USA > Maryland > Fifth regiment, I., M.N.G. : a history of the regiment from its first organization to the present time > Part 3
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Preceded by a file of policemen, the regiment marched to the place which had been selected for its headquarters, Camp Trenton. The tents had been pitched, and everything else was in readiness. The location was a good one, about a third of a mile from the beach and not far from the Stockton Hotel, where the commissary department was supplied. The baggage train arrived in good time, and the soldiers soon appeared in fatigue uniform. Guard mount and dress parade were the two chief military events of the average day.
The regiment had been in camp several days when it was reviewed on the parade-ground by General Meade, the victor of Gettysburg.
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A great concourse of people witnessed the review. General Meade was accompanied by his staff, Major-Generals Van Vliet and Patter- son, and other officers. The review was extremely creditable to both officers and men, and General Meade praised the regiment in the highest terms.
GUARD MOUNT.
The social events of the camp were the features of the season at Cape May. On Saturday evening a brilliant display of fireworks illuminated the broad lawn of Congress Hall in honor of the regiment. The command was drawn up in double rank, and every particle of available space was occupied by spectators. On three scaffolds were shown a masterpiece of pyrotechnic work. The first bore the word "Welcome," surrounded by appropriate designs. The central one bore an American eagle, with a shield, having on it the number "5th," and around the eagle four national flags revolved. The last scaffold upheld the word "Maryland," wreathed. Accident aided the effect in no small degree. The night was dark and suitable for the display. The pieces were lighted simultaneously, but before they all became distinct a dense cloud of smoke settled down upon the design. The lawn was darkened with sulphurous vapor. At this moment the regiment's band struck up "The Star-spangled Banner," and as the music of the words, "Oh, say, does the star-spangled
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banner yet wave?" pierced the air, a gust of wind dispelled the smoke and revealed the flaming legend-" Welcome, 5th Maryland," the eagle and shield, but most vividly of all the luminous revolving flags and circle of blazing stars. The effect was electrical.
Hops, balls and complimentary dinners were continuous affairs, but the assembly at the Stockton, on Tuesday, July 26, surpassed all others. The ball-room was profusely and elegantly decorated. Dis- played prominently about the room was the coat of arms of each State. Dodsworth's great orchestra and the Fifth's band were at opposite ends of the room, the former for dancing and the latter for promenading. Dancing lasted until two o'clock in the morning, ending with the cotillion. A banquet was served to the officers and a number of invited guests at one o'clock, at which speeches were made by General Patterson, Colonel Herbert, Colonel Sellers, and Colonel Gray. On Wednesday evening, the band of the Fifth gave a promenade concert and soiree at the Stockton.
The last day in camp passed off like the preceding ones. Men going out of camp were required more strictly to have passes. One of the events of the day was very unexpected to all save one. In order to test the promptness of the men in answering a call of danger, Colonel Herbert, about three o'clock in the afternoon, ordered the drummers at the guard-tent to beat the long roll, the signal in active service of the enemy's approach. In a moment the roll was taken up by the other drummers, and there was a simultaneous rush by all of the men in camp for their arms and accoutrements. In three minutes the line was formed, with the men ready for action. Then they were drilled in the motions of loading and firing. Their prompt- ness and activity occasioned a strong compliment from the com- mander. A dress parade, all kinds of impromptu amusements, a farewell hop, a farewell supper and speeches. closed the last day in camp.
Early on Saturday morning the regiment started for Philadelphia, with the best wishes of Cape May City. In Philadelphia the people repeated their hospitable attentions. Soon after arriving there, the regiment was entertained with a banquet at the Second Regiment Armory. The ride to Baltimore was made in four hours-quick time in 1870. The train was a special of ten cars, and the locomo- tive was decorated as lavishly as possible with flowers and evergreens. An enthusiastic welcome awaited the regiment at home. Mayor Banks received it with a complimentary speech, which press and people alike endorsed.
