Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. II, Part 2

Author: Carroll, Charles, author
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 716

USA > Rhode Island > Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. II > Part 2

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NEW REGIMENTS ORGANIZED-The First Regiment, Rhode Island Detached Militia, enlisted for three months, returned to Providence, July 28, and was mustered out August 2. The First Battery returned July 31 and was mustered out August 6. A great many officers and men reënlisted in the new regiments being organized under the direction of Governor Sprague to fill the state's quota in the requisitions made by President Lincoln for the large armies the need for which had been proved at Bull Run. The Third Rhode Island was

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recruited and drilled by Colonel Ashur R. Eddy, U. S. A. He resigned September 17, 1861, and was replaced by Colonel Nathaniel W. Brown. The regiment camped at Spring Green in Warwick, and on September 7 marched to Providence to embark on steamer "Commodore" for Long Island. Before leaving, the regiment formed in hollow square on Exchange Place and was addressed by Reverend A. H. Clapp and the regimental Chaplain, Reverend Father Thomas Quinn, who had been associate chaplain of the First Rhode Island. The regiment joined General Sherman's division at Fort Hamilton. It was known subsequently as the Third Regiment, Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, and was recruited up to twelve companies of 150 men each, two additional companies being enlisted and sent forward in February and March, 1862, to join the regiment at Port Royal, South Carolina. The Fourth Regiment was raised and drilled by Colonel Justus I. McCarty, U. S. A., and embarked for Washington October 5. Colonel Isaac P. Rodman was appointed commander of the Fourth Regiment. The regiment was assigned first to General O. O. Howard's brigade, but later was placed in General Parke's brigade with the Fifth Rhode Island, Eighth and Eleventh Connecticut, and joined the Burn- side expedition to North Carolina. One battalion of the Fifth Rhode Island Volunteers, Major Wright commanding, went forward December 27, 1861, to board the "Kitty Simpson," transport, at Annapolis, on its way to join the Burnside expedition. The Fifth, when com- pleted, became Fifth Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, Colonel Henry T. Sisson. The Rey- nolds battery of the Second Rhode Island became Battery A in the First Regiment, Rhode Island Light Artillery, of which Captain Charles H. Tompkins, Captain of the battery with First Rhode Island, was appointed as Colonel, and Captain Reynolds as Lieutenant Colonel. Seven batteries of this regiment were sent forward in 1861, the completion of the eighth bat- tery being delayed in consequence of sending recruits forward to fill quotas in other artillery regiments. For the First New England Regiment of Cavalry eight full companies were recruited in Rhode Island in 1861, and four companies in New Hampshire. This regiment was subsequently known as First Regiment, Rhode Island Cavalry; the first colonel was Robert B. Lawton; in July, 1862, Alfred N. Duffie, a distinguished French officer, was desig- nated as Colonel. For these regiments Rhode Island raised and equipped 5124 men in 1861 as follows: First Regiment, infantry 1165, artillery 145; Second Regiment, 1083; Third Regiment, Heavy Artillery, 900;§ Fourth Regiment, Infantry, 900;§ Fifth Regiment, Heavy Artillery, 403;§ First Rhode Island Light Artillery, 1200; First Rhode Island Cavalry, 638.§ In addition, 1005 men had been recruited for war service as follows: First Regiment, United States Chasseurs, 200; Fourteenth Regiment, United States Infantry, 125; other regiments out of state, 100; navy, 580. The Adjutant General estimated Rhode Island's quota of 500,- 000 volunteers as 4057. Rhode Island had raised for Rhode Island regiments 1067 men in excess of the quota, a little more than twenty-six per cent. The grand total of 6124 men recruited in Rhode Island was over fifty-one per cent. more than Rhode Island's quota. The Adjutant General remarked: "As far as my observation extends, no state has done better, and I know of none which has done as well." The state had also purchased, refitted and armed with one brass six-pound rifled cannon the steamer "E. D. Fogg" for patrol duty in Narra- gansett Bay ; the vessel was sold to the United States government on November 1, 1861.

