tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19476086276612467612024-03-13T18:01:46.525-04:0013thMass BlogThis blog will relate to my research of the Thirteenth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers of the Civil War. It will center around this and the building of my website dedicated to the regiment, 13thmass.orgB. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.comBlogger170125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-72610314333784824692023-03-16T01:16:00.004-04:002023-03-16T01:27:18.436-04:00The End of the Year 1863<p> Yesterday I posted the final page of my “End of the Year, 1863” trilogy at the website. I worked hard, believe it or not, to get this section completed and posted in January, yet here it is March. The first page of the section did go up in January. That page contained the end of the year narrative history of the regiment from December 5th to December 31st 1863. It was just after the Mine Run Campaign. The regiment camped near Paoli Mills on the way to Kelly’s Ford for 3 weeks, under expectation that this is where they would settle down into Winter Camp. They were mistaken. On the day before Christmas Eve, they received orders to march. Gen. John Robinson’s 2nd Division would be assigned outpost duty for the winter, in support of the Union Cavalry pickets patrolling the Rapidan River south of Culpeper Court-House. They marched 17 miles to a temporary camp ground two miles short of Mitchell’s Station, their destination, along the O & A railroad, and spent a wet Christmas day in a low swampy camp. Well Thanksgiving had been ruined with orders to march, why not Christmas?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia8X3qKD74_TAQsiZZkqBAti7UNFMKEGRigwrFfA_u7L1Eh1PTud313F_3Yb2jP4pnSD4LSmFOesdUD-ytdSkaTyjN6H71Q6YEYbWVB4P1Sex_yQvGCd_DOoYFA1tZ0Ss4mYE5Q0DK9RFJEL0pfGmGzpRBG4lPPGpqvdQbHNwn-mR0X1IiuP-BsZQVoA/s720/paoli_mills_mtn_run.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="720" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia8X3qKD74_TAQsiZZkqBAti7UNFMKEGRigwrFfA_u7L1Eh1PTud313F_3Yb2jP4pnSD4LSmFOesdUD-ytdSkaTyjN6H71Q6YEYbWVB4P1Sex_yQvGCd_DOoYFA1tZ0Ss4mYE5Q0DK9RFJEL0pfGmGzpRBG4lPPGpqvdQbHNwn-mR0X1IiuP-BsZQVoA/w400-h204/paoli_mills_mtn_run.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Mountain Run at Paoli Mills<br /></i></p><p><br />This first page is a strait-forward narrative that draws upon the detailed descriptions of a soldier outside the regiment. James Ross, a drafted man serving with the “9th NY” creates the best word pictures of the march and the camp ground. The 13th MA source material comes in the form, usually, of short diary entries between Sam Webster and Volunteer ‘grunt’ Calvin Conant. Sadly, we lose Conant as a source on New Year’s Day 1864, because that was the start of a new year and his old diary ends. I don’t have the continuing volume. There are some good letters from writers in the regiment sprinkled across the page, but we need the filler from other soldiers in their division to round out their experiences.<br /><br />The second page took a while to complete and was posted in February. Using several original digitized Regimental Books, downloaded recently from the genealogical site, Family Search, I gave the record for all the soldiers listed on the roster who departed the regiment for whatever reason, during the year of 1863. This is preceded by the MA Adjutant General’s annual Summary report for the 13th Regiment. —Its like re-living the whole year all over again, in one short narrative entry; with pictures! I could have posted this ten years ago and been done with it. (Thats how long I have been working on the history for 1863.) As I was saying, I used the rosters and original books to provide the most accurate soldiers’ records posted on my site to date. The records are arranged into categories used in the 1865 MA Adjutant General’s Report; that is, Discharged, Transferred, Absent, Missing, Killed and Deserted. Naturally it took a lot of time to cross check each soldiers record with the roster, the digitized Descriptive Lists and Descriptive Books, town histories and whatever sources I had on file. And yes, I used all of these. <br /><br />With that page complete I had a few odds and ends left over and decided to move them on to a third page, like I did for the ‘End of the Year, 1862.’ Page 2 had become very long with just the statistics. The little stories moved to page 3 were mostly done, which means, they were far from being finished. As always there were rabbit holes to run down. I have turned that into an art. Just look at my “Stringfellows in Kansas” page as an example.<br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu7ZBTK_66A3oiD7cPSznGlAegvdQECuh1k9C15Rq5pYnkJjMAzx8yrZiofiQzQ4pjG1yf7maZYpwcimK4oOr_vYpnLJuTNo0GOJOpOFrb93pq5jL-3gYxg0fHXRNMGVms3kkbPy2ITMx_X_IkhPC_WhOqi_YE-7KCXmHAp9bRZFMhp8fTubxyEakPDQ/s300/gould_frank.gif" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="236" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu7ZBTK_66A3oiD7cPSznGlAegvdQECuh1k9C15Rq5pYnkJjMAzx8yrZiofiQzQ4pjG1yf7maZYpwcimK4oOr_vYpnLJuTNo0GOJOpOFrb93pq5jL-3gYxg0fHXRNMGVms3kkbPy2ITMx_X_IkhPC_WhOqi_YE-7KCXmHAp9bRZFMhp8fTubxyEakPDQ/s1600/gould_frank.gif" width="236" /></a></div><br />That said, I would not miss the little incidents and stories described on page 3. There are lots of little “behind the scenes” goings on reported from the papers of Gov. John Andrew’s correspondence pertaining to the 13th MA Regiment. Little things that don’t usually get any mention in most regimental histories. One of the highlights on page 3 is an extended excerpt from Volunteer Nurse Martha Ehler, who worked for 5 or 6 weeks at Christ Lutheran Church ministering aid to several members of the 13th MA and others in Gen. John Robinson’s 2nd Division who were wounded at Gettysburg. Martha recounts the very last moments of the life of Frank Gould, Company K, and also his friend George Sprague who died the day after Gould. <i>Francis A. Gould, Company K, pictured.</i><br /><br />In closing I would say, that it didn’t take a full 10 years to complete the 1863 narrative. I did take a substantial break from the chronological progression to add several pages of updates for 1862. Part of this deviation was to honor promises to descendants of soldiers who have provided me with material worth posting. So I took a couple of years to update the site a while back. I can only say I am looking forward to 1864. The men had only 6 ½ months left to serve of their 3 year enlistment, and 4 of those would be spent in Winter Camp. I have lots of fun stories from this period of their history.<br /><br />Here are the links. <p></p><p><a href="http://13thmass.org/1863/year_end_1863.html" target="_blank">End of Year, 1863, Page 1</a></p><p> <a href="http://13thmass.org/1863/year_end_63_2.html" target="_blank">End of Year 1863, Page 2</a></p><p><a href="http://13thmass.org/1863/year_end_63_3.html" target="_blank">End of Year, 1863, Page 3 </a><br /></p>B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-46171013423087314232022-04-24T14:04:00.003-04:002022-04-24T14:11:07.149-04:00Baseball & Mine Run<p> I've posted a new page to the 13th MA web narrative. The page outlines the forgotten Mine Run Campaign, November 26 - December 3, 1863. It has been called the dress rehearsal for General Grant's Battle of the Wilderness which followed in May, 1864. ( Grant's battle is a little more famous than Mine Run. )</p><p> </p><p> My study focuses on the experiences of General John C. Robinson's 2nd Division of the 1st Corps during the campaign. Its a narrow focus, yet even so I did not have the time to dive as deeply into it as I would have liked. This campaign has always fascinated me, ever since I read Charles E. Davis, Jr.'s account of it in the 13th MA regimental history, many years ago in California. Today, I am able to visit some of the widely unknown locations of this largely ignored army maneuver.</p><p>An interesting detail in Davis's narrative, sourced from the diary of Sam Webster, Company D, is that the boys played a game of baseball, after a long slow night of stress, waiting for orders to charge a heavily defended enemy position, beyond a run they had to cross and then forward towards a fortified ridge lined with enemy batteries. Did I mention it was cold? No stress there.</p><p>This is the first instance in the regimental history that refers to the men pinning slips of paper to their uniforms for body identification in the event the worst fate should befall them.</p><p> When the anticipated attack was indefinitely post-poned, the boys launched into a game of ball to pass the time, while General Meade attempted to figure out what to do next.</p><p> This is just a short post, to announce the new page. Click on the What's New tab on the right of the home page to read more, and to follow the link to the Mine Run Page. This is the 65th detail page added to the website!</p><p> End of Year 1863 is to follow. But this will probably be a long while in the making.</p><p><a href="http://www.13thmass.org" target="_blank">www.13thmass.org</a> <br /></p>B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-85435126422733417142021-10-30T14:20:00.006-04:002021-10-30T14:34:08.997-04:00New Web Pages at 13thmass.org<p> I've posted two new web-pages at my on-line history site. This brings the narrative of the 13th Mass. Vols. history, up to November 19, 1863, the date of the dedication of the new National Cemetery at Gettysburg.</p><p> The first page follows the regiment's movements from October 15, where they formed the center of the Union Defensive lines around Centreville, through November 6, at Catlett's Station. They marched to Hay Market, October 19; Thoroughfare Gap, October 20, back to Bristoe Station October 24, to Kettle Run October 30 and finally to Catlett's Station on November 5. The page contains several diary entries, letters and newspaper correspondent reports from the regiment.</p><p> The 2nd page tells of the return to the Rappahannock River Nov. 7. As the regimental historian Charles E. Davis, Jr. wrote, they had been to this spot so many times they had lost count.</p><p> Two engagements took place that day, one at Kelly's Ford and a daring attack at Rappahannock Station. The 13th MA were part of General French's wing of the Army, 1st, 2nd & 3rd Corps, and camped at Morrisville, in support of the 3d Corps advance, during the fighting. They were guarding the wagon trains. The next day they advanced with the rest of the army to Brandy Station, in line of Battle, where General Meade hoped General Lee would attack. But Lee seldom did what General Meade wanted. The advance was a lost chance.</p><p> The following day the regiment marched to Licking Run along the Orange & Alexandria Railroad, and spent the next couple weeks helping with repairs to the line. There are several humorous stories about life in the work details from Sergeant Austin Stearns.</p><p> Its exciting to bring the history of the regiment this far forward. This brings the number of detailed web-pages on my site to 62!</p><p> The Mine Run Campaign will be next, when I get around to it. Davis, did a pretty good job going into this campaign in depth in his 1894 regimental history. This forgotten campaign is full of drama and I can't wait to get at it. <br /></p><p> It has been a year since any pages were posted, but that is because I have become busy over at Cedar Mountain Battlefield.<br /></p><p> Here are the links to the new pages.</p><p><a href="http://13thmass.org/1863/fall_1863.html" target="_blank">Fall of 1863</a></p><p><a href="http://13thmass.org/1863/fall_1863_2.html" target="_blank">Return to the Line of the Rappahannock </a><br /></p>B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-62609128853027626312021-05-19T16:11:00.001-04:002021-05-19T16:11:11.818-04:0013th Anniversary for 13thmass.org<p> </p><p>This year is the thirteenth anniversary for 13thmass.org</p><p>This month, I paid another year's subscription to my web-host to keep The Thirteenth Massachusetts Volunteers website going, at least for another 12 months. Time flies.</p><p>I must admit, I grow a bit weary of the constant work on the site. I have never benefited from it monetarily, though I have greatly benefited from it in other ways over the years. This, mostly from personal relationships formed, and doors being opened to me in places where they would otherwise be shut. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dPK3QJq977w/YKVwJ1uMgeI/AAAAAAAABH8/pcHPCvgQ2fYLat1DqM1S2nDBL5E4npLygCLcBGAsYHQ/s1632/cw_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="1632" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dPK3QJq977w/YKVwJ1uMgeI/AAAAAAAABH8/pcHPCvgQ2fYLat1DqM1S2nDBL5E4npLygCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/cw_01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>It takes countless hours of time and dedication to build each page of my website. The project began as a creative release born of my passion for story telling, and grew from there. Much of that creativity and fun still exists as I build new pages for the site, but it coexists with hours of research, and work. I have to divide this work between other interests. <p></p><p>I am also having trouble getting transcripts of primary source materials for this later period in the regiments history. I have had setbacks. With the pandemic, resources shut down just when I needed them most. And, several times now, CW dealers have refused me the privilege of getting transcripts of letter collections from this period in the war. And, I tried hard to get copies of them. These collections would have been a great value to me in building new pages, as I would have a new unique and consistent source from the ranks of the 13th MA to quote from, in addition to my usual 4 sources, that are already widely available in print. </p><p>I guess a sudden surge in this kind of source material would re-invigorate my enthusiasm, but it has not happened.</p><p>There was one very notable exception to this, and that was Seth Kaller auctions, who <b><i>very generously</i></b> shared with me a transcription of the Charles Conant Diary of 1863. They should know I appreciate what they did for me very much. Conant is heavily relied upon for the latest pages.</p><p>So along with the work, the source material grows thin and this kind of website format grows more obsolete.</p><p>Even Yahoo Groups shut down. It was my primary means of promoting the site to descendants of 13th MA soldiers.</p><p>However, the next page is already well in progress and will eventually be posted to the site in the coming months. It will cover the close of the Bristoe Campaign and the return of the Army of the Potomac to the line of the Rapphahannock in November, 1863. I didn't wish to potentially end the project in mid-campaign. A page for the forgotten Mine Run campaign would follow, followed by a page for the 1863-1864 Winter Encampment. These are fascinating periods in the history of the regiment that I always wanted to cover.</p><p>I appreciate those who continue to support this project, there have been many.</p><p>Meantime, I still have come across several fascinating items that could occasionally be posted here on the blog. </p><p><br /></p>B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-7266757916167579852020-05-23T17:10:00.001-04:002020-05-23T17:16:27.125-04:00"The Veteran"<br />
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<b><i>For Memorial Day Weekend</i></b><br />
<b><i>I published a post earlier this week, but as Memorial Day is upon us, I am posting twice in one week. </i></b><br />
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<i>This is a typescript of a hand-written story on 3 sheets of lite brown paper, size 12 1/2” x 8”. I purchased the story from an on-line antiques dealer, who was selling 2 personal artifacts that had belonged to Arthur Kent, the Great nephew of Austin Stearns. Sergeant Stearns is the author of "Three Years With Company K" The tin dish and tin cup pictured in this post both belonged to Austin Stearns. The dish he is writing about (top photo) is pictured in the Time-Life "Echoes of Glory" series, page 225 in "Arms And Equipment of The Union."</i></div>
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The Veteran.</div>
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or the autobiography of a Dish.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VDk8OH6OdEI/XsmMqGCsqTI/AAAAAAAABEA/ThgLXK4u6VI5H8-HOHSwRQGq79NWAFXZgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/stearns_cup.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1116" data-original-width="616" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VDk8OH6OdEI/XsmMqGCsqTI/AAAAAAAABEA/ThgLXK4u6VI5H8-HOHSwRQGq79NWAFXZgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/stearns_cup.gif" width="176" /></a>I am nothing but an old tin dish. My sides are battered and burned and
there is nothing about me that is pleasing to the eye, or that would
attract attention, but I have a history, and if you will bear with me I
will give a short account of my self. I was designed by Copl. Charles
Parker and made by Clark & Perry, tinsmiths of Ashland Mass. There
were six Hopkinton boys, and two of them brothers of Mrs. Clark in the
same Company with Parker, so mr. Clark made made a group of 7 dishes,
one for each. We were made with handles and the name of each boys
was stamped upon it, and also on the bottom. If you look closely you can see my masters name now. Oh how bright and shiny we looked
that morning in July ’61 when Mr Clark string us on a wire and
carried us down to Fort-Independence in Boston Harbor and gave us to the
young men, who were there learning to be soldiers. How proud we were
of our looks, but not more so than those who then became our masters.