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CHAPTER VIII. IN A PERMANENT HOME.
THE HISTORY OF THE ARMORY NOW USED BY THE FIFTH .- CAMP BOWIE .- A TRAGIC INCIDENT .- CAMP BLUE RIDGE .- WESTERN MARYLAND HOSPITALITY .- CAMP PRINCETON AT CAPE MAY .- -BRILLIANT EVENTS.
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The armory on North Howard Street, known as Music Hall, which had been secured through the liber - ality of Colonel J. Stricker Jenkins, who had succeeded Colonel Herbert as the commandant of the regiment in the spring of 1871, could not be regarded by the members of the regi- ment as its permanent home. The hall stood upon the site of the present Academy of Music, and the ground was needed for the proposed edifice. ez In the autumn of 1870 the officers of the Fifth applied to the City Council COLONEL J. STRICKER JENKINS. for an armory over the proposed new Richmond Market-house. A peti- tion, signed by a large number of prominent citizens, endorsing the measure, accompanied the application. The regiment obtained the armory, and during the greater part of the time occupied in building it, in 1872, the Fifth had its quarters at the Monumental Assembly Rooms, at the corner of St. Paul and Centre streets.
Frederick, Maryland, was the place of the regiment's encampment in 1871. Camp Bowie, as that of 1871 was called, lasted five days. The regiment left Baltimore on the night of June 30, after an address at Music Hall by Colonel Jenkins. The Colonel expressed the hope that the regiment's record at Camp Bowie would be equal to those made at Camp Chesapeake, Camp Trenton, Annapolis, Washington, and Mt. Vernon. The regiment arrived at Frederick early on July I,
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and proceeded to the grounds of the Agricultural Society, where the tents had been pitched. Mayor Thomas M. Holbruner and a com- mittee of the Agricultural Society received the Fifth, and speeches of welcome, with suitable responses, were made. For five days the men had a pleasant time, Company I, as usual, leading in the fun- making. Religious services were held on Sunday. A brilliant ball was given on the evening of July 3, which five hundred ladies and gentlemen, in addition to the members of the regiment, attended. On "the glorious Fourth," a grand review, parade and drill attracted thousands to the town, the review being held by Brigadier-General Carr and his staff. There was an illumination at night. The termina- tion of the encampment was overshadowed by a tragical accident. Some of the men had been firing salutes with an old cannon, mounted on a wooden carriage, during the evening, in celebration of the Fourth. When all of the powder, except one charge, had been used, it was determined by the men around the gun to make the last report a heavy one. The charge was rammed home as tightly as possible, and when Private Frank Randolph Stewart fired it the gun burst, mortally wounding him, and injuring in a slighter degree all the other men standing near it. The sad event put an end to all pleasure. Private Stewart, who was a member of Company C, lingered several hours, but no hopes of his life could be entertained after the accident occurred. He was one of the most popular young men of the com- mand. The encampment was about to end, and the regiment returned on the following day to Baltimore.
Camp Blue Ridge, at Hagerstown, was held in 1872, beginning on . July 4. The Fifth left the temporary armory, at the corner of Centre and St. Paul streets, about midnight on July 3, with three hundred men in line. They wore their old chasseur uniform, but upon their arrival in Hagerstown put on the new one for the first time. The formal reception at the Fair Grounds by the Hagerstown authorities was an imposing scene. Colonel H. Kyd Douglas made the address of welcome. The people of Hagerstown did all that hospitality could suggest, and wherever the officers of the Fifth went they found "set- outs " prepared for them, notably at the homes of the late Hon. Wm. T. Hamilton, Attorney-General A. K. Syester, and Judge Keppler. Committees of citizens were constantly engaged in providing for the comfort and pleasure of the visitors. A reception and ball at the Washington House was one of the events of the encampment. The fact that the camp was a military training-school was not allowed to
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be forgotten. A complimentary hop was held on the camp grounds. It was given by the regiment to the citizens of Hagerstown, and the program included a serenade, a display of fire-works and other forms of entertainment. Fine weather prevailed, and the place was enlivened generally by the presence of ladies, who were frequently present in large numbers from the neighboring towns. On Sunday, the most picturesque spots of the Blue Ridge were visited by some of the soldiers, while others went to Antietam. On its return to Baltimore the regiment was reviewed by Governor Whyte, and escorted to the armory by Major Frank McDonald's battalion.
