USA > Massachusetts > Thirteenth Massachusetts Regiment [circular no. 13] > Part 4
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It was often amusing to see how men rated their occupations. One man on being asked replied that he was an artist.
" Where is your studio ? "
" On Hanover street."
" What is your line of work - paint, clay, or stone ?"
" I am a tonsorial artist."
" We call it barber," said the clerk.
The unpopularity of the draft was such as to excite the cities and towns of the State to offer bounties for recruits willing to serve to their credit. The bounties varied somewhat according to the liberality of the people, but as a rule the question of supply and demand had much to do with the question. The price averaged, however, about $400 for each enlisted man. In addition the State offered $400, as did also the United States. The State and the cities paid cash upon muster-in, but the general government paid in instalments, so that a man was not likely to get the final instalment until his three years had nearly expired. The total bounty, therefore, was $1,200 and the business of recruiting was accelerated accord- ingly. Recruiting agents multiplied and swindling likewise, while com- mittees of selectmen came to the large cities, the centres of the re- cruiting business, and secured the services of some agent to fill the town's quota, stipulating in many cases for a personal fee of $25 (often more and seldom less) for having placed the order in the agent's hands. The town bounty was an unknown quantity to a majority of the recruits, who had no knowledge of the town to which their enlistment was credited. Also it was in the interest of the recruiting agent to withhold all information of this fact from recruits. The division of the town's bounty was, in the recruiting office of the third district, $25 to the selectmen, $50 to the agent, and $325 to the deputy provost marshal, who carried on this swindle for about eight months before the government dismissed him. The man who worked this problem, being an employee of the government, was supposed to be honest and to have superior opportunities for filling a town's quota, and inasmuch as the selectman could not wait to see it filled he entrusted the duty to the person mentioned, who, having made a similar contract with thirty or forty other towns, was enabled to
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corner the market. Hence the disparity between his share and that of the recruiting agent. The selectman, having received his fee, was at the mercy of the deputy provost marshal, who promptly told him to " shut up " when he grumbled about the delay in procuring the men. The town's people, during this time, being anxious about the expected draft, made it uncomfortable for the committee, who by their own action were powerless in the matter. The quotas did get filled and the draft avoided. This kind of work did not prevail in all the towns nor in all the provost marshal's offices. Nor were all the men of the particular office referred to dishonest. The dis- honesty was confined to a very few persons and their profits were therefore large. The same system was pursued by recruiting agents, whose success was in proportion to the number of towns they were able to secure, but all paid liberal tribute to the person employed at headquarters.
Shiploads of foreigners, particularly Swedes, were brought over at an expense of $13 each and sold to towns for the bounty offered. These men were landed on Long Island, and before being accepted for muster-in, underwent a physical examination by a surgeon ap- pointed for the purpose. He was a thoroughly honest and conscien- tious man and in the performance of his duty was obliged to reject those who were unable to meet the physical requirements. Notwith- standing the large profits made on those who were accepted, every possible effort that the ingenuity of man could devise was practised on the surgeon to confuse his mind and make him sign papers ac- cepting the men he had rejected.
This hastily written sketch will give some idea of the atmosphere that surrounded the recruiting service during the last eighteen months of the war.
C. E. DAVIS, JR.
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[Circular No. 15.]
THIRTEENTH MASSACHUSETTS REGIMENT.
+
.
THIRTEENTH MASSACHUSETTS REGIMENT.
BOSTON, Dec. 1, 1902. To the Members of the Thirteenth Regimental Association :
Our annual meeting and dinner will take place at Young's Hotel in this city, Tuesday, the sixteenth of December, at 6 o'clock P.M. Tickets for the dinner $1.50 each.
Enclosed is a postal card, addressed to the secretary, upon which you are expected to state whether or not you will be present. It will save a good deal of embarrassment to the secretary if comrades will avail themselves of this facility of sending the information desired.
The last meeting of the Association was held at Young's Hotel, December 13, with the President Geo. E. Mecuen.
