USA > Massachusetts > The story of the Thirty-second regiment, Massachusetts infantry. Whence it came; where it went; what it saw, and what it did > Part 2
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Later on we had the pleasure, for a time, to see with us General Tilghman, a merry, happy-go- lucky officer, and General Buckner, an excellent specimen of the ramrod soldier.
The two last named were, for a time, by special order from Washington, kept in solitary confinement, -that is to say, each was assigned to a separate apartment in the basement of the commandant's quarters. Their rooms and their doors were exactly opposite each other, and a sentinel was posted in the passage to prevent escape or communication between them. Occasionally, when the weather was warm, they were allowed to leave their doors open, and on one such occasion the officer on his rounds at night found the sentinel slumbering on the floor, and the solitary prisoners having a good time together in one of the apartments. That soldier was not allowed to sleep a great deal for the next'day or two.
Colonel Dimmock declined an earnest invitation to pass Christmas eve and day in Boston, because,
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as he said, he knew that among southern people it was held to be a Christian duty to be royally drunk at yule tide, and his presence might be important. It was our impression that no violence was done to southern principles on that occasion.
The first day of January, 1862, came, bringing with it a brisk gale of wind from the eastward, thick lead-colored clouds, and occasional dashes of rain. It brought also a great excitement to our humdrum community. A steam tug came to the wharf early in the morning, and its sole passenger, a civilian, was escorted to the quarters of the Commandant ; then the Colonel went in person to the quarters of our Major, and there was a conference; then the drum-call sounded for parade earlier than usual, and by so many extraordinary occurrences our popula- tion was "convulsed with excitement." Very soon everybody knew that an order had been received for the release of Mason and Slidell. There was a great stir among the first circles of the prisoners. and we afterward learned that they and the envoys imagined that honors and salutes would be paid upon their departure. But in this expectation they were destined to disappointment. The precautions of Colonel Dimmock entirely prevented any semblance of honors, and even suppressed the exhibition of such curious interest as would naturally have attend- ed the incident.
Two sections of men, specially detailed, were so posted as to prevent any person ascending to the ramparts. The battalion was kept under arms and
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exercise upon the parade, and the prisoners were notified that unless they would give their parole not- to make any noisy demonstrations, they would be confined to their casemates. And so it happened, that, except a noiseless waving of hands and hand- kerchiefs from their fellow-prisoners, the envoys re- ceived no attention from any one. As they passed out from the fort, escorted only by the Commandant, the officer of the day, and the agent of the State Department, the battalion stood in line of battle, with their backs to the envoys, with ordered arms and at parade rest. As they passed the guard house. the guard also stood at parade rest, Colonel Dimmock having waived the salute due to his rank, for fear that it might be claimed as an honor to his departing guests.
The prolonged gale had caused the tide to flood the wharf. so that it was not easy or pleasant to pass over it to the tug boat. When underweigh not one person, except the sentinels on the outposts, could be seen on the island, and the driving rain and wind soon forced the passengers to seek the shelter of the cabin, which they found profusely decorated with the American flag. It is said that Mason spat and Slidell swore the whole of the rough voyage to Provincetown, in which secluded harbor a British man-of-war received them from the tug, without any demonstration, and at once put to sea.
Among the prisoners at the fort was one Keene (?), who was kept in close confinement in a small. triangular room in the casemates, the only light to
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which came through a loophole in the masonry. He was a sailor, and it was said that he had attempted to blow up the frigate Congress with all on board, with which horrible design he had enlisted in our navy. He was offered greater liberty if he would promise not to attempt an escape, but the offer was declined. Afterward he refused to take an oath of allegiance as the only condition for his release, and he was probably let loose at last without condition.
We had a great desire to ascertain what time would be required for the formation of the battalion in case of night alarm, but Colonel Dimmock would not permit the beating of the long-roll for a mere experiment, because false alarms were forbidden by the regulations. Happily that invaluable code placed no restriction on the hours for parade, and when, by the absence of the Colonel, our Major was left in command of the post, the information was obtained.