THE FIFTH REGIMENT ARMORY.
The formal opening of the present armory took place on the evening of February 6, 1873. Colonel S. S. Mills, the chairman of the City Council Committee on Markets, had in the fall of 1870 presented an ordinance to appropriate $70,000 for the new armory and market-house. The ordinance was passed, and was signed by Mayor Banks on December 1, 1870. Work upon the building was commenced on June 1, 1871, and it was handed over to the city
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authorities in November, 1872. The dimensions of this well-known building are 100 X 177 feet. Frank E. Davis was the architect, and Charles Ogle the contractor. The opening of the armory was a brilliant as well as an important event. Four thousand invitations had been issued, and it seemed as though all of them had been accepted. Mayor Vansant made an address in presenting the armory to the regiment, and Governor Whyte accepted it in behalf of the latter. Colonel Jenkins also made a speech. There was a battalion drill, followed by a ball. Those who inspected the armory considered it a model one for its purpose.
The summer of 1873 found the Fifth again at Cape May, occupy- ing the same grounds which had been used three years before. The regiment started for Cape May on July 23, and remained there ten days. Camp Princeton was the name given to the place. Two guidons, awarded to the company having the largest number of men at the camp, were won by Company C, which had forty-three men. The band, led by Adam Itzel, and the drum corps, led by Drum- Major Louis De Longe, accompanied the soldiers. Through Phila- delphia the regiment was escorted by Captain Ryan with the State Fencibles. In passing General Patterson's house a marching salute was given. The houses along the route were illuminated. The encampment was a successful one, although considerable anxiety prevailed among the men for a short time at the news of the great Clay Street fire of July 25. A hop at the Stockton, and a still more brilliant event of the same kind at Congress Hall, were among the incidents. Governor Hartranft, of Pennsylvania, reviewed the regi- ment, and Governor Parker, of New Jersey, did the same a day or two later. Governor Parker showed his regard for the regiment more emphatically in the year following, at a more celebrated encampment.
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CHAPTER IX. AT LONG BRANCH.
CAMP MONMOUTH .- A CORDIAL RECEPTION .- THE OFFICERS IN COMMAND .- "' THOSE MEN HAVE HANDLED MUSKETS BEFORE," SAID GENERAL GRANT .- ON THE MONMOUTH BATTLEFIELD .- NEW JERSEY'S HOSPITALITY. - ELOQUENT SPEECHES. - THOU- SANDS CROWD TO SEE THE MARYLAND MEN.
There has probably never been a time in the history of the Fifth when it was in a better condition than in 1874. Full ranks, picked men representing the best soldier element of the State, enthusiastic devotion to the regiment among officers and privates, and popular admiration, not confined to Baltimore or Maryland by any means, were the causes of the prosperity it enjoyed and the enviable name it bore. It had recently come into possession of its present armory. Membership in the Fifth, either as an officer or as a private, was a badge of distinction which was eagerly coveted. The summer encampment of 1874 was a great event. Long Branch, then one of the most fashionable of New Jersey sea-side resorts, was selected as the place. "Camp Monmouth " was the name chosen for the town of tents, because one of the chief incidents of the encampment was to be a visit to the ground made famous by the memorable battle of that name during the War of the Revolution. The fact that Long Branch was situated in Monmouth County, New Jersey, also possibly had some influence in determining the name. On July I, Quarter- master E. F. Pontier and Captain Post left Baltimore to make final arrangements for the encampment. In order to enable the men to become familiar with camp duties more rapidly and thoroughly, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry D. Loney prepared for distribution among the men a clear and simple digest of Upton's Revised " Tactics," or rather of all that part of the " Tactics " having any bearing upon the soldier's duties in camp.
