USA > Massachusetts > Wearing the blue in the Twenty-fifth Mass. volunteer infantry, with Burnside's coast division, 18th army corps, and Army of the James > Part 18
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The Twenty-fifth Massachusetts was remarkably favored by having only very few deserters from its standard. About a dozen such fellows will make up the list during the three years' service, and usually they were such as could be well spared. None of them were worth the rations they would consume.
CAPTURE OF GUERILLAS.
During the summer of 1863, a small company of guerillas very much annoyed loyal people who lived below our lines, upon either bauk of the Neuse, and in the country between
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that river and the Pamlico. Early in June, these fellows, getting bold, seized and burned a schooner on the Neuse river, and then it was determined to circumvent their opera- tions if possible. To this end, Captain Phelon in command of the Shawsheen was furnished with a detachment from the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts under charge of Sergeant James MeHannan of Company E. Corporal Edward Townsend of Company C, and fifteen privates, were of the party, among whom was Private Augustus G. Demond of Company K [we have not been able to obtain names of others detailed]. This little expedition went to South river near the mouth of the Neuse, and on its right bank. Taking a launch, the party, under charge of Captain Phelon, proceeded some distance up the South river until they came to the vicinity of a house where a neighborhood dance was in progress. The launch came to a stand still as near the shore as possible, whereupon the party jumped overboard and waded ashore. Moving up as fast as possible, they surrounded the house, where they captured four of the guerillas who had been engaged burning the schooner. The party returned to New Borne with their prisoners who were turned over to the proper authorities.
RETURN OF NINE MONTHS' REGIMENTS.
June 17th, the Fifth Massachusetts, Colonel Pierson, left New Berno, homeward bound, reaching Boston on the 26th of that month. This regiment was brigaded with the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts during its service, and its camp was adjacent to Camip Oliver, so that a very friendly feeling existed between the officers and men of the two battalions. The Twenty-fifth Massachusetts desiring to express appreciation of the gallant service rendered by the Fifth upon all occasions, turned out with full ranks, and escorted their comrades to the wharf and there exchanged parting salutations. Colonel H. C. Lee, com- manding brigade, found an opportunity to make a neat little speech to the officers and men of the Fifth Massachusetts, and aniong other good things, said : -
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" You may perhaps think you have done more than your share of labor, having engaged in more expeditions, endured longer marches, and performed more arduous service than any other nine months' regiment, or even the three years' troops, in the same period of time. But you should remember the Scripture passage, that ' Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,' and accept the toils and hardships you have borne, as a proof of the good opinion of your commanding general, who calls most frequently into service those regiments in whom he has the most confidence."
On the 6th of June, the Forty-fourth Massachusetts took its departure for home, receiving from Major-General Foster in Special Orders No. 160, an expression of his " high apprecia- tion of and thanks for their services while in the department." The General also said : --- 1
"As a part of the garrison of Washington, and in the various duties to which they have been assigned, they have always fully performed their duty as soldiers."
The Third Massachusetts, Colonel Richmond, left New Berne June 11th, escorted to the depot, where it took the cars for Morehead City, by the One-hundred-and-fifty-eighth New York Volunteers. During the service of this regiment, more than two hundred men were detailed for duty as mechanics upon government work.
On the 24th June, the Eighth Massachusetts, Colonel Coffin, Forty-third Massachusetts, Colonel Holbrook, Forty-fifth Massa- chusetts, Colonel Codman, Forty-sixth Massachusetts, Colonel Shurtleff, and the Fifty-first Massachusetts, Colonel Sprague, left New Berne for Morehead City, where transports con- veyed them to Fortress Monroe. From the latter place the Eighth Massachusetts went to Baltimore. At this time there was great excitement consequent upon the appearance of General Lee and his army in Maryland and Pennsylva- nia, and the public anxiety did not subside until Lee met his
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disaster on the bloody field of Gettysburg. The Eighth reached Baltimore July 1st, and there remained until the 6th when it went by rail to Monocacy Junction, Md., where it was assigned to the brigade commanded by General Henry S. Briggs. On the night of July 7th they marched to Maryland Heights and occupied Fort Duncan where they remained until July 12th, when the regiment with the brigade joined the Army of the Potomac, assigned to the Second Division, First Army Corps. On the 26th of July the regiment procceded to Massachusetts to be mustered out of service.
