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 21
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" A nobler soul, a fairer mind, A life with purer course and aim, A gentler eye, a voice more kind, We may not look on earth to find. The love that lingers o'er his name Is more than fame." *
Stone's "Rhode Island in the Rebellion."
SAMUEL MCILROY.
IEUTENANT SAMUEL MCILROY was a native of the north of Ireland, of Scotch descent. Previous to coming to this country, he served, with credit, a term of six years in the British army. He was a naturalized citizen, and devoted to the institutions of his adopted country, he, from praiseworthy patriotism, enlisted in company I, seventh regiment Rhode Island volunteers, at its organization, with the promise of a sergeant's warrant, but leaving the state with only that of a corporal. By a strict attention to the discharge of every duty, and a truly soldierly bearing, together with his fine commanding personal appearance, he, by merit alone, unaided by men of influence, finally received the appointment of second-lieutenant of the company above named, and in which capacity he had some time previously acted. He was as brave as faithful, and shared the dangers and honors of every battle and skirmish in which the regiment had been engaged until wounded at Bethesda Church, June 3d, 1864. Though his wound proved very troublesome, he was con- stantly with the regiment, (with the exception of a few days,) until the 30th of September, when he was again wounded, in an engagement near Peters- burg, by a musket ball which struck him in the left knee, necessitating the amputation of the limb. His constitution, already enervated by the effects of the previous wound, proved insufficient to withstand the shock of a capital operation, and he died on the 23d of October, in his thirty-ninth year, leaving a wife and five children to mourn his loss. At the time of receiving the fatal wound, he was acing as first-lieutenant, and a short time before his death, received a commission to that position, but owing to the exhausted state of his system, was unable to be mustered in as such.
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The remains of Lieutenant Mellroy were brought to the residence of his family, in Pawtucket, and were interred Sunday, October 30th, with masonic and military honors. About two hundred of the masonic fraternity were present from Providence, Woonsocket, Milford and Mansfield. At the house, the first part of the impressive knights templar burial service, was performed by E. Commander George A. French and Bela P. Clapp, Prelate of Encamp- ment of the Holy Sepulchre. The remains were then escorted to the Metho- dist Church, the procession moving in reverse order, with arms and swords reversed. At the church, a sermon was preached by the pastor, Reverend Mr. Ela, from Romans, twelfth chapter, first verse, in which Divine and human governments were reviewed. This service over, the procession proceeded with the remains to Mineral Spring Cemetery, the band playing funeral dirges, accompanied by a large number of citizens. At the cemetery, the remaining portion of the templar service was performed, the sprig of evergreen deposited, and the usual volley fired by the company, when the mourners were escorted back to the house, and the various bodies dispersed, amidst the fast falling shades of night .*
* Stone's " Rhode Island in the Rebellion."
AuMento
JOSEPH BRIDGHAM CURTIS.
OSEPH BRIDGHAM CURTIS, was the second son of George Curtis and Julia Bowen Bridgham, daughter of Samuel Willard Bridgham, first mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, and was born in Providence, on the 25th of October, 1836. A peculiarly delicate child in health, he early disclosed a seraphic sweetness of disposition, which is a fond family tradition. A native sense of justice gave him an undisputed ascendancy over stronger and readier children, and the gentleness of his nature, with his fondness for history and a frequent dreamy abstraction, seemed to predict for him scholarly or poetic pursuits. But it was soon unexpectedly clear, that he had no marked taste for literature, and all his studies tended to engineering. He entered the Lawrence Scientific School, at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in Sep- tember, 1854, a month before completing his eighteenth year. He remained here for two years, in steady and laborious study, and graduated in July, 1856, with the degree of bachelor of science in the department of engineering.
