camp Meigs, Readville, and was mustered into service on the 25th of August, 1862, with this list of officers :-
Captain, Edward J. Jones; first lieutenants, Lucius Cummings and Isaac Pierce, all of Boston; second lieutenants, Edward P. Morrill of Boston and John P. Sawin of Roxbury; sergeant major, George W. Booth of Watertown; quartermaster sergeant, Frederick M. Marsh of Boston.
Leaving camp on the 3d of October, the company reported to Washington for orders and was at first sent to General Casey's Division and stationed at Camp Barry near Bladensburg Toll Gate, D. C. On the 19th of November it was assigned to General Aber- crombie's command at Hall's Hill, Va., where it was stationed till the 28th, when it reported to Colonel Randall, commanding the Third Vermont Brigade at Fairfax Station. The following day the brigade advanced to Union Mills, picketing the line from Wolf Run Shoals to Centerville. Colonel Randall was soon relieved in the connand by Colonel D'Utassy, and the latter on the 1st of Febru- ary, 1863, by General Alexander Hays. During the winter, the brigade having no cavalry attachment, the company, in connection with the Keystone Battery, frequently acted as cavalry, scouting through the surrounding country. The troops being increased in number after General Hays took command, the Eleventh were as- signed to duty as garrison of the two principal forts on Centerville Hights, but still continued to furnish details for scouting and re- connoitering.
The command was relieved by Captain Sleeper's Tenth Battery on the 18th of April, and reported for service at Upton's Hill where
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THE ELEVENTH BATTERY.
it remained in garrison at Forts Ramsey and Buffalo till the 23d of May, when it reported to Brigadier General Barry at Washington, turned over the government property and set forth for Massachu- setts, not having lost a man from any canse during its nine months of service. Boston was reached on the 28th, and the day following the battery was mustered out of the national service, resuming its position as a portion of the First Division of Massachusetts Militia.
THE THREE-YEARS' TERM.
During the winter of 1863-4 the battery was reorganized and enlisted for three years, again occupying Camp Meigs for the pur- pose. It was mustered on the 2d of January, 1864, with the fol- lowing roster of officers :-
Captain, Edward J. Jones of Boston; first lientenants, Edward P. Morrill of Boston and George W. Booth of Cambridge; second lieu- tenants, William Woodsum of Boston and George W. Sanborn of Charlestown ; quartermaster sergeant, George T. Breed of Boston; first sergeant, Edward E. Souther of Chelsea.
The command left Readville on the 5th of February for Washing- ton, where it went into camp till the 9th of April, when it was as- signed to the Ninth Corps, then reorganizing at Baltimore, being attached to the Second Division. Passing through Washington on the 25th. the battery thenceforth shared the fortunes of the corps to which it was attached, taking part in all its engagements. At North Anna it was attached to General Hancock's command while the action there was in progress, and during the siege of Petersburg it did faithful and ardnous work from the beginning to the close. Its casualties were few. Two men were killed and three wounded from the 19th to the 22d of June, three more were wounded during July, and in August Lieutenant Woodsum received a disabling wound, from the effects of which he resigned five months later, Sergeant Souther being promoted. Lieutenant Morrill was dis- charged September 5 on account of disability and was succeeded by Harry D. Littlefield of Roxbury.
The battery reported to General Warren commanding the Fifth Corps on the 19th of August, and took part in the battle for the possession of the Weldon Railroad on the 21st and 22d, being with the First Massachusetts Cavalry on the left of the Federal line. From this time forward it was faithfully in the front lines before
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
Petersburg, shifting its position occasionally, the opening of the final struggle finding it located in Fort McGilvrey and Battery V, between the City Point Railroad and the Appomattox river. After dark of the 24th of March, 1865, the command was relieved for three days' rest and retired to Fort Gibbon or Friend, a small work some 500 or 600 yards to the rear. Before daylight of the follow- ing morning Captain Jones became aware that the enemy had pen- etrated the Union lines, and with the first light saw a body of them moving against Fort Haskell, upon whom he at once opened with his full battery of three-inch ritled guns. A line of skirmishers moving toward his own position was also held in check by discharges of cannister till infantry were in readiness to drive it back. The conduct of the battery was warmly commended by Colonel Tidball, commanding the Ninth Corps artillery, in his report of the affair.
