USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts in the war, 1861-1865 Pt. 2 > Part 36
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superior Confederate force on the 8th of April, and fell back to Pleasant Grove, where by aid of reinforcements the enemy were in turn defeated near night of the same day. Banks then fell back to Pleasant Hill, where another battle was fought on the 9th, the Confederates being again repulsed. General Banks then desired to resume the march to Shreveport, but after careful consideration it was deemed impracticable and the retrograde move was con- tinued, the vessels of the co-operating fleet being rescued with great difficulty owing to the low water, and both army and navy being much annoyed by the enemy. The battle of Cane River was fought on the 23d of April, and was the last serious engagement during the retreat, though it was not till the 20th of May that the army crossed the Atchafalaya. General Banks was then relieved by General E. R. S. Canby, and was not again in active command dur- ing the war. General Banks was a modest, earnest, intensely patriotie officer, and while some of his military acts were unfortu- nate, others were eminently successful, and the failure of the Red River attempt cannot justly be charged against him, since he undertook it under protest. He was mustered out of service August 24, 1865.
Brevet Major General John G. Barnard
Was a native of Sheffield, where he was born in 1815, and gradu- ated from the Military Academy at West Point in the class of 1833. His service was almost exclusively in the engineering department, and from 1835 to 1852 was on the Gulf Coast, engaged on fortifi- cations and harbor improvements. He took part in the Mexican war, and was twice brevetted for distinguished services. He was then occupied in various engineering duties, the last being in New York harbor, where the opening of the rebellion in 1861 found him. Ile was chief engineer of the army under General MeDowell, hay- ing attained the rank of major, and under General MeClellan was chief engineer in charge of the fortifications of Washington, being commissioned brigadier general of volunteers from the 23d of Sep- tember, 1861. He accompanied the Army of the Potomac on the Peninsular campaign and was in charge of its engineering opera- tions, returning after the unfortunate close of the campaign to the defenses of Washington. He retained that position till the promo- tion of Grant to the lieutenant generalship, when he was made
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engineer in chief of armies in the field, in which capacity he served on General Grant's staff till the close of the war. He received the brevet of major general in the regular line dating from March 13, 1865, and on the 15th of January, 1866, was mustered out of the volunteer service. Resuming his duties in the Engineer Corps, he served until his retirement, having attained the rank of colonel, and died at Detroit, Mich., May 14, 1882. General Barnard was
PHOTO
BREVET MAJOR GENERAL J. G. BARNARD.
an author of note, publishing several volumes of importance on topies connected with his profession, and received the degree of A. M. from the University of Alabama in 1838, as well as that of LL. D. from Yale College in 1864.
Brevet Major General James Barnes
Of Springfield graduated at the Military Academy, West Point, in the class of 1829. He passed a year there as assistant instructor, took part in the Black Hawk expedition of 1832, and during the nullification controversy soon after was stationed in Charleston
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harbor. He then returned to West Point as assistant instructor and served three years, resigning his commission in 1836. He be- came noted as a civil engineer and a builder of railroads, and was engaged in large business enterprises when the war broke out. But neither his financial interests nor his advancing years and the com. forts of home life could stand between this pure-minded patriot and the service of his country, and at the age of 55, on the 26th of July, 1861, he was commissioned colonel of the Eighteenth Massachusetts Volunteers. He commanded his fine regiment with signal ability
BREVET MAJOR GENERAL JAMES BARNES.
till after the close of the Peninsular campaign, when he succeeded to the command of Martindale's Brigade of the Fifth Corps, and dating from the 29th of November, 1862, was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers. He was in command of the brigade during the Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville campaigns. and at Gettysburg had risen to command the First Division, Fifth Corps. Leading his forces to the relief of the Union left near the close of the second day's battle, he was wounded and did not again return to active duty in the field. After the battle he was placed in charge of the defenses of Norfolk, Va., and vicinity, and in succession of
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St. Mary's District and the encampment of Confederate prisoners at Point Lookout, Md., where he remained till the close of the war, receiving the brevet of major general of volunteers from March 13, 1865. He remained in commission till January 15, 1866, when he was mustered out and returned to his home, but never regained his health, dying there on the 12th of February, 1869.
