USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Braintree > Town annual report of Braintree, Massachusetts for the year 1869-1879 > Part 37
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the 27th of June he was taken prisoner near Baton Rouge, but was exchanged in a few weeks. Thereafter he was steadily with his company on scouts and raids, and in numer- ous minor or severe fights. He was in the disastrous Red River expedition under General Banks, which began in the late winter of 1864, where the regiment was often sharply en- gaged and constantly kept in wearisome action, meeting with heavy losses. At the close of this trying campaign in July of 1864, his regiment was converted again into infantry, and sent north to join General Sheridan's command in the Shenan- doah Valley of Virginia. Here he became first sergeant of his company. The story of Sheridan's brilliant operations in the fall of 1864 in that valley, which had so often been a valley of humiliation to the Union armies, has been made familiar through the fame in song which has attached to Sheridan's ride from Winchester to the meeting of his some- what broken army on the 19th of October; how, on Sept. 19, at Opequan Creek, he routed Early's force, with large captures of artillery, battle-flags, and prisoners ; how he followed up his success three days after by another assault at Fisher's Hill, taking sixteen guns and many prisoners ; and how, on the 19th of October, when the flank of the Union army had been surprised in the morning twilight and the forces driven back disorganized for miles, he rode impet- uously on to the field to help turn the tide of disaster into a sweeping victory from which the enemy never rallied in that region, is all well known as one of the most satisfactory series of affairs in the course of the war. Sergeant Ayers was at his post of duty in the battles of Opequan and Fisher's Creek, and when the surprise at Cedar Creek came was prompt in arms only to meet his death. He was struck in the abdomen about eight o'clock in the morning, and though begging to be left on the field, because he declared it useless for his men to try their strength by bearing him off, he was .
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carried to the hospital some miles in the rear, where he died in the course of the afternoon, possibly not before he had heard the glad tidings of victory. His age was about thirty- four. His body was brought to Braintree for burial. The tenderness and respect with which his name is universally mentioned by his comrades, indicate that he was a man worthy to be long remembered as one who lent high honor to the town of his adoption.
JOHN FERDINAND ALBEE, son of John and Susan, was born in Braintree. He enlisted at the age of sixteen as a recruit in Co. K, 3d Cavalry, on the 29th of February, 1864, and saw no active service, his regiment being in the field when he reached New Orleans. While waiting its return he contracted the prevailing disease of the region (chronic diarrhea), which slew more men than shells or bullets, and died at Morganzia, La., on the 22d of June, 1861. His age was about eighteen.
ELISHA STRONG BOWDITCH, son of John and Ruth G., was born in Braintree, Aug. 18, 1842 ; enlisted as a recruit in Co. K, 3d Cavalry, on the 7th of December, 1863, and in the following February was at New Orleans. A young man of delicate nurture and little accustomed to hardship, his first experiences of camp life were exceedingly trying to mind and body, and he was, in consequence, an easy victim to the malarious diseases of Louisiana, so that he saw but little active service. He was for a few months with his regiment in its encampment about New Orleans, doing the duty ac- cording to his ability, and on the 4th of August was admitted to the barracks hospital of that city, where he died of chronic diarrhea on the 19th of September, 1864. His letters home are full of evidence of his high-toned principle and very af- fectionate nature. He was buried in New Orleans.
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WILLIAM SANFORD LEACH, son of Elbridge G. and Pauline, was born in New Portland, Me., Aug. 21, 1839. He was a dentist in South Braintree at the time of his enrolment, Aug. 8, 1862 (enlisted in July), in the company with Sergeant Ayers, K, 3d Cavalry. He followed the course of his regiment in its brief Virginia duty and in its operations about New Orleans through the fall and winter of 1862-3. His diary, kept to within two days of his death, contains an intelligent narrative of the life of a volunteer, with all its in- conveniences and its ready adaptation to strange conditions, besides giving an interesting view of the scouts and skir- mishes of the regiment on its movement towards Port Hud- son in the spring of 1863. At the close of that expedition, from which he had suffered greatly through weakness, he was transferred to the Marine Hospital at New Orleans, where, on the night of Aug. 6, 1863, he died so quietly that his comrade in the next bed knew nothing of it till several hours after daylight. From the contents of his diary it is evident that he was a thoughtful and observing as well as conscientious man. His age at time of death was twenty- four (nearly ) .