<u>Now</u> we were part and parcel of Co. K, 13th Regt. Mass Infantry. Towards
the last of July ’61 we with the other belongings of the soldiers
started for the seat of war. In the earlier days of the war, there were
what was called “Company Cooks,” or men detailed to do the cooking <br />
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page 2 (back of sheet 1)<br />
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My master being fond of me, kept me in a good degree of cleanliness, washing and wiping me as often as once a week, or oftener if water was plenty. I noticed when he wiped me with grass or leaves he al chose the greenest. The fall and winter passed by without any thing worthy of note. My master going regularly three times a day to the cook house to get his rations. I always accompanied him to hold his coffee. In the spring of ’62 Company Cooks were discontinued with us, and each man with the exception of bread had to cook his own rations and make his coffee, I was now put to a severe test, for I was then set on a bed of hot coals, and my shiny sides were change to what you see them now. It was down at Rappahannock Station in the summer of ’62 that my master lent me to one of his comrades to make his coffee, he only filled me half full, and when I got hot the solder melted on the upper half of my handle, and when he drew me away from the fire my handle was useless. He returned me to my master with the remark that I was –––––––an old dish. My master thought differently; for he went & with out a file or tool of any kid, twisted off a piece of telegraph wire using I fear using many swear words, and with his bayonet he pierced my sides and made a bale as you see it now, not very handsome, but <u>very</u> serviceable. I was suspended <u>now</u>, by a stick or oftener the bayonet or ramrod, in the blaze and smoke of the fire, In addition to coffee <br />
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page 3 (new sheet of paper)<br />
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I have had soups of all Kinds, Beans, Rice, Potatoes, and in fact all the nameable and unnameable dishes that were ever concocted by the ever fertile brain of the soldiers cook in me, If skillygalee, and lobscouse were not not cooked in me, I was used to mix them in. I used to be strapped to my masters Knapsack or havasack, and at times his canteen: he has carried me thousands of miles through many of the most desperate battles fought by the army of the Potomac, and many times in the thickest of the fight. I had been so long with him, I had almost become a part of him, for of all the articles he had when he started for the seat-of-war, I was the only one he had left <br />
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<u>After</u> I was old and burned and smokey he got a little cup that he called his drinking-cup, at which I was at first Jealous of, = but I soon found out that it could never take my place, and as long as I did not leak, <u>I</u> was <u>supreme.</u> In the spring of ’64 my masters time was almost out, and it was after we had passed through the three days fighting in the Wilderness, and I had rode all night strapped to his knapsack to prevent my making a noise by rubbing against my old friend the canteen, down towards Spottsylvania, halting Just a few minutes for the dawn to come, so we could see, as the cavelry outpost said the enemy were in a revine Just ahead. The morning was very hot and My master was very tired, and when we started, passing the cavelry out-posts they smiling to think that we were releaving them of a very disagreeable job, said “you will find them soon”; The bullets began to sing and we were in for hot work, my master uncooked his knapsack, let it drop, <br />
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p. 4 (back of sheet 2)<br />
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to the ground. I thought my time had come and I should be left to an inglorious fate and so when I struck the ground, I made as loud a noise as I could to attract his attention He heard me, stopped, turned round, and coming where I lay, Kneeled down and unhooked me from the Knapsack, and taking off his canteen passed the strap through my bale, and putting the same on said “Old dish we have been so long together that if one goes both go”. I was happy, for I knew if master was spared to go home, I should go too. My fondest hopes were realized, for after two months more of hard service, and when we were lying before Petersburg, the order came for the regiment to pack up and go home. Many of the boys threw their dishes away, but my master put me in his haversack, and I arrived home in safety, as I have said before, I am only an old tin dish: no poet has ever sung, or romancer told story of my doings, and like the other old and servicable friend of the soldier = the army mule = have only received abuse, when we did our best to serve.<br />
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I will relate an incident, that happened to one of my kind. One night in bivouace, when the boys were busy cooking their supper, my friend filled with water and coffee, was perched upon rails, in a very careless position, when nearly ready to boil, a member of the awkward squad thought to change his position; he hit the rail with his foot, and my friend fell off, spilling its contents; it so enraged the owner that without saying a word to the one causing the <br />
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page 4 (sheet 3)<br />
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mischief, he kicked the cup, and with expressions like these “Darn that cup” = “Darn the man that made that cup” = and “Darn the man that won’t darn the man that made that cup, Hurrah for Jeff Davis”. He kicked and stamped it out of all semblance of ever being a cup, and out of the limits of our bivouace, came sullenly back, and took a seat by the fire amidst the shouts and laughter of his comrades. In less than half an hour he was trying to borrow another dish to make coffee in. A few years ago in the town where I was a fair was held, by the local grand Army Post and I was among the relics that were on exhibition. My master had labeled me “The Veteran” whatever that might mean, and a paper stating my service and the uses I had been put to. <br />
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My mistress wanted to clean me up, scrape my burned and blistered sides, and as she said make me respectable, but my master objected, and as I had no voice in the matter I went in the condition in which I was in. I created considerable comment, and some said, “What a horrid old dish”, And “Do you think any one would eat or drink any thing made in it?” Others sneeringly remarked the “<u>Old</u> <u>Vet</u>” and passed by without a second look. A few came and gazed at me <u>long</u> and <u>earnestly,</u> and said I was rightly named, for I was in truth a <u>Veteran.</u> I sit around in unused places, but at times my master gets me out, and as he fondles me says, “this is my old dish, and where he went I went also, and that as long as he lives, I shall have a place,” so I am content.<br />
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<i>NOTE: The handwriting is in neat cursive, brown ink, with occasional corrections or revisions written above a line in pencil. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The 3 sheets of paper are folded in thirds and a circular grease stain penetrates all three sheets, where the tin dish rested upon it. —Bradley M. Forbush, transcribed May 21, 2020.</i><br />
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<br />B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-38123273965755330732020-05-19T16:47:00.001-04:002020-05-19T16:52:14.466-04:00Learning About the 13th MA via the 3rd Wisconsin<br />
<i>I've been doing research on the military units that fought at the Battle of Cedar Mountain, for the volunteer organization, Friends of Cedar Mountain Battlefield. This is separate from my research on the 13th MA Volunteers. But there are occasions where the research intersects. Lately, I have been transcribing a huge cache of newspaper articles about the 3rd Wisconsin Volunteers. They served side by side with 13th MA early in the war, when both regiments were part of General N. P. Banks Dept. of the Shenandoah. For example, men from the 3rd WI suffered the most severe casualties at the "Battle of Bolivar Heights" in October, 1861, when they fought along side Company C of the 13th MA. (Companies I & K, were present, and shelled, but did not participate in the front-line charges). The two regiments reunited during General Banks' advance into Winchester, March 12, 1862. </i><br />
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<i>I posted on my website in 2009, an entertaining article by Clarence Bell, Company D, 13th MA, titled, "A Hot Time In Winchester." Bell describes the advance of Gen. Banks army into Winchester on March 12, 1862. The following article covers the 3rd WI on that march, and mentions the 13th MA as well. The regiments advanced together on opposite sides of the Valley Turnpike. I think it is of interest because it provides more detail about the maneuver than Clarence Bell, or other sources in my collection.</i><br />
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<i>I am uncertain which particular newspapers the following clips come from.</i><br />
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<b>CAMP CORRESPONDENCE </b><br />
<b>–––––––––</b></div>
<i>Correspondence of the Times.</i><br />
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<div style="text-align: right;">
<smallcaps>Winchester,</smallcaps> Va.,</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
March 12, ’62.</div>
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In my last letter I promised to write you again, and although a long time has elapsed, yet here I am fulfilling my promise. And where do you suppose I am? In the home of the notorious James M. Mason, the confederate of Slidell, sitting by a good fire and writing upon an old desk I found in the cellar. The floor of the room is covered with blanket, knapsacks, holsters, swords, pistols, overcoats and all the etcetera of military trappings. Now, as to how I got here. I will not trouble you with a history of the winter’s campaign, as of course, you have kept track of the whereabouts of our regiment by the papers. I will write only of today’s proceedings. Last night, while encamped at Bunker Hill, we received orders to make a reconnoissance at 4 o’clock this morning. At half past three the reveille was sounded, and we were ordered to take our coffee before starting. ––Aroused by the rub-a-dub of the reveille, I rubbed my eyes. It was as dark as Egypt; the stars twinkled down at us as if they thought we had made a mistake the camp-fires blazed up merrily on all sides. A reconnaissance under such circumstances, seemed absurd; we were ordered to get ready and wait till dawn. During the interval we extemporized quite a respectable meal, and sat around our huge fire cracking jokes and enjoying ourselves. Two hours passed before a faint streak of light appeared; then a bustling among the men, and soon the band was playing Dixie, and the companies rapidly falling into line. Just as we were ready to “forward march,” the General and Staff rode up and announced that the reconnoisance had been given up and that the whole column would advance towards Winchester.<br />
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Three regiments were selected to deploy and lead the march. Ours in the centre, on the right of the road the 12th Indiana, and on the left the 13th Massachusetts. The regiments being drawn up in line of battle, each regiment sent forward three men from each company as videttes, then two companies as skirmishers. Three companies went forward at gun-shot distances and then deployed out: i.e. spread apart as skirmishers, making a beautiful dotted line, the men five paces apart. Beyond them, about the same distance ahead, went the videttes, skulking along behind trees, crawling up the hills on hands and knees, looking cautiously over, approaching every house with gun cocked ready to fire at a moment’s warning. Behind these two advance guards followed our three regiments, led by the mounted officers, watching eagerly every movement of the skirmishers, and listening intently for the firing of the videttes. Each regiment was followed by a gloomy train of ambulances with the surgeons, and the band to carry litters and assist the surgeons when the fight began. Thus we went on across lots, through woods, taking down bars and pulling down stone-walls. It was most fascinating, everything so well planned and so complete. Thus we proceeded until we are within slight of the intrenchments, when we halted and waited for the report of our skirmishers. It was soon deserted, and then we were ordered froward and with bands playing and colors flying we marched into Winchester. –– The streets are lined with people, the greatest part being the negro form diving in every conceivable variety. One or two wave their handkerchiefs, an one hangs out a United States flag. They look at us as they would at a traveling menagerie or circus. We march in and out a few streets, and then marching to the outskirts of the town, select a camping place.<br />
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Our regiment pitched upon a hill-side orchard, and the Colonel ordered me to go and ascertain if a house which stood near by was occupied. I went up to it; it was a large, white stuccoed house, on a hill-side, the lawn filled with trees, and a winding road leading to the door. It was deserted. I went in. Piles of public documents, old letters and papers addressed: Hon. James M. Mason. Winchester, Va., lay scattered over the bare floors. The furniture had been carried off, the curtains torn up, the carpet destroyed and the house abandoned. I established a guard, and sent the servant to clean it up. Now we are here quite comfortable. We sleep upon the floor hang our clothes int eh closets, have established our office in the library, and hung our large garrison flag over the portico.<br />
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<b>EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.</b></div>
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<b>––––––––––––</b></div>
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Winchester, Va.</div>
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March 15, 1862.</div>
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Here at last ! Here where “Stone Wall Jackson” has long reigned supreme and persecuted the faithful; here, where Patterson ought to have come last July; here, where the revel tracks are fresh and their camp-fires yet smoldering; here, in the stronghold of the enemy’s left flank are we at last, snugly quartered.<br />
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We came in on the 12th inst., but the duties of the camp and field have prevented my telling of it before.<br />
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The Column that first enter the town was commanded by Gen. Hamilton, and consisted of some ten thousand men.–– Hamilton’s Brigade moved out from Charlestown on the 7th, to Smithfield, and thence south to Bunker Hill. Thence, on the 11th, we moved out upon the Martinsbug ‘Pike’, within four miles of Winchester, and camped for the night. Our company had joined the regiment, to be in at the fun. During the latter part of the day our advance guard, the 46th Pennsylvania was skirmishing with the enemy, and a continued fire of musketry and occasional cannonading kept us in a state of excitement, until darkness closed in.<br />
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At night the Adjutants and Aids were around communicating orders––ammunition was distributed to the men in double quantities, and the general expectation was for a battle on the morrow.<br />
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At three in the morning the cooks were roused up to prepare breakfast. The men jumped up with alacrity and gathered around the camp fires, elate with the prospect of a brush.<br />
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At day break we formed lines of battle, our regiment on the left of the turnpike, the 12th Indiana and 13th Massachusetts on the right, and our our left he 16th Indiana. The flank companies of each regiment were thrown out, and deployed as skirmishers. Our Regiment was assigned by Gen. Hamilton to the front of the enemy’s heaviest fortifications. We pushed on through fields and groves, tearing down stone walls, and capsizing rail fences. All eyes bent forward, watching eagerly and hungrily fo the enemy that yd come so far and had wanted so long to see. It was a splendid sight to see that line of burnished arms glistening in the morning sun of the brightest day of the season.–– And then, the line of skirmishers, moving so regularly, every man five paces from his comrade; the line extending from a ridge to the right of the “pike”, far down through the fields, completely covering the line of battle, and some four hundred yards in advance of it. Immediately behind the line of battle were the batteries, drawn upon the “pike,”, and behind them the 1st Michigan Cavalry, moved in column, the clatter of their thousands of hoofs blending with the crunching of collapsed stone walls, the crashing of underbrush and the clarion words of commands of the Colonels. If Jackson had been there to see it, I dare say the sight of that sturdy line would have affected him somewhat as its advance did the other stone walls.<br />
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At length, emerging from the the grove, the frowning ridge on the right, covered with camp huts and battery plats and earth works, was in sight. In front of us was a fortification of earth and barrels filled with stone –– a lunette fort, as it is called, commanding the pike and the rail road. The advance began to be interesting. Altho’ we supposed the enemy had evacuated, still we were not sure, and felt our way with as much care and vigilance as though we expected the battlements to cover a formidable foe. Finding the fort and earth works evacuated, our skirmishers assembled and Companies A and B of our regiment marched boldly into town. The boys grumbled that no enemy had been seen, their rear guard having scattered out of town just as we came in, but found consolation in the reflection that we could not furnish spunk for ourselves and the enemy too.<br />