Tattoo had been sounded, roll-call was over, lights in the barracks were all out, and the men in bed and generally asleep. An extra guard was quietly posted in front of the prisoners' quarters, and a verbal message summoned the officers to head- quarters.
When all were assembled they were told that it was desirable to know how soon, under such circum- stances, the battalion could be assembled. properly equipped and ready for duty.
The order was given at eight minutes past ten, - the officers were obliged to equip themselves and to
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turn out, form and march their men on to the parade ; but in less than five minutes the line was formed, with three-fourths of the whole force present. The inspection showed few deficiencies (one man, to be sure, forgot his trousers), and the experiment was quite satisfactory.
We were not without occupation, nor even without our amusements through the long winter. The officers were fully occupied, in the intervals of duty, in boneing over the tactics. To learn and teach both the infantry and artillery manual, as well as battalion movements, and at the same time to per- form the various duties of the post, implied no great amount of leisure, -on the part of the officers at least. But time was found for an occasional even- ing entertainment, including one or two excellent concerts.
One evening there was a musical soiree in the quarters of Mr. Buell, one of the post staff, and two or three of the prisoners were present by his invita- tion ; among them was Colonel Pegram, of Virginia, who, being invited to sing, complied, and to the surprise of everybody selected the disloyal song, "My Maryland," which he sang well to his own guitar accompaniment. When he stopped, there ensued for a minute or two an absolute and ominous silence, which was broken by our Captain Draper, who, with his 'ringing voice, began the patriotic song, "Vive l'America." The chorus was taken up by all the Union officers present, singing perhaps with more fervor than accuracy :-
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"United we stand, divided we fall, Union forever - freedom to all, Throughout the wide land our motto shall be Vive l'America, land of the free."
At the close of the song Colonel Pegram compli- mented the singing, and frankly apologized for his discourtesy.
At times the interior of the fort seemed better adapted for use as a skating rink than as a parade- ground.' In the worst of such times the dress- parades were omitted, and guard-mounting took place in the casemates; but the marching of the reliefs over glare ice, in a high wind, did not convey the idea of an exact military movement.
One of the men, engaged on a job of repairs, loaded up a light hand-cart with five or six boards, and essayed to push the load before him from the north-west bastion to the opposite side of the fort, while the ice was as smooth as a mirror, and a north- west gale blowing furiously. It was a slow process at the start, but when the team emerged from under the lee of the walls, the gale seized the whole con- cern, boards, cart, and man, and sent them in detached parties, whirling over the ice field.
Our winter was a new experience to the North Carolina men, and no doubt they have yet great stories to tell of the snow and ice and cold, of a sea- coast everywhere bounded by rocks, and of a country where the woods were not all pines. And no doubt their hearers try to look as though they believed it all, but mutter, possibly, some truisms about soldiers' stories.
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One day in February, 1862, just after the mail- boat had left the fort not to return until the next day, we saw all about us on the main. land indications that some joyful incident had occurred. All day long flags were profusely displayed and salutes were fired up and down the coast, and at night the horizon sparkled with fireworks and bonfires. For twenty-four hours we were left to guess at the cause of this rejoicing, but at last we too heard of the cap- ture of Fort Donelson and had our celebration.
We always gave Colonel Dimmock credit for an act of kind thoughtfulness on this occasion. When the news came he remembered that he had an en- gagement "on shore," and announced that he should be absent for a day. "Of course," he said, "you will fire a salute, and I don't like the sound of great guns." The fact was, no doubt, that he feared that his presence might be a restraint upon our joviality, and for that reason he took himself away. There had been no talk of anything except the salute, but as he left the fort he turned to the Major and said, in his absent-minded way, " By the by, Major, when the men are allowed a little unusual liberty, unusual discretion is needed on the part of the commanding officer, you know."