EDWARD EVERETT PATTEN, son of Richard S. and Mary J., of South Amesbury, was born March 29, 1836, and was a harness-maker with Warren Mansfield at the time of his en- listment with the Braintree squad of Co. K, 3d Cavalry, on the 8th of August, 1862. Of the fidelity of his service in the Department of the Gulf, all could be said that has been attributed to his other comrades. Constantly with his com- pany, he was ever brave, patient of discomfort, and ready to endure, without murmur, more than his share of duty. He was in the battles of Opequan and Fisher's Hill, in the Shen- andoah Valley, and on the 19th of October, 1864, went into the contest of Cedar Creek, though he was so sick that a less
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courageous and energetic man would have been in the hos- pital ; but his place was in the line, and there he received a wound in the left hip, from which he died Nov. 15, 1864, at Newton Barracks Hospital, Baltimore, at the age of twenty-nine (nearly). His conduct was an admirable illus- tration of the heroic virtues in many a common obscure man, which were brought into conspicuous lustre by the test of war.
ANSEL PENNIMAN THAYER, son of Wm. Franklin and Esther M., enlisted Aug. 6, 1862, in company with Ser- geant Ayers and others. He was uniformly with his regi- ment through the campaigns which have been enumerated. He is reported to have been neither sick nor wounded until the day of his death, which occurred at the battle of Opequan or Winchester, on the 19th of September, 1864, where, in the first fight of the regiment in that vicinity, he was shot through the abdomen, being among the earliest injured. He died in a few hours at the field hospital, at the age of twenty years. The simple but sufficient encomium of his comrades is that he was a good soldier.
JOHN FRANCIS WILDE, son of Elisha and Caroline (Healey), was born in Braintree, Dec. 28, 1819, and was in Co. B, 43d (nine months) Infantry, from Oct. 29, 1862, to July 30, 1863. When, during this service, the 44th Massa- chusetts was besieged in Washington, N. C., he was one of a few who volunteered to carry provisions to them under considerable risk, and was, with the rest, complimented by General Spinola for the skill and bravery shown on this occasion. On the following Dec. 26, 1863, he enlisted as a recruit in Co. K, 3d Cavalry, and was steadily with the regiment, an efficient soldier, until the time of his death. He was engaged in the Red. River campaign, and on the 8th
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of April, 1864, while the army was in retreat, had a leg carried away by a shell at Sabine Cross Roads, La., from the effects of which he very soon died. His intimate companion attended him until the near approach of the enemy, when he was left on the field. In March of 1870 the parents of Mr. Wilde received a note from Merrill Johnson, formerly of the 23d Wisconsin Infantry, announcing that he had in his pos- session a ring with Wilde's name upon it, which had been given to him by a rebel prisoner captured the day after the battle, who said he had taken it from a dead Union soldier, and this ring his family now have ; it being one which he had had made when he joined the 43d Regiment, with his name and residence stamped upon it. Mr. Wilde was forty-four years old at the time of his last enlistment, and was there- fore past the age when he would be actuated by mere impulse ; but he was a man of warm patriotic feeling, and believed that, having no wife or children, he could better respond to the needs of the hour than many a younger man. He had considerable knowledge of the world, acquired through travel, and much of the handiness which from the beginning characterized the Massachusetts soldiers, so that he was often of great service to his comrades in the minor duties of the camp and march, especially in making them comfort- able in times of privation or sickness, his experience being supplemented by a kindly and generous heart. His loss was sincerely mourned by all who had known him.