After the fall of Petersburg the Eleventh was the first of three batteries from the corps selected to follow the retreating Confeder- ates, and upon the surrender at Appomattox it was detailed with others to take charge of the surrendered cannon. After the return of the victorious Union armies to Washington the light artillery were among the first troops ordered out of service, and this com- mand, having returned to Massachusetts a few days previous, was mustered out at Readville on the 16th of June.
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THE TWELFTH BATTERY.
T HE Twelfth Light Battery was recruited at Camp Meigs, Read- . ville, during the autumn and carly winter of 1862, the mus- tering of detachments beginning late in October of that year and continuing at intervals till the command was filled. About the close of the year it received orders to join the forces of General Banks at New Orleans, and on the 3d of January, 1863, sailed on the transport ship E. Wilder Farley. Its officers were as follows :-
Captain, Jacob Miller of Brookline; first lieutenants, Joseph R. Salla and Edwin M. Chamberlain, both of Boston; second lieutenant, Charles W. Weeber of Boston; quartermaster sergeant, Philip N. Ham- mond of Quebec; first sergeant, John M. Campbell of Boston.
The voyage lasted a month, owing to storms and delays, and the command landed at New Orleans February 3, being quartered at Apollo Stables till near the end of the month, when it was removed to Baton Rouge, equipped with field pieces and took position in the defenses of that city. A month was passed there when the com- pany returned to New Orleans and was quartered on the Race Course, and on the 8th of April was mounted and equipped as a cavalry command. This arrangement only lasted till the 17th, how- ever, when the horses were turned over and the battery was ordered to Brashear City and was for some five weeks engaged in the de- fense of transports moving to and from that station. On the 23d of May it returned to New Orleans, making its quarters at Bernard's Stables, where it was again supplied with guns and equipped as a light battery. Early in June Lieutenant Chamberlain with a de- tachment of men was ordered to Fort Banks, and he was in com. mand of the post during his stay; but on the 22d of July he was ordered back to the battery, which was then stationed at the Canal. Two detachments which had been at Port Hudson during the siege
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
returned to the main body about the same time. Again the battery returned to New Orleans September 20, being stationed at Tivoli Cirele, but on the 15th of October went up the river to Port Hud- son. During this time Lieutenants Salla and Weeber had been dis- missed and Sergeant Hammond promoted to a second lieutenancy, and the following winter he was advanced to first lieutenant, while Sergeants Campbell and Norton S. Salisbury of Wrentham were made second lieutenants.
The long stay of the battery at Port Hudson was marked by no event of great importance; detachments frequently went out on foraging expeditions, reconnaissances and the like, but met no casu- alties. The most important of these was on the 6th of May, 1864, when the command accompanied a regiment of infantry and one of cavalry to drive back a force of the enemy which had advanced within six miles of Port Hudson. The purpose was easily accom- plished by Colonel Fundy, commanding the expedition. Twenty-five men of the Twelfth were mounted and detailed as cavalry to keep the vicinity clear of guerrillas, during the summer; there were other like details, and many duties fell to the lot of the command, more or less trying in their nature, all of which were faithfully per- formed ; but except a few skirmishes and the part taken by its de- tachment at Port Hudson during the siege, the battery was in no engagement. It was mustered out July 25, 1865. It should be said regarding the large number of desertions from this organiza- tion that a part of the company was recruited by brokers, who naturally gathered the most worthless material. In this command. as in others, the brave men who enlisted from patriotic motives and faithfully served their country should not and will not suffer for the faithlessness and worthlessness of others.
THE THIRTEENTH BATTERY.
T IIE Thirteenth Light Battery was enlisted during the fall and early winter of 1862, its rendezvous being at Camp Meigs, Readville. The enlisted men were mustered at various times, and the commissions of the officers with one or two exceptions bore date the 3d of November. The roster at the time of entering the service was as follows :-
Captain, Charles H. J. Hamlin of Charlestown: first lieutenants, Timothy W. Terry of New Bedford and Ellis L. Motte of Boston; second lieutenants, Robert C. Nichols of Boston and Charles B. Slack of Newton; quartermaster sergeant, Benjamin F. Higgins of Tops- field; first sergeant, George B. Hall of Boston.