Brevet Major General William F. Bartlett
Of Winthrop left Harvard College during his junior year to serve his country, his first experience being as a member of the Fourth Battalion, M. V. M., which for a month from April 25, 1861, gar-
BREVET MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM F. BARTLETT.
risoned Fort Independence in Boston Harbor. Directly afterward he was offered and accepted a commission in the Twentieth Regi- ment, then being formed, and on the 10th of July became its sen- ior captain. In the battle of Ball's Bluff, Captain Bartlett led the first detachment of his regiment which crossed the river, and was last to leave the field when the battle was lost, but succeeded
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in rescuing all of his command and many others by means of a small boat. On the 24th of April, 1862, during the siege of York- town, he was wounded in the knee by a Confederate sharpshooter, necessitating the amputation of his leg. Early in September fol- lowing he took command of Camp Briggs at Pittsfield, where the Forty-ninth Regiment was being recruited and on the 12th of November was commissioned colonel of that organization. Dur- ing the encampment of his command on Long Island he was at times placed in charge of several regiments, winning high com- mendation for his qualities as a commander. Joining General Banks in Louisiana, he led his regiment ably till the charge of May 27, 1863, on the hostile works at Port Hudson. Being obliged to accompany his men on horseback,-being the only mounted officer on the field,-he received two wounds, one in his remaining leg and a badly shattered left wrist. By these wounds he was disabled till long after the expiration of the term of service of his regiment; but as soon as he was able began to raise the Fifty-seventh (Vet- eran) Regiment, of which he was commissioned colonel to date from August 17, 1863. This regiment was not filled till late in the winter following, but it joined the Ninth Corps in season for the opening of the 1864 campaign, suffering terribly in the battle of the Wilderness, Colonel Bartlett himself being disabled by a wound in the head. Before he was sufficiently recovered to return to the field he received the well-earned promotion to a brigadier-general- ship, his commission dating from June 20, 1864, and on the 23d of July he assumed command of the First Brigade, First Division, Ninth Corps, which included the Fifty-seventh and several other Massachusetts regiments. One week later he led his command into the horrible death-trap at " the Crater," where it remained, fighting stubbornly across the works, till the closing in of the enemy on the flanks rendered further resistance but madness, when the remnant of the gallant band surrendered to General Mahone. General Bart- lett was removed to Danville, N. C., where he was for a long time very severely ill, barely escaping death and never recovering his health fully. He was finally exchanged, reaching Baltimore on the 26th of September. He recovered very slowly from the great de- bilitation of his illness, but on the 19th of June, 1865, assumed command of the First Division, Ninth Corps, which he retained till the breaking up of that organization on the 14th of July. He had
GENERAL OFFICERS.
meantime received the brevet of major general, dating from March 13, 1865, and was granted six months' leave of absence, most of which he spent in Europe. General Bartlett was mustered out of service July 18, 1866 ,and subsequently engaged in business; but his health gradually failed and he died at his home in Pittsfield, Decem- ber 17, 1876.
Brevet Brigadier General James L. Bates
Of Weymouth was in the leather trade in Boston at the opening of the war, but promptly joined those in his own town who were en- gaged in raising a company for the Twelfth (Webster) Regiment, and was elected and commissioned its captain. In this capacity he served with marked ability till the 5th of August, 1862, when he was commissioned major of the Thirty-third Massachusetts Volun- teers. Following the death of Colonel Webster, General Hartsuff recommended Major Bates for the vacant colonelcy of the Twelfth; he was commissioned dating from the 5th of September, and on the 21st took command of what remained of that regiment after its bloody experiences at Antietam. From the 18th of May, 1864, to the close of his regiment's term of service he was in command of the bri- gade, handling it in a masterly manner, and during the movement of the army from Spottsylvania obtained information which led to an entire change of movement of the Union army, for which he received special thanks in General Orders. Returning home with his regiment he was mustered out as colonel July 8, 1864, but Con- gress very tardily in December, 1868, gave him the well-deserved brevet of brigadier general "for gallant and meritorious service in the war." IIe served as Commander of the Department of Massa- chusetts, Grand Army of the Republic, in 1870 and died Novem- ber 11, 1875.