Through New Jersey the prospective visit of the Fifth created no small degree of interest. By the press of that State it was announced that the Seventh New Jersey Regiment, commanded by Colonel A.
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N. Angel, would go to Long Branch on July 27, and on the following day escort the Fifth to the scene of the battle of Monmouth. Colonel Angel was one of the veterans of the war between the States, and had led the old Fifth New Jersey Regiment in many of its charges. At a later day he was a member of the staff of General Winfield S. Hancock. Colonel Angel's regiment in 1874 (the Seventh) was in some respects like the Maryland Fifth, being composed of the best men of Trenton, Lambertville, and Freehold. The gallant old colonel of the New Jersey Seventh was determined that the. Marylanders should have a hospitable reception, and ordered his command to parade in their honor. The Daily Monitor, of Elizabeth, said editorially : " The Fifth Maryland is one of the best regiments in the country, composed of Baltimore's sterling men-brave men, who during the war either wore the blue or the gray, and are not ashamed of it." On July 14 the Governor of New Jersey, Hon. Joel Parker, through his Adjutant-general, Wm. S. Stryker, accorded the Fifth the formal permission to enter that State. The New Jersey Gov- ernor also accepted readily the cordial invitation extended by Colonel Jenkins to visit the camp and receive the regiment's hospitality and attentions. Governor Dix, of New York, was given a similar invita- tion, but he was unable to accept it. Quartermaster-Sergeant R. J. Miller was one of the busiest men among those who had preparatory work to do.
The armory was as lively as a bee-hive on the afternoon of July 21, the day on which the Fifth left for Long Branch. The present band of the Fifth was not then organized, and the Marine Band had been engaged to accompany the regiment and act as the regimental band during the encampment. The musicians arrived at Camden Station at 5 P. M. on the day of the Fifth's departure, and were met by Captain Colston, chairman of the music committee. At the armory they played a number of selections of operatic music in the artistic manner for which the band was as celebrated then as now. To this little concert, besides the soldiers, only the honorary members, ladies, and those invited by members were admitted. Up to the time set for leaving .the armory, Drum-Major G. Bruce Barrett, since deceased, kept exercising his drum-corps. At 6 o'clock the ten companies formed in line on the main floor of the armory, and the men were exercised in a final drill. Then the roll was called, and three hundred and fifty men answered their names. When Colonel J. Stricker Jenkins and his staff appeared there was a burst of
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applause. The colonel made an address to the men, reminding them that the good name of their State was in their hands, and that they were about to visit a place where crack military organizations were not a rarity, and where the keenest criticism might be expected.
The regiment left Baltimore with 369 men in all, and turned out 327 muskets, being commanded as follows :
Field .- Colonel, J. Stricker Jenkins ; Lieutenant-Colonel, Henry D. Loney ; Major, George R. Gaither.
Staff .- Thomas A. Symington, First Lieutenant, Brevet Captain and Adjutant; Edward F. Pontier, First Lieutenant, Brevet Lieuten- ant-Colonel and Quartermaster ; Edward C. Johnson, First Lieuten- ant and Commissary ; Alan P. Smith, Major and Surgeon ; Frederick M. Colston, First Lieutenant and Paymaster; Wm. H. Crim, First Lieutenant and Assistant Surgeon; Fitzhugh Goldsborough, First Lieutenant and Ordnance Officer.
Non-Commissioned Staff .- Robt. H. Millikin, Sergeant-Major; Robt. J. Miller, Quartermaster-Sergeant; F. W. Hoyt, Hospital Steward ; Wm. R. Sherwood, Commissary-Sergeant.
Company A .- Captain J. Mason Jamison, Second Lieutenant T. N. Conrad.
