USA > Massachusetts > Reminiscences of military service in the Forty-third regiment, Massachusetts infantry, during the great Civil war, 1862-63 > Part 16
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The experience of the comrades who passed up into Mary- land is pleasantly described by Corporal C. M. Coburn, now of Titusville, Penn., - the present commander of Post 50, G. A. R. Department, Pennsylvania, - in a recent letter com- posed from a diary.
BALTIMORE, July 8, 1863.
According to orders issued to the regiment last evening, we were to move forward this forenoon toward the front. The fact that our time of service had more than expired, many of our com- rades having made their business arrangements to return home,
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caused Col. Whiton, in making an address to the regiment, to give the opportunity (under orders from superior officers) to those who could not stay longer to go to Boston. The result was, that some went home. The balance of the regiment took up line of march en route for Harper's Ferry, leaving Baltimore about ninc A.M., July 9. on platform-cars, passing the historical places of Relay House, Ellicott's Mills, Frederick Junction, Point of Rocks, etc., and arrived, without special incident, at Sandy Hook, opposite Harper's Ferry, after dark ; the last few miles having been run rather cautiously, fearing trouble from rebel guerillas, our loco- motive being an iron-clad one, running in rear of the train.
It was said that several of the train-hands had been shot, picked off by rebel sharpshooters, within the past few days.
Upon reaching Sandy Hook, we camped upon the hillside, tired and dirty. On the next morning I started off early to look. around. I found we were at the base of the famous Maryland Heights, commanding the surrounding country. The fortifications at the summit were in a sad state, having been left in a demoral- ized condition since the unfortunate Col. Miles's surrender. A large hundred-pound Parrott gun, which must have taken great labor and expense to put into position, was pitched over into a deep chasmi hundreds of feet below.
The view from this elevation is magnificent ; the lovely Loudon valley extending for miles to the south-west. Returning to camp, I found that the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-ninth Massachusetts Regiments were in our vicinity, together with the Thirtieth and Thirty-second New-York Batteries and the Eighth New-York Heavy Artillery.
About noon, our regiment was called upon to do provost-duty, and Major Lane was made provost-marshal ; Gen. Naglee being in command.
On the 14th we assisted in the laying of a pontoon across to Harper's Ferry ; and the rebel pickets were driven out of the place by our batteries, who opened fire, at a preconcerted signal, about nine A.M. We watched the effect of the artillery-fire from the heights with considerable interest, and noted the telling accuracy of some of the shot.
The mounted rebel pickets were not slow in getting back into the country, to the south of Harper's Ferry. One party started out in a buggy, and, when out on the road a short distance from
7
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town, he made a good mark for our artillerists. Several shells were sent whizzing after him, and one burst near enough to over- turn buggy, horse, and rider, down an embankment, where they lay, very much demoralized. We saw no signs of life for a few moments ; but presently a man was seen legging it to the best of his ability, leaving the horse and vehicle to take care of them- selves.
Upon the completion of the pontoon-bridge, many of our boys went over, and visited the ruins of the government arsenal.
Gen. Gregg's cavalry came in sight soon after the bridge was completed, and crossed over. They had left the main body after the battle at Gettysburg, and were swinging around to intercept and capture what prisoners they could from Lee's retreating army.
From late this afternoon, all through the night, groups of pris- oners were coming in under guard : they were put on trains, and sent to Baltimore.
On the 16th our army began to arrive, and we were glad to find old friends in the Second, Third, and Twelfth Army Corps, as they passed over the bridge to-day. Among the different regiments we saw the First, Second, Fifteenth, Nineteenth, Twen- tieth, and Twenty-eighth Massachusetts Regiments. Company H of the First Massachusetts was heartily welcomed by our boys, and the air rung with cheer upon cheer as the old veterans of so many hard fights marched by. We also got the news to-day of the surrender, to our forces, of Fort Hudson, and we really began to think that the war was about over.
On the 18th we were relieved by the Nineteenth Maryland Regiment, and orders given to start for Boston. Before leaving, Gen. Naglee made a neat speech, and issued a complimentary order, which was read on dress-parade this evening. He also di- rected us to wear the corps-badge of the first brigade, second division, Sixth Army Corps. We left by rail this afternoon, and arrived in Baltimore at midnight.