The following comrades were elected as the Executive Committee for the ensuing year :
ENOCH C. PIERCE, President.
S. A. BRIGHAM, Vice-President.
CHAS. E. DAVIS, JR., Secretary. ANSIL K. TISDALE. F. A. JONES.
Following is a list of those who were present :
Thomas L. Appleton, N. F. Berry,
Marcus M. Bancroft,
Samuel Berry, Jr.,
Clarence H. Bell, John Best,
Edwin A. Bell, Alfred H. Blake,
James H. Belser,
Jeremiah P. Blake,
James L. Belser,
E. Bradshaw, 39th Mass.,
George H. Berry,
S. A. Brigham,
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.
C. H. Brown,
Wm. B. Kimball,
C. F. Bryant, Walter C. Bryant,
Anton Krazinski,
S. A. Langley, A. C. H. Laws, O. C. Livermore,
J. H. Carter, W. Cook,
Wm. M. Coombs,
C. T. Love,
W. L. Crowe,
S. W. Lufkin,
W. Wallace Davis,
Geo. HI. Maynard,
Ambrose Dawes,
Geo. E. Mecuen, John H. Moore,
John F. Elms,
C. F. Morse,
Henry Epple,
John A. Nye,
Louis Epple,
George E. Orrok,
Chas. M. Fay,
Moses P. Palmer,
Frederick H. Fay,
Elmer Parker,
John S. Fay,
Geo. E. Parker,
W. A. Field,
L. P. Parker,
Eugene Foster,
P. L. Parker,
Edwin R. Frost,
Wm. H. H. Parker, '
Jas. B. Fuller,
Elliot C. Pierce,
G. E. Gardner,
J. Frank Pope,
James M. Gleason,
Jas. F. Ramsay,
S. K. Goldsmith,
W. H. H. Rideout,
H. C. Graves, D.D.,
F. B. Ripley,
Samuel H. Griffin,
H. T. Rockwell,
Geo. P. Hall,
P. J. Rooney,
Joseph Halstrick,
Wm. Ross,
Clifton M. Haynes,
John H. Shaw,
Samuel M. Haynes,
Carlton L. Shaw,
Robt. B. Henderson,
W. E. Shedd,
Samuel A. Hildreth,
James A. Shedd,
Wm. M. Hilton,
H. S. Shepard,
S. P. Holbrook,
Joseph P. Silsby, Jr.,
Henry A. Holyoke,
Geo. E. Stackpole, M.D.,
Cranston Howe,
Austin C. Stearns,
J. A. Howe,
Warren B. Stetson,
Geo. S. Hutchings,
Wm. P. Jackson,
Edwin R. Jenness,
A. V. Johnston,
F. A. Jones,
Henry Keliogg, Jr., Miah G. Kenny,
. Fred W. Stuart, Jeremiah Stuart, Robert H. Swan, Walter E. Swan, Geo. W. Swift, Ansil K. Tisdale, E. F. Trask,
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Freeman H. Duren,
Thos. F. Trow,
Wm. H. Trow,
D. G. Walker,
M. H. Walker,
M. R. Walsh,
Wm. R. Warner,
F. C. Warner, Stephen Warren, Edward E. Wells, Ephraim A. Wood, James A. Young.
Letters from the following comrades were read by the secretary : James H. Lowell, Holton, Kan .; John G. Hovey, Radnor, Pa .; Chas. H. Roundy, Abington, Mass .; Morton Tower, Empire City, Ore. ; Samuel D. Webster, St. Louis, Mo .; Chas. W. Manning, Philadelphia ; A. D. Whitman, East Auburn, Me. ; John H. White, New Haven, Conn .; William H. Jackson; Victor Cushwa of Williamsport, Md .; David Sears, Chicago; John B. Noyes, New York City ; Geo. H. Smith, Philadelphia; E. W. Schuttee, New York City.