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No sooner had our company reached the center of the town, halted in front of the Court house, than the mayor and a committee of respectable citizens gathered around us, while the Mayor formerly tried the town over to Capt. Bertram for protection. There seemed on the countenances of all an aspect of relief, when assured that we had come to protect and not to destroy. The more ignorant, and the little folks expressed their surprise at not finding us hobgoblins, griffins and monsters. ––They stared at our good clothes. They marveled at our good manners and declared that, for all the world, the Yankees were very much like other folks after all. <br />
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Hastening back to our regiment, and reporting the town clear, our column then marched in, colors flying, and the banks doing “Hail Columbia” with a vigor that electrified us all.<br />
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A healthy Union sentiment gazed out of numberless windows ––sparkling in glad eyes ––fluttered here and there in handkerchiefs waved timidly Here and there a maid or mother might be seen in tears. –– Perhaps her dearest friend was in the rebel army, but the boldest Unionists of the town were taken captive to Richmond, by Jackson in his retreat, and their families were left in mourning, and this might be the cause of the grief we observed.<br />
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Winchester is a respectable town of five thousand inhabitants or so with indications of wealth and thrift, lately obliterated. –– A sprinkling of Quakers, the cut of the municipal jib &amp;c., remind you of the Pennsylvania people. The bilious “Secesh” have all gone with Jackson.<br />
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My company is still on provost duty, and we are quarter in the guard house of the Georgia 1st Regiment, where many a poor fellow, suspected of a little leaven of loyalty, has been incarcerated. On the walls are penciled names and records of victims confined for weeks, with no charge brought against them.<br />
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On the whole our advent into the valley of Virginia has been hailed by the majority with gladness. The fortifications that made Winchester so formidable to Patterson’s command, don’t, in reality, amount to much, the heavy batteries he had –– Doubledays ––would have disposed of their forts, and the ridge running westward of the town, on which their commanding batteries were placed, cold have been carried by a charge covered by a brisk cannonade.<br />
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The valley of Virginia ought to have been held by our forces. It would have turned the enemy out of their richest forage and plunder districts. Its people protected by our arms would have still clung to the old Government, and not have been forced into acts of enmity.<br />
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Jackson has fallen back upon Strausburgh. His rear guard, consisting of a force of infantry, cavalry and a battery or two, is some eight miles distant south of us at Newtown. Part of our regiment went down yesterday and tried to draw the into ambush. Failing to do this we reconnoitered, and had much excitement skirmishing along for some two or three miles. A hey fog settling down made our dance in an unknown country quite risky, and we returend. To day another regiment, and a battery went out an dhad quite a little efight, driving the rebels from the town.<br />
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As soon as depots can be established and communications opened from our base of operations to the several corps de armies an advance will again be made.<br />
Gen. Hamilton has left us. He is promoted to Acting Major General of Heintzelman’s Division. His efficiency, and soldierly qualities are fully appreciated by McClellan. He will do honor to Wisconsin. With the deepest regret we part with him. E. E. B.<br />
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<i>A couple of weeks after the advance, the 13th MA separated from General Banks' Army and was attached to General Irvin McDowell's command, then at Manassas. Banks & McDowell's Divisions would soon become part of Maj.-Gen. John Pope's newly minted Army of Virginia.</i><br />
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B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-20099697736967987282020-05-03T12:22:00.003-04:002020-05-05T10:00:50.971-04:00An Appeal to Civil War Dealers/Collectors<br />
<i>I've added a couple additional thoughts to this post. Perhaps it would be more properly directed to dealers in artifacts than collectors. ––May 5, 2020</i><br />
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I'm reluctant to post this in some respects because so many people have been so generous to me in sharing their collections that I in no way intend to disparage any one. But I get frustrated sometimes at good source material that briefly appears at dealer sites, and offered for sale, and then just as quickly disappears. <br />
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I have received over the years a great deal of source material from generous collectors & dealers of Civil War artifacts and letters. The information these relics hold, even if trivial, is often valuable in some other way to a researcher/historian. Letters are especially important to <i>my endeavor</i> to present to the public at large, the 3 year history of the soldiers of the 13th Massachusetts Volunteers ––through their own writings. To this end, unpublished materials that have been shared with me by descendants and collectors is extremely important.<br />
<br /><i>Pictured a number of personal artifacts that belonged to 13th MA soldier Melvin Smith, shared with me recently by his descendant.</i><br />
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I would ask any dealers/collectors who have this kind of material to be aware that the contents of the artifacts and letters that they prize so much, is invaluable to researchers. In my case, it would be collectors or dealers with 13th Massachusetts documents.<br />
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I’m saying this because there is a lack of source material for the regiment between the battle of Gettysburg and July, 1864. There just weren’t many soldiers left in the regiment after Gettysburg. The number dwindled to a few. This isn’t a problem for the early days, when 1,000 men were sending letters home, to family, the newspapers or the Governor’s office. Where so much information is at hand its possible to create a daily record of events within the regiment. Not so for late 1863 - early 1864. <i>To be fair, some sellers have gone out of their way to share what they
have with me, and it has helped tremendously with my project.</i> Very recently, a dealer contacted me with a detailed diary from 1863. I helped with the transcription. I was thrilled to get the snippets, but the dealer <i>very generously </i>decided to share the whole document with me! I cannot praise him enough because these short diary entries add a whole new dimension to my website. I have already posted several entries. But, at least twice in the past few years, I was unable to obtain transcriptions of numerous letters written during this time period, that came up for sale, and then disappeared. <br />
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I’ve been able to utilize some of the snippet summaries of these letters which were offered by the sellers, but its a poor substitute for the whole thing. Snippets don’t capture the diarist or letter writer’s personality, or details that might be insignificant to a seller, but have great interest to a researcher. <br />
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If you have in your possession letters of a particular unit, whether to cherish or to sell, consider sharing the contents with researchers. Reach out to someone else who would value and appreciate your collection as much as you do. Its the information that we need, not the item itself. In my case, I have been unsuccessful following the trail of these particular items that quickly disappeared into obscurity.<br />
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Its pretty darn easy to know there is a detailed website chronicling the 13th Massachusetts Volunteers. I’ve even seen information from my website used to advertise the sale of artifacts. Just know, that I’m interested and would appreciate whatever lights you care to shine into the history of these men. I will be thankful, and the many descendants I have helped will be grateful too. <br />
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When I began my web history, there was a question as to whether or not I should share everything I found. I decided to share, because in the end these aren’t my stories. They belong to the soldiers’ themselves. This policy brought many happy results, beyond monetary considerations.<br />
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So thats my pitch. Please help if you can by sharing/linking this post with your friends.B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-65143809894886059462020-03-14T16:17:00.002-04:002020-05-03T13:10:57.151-04:00Some Estates Around the Rapidan<div style="text-align: center;">
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<i>This post is dedicated to Issiah. </i></div>
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I remember my first visit to Maryland and Virginia from California. It was exciting to actually visit places and discover sites I had been researching and reading about for years. Now I live within driving distance to most of these places. Its a kick to be able to just hop in the car and go out sightseeing. A couple days ago my friend Brett, intrepid and unsung CW researcher extrordinare took me by Lessland, one of the estates of Jeremiah Morton. I was unaware that it was still standing. Its visible in the drawing artist Alfred Waud sketched of General Alexander Webb's 2nd Corps Brigade picketing Somerville Ford in October, 1863. I didn't have a camera with me, so as the weather was nice yesterday I took another drive out there. This is just a photo travelogue of some of the historic properties still standing, or no longer standing in some cases, along the Rapidan River, which was the border between North & South during the winter of 1863-64.<br />
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<i>Some Estates Along the Rapidan River. </i></div>
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Here's my map. I began my drive on the south side of Clark's Mountain in Orange County, south of the Rapidan River, and swung around to Lessland. Jeremiah Morton owned two estates south of the river, and from what I understand, he called the smaller estate "Lessland" for less land. Guess what he called the other? Jeremiah invested heavily in the Confederacy and lost everything. But I was thrilled to learn this estate still stood.<br />
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<i>Lessland</i>.</div>
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I drove from Lessland across the Rapidan to the Culpeper side of the river and turned east on Algonquin Road. I was finally able to capture a descent photo of the entry to what was once Retreat Farm, owned by Robert II Stringfellow, who died in 1858. I have not been able to explore the grounds, there is a family cemetery still extant, but the house I was told was torn down about 30 years ago. That structure was supposedly a re-build of the original 18th Century farmhouse that burned during the war. Lizzie Stringfellow left a wonderful description of the estate in her memoirs, published in 1930, "The Life and Times of Horace Stringfellow." Robert II was Lizzie's grandfather and she with her sister and many cousins spent several summers of her youth on the property. On October 2nd 1863, Lt. Edward Rollins of the 13th MA, spent a pleasant evening in conversation with Dr. John Stringfellow, of Kansas, who inherited the estate. The article Lt. Rollins wrote is fascinating and will be on my website soon.<br />
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<i>Site of Retreat Farm.</i></div>
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Here's part of what Lizzie wrote:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The distance between the house and the public road was divided into three fenced-in-fields. The first, counting the house, was for grazing purposes; the second for some low growing crop such as wheat or oats; the third was corn which grew so high that the tallest man could not be seen when the crop was a good one as it generally was in that rich ground. As the fields were fenced in, there had to be gates to pass through before you reached the house. The one opening on the public road was know as the "Big Gate” and to see it plainly from the house, a spy glass was kept on a table in the front porch. On fair days, it was the duty of young an old to use it and report if a carriage could be seen coming through. If so, it meant from four to six visitors were coming to spend the day. Then Mistress and servants got busy preparing a dinner which would reflect credit on The Retreat. Giving and receiving visits was the order of that day and the only members of the household who did not enjoy it were the children who, having been taught that they must be seen and not heard, were generally miserable fearing that they would soil the clean clothes before they had been inspected by the visitors. Another serious grievance with them was the knowledge that they would have to wait for the ”second table” before getting any of that extra good dinner."</blockquote>
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I didn't stop to take a picture of historic "Lime Church" or St. Paul's, because I had already done that on an earlier visit. In fact I have other pictures of most of these places, but on this particular day, I re-photographed some of them. Here is the church in case you missed it on my website.<br />
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<i>Historic Lime Church, same site, probably a different structure.</i></div>
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When the First Corps was picketing the river here in September & October of 1863, Col. Charles Wainwright, artillery officer, when out to explore the ground. The pickets told him it was unsafe to ride beyond the church, as the enemy were fortified across the river and within firing distance.<br />
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Up the road a bit was Sumerduck, one of Reverend Thornton Stringfellow's two properties. Lizzie Stringfellow, again tells a wonderful story about this estate.<br />
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<i>Sumerduck Farm</i></div>
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Here is part of Lizzie Stringfellow's reminiscence of Sumerduck. Lizzie's Aunt Ann Stringfellow was wounded in the foot during a skirmish at Retreat Farm on Sept. 15, 1863. Fearing for her safety and that of the two nieces then visiting from Northern Virginia, the commanding officer removed the ladies and servants of the household to Sumerduck, which was acting Head-quarters of the cavalry picketing the river. The ladies were loaded in an ambulance and taken up the road in the dark of night.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"It took Aunt Ann to find out from the driver where they were going. When she heard that the Headquarters was none other than your Cousin Lawrence Stringfellow’s attractive home, she passed the word to the others. There was general rejoicing for he was as clannish as the rest of the family so they knew they would be made welcome. The house had been planned along Tidewater Virginia lines. A broad portico ran the length of the house, the roof of which was supported by large pillars. The upstairs front windows looked out from beneath the portico roof. Those windows were low and the sills formed most comfortable seats from which one could see and hear all that went below. The house was large and roomy and could have accommodated many more refugees than were coming to it then.<br />
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It was long after midnight before Aunt Ann was laid in a bed at Summer Duck House, the home of Cousin Lawrence, son of Uncle Thornton. Two United States surgeons examined her and decided that the only thing to be done was to amputate the foot. But before they could make the necessary preparations, she fainted so dead away that, hearing how much blood she had lost they concluded it was too great a risk. So she was left to get along as best she could.<br />
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"The next morning, the girls, being young, had to agree upon a suitable course of action. Until then, they had never met an enemy face to face. That there must be a certain degree of aloofness on the part of Southern girls who had four brothers in the Confederate army, they fully realized but, “To speak or not to speak” was the question which they finally decided to lead to circumstance. But, when Cousin Harriet, wife of Lawrence, came in to welcome them to her home and informed them that no inmate of the house was to be allowed to put foot to ground, such being the order from Headquarters, they immediately decided, “not to speak.”<br />
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"For, to girls who had been riding the country over to hear that they were now to be confined to a few rooms seemed tyranny of the worst sort. Soldiers in front of the house and soldiers at the back kept the house encircled night and day for the six weeks that they were there."</blockquote>