Brevet Brigadier General William Blaisdell,
A native of New Hampshire, enlisted in the Fourth United States Infantry in 1833 and served in the regular army for 16 years. He shared in the Indian and Mexican wars, in the latter holding a position on the staff of General Scott, and being wounded while charging a battery. On his discharge from the army he was ap- pointed inspector in the Boston Custom House, where the opening of the war found him. He was offered by General Scott a commis-
MASSACHUSETTS IN THIE WAR.
sion as captain in the regular army, but decided instead to enter the volunteer service, which he did as lieutenant colonel of the Eleventh Massachusetts Regiment, to which position he was mus- tered June 13, 1861. On the resignation of Colonel Clark, October 11 following, he succeeded to the coloneley, which rank he held dur- ing the remainder of his service. In the autumn of 1862 he for a
BREVET BRIG. GEN. WILLIAM BLAISDELL.
time commanded a provisional brigade at Warrenton, but on the ad- vance of the Army of the Potomac toward Fredericksburg in Novem- ber returned to his regiment, with which his fortunes were thence- forth principally associated. He was killed in front of Petersburg on the 23d of June, 1864, while temporarily in command of the " Corcoran Legion," and his brevet of brigadier general of volunteers dated from the day of his gallant death. His body was brought home and received honored burial at Alexandria, N. H., his native town.
Brevet Brigadier General Samuel Breck.
A native of Middleboro and a representative of one of the oldest Massachusetts families, was in the United States Army and an assist- . ant professor at West Point when the civil war began. He graduated
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in the class of 1855, was commissioned second lieutenant of the First Artillery and entered service in Florida, where he was em- ployed in the last war against the Seminole Indians. Afterward, from 1856 to 1860, he was stationed at various forts on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and from the latter date to December 3, 1861, was at the Military Academy, having been promoted to first lieutenant. He then took the position of assistant adjutant general on the staff of General McDowell, which he retained till the 30th of June, 1862,
BREVET BRIG. GEN. SAMUEL BRECK.
serving the Army of the Potomac in the defenses of Washington, in the First Army Corps, in the Department of the Rappahannock, and the expedition to the Shenandoah Valley in May and June, 1862. On the 2d of July he took a position as assistant in the adjutant general's office at Washington, where he served during the remainder of the war, in charge of "rolls, returns, books, blanks and business pertaining to the enlisted men of the regular and volunteer forces," and the like. He was commissioned captain November 29, 1861; major May 23, 1862, and was successively brevetted lieutenant colonel, colonel and brigadier general in the regular army, the two latter being bestowed March 13, 1865, "for
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diligent, faithful and meritorious service in the adjutant general's department during the rebellion." He is still in active service as assistant adjutant general with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Brigadier General Henry S. Briggs,
Son of Governor George N. Briggs, was a lawyer at Pittsfield at the opening of the war and was captain of the Allen Guards of that town. Tendering the services of his command, he was sum- ยท moned from an important law case at Boston to join the Eighth
BRIG. GEN. HENRY S. BRIGGS.
Regiment under the first call, and met his company at Springfield en route to Washington. From this service he was discharged June 10, 1861, to be commissioned colonel of the Tenth Regiment, which he commanded up to the battle of Fair Oaks, where he was severely wounded while bravely fighting his regiment against supe- rior numbers. His commission as brigadier dated from the 17th of June, 1862, and September 10 he established a camp of instruc- tion for a brigade of fresh troops at Arlington Hights. About the close of the month he was sent in charge of 15 new regiments to
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reinforce the army under General McClellan, himself taking com- mand of the Second Brigade, Third Division, Fifth Corps. Before the movement of the Army of the Potomac, however, his imperfect recovery obliged him to again return to Massachusetts. During the following winter he was assigned a command with head-quarters at Baltimore extending from Frederick to Annapolis, a part of General Schenck's Middle Department. During the retreat of Lee from Gettysburg, General Briggs joined the Army of the Potomac with reinforcements and for a short time held a command in the First Corps. In August, 1863, he was placed in charge of a ren- dezvous for drafted and enlisted men at Alexandria, where he re- mained till July, 1864; afterward serving on general court-martial at Washington till December 6, 1865, when he was finally mustered out, after four and a half years of devoted service. General Briggs died at his home in Pittsfield September 23, 1887.
