USA > Rhode Island > History of the Ninth and Tenth Regiments Rhode Island Volunteers, and the Tenth Rhode Island Battery, in the Union Army in 1862 > Part 1
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M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
Gc
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00822 4864
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HISTORY
9th
OF THE
10th
NINTH AND TENTH
REGIMENTS
RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS,
AND THE
Tenth Rhode Island Battery,
IN THE UNION ARMY IN 1862. Bij William arnold Spicer
PROVIDENCE :
SNOW & FARNHAM, PRINTERS,
1892.
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840
1763008
.........
.
F 8349 .9064
(Spicer, William Arnold, 1845-1913.
History of the Ninth and Tenth regiments Rhode Island volunteers, and the Tenth Rhode Island battery, in the Union army in 1862. Providence, Snow & Farnham, printers, 1892. 3 p. 1., 5-415 p. front., illus. 23cm. Author's name on cover and half-title.
1. Rhode Island Infantry. Oth regt., 1862. 2. Rhode Island Infantry. 10th regt., 1802. 3. Rhode Island artillery. 10th battery, 1862. 4. U. S .- Hist .- Civil war-Regimental histories-R. I. inf .- 9th. 5. U. S .- Hist .- Civil war-Regimental historiey-R. 1. inf .- 10th. 6. U. S .- Hist .- Civil war-Regimental histories-R. I. art .- 10th battery. L Title.
2-10021
Library of Congress
E528.5.9th
197744 ...
1 .
1
RIVolu
A LETTER FROM CHAPLAIN CLAPP.
THE following letter from Chaplain Clapp, of the Tenth, has been received since the completion of the history. On account of its general interest to the comrades, it is printed in this separate form to accompany the book.
NEW YORK, December 15, 1893. MY DEAR SPICER :
I greatly rejoice in the new proof of their good sense which our comrades of " the Ninth and Tenth Rhode Island " have shown in selecting you as their his- torian, to make lasting record of our varied experiences in the days of the Re- bellion. A glance, which you have kindly allowed me, at the proof sheets of your volume, more than satisfies, -it delights mne, with the taste, discrimination, and truthfulness with which you have executed your delicate task. That you deserve well of us all, I know from personal observation, so far as your story of the campaign of the Tenth and our companion battery is concerned, and I cannot doubt your equal faithfulness in what you have said of our sister regiment. The record is an honorable one. True, we whose service was limited to that campaign cannot claim to be survivors of bloody battlefields. We have no scars to show in token of the sharpness of rebel sabres or the true aim of rebel rifles. We may not in old age shoulder our crutches and show how fields were won, but " the boys " whose loyalty you so well commemorate, did faithfully the one work to which they were so suddenly called in that serious emergency. They defended the capital from threatened invasion at a most critical time. They prevented the execution of a rebel plan, the carrying out of which by the enemy would have been disastrous in the extreme; and when unexpectededly ordered to the front for closer and more deadly contact with the foe, not a man of our inexperienced and comparatively untrained force held back. Not one grudged the discomfort of that weary march to " Seminary Hill," which gave us
the privilege of facing the Marshall House, and in loving memory of the " gallant Ellsworth," singing with a vim not often put into the words :
"Down where the patriot army by Potomac's side."
And following it with :
"John Brown's body lies a'mouldering in the grave, . But his soul is marching on."
Had not superior military wisdom returned us to our forts and batteries near Washington, and sent toward Richmond better seasoned men in our stead, the Rhode Island boys would have gone into battle with a courage and efficiency , not inferior to those of the bravest whose names are enrolled as having deserved well of their country. This is proved beyond dispute by the careers of many officers and men, who, after honorable discharge from the Ninth and Tenth, enlisted in other regiments and served to the end of the war, or till they were called up higher to receive the recompense of the loyal and the brave.
You have wisely given prominence to the bright side of the picture, but it need not be said that there were many serious hours in our three months' cam- paigning - hours spent in hospital tents beside sick comrades, several of whom came near to death, but were mercifully restored - thanks to the Great Physician, and to the marked skill and care of our worthy surgeon. Alas, that it did not avail to keep back from the grave the brave and youthful Atwood, Meggett, and Walker, whose memory your volume so faithfully embalms, and whose brightest record is on high. My own memory brings back also many hours spent with Rhode Island's wounded boys from other regiments, whom frequent inquiries brought to light in the various hospitals in Washington, and whom it was a melancholy pleasure to serve by communicating with their parents, wives, or other friends at home. Last of all shall I ever forget that long anxious homeward ride with our uncomplaining sick, on couches extemporized from unscrewed backs of car seats - patient sufferers whom it was an in- describable relief to hand over to the care of their loved ones at home.