From the time required to prepare for that salute, it was evident that the Alabama might have steamed up the channel and into Boston harbor before we could have brought any guns to bear upon her, but at noon the guns were manned and the salute was fired. While the preparations were in progress, the band-
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master of the Ist Artillery presented himself at head- quarters to ask a favor. The last gun he had fired was the last from Fort Sumter, and he now re- quested permission to fire the first gun of the salute for the victory. Of course he was allowed to do so, and he was cheered as he went to his station.
The Colonel was very chary of that band and we had never had any benefit from it ; but the Post being pro tempore under the command of our Major, they · were turned out and made useful. All drills were suspended for the day. The men, in small parties, were allowed to stroll outside the walls. Some luxuries were added to the ration. The band played and the men danced to its music and skylarked generally. At night there was an illumination, masquerading, and singing, and for once tattoo did not sound at the time set down in the orders.
A week later a detachment of prisoners from Fort Donelson was added to our establishment, mostly long, gaunt men, given to wearing sombrero hats, and chewing tobacco. With this party came Gen- erals Buckner and Tilghman.
In February too, the last of the private soldiers, held at the fort as prisoners of war, were sent south to be exchanged. When the transport was ready for the embarkation, four negroes, servants to officers who were about to return home, asked to be allowed to accompany their masters. Colonel Dimmock, becoming satisfied that they preferred to go back to North Carolina, consented to allow them to do so, but took the not unnecessary pre-
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caution to have other evidence of the fact that they returned to slavery on their own motion, send- ing them with his orderly to the Major with the request that he would examine the "boys" and satisfy himself as to whether they went of their own accord-which they certainly did.
As good-weather days became more frequent, our battalion, now of six companies, settled down more regularly to its work. At the request of our com- manding officer the full code of discipline, with no abatement because we were volunteers, was the rule by which we were governed, and no one was more surprised at the result than Colonel Dimmock.
With the end of April, 1862. we had fairly drilled through the book, and on the first day of May the battalion was reviewed by Governor Andrew, and exercised in battalion movements in presence of the Governor and a staff which had become critical in military movements. At the close of the parade, Colonel Dimmock, who was not wont to abound in compliments, publicly congratulated the Major as the commander of a body of thoroughly-disciplined soldiers.
The Union armies were now everywhere victo- rious, and at the North we expected every day to hear that the rebels had come to that "last ditch." Wearying of the monotony, and in expectation of an early peace, the Major resigned, and on the 2d of May was relieved from duty and returned to his business life. To him the parting was unexpectedly trying. but people cannot be shut up together for five months without loving or hating each other.
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For. weeks the duty went on, the command devolving upon Captain Stephenson, and the warm spring weather and longer days were improved to the utmost in keeping away the possibility of rust.
The official acceptance of the Major's resignation had been received at the Post, but had not been pro- mulgated, when on the night following Sunday, May 25th, at an hour or more past midnight, a steam tug landed him at the Post, and a half hour later everybody was awake, and the fort was alive with the news that since the last sundown the Ist Battalion had become the 32d Massachusetts Infantry-that Major Parker was promoted to the Lieutenant Colo- nelcy-that marching orders had been received- that Banks had been driven down the Shenandoah Valley-that Washington was menaced by the forces under Stonewall Jackson-that the country had again been summoned to the defence of the capital-that at last our time had come.
Whoever may read these sketches will pardon so much digression as will be required to describe one of the critical scenes of those exciting days. Sun- day evening, after ten o'clock, this writer was sitting in his library, having just finished the last cigar before bed-time, when there came a ring at the door- bell-one of those rings that tell a story of haste and excitement.
At the door was a messenger, who informed the Major that the Governor desired to see him with- out delay, and that a carriage waited his conven- ience.
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There was a word to say to the wife above stairs -there were boots and overcoat to be donned, but in two or three minutes the carriage was whirling through the empty streets, and soon pulled up at the rear entrance to the Capitol.