GARRETT GEORGE BARRY, son of Richard and Mary, of Holbrook, enlisted Dec. 13, 1861, at the age of seventeen, in what was for some time known as the 3d Unattached Company of Cavalry, Captain Cowen, which was in service in Louisiana until June of 1863, when it became Co. M, 3d Massachusetts Cavalry. Notwithstanding his youth, Barry. was soon made a corporal, and for his bravery in an attack
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upon the camp of the 4th Mississippi Cavalry, in January of 1863, was presented with one of the trophies of the capture, a fine spy-glass, on which were engraved some words . of high commendation from Lieutenant Perkins, his commander. Later, he became a sergeant, and while acting in that capa- city at the attack of Sabine Cross Roads, La., in which his last efforts were to keep his men from breaking ranks, in some disorganization, he was shot in the head and instantly killed. A letter received by his parents from his company commander spoke in terms of strong praise concerning his soldierly qualities.
FOURTH CAVALRY.
ALVIN JACKSON, son of George and Hannah, was born in Readfield, Me., and according to the books of the Adjutant- General, enlisted in Co. H of the 1st Cavalry on the 12th of October, 1861, and was discharged Jan. 10, 1863. Jan. 9, 1864, he enlisted in Co. D of the 4th Cavalry, and was stationed, for the remainder of his service, in South Carolina. The reports of the manner of his death state that on the 15th of January, 1865, he, with several men of his company, was sent with despatches, and the squad, being attacked by the enemy, became divided. Jackson was seen by one of his companions to fall from his horse ; and as nothing more was ever heard from him, the presumption is that he was killed. His age was about thirty-eight years.
NINTH INFANTRY.
CORNELIUS FURFY (or Furphey) was born in Armagh, Ireland, about 1840, and was an employee of the Boston Flax Mills, at East Braintree, when he enlisted in Co. G, 9th
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Massachusetts Infantry, on the 11th of June, 1861. His regi- ment was under McClellan in the peninsular campaign of 1862, being slightly engaged in the affair of Hanover Court House, May 27, and in the engagement near Mechanicsville, June 26, and losing heavily in the battle of Gaines' Mill, June 27, and at Malvern Hill, July 1. In this latter battle, Furfy was mortally wounded. His brother, of the same company, while carrying him to the rear, was also wounded, and com- pelled to leave his charge upon the field, which was soon occupied by the enemy. His age, at the time of death, was about twenty-two.
TWELFTH REGIMENT.
FRANCIS W. KAHILE, born in Germany, was an operative at Hollingsworth's paper-mill, and was drafted under the call of July, 1863. July 19 he was mustered into Co. C, of the 12th Massachusetts Infantry, at the age of forty, accord- ing to the records. He died in the regimental hospital, at Culpepper, Va., of pneumonia, March 6, 1864. His captain, F. B. Pratt, of Weymouth, writes that " he was a good sol- dier, was always on duty in camp and field, until his last sickness, and was highly esteemed by his comrades." The regiment was engaged in no battle during his service.
TWENTIETH INFANTRY.
THOMAS JOHN CROWELL, son of George and Jane, was born in Horton, Nova Scotia, April 15, 1829, from whence he came to Braintree. He was ardently interested in the anti-slavery cause, and was largely influenced by this zeal in his enlistment. He served in Co. C, 4th Militia, from April
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to July of 1861, and speedily re-enlisted, joining Co. K, of the 20th Infantry, Aug. 21, 1861, in which he was later a corporal. The 20th was one of the most excellent regiments in the service, and was consequently often placed at danger- ous posts. It was involved in the disastrous affair of Ball's Bluff, on the 22d of October, 1861, in which a few Union regiments, attacked by a superior force of the enemy, were compelled to fight with the Potomac River at their backs, and by shooting, drowning, and capture were nearly destroyed. Early in 1862 it joined Mcclellan's army on the Peninsula, where Crowell participated in an affair with the enemy at West Point, Va., in the battle of Fair Oaks, on the 31st of May, and in the engagement of Nelson's Farm, June 30. The steady picket and fatigue duty of that season, through the mud and swamps of Williamsburg, the Chickahominy, and the White Oak, were a harder trial of the metal of men than even the frequent fighting. Thousands