PORTSMOUTH GROVE -- The General Assembly, at the January session, 1862, assumed payment of the direct tax ordered by Congress in August, 1861, Rhode Island's quota being $116,963.662/3 ; and ordered a tax of nine cents on each $100 of town valuations. The Gov- ernor was authorized, in May, to provide suitable hospital accommodations for wounded and sick soldiers. Governor Sprague proceeded to direct the building and equipping of temporary hospital quarters at Portsmouth Grove. Buildings to the number of 58, comprising 28 wards, and 30 for mess house, kitchen, laundry, dry houses, hospital store, dispensary, commissary

§Increased later.

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department, officers' quarters, chapel, blacksmith and carpenter shops, barracks, etc., were constructed. The chapel was a two-story building, 80x30 feet, with an assembly room for 350 on the second floor, and a reading room and library of 1600 volumes on the first floor. The War Department sent a first contingent of 1724 patients to the hospital on July 6, 1862.

Calling the General Assembly to meet in special session on August 25, 1862, the Gov- ernor declared that "the large bounties given by the several cities and towns in this state for volunteers, for the purpose of obviating a draft, is producing dissatisfaction among the troops of the state now in the field; and . . .. this system of overbidding by each town in its haste to relieve itself from a draft is a most pernicious one, and creating a large debt which is unequally divided among the people of the state, when the cause for which it is incurred is that of all its citizens, for the preservation of their common country; and . . . . undue haste has also been manifested by some of our people to render themselves exempt under the law from doing military duty; under these circumstances, and to take such measures as may be thought most proper in the emergency to comply with the call of the President to furnish our quota of troops, I have deemed it my duty to convene the General Assembly at a time not provided by law." McClellan's Peninsula campaign had ended, after brilliant fighting, in failure, and President Lincoln had called, on July 2, for 300,000 additional volunteers for three years, and on August 9 for 300,000 more to serve for nine months. In compliance with the Governor's suggestion that town bounties tended to produce inequality of taxation for war purposes, the legislation authorizing town bounties was repealed. Instead the state offered to reimburse towns for bounties not exceeding $300 per man for soldiers raised to meet the state's quota of 2712 three-year soldiers; for every three-year volunteer additional to the quota $100 was offered. Bounties of $150 for volunteers and $100 for drafted men to fill the call for nine months' service were authorized. To meet the needs of the state for money, the General Treasurer was directed to issue bonds to an amount not exceeding $1,200,000 at six per cent. payable in twenty years. Towns were authorized to raise money by general taxation to assist in supporting the families of soldiers.

The Assembly adopted resolutions mourning "the untimely death of" Brigadier General Isaac Ingalls Stevens, "whose sound judgment and military skill and whose worth, integrity and patriotism have been lost to the nation at a time when most she needed them," and ten- dering the state's sympathy to "the family of General Stevens now residing in Rhode Island."* The Assembly also declared that it "would be proud to welcome to this state an officer dis- tinguished alike for his dauntless bravery on the battlefield, his unshaken fortitude during a long and cheerless captivity, and his self-sacrificing devotion to the flag of his adopted coun- try," and invited Brigadier General Michael Corcoran to visit Rhode Island .; Rhode Island continued vigorously through 1862 the recruiting and equipping of soldiers.

Two additional companies for the Third Regiment, Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, were sent forward in February and March, and the organization of the First Regiment, Rhode Island Cavalry, was completed. When the Army of the Potomac seriously threatened Rich- mond during the Peninsula campaign, Stonewall Jackson's raid up the Shenandoah Valley, threatening Washington, precipitated an urgent call for troops for defence of the capital city, Governor Sprague was requested, by telegram dated May 25, to send every available man to Washington. His response was the organization and forwarding of the Ninth and Tenth

#Held that a town ordinance authorizing payment of a weekly stipend to a soldier's family created a charity and not a right enforceable as a contract. Russell vs. Providence, 7 R. I. 566.