The Forty-third Massachusetts reaching Fortress Monroe, was sent to the White house on the Pamunky river in transports, but returned, June 30th, to Fortress Monroe, and on the 3rd day of July, reported in Baltimore. On the 7th, the regiment reported to General Naglee for duty. There was some feeling in the regiment because it was retained in service after the time of enlistment had expired, and General Naglee issued an order leaving it optional with the men to go to the front, or return home. Under this order, two hundred and three officers and men voted to go to the front. The others ingloriously went home. So many of the battalion as remained, proceeded to Sandy Hook, Md., under command of Lieutenant-Colonel John C. Whiton [the Colonel being detained in Baltimore]. Here the regiment performed duty as provost guard until the 18th, when they were ordered to Massachusetts and mustered out July 30th, 1863.
The Forty-fifth Massachusetts proceeded from . Fortress Monroe directly to Boston, and was mustered out June 30th, 1869.
The Forty-sixth Massachusetts went from Fortress Monroe to Baltimore and was assigned to brigade of General E. B. Tyler, performing patrol and guard duty until the 6th of July, when it was attached to the brigade of General Henry S. Briggs and followed the same line of march and duty as stated for the Eighth "Massachusetts. When the brigade was
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near Berlin, the order was received to proceed to Massachu- setts. This regiment, with the Eighth and Fifty-first Massa- chusetts, filed out of the column, and their campaigning was over.
The Fifty-first Massachusetts proceeded from Fortress Mon- roe to the White house and then returned. Learning of the critical condition of affairs in Maryland and Pennsylvania, Colonel Sprague offered the services of the regiment for any duty required of it. The regiment was ordered to Baltimore and performed patrol duty, occupying Belger barracks. July 5th, six companies of the battalion under command of Lieuten- ant-Colonel Studley, escorted twenty-three hundred prisoners captured at Gettysburg, from the depot in Baltimore to Fort McHenry. July 6th, the regiment reported and was assigned to General Briggs' Brigade, when it followed the fortunes of the Eighth and Forty-sixth Massachusetts as already described.
The brigade consisted of the Eighth, Thirty-ninth, Forty- sixth, and Fifty-first Massachusetts regiments, and on the 12th of July marched all night, a distance of twenty-seven miles. Surcharged with malaria contracted in the swamps of North Carolina, without camp cquipage, kettles, or a change of clothing for wet weather, the men were poorly prepared to endure the hardships of a campaign, or to make marches that were really unnecessary. Large numbers became sick and were sent back to Baltimore. In the Fifty-first Massachusetts, when it reached the front on the 13th of July, there were present for duty an aggregate of only two hundred and seventy- five men. The regiment arrived at Worcester on the 21st day of July, and on the 27th was mustered out of service, having served nearly ten months.
The sick left in the hospitals at Now Berne under charge of Assistant Surgeon Garvin, reached home safely, and were mustered out with the rest. The loss of this regiment during the service was one hundred and thirty-eight men, the number being largely increased by a peculiar and fatal disease from which it suffered. .
By'T. BRIG. GEN'L. A. B. R. SPRAGUE.
L'elistype Printing Co. Costen.
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The Fifty-first Massachusetts, under Colonel Sprague, raised, as we have before stated, from the young men of Worcester County, was an excellently well equipped and drilled body of men : its officers, some of whom had seen service before, were, in many respects, far above the average of those who wore shoulder-straps.
After the muster-out of the Fifty-first Regiment, General Sprague was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Massachusetts Second Regiment Heavy Artillery, and the muster-out of that regiment at the end of the war, closed the military life of General A. B. R. Sprague, who had thus, during the war, held four important commissions. When the war closed, in recog- nition of his valuable services, he was commissioned by the President a Brigadier-General by brevet, an honor which was fairly earned and well merited. After the war, General Sprague was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for the Worcester Distriet, which he resigned upon being elected Sheriff of the County, a position he continues to hold.
Thus closes the record of the nine months' battalions. The loss of the nine months' troops caused the expression of a feeling that there was more of a void in North Carolina than there should be, if it was considered desirable to hold the State, or very much of the eastern shore. The force in North Carolina had been very much reduced by the withdrawal of many of the veteran regiments. The regiments of Reno's Brigade were in Virginia. In January [1863] a number of regiments, including the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Massachusetts, and Ninth New Jersey Volunteers, proceeded to South Carolina.