were overcome by this unwonted exposure, and filled the hospitals with sick and the swamps with graves ; and the ranks of the 20th were reduced in common with those of other regiments, its men being often without tents and sometimes destitute of blankets. Through this campaign Crowell survived to enter into the great struggle of Antietam, Maryland, Sept. 17, 1862, after whose success for the Union arms he marched to Falmouth, on the banks of the Rappahannock River, where the winter found his regiment confronting Lee's army in Fredericksburg, on the opposite side of the stream. On the 12th of Decem- ber General Burnside, then commanding the army, proposed to attack Lee, but was prevented from laying one of the pon- toon bridges necessary for the crossing by the annoying fire of rebel sharpshooters, who were secreted in the brick houses of Fredericksburg. The task of clearing the way of these sharpshooters was assigned to Hall's Brigade, to which the 20th belonged, and passing the river in small boats they, by
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a gallant surprise, accomplished the work; but the enemy, reinforced, soon rallied in one of the main streets, which ran parallel to the Rappahannock, from which the 20th was ordered to dislodge them. In column by company it marched up the street, with musketry pouring upon it on every side, from cellar and garret, but not flinching till it had attained its purpose. Crowell escaped all injury here; but the next afternoon, the 13th, the brigade was ordered to the still more formidable work of attacking rifle-pits, held by a strong line of infantry and covered by numerous artillery. On the double-quick they moved to their duty, met by tremendous volleys of musketry and a storm of canister and shell, till human nature could bear no more, and they fell back under cover. Only four of Co. K were left, and Crowell was not of these. In a few hours he crawled into his regimental lines with a mortal wound in his left breast near the heart, and with another bullet in his thigh. That night he died in hospital, conscious and cheerful, his last words being of his family. "Tell them," he said, " that they have the consola- tion of knowing that my life was offered for the good of the country." Lieutenant Ropes, commanding the company, spoke of his behaving in the fight " with his usual intrepid- ity "; and Sergeant Clark said, " He was always in his place, and brave as a lion." No man ever more completely vindi- cated his political principles by heroic deeds and death than did Corporal Crowell.
TWENTY-SECOND INFANTRY.
Three men from Braintree, in this regiment, lost their lives in the same battle, viz., Crickmay, Fogg, and Dalton.
CHARLES HENRY CRICKMAY, son of Robert and Elizabeth, of England, enlisted at the age of thirty-four in the Quincy
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Co. H, of the 4th Militia (the company from Braintree being full), and served from April to July of 1861. On the 6th of September, 1861, he enlisted in Co. I, of the 22d In- fantry, then called Senator Wilson's regiment, and with it joined McClellan's army on the Peninsula. He saw no fighting of consequence till the 27th of June, 1862, when oc- curred the severe battle of Gaines' Mill, in which 70,000 Confederates under Stonewall Jackson attacked 30,000 Union troops, and threw back in disaster the right flank of Mc- Clellan's army. The 22d lost very heavily here, and with the rest of the Union regiments left its killed and wounded in the enemy's hands. Crickmay was wounded in the thigh, and being taken to Richmond, underwent an amputation, from which he died June 30, 1862. He was a brave man, of gen- erous impulses. He had the rank of corporal. His body was never recovered.
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ALEXANDER RESHAW FOGG, son of Seth and Betsy, of Denmark, Maine, also enlisted in Co. I, of the 22d, on the 15th of September, 1861, as a teamster, but was afterwards transferred to the ranks. He was one of the wounded at Gaines' Mills, and was undoubtedly buried by the enemy. His age was thirty-nine. His body was not recovered.
JEREMIAH DALTON, 2D, son of Tristam and Ann, was in Co. G, Fifth Militia, which was in the first battle of Bull Run, his service being from May 1 to July 31, 1861. He enlisted again Oct. 1, 1861, in Co. E of the 22d, was made a corporal, and was killed at Gaines' Mill, June 27, 1862, at the age of twenty-one. His body was left on the field.
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TWENTY-FOURTH INFANTRY.
