USA > Rhode Island > Memoirs of Rhode Island officers who were engaged in the service of their country during the great rebellion of the South. Illustrated with thirty-four portraits > Part 13
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At the call of his country, he, with the Pawtucket Light Guard, of which he was then ensign, joined the first regiment of Rhode Island volunteers, and proceeded to Washington. This regiment was one of the first three regi- ments that reached our national capital for its defence. Here he had the confidence and regard of his superiors, and the respect and love of the common soldiers.
A night service-secret, important, and perilous-was to be performed on the banks of the Potomac. Our young hero was selected from the whole regiment for this service. With a few soldiers under his command, he performed it successfully and safely. He shrank from no service, however arduous or dangerous. Inspired by a sense of duty and feelings of the noblest patriotic devotion, where military obedience called, thither he went.
He was soon recalled by the military authorities to his own town and state, to assume the captaincy of a company in the second Rhode Island regiment ; which he did, and returned to Washington.
On the 21st of July, 1861, he led his company to the battle-field, engaged in the fierce and terrible conflict, and fell a martyr to his country. A noble sacrifice, and worthy the cause! The last words that fell from his lips were addressed to his fellow-soldiers-" Go in boys!"
The last days of his life were unusually serious, prayerful and devout. In his letters to the loved ones at home, his earnest request was-"Pray for me." The evening previous to the battle in which he fell, he spent in a prayer meeting, and took a part in the services.
Wrapped in his military blanket, he was buried near the field of battle. A private, Joseph Barnes, a member of his company, moved by feelings of love for his commander, took of his small funds the sum of two dollars to have his body decently interred. Let his name be remembered in gratitude forever by the friends of Tower.
SAMUEL JAMES SMITH.
APTAIN SAMUEL JAMES SMITH was born in Seekonk, Massachusetts, on the 14th of February, 1836. He was one of a family of nine children. His father, Samuel Smith, a farmer in moderate circumstances, held a com- mission as lieutenant in the first regiment, second brigade, fifth division light infantry, in the war of 1812, and was afterwards promoted to a captaincy. The grandfather of the subject of this sketch, Joshua Smith, was in the service during the revolutionary war. He was taken prisoner, and was not heard from until six years afterwards.
After the death of his father, James, at the age of thirteen, was placed at the seminary in Seekonk, where he was a pupil for two years. He was then sent to Thetford Academy, Vermont, for one year, and, on his return, entered the employ of Joseph Balch & Son, druggists, of Providence, with whom he continued for about five years, removing, at the end of that time, to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where he commenced business as an apothe- cary. Here he resided until he entered the service of the United States, June 6th, 1861.
When in Providence, Mr. Smith became a member of the Providence Cadets, a company forming part of the independent military organization of the state. In this company he received his first instruction in the drill, disci- pline and duties of the soldier, qualifying himself for the commission of first- lieutenant, which he received in the Woonsocket Guards on his removal to that place. Of this company he continued a member until his death. He was also a member of the Masonic fraternity.
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In December, 1856, he married Miss Harriet B. Mason, of Providence, who survives him. He left no child to mourn his loss, or to be encouraged by his example.
When the first call for the three years' men was made, he gave his time and talents to the service, and was mainly instrumental in enlisting company I, of the second regiment, and on receiving the unanimous voice of the com- pany for the captaincy, he left his business in the care of others, and devoted himself to the duties of his position.
The history of the gallant second regiment prior to and including the battle of Bull Run, July 21st, 1861, forms the history of the subject of this sketch. On that memorable day, he with many others dear to Rhode Island, offered his life as a sacrifice at the altar of his country, and fell, penetrated by a six-pound shot from a battery.
In all the relations of life, as husband, son, brother, friend and citizen, Captain Smith had borne a character which was unimpeachable. As an officer, he was gentlemanly in his deportment, of unswerving impartiality, and earnestly desirous of promoting the physical and moral welfare of the men under his command. By them his loss was deeply lamented, for they felt that with his death they had lost a warm friend. In his first and only conflict, he bore himself with unfaltering courage, and sealed his vows of patriotism with his blood.
HENRY A. PRESCOTT.