The command received orders to report to New Orleans, and left Boston the 20th of January, 1863, by the sailing transport De Witt Clinton. After encountering a succession of heavy gales, the ship put in at Fortress Monroe about the 8th of February, the battery having lost some 60 of its horses from the rough treatment to which they had been subjected during the storms and the lack of suitable provision for their comfort. The command was then disembarked and remained for some six weeks in camp at Camp Hamilton, near Ilampton, when it once more set sail and after a long voyage, ag- gravated by calms and other delays, reached New Orleans on the 10th of May and was quartered at the Apollo Stables Barracks. Re- cruits were obtained from those regiments in the vicinity whose time had nearly expired, bringing the company up to its standard in num- bers, and it remained encamped at the Stables till early in June, a detachment of 40 men under Lieutenant Terry being for a portion of the time posted at Fort Banks, eight miles above on the right bank of the Mississippi. This detachment was recalled on the 4th of June, and the day following the company, having turned over its horses to the Twelfth Massachusetts Battery, sailed on the
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THIE WAR.
steamer Anglo-American for Springfield Landing, whence the day subsequent it marched to the head-quarters of General Banks before Port Hudson. Next day the company was divided into two wings, each of which took charge of four siege mortars, the right half umder Captain Hamlin being stationed near the left center of the lines of investment, while the left wing under Lieutenant Terry took position at the extreme right. For 31 days the fire of the mortars was maintained, till the surrender of the city, when the command was re- united and went into camp inside the lately hostile works. Here the men suffered severely from sickness, so that when ordered to a new field of duty the company had no more than 50 able-bodied members.
Captain Hamlin was ordered to Boston on detached duty August 27, and Lieutenant Terry resigning soon after, the battery was left in command of First Lieutenant Motte. To fill the vacant lienten- aney those in commission were advanced one step, Second Lieuten- ant Nichols being made first and a vacancy remaining at the foot of the list. The command was ordered to New Orleans on the 31st, reaching which place its history as a separate organization suffers a lapse of several months, the enlisted men being attached to the Second Massachusetts Battery, Captain Nims, while the commis- sioned officers were assigned to duty in various directions. As an auxiliary of Nims's command, the men took part in the Bayon Teche expedition from September 19 to November 18, when camp was pitched at New Iberia, whence on the 8th of Jannary, 1864, the command went into winter quarters at Franklin. Nims's Battery having been reernited, the men of the Thirteenth were on the 17th of February transferred to the Sixth Massachusetts, Captain Phelps. and again on the 6th of March to Battery L, First United States Artillery.
With the latter command they marched on the 15th to take part in the Red River expedition under General Banks, its first engage- ment with the enemy being at Pleasant Hill April 9, where for men of the battery were wounded and one was made prisoner. Ten days later it was again engaged at Cane River Crossing, and on the 13th of May at Marksville Plains. On the 29th of Jime it once more reached New Orleans and went into quarters at Apollo Stables. Captain Hamlin having returned to Louisiana, the command re- ported to him at Greeneville, July 1, where it was furnished with fonr gims, horses and equipments, and became onee more an organi-
THE THIRTEENTH BATTERY.
zation, resuming drill, and two months later changing location to Camp Parapet, where it remained for a long time. During the early autumn months sickness wrought havoc with the company, and many died.
The subsequent history of the organization is not important. It remained in Louisiana, performing such routine duties as were as- signed to it, but having no part in any engagements after the return of the Red River expedition. Lieutenant Motte resigned on the 9th of March, 1864, and the vacancy was filled by advancement, Second Lieutenant Slack being made first, and the vacant second lieutenancies were only filled in the spring of 1865, when First Ser- geant Chauncey R. Sias of Boston and Sergeant James M. Lincoln of Taunton were commissioned to date from the 8th of February. The battery returned to Massachusetts and was mustered out July 28, 1865, Captain Hamlin being dishonorably dismissed the service the day following. None of its members were killed in action. died from wounds or in Confederate prisons, but it suffered severely from desertions, losing thus nearly one-third of its total membership.
THE FOURTEENTH BATTERY.