The story continues with much excitement when Aunt Ann's son, Confederate Spy, Frank Stringfellow, sneaks into the home to visit his mother, but that's for another time.<br />
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On the other side of the river, not too far away is historic Greenville, a place whose name I can never recall correctly. I've called it Glenview, Glenville and other things but Greenville is correct. It sits far back from the road, so until I get an invite to visit, I had to settle for a very long shot of the manor house. Its quite impressive nontheless.<br />
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<i>Historic Greenville.</i></div>
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Here is a better view, although I didn't take it.</div>
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<i>Historic Greenville, close up.</i></div>
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Continuing east, Struan is easily visible from the road. This is the home in front of historic Morton's Ford. General Alexander Hays had a crazy battle here in early February 1864, but there is no time to go into that now. This is just about the picturesque views and historic houses. </div>
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I'll close this portion of the river tour with the site of what once was Reverend Thornton Stringfellow's beloved Farm, Bel Air. When the current owners acquired the house many years ago, the original home, which had gone through a victorian remodel, was in a derelict condition. It had to be raised and a new home constructed in its place. The farm however is still beautiful, and bears the name Bel Air Farm to this day.</div>
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<i>Bel Air Farm. Once the beloved home of Rev. Thornton Stringfellow.</i></div>
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I ended my drive this day at the Stevensburg Baptist Church, which was founded by Rev. Thornton. He is buried there. Its not on my map above, but if you drove directly north a few miles from Bel Air Farm, you would arrive at Stevensburg. Some new interpretive markers were installed recently to pay homage to historic Stevensburg. I was unaware of this, until my friend Brett took me there. He really doesn't get enough credit.</div>
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<i>Stevensburg Baptist Church,</i></div>
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<i>Stone marking the burial plot of Thornton Stringfellow's family.</i></div>
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"Thornton Stringfellow was ordained in 1814. He continued to minister in Fauquier and Clupeper Counties throughout his career and advocated for domestic missions, the temperance movement, and Sunday School programs. <br />
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On October 23, 1833, Pastors Thornton Stringfellow and John Churchill Gordon organized Stevensburg Baptist Church. The congregation elected Stringfellow as the pastor for the new church and split from Mount Pony Baptist Church, which had relocated from the base of Mount Pony to Culpeper Courthouse. At that time, new churches often developed from the division of some older local congregations. …By 1847, [the church] listed 97 black and 88 white members in its congregation. The first church was a 40-foot by 50-foot brick building constructed in 1856. The congregation continued to grow with 124 black members and 67 white members by 1860. Blacks were the majority in the congregation, as well as in Culpeper County’s population at that time.” ...From the Historical marker.</div>
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Is this a reason why Rev. Stringfellow was such an adamant defender of the institution of slavery? He truly believed bringing the word of God to the people, of all communities, was the most important mission of his life. He was not opposed to ending slavery, he just thought it would happen in God’s time, and like many of his era, he thought the abolitionists were the ones stirring up all the trouble. Prominent members of his family thought much the same way. Thornton lost everything in the war, which came right to his front doorstep in 1863; including his slaves.<br />
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The original church burned too. The building was rebuilt in 1874, remodeled in 1961, and veneered with brick in 1978.<br />
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In closing, it is truly satisfying to be able to spend a day like this driving from one historic site to the next. Each of these places is filled with stories and they are right here, for those willing to notice. </div>
<br />B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-36785251227638018632020-01-27T19:24:00.001-05:002020-01-27T19:56:25.690-05:00East Meets West on the Rapidan –– a teaser<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Benjamin Franklin Stringfellow, (1816 - 1891) and his brother Dr. John H. Stringfellow, (1819-1905) were born to Mary “Polly” Plunkett, the 2nd wife of Robert Stringfellow of Retreat Farm, also known as Robert II.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Retreat Farm was adjacent to Raccoon Ford along the Rapidan River though the family purchased the property well after the Stringfellow brothers’ formative years. In September & October, 1863, the 13th MA was picketing the river in this area, and Retreat Farm was the picket-reserve command post. And therein lies a tale.</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lkr9YGGztPk/Xi98Wa4p-AI/AAAAAAAAA9w/XcjjqRvdwBk6IwUEQYageLovBkv2w61BgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/stringfellow_benjamin_f_1816.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="224" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lkr9YGGztPk/Xi98Wa4p-AI/AAAAAAAAA9w/XcjjqRvdwBk6IwUEQYageLovBkv2w61BgCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/stringfellow_benjamin_f_1816.jpg" width="127" /></a><span style="font-kerning: none;">These two Stringfellow brothers were educated in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, and went on to acquire higher degrees elsewhere, before moving west at different times. Both ended up prominent figures in the State of Missouri. Ben, pictured right, was Attorney General 1845 - 1849. He subsequently gained the prefix, ‘General’ Stringfellow. With this appellation B.F. Stringfellow was synonymously associated with Senator David Atchison, the leading proponent of bringing slavery to Kansas during the bleeding Kansas territorial period, 1854 - 1860. Both Stringfellow’s were vigorously active allies of Senator Atchison in his efforts to bring thousands of Missouri residents into Kansas Territory to vote for pro-slavery candidates in early elections. Ben lobbied Southern Congressmen to encourage their Southern slave owner consituents to move and settle in Kansas. Dr. John Stringfellow helped found the town of Atchison, and with partner Robert S. Kelley, founded the vociferous pro-slavery weekly,<a href="https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015827/issues/" target="_blank"> <i>Squatter Sovereign</i>,</a> issues of which you can read on-line at the Library of Congress, Chronicling America site. I highly recommend it for insight into one side of those turbulent partisan times.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Kelley wrote most of the articles, but Dr. John, pictured left, frequently ran pro-slavery polemics penned by brother Ben, and Uncle Thornton Stringfellow, the most widely respected clerical apologist for slavery in the South. And when Dr. John Stringfellow became Speaker of the House of the 1st Kansas Territory Legislature, he reported in the pages of his newspaper their daily proceedings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Because of the huge number of pro-slavery voters imported from Missouri, the Free-State settlers of Kansas Territory refused to recognize the legitimacy of the representatives elected. This “Bogus Legislature,” passed draconian pro-slavery laws, including hard labor and the death penalty for even speaking about abolition in the territory. </span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xUf3N_XQM-k/Xi9-DglStcI/AAAAAAAAA-E/TRnV6j-9NrAW-fU1Mcr6MuLc4yeGV1kwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/robinson_charles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="298" data-original-width="256" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xUf3N_XQM-k/Xi9-DglStcI/AAAAAAAAA-E/TRnV6j-9NrAW-fU1Mcr6MuLc4yeGV1kwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/robinson_charles.jpg" width="171" /></a><span style="font-kerning: none;">In protest, the Free-Staters formed their own rump government, and elected as their choice for a future State Governor, Dr. Charles L. Robinson, pictured right, of Massachusetts. Robinson was an educated man, a Massachusetts native, with many frontier experiences. A California 49er, he served a term as representative in the California State Legislature. Robinson returned to Massachusetts in 1851, married and founded the Fitchburg News. When the Kansas-Nebraska act became law, Robinson became an agent for the abolitionist Emigrant Aid Company, and led the organization’s first group of 29 free-soil settlers to Kansas. They founded the town of Lawrence. Robinson was a great coalition builder, and his political skills were such that he strengthened the free-soil movement in Kansas Territory. Consequently he was one of the Stringfellow brothers arch rivals during this time of Kansas’ history. This history by the way is a great primer on what followed in the tragic Civil War. I highly recommend readers <a href="https://www.kansasmemory.org/" target="_blank">learn more about it.</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">And now for the climax of this story. On October 1st & 2nd, 1863, Lieutenant Edward Fay Rollins, 13th MA commanded the picket post at Retreat Farm. He was called to the porch of the house to sit and visit with the current owner of the property, Dr. John H. Stringfellow, former Kansas Territory Speaker of the House. Dr. John left Kansas in 1858 when his father Robert II died, and took over ownership of Retreat Farm. Rollins and Stringfellow spent an agreeable two days in conversation debating slavery, and the prospects for the outcome of the war, then in progress. Rollins was an editor by profession and had worked at the Fitchburg News. His former employer was Dr. Charles Robinson, who in 1863 was the first Governor of Kansas, the free state arch rival of Dr. John. Rollins wrote, “I had not met so agreeable a Southern man to talk with the whole two years I had been in the service. I could express my sincere views on the questions talked about without his taking offence, and I did my best to sustain my side of the argument.” Then, “when relieved by another detail, he came to me and bade me good-bye, and presented me with a half blood-hound and half setter puppy which I had been admiring the previous day."</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><i>There is more, and the full story will be posted on my website, when the new pages are completed. This is the last essay being developed for that new secti</i>on. And, if any readers know of where I might find a photo of Edward Rollins, please contact me. ––Hoping this generates some interest.</span><br />
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B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-69648511075080772412019-07-13T14:43:00.002-04:002019-07-13T17:18:57.227-04:00Petersburg Forts<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: 11px;"> </span> My wife and I went to Petersburg on the 4th of July. More than a year earlier, I went with my friend Brett, and we followed the route of the Army of the Potomac from Spotsylvania, to the North Ana river, and then, eventually down to Petersburg. We stopped at each location and did some exploring on foot. At Petersburg we found the field opposite what became known as Fort Crater, where the 13th MA with their Division rolled into a steep railroad cut under enemy fire on June 19, 1864. They had 1 month left to serve before their 3 year enlistment expired. Only about 80 of the original 1,000 men were present in the ranks at that time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> At Petersburg, we took a walk down the Jerusalem Plank road, probably the very same road the happy soldiers traversed to begin their long yearned-for journey home to Massachusetts. On this trip we also found Fort Warren, later changed to Fort Davis, the fort the 13th Mass helped construct, and the very location from which they departed for home. It was their last position on the front lines.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> I returned this year to capture some of these places with photographs, something we forewent on that initial exploratory trip. And, we returned nearly 155 years to the day that the regiment left the front for home. The temperature hovered around 100 degrees on July 4th, so my wife and I didn’t walk around too much, but we got to experience the same weather the soldiers experienced. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> What follows are some excerpts from the history of the regiment, <b><i>"Three Years in the Army"</i></b>; by Charles E. Davis, Jr., and a few pictures.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> Advanced at daybreak and found the rebels had abandoned their line of last night ; our brigade, which was in the first line, passing over the dead bodies of both armies that laid in our path, driving the enemy’s skirmishers about a mile, when we came in sight of the rebel earthworks. We then halted and threw up works for our own protection.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span>Pictured is Fort Morton, looking to what became known as Fort Crater in the distance. From here the regiment/brigade made the charge described below:</i></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> "We soon made another advance across a field toward the railroad. A deep cut, dug out for the railroad, passed through the hill about one hundred and fifty yards in front of us, to gain which we had to run the gauntlet of musketry and artillery from the enemy intrenched on a hill the other side of the railroad. </span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>The Field that was passed through to the deep railroad cut. The Confederate line was in front of "Fort Crater" in the distance. They had a clear shot at the approaching Yankees. I wanted to take a photo from the edge of the cut but the weeds and brush were too high to pass through comfortably. Plus it was 100 degrees.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> "Word was passed along that a dash was to be made, under fire, directly into this cut, and it was done. As the men in the front line reached the edge of the cut, fifteen feet high, they jumped over the edge into the soft yielding sand, followed by the men in the rear lines, who came tumbling on top of the first line, before the men could extricate themselves from their uncomfortable predicament, rolling over each other clear to the bottom. A more ludicrous sight could hardly be imagined in spite of the seriousness of the occasion. The lines were reformed in the cut.</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G7BdEFOQc-4/XSoeoUbdOzI/AAAAAAAAA78/jQDqZUdAXi84fmv1sEa0RnA99xbYneBkgCLcBGAs/s1600/rr_cut_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1166" data-original-width="1555" height="238" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G7BdEFOQc-4/XSoeoUbdOzI/AAAAAAAAA78/jQDqZUdAXi84fmv1sEa0RnA99xbYneBkgCLcBGAs/s320/rr_cut_small.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i> Pictured is the railroad cut where today's park road crosses the track. The cut was deeper in 1864, but some idea can be grasped of the soldiers tumbling over one another as they jumped into the cut and rolled to the bottom.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> "The Thirteenth was then deployed as skirmishers and marched out of the cut by the right flank partially protected by scattering woods and a ravine, then faced to the front and advanced up the side of the hill where the enemy was intrenched, and where we halted and worked all night throwing up breastworks. The enemy could be distinctly heard doing the same thing on the top of the hill.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> "A gully made by heavy rains was soon found in this ploughed field extending from the bank of the river to the upper line of earthworks. This we deepened and extended so as to form a sunken way that could be safely traversed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> "This hill was afterwards known as “Fort Crater.”</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span>This is the reverse view of the field the Federal Troops charged over into the rr cut. The picture was taken from the Confederate skirmish line in front of Fort Crater. The chimney in the center background is the Taylor House ruins. Fort Morton is on the right edge of the field in the background.</i></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> "We had six men wounded. In building our works, we utilized the dead bodies of the rebels by burying them in the earth which we threw up from the trenches, serving the double purpose of burial and increasing the size of the breastworks. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> At daylight we found ourselves within a hundred and fifty yards of a rebel fort, high above us on the crest of the hill, with guns staring us in the face. The rebels were unable to depress their artillery sufficiently to trouble the skirmish line so near them, but the infantry made it lively for us. Any portion of a human body exposed above the earthworks was sure to draw a perfect shower of bullets.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> "That they might waste as much ammunition as possible, we frequently tried that old gag, so often told, of raising a cap above the works by means of a ramrod to attract their fire. Collecting the guns of the men who had been killed or wounded, we extracted the ramrods and fired them over into the enemy’s works. The enemy soon discovered what made the peculiar noise and returned the compliment, until both sides became tired of the novelty. We had five men wounded during the day." –– END QUOTE.</span><br />