Company B .- Captain John D. Lipscomb, First Lieutenant James Young.
Company C .- Captain Robt. P. Brown, First Lieutenant Peter Forney Spear, Second Lieutenant Wm. H. Rogers.
Company D .- Captain Thomas B. Clark, First Lieutenant James M. Brown, Second Lieutenant Chas. Hatter.
Company E .- Captain Otis Keilholtz, First Lieutenant H. F. Turner, Second Lieutenant John H. Katzenberger.
Company F .- First Lieutenant W. S. Anderson.
Company G .- Captain Chas. H. Reeves, Second Lieutenant Samuel E. Hooper.
Company H .- Captain Wm. P. Zollinger, Second Lieutenant Chas. F. Albers.
Company I .- Captain John W. Torsch, Second Lieutenant Geo. S. Roberts.
Company K .- Captain John E. H. Post, First Lieutenant R. E. Cleary, Second Lieutenant F. Reuter.
A rainy evening did not prevent a crowd from gathering at the President Street Depot when the regiment appeared there. At eight o'clock the special train bearing the soldiers moved out of the station.
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The trip was a night ride, and rain was falling, but the passage was not entirely without incidents. As the train sped past the Back River station, the Fifth obtained one glance of an illumination in honor of the regiment, more particularly of Company G, at the Bow- man summer boarding-house, where that company had many per- sonal friends. Wilmington was reached a half-hour before midnight, and the train was greeted with a round of cheers. It had been thought at first that a march through the streets of Philadelphia -deserted when the regiment arrived there-would be necessary, but through the courtesy of the railroad officials, the regiment moved around the city without change of cars, and at half-past two o'clock in the morning the regiment was on New Jersey soil. A summer morning was beginning to glow when the train reached Long Branch. The chief hotels are on Ocean Avenue, and the camp was situated on a fine smooth field, bounded on one side by that thoroughfare, and near the railroad station. The land was part of an estate owned by Jay Gould, and adjoined the summer residence of Maggie Mitchell. The tents were arranged according to approved regulations. They were pitched in columns of division, the tents of each column facing each other in two lines.
Upon reaching the camp-ground at five o'clock in the morning, the men formed on the color-front, when the number of men required for guard duty and other camp details was announced by Col. Jenkins, through the adjutant. Then the first sergeants having warned the detailed men of their duties, the officer of the day sent the men of the guard to their posts. The colors were planted, arms were stacked, and life at Camp Monmouth had commenced. As the guests of the regiment, Adjutant-General Bond and Lieutenant Muse, of the United States Marine Corps, in charge of the Marine Band, accom- panied the Fifth from Baltimore. Breakfast was taken at Leland's Ocean House, and while the men were in the dining-room the Marine . Band gave a pleasing little concert. Dress-parade came after break- fast, and it was an exhibition of discipline and soldierly bearing with which the spectators, accustomed as they were to parades of military, were delighted. An invitation from Mr. Charles Duffy, of the Stockton Hotel, Cape May, to visit that place before going home, was received and accepted, and a committee from the New York Seventh came into camp to offer the Fifth an escort and a reception.
Friday, the second day in camp, was one of interest to every sec- tion. The grand dress-parade and review by President Grant took
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place late in the afternoon, followed by the ball at the Ocean House in the evening. At six o'clock the magnificent thoroughfare of Ocean Avenue presented a brilliant spectacle. Throughout its entire length the street was lined with elegant carriages. While the dis- tinguished gathering was waiting, President Grant arrived in a carriage furnished by Colonel Blanchard, of Governor Dix's staff, accompanied by Adjutant-General Bond, Quartermaster Pontier, and Commissary Johnson. The President met the members of Gov- ernor Dix's staff, and was escorted to the reviewing stand. A few minutes later the roll of the Fifth's drums was heard, and then the regiment came in sight, marching past the stand and up the avenue as far as the West End Hotel. Then the command returned to the Ocean House and held the dress-parade. As the President watched the regiment go through the manual, he said, "Those men have handled muskets before," the highest praise which that man of silence would have been apt to accord to the best battalion that ever wore uniform.