On the 19th, Sunday, we were well fed by the parties in charge of the relief rooms, and left at six P.M. for Philadelphia, continu- ing to New York, where we arrived at five p.M. on the 20th, and immediately went on board the Sound steamer, " Plymonth Rock."
We arrived in Boston on the 21st, and were received at the depot by the Boston Light Infantry Association, who escorted us up State Street to Boylston Hall, where a bountiful collation was served to us.
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We were also welcomed at the depot by the Boston Light Dra- goons and the Chelsea Rifle Corps ; the latter being our own special escort. After our banquet, the Rifle Corps escorted us to Chelsea, where we were dismissed, and granted a furlough until the 30th, when we were mustered out at Readville.
The " Boston Journal" (of the 21st) and " The Chelsea Pioneer " reported these receptions as follows : -
RETURN OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT.
The detachment of the Forty-third Massachusetts Regiment which volunteered to go to the front, and remain until the rebels were driven out of Maryland, arrived in this city this morning, about eight o'clock, by the Stonington route, and met with a most cordial reception by their friends. They arrived some two hours earlier than they were expected, and were marched to the Boyl- ston-street Mall on the Common, where their muskets were stacked, and, under their captains, they proceeded to obtain breakfast at the nearest convenient place. Many of their friends met them on the Common.
The following is the complimentary order issued by Gen. Naglee, at the time of their return home from Maryland : -
HEADQUARTERS, HARPER'S FERRY, July 17, 1863.
SPECIAL ORDERS, No. 14.
I. The term of service of the Forty-third Regiment Massachu- setts nine-months men, under Lieut .- Col. John C. Whiton, being about to end, they will leave for Baltimore at noon to-morrow, and Col. Whiton will report for further orders to Major-Gen. Schenck. The quartermaster will furnish the necessary transportation.
II. The general commanding is happy to acknowledge the gen- erous offer of the regiment to remain in service as long as the late emergency should exist, and thanks them for the services rendered as fully as though they had been called to the field.
He would further acknowledge with satisfaction the excellent conduct of the regiment while attached to the department of North Carolina, under Major-Gen. Foster.
By command of
BRIG .- GEN. NAGLEE.
GEORGE H. JOHNSTON, Capt. and A. A. G.
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The battalion of Dragoons, Major Wilder, who had volunteered to do escort-duty, arrived, and formed on Boylston Street about eleven o'clock ; and the Boston Light Infantry Association, under whose auspices the reception was given, soon appeared, headed by Gilmore's Band, and under command of its president, Major C. O. Rogers, as chief marshal.
The Dragoons, who were accompanied by the Chelsea Brass Band, mounted, took the head of the procession, and were followed by the Chelsea Rifle Corps, Lieut. Blake. Next came the Infantry Association, and then the guests of the day, - the Forty-third Regiment, under Col. Holbrook. Their war-worn uniforms at- tracted much attention ; and their soldierly bearing and prompt movements won them much commendation, and loud and repeated cheers from the crowd who lined all the streets.
The route of the procession was through Tremont, Winter, . Summer, Arch, Franklin, Devonshire, Milk, India, State, and Washington Streets, to Boylston Hall. Large numbers of people were assembled along the route ; and the greeting of the regiment was most enthusiastic.
At Boylston Hall a collation had been prepared by the city authorities for the regiment, and, after their arrival, they were drawn up in line around the hall.
His Honor the mayor then came forward, and was introduced by Major Rogers as follows : -
Mr. Mayor, after an absence of over nine months in the field, the Forty-third (Tiger) Regiment has returned to you and to the city of Boston, which has nurtured and cared for them, and remembered them, through the whole time that they have been gone. I have the pleasure of presenting to you Col. Holbrook, and of saying to him, that whatever words can be uttered for the gratification of the regiment will now be uttered by you.
[Mayor's address not reported. ]
[Pioneer, July 25, 1563.] MILITARY AND CIVIC RECEPTION.
That portion of the Forty-third Massachusetts Regiment which volunteered, at the expiration of their nine-months enlistment, to march under Gen. Naglee to the front, and were attached to the Sixth Army Corps, forming a part of the Army of the Potomac, arrived in Boston on Tuesday, where they met with au enthusi-
....