Some of these troops returned during the siege of little Washington. The brigade of General Stevenson, composed of the Twenty-fourth Massachusetts, One-hundredth New York, Tenth Connecticut, Ninety-seventh Pennsylvania and Fifty-sixth New York, with one battery of the Third New York Artillery, was retained in South Carolina by General Hunter.
Soon after the siege of Washington, the department was divided into districts-New Berne and its vicinity being the
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First District, commanded by Brigadier-General Palmer ; the vicinity of little Washington was known as the District of Pamlico ; the vicinity of Plymouth, known as the District of the Roanoke; Morehead City and its vicinity, known as the District of Beaufort. Brigadier-General Wessells commanded the District of the Roanoke.
LITTLE WASHINGTON.
On the 3rd day of July, the right wing of the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts received orders to proceed to little Washington, and, late in the day, companies B, C and F, embarked on the steamer Mystic, and I and K upon the steamer Washington . Irving. On the morning of the " ever glorious Fourth," these companies reached Washington, a well laid out town about thirty-five miles above Pamlico sound, on the left bank of the Pamlico river, at its juncture with the Tar river.
Companies I and K were ordered to proceed to Rodman's point, a fortified position about two miles below Washington, on the right bank of the Pamlico river. At this place the companies were required to garrison the fort, relieving Captain Rogers' Company of the Fifty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers.
Companies B, C and F were ordered to Hill's point, two miles still further down the river, which place they garrisoned under command of Major C. G. Attwood, who, upon assuming command, issued the following Order : -
Headquarters Detachment Twenty-fifth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers.
Hill's Point, N. C., July 4th, 1863.
General Orders, Į No. 1.
In honor of one who has labored strenuously in the cause for which we are engaged, with undaunted courage and perseverance, this camp will be called Camp Pickett.
By command of Major C. G. ATTWOOD, Commanding Detachment. CHARLES H. PELTON, Lieutenant and Acting Adjutant.
On the 17th of July, the left wing of the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts, under Colonel Pickett, marched to Swift's creek, accompanied by the Twenty-seventh Massachusetts.
a
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The design of this movement was to attract attention from the Third New York Cavalry, then on the Rocky Mount raid, and to cover the cavalry march. The expedition was out three days.
Previous to this, [July 4th] the Third New York Cavalry under command of Lieutenant Colonel John Mix, a very dashing and fearless officer, made a movement designed to damage the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad. Brigadier- General Heckman, with a force of infantry, including the Ninth New Jersey, Seventeenth, Twenty-third and Twenty- seventh Massachusetts Volunteers, moved in cooperation to Trenton, where the Seventeenth Massachusetts was detached and left with a section of the Third New York Artillery to hold the approach from Kinston, while the main column moved forward some miles, to hold a bridge.
On Monday the 6th, the advance column was attacked, but was able to repulse the enemy. The cavalry returned to our lines on the 6th of July, having torn up the railroad, destroyed a manufactory of sabres, and executed much damage upon the enemy. All the force upon this expedition returned to New Berne July 7th.
On the 25th July. [1863] four companies of the Twenty- fifth Massachusetts, Colonel Pickett in command, viz: - compa- nies A, E, G and HI, embarked on board the steamer Rucker, and disembarked Sunday afternoon [July 26th] at Winton, going into bivouac on the banks of the Chowan river. This expedition was intended to cover a cavalry raid on Weldon. The Seventeenth Massachusetts also moved to Winton on the steamer Peconic, and the Twenty-third Massachusetts on the steamer Utah. General Heckman was in command of the brigade. At Winton, our force was met by the Eleventh Pennsylvania 'Cavalry, First New York Mounted Rifles and a battery of the Fourth United States Artillery, which had crossed the country from Portsmouth, Va. for the purpose of making the raid on Weldon. While this force and most of the infantry moved forward, the left wing of the Twenty-
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fifth Massachusetts remained to guard and protect the rear. On the 28th July, companies A and E, under command of Captain Thomas O'Neill, marched to Coleraine, a distance of twenty miles, returning next day with thirty-three eap- tured horses, a number of mules and other property for use of the goverment. On the 29th, companies G and HI, under command of Captain Harrington, marched out ten miles, returning next day with twelve bales of cotton, a large lot of tobacco, twenty horses, mules, carriages, har- nesses, etc. Everything in the line of commissary stores had been removed by the enemy previous to this visit.