MONG the thousands who, in the late war, have laid down their lives for their country, there have been various distinguishing characteristics. It is as the Christian soldier, that the subject of the present sketch is to be remembered. Engaged in a prosperous business, surrounded by a numerous family, to which he was devotedly attached, utterly destitute of military ambition, nothing but an imperative sense of duty could have induced him to leave all that he so much valued. Not rashly, but with a full appre- ciation of the perils to which he went, and with the foreboding presentiment that he would not escape them, he yet freely offered himself when the con- stituted authorities of his country called for his service. Nor did he seek for himself a high position, but, putting aside a proposal to place him in an hon- orable and safe position in the commissariat department, he buckled on his lieutenant's sword, and went forth to danger and to death.
The record of his life is brief and void of incident. His death entitles him to remembrance, and places him in the number of those whose memory we should cherish, and whose virtues we ought to imitate.
HENRY ALLEN PRESCOTT was born November 10th, 1823, in Littleton, Massachusetts. He was the second child and only son of Isaiah Prescott, and lineally descended from John Prescott, an emigrant from England in 1640, of whom many anecdotes are traditionally preserved, and who is com- memorated in the charming biography of his illustrious descendant, the his- torian of Mexico and Peru. On the death of Isaiah Prescott, in 1827, his widow removed with her young family to Lowell, where the boyhood of Henry was passed. He attended the public schools of Lowell, first the gram-
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mar and then the high school. He was a boy of good parts, but his love of play prevented his ever taking high rank at school. Though not inclined to apply himself closely to study, he was very fond of reading, and few business men are better read in the higher English literature. The plays of Shak- speare were a favorite study, and during his last three months at Washington, he sent home for a copy of that author, which he read in his tent with his captain, afterwards colonel, Nathaniel W. Brown.
He was a boy of affectionate disposition and of joyous temperament, with a great fondness for wit and humor, and a keen sense of the ridiculous, gene- rous and full of contempt for every kind of meanness, at the same time diffi- dent and shy of putting himself forward. The integrity and uprightness which were characteristic of his matured and manly character, were but the ripe fruits of the germs of good always observable in him from his earliest years. With revolutionary blood in his veins, his maternal grandfather hav- ing been in the army of the Revolution, proud of being able to trace his relationship though distant, with the hero of Bunker Hill, he was from child- hood imbued with the spirit of patriotism. He was fond of military spectacles and of the plays that imitated them, and his father who died before Henry was three years of age, used to say that he would be a soldier.
Left dependent upon the exertions of his widowed mother, he early undertook his own support. After serving for a few years as clerk in Lowell and Salem, he established himself in business in Saco, Maine, about the time he came of age. He remained there a few years, and, in 1850, removed to Providence. This was the home of his affections. But a year or two before his death, he was solicited to remove to another city, where prospects of pecuniary advantage were held out to him. But his attachment to Provi- dence was so strong, that he decided to remain there. He was deeply inter- ested in all that concerned the welfare of the city, and ever endeavored to do the duty of a good citizen. From the time he was capable of bearing arms, he was a member of some military organization, and on his removal to Providence, he joined the Light Infantry, of which he was a captain at the time of his death. The Monday evening drill at the armory was almost always attended by him, and he took great pleasure in the monthly meetings of the officers at each other's houses, when Scott's and Hardee's manuals were the topic of the evening.
In the winter of 1857, he became a communicant of Grace Church, and from that time devoted himself to works of charity and religious duty.