T HE Fourteenth Light Battery was organized during the win- ter of 1863-4 at the camp in Readville, most of the officers being commissioned on the 25th of February and the enlisted men being mustered the 27th. It left the state on the 4th of April, going first to Annapolis and thence to Washington, where it was assigned to quarters at Camp Marshall. The roster of its officers was as follows :-
Captain, Joseph W. B. Wright of Boston; first lieutenants, Samuel J. Bradlee of Boston and Samuel Chapin of South Hadley; second lieutenants, Albert George of Lowell and Ephraim B. Nye of New Bedford; quartermaster sergeant, Albert S. Walker of Boston; first sergeant, Matthias J. Moore of Boston.
No sooner was the battery supplied with horses and guns than without any opportunity for drill it was ordered to the Ninth Corps, then on its way under command of General Burnside to join the Army of the Potomac in the spring campaign against the Army of Northern Virginia under General Lee. These orders were received on the 25th of April, and next morning the company crossed Long Bridge and reported to General Stevenson, commander of the First Division, Ninth Corps, to whose division the battery was attached. Rappahannock Station was reached on the 30th, and the corps rested there till the Army of the Potomac was under way, when on the 4th of May it crossed the river in its front, continuing on to the Rapidan which was crossed at Germania Ford. The corps halted near the ford, and its artillery had no part in the battle of the Wilderness which followed, but when the Union army moved southward toward Spottsylvania, passing Chancellorsville, the nature of the country changed, and cannon thenceforward played their usual part in the battle scenes.
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THIE FOURTEENTH BATTERY.
The Fourteenth delivered its first shots at the enemy across the river Ny on the 10th and that afternoon crossed the river and took up a position which was held till the following morning. It was then relieved and rested for a day, but on the 12th returned and soon after became sharply engaged, being under a severe fire and exposed to a charge by which it was for a time feared the guns would be captured; but the battery fought heroically, repulsing the enemy and losing but four men wounded. Two others were wounded later in the fighting before Spottsylvania, and on the 21st the command joined in the march toward the North Anna. That river was reached on the 23d and next morning the battery went into action, being engaged more or less during the four days on which the armies con- fronted each other at that point. On the withdrawal of the corps on the 27th, the Fourteenth with a regiment of infantry formed the rear guard of the column. The Pamunkey was crossed near Han- over Town the 29th, next day the command moved to Totopotomy Creek, where it was reduced to a complement of four guns, and on the 31st took position confronting the enemy.
Toward night of the following day an attack was made on the Union lines at that point, and the battery had an important part in its repulse, winning much credit, as it also did at Bethesda Church, to which point it moved on the 2d of June and at once engaged in the fighting going on there and which continued during most of the following day. The Ninth Corps was then drawn to the left, forming part of the line at Cold Harbor, to which point the battery marched on the 4th, going to the front and taking position under fire on the 6th, from which time till the elose of the siege opera- tions it took an active part, though meeting no fatal casualties dur- ing all of this time.
The movement toward the James river began on the evening of the 12th. A forced night's march took the command to. Tunstall's Station on the Richmond and York River Railroad, the Chieka- hominy was crossed on the 14th and the James on the morning of the 15th, the battery encamping for a day at Windmill Point on the south bank. Thence on the 16th, marching by way of City Point, it went into park near Petersburg that evening. The next day it was actively engaged from several positions, sileneing an opposing battery and blowing up one of its caissons. It was not again in action until the 21st, when it entered upon a four-days' engagement,
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
having two men killed and one wounded. On the 27th the battery drew back to Prince George Court House, and on the 30th moved to the extreme left of the line near the Weldon Railroad and went into position. No engagement occurred at that point, and on the 2d of July the Fourteenth withdrew to the Norfolk Railroad and encamped.
They went to the front again on the 9th, and were for eight days constantly engaged, with a loss of but two men wounded, so com- plete were the defenses against the enemy's fire. From that time . till the close of the month the battery was stationed at various points, and when the preparations were made for the explosion of the mine on the morning of the 30th it was designated as the first field artillery to follow the column of assault as soon as it should have penetrated the enemy's works. As the works were not carried, the battery could not accomplish its assigned part. During the month of August it was in the front lines, engaging the enemy's batteries on the 5th and 21st. At the latter engagement it suffered its most serious loss thus far, an explosion of a Confederate shell in a limber chest killing two men outright and wounding four, two of them mortally. At other times during the month it was at various points in the rear'and on other duty, being on the 1st of September detached from the Ninth Corps and assigned to the Re- serve Artillery of the Army of the Potomac.