Serious also, but to me most pleasant, were the daily seasons of Scripture reading, prayer and song, at headquarters, and the Sabbath services held there, and at as many of the forts and batteries as could be reached on the back of " Fanny," the chaplain's mare. Many a brief informal address delivered from her saddle was most respectfully listened to by "the boys," drawn up in a hollow square, and headed by the officer in charge. Not one unpleasant in- cident, not even a look of disrespect marred those hours of worship. A some- what wide observation convinced me that those regiments were very rare in which were enrolled so many cultured, self-respecting gentlemen, as were found among the officers and privates of the Ninth and Tenth Rhode Island.
Colonels Bliss, Shaw and Hale; Surgeon Wilcox; Adjutants Thurston and Tobey; Quartermasters Armington and DeWolf; Captain Elisha Dyer, Ex. Governor of our State, and eminent in all civil, educational, social and religious circles ; and scarcely less known in City and State, the entire list of
captains whose companies numbered men eminent in professional life, with college graduates and undergraduates, many of whom now adorn high posts of honor -have we not just occasion to be proud of them?
Never will the writer forget his first introduction to the genial Colonel Bliss, whom he had not the good fortune to know before meeting him at Camp Frieze. Governor Dyer led the humble chaplain, verdant enough in all military matters, up to the stalwart soldier, saying: " Colonel, I bring to your acquaintance my friend, Rev. Mr. Clapp, our chaplain, whom you will be glad to know." " Well," said the colonel, his face wreathed in smiles, " I've been twelve years in the army and you are the first chaplain I ever had about me. I don't know what to do with you." " Never mind," was the reply, " You'll soon learn ; we shall be the best friends in the regiment, and you'll not know how in the world you ever got along without one." "Good !" said the colonel; " Here, sergeant, put up the chaplain's tent next to mine; and, chaplain, I want you to come into my mess." Into that tent and mess the chaplain went; the friendships formed there with the staff largely helped him in bringing good influences upon the young and inexperienced in the ranks, and have been matter for pleasant memories in the years that have since rolled by.
If this note were not already too long, I would like to tell our comrades of an incident that befell their chaplain on a hot, pitchy dark Sunday night, between nine and ten o'clock, on the way back from Battery Vermont to Fort Pennsyl- vania. Unable to see a yard ahead your chaplain laid the reins upon Fanny's neck, and thinking of his home and parish, had, without knowing it, reached the front of Secretary Stanton's house ; just then, on account of repeated rebel threats (but without our knowledge), guarded by a detail of troops. Suddenly, hoarsely sounded in the chaplain's ear, from a mounted soldier at his side, till then unseen and unheard, "Halt! Who goes there?" "Friend, with the countersign," was answered with a trembling voice. "Advance, friend, and give the countersign." The countersign was whispered. "The countersign is' wrong. Come with me to the captain of the guard." For a few minutes the chaplain believed himself to be in rebel hands, but reined faithful Fanny up at the guard tent. In answer to the captain's questions, he gave his name and "pedigree " as chaplain of the Tenth Rhode Island Volunteers, and in proof thereof, produced from his pockets a handful of letters so addressed. Searching the chaplain's face by a lantern's light, the captain allowed that it didn't have a rebel look - but the wrong countersign, how was that? At length it dawned upon the captain's mind. "Oh, the Tenth Rhode Island boys are not in our division, and their countersign is not ours ! You may pass on, sir!" And the chaplain did pass on with a far lighter heart then he had known for half an hour or more.