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HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M.V.M.
astic reception. Capt. Hanover's command, Company H of Chel- sea, was subsequently received by members of our city government and a large concourse of citizens at the Ferry, where they arrived under escort of the Chelsea Rifle Corps. They thence proceeded, amid the enthusiasm of the people, expressed in repeated cheers, to Winnisimmet Square, where they halted for a few moments, were grasped by ready hands in fits of Northern shakes, and soon after entered the armory. Here they were received by the Rifle Corps, who presented arms, and, through Lieut. Blake, greeted their re- turn with a few brief and fitting expressions of welcome. Capt. Hanover replied.
E. C. Fitz, Esq., president of the Common Council, welcomed the returned soldiers in behalf of the city. He said, that in the absence of the mayor, and in consequence of the diffidence( !) of the chairman of the Board of Aldermen (Churchill), it devolved upon him to give to the returned soldiers a few honest words of welcome. The incidents of the day brought to his mind a remi- niscence of 1862, when Chelsea was called upon to supply a quota of troops which seemed to her disproportionately large. I remember when you, Mr. Commander, unfurled your banner in yonder Square, and called upon the citizens of Chelsea to enroll their names in the defence of their country. How they responded, let the muster-roll make answer. Never will the people of Chelsea forget the sensation of pride which animated their souls, when, after days of anxiety inseparable from such a demand upon their hearts and homes, we received the gratifying announcement that Chelsea's quota was full. Nobly have you done your duty. The battlefields and swamps of North Carolina testify to your faithful- ness. Permit me to allude to an act of heroism on your part that should not be overlooked. When absolved from further duty by the limitation of your enlistment, and while your hearts were yearning for and anticipating a speedy return home, in this mo- ment of expectancy your country claimed an extra service at your hands. You felt that that claim was paramount. You obeyedl the call, were ready for the sacrifice ; you went again to the front, nobly determining to do your duty. [Enthusiastic cheers.] No words can adequately express the gratitude that lies deep in our hearts. I congratulate you on your safe return to your homes. As you lay aside the soldier's garb, and resume the costume and occupations of peaceful life, in your own hearts you will find a
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THE RETURN HOME.
gratifying approval of your course. We rejoice that Chelsea's escutcheon remains untarnished. May that kind Providence which has led you through the dangers of the conflict ever smile upon you and your command ! [Cheers. ]
Capt. Hanover replied, that his heart was so full he could not express himself. He thanked them for their kind reception. A thousand thoughts had possession of him ; but he could give expression to but one, - that Company H had ever been ready to do their duty. [Cheers. ] In the hour of trial no man quailed, no man proved craven. God in his providence had brought them back in safety. They felt deeply thankful. The joy at their re- turn was reciprocal : they had had hand-shaking to the aching of their bones. [A laugh. ]
William G. Clark, Esq., proposed three cheers of welcome on behalf of the citizens. Given with a tiger.
Sergeant Perry of Company H here stepped out from the ranks, and said, " I propose three cheers for our good, kind-hearted captain." They were given by the men, with " one more."
Thus ended the reception. The weather was rainy and unpleas- ant, which abridged much of the out-door arrangements of the committee.
It may be worthy of note that the returning twenty-seven bore on their caps the distinctive mark of the Sixth Army Corps, - the cross. They have a right to be a little proud of belonging to the Army of the Potomac.
+
[All the nine-months men on the quota of Chelsea were after- wards welcomed home at the City Hall. ]
·
Some information upon which I had depended in reference to the movements of a large detail of invalids from Newbern to Boston by sea, at the time of our departure from North
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HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M.V.M.
Carolina, has failed me at the last moment. They were in charge of Lieut. Turner and Assistant Surgeon Henry O. Marcy. There were probably twelve or fifteen, at least, of our own company among them. They reached Chelsea a day or two before any of the rest of us, after a pleasant passage, unmarked by any incident, except that their vessel, " The Consort," grounded in a fog on the beach at Scituate, at which place they landed.