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<b>PART 2</b><br />
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After getting these pictures, we proceeded to the site of Fort Davis. I wanted to go inside the fort, but a nasty moat surrounds it, which prevented climbing up the overgrown sides. There are some good mentions of this fort from Charles Davis, Austin Stearns and Sam Webster, from which I quote below.<br />
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From <b>"Three Years In The Army"</b> by Charles E. Davis, Jr.<br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> The enemy taking advantage of the quiet which prevailed to-day, and the carelessness that occurs on such occasions, suddenly opened fire with artillery. For a few minutes the scene was very lively. Nobody of our regiment was hurt, thought the colonel of the Thirty-ninth Massachusetts was killed. (<i>Col. P. Stearns Davis</i>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> "At night the regiment was moved back to assist in building Fort Warren, afterward Fort Davis, in honor of the colonel of the Thirty-ninth.</span></div>
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Still at work on the fort, which was laid out so as to be, when completed four hundred feet square. It was hard work and continued night and day, the men being relieved every two hours for rest. It took eight men to get one shovelful of dirt from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the work, the men standing on little niches cut in the side and passing the earth from one to another." –– END QUOTE.<br />
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b><i>Austin Stearns told a good story about this fort. He wrote:</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> "July 13 “My birthday, and the fourth one since I have been in the service. Spent the day in looking at the works and watching the colored men work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> "…We are quartered inside the Fort, which is a large five sided one, containing about 2 acres, with a traversee running through the middle. We are behind the traversee, and as our time is about out we do not feel like work. I was up on the ramparts watching the Colored men work when Gen’l Warren and Crawford came along. I heard Warren tell Crawford that he must have some traversees put in on that side, for if the Rebs should shell it there would be nothing to protect the men. A little while after I saw Rawson up there taking his ease, for it was a great deal cooler there then down in the centre where there was not a breath of air; and the sun pouring down his hottest rays. Giving Sanborn the wink, and going up so Rawson could hear, I said to Al, “Did you hear what Gen’l Warren told Crawford.”</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"> “No,” said Al, “what is it?” “Well,” said I, “Warren told Crawford that if the Rebs should open fire this would be a very unsafe place to be in.” Rawson said nothing, but got up and went down into the Fort, and didn’t go a rod away from the traversee all day. I really pitied him. We boys stayed up, laying around where there was a shade while Rawson lay down, pretending to be asleep in the sun.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"> "A brigade of Penn troops were sent to work chopping down the trees in front of the fort. They went to work in a very systematic manner, cutting the trees part way down and then cutting one at the edge and having it fall on the others, would take down an acre or more.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"> "July 14 “Received orders last night to pack up, and turn over our recruits and reenlisted men to the 39th Mass and go to the rear. …At last, just before sunrise, all was arranged and we were permitted to depart… We marched from the fort with eighty guns, but when we reached the rear and the teamsters, detailed men, and sick and wounded reported, we had a very respectful regiment." –– END QUOTE.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>I am standing in front of the historical marker for Fort Davis, Petersburg. The high overgrown bank behind me is the south wall of the fort. A moat runs around the outside walls. I'm holding a copy of a map Sam Webster drew in one of his memoirs, with a diagram of the fort, that shows where the 13th MA lined up inside, before marching off to go home. That spot as indicated on Sam's map, would be inside the fort, directly on the other side of the wall where I am standing.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"> At sunrise this morning, as the 13th marched out of the Sallyport, I was being transferred to the 39th Mass. …Lt Rollins, Acting Adjutant, whom I messed with when I joined Co. D, turned us over (some 25 or 30, mostly “substitutes,” but a few old recruits and re-enlisted men) to the Adjutant of the 39th, and then commencing at the left bade them all goodbye…..”</span></span></div>
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B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-32919320131182285432019-05-31T15:30:00.005-04:002019-05-31T15:32:54.850-04:00Memorial Day, Westboro, MA, 1879<br />
I was going to follow up the last post with more about Austin Stearns, but seeing we just celebrated another Memorial Day, I thought it might be appropriate to re-visit a previous Memorial Day. The following comes from the Digital Archives of the Westboro Library, where they have digitized their historical newspapers.<br />
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Transcribed by Bradley M. Forbush, 2019. NOTE: I have tried to be totally accurate in this transcription by proofreading the names at least twice. Several typos & formatting errors were corrected. When transcribing these long articles, and proofing them invariably mistakes still slip in. I have done my best to fix them. — B.F. April 8, 2019.<br />
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WESTBOROUGH CHRONOTYPE; May 31, 1879.</div>
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<b>Memorial Day.</b></div>
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Memorial day was observed in Westboro by exercises at the Town hall, a procession, and the decorating of soldiers graves. Flags were also floating from the Town Hall, National Straw Works, and at other points, and the stores were closed during the early afternoon hours.<br />
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The exercises began at the hall at 2 o’clock P.M. On the platform was the President of the Day and Marshal, J. W. Fairbanks, Esq.; the Orator of the Day, Rev. H. P. DeForest; [DeForest authored the soldiers’ war records for the book “History of Westboro, MA” — B.F.] the Chaplain, Rev. J. P. Forbes; and the Selectmen, Dr. Wm. Curtis, and Messrs. William M. Blake and Israel H. Bullard. Prayer was offered by the chaplain, after which there was singing by a quartette — Mrs. E. B. Harvey, Miss Sadie Arnold, and Messrs. Elijah Eddy and D. P. Brigham — with Miss S. E. Burnap as organist.<br />
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The Oration was next in order. The speaker’s theme was patriotism and the political lessons of the war.<br />
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Mr. DeForest began by saying he would he were able to speak just the words fit for this hour. The sad and exacting duties of the past week had interfered, but knew that his audience would appreciate the circumstances. He referred to the fact that some would leave the decoration of soldiers’ graves to rain and sunshine, and deprecated such counsel, pleading an observance of the day that the heroic deeds of the fallen might not be forgotten and the lessons they taught lost. After speaking of the attack on the nation’s life and the uprising of the people in defense of the government, he alluded to the suffering of the four years of that terrible war and the suffering that followed, the full measure of which none but the recording angel could tell. He then dwelt at length on patriotism and the duty of American citizens. Never before had the world seen such an army as we had, because it was an army that thought and felt. The main spring of its great uprising was patriotism, and we to-day believe it more than when we witnessed it. It is patriotism that we honor; patriotism which the soldier helped us to see — for patriotism is sacrifice. Having seen the genuine patriotism we are not deceived by the counterfeit. Patriotism is an unselfish love of country. It begins in youth as a sentiment, but does not obtain its growth without education. Patriotism does not say my country right or wrong, but patriotism says my country must be right as far as I can make her right. The true love of patriotism, like all true love, seeks the highest things for her beloved and will not be satisfied with anything else.<br />
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Our weapons to-day are ballots and not bullets. The schools and the pulpits and the press are our weapons. The soldiers went forth for need of country and who dare say that the country does not to-day need the services of her loyal sons as when the guns of the rebellion opened fire upon her flag. While there is hope for a united country, with no North, no South, no East, no West, there are extremists in all sections who seek only personal ends. The call for pure patriotism to-day is incessant. The call comes to us from the graves we are about to decorate. “See that we have not died in vain.” The prize they sought may be lost unless we do our duty. The same enemy is seeking to make the ballot a farce, and Congress a political machine. They favor lessing the appropriations for schools, knowing that ignorance among the people is to the advantage of demogogues. The power is in the hands of the people by education and the ballot. The danger is that the people shall fail to exercise their privileges. The country demands education and the purity of the ballot. We should class place hunters and those who will not act as something of the same genus as the copperheads that existed during the war. Many doubt whether a republic like ours can be permanently successful, but it will succeed if the people are intelligent, upright and patriotic. The world looks on us with skeptical unbelief. It is not for us to be skeptical but to believe in our country; else we are not worthy of our brothers — the heroic dead who were not afraid to die for the republic. Days like this arouse latent patriotism and cause people to realize that the claims of patriotism and country are incessant. The same voice that called for troops to suppress the rebellion is calling for us to defend the country’s interests constantly and to the end. We owe it to our country to educate the people, prize righteousness, espouse only the true and honorable, and put no faith in dishonest measures to promote honest ends. By the carelessness and neglect of true citizens, more than from ignorance and corruption is our country in danger.<br />
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These are no dead issues which call us here to-day. Let it not pass by unobserved. It is a day sacred to the memory of the patriot dead and the patriot living.<br />
For want of space and time we give but the above imperfect sketch of Mr. DeForest’s excellent address. It held the undivided attention of the gratified audience during its delivery, and was frequently applauded by sympathizing hearers.<br />
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More singing by the quartette was then followed by the closing prayer.<br />
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The procession was then formed by the marshal. It consisted of 27 men in line, bearing flowers and wreaths, and two hacks, one occupied by disabled soldiers and the other by officers of the day. Preceded by fife and drum — O. Kimball playing the former and Festus Faulkner beating the latter — and with the national colors waving over its ranks, the procession moved to the several cemeteries, where, with appropriate exercises, they deposited their floral tributes and planted miniature flags. Returning to the soldiers monument, flowers were deposited in memory of the unreturned, after which all united in singing”America” previous to the pronouncement of the benediction by the chaplain.<br />
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The entire programme was impressively rendered and successfully carried out. J. W. Fairbanks, Chas. E. Long, M. H. Walker, S. O. Staples and D. S. Witherbee were the committee of arrangements.<br />
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The graves of the following persons were then decorated, those marked with an * having died since the war:<br />
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Lower Cemetery.</div>
*J. W. Miller, *Samuel Wright, *Henry Ward, *F. A. Wiswall, W. H. Blake, John S. Burnap, *J. F. Robinson, *Alvah Kittredge, *J. H. Holland, D. B. Miller, Capt. G. Orne, Minot C. Adams, *Joseph Cushing, *N. B. Dodge, W. Ferguson, (1812), *S. N. Brigham (navy), *A. E. Harlow, (navy), *W. A. Smith (navy), *Henry H. Hall, *Charles Brigham, *Samuel Brown, *Isaac Gould.<br />
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Cemetery between South and School streets.<br />
*Chas. H. Hardy, *J. H. Fairbanks, *Henry A. Harris, *John Harriden, Geo. C. Harriden.<br />
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*P. McCarty, * Wm. Dee, *Michael McCoy, *Martin Stinson.<br />
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The Unreturned.</div>
H. W. Bond, John Copeland, Thomas Copeland, George Chickering, Chas. S. Carter, *Patrick Crowe, W. H. Denney, T. Driscoll, James Doherty, *Geo. R. Douglas, H. H. Fairbanks, John Flye, W. H. H. Greenwood, John A. Hart, A. W. Haskell, F. E. Hanley, Frank E. Kempt, *C. W. Kidder, Wm. C. Loker, J. W. Marsh, *H. C. Ross, J. H. Sullivan, H. O. Smith, *A. L. Sanborn, I. E. Walker, P. Casey.<br />
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The following is the list of those who died or were killed in the service:<br />
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Minot C. Adams, died at Florence, S. C., starvation and neglect, Nov. 1, 1864. William H. Blake, died at Harrisburg, Va., June 6, 1864, while prisoner of war, of wounds received in battle. John S. Burnap, died at Williamsport, Md., of exposure, Dec. 10, 1861. Herbert W. Bond, killed at the battle of the Wilderness, Va., May 6, 1864. Charles S. Carter, died Oct. 22, 1864, of starvation and neglect, at Florence, S. C., while prisoner of war. George S. Chickering, died Nov. 1, 1864, at Florence, S.C., while prisoner of war. John Copeland, died of starvation in Georgia, while prisoner of war. Thomas Copeland, killed at the battle of Centerville, [2nd Bull Run — B.F.] Va., Aug. 30, 1862. Abner W. Haskell, wounded in battle of Deep Run, Aug. 16, 1864, and died soon after. Francis E. Kempt, died at Andersonville, Ga., Oct. 24, 1864, of chronic diarrhoea. William C. Loker, died a Falls Church, Va., Jan. 9, 1865, of typhoid pneumonia. Jeremiah W. Marsh, died of wounds received May 6, 1864. Daniel B. Miller, killed June 15, 1861, at Groton, Ct., by being thrown under the cars while the regiment was on its way to Washington, D.C. Herbert O. Smith, died in Andersonville prison, Aug. 28, 1864, of chronic diarrhoea. James H. Sullivan, killed at the battle of Newborn, N.C., March 14, 1862. Irving E. Walker, died at Florence, S.C., Nov. 1, 1864, of starvation and exposure. William Denny, died in the hospital of typhoid fever. Timothy Driscoll, died of an accident which occurred on the field of battle. Hollis Fairbanks, killed at second battle of Bull Run, Aug. 30, 1862. John Flye, died July 27, 1863, from wounds received in battle of Gettysburg, after lying on the field three days after the battle. William H. H. Greenwood, instantly killed in the battle of the Wilderness, by a bullet through the head, May 6, 1864. Francis E. Hanley, died July 5, 1862, of wounds received in battle. George C. Harriden, died of heart disease at Williamsport, Md., Dec. 22, 1861. John A. Hart, wounded in the battle of the Wilderness from the effects of which he died at Heywood [Harewood? — B.F.] Hospital, Washington, D. C., May 26, 1864.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
ROLL OF HONOR.</div>
The following is a complete list of the solders and sailors in the naval service of the United States from the town of Westboro during the rebellion begun in 1861. Adams, Minot C.<br />
Adams, John Q.<br />
Aldrich, Wm. M.<br />
Adrich, Geo. S.<br />
Allen, Augustus<br />
Arnold Abert A.<br />
Bacon, Charles W.<br />
Bailey, David M.<br />
Bailey, Walter<br />
Ballou, Geo. S.<br />
Barker, Ira*<br />
Barstow Sidney<br />
Bartlett, Warren<br />
Beals, Isaiah H.<br />
Bellows, Geo. N.<br />
Bemis, Hiram C.<br />
Bennett, Dexter W.<br />
Berryhill, William ***<br />
Black, Robert<br />
Blackmer, Wm. P.<br />
Blake, William M.<br />
Blake, William F.<br />
Blake, Wm. H.<br />
Blanchard, Chas. W.<br />
Bond, John S. <br />
Bond, Herbert W.<br />
Boulie, Peter<br />
Boutelle, Lewis H.<br />
Bowman, John W.<br />
Boynton, Alden L.<br />
Braley, Ellison L.<br />
Braley, Frank G.<br />
Brigham, Charles E.<br />
Brigham, Calvin L.<br />
Brigham, Dexter P.<br />
Brigham, Albert<br />
Brigham, Charles R.<br />
Brigham, Sam’l N.*<br />
Brigham, Geo. C.<br />
Brigham, Harrison M.<br />
Brigham, Silas H.<br />
Brigham, Francis A.<br />
Brigham, Warren L.<br />
Brown, William<br />
Bullard, Emery<br />
Bullard, Israel H.<br />
Bullard, Martin<br />
Bullard, Francis W.<br />
Burgess, Charles B.<br />
Burnap, John S.<br />
Burnap, Henry A.<br />
Burns, John<br />
Burns, James<br />
Burns, Patrick<br />
Burns, Patrick (2 entries-BF)<br />
Call, G. L. ***<br />
Calverly, John<br />
Card, William J.<br />
Carter, Andrew P.<br />