In the office of the Adjutant-General was Governor Andrew, busily writing at his desk and alone. His Excellency had remembered a parting request upon the occasion of the review, that the Ist Battalion should not be allowed to go to the front under a stranger's command. The Major was shown the dis- patches of the night, and in them read a story of frantic terror at Washington and earnest pleading for speedy succor. By them the Governor was, within the limits of Massachusetts, invested with all of the President's power to command the United States forces, to raise troops, to transfer garrisons, to provide supplies and transportation, and through them all ran the tones of extremest panic and most earnest entreaty for help-speedy help.
The Governor stated his intention under this authority to order away the six hundred men of the Ist Battalion and offered to reappoint the commander. The offer was of course accepted and an hour quickly passed in drawing orders and requisitions, and completing arrangements for the earliest possi- ble departure of the command. The company of heavy artillery at Fort Independence was ordered to remove to Fort Warren, and the independent companies of Cadets were ordered there for garrison duty. There were orders, too, for levy en masse of
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the state militia for active service, and provision made for their equipment, subsistence, and rapid transportation.
Officers of the Governor's and of the army staff came and went. Red tape broke at every order, and during this hour, as also for one nearer morning, while everybody strove to do his utmost to accom- plish results which seemed almost impossible, Governor Andrew was the busiest of the workers, radiant with the joy of one who possesses great powers, and who knows that he is wielding them effectually. All through the night came over the wires appeals for help and for haste, and always the Governor was cheery and full of faith, that, although the end might be farther away than we had hoped, that end would be our success.
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It was a night, too, of hard work at Fort Warren -there were rations to be issued and cooked for the march ; there were equipments to be supplied, knap- sacks to be packed, property to be turned over, unnecessaries to be rid away, and last letters to be written ; but all was done before the relief garrison reported. At noon on Monday the regiment was relieved, and for the last time passed out of the sally-port and was on the march-glad to be out of jail. some said-glad to be moving to the front ; all desiring to see that actual war for which they had passed through long and careful training, and anxious as new troops can be, for a share in the . realities of the campaign.
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And so, embarking on the ferry-boat Daniel Web- ster, we left Fort Warren, our cradle, with cheers for the good old Colonel, and with all the verses of the John Brown chorus ringing from six hundred throats to the accompaniment of our own drum corps.
II. ON OUR OWN HOOK.
S UNDAY, May 25th, 1862, the sun went down on a people rejoicing in the confident expecta- tion of coming victory and an early peace. That sun next rose on a population deeply agitated with news of military disaster, but more warlike and more determined than ever. The appeals of the War Office at Washington, and the summons of our own Governor, met with an enthusiastic response; the militia flocked to the rendezvous in Boston, and the city scenes were almost a repetition of the Lexington Day of the previous year.
Not knowing that the Regiment was expected to appear on the Common, but knowing that our orders were urgent, the 32d marched by the most direct route through the city and to the railway, its wide platoons occupying the full space in the widest streets, bearing no flag, marching to its own field music, everywhere cheered by the excited populace, and drawing attention and applause by its unpreten- , tious but soldierly appearance.
At the Old Colony station,' where a train was waiting, we stacked for the last time our smooth-bore
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muskets, and turned them over to Quartermaster McKim. A long delay, occasioned by the unex- pected celerity of our movements, gave officers and men an opportunity to exchange greetings with and take leave of their friends, of whom the vast crowd seemed chiefly to be composed.
There were meetings and partings between parents and children, husbands and wives, broth- ers and sisters ; there were friends of the men who desired to enlist and to go with them, and others who asked brief furloughs for those they loved, that the suddenness of departure might be a little soft- ened to those at home ; but on the part of the soldiers there were no such applications. There were mes- sages from many a quivering lip, sent to those who had not heard of the marching orders; there was grasping of hands, man with man, which meant more than tongues could say ; and wives were folded by husband's arms so tenderly as may never be but either in days of early love or at the approach of final separation.