*General Stevens, West Point graduate and Mexican War veteran, entered the Civil War as colonel of the 79th New York Highlanders. He was with Sherman on the expedition to Port Royal; and was killed at Chantilly September 1, 1862, while carrying the colors of one of his regiments. He had been promoted to be major-general of volunteers, July 4, 1862. He was buried at Newport September 10, after the body had laid in state in the State House.

+General Corcoran, born in Carrowkeel, Sligo, Ireland, was distinguished for gallantry as colonel of the 69th New York Regiment at Bull Run. He was captured at Bull Run, exchanged in 1862 and made a brig- adier-general. He raised an Irish Legion and served in North Carolina and Virginia. He died of injuries received from a fall from his horse near Fairfax Courthouse, December 22, 1863.

WILLIAMZ

EXCHANGE PLACE IN CIVIL WAR

The Second Rhode Island Regiment is Shown on Parade, Preparatory to Departing for the Front

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Regiments of infantry, and the Tenth Battery. The Ninth Regiment, Colonel Charles T. Robbins, 857 officers and men, left Providence, May 28, directly for Washington. The Tenth Regiment, Colonel Zenas R. Bliss, 662 officers and men, left on May 27. The Tenth Regi- ment consisted principally of officers and men from the First Regiment, Rhode Island National Guard, tendered by the officers to the Governor as a unit. The Tenth Battery, Captain Edwin C. Gallup, 147 officers and men, went forward in three detachments, the last in June. The two regiments and battery were assigned immediately to the defences of Washington. In answer to a request issued May 28, Governor Sprague ordered enlistment of a squadron of cavalry. The Seventh Squadron, Major Augustus W. Corliss, 171 officers and men, went forward on June 28, and was assigned to scout duty near Harper's Ferry. In the hurry of recruiting two regiments of infantry in three days to meet an emergency, minor details were overlooked, and the new regiments included more than a few youth under military age-boys for whose benefit special legislation was enacted to permit payment of wages as soldiers. The Ninth and Tenth Regiments, Tenth Battery and Seventh Squadron were enlisted for three months only. The Eighth Regiment, planned also for three months, was not organized because of passing of the emergency which had occasioned the call for it.

The Sixth Regiment, to "consist entirely of colored persons," was ordered August 4, 1862, by Governor Sprague, who said: "Our colored fellow-citizens are reminded that the regiment from this state in the Revolution consisting entirely of colored persons was pro- nounced by Washington equal, if not superior, to any in the service. They constitute a part of the quota from this state, and it is expected that they will respond with zeal and spirit to this call. The Commander-in-Chief will lead them into the field, and will share with them in common with the patriotic soldiers of the army of the republic, their trials and dangers, and will participate in the glories of their success." The response was enthusiastic at first, but the regiment did not attain the numbers sufficient to warrant organization, because the colored people, who were willing enough to be enlisted as soldiers, feared that they might be assigned to labor on fortifications rather than fighting. Greater success was achieved in 1863.

The Seventh Regiment, Colonel Zenas R. Bliss, 919 officers and men, enlisted for the war, left Providence on September 10, destined for conspicuous service in its first battle at Fredericksburg. For its quota of 300,000 men to be drafted under the President's call for nine months' soldiers on August 4, Rhode Island raised two regiments, the Eleventh and Twelfth. In Rhode Island, there was no recourse to drafting to fill the ranks of these two regiments ; each town was assigned an allotment. The Eleventh Regiment, Colonel Edwin Metcalf, 1021 officers and men, went forward October 6; the Twelfth Regiment, Colonel George H. Browne, 1048 officers and men, left for Washington on October 21. For these regiments 2224 men, including 155 who deserted before assignment to companies, were recruited in five weeks. Battery H, First Regiment, Rhode Island Light Artillery, was completed on October 23, after having raised four times its quota, the earlier recruits being sent forward to fill the ranks of other artillery regiments. At the end of the year the recruiting of the Second Regi- ment, Rhode Island Cavalry, was underway ; one battalion, Major Augustus W. Corliss com- manding, left the state in December. For the year of 1862, Rhode Island sent 2869 recruits to three-year units organized in 1861 and raised 1417 recruits for new three-year units, which with 5124 enlisted in 1861 made a total of 9410 men in two years. In the same year also 2224 had been enlisted for nine months' units, and 1837 for three months' units. With 425 men in the United States army and other regiments outside Rhode Island, and 1400 men in the navy, Rhode Island had sent 16,606 men to the colors in two years of the war. With reduction of nine months' and three months' enlistments to a three-year basis, Rhode Island exceeded a quota of 7232 by sixty per cent.