The following is a statement of the receipts and expenditures attending the memorial tablet to the memory of Colonel Hovey :
Received by subscription Expended :
$125 00
Ames Foundry .
$100 00
Express and other charges
3 35
103 35
$21 65
The balance was turned in to the general fund of the Association.
The action taken by the Association and the trustees of the Pub- lic Library in Westboro, Mass., with respect to the Hovey memorial, is explained in the following correspondence :
BOSTON, Dec. 23, 1901. MR. M. H. WALKER, WESTBOROUGH, MASS. :
At a meeting of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Regiment Association, Dec. 13, 1901, in considering the matter of depositing in an appropriate place the bronze tablet constructed through the voluntary subscriptions of its members to honor the name and services of Lieut .- Col. Charles H.
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Hovey, it was the unanimous expression of those present that inasmuch as Colonel Hovey was for a long time commander of the company raised by the town of Westborough, in May, 1861, and which company distin- guished itself by three years of honorable service in the Thirteenth Regi- ment, much of the time under his command, there seemed to be a pecu- liar fitness in placing the tablet in said town where it would certainly be cherished as an evidence of the admiration and respect which the regiment bore toward him, and particularly the love felt for him by the members of the Westborough company.
Therefore, it was unanimously voted to present to the town of West- borough the bronze tablet in memory of Colonel Hovey, to be placed in the Public Library or in some other equally suitable and permanent pub- lic building in said town of Westborough, as the trustees of the library may, in their judgment, deem best.
Attest :
C. E. DAVIS, JR.,
Secretary Thirteenth Massachusetts Association.
" At a meeting of the Trustees of Westborough Library Mr. Walker stated that Colonel Hovey entered the service as first lieutenant of Company D, but was promoted to captain of Company K on Nov. 6, 1861. The company's first captain was W. P. Blackmer, who resigned after three months' service. Captain Hovey remained in command of Company K until April 16, 1864, when he was pro- moted to lieutenant-colonel of the regiment. Company K was raised and equipped for service in Westborough, and therefore there seems to be a peculiar fitness in erecting the tablet in this town, where it will be cherished as an evidence of the admiration and respect which the Thirteenth Regiment as a whole, and Company K in particular, entertained for Colonel Hovey. On Mr. Walker's motion it was
" Voted, That the trustees of the Westboro Library receive the Hovey memorial tablet, and become its custodians pending its formal acceptance by the town as a gift from the Thirteenth Massa- chusetts Regiment Association. It was voted further that the trustees ask the town for authority to erect the said tablet in the Library building when constructed, there to remain a lasting memo- rial to the name and patriotic services of Lieutenant-Colonel Hovey."
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The receipts and expenditures of the Association for the year to Dec. 1, 1902, are as follows :
Receipts :
Balance Dec. 1, 1901
$56 40
By annual dues
49 50
Balance from Hovey fund
21 65
Total
$127 55
Expenditures :
Printing circulars
$51 21
Postage .
6 00
Envelopes
2 50
59 71
On hand Dec. 1, 1902
$67 84
The annual assessment is fifty cents.
The secretary has been notified of the death of the following com- rades :
Alfred M. Burton, Co. D, Pittsburg, Pa. . Dec., 1901
William M. Weeks, Co. I, Woonsocket, R.I. 1901
Amos P. Sargent, Co. K, Brighton, Mass. 1901
William H. Cary, Co. D, Wayne, Me.
Sept. 14, 1901
Dec. 3, 1901
Thomas C. Richardson, Band, Worcester, Mass. Orater Gould, Co. G, Grand Rapids, Mich. . Levi Taylor, Co. I, Bolton, Mass. .
Date unknown
Dec. 8, 1901
Chas. H. Horne, Co. G, Stoneham, Mass. Jan. 13, 1902 Thomas McCutchins, Co. H, Natick, Mass. Feb. 21, 1902
John S. Stodder, Co. A, Washington, D.C.