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Wishing to divert into these channels the time and money absorbed in his military pursuits, he offered his resignation. It was rejected. Some time afterwards he again resigned his commission, with the same result. In the winter of 1860, he for the third time offered his resignation, determined not to be refused. It had not been acted upon when the news of the fall of Fort Sumter came with the President's call for volunteers. That Monday evening, Governor Sprague visited the drill-room of the Infantry, and made a personal appeal to the corps to volunteer, saying that he relied upon them for two hundred men, two hundred and fifty being the whole number on their rolls. His appeal was successful. The colonel and most of the other officers volun- teered. Captain Prescott rose and said: "I offer myself to go; I feel that my God calls me to this duty. I have no choice ; I must go and do His will." It was no sudden impulse. Through the whole winter, while every one was looking forward with anxiety to the apprehended conflict, he had been considering the subject with reference to his own duty, and the conclusion had been reached. When, therefore, the call of the President came, he had no hesitation, though no man probably offered himself more against his own personal inclination, or from a more self-sacrificing sense of duty. He felt that his previous study and experience were some slight preparation for the duties of war, and that his example would have great influence with the men, who, he could but know, were strongly attached to him. His family, feeling that he must do what he believed to be his duty, and wishing to make that duty as easy as possible to him, acquiesced in his decision without a word of remonstrance. The two hundred privates asked for by Governor Sprague had enlisted, forming two companies of the famous first Rhode Island regiment. To Mr. Prescott was committed the charge of clothing the regiment, and his few remaining hours at home were absorbed in this employment. At this time Bishop Clark, seeing how much his work was wearing upon him, and desiring that he might be spared to the community in which he was so useful, made application to Governor Sprague to put Mr. Prescott in the commissariat, and allow him to remain in Providence. The arrangement would probably have been made, but Mr. Prescott hearing of the application, sent word to the Bishop that he would accept no such position, and would not yield to such an order if he could help it. So unwilling was he to do anything which might tend to damp the enthusiasm of the men, or to withdraw himself from a danger to which others must be exposed. To a relative at a distance he wrote: "As I may not have another opportunity, I write now, assuring you that I go not in my
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own strength, but believing it to be an imperative duty, and that no more just and righteous cause ever engaged the sympathies of the world. I believe this whole secession scheme to be the most utterly wicked and inexcusable iniquity. Our government must be sustained, and I for one, am ready to do my part, praying for strength and courage to Him who ruleth all things in Heaven and earth."
On Saturday, the 20th of April, the first detachment of the regiment left Providence on the steamer Empire State, accompanied to the wharf by crowds of sympathizing friends, who had just before joined with them in a religious service held in Exchange Place. As evening drew on, Mr. Prescott went to the chaplain and suggested to him to have prayers in one of the cabins. It was done, and this evening service of prayer was never afterwards omitted in the regiment. While encamped near Washington, their evening dress parade was a great attraction for visitors from town ; and most impres- sive was the scene, when, at the close of their military evolutions, the regi- ment was closed in mass, and the Lord's prayer audibly repeated by the whole body of men.
From on board this steamer Mr. Prescott wrote: "If you could have seen the enthusiasm at our embarkation, and after we got off; could have seen and heard our men-the determination, the good feeling, the apparent realization of their position, the calm, noble, trusting spirit shown by most of them-you would have been proud to have me with them, as I was proud to be of them."
The progress of this regiment with the few others that first reached the capital, is matter of history; the meeting at Fortress Monroc of the fleet of steamers; the sail up the Chesapeake; the disembarkation at Annapolis; the march to Washington. The night of the 25th was their first bivouac. In a district known to be unfriendly to their presence, there were apprehensions of an attack, and though Mr. Prescott was not detailed for duty, he volun- tarily joined the guard and kept watch all night.
A sad and anxious week succeeded for those who were eagerly looking for news from their loved ones, but at last regular postal communication was reestablished. Mr. Prescott's letters were filled with cheerful accounts of his daily life, and of the events transpiring about him. His patience and cheer- fulness were proverbial in the regiment. ITis devotion to his military duties was an example to all. He very seldom went from camp except on duty, or for the Sunday service at the church of the Epiphany when his duties per-
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mitted. He felt the need of drill and discipline to be so great, that the soldiers might be ready for any emergency, that there seemed to him no time for other things. His cousin, George L. Prescott, the only other man of his family bearing the family name, was stationed at Alexandria as captain in the fifth Massachusetts. But during their stay near Washington they met but once, each of them being so strict in his ideas of military duty, that they remained almost constantly in their respective camps. The night before the battle of Bull Run, they had an interview of half an hour. On the 19th of June, 1864, this cousin, then colonel of the thirty-second Massachusetts, having served through the three years with credit and honor, fell mortally wounded before Petersburg, while bravely leading his regiment.
The Rhode Island regiment was one of the first that reached Washington, and after being quartered for about three weeks in the Patent Office, were removed to huts in the northern part of the city. The change was a grateful one; the advantages of ventilation and superior facilities for drill were fully appreciated.