A commission consisting of Dr. Lloyd Morton and Mrs. Charlotte F. Dailey, which visited Rhode Island troops in camp and United States hospitals in which Rhode Island soldiers were

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under treatment, reported early in 1863 that conditions generally were favorable, in spite of delay occasionally in payment of wages due soldiers and difficulty of obtaining supplies promptly after requisition. Upon request the commission received from Secretary Stanton an order for the sending of 450 Rhode Island soldiers from the hospitals in and near Washington to Portsmouth Grove. Mrs. Dailey was enthusiastic in recommending the removal of all Rhode Island soldiers from southern hospitals to Portsmouth Grove at the earliest oppor- tunity, principally for psychological reasons; Dr. Morton found no fault, professionally, with the federal hospitals, and suggested the advantages of the milder winter climate near Washing- ton and the federal service for furnishing artificial limbs as reasons for doubting the necessity for removal. Both members of the commission found the troops, with rare exceptions, amply provided with wholesome food and clothing, and both recommended supplementing army fare by fresh vegetables, and army clothing by sending mittens and stockings. Attention to both needs had been given by patriotic men and women, the latter particularly, and was continued ; the letters of soldiers recalled their gratitude for gifts of various kinds, including the vege- tables carried by the steamer "Helen and Elizabeth."

With other reports presented to the General Assembly at the January session, 1863, was that of the Provost Marshal, appointed at the request of Governor Sprague under General Orders No. 99, August 9, 1862, for the enrollment and draft of 300,000 militia. The func- tions of the Provost Marshal were arresting bounty jumpers and other deserters, and investi- gation of frauds in connection with enlistments and bounty payments. The Provost Marshal had been appointed September 25, 1862. His report, for little more than three months of service, was too general in its nature to indicate the necessity for and the actual accomplish- ment of such an officer in Rhode Island; that is to say, his report dealt with generalities and possibilities and methods employed or to be employed, rather than with concrete facts as to the number of deserters, arrests, investigations, etc. "The bounties which have been offered," the report said, "have drawn to this state a swarm of worthless men not only from the large cities in this country, but from Europe, consequently inducing frauds on the part of runners and recruiting officers; the enlistment of a less desirable class of persons; while the more honest have been defrauded, and the parties have enlisted with the intention of deserting. The result has been that a large portion of the recent recruits have already deserted, or are waiting only for an opportunity to do so."

The bounty system was objectionable; the essential evil lay in offering money as pay- ment for the fulfilment of a patriotic obligation. The man who enlisted early without the inducement of a bounty might repent and become discontented later as he saw men who had held back rewarded for what he had done voluntarily without thought of compensation. No doubt men of evil intention took advantage of the opportunity offered through advance pay- ment of bounties to obtain ready money fraudulently with the purpose of deserting; on the other hand, perfectly honest and honorable men, willing to become soldiers, might be induced, merely by the pursuit of economic advantage, to enlist where the bounty offer was most liberal. Rhode Island records of Civil War service* do not indicate that desertion attained remark- able proportions among soldiers enlisted in Rhode Island, or that there was a pronounced variation in the percentages of desertions among men enlisted (1) as residents of Rhode Island; (2) as residents of other states, and (3) as aliens having no established residence in America. Of the last class many were led to come to America by reports spread abroad by friends, as well as by enemies, of the United States of the extraordinary pecuniary rewards offered as inducements for enlisting ; and not a few were lured by payment of passage money and promise of steady employment, only to find that their "contracts" bound them to service in the army. The General Assembly, at the January session, 1863, (1) reduced all bounties to fifteen dollars; (2) limited the relief that towns might provide to "needy and destitute fami-

*Adjutant-General's Report, 1865; official revision.