Carter, Chas. S.<br />
Carter, James D.<br />
Cary, Thomas<br />
Casey, Patrick<br />
Cavey, Michael<br />
Chamberlain, Spencer<br />
Chapin, David N. ++<br />
Chapman, Lorenzo A.<br />
Chase, Frederick D.<br />
Chevalier, Napoleon<br />
Chickering, Geo. S.<br />
Child, Wm. M.<br />
Churchill, Ezra<br />
Clark,Charles E.<br />
Clements, Edward<br />
Clemons, Walter<br />
Cole, Jefferson K.<br />
Conroy, James<br />
Coolidge, Victor<br />
Copeland, John<br />
Copeland, Thomas<br />
Cross, Allan W.<br />
Crowe, Patrick<br />
Crowe, Patrick ++ (2 entries-BF)<br />
Crowe, Michael<br />
Crowe, James<br />
Crowe, John<br />
Crowley, John H.<br />
Cummings, Gilbert, Jr.<br />
Cushman, Wm. H.<br />
Davis, Theodore L.<br />
Davis, Geo. L.<br />
Dee, William<br />
Dee, John<br />
Delano, Reuben<br />
Delevenne, Godfried<br />
Denny, William<br />
Doherty, James<br />
Dolan, Michael<br />
Donovan, Ira L.<br />
Donovan, Jackson<br />
Donovan, Byron<br />
Douglass, George R.<br />
Drayton, Charles<br />
Driscoll, Timothy<br />
Drummond, William H.<br />
Dudley, Edward A.<br />
Dunn, Patrick<br />
Durgin, James F.<br />
Dyer, Thomas B.<br />
Edwards, William H.<br />
Emery, Geo. F.<br />
Estey, Edward S.<br />
Fairbanks, Joseph, H.<br />
Fairbanks, John W.<br />
Fairbanks, Freeman<br />
Fairbanks, Hollis H.<br />
Fairbanks, Henry A.<br />
Fairbanks, Geo. W.<br />
Fairbanks, Willard W.<br />
Fairbanks, Almer A.<br />
Fairbanks, Charles A.<br />
Fairbanks, Benj. N.<br />
Fanin, James<br />
Fannon, Bernard<br />
Fay, William W.<br />
Fay, Charles M.<br />
Fay, Waldo L.<br />
Fayerweather, Geo. T.<br />
Fayerweather, Geo. J.<br />
Fayerweather, Henry E.<br />
Faulkner, David B.<br />
Faulkner, Festus, Jr.<br />
Ferguson, Geo. A.<br />
Ferguson, Henry C.<br />
Fisher, Charles P.<br />
Fisher, William<br />
Flagg, Henry C.<br />
Fletcher, William C.<br />
Fletcher, Geo. W.<br />
Flinn, Patrick<br />
Fly, John<br />
Forbes, Willis A.<br />
Forbush, Alonzo G.<br />
Forbush, William H.<br />
Foster, Henry S.<br />
Foster, John A.<br />
Freeman, Henry A.<br />
Gilmore, John A.<br />
Glidden, John<br />
Goss, Chas. A.<br />
Graham, Roland ***<br />
Green, Myron D.<br />
Greenwood, Charles<br />
Greenwood, Charles O.<br />
Greenwood, Wm. H. H. ++<br />
Greenwood, Abner R. <br />
Hale, Geo. F.<br />
Hanley, Francis E.<br />
Hannon, Michael C.<br />
Haraden, John W.<br />
Haraden, Geo. C.<br />
Hardy, Charles H.<br />
Harlow, Albert E*<br />
Harrenslayer, Fred’k<br />
Harrington, Chas. A.<br />
Harrington, Francis<br />
Harrington Frank A.<br />
Harrington, Edwin F.<br />
Harrington, Charles L.<br />
Harris, Henry A. <br />
Harrison, John K.<br />
Hart, John A.<br />
Hartwell, Geo. E.<br />
Haskell, Lyman<br />
Haskell, Charles B. <br />
Haskell, Abner W.<br />
Hathaway, Bowers C.<br />
Hayward, James<br />
Hazzard, Thomas R.<br />
Heaphy, Patrick<br />
Heath, Carlos T.<br />
Henry, Chas. L.<br />
Hill, John M.<br />
Hodgkins, Hiram G.<br />
Holland, Jas. H.<br />
Howe, Charles M.<br />
Howe, Charles S.<br />
Howe, John W.<br />
Horton, Myron J.<br />
Hudson, Edward<br />
Janes, Elijah C. (not James-BF) <br />
Joan, Antonio<br />
Johnson, John W.<br />
Johnson, William H.<br />
Jones, John<br />
Jones, Samuel R.<br />
Keevan, Edward<br />
Keevan, Thomas<br />
Kelley, John<br />
Kemp, Francis E.<br />
Kidder, Chas. W.<br />
Killkenny, Patrick<br />
Kimball, William B.<br />
Kimball, Frederick W.<br />
Kinders, Samuel B*<br />
Kirkup, Charles A.<br />
Kittredge, Alvah B.<br />
Lackey, Geo. A.<br />
Lackey, Robert S.<br />
Lackey, Charles T.<br />
Lackey, John<br />
Lakin, Geo. B.<br />
Lamson, Charles H.<br />
Laughlin, John<br />
Lebean, Joseph<br />
Lee, Edward<br />
Lincoln, Erastus M.<br />
Little, John<br />
Loker, WIlliam C.<br />
Long, Charles E. <br />
Longley, Joseph G.<br />
Longley, Charles O.<br />
Longley, Geo. A.<br />
Loughlin, Richard<br />
Lovell, Alden<br />
Lowd, Charles 2d<br />
Loud, Albert L.*<br />
Lowell, Edward<br />
Lowheed, Robert H.***<br />
Lucas, Elisha S.<br />
Lynch Michael<br />
Magner, William<br />
Mahoney, James<br />
Mann, Samuel W.<br />
Marsh, Jeremiah W.<br />
Martin, Thomas<br />
McCarthy, Patrick<br />
McCarthy, Daniel ++<br />
McCarthy, John ***<br />
McCoy, William<br />
McCoy, Michael<br />
McCue, Timothy<br />
McHough, Thomas<br />
McKendry, Geo. A.<br />
McNulty, Richard ***<br />
Miller, Josiah W.<br />
Miller, Daniel B.<br />
Miller, William A.<br />
Mitchell, Lowell P.<br />
Mockley, John<br />
Moody, John W.<br />
Morin, John<br />
Morrissey, Andrew<br />
Morse, Geo. B.<br />
Mortimer, Wm. ***<br />
Murphy, Thomas<br />
Murphy, John<br />
Newton, Frank A.<br />
Nichols, Charles O.<br />
Nichols, Augustus F.<br />
Nourse, S. Whitney<br />
O’Dea, Michael<br />
Parker, Chas. O.<br />
Pierce, Chas. H.<br />
Pike, Marshall S.<br />
Powers, Michael<br />
Priest, Edmund H.<br />
Quinn, Martin<br />
Rice, Charles A.<br />
Rice, John<br />
Rice, Henry G.<br />
Rice, Amos<br />
Richards, Henry V.<br />
Robbins, Chandler<br />
Robbins, Arthur W.<br />
Roberts, Edward<br />
Roberts, John ***<br />
Robinson, James F.<br />
Robinson, John T.<br />
Rogers, William E.<br />
Ross, Harvey C.<br />
Russell, Thomas<br />
Sanborn, Alfred L.<br />
Sanderson, John W.<br />
Sandra, Francis H.<br />
Sanger, John W.<br />
Sargent, John G.<br />
Searles, George B.<br />
Searles, George W.<br />
Shambeau, Foster<br />
Shehan, Patrick J.<br />
Sibley, WIlliam H.<br />
Sibley, Prescott<br />
Slattery, James<br />
Slattery, Thomas<br />
Smith, WIlliam A*<br />
Smith, Herbert O.<br />
Squier, Silas P.<br />
Staples, Jeremiah<br />
Staples, Samuel O.<br />
Stevens, William H. ***<br />
Stone, J. Henry<br />
Stone, Frank L.<br />
Stone, Geo. H.<br />
Stone, Frank A.<br />
Stone, Frank S.<br />
Stone, Edgar V.<br />
Sullivan, James H.<br />
Sullivan, Timothy G.<br />
Sullivan, Andrew<br />
Sweeney, J. Frank<br />
Taft, Solomon J.<br />
Tarr, Caleb*<br />
Tidd, Squier S. <br />
Trowbridge, Alfred L.<br />
Turner, Melzar G.<br />
Walker, Lyman S.<br />
Walker, Cephas W.<br />
Walker, Irvin E.<br />
Walker, Melvin H.<br />
Walker, Geo. A.<br />
Wallace, Austin<br />
Ware, Charles A.<br />
Warner, William R.<br />
Warren, Stephen<br />
Warren, Geo. W.<br />
Warren, Harris C.<br />
Weld, Salem T.<br />
Wheeler, John C.<br />
Williams, Charles H.<br />
Winslow, Charles P.<br />
Wiswall, Frederick A.<br />
Witherbee, Daniel T.<br />
WItherbee, Harlan F.<br />
Wood, Edwin D.<br />
Woodman, Robert<br />
Woodside, Samuel<br />
Wright, Joseph W.<br />
<br />
Names marked with an * served in the navy; ++ both army and navy; *** secured from other towns for quota by Selectmen.<br />
Whole number 338 — a patriotic exhibit for a town which had a population of 2,913 souls in 1860, and 3,141 in 1865.<br />
<br />
Transcribed by Bradley M. Forbush, 2018. Reviewed and corrected April 8, 2019. Names were double checked each review. Errors were found and corrected. — BF<br />
<br />
<br />B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-28673881962977314492019-05-16T13:25:00.002-04:002019-05-16T13:34:18.162-04:00Westboro Town Records & Sgt. Austin Stearns FriendsAustin Stearns memoirs begin, “My native town failing to raise a company and hearing that Westboro wanted a few more men to make her company full, six of us Bear Hill boys came over and offered ourselves. We were voted in and commenced to drill immediately.<br />
<br />
<br />
…The Company was known as the “Westboro Company,” but men from Shrewsbury, Southboro, Hopkinton, and Upton were in its ranks.”<br />
<br />
Sergeant Stearns does not go into more detail than that, about his hometown friends, but the town of Westboro kept impeccable records, and the Westboro Library has been digitizing many of their archival documents from the town’s 300 year history. Among them are a few papers documenting the Westboro Rifle Company.<br />
<br />
From these, we can learn Stearns companions from Bear Hill, were William H. Gassett, his brother Thomas R. Gassett, Jonathan Stearns, Austin’s brother, Willard Wheeler, & Daniel S. Warren. This is because, the town of Westboro billed the town of Hopkinton for $128.27 to pay for the uniforms and equipments issued to these men, plus another recruit from that town.<br />
<br />
Here’s what the men got:<br />
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br />
</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>7 Uniforms Coat, Pants, Caps 14.63 102.41</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>7 Fatigue Suits <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 2.25 15.75</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>7 Haversacks<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 33 1/3 2.33</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>7 Bass? Sewing Materials &c 34<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2.38</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>14 Towels<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 10 </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">1.40</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Bill rendered June 20, 1861 $124.27</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br />
</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2.25<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 33 1/3<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 44</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">1 Fatigue Coat, Havelock. &c for Remit<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">3.77</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> $ 128.14<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rect Pay<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>128.14</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br />
</div><p>The Town Selectmen of Westboro had voted at a meeting April 25, 1861, “that the Town appropriate Five Thousand Dollars, to be expended in the purchase of Uniforms — pay of men while Drilling — and for pay in addition to the amount paid by government.</p><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br />
</div><br />
The town of Southboro was billed $319.17 for 19 men on June 20. The town of Upton was billed $189.02 for 6 men on June 20. The Southboro bill included 5 weeks pay for drilling the men. A tally shows the total monies furnished by Westboro and the surrounding towns for outfitting and training the men.<br />
<br />
<br />
Southboro furnished 18 men and paid their proportion for Uniforms, $327.17<br />
<br />
Upton furnished 9 men and paid for Uniforming and board while drilling $189.<br />
<br />
Shrewsbury furnished 9 men and paid for Uniforming with fatigue dress $34.58<br />
<br />
Total = $550.75<br />
<br />
HEY SHREWSBURY, PAY UP !!!<br />
<br />
Much of this is documented in the wonderful book, “History of Westborough Massachusetts” by H.P. DeForest and E.C. Bates, 1891. But the town history leaves out the names of the individual recruits and the amount of money paid from neighboring towns.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-epuQSuDqzDI/T4IydWT4cCI/AAAAAAAAAc8/LXbF6Ry3fMU0VwGeKj7HHiDTZlgYuoYYACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/fly_john.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="552" data-original-width="432" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-epuQSuDqzDI/T4IydWT4cCI/AAAAAAAAAc8/LXbF6Ry3fMU0VwGeKj7HHiDTZlgYuoYYACPcBGAYYCw/s320/fly_john.jpg" width="250" /></a></div>Getting back to Austin Stearns friends, they didn’t fare too well. William [Henry] Gassett, age 18 was wounded at Antietam and was discharged for disability. Austin Stearns carried his wounded friend off the battlefield. His brother Thomas age 21, was killed in action at the same battle. Jonathan Stearns, age 19, made it through the 3 years service and mustered out August 1, 1864 with his brother. Jonathan settled in Philadelphia. He is rarely mentioned in Austin’s memoir. Willard Wheeler, age 25, was killed at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863. Dan Warren did okay. He made it through the 3 year term of enlistment, then re-enlisted into the 39th Regiment, and then the 32nd Regiment. He mustered out of Federal service June 2, 1865.<br />
<br />
<i>Pictured are Dan Warren, left and John Flye, Company K Cooks, in camp at Williamsport, MD; 1861-62.</i><br />
<br />
The Westboro Library Digital Collections contain some remarkable documents going back to Colonial Days. Local History Librarian Anthony Vaver has also done a great thing by digitizing the Ebenezer Parkman Diaries. Parkman was the town’s minister 1724 - Dec. 1792 and he kept a faithful diary for most of the 79 years of his life.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ebenezerparkman.org/">http://www.ebenezerparkman.org/</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.westborougharchive.org/">http://www.westborougharchive.org/</a><br />
<br />
I'll post more about Sergeant Stearns next.<br />
<br />
B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-71794697590847304382019-04-09T17:36:00.002-04:002019-04-09T19:22:11.135-04:00Post War Articles from the Westboro Chronotype <br />
Last year I was able to search the digital newspaper database at the Westborough, MA Public Library. I came up with all sorts of wonderful articles, most of them post-war, many of which I have now transcribed.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://dr652e.bmiimaging.com/index/index?datasetName=Westborough%20Public%20Library">https://dr652e.bmiimaging.com/index/index?datasetName=Westborough%20Public%20Library</a><br />
<br />
The following is from 1884, and I believe it was written by Austin Stearns. It is the history of Company K of that town. The author wants people of the town to contribute an equal amount of money as the Boston companies, towards raising a monument to the 13th MA at Gettysburg.<br />
<br />
He is prescient in stating, that to give a history of Company K, is in fact, to give a history of the First Corps of the Army of the Potomac, in the first 3 years of the war. As the modern-day historian of the regiment, I can attest to that. The author does a pretty good job of it in this one column. Perhaps I have been laboring in vain all these years ! <br />
<br />
My favorite part of the article, is his list of the town families. Its nice to see my family represented. They were one of the first families in Westboro. Although my G G Grandfather is not specifically mentioned in Austin Stearns memoir, he is listed in the roster, and I'd like to think they were friends after the war. Although, by the time this article was written, William Henry Forbush had been gone three years. He died in January, 1881.<br />
<br />
There are a lot more articles like this and perhaps I shall post some more, if they are popular. Its an easy way to highlight the kind of research I do in addition to building the website.<br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
WESTBORO CHRONOTYPE; February 23, 1884.</h3>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">
The Patriotism of Co. K in the War of the Rebellion.</h4>
In the columns of this paper a few weeks ago was a communication entitled, “The 13th Regiment at Gettysburg,” setting forth the intentions of the regiment to erect a suitable monument which should serve as a memorial for the fallen dead and to mark the spot where the regiment — fought on that of all the hard fought battle-fields — the hardest, and stating what other companies of the regiment were doing, and what was expected of Co. K.<br />
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As twenty-three years have rolled by, since its formation, and a new generation has come up that knew not “K,” perhaps a few words will be interesting for them to read in relation to the amount of labor performed, and hardships endured during its three years of service.<br />
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Co. K was virtually a Westboro company. In its ranks were found the honored names that have been so familiar in the history of the town ever since its first formation — such names as Brigham, Bullard, Burnap, Fay, Fairbanks’, Forbush, Haskell, Robbins, Sibley, Stone, Turner, Walker, Warner and Warren; and of the adopted ones, Copeland, Lee, Lynch and Slattery; in fact almost every family in the town, twenty-three years ago, was represented in its ranks. While the neighboring towns of Hopkinton, Shrewsbury, Southboro and Upton each sent a squad.<br />
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To write a history of the 13th regiment would be almost to write a history of the first three years of the Army of the Potomac, or I might more truthfully say the 1st army corps.<br />
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Going to the front in July, ’61, the regiment was ordered to the upper waters of the Potomac where it performed picket duty from Harper’s Ferry to Hancock and shared in all the hardships and privations incident to the soldier’s life, with an occasional brush with the enemy.<br />
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Burnap was the first of K to answer to the roll call from the unseen beyond, followed closely by Harriden, both Westboro men, and dying in the winter of ’61-2.<br />
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On the first of March the advance into Virginia was commenced, Martinsburg and Winchester were each in turn occupied, and then the march over the blue ridge to Centreville, Manassas, Warrenton Junction, and Fredericksburg with the “on to Richmond” ringing in their ears.<br />
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There were disappointed hopes when the news of Banks’ disaster in the valley reached them, and they were hurried through Thoroughfare and Manassas Gaps into the valley as fast as weary feet could go to retrieve the loss; back then to Manassas, Warrenton and Culpepper, fighting with Banks at Cedar Mountain, then at the Rapidan from which they turned when Lee let loose his victorious legions upon the little army of Gen. Pope, the fierce shelling at Rappahannock station, the retreat, the holding of Longstreet at Thoroughfare Gap, and the circuitous march through Haymarket, Bristoe and Manassas to join the main army, the terrible disaster at the Second Bull Run, where the angel-reaper, death, gathered a rich harvest of Union slain is well known history.<br />