Immediately upon graduating, he went to Chicago to work at his profes- sion. Like all beginners in civil engineering, he was severely tried by the details of his labor, but his slender person was capable of great endurance, and his blithe humor lightened the load which he and his comrades were compelled to bear. He went from Chicago in April, 1857, to a post upon the Allentown road, in Pennsylvania. One day the surveying party, some half- dozen engineers, came suddenly to a broad and deep stream. "What's to be done, now ?" asked one. "I'll tell you what's to be done," said Curtis, and stripping off his coat, he dashed to the other side, swimming when he could not wade, and then stood dripping upon the farther side, humorously beckon-
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ing to the others to come over. Carrying heavy instruments over hill and field, winding through tangled thickets, wading and standing for hours in the water and mire, eating how and where he could, bivouacking under the stars, or lodging in the hardest quarters, he was unconsciously preparing for other work; and the campaigns of the railroad engineer in Illinois and Penn- sylvania, were training the adjutant and lieutenant-colonel, for the grander campaigns of North Carolina and Maryland and Virginia.
In the autumn of 1857, the work upon the Allentown road was suspend- ed, and the young engineer, having completed his twenty-first year, was appointed an assistant architect upon the Central Park, in New York, under Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted and Mr. Calvert Vaux, the superintendents of the work. Quiet and friendly, but never obtrusive, he twined himself in the old way about the hearts of his companions. "It is a common experience," wrote Mr. Olmsted, upon hearing of his young friend's death, "that we find ourselves more attached to him than we knew while he was with us; although I think the peculiarity of his manner induced a peculiar quietness and uncon- sciousness of sentiment toward him. There is a feeling of completeness and acquiescence in his death at this time, as if we had all made up our minds to it a long time ago."
The election of 1860 was full of excitement for young Curtis, who then cast his first and only vote for Abraham Lincoln. The events that followed were eagerly watched by him. The secession of the states, the seizure of United States property, the resignation of officers in the national service, the grim and portentous proceedings in congress, the heroic flight from Moultrie to Sumter, the constant revelation of treachery, were all like an absorbing and terrible romance. His mind was thoroughly awake. His face flushed and his voice trembled as he read and discussed the news. His slight figure dilated with earnest resolution, and, while others doubted and feared and gazed appalled at the gathering gloom, his hearty voice cheered on their failing courage, and his heart was calm and steady, and even exultant, when he heard the Sumter shot of treason and slavery against liberty and the country. His lovely nature had consecrated him a soldier of liberty. His uncompromising conviction had fitted him to be its martyr. He had seen his elder brother march away to the field with Winthrop and Shaw, and scores of personal friends in the New York seventh regiment; and Joseph, at his immediate and earnest request, was at once commissioned engineer, with the rank of captain, upon the colonel's staff of the ninth regiment New York
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state militia; while his younger brother, then pursuing his medical studies, volunteered as a surgeon, and was one of the first-named medical cadets in the United States service. It shows the spirit of the mothers of the loyal states, of the women whose patient and tireless industry so effectively aided. the Sanitary Commission through the war, that in those first, bitter, uncertain days, a mother in Providence, whose own boys were already on their way to the battle-field, wrote to the mother of Joseph Curtis, on the 24th of April, 1861: "How happy you must be to have three to offer to your country!" And how happy must the country be that has such mothers and such sons.
The ninth regiment was delayed by many difficulties, and did not leave New York until the 27th of May, 1861. Joseph was indefatigable in prepara- tion for the departure, but was seriously troubled by the uncertainty of his own position. The office of regimental engineer exists only in the state militia service of New York, and he therefore could not be mustered into the United States service. But on the 11th of June, he writes from Rockville, in Maryland, that the regiment had moved from Washington, for, "although they would not swear me in, I could not resist going along with the boys." He begs all at home to do what they can to further his hopes, saying that he is too closely employed to attend to his own interests. A few days afterward, June 24th, 1861, he writes from Camp Van Buren, on the Potomac, where he was stationed with a detachment of the regiment : "I am acting as engineer, quartermaster, commissary, chaplain, and, in fact, I am the staff; beside which, I do duty every other night as commandant of the patrol on the river, the compliment being paid me of assigning the most dangerous position to me, instead of to a lieutenant who has been in the militia for years."
Still anxious about his uncertain position, and meaning to push his fortunes at Washington in person, he was yet fascinated by the' prospect of active service, and writes from Martinsburg on the 9th of July : " I have made a cross with my sword on this sacred or cursed soil of Virginia. I think that an engagement is near at hand, therefore I do not wish to leave the regiment. Colonel Stone, who commands our column, joined General Patterson yesterday, here. We probably move to-morrow. * I will go [to Washington] as soon as I can, but I would not miss the fight for the world." There was no fight, and the indignation and disgust of Patterson's soldiers were intense.