You know that unfortunately the duties of my position here, since 1865 have kept me from meeting with the survivors of the Tenth in their annual reunions- a deprivation which I have most deeply regretted. Had I been permitted to be with you, I think I should have earlier made a confession of an alleged violation
of my country's laws of which the boys of the Tenth would never have suspected their chaplain, and of a sacrifice in behalf of the United States Treasury for which he has never had due credit. A private of the Ninth, after that regiment had gone over the east fork of the Potomac, being seriously ill, sent word of his desire to see his friend, the chaplain of the Tenth. "Fanny " took the chaplain and mail in the mail wagon to the capital, where it seemed best to let her rest for a few hours before going back to Tennallytown. So the chaplain foraged for " a good and fast saddle horse," but the stable keeper said he could furnish only a small. pacing mare, " gentle and easy-going," he said, "but unable to make more than six miles an hour at her best." The chaplain mounted, and the little creature ambled quietly along Pennsylvania avenue ou our errand of mercy. Presently a loud peremptory shout was heard from the rear, but attracted little notice. It was heard again and shortly again, but without a thought that it was meant for the innocent chaplain, till a big, rough, mounted policeman came alongside, grabbed the pacer's rein, and, in a wrathful voice, asked : " Why didn't you stop when I challenged you?" Confession of ignorance as to the meaning of the shouts was humbly made, but the officer growled : " Come along with me." And sure enough, the chaplain was haled before a police justice and accused of fast driving in the streets of Washington, contrary to the laws of that great city. The chaplain told the judge his story, rehearsing with affecting sincerity the words of the pacer's owner as to the six-mile-an-hour limit of her speed. Begging to be allowed to go to his sick friend in the Ninth's camp, he was finally allowed to do so; on his pledging his word to present himself at the court on his return. He did so present himself, bringing along the stable keeper, who retold the story of the pacer's six-mile limit. But all would not avail. The treasury was at a low ebb, the policeman was angry, and a strong swearer, and the justice thought that "a fine of five dollars would be about right!" It was paid, and the sacred streets of the capital were avenged for having resounded to the rattling feet of a pacer rushing along their surface at the rate of six miles an hour !
When you meet ag in our comrades you may tell them the story, which for obvious reasons I kept from them in camp. They may smile at it now as long and as loudly as they choose.
And do not fail to assure them of my sincere regard, my gratitude that I was allowed to share with them our brief campaign, my lasting memory of their many kindnesses, and my earnest prayers for their best welfare here and for their final blessedness in the eternal Kingdom of the Prince of Peace.
Always cordially yours,
A. HUNTINGTON CLAPP.
LONG BRIDGE IN 1862 .- Examining a. Pass.
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COPYRIGHTED, 1892.
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1733 32
1
RHODE ISLAND
Ninth and Tenth Regiments, AND
TENTH BATTERY.
WILLIAM A. SPICER, Co. B, Tenth R. I. Vols.
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CONTENTS.
PAGES.
INTRODUCTION
5
PRELIMINARY CHAPTERS :
THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS .
9
THE COLLEGE BOYS OF " BROWN "
21 .
THE RHODE ISLAND NATIONAL GUARD 37
THE CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS IN MAY, 1862 63
THE NINTH RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS 67
THE TENTH RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS 121
THE TENTH LIGHT BATTERY RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS 317
REUNIONS OF THE NINTH AND TENTH RHODE ISLAND VETERAN ASSOCIATIONS, ·
331, 339
ROSTER OF NINTH AND TENTH RHODE ISLAND REGIMENTS AND TENTH BATTERY
361, 385
RESOLUTIONS
414-415
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INTRODUCTION.
“N EVER in all history was so wonderful a scene as the sud- den uprising of our people, and their quiet return to the pursuits of peace. We can only liken it to the poetic description of Sir Walter Scott, in the Lady of the Lake, when Roderick gives the shrill whistle through the copse and heath, that summons his men before the face of Fitz James.
' That whistle garrisoned the glen At once with full five hundred men, As if the yawning hill to heaven A subterranean host had given.'
"Then after his purpose was fulfilled, he bids them return again as silently as they had come.
' Short space he stood, then waved his hand, Down sank the disappearing band. It seemed as if their mother earth Had swallowed up her warlike birth.'
"In our land, not hundreds, but thousands and millions sprang to the call of liberty, and when their service was ended, after many of their comrades had perished on the field of honor, the survivors returned as quietly to the employments of peace and the delights of home." -Rev. James G. Vose, D. D.
6
INTRODUCTION.
Various veteran associations are wisely engaged in making a record of the personal experiences of their members in the War for the Union. Doubtless it will prove a most valuable and au- thentic record, and to it in generations to come, the historian will resort for the substance of his judgments.
The preparation of this book was undertaken at the unanimous request of the members of the Tenth Rhode Island Volunteers and Battery Association, at its thirtieth annual reunion, May 26, 1892.
Though the work assigned the Committee was entered upon with some reluctance, on account of business and professional duties, it has brought its own reward in the joy of living over old times again, and the days of youthful vigor, when at a moment's warning, we put on uniform and hurried to the defence of the capital.