Brevet Brigadier General Horace Brooks
Was a son of Massachusetts, from which he entered West Point Military Academy July 1, 1831, being appointed through the appli- cation of General Lafayette. He graduated in the class of 1835, receiving the brevet of second lieutenant, Second United States Artillery, and at once entered active service. Before the close of the year he received a commission as second and was brevetted first lieutenant for gallant conduct against the Florida Indians. During the Mexican war he was twice brevetted, the last being as lieutenant colonel, he having already attained the rank of captain, which he held till the opening of the civil war, which found him in command of the light battery school at Fort Leavenworth. His command was removed to Fort MeHenry, near Baltimore, which he proceeded to put in order, and on the 22d of February, 1861, passed his companies in review before President Buchanan-the event causing much excitement. Soon after he was placed in com- mand of a steamer sailing with sealed orders which proved to be for Fort Pickens, Pensacola, where with the two companies under his command he arrived April 21, and the next day took part in the council of war which was held to determine whether the fort should be held or surrendered. After the Mason and Slidell capture he was sent to the Tortugas to make preparations there for whatever
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might result. Being relieved by a volunteer regiment he was ordered to Ohio as superintendent of the recruiting service and mustering and disbursing officer for the United States, taking with him a mill- ion dollars. During 1861 he had been promoted successively to major and lieutenant colonel, and on the 1st of August, 1863, he was made colonel of the Fourth United States Artillery and was
ENG CORY.
BREVET BRIG. GEN. HORACE BROOKS.
transferred to the defenses of Washington, where he was on duty at the time of General Early's threatened attack the following summer. He received the brevet of brigadier general in the United States Army to date from the 13th of March, 1865, for meritorious services during the war, and remained colonel of the Fourth Artil- lery till the 10th of January, 1877, when he was placed on the re- tired list after almost 46 years in the service of his country.
Brevet Brigadier General Sidney Burbank,
A son of Massachusetts and a graduate of the Military Academy at West Point in the class of 1829, was on graduation commis- sioned second lieutenant in the First Infantry, and for 30 years
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served principally in garrison, frontier and recruiting duty. He took part in the Black Hawk and Florida wars with the Indians, and was for nearly four years assistant instructor at the Military Academy. He was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Thir- teenth Regular Infantry, May 14, 1861, and colonel of the Second Infantry September 16, 1862. In the spring of 1863 he entered the field in command of one of the regular brigades of the Fifth Corps, having up to that time been engaged in recruiting service. He served in this capacity at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg; in the last-named his command-Second Brigade, Second Division, Fifth Corps-rendering brilliant service at the cost of one-half its numbers. He successfully commanded the First Brigade of Regu- lars till January, 1864, when he took charge of the camp for drafted men at Columbus, O., remaining till midsummer, when with his regiment he was stationed at Newport Barracks, Ky., where he remained till the close of the war. His brevet dated from March 13, 1865, and was conferred " for gallant and meritorious service at the battle of Gettysburg." General Burbank died at Newport, Ky., December 7, 1882.
Major General Benjamin F. Butler,
Of Lowell, was when the rebellion broke out engaged in the prac- tice of law at Boston. He had long been identified with the militia of the State and at that time was a brigadier general, ranking third, in the state organization. He was also a noted democratic politician and had taken a prominent part in the Charleston con- vention of the previous April. When Sumter was fired upon and Massachusetts was called on for two regiments, the requisition being speedily enlarged to include four regiments and a brigade com- mander, General Butler, though not the ranking brigadier, obtained the appointment and at once set out, accompanying the Eighth Regiment by way of Springfield and New York to Philadelphia, where on the 19th of April, 1861, news was received of the riot in Baltimore during the passage of the Sixth Massachusetts, the clos- ing of railroad and telegraphic communication and the cutting off of Washington from the loyal states. After a night of consulta- tion and investigation, General Butler decided to join forces with the Seventh New York Regiment, then on its way under command of Colonel Lefferts, and move by way of Annapolis. Colonel
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Lefferts declining to join in the enterprise, General Butler with the Eighth Regiment took cars to Perryville, where he boarded the ferryboat Maryland and steamed to Annapolis. There a landing was made on the 21st, the United States school-ship Constitution was rescued from the danger of capture to which she had been for some time exposed and sent to New York with a detachment of the Eighth aboard, while the rest of the regiment landed and pre- pared to open the railroad to Annapolis Junction and thus restore communication with Washington. Before the able artisans 'had
MAJOR GENERAL BENJ. F. BUTLER.
completed the task of repairing the railroad, bridges and rolling stock, an order from General Scott, commander-in-chief, directed General Butler to remain at Annapolis in command, and for some time the valiant general was occupied in receiving and forwarding by the route which he had opened the thousands of troops that came pouring in from the loyal states in response to the President's call.
