USA > Massachusetts > The organization and early history of the Second Mass. regiment of infantry : an address > Part 2
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Governor Andrew, before the proclamation, had urged the General Government to accept other regiments in addition. to ours .. On the twenty-fifth of April. he had written the
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Secretary of War, "In addition to raising Gordon's regi- ment, we can send you four thousand more troops, within a very short time after receipt of a requisition for them."
On the second of May, Mr. Boutwell wrote Gov. Andrew from Washington, that Mr. Cameron, Secretary of War, agreed to authorize Massachusetts to raise two regi- ments in addition to ours, but that a cabinet meeting pre- vented completion of the orders; but it was not until the fifteenth of May, 1861, that any official designation or call was made from Washington for any other regiments for three years, or during the war, save for our own.
On the above date the following letter was written Gov. Andrew : -
" WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, May 15, 1861.
GOVERNOR JOHN A. ANDREW, Boston : -
" DEAR SIR, - I have the honor to forward you, enclosed herewith, the plan of organization of the volunteers for three years, or during the war. Six regiments are assigned to your State, making, in addition to the two regiments of the three months' militia already called for, eight regiments.
" It is important to reduce rather than enlarge this number, and in no event to exceed it; let me earnestly recommend to you, therefore, to call for no more than eight regiments, of which six are to serve for three years, or during the war, and, if more are already called for, to reduce the number by dis- charges.
" In making-up the quota of three years' men, you will please act in concert with the mustering officers sent to your State, who will represent this depart- ment.
" I am, sir, respectfully, " SIMON CAMERON, " Secretary of War."
The fifteenth of May ! We may ponder now on the fore- thought and the foresight which called upon Massachusetts
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to discharge all volunteers save enough to make up six regiments, - the quota of Massachusetts, - in a call for forty- two thousand and thirty-four volunteers, with which to finish the war of the rebellion. But not for this have I called your attention to the action of the War Department in its efforts to obtain the first three years' regiments; but rather that I may introduce the circular letter sent from Washington to guide governors of States in the selection of officers for these regiments. I wish to show how we anticipated the virtues of the circular. It was dated in May, and advised loyal governors : -
"1. To commission no one of doubtful morals or patriot- ism, and not of sound health.
" 2. To appoint no one to a lieutenantey (second or first) who has passed the age of twenty-two years ; or to a cap- tainey over thirty years ; and to appoint no field officers, major, lieutenant colonel, or colonel, unless a graduate of the United States Military Academy, or known to possess military knowledge and experience, who has passed the respective ages of thirty-five, forty, forty-five years.
" This department feels assured that it will not be deemed offensive to Your Excellency to add yet this general counsel : that the higher the moral character and general intelligence of the officers so appointed, the greater the efficiency of the troops, and the resulting glory to their respective States."
It was without the benefit of these suggestions that I made my selections for officers for our regiment. It is not strange, however, that I did so much meet the conditions of the War Department. I presume that department spoke,. and I know I acted, by the light of experience. I stood
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then, I stand now and hereafter, upon this ground of the War Department : First, high moral character and general intelligence for officers. Second, the impulsive ardor of the morning of life.
I can add nothing to your own knowledge of the charac- ter of those who formed the first commissioned officers of this regiment. I could not delineate, however skilfully, a single trait, that you who have survived do not know, and have not felt in your daily intimacies. But I can say, that with two or three exceptions, from Col. Andrews to the youngest second lieutenant, I would not have exchanged our officers for those of any regiment I have ever known in the service of the United States, regular or volunteer. For promptness in the performance of duty, for zeal and appli- cation in seeking to know their duty, for courage in discharging duty, and for a presence and bearing among their men which, checking familiarity, inspired respect, the regular service never had superiors.