I desire to say, in conclusion, that a very unreasonable prejudice rested upon the nine-months men from the outset, in respect to the matter of bounties. With regard to the large sums of money which we are credited with receiving, I respectfully ask to have the facts reviewed in the light of figures. My "bill," if I had been called upon to present one, would have been as follows : -
CHELSEA, Aug. 31, 1863.
The State and National Governments to DR.
For one year's services, at a low average of the earnings of
his calling at the time ($3 per day)
$750 00
CR.
By Cash, and other items received: -
Local Bounty . 8200 00
State Aid, eleven months, at 84 44 00
Monthly wages, eleven months, at $13
143 00
Rations, per week, $4
192 00
Clothing .
40 00
619 00
Balance due to me
$131 00
My earnings for several years after my return were from eight hundred and fifty to nine hundred dollars. Board for a married couple at the time was from eleven to twelve dol- lars per week. The fact was, that every soldier with a family to support needed, under the inflated prices of the war, every cent that was available, and even then he would fall several hundred dollars short of the ordinary income of the average citizen. Among the social fallacies which the war exposed, none were more conspicuous than this; namely, that multi- tudes of respectable and presumably well-meaning people
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thought it not wrong to force large numbers of their fellow- citizens into the army without equitable reward. Many men who would have filled the State with their clamor, if they had been drafted into the jury-box for a few weeks, at any less price than three dollars a day, were unwilling that the families of soldiers should have .more than that sum for a week.
Some who read this will be surprised to learn that Adju- tant-Gen. Schouler states, in his " Massachusetts in the Civil War," that the average amount of bounty paid the seventeen thousand nine-months men was a fraction over one hundred dollars a man. These bounties were in great part reimbursed to the local governments from the State treasury, to the total amount of 82,300,921.
It is but fair, in this connection, for me to recall the fact already noted, that all the Chelsea members of our company - which was a very large majority of our whole number - were brought into town from Readville, just before we left the State, and dismissed in the Square, upon our own recog- nizance, to report at the same place the next day ; and we did it. Before the war closed, recruits were not, as a rule, trusted out of sight after they got their bounty. I can my- self certify to the fact that prudent citizens avoided bodies of newly enlisted men as they passed through our cities under the care of officers who marched by their sides with their revolvers in their hands. The reason was obvious: pistol- balls are no respecters of persons; and a citizen was quite as likely to be hit as a bolting recruit.
The change for the worse in the public mind, as the war progressed, will be evident on comparing the following flier. bearing date July 30, 1864, with the one dated August, 1862, already quoted in my opening statements.
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HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M.V.M.
WAR MEETING No. 3, TO FINISH UP THE WORK,
WILL BE HELD IN THE CITY HALL,
On Saturday Evening, July 30 ['64], AT 8 O'CLOCK.
$2,500 yet to be raised. One grand, united effort will do it.
There are 1,800 legal voters in this city who have not yet contributed.
Come in, ENROLLED MEN, pay $10 each, and make up this balance.
Subscribers to the recruiting-fund are requested to pay in the amount of their subscriptions at this meeting.
STAND BY THE FLAG!
Another flier, dated a month later, calls upon all citizens to contribute five dollars each. A noticeable feature of both of the circulars of 1864 is the fact that no appeal is made to volunteer. It is money that is wanted at these last gather- ings ; whereas at the former ones it was men.
In these remarks I do not mean to discredit the whole- souled patriotism of many who enlisted during the last year of the war, and took the bounties then offered, which in some cases amounted to nine hundred dollars. My opinion is, that every man who did his duty to the best of his ability earned every cent he received. It was unfortunate that the last war-meetings took such a mercenary aspect. The tongue
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should not have been divorced from the sword : the stirring appeals to the patriotic sense of the community ought to have been continued to the end. They were not inconsist- ent with impending drafts or with large bounties. All these elements were necessary, and should have been blended together.
I have now reached the end of my history. Before closing, it is due to the memory of the Chelsea Rifle Corps, out of which our company originated, to acknowledge our indebted- ness to them in more ways than can be recounted here. I have the impression that we went to Readville with a larger number of experts in company movements than any other organization outside of Boston in the regiment. We were followed by them to the scene of war with sympathetic cour- tesies, showing that we were not forgotten, and cordially welcomed home.