After a month in camp on the City Point and Prince George Court House roads without notable experience, the battery was as- signed to the Second Army Corps on the 1st of October and the two sections were located at different points in the defenses for some weeks. On the 25th they were changed to Fort Merriam in the de- fenses of City Point, where the early part of the winter passed. January 15, 1865, the battery was assigned to the Sixth Corps, which had but recently returned from the Shenandoah Valley, and went into camp near Warren Station on the Weldon Railroad. It took position in Fort Welch, at the extreme left of the lines Feb- ruary 9, remaining there till the 15th of March, when it was ordered back to the Ninth Corps, and returned to Meade's Station, the right section being placed in Battery X, a part of Fort Stedman, and the left in Battery XIV, near Fort Haskell.
Fort Stedman was surprised and captured on the morning of the 25th, so suddenly that the section located there had time to fire but a single round, when the Confederates seized the guns and captured
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THIE FOURTEENTII BATTERY.
most of the gunners. Lieutenant Nye, commanding the section, was killed at his post, and four of the enlisted men were wounded, two of whom were among the 11 captured. One of the guns had been disabled at the first discharge, while the other was temporarily turned upon the startled Union soldiers in the vicinity; but at 8 o'clock the fort was recaptured and the guns were remanned by the cannoneers of the Fourteenth. From this time to the close of the struggle both sections were active, especially during the night of the 29th, when another attack was expected, the location of the section in Battery X being so close to the enemy's line that it could sweep the opposite works with cannister.
During the sharp fighting of the 1st and 2d.of April the battery rendered very efficient service. On the morning of the 3d, Peters- burg having been evacuated, the command withdrew from the works and next day went into camp with the Reserve Artillery at City Point. There it remained for a month, when it marched by way of Richmond and Fredericksburg to near Fairfax Seminary, where it encamped from the 13th of May to the 4th of June. The welcome orders to return to Massachusetts were then received-the last march of the Fourteenth was made to Washington and cars were taken for home. Readville was reached on the 6th and on the 15th the command was mustered out of service, being paid on the 24th.
THE FIFTEENTH BATTERY.
T IIE Fifteenth Light Battery was recruited during the winter of 1862-3, partly in the camp at Lowell and partly at Fort Warren in Boston Harbor, for three years, and was mus- tered into the national service at various dates, but principally on the 17th of February, 1863. This command also was unfortunate in a portion of its material, many of the men taking the first op- portunity to desert and thus throwing an undeserved stigma upon the faithful soldiers who remained true to their enlistment. The company sailed from Boston March 9 in the ship Zouave, by way of Fortress Monroe for New Orleans, the roster of officers being as follows :-
Captain, Timothy Pearson of Lowell; first lieutenants, James W. Kirk of Boston and Albert Rowse of Lowell ; second lieutenants, Lorin L. Dame of Lowell and Harry D. Littlefield of Boston; quar- termaster sergeant, Edward D. Morrill of Lowell; first sergeant, Samuel Bright of Boston.
New Orleans was reached April 9 and the company found quar- ters at the Apollo Stables, on the outskirts of the city. On the 20th of May, before it had been fully equipped as a battery, it was directed to turn in its horses and proceeded to Brashear City; but after remaining there something like a week it was returned to New Orleans and shortly after was detailed to garrison two small forts, each armed with four 32-pounder guns in barbette; one at Gentilly on the Pontchartrain Railroad and the other on an island command- ing the bayou road to Lake Pontchartrain. In these forts, some five miles from the city, the command passed the summer. Lieu- tenants Kirk and Littlefield resigned on the 26th of September, Dame was advanced to first lieutenant, the vacancies were filled by the promotion of Sergeant Morrill and the commissioning of Ser- geant Joseph S. Grush of Lowell as second lieutenants. From the 20th of May to the 20th of the following February the battery was
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