To dwell upon their achievements, to recall their well-re- membered and well-beloved forms, were an easy as it would be, an instructive task; indeed, at this hour I cannot shut out their presence. They are here to the eye of memory in all their bloom of manly strength ; and yet, they are there. where they fell : Goodwin, so weak from sickness, that he was carried to the battle-line of Cedar Mountain, to fall with his men on either hand; Dwight, the brave, the ardent and faithful. foremost in the most exacting demands of his rank ; Savage and Cary. Abbott, Williams and Robeson, in the tornado of fire that swept their heroic souls from earth. - all falling where only the brave fall ; Mudge and Shaw, with
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youth, with frank and manly hearts, leading their regiments into the very jaws of hell without flinching or faltering.
At this hour they pass again before us, -
"In dim procession led,"
reminding us of a sacred companionship, born of patriotic devotion, nurtured in the fire of battle and strengthened by a common sacrifice ; a tender, a sweet companionship, that admonishes us, as we bear the burden of our daily cares, to be true, to be honest, to be brave, and when, -
" At times unbidden notes shall rise, Confusedly bound in memory's ties, Entangling as they rush along, The war-march with the funeral song, -"
we shall appreciate more and more, as time covers with its mosses the stones that mark the resting-places of our heroic comrades, that the proud record of our regiment would be a barren story without the history of all those noble souls - officers and privates - who gave up their lives for their country.
On a day, about the twentieth of May, 1861, I handed Gov. Andrew, at the State House, a complete list of every officer for the Second Regiment in the order in which I wished them to rank. Taking from my hand this paper, Gov. Andrew, in my presence, delivered it to the Adjutant General, with this injunction: "Let commissions issue to these gentlemen, in the order of rank as designated." And thus commissions were made out, though the dates were irrespective of Gov. Andrew's order, which was prior, as I
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have every reason to believe, to any order of his concerning any other of the then designated six regiments, irrespective too, of the date of muster into the United States service ; for. at the especial suggestion of the mustering officer, the Colo- nel of the Second Regiment was mustered into the United States service prior to any other colonel from the State, irre- spective, too, of the rule laid down by the War Department. that the date of muster-in of regimental officers into the service of the United States should never be earlier than the date of muster-in of the last company ; for it is from this latter date that the commencement of service in the United States Army is determined. Upon this, Mr. Quint has shown, in the history of the Second, that, though some of our companies were mustered into the service as early as May 18th, as a whole, it was full prior to any of the designated six regi- ments.
It is not known why the commission of the Colonel of the First Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers was dated May 22d, while that of the Colonel of the Second was dated May 24th ; nor is it important, in the light of the fact that our regiment was the first mustered into the service of the United States, as it was the first accepted by the United States.
I have said there were exceptions, two or three. to be noted in the character of my selections of officers ; and as illustrating precisely wherein a man, without being vicious. might fail in the requirements of a good officer, I will allude to the case of a captain whom I had received upon his own application. [I allude to this case thus publicly. because of an official communication received from Gov. An-
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drew before we left camp, that he had caused the full detail connected with the resignation of this officer to be filed with the public records of the State. ]
This appointment was a mistake ; but I rectified it before we left our encampment, as I rectified another among the list of captains shortly after.
The case of Capt. - shows how much need there was of military guidance, to direct even the best of gov- ernors in the selection of regimental officers. How such a man as Gov. Andrew, with his whole soul filled with a single wish for the good of the cause ; a man who exhausted his life in behalf of the nation; how even he failed to appre- ciate what was wanting to secure efficiency in a regiment ! I refer to the Governor's written opinion of my resolution and action in the case of Capt. -, whose resignation I had demanded during our encampment, and forwarded with my approval to Gov. Andrew.
On one of the last days in June, 1861, Capt. commissioned officer of the Second Massachusetts Infantry, was pledging in his own tent one of the corporals of his company in a social glass. This complimentary attention from the captain to the corporal was, as I understood the former, that he might remove any unpleasant impression rankling in the corporal's breast, because the captain had insisted upon the performance of some duty by the corporal in some sphere or other, no matter what. Fortunately for the regiment, but otherwise for the captain, the colonel (passing at the time) witnessed this fraternal drink, and overheard the social pledge. It is perhaps needless to say
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that Capt. - -, from some remarks made to him by the colonel, offered his resignation at once.