This record professes to be, not a treatise on the war, but a modest, and we trust, truthful narrative of scenes and incidents of our three months' campaign in 1862, with such a description of the military situation in Virginia, as will enable the reader to form a correct estimate of the services rendered. Diligent inquiry has been made among the members for old letters, diaries and sketches, and one of the Committee, Comrade William A. Spicer, has consented to arrange the material collected and edit the history.
The Committee realize that the War for the Union is long since over, and that the years of peace and progress which have followed have made it only a memory. They still feel, however, that the rising generations which have grown up since the war, should become familiar with its history, and read enough of the details, to
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INTRODUCTION.
know in what spirit it was carried on, and what of valor and devo- tion to country is still in our educated American youth.
"Prior to the late Rebellion," said Gen. Horatio Rogers, him- self a gallant soldier, and an honored justice of the Supreme Court of our State, "it was a matter of speculation among us whether if opportunity offered, the young men of this generation would emulate the heroism of their patriotic ancestors. In those tranquil times, and to our inexperienced minds, the history of the great struggle for National Independence seemed like a romance. Our civil war has at length solved the problem, and has proved that devotion to country has not withered in the hearts of
American youth." And to-day, as we behold with patriotic pride our country's flag proudly floating over our public schools and colleges, we feel that it has a new meaning of freedom and bless- ing for this generation and the generations to come.
Certainly no class of our citizens exhibited a purer patriotism during the war, than the members of our high schools and colleges, and as a considerable part of the good material of the Ninth and Tenth Regiments and Battery, was drawn from the Providence High School and Brown University, we will introduce this history with brief sketches of those institutions at the time of the war of the Rebellion.
ALBERT J. MANCHESTER, Tenth R. I. Vols. WILLIAM A. SPICER,
WILLIAM A. H. GRANT, H. H. RICHARDSON, Ninth
.. Historical Committee.
P. B. STINESS, Tenth R. I. Batt.
PROVIDENCE, July 4, 1892.
n
THE WOM
THE HIGH SCHOOL IN 1862.
THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS
OF PROVIDENCE.
" We are the boys, the gay old boys, Who marched in sixty-one, We'll ne'er forget old times, my boys, When you and I were young." - Old song.
O UR school days were cast in eventful times. Some of the Providence boys who met thirty years ago in the old High School on Benefit Street, can hardly have forgotten the stirring events which preceded the war, and the memorable presi- dential campaign of 1860. Joining the Lincoln wide awake army, they proudly shouldered their torches and marched on to victory, little heeding the threatening clouds of secession gathering in the Southern horizon. How few then, North or South, young or old, realized the nearness of the whirlwind of civil war, which was soon to burst forth and rage for four long years, carrying desolation into almost every family in the land. A struggle which killed six hundred thousand, and permanently disabled a million young men. But it abolished state rights and slavery, the causes of the conflict, and settled finally the great principle declared by Web- ster, that the Union is " now and forever, one and inseparable."
The first gun fired on Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861, aroused and excited the nation. President Lincoln at once called for 75,000 men. Rhode Island was ready, and looked to General Burnside
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THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS
for a leader. The ladies met in the church vestries and made uniforms for the volunteers. All classes were united in the deter- mination to vindicate the honor of our flag. The excitement was fully shared, if not increased, by the High School boys. Every one was expected to show his colors, and it was voted to purchase and raise the national flag over the High School building. Hear- ing that the college boys were about to unfurl the "stars and stripes " over University Hall (where, eighty-eight years before, the old Revolutionary flag had floated), it was determined to anti- cipate them, if possible. Wednesday afternoon, April 17th, at five o'clock, being the time appointed for the exercises at the col- lege, the following High School announcement appeared in the Journal of that day : "The 'stars and stripes ' will be raised this afternoon over the High School, at half past four!" But the boys were finally induced to defer their public demonstration till the following morning, though they couldn't refrain from in- dulging in a little informal flag-raising at the hour first announced, thus securing the desired priority, and the following notice from the Evening Press : "High School Patriotism .- A splendid na- tional flag, purchased by the subscription of over one hundred High School boys, was displayed from the High School building, this afternoon !" The formal exercises were of a most interest- ing character. At eleven o'clock, in the presence of teachers, scholars, citizens, and soldiers, who were about leaving for the war, the boys raised the flag, followed by the singing of the "Star Spangled Banner." The young ladies of the school carried small national flags. Mayor Knight delivered a brief opening address, and introduced Professor Chace, of Brown University,
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OF PROVIDENCE.