Some of the officers of the Seventh New York Regiment, who were on the ground, eulogized the appearance and drilling of the men in the highest terms. Governor Groome, of Maryland, and party arrived just before the parade ended. The committee of arrangements consisted of Commodore Purviance, U. S. N., of Baltimore ; Commodore Edward Donaldson, U. S. N .; Governor Joel Parker, of New Jersey; Vice-Admiral S. C. Rowan, U. S. N. ; George W. Childs, of Philadelphia ; General Winfield S. Hancock, U. S. A., of New York; General Rufus Ingalls, U. S. A., of New York; Hon. O. H. Tobey, of Chicago ; Daniel Drew, of New York ; Charles A. Osborne, of New York ; Edward F. Guy, Hon. Thomas Swann, of Maryland ; Rear-Admiral Roger Stemble, U. S. N .; Gen- eral Babcock, of Long Branch; Colonel Emmons Clarke, of the New York Seventh; Hon. S. Teackle Wallis, Judge Dobbin, and William H. Burns, of Baltimore; Governor Groome, of Maryland, and Governor Hartranft, of Pennsylvania. Governor Dix was repre- sented by Generals Morris, Knox, Dunn and Heath, and Colonel Blanchard, all members of his staff. President Grant was one of the patrons of the ball.
The Fifth gave a delightful german at the West End Hotel on Friday evening (July 24). Captain Goldsborough led the german with Miss Watkins, of New York. At this ball Quartermaster Pontier wore for the first time the beautiful baldric of blue and gold
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presented to him by New York friends in honor of his elevation to the rank of brevet lieutenant-colonel. Like all the other social events at Long Branch in which the regiment took part that year, the ball was a great success in point of numbers and brilliant in the importance of the dancers. During the next two days crowds of people poured into Long Branch from New York and Baltimore especially. An excursion party of three hundred, by a special train, arrived from Baltimore on Sunday morning, and with them were two officers and twenty-seven men belonging to the Fifth. Before the arrival of the regiment the Long Branch hotels had been comparatively vacant, but with the coming of the soldier boys large numbers of other persons began to appear at the hotels. The Seventh New Jersey Regiment encamped near the Baltimore military, and added another attraction. The review held by Governor Groome at the Fifth's camp-ground was a grand spectacle. General Patterson, one of the Fifth's best friends, was also a visitor at Camp Monmouth at the time. In spite of his eighty-one years, the old soldier was still hale and active. Governor Groome was accompanied by General F. C. Latrobe, General C. P. Montague, General R. H. Carr, Colonel W. McWilliams, Colonel Lemuel Shewell, and Dr. C. W. Chancellor.
Tuesday, July 28, was one of the red-letter days. It was then that the regiment paid its visit to the field of the battle of Monmouth and to the town of Freehold, once called Monmouth Court House, and upwards of twenty thousand people assembled in Freehold to see the regiment of which they had heard so much. News had been received that the armory of the Seventh New York Regiment had just been partly destroyed by fire, and the disaster was regretted almost as a general misfortune. On the day before the visit to Mon- mouth battle-field there had been a review by Governor Parker, who remarked on this occasion, as many had remarked often before, the entire absence of disorder from the conduct of the men of the regiment, whether on duty or not. The train for Monmouth station left Long Branch at 8.30 o'clock in the morning, and at that point the Fifth was met by Governor Parker and his staff. Then the cars conveyed the soldiers two miles farther to the scene of the battle, where the regiment alighted and formed in an apple orchard near the line of the bush fence, once an important landmark of the place. Here the battle of Monmouth raged most fiercely, and here three hundred of the men who were killed on that memorable day lie buried. After the regi- / ment had stacked arms, the men crowded under the apple trees,
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