Repenting, however, of that which he had done. Capt. , before the Governor could act upon the paper, informed the latter that he had withdrawn the resignation, and would prefer to remain, drink or no drink, corporal or no corporal. It was under these circumstances that, on the first of July, the Governor desired my presence, and " would be glad to see me one-quarter of an hour earlier than the time appointed for Capt. -- to call."
I had an interview with the Governor, but I am sorry to say our views differed very widely. The following letter, . dated the second of July, 1861, while showing the Gover- nor's opinion of what constitutes true discipline, would also reveal mine, if every sentiment in it were exactly and math- ematically reversed ; while the Governor's conclusion, that Capt. -- had better not return to the regiment, on his own account, I most heartily endorsed : -
After taking a legal view of the facts, "in my judgment," adds the Gov- ernor, " on the facts, Capt. - cannot be deemed to have done more than to have inadvertently exposed himself to censure beyond his deserts: and it is, moreover, to be remembered that the traditions and even necessities of regular army service, by which Col. Gordon seems to have interpreted an act of no significance when judged of by the light of peaceful militia camp- life, are hardly to be enforced by harsh judgments, or ultimate penalties, unless for the purpose of reaching obstinate, or. really and gravely insubordi- nate offenders.
" In the militia service with which Capt. - is familiar, the first officer in rank may in no sense be superior to many a person doing his duty of citizen soldier in the ranks. I cannot and do not believe him to have intended any such breach of the conventionalities of his position. as to imply a want of absolute respect for discipline and good order.
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" I am satisfied, however," adds the Governor, "that the circumstances of this case, and the feelings springing from them, would render it unwise (having the best good of the service in view), that Capt. - should return to this regiment. It is a case in which I feel bound, in order to secure a good and prosperous body from injurious discord, at a moment when every citizen must yield everything to his country, save truth and honor, to accept this resignation. since it has once been tendered. and to grant to Capt. an honorable discharge from a position which, under favorable auspices. he might have occupied with usefulness and honor.
** (Signed) JOHN A. ANDREW."
This letter was accompanied by the following from the Adjutant General : --
1 " COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, " ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, " BOSTON, July 2, 1861. "Col. GEO. HI. GORDON, commanding Second Regiment Mass. Volunteers :- "SIR, - By direction of his Excellency the Governor of this Commonwealth, I herewith transmit to you a copy of a document this day filed in this depart- mont.
" (Signed)
WM. SCHOULER, Adjutant General."
Now, to show how rapidly Gov. Andrew grew in wisdom, let me quote the following extract, in a telegram from the Governor to Senators Sumner and Wilson, on the third of August, 1861 : -
"Can it be intended by Congress," says the Governor, "that volunteers in the field should till vacancies by election? Where is to be the source of discipline," he writes, " when every candidate is seeking personal favor of the nien ? "
From the first of July, when he thought that pledging a social glass with his corporal was an act by a captain of a company of no significance, when judged by the light of
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peaceful militia camp life, to the third of August, the Gov- ernor grew rapidly in wisdom.
From the eleventh of May to the eighth of July, 1861, our regiment was in camp on Brook Farm, in West Rox- bury. To the discipline of that encampment we owe the general character and reputation which attended our regi- ment, wherever it formed an element of an army. If I say that reputation was sach, that the Second Regiment came to stand with the commander of every army in which. it served, as the one reliable, well-drilled and disciplined regi- ment, that the general commanding bore in mind and thought himself fortunate in possessing, I have only spoken in prai-e of the discipline of that encampment.