About this time a movement was made among some of the religious men of the regiment to form a Christian union. There was a strong religious element in the regiment. Every church in Providence was represented ; more than thirty had gone from Grace Church. With the hope of doing something to withstand the deteriorating and immoral influences of camp life, and of exerting a beneficial influence, they combined their efforts. A hut, larger than the others, was erected to serve as a chapel. Books were distributed liberally. Mr. Prescott sent home to Providence for books for distribution, and many gentlemen exerted themselves in collecting them. So many were sent in that it was found difficult to forward them all. How much good was accomplished, will never be known. Some were certainly kept from vice, by the influence of men whom they respected and loved. And, as most of the regiment reënlisted after their three months' service was ended, the deeds of good were carried into many regiments of this and other states. How much of the reputation for steadiness and good soldiership which this regiment enjoyed was due to the influence of these men, who were both good Christians and good and brave soldiers, it is not easy to estimate. With the monotony of camp life diversified and enlivened by these good works, the weeks passed on.
Up to this time, the regiment had seen no service but garrison life, with the exception of their short campaign in Maryland and Pennsylvania,-a part
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of the combined movement to drive the rebels from Harper's Ferry. After their return from this expedition, Mr. Prescott wrote home : "From present appearances, I shall have no very 'moving accidents by flood or field' to relate, our greatest achievements being in the way of forced marches; expect- ing to be engaged with the enemy, but never getting very near to them. However, if the mere approach of our troops has the effect of making them retire, we ought to be thankful that the effusion of blood is spared."
But the time was approaching when their courage was to be put to the proof. Congress had been called together by the President, for the purpose of providing the needful supplies for carrying on the war. Unwilling to leave the conduct of the war in the hands of military men, congressmen and politi- cians had united in a pressure upon the President and General Scott, too strong for their resistance. The order for the advance into Virginia was given, and then commenced the ill-advised and disastrous campaign, which culminated in the fatal battle of Bull Run. On the 16th of July, an army which at that early period of the war seemed immense and invincible, marched over Long Bridge. Some friends of the Rhode Island men who happened to be in Washington, accompanied them across the bridge. Among these were some friends of Mr. Prescott, who thus took their last farewell of him.
Just before leaving Washington he wrote a few cheerful lines to his family, and from Fairfax, a note in pencil, the last words he ever wrote.
His friends believe that he had a strong presentiment that he should not come alive out of the battle, and deeply as his heart yearned to return to his family, and to the rest whom he loved, it is not strange that he should have expressed his thankfulness, when at several times during the three months, his regiment had been spared from the expected engagement with the enemy. But when the time came, no faltering was visible. "On the march he was active, energetic and enduring. On the field he was calm, collected and fear- less, bravely leading the men of his company till struck down by a bullet of "the enemy." It was about eleven o'clock when the first Rhode Island came into action, and shortly after Lieutenant Prescott fell, struck in the forehead by a Minnie ball, which passed through the head. His men, and those of com- pany C gathered round him, and for a few minutes it seemed impossible to rally them; but they soon obeyed the order, and were seen loading their pieces, with the tears running down their cheeks. Some of those nearest him carried him to the rear. He never spoke, but breathed for about a quarter of an hour. Dying while victory seemed perched upon our banners, he never knew how vain was the sacrifice.
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Somewhat later in the day, some of his friends again removed him, carrying him back about half a mile. They laid him under a tree, and made preparations for bringing him away. But while some of them were searching for boards to make a coffin, and others vainly trying to find an ambulance, the news of the retreat reached that part of the field, and failing in their efforts, they were forced to leave him lying there, not far from Sudley Church. The next day, Mr. Josiah Richardson, who had nobly given himself up a voluntary prisoner that he might attend upon Colonel Slocum, Major Ballou, and others of the Rhode Island men who were wounded and prisoners, went to the field to search for the body of Mr. Prescott. Not finding it where he had seen it in the morning, and ignorant of its subsequent removal, he sup- posed it had been brought away, and gave up the search.
As soon as possible after the news of the battle reached Providence, an intimate friend of Mr. Prescott went by request of his family to Washington, but could not get permission to go on,-General Scott refusing to allow another flag of truce to go into Virginia.