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Copeland and Fairbanks were K’s offering to the insatiate God of war. Then came the retreat to Centerville, and the turnout at Chantilly, then to the defenses at Washington, across the Potomac and up through pleasant Maryland, “my Maryland,” to Frederick where the advance of Lee was met, and driven from the rugged slopes of South Mountain, and when they again measured their strength with them beside the sluggish Antietam, where its ranks were again thinned and Gassett, Holden, Trask and Wellington gave their lives, and many more were maimed for life. A month of rest and then again the sacred soil was overrun by northern soldiery. Old places were revisited, and on the 12th of December ’62 the Rappahannock river was crossed and the fearful slaughter of Fredericksburg occurred. The 13th, with rare good fortune they were on the skirmish line when after twenty four hours of skirmish work, with empty cartridge boxes they were relieved and ordered to the rear to re-form and re-fill their cartridge boxes, when the line of battle advanced and the action became general but they escaped with few casualties. The battle being lost, the river was recrossed and the regiment went into winter quarters. Then came Burnside’s mud march in mid winter, where more curses than prayers were said, again occupying old quarters, and quietly awaiting the next move in the great drama of war.<br />
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It came at the second Fredericksburg, on the last days of April, ’63, when Cordwell’s head was blown completely off; the rapid march to Chancellorsville where, laboring all night with bayonet and plate, they threw up a line of works and helped to save the right of the army endangered by the breaking of the 11th corps. No vantage gained, only hard fighting; and Chancellorsville was abandoned; the two armies face to face watching each other, on either side of the Rappahannock. Again in motion, while Lee was making his movements behind the ridge, the Union army with rapid strides kept pace — the old first corps covering ninety miles in less than three days. The north was invaded and the two armies with terrific clash, quite unexpectedly to each other met on that quiet afternoon of July 1st at Gettysburg, where the old first corps with almost superhuman strength alone held at bay twice their numbers, till other portions of the army could arrive and occupy the hill — the home of the dead. The noble form of Wheeler, with a bullet through his brain was left upon the field, while Cutting, Flye, Gould, O’Laughlin, and Sprague, with mortal wounds, lingered a few days in pain and then were added to K’s dead.<br />
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The regiment reduced to eighty guns, K to nine, bore an honorable part in the two succeeding days. Lee whipped and in full retreat was closely pursued by the now victorious army. Then the long marches and countermarches from the Potomac to the Rapidan, fording the Rappahannock waist deep in bleak November weather, and when winter was covering the earth with its white mantle, the two armies lay face to face at the well nigh fatal field of Mine Run.<br />
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The elements, as if sickened with the sight of dead and mangled men, seemed to conspire together and after a drenching rain, sent a wintry blast that pierced to the bone, making men bow in meek submission to their wintry rule. They then retreated to winter quarters on the Rapidan where picketing in front of the enemy made it no easy task.<br />
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Almost with the ushering in of the flowery month of May, the fierce struggle was again resumed — fiercer than ever; day followed night, and night day, and still the fight went on; march, fight, fight and march, till strength was almost gone. Through the Wilderness, Laurel Hill, Spottsylvania C. H.; Bethesda Church, North anna river, Cold Harbor, White Oak Swamp, and Petersburg; they all bear testimony to the valor of the 13th. Company K bore her part on every field, in every time and place where hard work or harder fighting was required. The men of K were ready even if need be to give their lives for their country, and no citizen of Westboro to-day need blush at their record.<br />
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The rank and file of the army was not composed of rich men and K was no exception.<br />
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Of the dozen or more of the surviving members now living in town, but few can boast much of this world’s goods. Their early friends are gone, with few exceptions, and, as “Veteran” has stated in his communication, the amount that is required to place K on an equal footing with the other companies in the erection of the contemplated monument at Gettysburg should be forthcoming. This appeal is for all the citizens to turn out at the war songs concert that is soon to be given and thus to contribute their mite and listen to those soul stirring and grand old songs that cheered perhaps your comrades, sons, brothers and fathers in the camps, on the march, in the hospital, or may be to the prison pens of the South.<br />
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Come and let us citizens of this good old town that never refused any good and honest appeal of its defenders, turn out and fill the hall that a memorial may be raised to mark the spot that was dyed with the blood of the men of Westboro and her sister towns, who died in the defense of right the supremacy of the Union, and majesty of the law.<br />
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CITIZEN.</div>
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B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-33552332050316445512019-01-18T13:58:00.000-05:002019-01-18T14:56:47.790-05:00Along the Rapidan - Another Musical Post <br />
I'm currently building pages for my website, Thirteenth Massachusetts Volunteers, detailing the months of September and October, 1863. The regiment was camped near the Rapidan river in Culpeper County Virginia at this time. I've had to look beyond the regiment's own writings, to the Brigade and Division to fill out some of the interesting details relating to this time period. <br />
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Raccoon Ford, photo by John Hennessy.<br />
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The histories of the 16th Maine, 83rd New York, and 39th Mass., all proved useful in this respect. The 39th MA provides the following most interesting account of picket duty along the Rapidan, from the vicinity of Raccoon Ford to Morton's Ford. I'm adding links when possible, to add interest to the text, making this, another musical post. <br />
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The "Bonnie Blue Flag" link takes you to a goofy rendition from the movie "Gods & Generals" on youtube, but with the troops singing along it captures the feeling of the real thing. The next link for "Star Spangled Banner" goes to the Library of Congress American Jukebox site, one of my favorites for sampling these old tunes. Its a brass band rendition. Although American Jukebox does have a rendition of "Maryland My Maryland" it is the "Yankee" version of the song, so I've linked instead to a great site called Digital History, for the true "secesh" version. "Red White & Blue" & "Home Sweet Home" takes you back to the Library of Congress. <br />
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Regarding the reference to "Pennyroyal" I came up empty handed, although I'll bet its a well-known tune under a different title. I did discover it probably refers in some way to a feeling of loss, and that it may have been written by William Billings, an early American composer of hymns. Anyone who might know more about this is free to leave a comment below.<br />
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"Old Hundred" or "All People That on Earth Do Dwell" is the popular tune of the Protestant Doxology. The link goes to a youtube rendition.<br />
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I hope you enjoy this post.<br />
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Somerville Ford, photo by John Hennessy.<br />
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<b>From the 39th MA regimental history:</b><br />
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In the stillness of the Sunday evening (September 27th) the Confederates in their camp indulged in a prayer-meeting and their hymns, the same that Northern Christians were singing at that very moment in the far away churches, were plainly heard by the hostile soldiery on our side of the stream. Need there be any wonder that some listeners moralized on the absurdity of men who read the same Bible and sang the same songs, spending several years of their lives, none too long at the longest in shooting at each other? Here took place the famous exchange of song, so often told in campfires and wherever it is desirable to prove that one touch of Nature makes the whole world kin. </blockquote>
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One night the Rebs. started off on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVeSKwM--1M" target="_blank">“Bonnie Blue Flag,”</a> and when their strains had ceased, the Yanks got back at them with the <a href="http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/recordings/detail/id/3434" target="_blank">“Star Spangled Banner”</a>; next the Boys in Gray tuned up with <a href="http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/music/maryland_my_maryland_herbert_stuart.mp3" target="_blank">“Maryland, My Maryland”</a> and those in Blue naturally retorted with <a href="http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/recordings/detail/id/3436" target="_blank">“The Red White and Blue”</a>; breaking the lull that ensued, our men started John Howard Payne’s immortal and universal <a href="http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/recordings/detail/id/3114" target="_blank">“Home Sweet Home”</a>; scarcely had the first note been struck before the sympathetic enemy chimed in, and Virginia woods and hillsides echoed with the tender strains clearly showing how Saxon blood remembers. On another occasion a musical exchange, beginning with “Pennyroyal,” ran through the list of then popular melodies, though all sang in unison, and very naturally, too, for ending <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8EP6wGRz6k" target="_blank">“Old Hundred.”</a> Will not coming generations wonder that men who could together sing the old songs should ever fight each other?</blockquote>
<br />B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-8235578715849408082018-06-03T13:10:00.000-04:002020-05-03T13:19:22.532-04:00Tenth Anniversary<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">My website, Thirteenth Massachusetts Volunteers, or <a href="http://13thmass.org/"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">13thmass.org</span></a> is Ten Years Old today! I have a little notebook in which I marked it being uploaded at 12:10 A.M., June 3rd 2008. Preparation for the planned site started much earlier. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">THE PROCESS</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;"> I remember checking out a couple of "how to build a website" books from the Burbank Library when the idea germinated. The books were already a bit out of date,-- for blogs were the new thing at that time. But I planned the site to be viewed on a desktop with a full screen monitor. It would feature pictures and text. Graphics were a big part of the scheme. (It seems it was old fashioned even from the start and I haven't tried to keep pace with changes in tech.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kbEgF14RNk4/WxRaaaToP0I/AAAAAAAAA5s/LZ7K17dQw6sgd_sAa-cCmhd9Ptu55GYBACLcBGAs/s1600/cake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kbEgF14RNk4/WxRaaaToP0I/AAAAAAAAA5s/LZ7K17dQw6sgd_sAa-cCmhd9Ptu55GYBACLcBGAs/s320/cake.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-kerning: none;">In mid May, 2008, I was ready to build it. My wife Susan helped me create the banners in photoshop, in which she was far more skilled than I. I was impatient to get something done, but she persistently came up with additional effects to make the graphics more interesting. Simultaneously, I was writing the text and testing my knowledge with <a href="http://kompozer.net/" target="_blank">KOMPOZER,</a> the WYSIWYG web building program I learned about over at <a href="https://www.thesitewizard.com/" target="_blank"> SITEWIZARD</a>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">After two weeks the core pages of the site were built. I paid for the web account at <a href="https://www.futurequest.net/" target="_blank">FUTUREQUEST</a>, my host server on May 29 and the site went live midnight June 3rd. But the site had existed before my incarnation and it is important to acknowledge the drive and enthusiasm of Greg Dowden in this project.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">GENESIS OF THE PROJECT</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">Greg’s ancestor is Sergeant James Augustus Smith of Company I. Greg was way ahead of me in research skills when we met around 1999. Our first contact was via email, and it was amusing to discover we lived in neighboring towns and both worked in the entertainment industry. We arranged a meeting and immediately formed a strong friendship. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">I was amazed at Greg’s skill in tracking down historical documents. He owned an original volume of one of the Circulars, #27 I think, and told me there were 34 more issues waiting to be found. He found the document for sale on-line and purchased it. In the pre-digital camera age, he traveled to the Army Research Center in Carlisle, PA and plugged quarters into the photocopy machine to get images of Charles Rowndy’s Manuscript. He discovered Colonel Leonard’s papers at the Gilder Lehman Institute in New York. He traveled to Mattapoisett to see where his ancestor lived, and with his brother partially re-traced Sgt. Smith’s trip to Maryland from NY city. He visited Harper’s Ferry and collected information from the park library about the John Brown bell. He found a digital copy of one of Lauriman Russell’s early maps. I was curious how he generated so many leads. He told me it was part intuition and hunches. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">We decided to share everything we found, and started by tracking down the most obvious resource available, the 13th Mass. Regt. Assoc. Circulars. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">I've posted about the Circulars before, <a href="http://13thmass.blogspot.com/2010/08/13th-regiment-association-circulars.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://13thmass.blogspot.com/2011/04/circulars-part-ii.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">Following his lead I went to Westboro, Mass in May 2001 to see what I could turn up. I traveled up to Marlboro, Mass to see the John Brown Bell, and I found the library had several of the original circulars in a rare bound volume. The librarian there assisted me in searching the internet for a list of other libraries in the country that had original circulars in their collections. From that point, the two of us made a determined effort to collect all of them. I remember having to argue with a local university librarian, not a 1/2 hour from where I lived in CA, into making me copies of the several issues in their collection. Access to the rare book was limited to university students belonging to their consortium and it was off limits to me unless I shelled out a huge fee. I belabored the clerk with the fact that probably no-one in 100 years was interested in seeing them, and here I was a few miles away, a descendant of a soldier in the regiment, and I couldn’t get access. After about 40 minutes I convinced him to make copies for me. And in this way, after 2 years we had copies of all of them, the last 3 came from the Library of Congress. It was Greg’s idea to start a website to share what we had found. He registered the name <a href="http://13thmass.org/"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">13thmass.org</span></a> because he wanted it to be an educational site, possibly a non-profit organization in the future. His site was begun with one of those ‘proprietary’ internet website building kits, remember those? Sign up for internet and get a free webspace ! But you used the host sites tools to do it and if you moved your account you lost your site…</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">Life intervened for Greg and although his passion for the regiment never died, the time to devote to it evaporated. By then my research skills had caught up to his, and he handed the reins over to me. And today’s site is the result.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">I have lost touch with Greg. I miss him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">THE PLAN</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">The website has never strayed from its original format, which was to present an outline history of the regiment’s service with corresponding links to more detailed pages. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">My original purpose for the website was to generate interest in a book - an anthology of stories I edited together in 2003, with the best materials from the circulars enhanced with soldiers’ letters and memoirs. The question was how much content to share?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">I decided not to hold too much back and see what happens. I believed these stories do not belong to me. They belong to the veterans who lived them, and they would want as many people as possible to know what they did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">A quote from one of the last circulars:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">Who will tell the world the story,</span><span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">When the “Boys in Blue” are gone?