There was now nothing to retain the young soldier with the regiment in which he had been so long an unpaid volunteer, and he left it to go to Wash-
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ington. Long afterward, when the ninth finally returned from the field, one of the veterans was asked if he remembered an officer by the name of Curtis, who went off as a volunteer with the regiment when the war broke out. "Curtis!" replied the soldier, "yes, indeed! I remember him, if any one of the regiment does, and every one does who was in it. I will tell you what kind of man he was. During a long day's march I lost my blanket, and at night we camped in a swamp, with the rain putting out all the fires. Curtis, passing with some of the officers, saw me, and asked why I slept without a blanket on such a night, saying that I should catch my death of cold. When I told him that I had lost my blanket, he kindly lent me an extra one that he had. You can see every man was sorry to have such a man go, for he was the best and finest fellow that ever entered it. One of the officers asked him whether with twenty-five men he could meet a supply-train, about thirty miles off, and have it down at the camp by the next afternoon. He replied that if the officer ordered it, he should obey orders. Curtis brought the train into camp next day, at noon. He was a pleasant, good-humored fellow, terribly strict, and a general favorite."
Discouraged by the delays in getting a commission, and wishing still to be in some service of the government, the ex-volunteer was appointed by his old chief at the Central Park, to a post in the working corps of the Sanitary Commission, of which Mr. Olmsted was secretary. Here Mr. Curtis was necessarily familiar with the actual condition of the army, and of public affairs at the most depressing and doubtful moment of the war. He did not write much, but he observed constantly, and what he did write, was full of sagacity. On the 14th of August, he says: "Regular army officers turn up their noses, and say that our volunteers do not know how to manage. True, but they are the only soldiers we are likely to have to do our fighting, and the sooner we remember they are what they are-incapable of taking care of themselves-and take care of them, and make them happy and willing to serve, the sooner we do our duty." He was not blind to the peculiar perils of the time. Ile stated them with appalling distinctness. But the brave heart exclaims fervently: "My voice is still for war, in spite of our traitors, our folly and mistakes, and I mean to see New Orleans under the federal flag, or see nothing."
Meanwhile the kind and active friends of his mother in Rhode Island had so forcibly urged his claims upon Governor Sprague, of that state, that the governor, with an instinctive perception of what a soldier in such a war
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should be, summoned him to Providence. Mr. Curtis left Washington imme- diately, and, upon his arrival in Providence, was made acting adjutant, to assist in the formation of the fourth Rhode Island regiment of volunteers, of . which Justus Ingersoll McCarty, formerly of the United States army, was appointed colonel. His commission as second-lieutenant was dated September 16th, 1861, and that of first-lieutenant, October 2d, 1861. Upon the receipt of the latter, he was appointed adjutant. The regiment was rapidly recruited, and was soon full. By the end of September, the order came to move; and on the 5th of October, at ten in the morning, the tents were struck, and, after taking the cars from the camp to the city, the line of march was taken up through the chief streets. "I saw Joe ride slowly along by the side of his regiment, on a small black horse," wrote a friend, "with a bouquet in his hand, and looking very steadfastly before him, not heeding the cheers nor the clapping of hands, nor yet the 'Good-by, Joe !' which we threw to him from the window." Upon reaching Washington, the regiment went immediately into camp at Camp Casey. At the end of October, Colonel McCarty was relieved of the command, and was succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Isaac P. Rodman.
It was the good fortune of the fourth Rhode Island to be attached to the brigade of General O. O. Howard, now the head of the Freedmen's Bureau, and at that time recognized as one of the best of soldiers and of men. He praised highly the Rhode Island regiment, and said that its adjutant was the best he had ever known; "he does every thing by system." The industry and capacity of the young officer were already appreciated. The adjutants of two other regiments were sent to him to learn the routine and best method of their duty. At the end of November, General Howard was ordered to join General Sumner's division. "To Virginia we go," writes the adjutant, on the 27th of November, 1861. "1 am glad of it, for I was fearing we might form some deuced railroad guard or other, and not see real service." His duties were unsparing. "'Tis one steady drain for sixteen hours daily, and quieter work beside, sometime in the evening."