Our acknowledgments are also due to the ancient and honorable military organization known originally as the Bos- ton Light Infantry, later as the Second Battalion. Certain elevated associations connected with their origin during the last century ; their motto, "Death, or an honorable life;" their emblem, a couchant "tiger," closely connected with the characteristic savage pronunciation of the word with which we sometimes made the jungles of North Carolina ring, - were always present in some inspiring form sugges- tive of patriotic obligation.
To the officers of the Second Battalion we were largely indebted for instruction in regimental organization and drill. Nearly all of them were men of high character. We had, as has been intimated, the good fortune to be on the most acceptable terms with our company officers of every grade. So far as the field and staff were concerned, it is deserved praise to say of all of them, that their bearing toward the men of the regiment was fully consistent with their position, and yet equally kind and considerate with the officers of our company toward us of the ranks. They were of such habit- ual self-command, that my feelings were not for an instant ruffled by any harshmess of manner, or hasty language, from either of them during the whole term of service.
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HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M. V.M.
I cannot close without saying a word in the spirit of charity toward the South. Their whole course, at the time of the war, seemed to me to be one of pure diabolism; but " my opinion in the course of the years that have since elapsed has been modified.
The South can only be judged properly by those wlio are, to some extent at least, diligent and candid students of the social question.
The triumph of the Republican party in the election of 1860 demonstrated the determination of the North to restrict slavery to the States where it already existed. The South believed that their prosperity depended upon its extension. A series of influences extending over more than two centu- ries, going back, in fact, to the first cargo of slaves which entered the James River, and connecting themselves inex- tricably with race-antipathies, and with the excessively oner- ous conditions under which labor must be performed in the South, had led them to believe that slavery was essential to social order. Under these circumstances they resisted, with the whole organized power of their communities, in every . possible way, the imposition of a policy upon them from with- out, which they honestly, and I must almost admit religiously, believed to be fatal to them. Their position, in short, was very similar to what ours would be if the great mass of the working people of the North should attempt the abolition, by the ballot, of our present industrial system, and should suc- ceed in the effort, in spite of the wishes, and against the votes, of the cultivated classes of society, united in one compact body in resistance.
In seceding, the South set itself not only against the North, but really against Christendom. We were absolutely forced to fight ; but advancing knowledge now compels the admis- sion, that the situation of the South was essentially different from that of the rest of the civilized peoples of the world. The abolition of chattelship has passed the social question one stage further along, leaving it still an open one, but so comprehensive in its aspects as to relieve it from sectional and race antagonisms. The lower classes of the whites of
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the South are but a shade less ignorant and degraded than the colored people. In their regeneration this fact must be recognized, and the measures taken should be of such a chiar- acter as to admit of application throughout the national domain, wherever ignorance and poverty are cursing the people.
We are struggling against disastrous odds in our present reliance upon legislation to bring peace throughout our bor- ders. The final solution of the social problem lies in the di- rection of practical religion rather than politics. Chattelship went into a bloody grave, because the issue was too momen- tous and intricate to be controlled or adjusted by the civil power. The Church will finally, and as I truly believe at no distant day, find the real grandeur of its mission in merging law and love together in institutes which shall combine the principles of the Decalogue with the utterances of the Sermon on the Mount. The vast energies that found ex- pression in the Christian and Sanitary Commissions will yet be permanently devoted to the redemption of man from the material and moral evils which still fester in human society. Herbert Spencer, in his "Data of Ethics," joins the forces of natural to those of revealed religion in expressing "the humble hope and faith, that some reasoned form of the ethics of the New Testament may yet become the life-core of so- ciety."
Something more than a year and a half after we returned, the citizens of Chelsea thronged our City Hall, and offered a · joyous oblation of praise to Almighty God for the restora- - tion of peace. I have forgotten nearly all of the speakers, and most of what was said ; but a leaflet of songs and hymns which was distributed at the meeting is still at hand to quicken my memory, and to revive some of the most grateful and profound emotions which I ever experienced.
A stalwart colored man was present, one of the preachers of Newbern, named George A. Rue. He sang with stento- rian voice, and with a pathos which commanded all hearts. the verses of the grand oratorio of "Egypt," which fol- low : -
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