General Butler then went to Washington for a conference with General Scott and other authorities in regard to the course to be pursued, the result of which was that on the 4th of May he moved . two regiments, including the Sixth Massachusetts, and a battery to
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Relay House, a few miles from Baltimore,-all these points being within the Department of Annapolis of which he had been made commander. From Relay House, on the evening of May 13, Gen- eral Butler backed a railroad train containing a considerable part of his force to the city of Baltimore, and under cover of a heavy thunder storm took possession of Federal Hill, almost unobserved, whence on the following morning he issued a proclamation announc- ing his purposes. This occupation of Baltimore displeased General Scott, however, and on the 16th the troops were withdrawn to Relay House and General Cadwalader succeeded to the command. General Butler on reporting at Washington was commissioned a major general of volunteers-the first commission of that grade issned-and was made commander of the Department of Virginia, embracing the country within 60 miles of Fortress Monroe, with head-quarters at that stronghold. This command he held till the 18th of August, the most important event during the time in a military way being the expedition against the Confederates under General Magruder on the night of June 9 and the skirmish-for battle it can hardly be called-at Great Bethel the next day. He was then relieved of the command of the department, General Jolin E. Wool being his successor.
Being assigned to no other field of usefulness, General Butler asked one at the hands of General Wool, and for a time commanded the troops encamped outside the fort. He had already arranged an expedition for the capture of the Confederate forts at Hatteras Inlet, and that being about to sail he accompanied it and received the surrender of the fortifications. Having provided for the per- manent occupation of that post by the United States government, General Butler repaired to Washington and obtained authority to recruit six regiments in New England for an expedition, the order bearing date of September 10, 1861. In his zeal to fill the regi- ments he became involved in a serious quarrel with Governor Andrew over the two from Massachusetts ; but in the early part of the winter following the organizations were completed and after much deliberation New Orleans was selected as the objective point. Arrangements having been made for the co-operation of a naval force under Captain Farragut, General Butler and his command of about 15,000 men sailed for Ship Island, off the Mississippi coast, which was made the rendezvous for the expedition. The force's
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were ready March 25, 1862, but the fleet did not get across the bar at the mouth of the Mississippi river till April 16, when the attack on Forts St. Philip and Jackson, the running of the batteries by a portion of the war vessels, the destruction of the Confederate fleet, the surrender'of New Orleans, followed by that of the forts, and the establishment of General Butler at the Crescent City succeeded rapidly. The vigorous measures of the commander for the preser- vation of peace, his charitable steps for the relief of suffering and in furnishing labor for the unemployed, his sanitary care for the health of the troops and the citizens, were all characteristic of the man's unflagging energy. From May 1 to December 15 he com- manded the Department of the Gulf, with head-quarters at New Orleans, when he was relieved by General Banks.
General Butler was not immediately assigned to a command, but in December, 1863, he succeeded General Foster in command of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, with head-quarters at Fortress Monroe, the Department including the state of North Carolina and that part of Virginia south of the Rappahannock river and east of the Fredericksburg and Richmond Railroad. General Butler's first important enterprise after assuming his new com- mand was an attempt to capture Richmond by the dash of a light column under General Wistar, aided by a diversion on the part of the Army of the Potomac, early in February, 1864, but the attempt came to naught. The Army of the James was meantime organized, consisting of the Tenth and Eighteenth Corps and a force of cavalry, with which General Butler operated against Richmond and Peters- burg during the following spring and summer in support of and often in active co-operation with the Army of the Potomac. During the autumn a great piece of engineering work was accomplished by the colored soldiers of the army in the digging of the Dutch Gap Canal, which by cutting off a considerable bend in the James river would it was hoped avoid several strong Confederate fortifications and allow the approach of Union war vessels nearer to Richmond. The bulkhead of earth was blown out on the 1st of January, 1865. but the result was a failure. At the presidential election of 1864, General Butler was ordered to New York to keep the peace, and on his return took part in the operations against Fort Fisher, the main defense of Wilmington, N. C. Preliminary to the combined naval and military attack, a vessel loaded with 215 tons of powder was
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