There, too, the novelty of the new life began to wear away; there old friendships were strengthened and new ones formed ; there life began to reveal nobler purpose- ; the heart to beat with new and unfelt desires; while the grand, the mighty strength to be developed by a well-organ- ized, compact and thoroughly disciplined body of earnest men began to show itself. And there, too, what tender, half-fearful emotions were suppressed in the multitudes that gazed night after night upon the long line at evening parade, -gazed in pride, though with swelling hearts. at this strange, yet heroic departure from the peaceful ways for which sons and brothers had been destined.
A few weeks of that strange but thrilling life, and the summons came. On the morning of the eighth of July, 1861, the tents were struck, the camp deserted. So like a dream had we, the first and last occupants of Brook Farm,
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come and gone, that it seemed like the vision pictured by Scott of the clans of Rhoderick Dhu : -
" The wind's last breath had tossed in air, Pennon and plaid and plumage fair ; The next but swept a lone hill-side Where heath and fern were waving wild; The sun's last gleam had glinted back From spear and glaive, from targe and Jack ; The next all unreflected shone On bracken green and cold gray stone."
At five o'clock in the morning, on the eleventh of July, we forded, for the first time, the Potomac, at Williamsport, in Maryland, and entered upon the sacred soil of Virginia. Our destination was Martinsburg, the head-quarters of Gen. Patterson, to whom, as ordered by Gen. Scott, we were to report.
Never again were we to make that march in such style. The officers were in full uniform, adorned with epaulettes and sashes. The ranks were full ; a thousand men, marching in close order, moving with the military precision of veter- ans, and keeping time to the music of a full band, which echoed through the streets. This, as we approached Martins- burg. As we proceeded, mobs of men, some with shreds of uniform, others with shreds of clothing, lined the road-way, and squat upon the fence-rails. I could but look with amazement upon this disorganized mass, which formed the grand army of Gen. Patterson, as they rushed from field and wood to stare and gaze at our band, our uniform, our steady marching and grand equipment of twenty-five or thirty new wagons, each drawn by four showy horses. As we made
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our way to the spot designated for our encampment, an increasing mob of Pensylvanians thronged the streets, sur- rounded the outer lines of camp, to stare at our sentinels walking their posts as sentinels should ; and then to mutter half in rage and half in vexation that troops have come among them who obey the orders of their officers. Adjoin- ing us, however, are camps, where men in homespun, calling themselves sentinels, are squatting on the ground like Dar- win's great progenitor. They eat on post, sit or squat on post, smoke and sleep on post, sing, talk and langh, and leave their posts, as the humor suits them. Of what goes on around or within their lines they are cheerfully oblivious and wonderfully indifferent.
From acres of such encampments rise, during the night, song and laughter and boisterous shouts. Lights flash out, men come and go, and all goes merrily on ; while within our lines not a sound rises nor a whisper is heard ; not a light burning nor a sentinel who is not walking his round.
On the 14th of July, 1861, three days from our arrival at Martinsburg, the order was given to march south to Bunker Hill en route to Winchester, to engage Joe Johnston, the rebel commander of forces there.
While the tents were being packed, while wagons filled the parade-ground, and luggage encumbered the earth, while there was motion everywhere, as far as the eye could see ; galloping horses bearing orderlies with despatches, artillery rumbling, and long lines of infantry moving out to the in- spiring militia muster melody of jingling kettle-drums, screeching fifes, and roaring base, a sharp-featured, and sombre person, dressed in the prevailing butternut-colored
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homespun of Virginia, shying up towards the Colonel of the Second Massachusetts Regiment, demanded a settlement : first, forthe fence-rails the regiment had burned ; second, for the green grass they had trampled down; and third, for an extra cost for ploughing in the coming spring, the soil had been trodden down so hard. As we were then carrying on war upon peace principles, with assurances that we warred not upon the institutions of the South. nor upon their citizens. nor upon their property ; as we were just from Massachusett -. where we were not accustomed to trespass upon, or take a man's property without paying for it, the Virginian was paid, paid all he asked, paid upon his own estimates, paid in gold. and his vonchers are now on file in Washington, in settle- ment of the regimental quartermaster's accounts.