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lies or dependents," and (3) repealed the provision for pay of officers and soldiers previous to muster into the service of the United States.

MONETARY DIFFICULTIES-The General Treasurer was authorized to issue bonds to the amount of $300,000 payable in twenty years with interest at six per cent .; and a state tax of ten cents was levied. The State Auditor reported :

There is a great public want of a safe and convenient substitute for small silver and copper change, which, under the troubled state of the currency, has almost entirely disappeared from circulation. This want is very embarrassing to the banks, to men in trade and to the people generally. Substitutes have been attempted which are very unsatisfactory to the public, and, I think, very justly so. The cutting of one dollar bank bills into two parts, and passing each part for fifty cents, must ultimately result in loss to the holders, since counterfelt bills are often used in this way with less chance of detection. . . . The government stamps which are now used are coarse, badly engraved, on poor paper, without signatures and easily counterfeited. . . These counterfeit stamps may pass, under the pressing necessity for small change, as readily as the

genuine, until the time for the redemption of these United States stamps arrive; but when that time does arrive, unless means are now taken to prevent it, our citizens will be saddled with a very great loss-not less probably than $100,000 ---- in consequence of these counterfeit United States stamps.

The dearth of currency was as pronounced as the auditor presented it. Besides the devices mentioned by him and the fractional paper currency issued by the United States, mer- chants had recourse to issuing change "tokens" redeemable in merchandise; some of the "tokens" circulated practically as currency. The Auditor's suggestion that the State of Rhode Island issue "not to exceed the amount of $200,000 in small change bills of the following denominations : five, ten, twenty-five and fifty cents," was unconstitutional .; Rhode Island did not, during the Civil War, issue currency and thus invite the controversies and embarrass- ments that had followed other wars. The Auditor's report indicated a wholesome condition of state finances, "since our six per cent. state bonds are selling in the markets of other states for $112.50 for $100, while the United States six per cent. notes are selling in the same markets for $95 or $96, and our state credit, as demonstrated by the sale of state bonds in the stock markets, stands higher, with a single exception, than that of any other state in the union."

The campaigns of 1862 had produced severe fighting and serious losses. The General Assembly adopted resolutions of regret and condolence on the deaths of Brigadier General Isaac P. Rodman and Lieutenant Robert H. Ives, Jr., "who fell together while gallantly charging at the head of a division upon the batteries of the enemy at the battle of Antietam"; of Lieu- tenant Colonel Welcome B. Sayles, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph B. Curtis and Major Jacob Babbitt, "who lost their lives when gallantly leading their men in the battle of Fredericks- burg." Thanks were extended to Lieutenant Colonel Charles A. Rossander of the Royal Swedish Army, who "obtained a furlough from his sovereign, came to the United States and joined the First Regiment of Rhode Island Artillery, in which and in the Third Regiment of Heavy Artillery, he has served since August, 1861, with honor to himself and to the United States forces." Governor Sprague resigned before the Assembly session was concluded to become United States Senator. The Senate, in resolutions, thanked the Governor "for the efficient and vigorous management of his duties as Governor of this State," adding: "We, Senators, feel that the proud position which this state occupies among her sister states, in loyalty to the government of the United States and in its efforts to crush the present unholy rebellion, is owing in a great degree to his prompt and vigorous action." Hon. William C. Cozzens of Newport, President of the Senate, served as acting Governor for the balance of the term, Hon. Samuel G. Arnold, Lieutenant Governor, having resigned to accept election as United States Senator for the unexpired term of Senator Simmons, resigned.