May 8, 1902
John F. Rose, Co. I, Hudson, Mass.
May 22, 1902
Robert Crosby, Co. K, San Francisco, Cal.
June 4, 1902
John L. Richardson, Co. C, Boston June 23, 1902
John Fitzsimmons, Co. H July 4, 1902
George F. Smith, Co. I, Togus, Me. July 16, 1902
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Feb. 27, 1902 William P. Blackmer, Co. K, East Brookfield, Mass. . April 6, 1902 William Barnes, Co. I, Marlboro, Mass. April 16, 1902 Donald Ross, Co. F, Hudson, Mass. April 20, 1902 Edward E. Wells, Co. D, Boston
Charles H. Drury, Co. H, So. Framingham, Mass .. July 28, 1902 John M. Holt, Band, Warren, Me. Sept. 13, 1902 George M. Cuthbert, Co. I, Marlboro, Mass. Oct. 20, 1902
George E. Mecuen, Co. B, Boston, Mass. Oct. 21, 1902
Horace T. Rockwell, who died in Boston Oct. 30, 1902, was not, strictly speaking, a member of the regiment, though he was a lieu- tenant in Company B while at Fort Independence, Boston Harbor, but owing to the reduction of officers to each company, when the regiment was mustered into service, he was, with others, dropped. His efforts in Boston in behalf of the regiment, during its service, were indefatigable, and he deserves to be remembered for the many kind things he did for it.
Mr. James H. Carter died during 1902. He was present as a guest at our last dinner, and during his illness spoke repeatedly of the enjoyment of that evening. It will be remembered that he re- cited the poem " High Tide at Gettysburg" with great eloquence and feeling.
The following very interesting story of the battle of Gettysburg by our comrade, George E. Jepson, will be read with pleasure and profit. It deserves a much wider circulation than our circular can give.
C. E. DAVIS, JR., Secretary.
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GETTYSBURG.
In an especial sense the National capital will always be a centre of interest to the veteran of the Civil War, on whichever side he may have fought. Washington and Richmond, in the popular view the respective centres of the opposing political theories whose clash pre- cipitated the appeal to arms, the Alpha and Omega, as it were, of the Rebellion, are but a few hours' ride apart. And many of the " old vets " who got within sight of the steeples of the latter in war time and through its vicissitudes got no nearer -of which the present writer was one - will find in their latter-day pilgrimages thither no insuperable obstacles interposed between their deferred longing to visit, inspect, and in a sense recapture the erstwhile rebel stronghold.
Virginia was debatable ground during the entire struggle, from Big Bethel to Appomattox, and from the Potomac to the James and be- yond, its sacred soil being everywhere deeply furrowed by the plough- share of war. Throughout the broad area, of which the rival capitals may be said to form the antipodal points, are located many of the most famous battlefields of the war - Bull Run, Harper's Ferry, South Mountain, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, the Wilderness, Appomattox - not to mention countless minor conflicts - these are familiar names which, whether significant of defeat or triumph, are alive with sacred and heart-stirring memories.
Places of such varied and abiding interest, all easily accessible from Washington, naturally attract many visitors. But above them all, Gettysburg, where the tide of rebellion reached its highest flood and was beaten back in defeat and dismay, is the magnet of greatest attraction.
The little Pennsylvania hamlet that few ever heard of before 1863, and which the wildest imagination had never included within the probable scope of the strife, nestling in the fancied security of its charming isolation in the Cumberland valley, has become the Mecca not only of the Union defenders and their posterity, as well as of their one-time foes, but of countless pilgrims from home and abroad who turn their footsteps thither as to a nation's shrine of glory and sacrifice.
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Gettysburg is and will remain a classic among battlefields, stand- ing out on the historic page as Mt. Washington dominates the New England landscape. There American valor, proved against many a foreign foe, clashed against itself in a Titanic contest for supremacy.