On the 2d of January, 1862, Adjutant Curtis writes from Camp Califor- nia, at four o'clock in the morning : "Off, is the word. As I was finishing a monthly report at one this morning, an orderly brought an order for the colonel to report personally at division head-quarters. We are to join Burn- side's expedition, and are detached from General Sumner's division. We are to march at nine, so I have remained up, packing and arranging papers."
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The regiment moved rapidly through Washington to Annapolis, and on the 7th of January, he writes : " Off to-day, on board the Eastern Queen. Where we go, I do not know, but the blow will be from a heavy arm wherever it falls." The Burnside expedition sailed from Fortress Monroe, on the 10th and 11th of January, 1862. For a fortnight after leaving Fortress Monroe, the fleet was baffled by fogs and gales. Some of the vessels were lost, and several disabled, by a storm that struck them just at the entrance of Hatteras Inlet. The Eastern Queen grounded and struggled violently, but, fortunately, escaped through the Inlet. The fleet gradually collected within Pamlico Sound. But so serious had been the derangement of operations by the storm, that even on the Ist of February, a full week after the rebel chiefs had been informed by our papers of the entire detail of force upon the expedition, no forward movement was practicable.
At length, on the 8th of February, 1862, Adjutant Curtis saw his first battle. During the previous day, the fleet had been engaged, and, after a gallant fight, at about four o'clock in the afternoon, the brave sailors raised the flag upon Roanoke Island. Meanwhile the military force, under Generals Foster, Reno and Parke, was landing. Toward evening-and the night was thickening again, with the chilly fog driven by a wild winter's wind-the fourth Rhode Island, of General Parke's brigade, stood on the low, marshy shore of Roanoke Island, and, pushing a little forward, bivouacked upon a bleak, sandy field beyond. It rained heavily all night. The enemy felt Burnside's picket line, but found it thoroughly alert. At dawn of the 8th, the jubilant thunder of the fleet began again, and, in the gray, cold twilight, General Foster's brigade advanced through swamps and underbrush and deep mud and water, toward the centre of the Island, where the main rebel fortifi- cation lay. Soon after, General Reno moved; then General Parke, and the action became general on land and water. The fort was in a morass, and approached only by a log causeway enveloped with batteries. The ground was, therefore, almost hopelessly difficult. "We turned into the vilest swamp I ever saw," writes the Adjutant; "we sank from the ankle to the knee. It was full of trees and thorny bushes seven or eight feet high, and growing close together. We were two hours forcing our way through this swamp." But the spirit of Burnside's troops was irresistible, and the victory was com- plete. At one point upon the narrow causeway, Lieutenant Curtis stood for twenty minutes in the full fire of the enemy, to direct the passage of the troops. "The enemy's balls, both cannon and musket, flew here very thickly
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with their pleasant whistle," he writes calmly, saying at the end of the clear description of the battle which he wrote to his mother, and illustrated with an interesting sketch: "The fight, was gay and exciting, and the balls sounded as I expected."
The tranquil tone in which he speaks of the battle-music, perfectly illus- trates the effect of an actual engagement upon him. It tranquilized him. The exhilaration put him in full possession of his powers, making him cool and thoughtful, with mind and eye equally alert. On the fiery causeway at Roanoke, his voice rang out firmly and clearly: "This way fourth Rhode Island!" as two regiments approached, the fourth to make a flank movement, the other to file off another way. So, he is described as cutting a path through the jungle with his sword, for the men to follow, as quietly as if lie were striking through a swamp upon a railroad survey. General Burnside, who naturally watched the conduct of his Rhode Island boys, said of the adjutant of the fourth: "No one knew him thoroughly till after a battle. He was so quiet and retiring in his ordinary demeanor, that you would not have expected such gallantry ; but he was always up-up in battle-and he and Richmond (the general's adjutant) were the two most conspicuous men at Roanoke. I marked Curtis from the first, and knew he would make a splendid field-officer, as he did. I saw him often, but he was not a man to spend much time at head-quarters, for he was always attending to his own duties." This fidelity told at length upon his delicate frame. After the battle of Roanoke, he served constantly upon courts-martial, and at last fell seriously ill. He was kindly ordered home by the general, upon the representation of the surgeon that the result would otherwise be fatal. Lieutenant Curtis therefore reluc- tantly returned to New York in early March, and was absent from the army when the battle of Newbern was fought and won. A soldier, wounded in that battle, said to his attendant: " Ain't Curtis the bully man ? We missed him at Newbern, for he always shouted the orders so that we heard him over everything."