DANIEL AUSTIN THAYER, son of Gideon and Sarah H., at the age of twenty-three enlisted, July 28, 1862, from Gloucester, in Co. C of the 24th Infantry, and died of chronic diarrhea in hospital at Hilton Head, S. C., Jan. 4, 1864. His regiment was, during the time when he belonged to it, with General Gilmore at Morris Island, near Charleston, protecting the siege operations.
WILLIAM MARTIN HARMON, son of William and Hannah, enlisted on the 13th of November, 1861, at the age of eighteen, in Co. G, 24th Massachusetts Infantry. He was with the regiment in the battle of Roanoke Island, in Feb- ruary, 1862, one of the first Union successes, in which Burnside captured some 1,500 prisoners ; was at the battle near Newbern, N. C., on the following 14th of March, and thence in sundry affairs at Washington, N. C., at Kingston, and at Whitehall. He left his regiment in the spring of 1863, and died in hospital at Newbern, of chronic diarrhea, April 30, 1863.
TWENTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY.
LAWRENCE MCLAUGHLIN, born in Ireland, was a resident of Braintree, and in the latter part of 1861, at the age of eighteen, enlisted in Co. I, 28th Infantry. Ile re-enlisted as a veteran Jan. 1, 1864. His friends state that he was steadily with his regiment from his enrolment to the day of his death, with the exception of a three day Absence, on account of a wound in the head, and ac' 1 in the winter &# 1863, which he passed ie 28th Sin South
had a varied experience. It
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Carolina, having left Massachusetts Jan. 11, 1862; was in several skirmishes there, and in an attack upon Fort John- son ; thence in Virginia, was at the second battle of Bull Run, with considerable loss, and at Chantilly ; was active at Antietam ; suffered at Fredericksburg ; was slightly engaged at Chancellorsville, and heavily again at Gettysburg; was conspicuous in Meade's campaign of Mine Run, in the fall of 1863 ; and in 1864 was in the battles of the Wilderness, of Spotsylvania, of Cold Harbor, and in the siege of Peters- burg. On the 22d of June, after Mclaughlin had passed unhurt through a sharp skirmish with the enemy, he was sent on picket in the evening, and was soon shot dead. His body was not recovered.
CHARLES GRAY was probably a substitute, and not a resi- dent of the town, at the time of his enlistment. The slight facts known about him are drawn from the Adjutant-General's records. He enlisted in Co. D, 28th Infantry, Aug. 10, 1863, and died in a Southern prison Sept. 15, 1864. The career of his regiment has been mentioned in connection with MeLaughlin's name. In all likelihood, Gray was cap- tured in one of the battles under General Grant in the summer of 1864.
AMOS ATKINS LORING, Co. B, 28th Infantry, son of Ben- jamin J. and Elizabeth, enlisted Jan. 5, 1864, at the age of eighteen, was made a drummer, and died of disease at City Point, Virginia, at a date unknown.
RTY-SECOND INFANTRY.
First Se and Sarah
INTHROP THAYER, sonfof Ansel amber of Co. C, of the 4th
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Massachusetts Militia, and served with his regiment at Fortress Monroe and Newport News, Va., from April to July of 1861. In December of that year he enlisted again in the company raised by Captain C. C. Bumpus, which, for a time, was in garrison at Fort Warren until it became Co. E, of the 32d Infantry, - a three years' regiment, - and was ordered to Washington in May, 1862. On the 3d of July, the regiment joined McClellan's army at Harrison's Landing, on James River. 'From that time forward, Sergeant Thayer was constantly with his regiment in active service, never absent from sickness nor receiving any wounds till the day of his death. He was, with his company, in reserve at Chantilly and Antietam in September, and was engaged at Fredericksburg in December of 1862. In the following spring, he was in the campaign. of Chancellorsville, and in July of 1863 at Gettysburg, where his regiment met with heavy loss. The severe fall and winter campaign of General Meade at Mine Run and on the line of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad tried the endurance of the regiment as well as proved Sergeant Thayer's faithfulness. When Grant began the march upon Richmond in the spring of 1864, which was to result in the long list of terrible battles and of picket skirmishes almost as deadly as battles, which was not to end until the surrender of Lec, the 32d entered upon the active duties of the field, losing heavily in the Wilderness, being under constant vigilance at Spotsyl- vania, then slightly engaged at the North Anna River, and again and again at Mechanicsville, at Bethesda Church, and at Petersburg and the Weldon Railroad. So wasting was this summer upon the regiment, that the 30th of September found Sergeant Thayer in command of his company, which was without a commissioned officer when it was ordered to an assault upon Fort McRae, of the Petersburg line, where, in what is variously known as the affair of Peebles Farm or Poplar Grove Church, he received the fatal shot. A warm,
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sympathetic letter from his surviving company comrades, sent to his parents under date of Oct. 20, 1864, testified to his great popularity as an associate and to his high, soldierly qualities. He was thoroughly brave and nobly patriotic. He re-enlisted for three years in January of 1864, and on his return from furlough received his promotion from sergeant to first sergeant. His old company commander bears witness that "he was one of the best men in the service, - trusty, faithful to all orders, and brave to a fault." His age at death was twenty-four.