I am, at least I was once, inclined to think the owner of so much of the sacred soil as we encamped on, must have thought our kind of invasion would pay well. If those men had not soon begun to shoot so many of their best customers as finally to make us mad, I doubt not we should have been paying for the ploughing of Virginia fields to-day.
It having been found by Gen. Joe Johnston that he could do us much more injury by uniting his forces with the troops of Beauregard than by remaining at Winchester, he did not trouble himself much about our appearance in the north of that noted town, but made all his preparations to leave. Some one evidently thought Johnston would prefer Patter- son to MeDowell ; Winchester to Washington ; and so John- ston pretended ; but without impairing his ability to effect a union with Beauregard. he persuaded Patterson to place him-
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self where he could not reinforce MeDowell, when he gently and joyously moved south and east for Manassas.
This bit of deception, unchivalric for chivalry, sent our regiment to Harper's Ferry. We were the first Union regi- ment, after the rebellion broke out, to enter there. The day after our arrival at Charlestown, to wit, on the morning of the eighteenth of July, 1861, I was ordered to occupy Harper's Ferry with the Second Massachusetts Regiment. and assume command of the town. We approached with all the pomp and circumstance we could muster. The scene was striking. In our front, where the Shenandoah joins the Potomac. lofty hills, rising abruptly. stood like battlements around this singularly picturesque locality.
The mountains were still rich with their gorgeous color- ing ; but by the river side, where busy industry had plied its peaceful craft, waste and desolation met our gaze. Where the handsome railroad bridge spanned the Potomac, we now saw blackened piers. Government workshops, torn down or roofless, their walls cracked by fire, marked the desolating spirit that had moved abroad. But few of the public build- ings remained ; among them was the small brick engine- house at the Virginia end of the railroad bridge, noteworthy as the spot on which old John Brown, of famed memory, whose soul has so long been marching on, made his last stand in his attempt to invade Virginia. We had followed John Brown's invasion and were now gazing upon his guard- house : looking across the Potomac, up the Maryland heights, upon the little low farm-house where the German Unseld lived; to whom John Brown said, "I am a geologist, and am looking here for precious minerals and ores ; " then turning
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to the school-house by the Maryland shore, we saw where John Brown hid the rifles presented by Massachusetts donors.
At Charlestown, where this old man was executed, and at Harper's Ferry, the site of his quixotic efforts, I was pro- foundly impressed that this Massachusetts regiment had followed so quickly in his track. As we entered the town, the citizens gathered in our pathway and shouted, Welcome ! Wreaths of flowers were thrown to the troops, and garlands encircled the neck of the horse that bore the commanding officer. We entered as conquerors receiving an ovation. Our band played its most patriotic airs, while the streets rang with shouts of the multitude. So did the Virginians of Harper's Ferry receive the first northern regiment that entered during the war.
At the most prominent point of our route, a young lady presented the regiment with a national color, accompanying it with an address. The music of the " Star-spangled banner " filled and swelled in every heart as our color-bearer accepted the offering.
Then came the news that Joe Johnston had reached Manassas, that there was disaster at Bull Run, and our troops, as they were called, were fugitives in Washington.
And here, at the end of our first campaign. I will close this paper. Why our people so little appreciated the needs and requirements that make efficient soldiers, and why our countrymen rushed tumultuously to the defence of our national capital, and across the Potomac into Virginia, with- out uniforms, and without discipline, ignorant of the virtue of obedience, discouraging and decrying it in others. Hirte
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intimated as the result of ignoring the method of creation and growth adopted by our regiment. It will remain for others to take up the story, and show how magnificent and well-appointed armies of thoughtful men were formed out of chaotic masses, that no longer clamored to be led onward to Richmond, but, like well-disciplined troops, with conti- dence in their leaders, awaited the hour of action.
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