With due consideration of the distinction accorded to old world battles, and without disparagement to the great conflicts waged in the West where the Union armies, unlike the Army of the Potomac, were not unaccustomed to have victory perch on their banners, it may be said that in the vital issues at stake, the desperate and per- sistent valor displayed by the combatants, the immense sacrifice of life, and because of the decisive character of its results on the destiny of the republic, the battle of Gettysburg is of preeminent interest and importance.
Waterloo, its only parallel, merely overthrew a dynasty while con- firming the monarchical principle. Gettysburg gave to the nation a new birth and enforced a new creed, that "government of the people, by the people, for the people " should "not perish from the earth."
The study of this great battle is a fascinating one, and eminently instructive as well. But its literature has attained to mammoth pro- portions, and this profusion is forbidding and confusing to most readers. For the present purpose it will suffice to touch briefly upon the causes that brought the opposing armies in contact at this point, together with the circumstances relating to their respective numbers, the lay of the land, and to summarize the main features of the oper- ations ; and this, it is believed - especially if supplemented by a visit to the place itself, and every American who can do so should see this monumental battlefield at least once before he dies - will enable one to mentally fix a distinct and permanent impression of the greatest military conflict of modern times.
It is related that a distinguished British officer, visiting Gettysburg about the time of the Mexican war, on beholding the scene ex- claimed : " What a place for a great battle !" But one need not be an inspired seer, nor even a trained military genius, to perceive the remarkable adaptation of the spot to the strategic and tactical manœuvres of great armies. The fact is obvious to any intelligent
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observer. Yet, notwithstanding this, the choice of Gettysburg was largely accidental.
Standing upon one of the many elevations that abound in the region, one will perceive a narrow valley with a general direction bearing north and south, running between two nearly parallel ridges of varying height and at an average distance apart of about three- quarters of a mile. The eastern rampart is known as Cemetery ridge ; the western is Seminary ridge. Cemetery ridge is consider- ably shorter than the other, and is shaped something like a fishhook, Culp's hill at the north end forming the barb, while the southern ex- tension is terminated by two eminences, Little Round Top and Big Round Top. Seminary ridge has no similar distinguishing marks.
This amphitheatre practically comprises the field of Gettysburg, excepting that on the first and a part of the second day its limits were extended somewhat to the west and also to the north of the town. At the northerly end of the valley, on a slightly rising ground, is seated the town.
From the latter radiate several roads and highways, the important ones consisting of the roads to Harrisburg and Mummasburg, respec- tively, going north, Chambersburg and Hagerstown going west, the Baltimore pike, which crosses Cemetery ridge to the southeast, and the Taneytown and Emmittsburg roads running south.
Such is the field ; let us now see why the two armies were con- centrated at this point.
In the month of June Grant's victorious army was surrounding Vicksburg, the city's fall being a foregone conclusion unless a diver- sion could be effected by the Confederate government to stay Grant's hand by causing the withdrawal of a portion of his troops. An in- vasion of the North, it was believed, would accomplish this result, and there existed other reasons why such a project would assist the Southern cause. The army of northern Virginia was in fine fettle. Its succession of victories, especially the recent one in May at Chan- cellorsville, had inspired the men with confidence in their invinci- bility. If Lee could outwit and outmarch Hooker, and ultimately again defeat him, the rich cities of the North would fall into the
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former's hands. He might even dictate terms of peace on the steps of the Capitol. This was, in fact, no mere idle dream.
The movement was accordingly ordered and Lee started on his march with a splendid army of nearly So,000 men, concealing the withdrawal of his troops by various subterfuges for a time. Hooker, watchful and wary, soon discovered that his adversary had stolen away, and put the army of the Potomac - about 90,000 strong - on his track, skilfully interposing it between his foe and the national capital.
The Confederate general had sent his advance under Ewell into Pennsylvania, Early's division, on the 28th of June, having reached York, when Lee learned that Meade, who had succeeded Hooker in the chief command, had crossed the Potomac, and was close on his heels. Alarmed for his communications, Lee ordered the immediate concentration of his army on Gettysburg.