LEONARD F. HUFF, son of Benjamin and -, at the age of twenty-one enlisted in Co. E, 32d Infantry, Dec. 2, 1861, and after a short service in the forts of Boston Harbor, went with his regiment, in the summer of 1862, to Mcclellan's army, which had just passed through its seven days' battles on the Virginia peninsula. While lying at Harrison's Landing, on the James River, he was attacked with disease, and was sent to hospital at Philadelphia, where he died, Aug. 23, 1862. His comrades report him to have been an exemplary soldier.
HENRY T. WADE, parentage not ascertained, enlisted at the age of twenty-seven, in Co. E, 32d Infantry, on the 25th of November, 1861, was mustered Dec. 2, 1861, and was killed at the battle of Gettysburg, July 2, 1863. His regi- ment was active in the battle of Fredericksburg, was slightly engaged at Chancellorsville, and lost heavily at Gettysburg, where he died.
ANTHONY COLUMBUS, who was probably a substitute, appears to have enlisted in Co. K of the 9th Regiment, Aug. 22, 1863, and when that regiment was mustered out of service was, with other men whose terms were unexpired, transferred to Co. I of the 32d Infantry, of which he was a member when he died, at time and place unknown.
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THIRTY-THIRD INFANTRY.
First Lieutenant and Brevet-Captain EDGAR LEWIS BUMPUS, son of Cephas C. and Amelia D., born in North Bridgewater, Jan. 18, 1838, was a member of his father's company, C, of the 4th Militia, in 1861, and while his regiment was lying at Newport News, Va., in June, was one of two or three men who, desirous of varying the monotony of camp life, volun- teered to join the troops which were going to Big Bethel, where his clothes were perforated by a bullet. On the 13th of the September following his return he joined McPherson's company of United States Sappers and Miners at Fort Inde- pendence, Boston Harbor, from which he was discharged for disability, May 16, 1862. He again enlisted, Aug. 5, 1862, in Co. A, 33d Massachusetts Infantry, and was mustered as corporal, but in a few weeks became sergeant, and was transferred to Co. E. He was commissioned as second lieutenant, June 20, 1863, as first lieutenant, March 9, 1864, and, after his death, had his merit recognized by a brevet of captain, dated May 22, 1865. To the fall of 1863 the 33d Regiment was in Virginia, in the 11th Corps, but was not involved in the rout at Chancellorsville, which gave that corps such a bad name. It was one' of a few picked regi- ments sent to support the cavalry at the contest of Beverly Ford on the 9th of June, 1863, and was in the most fearful and exposed part of the battle-field of Gettysburg, July 3, at Cemetery Hill, where for three hours one hundred and fifty-five Confederate guns rained a storm of shot and shell, largely concentrated upon this key-point of the field. In both of these affairs Bumpus was the color-sergeant, the well-known position of honor and of imminent danger. In the fall of 1863, the 33d was sent under General Hooker to Rosecrans' Army of the Cumberland, and on the 28th of
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