who. responded with scholarly and patriotic sentiments. Bishop Clark related an anecdote of his great grandfather, who, after-the battle of Bunker Hill, was obliged to sleep in a baker's oven, and added, "I am glad that he did not get baked, else I should not have been here to-day to address you !" and turning to the " Ma- rines," who were soon to leave for Washington, with the First Rhode Island Regiment, he said, " some of you may have to sleep in a baker's oven before you get back, but I hope you will not get baked, but come home well bre(a)d men as you now are." They were indeed soon tried in the fiery furnace of Bull Run, and some never returned. Ex-Mayor Rodman, in his pleasant man- ner, referred to a conversation between Gen. Nathanael Greene and his mother, during the Revolution, in which she cautioned him "not to get shot in the back!" Dr. Caldwell made an im- pressive closing address, then "America" was heartily sung, followed by cheers for "the Union," "the young ladies of the High School," "Governor Sprague," the "First Regiment," and the "Marines." "Fifteen cheers and a Narragansett " were given by the boys for a dispatch, read by Bishop Clark, that Virginia had decided not to secede. But they found out, a few days later, that they had wasted their ammunition on the "Old Dominion."
It was now apparent that there was sufficient military spirit to warrant the formation of a High School company. A meeting was held in the hall, at which a committee of arrangements was appointed, who "pushed things," and in a few weeks the boys fell into line under the name of the "Ellsworth Phalanx," in honor of the youthful and gallant commander of the New York Zouaves. He had been shot at Alexandria, Va., a few weeks before (May
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اللعبة ونا
I2
THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS
24th), while engaged in lowering a rebel flag from a hotel in that city. How it would have startled the members of the " Ellsworth Phalanx," could they have known that the next year, some of their number would be marching through that same rebellious city, and by the very hotel where Ellsworth fell! Yet so it proved, and as they marched, they sung the stirring strains of "Ellsworth's Avengers," quickly followed by that grand old marching song,
" John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave But his soul is marching on !"
The beautiful standard of colors presented to the Phalanx, was the gift of the young ladies of the High School .* Daniel W. Lyman, who was afterwards senator in the General Assembly, was chosen captain. The company averaged from seventy to eighty boys, according to the pressure of study at the High School. By an arrangement with the United Train of Artillery, their armory on Canal street became the headquarters of the corps, and under the direction of the veteran Col. Westcott Handy, of the Old Guard Continentals, it soon attained a creditable degree of pro- ficiency.
The discipline was strict, and there was no levity, the boys thought, about the hot and hard marching. But who can forget those refreshing seasons after the long and toilsome drill or street parade, when good Colonel Handy marched us through his herb beer establishment, near the Great Bridge, and treated one and all, to a large glass of his celebrated beer, "compounded strictly from medicinal roots and herbs." May his memory ever remain
* This flag may still be seen at the High School on Summer Street.
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OF PROVIDENCE.
as fragrant as his beer! What wonder that the corps rapidly advanced in discipline and spirits and soon attracted not a little public attention for its steady and soldierly bearing- on parade. It was altogether, the boys thought, very serious business, but the discipline did much doubtless in kindling a warmer ardor of patriotism, and a stronger devotion to duty. An indulgent critic says, "that in point of marching, with all the legs going together, twisting itself up and untwisting, breaking into single file (for Indian fighting), forming platoons and wheeling with faultless line around the corner of North Main Street and Market Square ; getting out of the way of a wagon or omnibus, and circling the High Street liberty pole and town pump; with ranks well dressed, and eyes 'right and left,' particularly in going by the High School, it was the equal of any military organization I ever saw."
It is needless for the writer to add that he was an ardent mem- ber of the "Phalanx," rising steadily from the grade of " private " to the rank of "corporal." Winning at the "target-shoot " the bright cockade of red, white and blue ribbons, to be worn ón bayonet on parade, for making the lucky shot at two hundred yards. It was generally admitted that the " Phalanx" could drill better and execute the Zouave manœuvres in finer style than some of the older military companies. The exhibition drills of the corps, and the brilliant evening assemblies, with Lyman "potent to preside," will be pleasantly recalled. How they enlivened the long winter evenings of '61 !
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