In the soft repose of home the soldier rapidly recovered. But loving hearts almost regretfully saw the roses blooming again in his young cheeks, for they knew he would not stay longer than his sense of duty required. The yearning eyes that watched him were to see him no more, and, as if by some vague foreboding, the few weeks of family intercourse were hallowed by an infinite tenderness of affection.
Lieutenant Curtis sailed from New York, to rejoin his regiment, on the 3d of April, 1862-several days before the expiration of his furlongh. Colo-
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nel Rodman was surprised and pleased by his adjutant's unexpected return, and, when they were alone in his tent, told him that he had himself been named for brigadier. "If I am confirmed, I wish you to be my assistant adjutant-general." Of this offer the lieutenant writes in a manly strain : " It is a great pleasure to me to have had the position offered to me by Colonel Rodman, whether I get it or not. It proves that my labors in the regiment- and they have not been child's play-have been appreciated, and show that the reason why he has never nominated or offered to nominate me for the captainey of any of our companies, when such a commission was vacant, was that he wished to keep me attached to himself. The promptness and sponta- neousness with which the appointment was offered, show that he has always intended advancing me with himself when the opportunity occurred." In the same letter, he says: "If anything could compensate me for losing the battle of Newbern, it is the warmth with which I have been welcomed by all those whom I know in the department of North Carolina.
Part of his regiment were already on the sand banks before Fort Macon, preparing for the siege, and the Adjutant joined them. "I have always felt curious in the subject of sieges, and now behold I shall see one!" As he passed leisurely from one battery to another, the dark blue overcoat glittering with a double row of brass buttons moving upon the white sand, furnished a mark, and the rebel fire from Fort Macon, opened in the direction of the movement. Some fragments of the shell struck the parapet of the battery, and dropped among the men. The Adjutant congratulated himself upon drawing the rebel fire.
The operations before Fort Macon occupied a month, during which there was a desultory cannonade from the rebels upon the besiegers. "The look- out," writes Adjutant Curtis, " who constantly watches the fort, cries 'Down!' as soon as the puff of smoke shows that a gun is fired. You then lie down in your hole as close to the lee of the hill as possible. By and by, you hear a very loud and peculiar whistle, not sharp, but easy and slow, as if the shell were having a comfortable time. If you look straight up in the air, you catch sight of this ball rushing with great velocity and power. Then a little puff of red flame, a loud report, and a little cloud of smoke floats off. Then you hear the pieces hurtle down about you, to me, the most fear-inspiring sound that war produces. You hear them coming a long way, slowly, slowly toward you. You can not see them, and can only wonder whether they will hit you or not. There is nothing like the excitement of battle in this lying
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powerless against a sand bank, with a powerful enemy shelling you and having all the fun to himself."
Fort Macon surrendered on the 26th of April, 1862. As its fall had been prematurely and falsely reported, there was the usual public impatience, which the Adjutant humorously satirizes: "You are all in such a hurry, that you think all is lost if a general has to besiege a place twenty-four hours. The newspapers say: 'Great success! Fort Macon taken after ten hours' bom- bardment!' So you think that General Parke breakfasted early one morning; took a hand-car; came down from Newbern; crossed over; put eight mortars and four siege guns behind a sand hill; fired away; took the fort; paroled the prisoners; hoisted the flag, and returned to Newbern to dinner, arriving five minutes after the dinner-bell rang, and catching a reprimand for being late. Whereas, we besieged the place a good month, worked like dogs, and made half our regiment sick; were on picket duty every third day, besides furnishing camp guard, fatigue parties to work in trenches, and patrols. Whenever you hear again of doing a thing in ten hours, understand that doing the thing is easy work, but getting ready to do it is desperately hard work. And now, instead of supposing that we are to go somewhere else, because we have taken Fort Macon, know that is the very reason why we are not able to move."
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