Constitution of United States, Article I, section 10.

R. I .- 39

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A NEW STATE ADMINISTRATION-The Republican party elected James Y. Smith as Governor in 1863, and with him a complete state ticket. Twenty of thirty-three Senators were new, as were fifty-three of the seventy-two Representatives. A new state valuation for pur- poses of state taxation showed $138,183,489, of which $61,118,300 was in Providence, and $11,509,200 in Newport. In resolutions the Assembly declared "its high appreciation of the distinguished services of the volunteer soldiers of the state of Rhode Island, on numerous fields of perilous duty, in bravely maintaining her honor, enhancing her reputation, and illus- trating her history anew, by their courage, loyalty, patriotism and valor"; "proudly and grate- fully" recognized "their claims to the approval and regard of their fellow-citizens and renew- edly" pledged "to them its cordial and good will and its unfaltering support." The Assembly also tendered "expressions of sympathy to the many hearts and homes that have been bereaved and saddened by the casualties of the present conflict," and assured them that "the state will ever cherish the memory of the brave men who have fallen in the defence of Union, Liberty and Law."

Lee invaded Maryland and Pennsylvania, and the decisive battle at Gettysburg was close at hand in the unrevealed future. Governor Smith called a special session of the General Assembly to meet on June 19, 1863, urging that "the invasion of the States of Maryland and Pennsylvania by the rebel armies, the impending conscription by the government of the United States, the condition of the distinguished but depleted regiments of this state now in the field, and the certainty that energetic action may not only furnish a body of militia for the defence of the invaded states, but may render conscription unnecessary here, and by promptly recruit- ing the regiments in the field to the maximum standard, may secure to our citizens the choice of service," made it his duty. The session continued two days. The Assembly (1) offered a bounty of $300 for enlistments for three years to fill up Rhode Island regiments and a bounty of $100 for enlistments before August I for six months' service; (2) authorized a bond issue of not exceeding $1,000,000 for thirty years at six per cent .; (3) ordered a state tax of six cents, and (4) authorized North Providence to issue bonds "to raise money for the existing rebellion," not to exceed $100,000. Under a request from Washington for six months' volun- teers Governor Smith planned to recruit three regiments of infantry, one battery of artillery and one regiment of cavalry. Before the organization of the first regiment, the Thirteenth, had been completed, the battle of Gettysburg had been fought, and the emergency was past ; the enlisted men were transferred to other units. For the year 1863, otherwise, Rhode Island completed the enlistment of the Second Rhode Island Cavalry; enlisted and organized the Fourteenth Regiment, Rhode Island Heavy Artillery (colored), 1703 men; recruited addi- tional companies for the Fifth Rhode Island, which had been changed from infantry to heavy artillery ; recruited and forwarded one complete battalion of the Third Cavalry, organized as a three-year regiment instead of the six months' battalion planned originally; besides enlist- ments for regiments in the field. The enlistments for the year totalled 2796; in addition, 160 men were drafted and entered service, 678 were drafted and furnished substitutes, and 458 were drafted and commuted. The Adjutant General reported total enlistments in three years (exclusive of drafted men) as 12,206 for three years, 2224 for nine months, and 3147 for three months. The Eleventh and Twelfth Regiments had completed service and returned to Rhode Island. The Rhode Island forces in the field at the end of the year were reported as totalling 7761, of whom 6328 were active and fit for duty. Enlistments in the regular army and out-of-state regiments and the navy were estimated at between 1500 and 2500. At the end of the year, enlistments to anticipate and commute another draft were in process, with reasonable assurances that the draft might not become necessary in Rhode Island. Under authorization of the President, the Governor in June, assigned a light battery of six pieces, with infantry support, to Bonnet Point, to guard the West Passage. Later, Dutch Island was

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Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. II, Part 2

Author: Carroll, Charles, author Publication date: 1932 Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 716

Author: Carroll, Charles, author
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 716