On the 27th, the infantry upon the advance movement, remained at Mount Tabor as a support, while the mounted force moved towards Weldon. At Jackson, the enemy was met in larger force than was contemplated. A battle ensued, and our troops captured over fifty prisoners, but deemed it imprudent to attempt further progress towards Weldon.
On the 31st of July, the left wing of the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts embarked for New Berne, having in charge as prisoners of war, sixty-three men and three commissioned officers, captured by the forces making the forward movement.
August 20th, companies G and H marched to Bachellor's creek, reporting to Colonel P. J. Claassen, One-hundred-and- thirty-second New York Volunteers. From the creek, the companies marched to the Red house, where Company G remained for picket duty, while Company H proceeded to Pine tree, on the Trent road, for the same duty in that vicinity.
On Sunday the 12th of July, at Rodman's point, the two companies there, I and K, united in a service without the aid of a chaplain. Dr. Whitney, Hospital Steward, and Corporal Holt, of Company I, conducted the devotions, and the united voices of the soldiers furnished very acceptable music.
On the 23rd of July, Captain Denny was appointed by General Palmer, Provost-Marshal of the District of Pamlico, with headquarters at Washington, N. C. By the same order,
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Company K was detailed for duty as provost guard and assigned quarters in the brick building on First street, formerly occupied by the Cape Fear bank.
About the 1st of August, General Palmer having returned to New Berne, Lieutenant-Colonel Moulton assumed temporary command of the District of Pamlico, having headquarters in Washington. The staff of Lieutenant-Colonel Moulton was made up as follows: Lieutenant James M. Drennan, Twenty- fifth Massachusetts Volunteers, Acting Assistant Adjutant General ; Captain Cecil Clay, Fifty-eighth Pennsylvania Vol- unteers, Acting Assistant Inspector-General, and Captain Chenery, of the First North Carolina Union Volunteers, and formerly of the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts, was Acting Aide- de-Camp.
Later' in the season, [September 4th] Major Attwood re- turned to New Berne, taking command of the left wing of the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts, three companies, A, E and G, being at the Red house upon outpost duty, and two compa- nies, D and H, at Pine tree on the Trent road. Major Attwood made his headquarters at the Red house. The command at Hill's point devolved upon Captain Foss, of Company F.
While the right wing of the regiment remained in the District of the Pamlico, the commissary department was under the charge of William M. Willis, of Company F, whose office was on Water street, adjoining the garden of the house occupied by the Provost-Marshal.
On the 8th of September, Colonel Pickett arrived at little Washington and assumed command of the sub-district, pro- mulgating the following General Orders : ----
Headquarters Sub-district of the Pamlico. Washington, N. C., September 8th, 1863.
General Orders, { No. 1. 1
In accordance with orders from Headquarters Army and District of North Carolina, the undersigned hereby assumes command of the Sub-district of the Pamlico.
J. PICKETT,
Colonel Twenty-fifth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers.
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Colonel Pickett constituted his staff as follows: Lieutenant Henry MeConville, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General; Captain Cecil Clay, of the Fifty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers, Acting Assistant Inspector-General ; Lieutenant James M. Drennan, Acting Aide-de-Camp.
SOCIAL LIFE.
The opportunities for social enjoyment for those who had official residence at Washington were beartily improved. Some of the officers had their families with them, among whom were Captain James Tucker and the writer, of the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts, and Captain U. H. Wheeler of the Quartermaster's Department, a most genial gentleman, and before the war, a resident of North Carolina. These families united with Pickett, Moulton, Drennan and McCon- ville of the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts, Clay and Hoskinson of the Fifty-eighth Pennsylvania, and many officers of the navy, contributed to make life in Washington very pleasant when official duties permitted. Quite a number of the native citizens of Washington, gentlemen of character and standing before war came to change society and their own circum- stances, contributed very much to the enjoyment of the officers of the army and navy who were fortunately stationed at this time in that pleasant town.
JOE.