And yet there was no cloud of sadness in the scene ; on every side were words of cheer and encouragement-of loving hope and patriotic devo- tion ; and when a light-hearted soldier, whose home was so far away that none of his kin were there to say good-bye, asked if there was nobody there to kiss him. he came near being smothered by a crowd of volunteers ready to officiate, not only for his mother. but for all the rest of his female ancestry.
At last came the regimental stores, for which we had waited, and with the call for "all aboard," the
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last ties were broken, the last cheers were given, and the train drew slowly out from the station and from the city. But not away from tokens of good will. The country, too, was alive. Flags were streaming from every flag-staff, waving from the windows of the houses, and drooping from the spires of churches.
Men, women, and children of all ages were at cottage doors and roadway crossings, and crowded the platforms at every station, to say or wave good- bye and God-speed to the foremost of the transport trains. We were soon at Fall River, on the steamer, and weary with excitement, the men speedily turned in and slept.
For us there was next day no Broadway parade in New York city, but landing at Jersey City there was a haversack breakfast, and after some delay, another train, and we were off for Philadelphia, through a country whose people, in hamlet and in town, cheered the unknown soldiery, who all day long poured through toward the seat of war. At Philadelphia we shared the bounteous hospitality of the citizens, who provided most thoughtfully for all the troops who passed their gates. There was a long march through wide and straight streets, then another railway embarkation, and then a long. tedious, hesitating ride, reaching through the night, and it was early morning when we arrived at Balti- more and woke the drowsy people with the sound of Yankee Doodle as we marched through to the Washington railway. Here we found the 7th New
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York militia waiting in the street for transportation to the Capital. More successful than they, we secured a train, which, after several hours, deliv- ered us safely in Washington, where we were glad to learn that we were the first troops to arrive on the call of the President, and that again Massachusetts was in the advance.
Then followed a prolonged struggle with red tape, which would have told us, even if there had been no other source of information, that the scare was over and Washington safe. Before we could present our requisitions for camp equipage, the office hours had passed, the officials were deaf to all our entreaties, and although we arrived as early as 2 P. M., we were compelled that night to occupy the hard floors of one of the railway buildings.
When we came to look about us we were surprised to find that ours was the only infantry regiment at Washington, and we were poor lone orphans. We wanted tents, supplies, and a wagon train, but our requisitions were denied, because our Brigadier Gen- eral had not endorsed his approval. We attempted to explain that we had no Brigadier, and all Staff- dom stood aghast,-unable to take in the idea that there could be such a thing as a regiment with no brigadier.
Verily, we might have died of starvation but for the kindness of Adjutant General Townsend, who officially made a special order from the headquar- ters of the army, to suit our case, and personally suggested a site near the Washington Navy Yard.
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known as Camp Alexander, as a convenient locality for our camp. The site was inspected, approved, and speedily occupied by us, and here passed four weeks of halcyon days. Our camp was pitched on a high bluff overlooking the eastern branch of the Potomac. The air was that of balmy June. No brigadier worried us-no up-and-away orders dis- turbed us, and thanks to General Townsend's spec- ial order, our supplies were ample and regular.
But it was no idle time. A battalion which had always been restricted to the limits of an island fort, had occasion for much new practice, and the drills went briskly on. Especially was there need for practising in the use of legs, before marching orders should come, and therefore, every other day the drills of the battalion comprised also a march, grow- ing longer day by day, until an eight-mile march was easily accomplished.
Our evening parades became quite an attraction for visitors. Congressmen, senators, and even cabi- net secretaries came to be frequent guests, and the -sunshine of ladies' presence, unknown to our pre- vious experience, gave brilliancy to our lines and encouragement to our men.
Washington was at this time in a state of siege. or according to our American phrase, under martial law. The great army, which a few months earlier had given to the district the appearance of a mili- tary camp, had moved on toward Richmond. One column was wading up the Peninsular, one was watching in the Shenandoah Valley, one was guard-
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ing the Piedmont Gaps, while McDowell, on the banks of the Rappahannock, was waiting the turn of events, and hoping for orders to join the force under McClellan, and so on to Richmond.
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