In March, 1862, when Governor Sprague went to Manassas, accompanied by Mr. Richardson and others, to search for the bodies of the Rhode Island officers, a special commission of three was sent by the Providence Light Infantry, to look for Mr. Prescott. Some of them had helped to remove him from the field of battle, and though they identified the place where he had been left, and found a small piece of his tunic upon the ground, he had been removed, and their search for his grave was unsuccessful.
A mural tablet has been erected to his memory in the chapel of Grace Church, with the following inscription :
IN MEMORIAM. LIEUTENANT HENRY A. PRESCOTT: Born November 10th, 1823 ; KILLED IN THIE BATTLE OF MANASSAS PLAIN, VIRGINIA, July 21st, 1861.
The Christian, the Patriot, the good Soldier of Jesus Christ. In all his relations, by inflexible devotion to Truth and Duty, he illustrated his Faith.
AT HIS COUNTRY'S CALL, IN DEFENCE OF HER CONSTITUTION AND NATIONALITY, HIE LAID DOWN HIS LIFE. This Tablet is erected by the Teachers and Scholars of Grace Church Sunday Schools, as an expression of esteem for the worth, and gratitude for the example, of their associate and constant friend
Mr. Prescott left a wife and five children, a mother and one sister, to mourn their irreparable loss.
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GEORGE SEARS GREENE.
EORGE SEARS GREENE, major-general by brevet, and brigadier-general of volunteers in the service of the United States, was born in Warwick, Rhode Island, on the 6th day of May, 1801. His father, Caleb Greene, of Apponaug, was descended from John Greene, of Salisbury, England ; an associate with Roger Williams and his company in the settlement of Provi- dence, and a pioneer in the settlement of Warwick; among whose descendants are men of distinction in the history of this state and of the country. Of them are John Greene, son of the pioneer, one of the grantees of the charter of Charles the Second, and deputy-governor of the colony; the two William Greenes, father and son, governors of the colony and state, the latter in the revolutionary period; General Nathanael Greene and Colonel Christopher Greene, of the revolutionary army; Ray Greene, attorney-general of the state and senator of the United States; Albert Collins Greene, for twenty-five years attorney-general of the state, and United States senator; Richard Ward Greene, district attorney of the United States and chief justice of Rhode Island; Albert Gorton Greene, judge of the municipal court of Providence; Henry B. Anthony, governor of the state and United States senator; Samuel Greene Arnold, deputy-governor of Rhode Island and United States senator, and historian of the state; Colonel Tristam Burges, aide-de-camp, severely wounded on the Peninsula; Major Robert H. Ives, junior, aide-de-camp, mor- tally wounded at the battle of Antietam; and William H. Prescott, the historian.
George Sears received through General Sylvanus Thayer, (then major of engineers and superintendent of the military academy,) the appointment of
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cadet in the military academy at West Point, having previously pursued the preparatory studies for entering Brown University, and was admitted to the academy in June, 1819. There he pursued his studies with diligence, and performed his duties with exactitude, and during the last three years of his academic course, he kept his name among the first five in his class, which form the roll of honor of the academy.
He graduated in 1823, second in his class, and was commissioned second- lieutenant in the third regiment of artillery. He was appointed acting- assistant professor of mathematics in the last year of his academic course, and after he was commissioned he remained three years at the academy in that capacity, and one year as assistant professor of engineering. In 1827, he joined his regiment, and remained on duty with it until he resigned in 1836, to enter the more active profession of civil engineering; in which he was engaged in mining and the construction of railroads, and on the Croton aqueduct of the city of New York, as engineer in charge of the enlargement of the water works. He had furnished the plans and nearly completed the new reservoir in the Central Park, and the enlargement of the aqueduct across High Bridge, and the new lines of four and five feet water-mains, when the attack on Fort Sumter by the rebels at Charleston, called the country to arms. On the receipt of the news of the attack, General Greene at once offered his services to General Scott and to the governor of New York. From Governor Morgan he received, in January, 1862, his commission of colonel of the sixtieth regiment of New York volunteers, a regiment raised in northern New York from the robust and ener- getie population of that region, having previously had the offer of a similar position from Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts. He immediately took command of his regiment, and was occupied in the winter and spring of 1862, in disciplining the regiment, instructing the officers in their duties, and in guarding, with the regiment, the Baltimore and Washington Railroad.
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