The situation of the Union army on the night of June 30 was this : The First Corps ( Reynolds) was at Marsh creek, six miles south of Gettysburg ; the Third (Sickles) at Bridgport, twelve miles south ; the Eleventh (Howard) at Emmittsburg, ten miles south. These corps formed Meade's left wing, and were under the superior com- mand of Gen. John Fulton Reynolds. The remainder of the army of the Potomac was camped at distances varying from twenty to forty miles away.
The present writer was one among the 150,000 or more human atoms composing the two mighty forces that, during those fateful July days in 1863, hurled themselves upon one another to dispute the right of way at Gettysburg. A member of an organization that formed a part of the advance column of the First Corps that struck and checked Lee's foremost legions as they debouched upon the plain west and north of the town from the Chambersburg pike, his reminiscences of Gettysburg, perhaps, may prove of interest, espe- cially as he recently revisited the battlefield and refreshed them by retracing his footsteps of nearly forty years ago, walking over the en- tire field, starting from a point near the Coderi house on the Emmittsburg road, where Cutler's brigade, deploying along Sem- inary ridge, almost immediately delivered the first infantry fire that opened the general engagement.
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The First Corps broke camp about 6 A.M. on July 1, 1863, and proceeded along the Emmittsburg road toward Gettysburg, six miles away.
The conspicuous features of the landscape previously alluded to were all presented to our gaze as we reached a point on the Em- mittsburg road, - a slight rise, - and a mile or so ahead the little town came in sight. But the parallel ridges between which the road ran, the two Round Tops, the peach orchard, which was then com- ing into view on the right, the cluster of great rugged rocks, seem- ingly hurled down by some cyclopean hand, and which we were to hear of afterward as the Devil's Den - none of these renowned ob- jects had any other significance to us than as picturesque variations in an otherwise striking prospect.
My recollection perfectly revives the beauty of the morning, the rural charm of the little valley, smiling under the radiance of a cloudless sky. A slight early morning shower had washed the entire landscape, but the road surface, soon to be baked by the hot sun and beaten into powder by the tread of thousands of human feet and horses' hoofs, was as yet free from dust.
Little concerning the situation of affairs was known to the rank and file. Vague rumors, indeed, were rife of the rebel invasion, of Lee's demands on the terror-stricken towns and the indiscriminate looting of his soldiers. We did not indeed then know of Early's ex- actions at Chambersburg and York, nor that Lee only the previous day had sent extravagant requisitions for goods and money on the citizens of Gettysburg, nor that the unexpected arrival of Buford's cavalry had prevented this extortion. We certainly had no informa- tion upon which to base a supposition of the propinquity of the en- tire rebel army or that we were almost immediately to be precipi- tated upon its advance columns and open the greatest conflict of the age.
It is true as we proceeded there were heard a few muffled shots away to the north of and beyond the town. It was known, however, that the cavalry had preceded us, and these indications of skirmishing, as we supposed them to be, were too common to our ears to cause any anticipation of an impending battle.
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Suddenly the corps was halted, and while the sounds of more rapid carbine firing and the dull boom of a distant cannon-shot came to our ears, two horsemen were discerned riding furiously toward us from the direction of the town. In brief time they had reached the knot of staff and general officers, who were grouped in animated discussion about General Reynolds. At that moment our corps, about 8,000 strong, comprised the only troops on the ground within close call.
The hurried conference was soon ended and General Reynolds, accompanied by a staff officer and his orderly, was seen to detach himself from the group and gallop swiftly toward the town. It was the last time we ever saw him in life. This gallant and much-loved commander, who had passed unscathed through many a combat, a hero of two wars, was to meet a soldier's death within the hour. But not, however, until his military eye and trained intelligence had grasped all the essential facts of the situation and made such disposi- tions and dispatched such information and recommendations to General Meade, then at Taneytown, as unquestionably had important weight in determining the issue of the battle.
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