Might we be pardoned, if, with the remembrance of many symposia flitting before us -- of viands hot and viands cold, of after-dinner speeches spiced with the stately eloquence of Commander H. K. Davenport of the navy, [a native of Georgia, who has died since the war,] of the ready repartee and dry humor of Lieutenant Drennan, the songs of Lieu- tenant MeConville, the interminate statistics and fund of information of the famed cyclop of encyclopedists, which his name is Moulton, the other stories of the symposiac;
1
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thinking of all this, might we be pardoned in alluding to that prince of North Carolina caterers, the incomparable Joc Fowle ?
.
Joe was ubiquitous -selling love powders to the rebel soldiers when they occupied little Washington, "Only a dollar for a powder, salı!" -- " take 'em, sah, they's sure to bring you de sweetheart, sah!" and Joe said, " I've just sold heaps ob dem powders to de rebels, kase you see, dey didn't knows no better like you Yankees does !" and then Joe opened a hotel, the Phoenix house, and made money at that, then he set up a sort of junior " Parker house," and it was at that place, not far above the old Cape Fear Bank building, that the officers of the army and navy, in the early autumn of 1863, gathered together under the favoring auspices of that never to be forgotten practitioner of the culinary art. May no portent send its shadows over the unique Joe Fowle, and may he live forever ! *
CAPTURE OF SURGEON RICE.
October 22nd, [1863] as Surgeon J. M. Rice was riding on his way from the camp at Red house to that at Pine tree, when near the intersection of the little road which led to French's ·house, he was captured by a squad of the enemy's cavalry, who had evidently crossed the gully at the ford half a mile or so from the bridge on the Trent road. The orderly of Dr. Rice (Private Savage) was captured with him. This event occurred within sight of the cavalry vidette, a man of the same cavalry that tried to perform rear guard duty for us on the march from Gum swamp, as heretofore described. This horseman in Federal uniform, was too frightened to fire his carbine and too much de- moralized to go at once to the reserve force alnost within hailing distance, and so, putting spurs to his steed he rode with remark- able energy to the Red house, three miles distant, to tell Major
* [Joc Fowle besides possessing the good points we have mentioned, was a valuable agent in obtaining information concerning the enemy, and was highly esteemed by General Foster. Since the war the subject of this brief sketch has resided in Worcester. Wherever he is, he deserves well of those who esteem worth at its true value. ]
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Attwood that the Surgeon was captured. That fellow and all like him ought to have been put in swaddling-cloths-and yet of such, a considerable portion of our cavalry regiment was composed, many of them so young that they needed the care of ' " their sisters and their cousins and their aunts," while others were old enough to be the latters' grandfathers.
Surgeon Rice was treated kindly by his captors, and was taken to Richmond. There he remained until late in the next month, November, when he was exchanged and returned to duty. Private Savage died at Belle Isle in Richmond.
FREEDMEN -PROVOST-MARSHAL'S DEPARTMENT.
On the day that Colonel Pickett assumed command of the sub-district of Pamlico, General Foster, then in command of the District of North Carolina, visited little Washington on a tour of inspection, arriving on the steamer Thomas Collyer. Chaplain Horace James, who had been designated by President Lincoln, Superintendent of Freedmen in the District of North Carolina, accompanied the commanding general and com- menced an investigation into the condition and wants of the freedmen congregated in Washington. While the Provost- Marshal's bureau was expected to attend to the immediate wants of the contrabands and to supervise all disciplinary matters connected with them, the Superintendent arranged for their permanent maintenance, for their education, and for means to furnish them with labor, that they might in part. provide for themselves and thus learn to become inde- pendent. In the Pamlico sub-district, the labors of the Provost-Marshal, were very much enhanced, by the necessity of providing for the many families of North Carolina Union soldiers seeking our protection. Every family coming into our lines required immediate attention, and as the arrivals at the time we are speaking of, were not less than one family daily, and often as many as half a dozen families in one day, the duty falling upon the Provost-Marshal to procure a tenement for
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each, supply them with some kind of furniture, and make provisions for rations until they could manage for themselves, imposed a task that was often very perplexing, the more so because there was so little to do with, particularly in regard to tenements, which were mostly taken up, and furniture, of which there was a scant supply for those already in full tide as housekeepers. It was often necessary to rob Peter to pay Paul, the result being that both were left poverty-stricken.
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