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">RESULTS</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">And, what were the results of this policy? My anthology was never published. It garnered interest, but as one publisher put it, “We think that you have already found a wonderful way to make your work available to a wide audience at low cost.” But there was a bigger reward unforeseen at the time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">At the outset I created a list of photographs of soldiers and artifacts I hoped to find to accompany my proposed book. I now have all of them and more. I’ve met many helpful and devoted collectors who have gone out of their way to share materials with me. Scott Hann was the first, he shared 80 images of company B men from his collection, and later gave me a notebook full of 8 x 10 b&w images of the same. Joseph Maghe shared materials and information and even tipped me off when one of my own ancestor’s letters came up for sale on ebay. If that wasn’t enough, I connected with descendants of the soldiers. Many, like the family of John S. Fay, shared unpublished manuscripts and told me how John’s shattered rifle and other artifacts were still treasured and preserved among his many descendants. A descendant of color bearer David Sloss, told me he still had a piece of the State Flag that Davy carried through many battles. There were many others, including the family of the author of the regimental history, Charles E. Davis, Jr.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;"> Then came the greatest rewards, and that was connecting with families of the soldiers and restoring their true historical legacy which had been lost or confused with the passage of time. In one instance a strong family bond between long lost cousins was re-established, both my contacts were descended from the same proud veteran James H. Lowell. In return, these families shared what materials they had with me, and this makes the web history better.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">EVOLUTION</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">Building the detail pages was fun at first, especially for the early war years when the regiment was posted in Western Maryland. Their regimental history is virtually silent on that period and I had so much material, that I had to edit what was posted to keep the pages from getting too long. It was simply a matter of arranging and posting. When the real campaigns began, more study was necessary, and the new pages required more work. I spent a year and a half on 2nd Bull Run; three years on Gettysburg. I learned to divide the pages into sections to include more material. Its been a constant chore to keep moving forward with the chronology. Ten years into it and I am only 2/3 done, and a little bit tired.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">My original outline called for about 24 planned detail pages, to cover the entire 3 year history. They were going to contain material from the circulars, but that is not the case now. There are over 50 detail pages. And my source material has grown so much that I could spend a long time updating older pages. I have done this occasionally, but for the most part, I’ve decided the pages are still pretty good the way they stand. There are two exceptions, I hope to add the story of George Bigelow’s tragic death to the Fredericksburg page and Bourne Spooner’s memoirs to both Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville pages - one day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">I’ll end this post now, and mention that 3 new pages were just added. Naturally I think they are very good. Its a Special Section, that doesn’t neatly fit into the chronology of the regiment’s history. The theme of the section is “Around Washington” and it features the stories of 5 specific soldiers, Albert Liscom & James Ramsey at Harewood Hospital, George S. Cheney at Camp Convalescent, John B. Noyes travels through Washington in January and May, 1863 and William Rideout’s developing romance with a hometown girl while clerking for the Quartermaster Department in the city. Incidentally, Mr. Rideout’s descendant has been a huge supporter of this project since its inception.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.13thmass.org/1863/washington.html" target="_blank">Here is the link.</a> I’m going to order a cake. I’ll post a picture here later.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">Cheers.</span></div>
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B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-19184996767102443832017-11-25T17:10:00.000-05:002020-05-21T11:05:18.945-04:00Gettysburg: The Last Moments of Frank Gould; Part 4, Martha Ehler's Memoir<br />
This is the concluding part of 4 parts. If you haven't read the other parts you can find them at the links provided.<br />
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<a href="http://13thmass.blogspot.com/2017/11/gettysburg-last-moments-of-frank-gould.html" target="_blank">Read Part 1 Here.</a><br />
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<a href="http://13thmass.blogspot.com/2017/11/gettysburg-last-moments-of-frank-gould_23.html" target="_blank">Read Part 2 Here.</a><br />
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<a href="http://13thmass.blogspot.com/2017/11/gettysburg-last-moments-of-frank-gould_24.html" target="_blank">Read Part 3 Here.</a><br />
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PART 4.<br />
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My immediate concern after deciding to use Capt. E. D. Roath’s letter of September 9, 1863, <a href="http://www.13thmass.org/1863/rappahannock.html#mozTocId504542" target="_blank">on my website,</a> was to find appropriate pictures to accompany his long text. Searching for information on the Patriot Daughters of Lancaster County brought me to Vince Slaugh’s blog; “Lancaster At War.” <br />
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Vince collects primary source material on the 79th PA Vols. of Lancaster County and secondary subjects that support that topic. A post of July, 2013, titled <a href="http://www.lancasteratwar.com/2013/07/donations-collected-from-drumore-for.html" target="_blank">“Donations Collected From Drumore For Patriot Daughters”</a> provided me what I wanted; pictures and biographies of some real members of the Patriot Daughters, and a short description of their work.<br />
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Another link on Vince’s site led to a digitized edition of the 1863 memoir titled <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=_0fozCD9IxEC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=hospital+scenes+after+the+battle+of+gettysburg&source=bl&ots=FmV9CN8Qr-&sig=FUSz26DhgdJ9RuIN3xAKivCnIOw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjbq-f63drXAhWFQ98KHYZ_AegQ6AEIMjAC#v=onepage&q=hospital%20scenes%20after%20the%20battle%20of%20gettysburg&f=false" target="_blank">“Hospital Scenes After The Battle of Gettysburg.” </a> The short booklet was authored by Patriot Daughter Martha Ehler. It was published in August, 1863, as a fund-raiser for the Daughters. In the book, Martha relates some of her experiences as volunteer nurse for 5 weeks, at a Gettysburg Field Hospital.<br />
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I was in no hurry to read the booklet, as Captain Roath’s letter caused me to believe the Patriot Daughters serviced several of the many hospital complexes around Gettysburg. Chaplain F. D. Ward, 104th NY, was posted at White Church Hospital in Mount Joy Township. And, it was Ward’s hospital that received supplies from the Patriot Daughters, as mentioned in Capt. Roath’s letter. But I was mistaken. It turned out that the Daughters shared their supplies with all who applied for assistance, but Martha did her 5 week stint as a nurse at Christ Church hospital on Chambersburg Street, where several wounded soldiers of the 13th Mass were sheltered.<br />
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In her memoirs Martha wrote:<br />
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“We had until now, no systematic plan of action. All of us agreed that it would be better, if possible, to take the entire charge of one Hospital, and as all the Church Hospitals were sadly in want of care, our only difficulty was to decide which should fall to our lot. — Providence decided the point for us, for the only rooms we could obtain, were directly opposite Christ Church, the College Church, which had been occupied since the first day’s battle, by the 1st corps, 2nd division, (Gen. Reynolds’ men) designated by the white lozenge on a red flag.”</div>
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“…We had by tacit agreement arranged that some of us should cook, and prepare delicacies for the sick, while the rest should undertake the nursing. I was one of those upon whom the latter duty devolved. With what trepidation I crossed the street, for the first time, to enter the scene of so much sorrow and anguish, may be more easily imagined than described. Had I stopped one moment to think, my courage would have failed, I would have turned back, but I did not. I walked up to the Hospital steward and told him that it was probable that we should be associated together in our duties for some weeks, and asked him what his patients most needed; his reply, was “everything.” “These men are now lying with the exception of having their wounds dressed, as they were brought in from the battle-field.” Some were on a little straw, while most of them had nothing between them and the hard boards, but their old thin, war-worn blankets; the more fortunate ones with their knapsacks under their heads. And when you think that they were almost without exception, serious amputation cases, what must have been their sufferings. I went back to the rooms, and we all commenced assorting the pillows, shirts, sheets, &c. sending at the same time to the Commissary for some bed sacks, which the men attendants filled with straw.</div>
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When our patients were washed and dressed, and placed in their new beds, with a fresh white pillow under their heads, and a sheet thrown over them, they looked their gratitude, which was more eloquent than words. One of us handed them each a handkerchief wet with cologne, and we left them to make arrangements for their supper. Already was it in progress; the tea was already made, and the butter toast making on the stove, and with some nice jelly, kindly sent by those at home, the supper was complete; we took it over and gave it to each. Many having lost their right arm, had to be fed; while some, tempting though the meal was, were too sick to partake of it; all however, even those suffering worst, thanked us over and over again, and could scarcely be made to believe that we were to remain some weeks here, and that they were to be our special care. They all said that they had never met with such kindness, and that that meal had been the first glimpse of home life they had enjoyed since they entered the service two years ago. Thus ended our first day’s experience in our new and trying vocation; it was, however simply a beginning; we had only cared for those in the basement of the Church, (forty in number) while above, were a hundred more waiting for our services on the morrow.”</div>
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I have in my library a booklet published by Christ Lutheran Church titled “A Sanctuary For The Wounded.” The church is very active in remembering its history. On weekends the church presents a program titled <a href="http://candlelightatchrist.org/" target="_blank">“Songs and Stories of a Civil War Hospital, Candlelight at Christ Church” </a><br />
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Nurse Martha Ehler is quoted heavily in both the booklet of remembrance and the musical program. Reading Martha’s memoirs of August, 1863, I suddenly made the connection, between the Patriot Daughters of Lancaster County, and the nurses narrative I had read about in the Church booklet. I also have a recording of the Candlelight at Christ program. But I had never been able to <i>place a name </i>to any “specific” soldiers in these accounts. The stories were usually generalized. But in her memoirs, Martha does get around to mentioning a few specific cases. Something struck me in particular in one of these passages.<br />
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Martha mentions the date July 16. That is the muster in date of the 13th Mass. Vols. at Fort Independence, in 1861.<br />
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Keep in mind, when reading the following narrative, that Frank A. Gould, Co. K, 13th Mass. was wounded in the hip and back. His mother lived in Southboro, Mass. and family lore claims it was she who brought her son’s body home to be buried there.<br />
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Also, that George E. Sprague, of the same regiment and company, was wounded in the chest, or lungs. Sprague had a wife and son back home.<br />
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And, that the two comrades died one day after the other, Frank going first. [<i>Below is a cropped photo of a Carte deVisite of Francis Gould, Co. K, 13th MA.</i>]<br />
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Martha wrote:<br />
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“I recollect particularly being called about this time to minister to the wants of a young New England soldier; I had taken care of him in a general way with the others, but did not know of his dangerous condition until one of his friends called my attention to him. I saw that he was very low, and he must have noticed by the expression of my face, that I regarded his case as hopeless. As soon as I came to him he said, “write your name on this piece of paper for me, and if I live I want it, if I die, send it to my mother, and tell her that though far away in Pennsylvania, I have found those who have been as kind to me as sister or mother.” “And, now,” said he, in the most solemn and searching manner, “must I die?”</div>
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I told him I feared it must be so. “Do not fear,” he exclaimed, ‘ ‘ to tell me the truth, for when I entered the army, I made up my mind that a man was not worthy to live, who for fear of death, shuns his country’s cause. I am willing to die, and join the ranks of those who have already gone, for it is glorious to die for one’s country.” He said he knew in whom he trusted; that religion was no new thing to him; he had a good, praying mother, and though the temptations were great in the army, yet for her sake, he had tried to do right. He then uttered a prayer for the loved ones at home, for his comrades, who stood around, and invoked God’s blessing on those who ministered to him. For some time he was quiet, and after having taken some nourishment, he asked me what day of the month it was? I told him the 16th of July. “Then,” said he, “it is two years since I enlisted, and one year from to-day my term of service will expire;” adding in the most submissive manner, “and sooner, if it the Lord’s will.” After a short interval he said, “see that I am decently buried, and may God for Christ’s sake have mercy on us all.” The light fled from his eye, the color from his cheeks, and then his parched lips only uttered confused sounds.</div>
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Around him, bathed in tears, stood the companions of many long marches, and hard fought battles, and by his side his nearest friend, who had shared his test since the commencement of the war. He was shot through the lungs, and lay but a short distance from him; he had scarcely been able to move since he was brought in from the battle-field, yet hearing his friend was dying, he insisted on going to him. I remonstrated, but to no purpose, and I was not surprised, when, after performing the last sad offices for his friend, I was sent for to attend to him. On returning to his bed he had immediately had a hemorrhage, and in about two hours he too was a corpse. Calmly he fell asleep, leaving kind messages for his wife and children at home.</div>
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Thus in life, these two noble men had been devoted friends, and in death they were not divided. I kept my promise, and saw them properly buried. Hitherto those who died, had been wrapped in their war-worn blankets, but their companions made them each rude coffins, and a sad and serious gathering followed them to their last home. The relentless grave has closed over them, and the grass waves silently over their resting place; and when in after days we visited the spot, we placed on each a few summer flowers.” *</div>
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<i>The story of how the photo of Frank Gould above, came to me, is in itself a story. It was shared with me by an extraordinarily generous collector who read these posts, and was appreciative enough to contact me to share this rare image that happened to be in his collection !</i><br />
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Francis A. Gould is reported to have died, July 14. George E. Sprague, is reported to have died on July 15. Both are listed as having been buried, in the Presbyterian Church Graveyard on their records of death.<br />
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Although the recorded dates of death are off a bit, I believe Martha was describing the last moments of these two comrades, (both mustered into service July 16, 1861), who died a day apart. In checking a list of known soldiers who died at Christ Church, provided to me by one of the participants in the Candlelight service, I find only Frank, and George, who belong to the <i>same Regiment and Company</i>, who died a day apart, during the time nurse Ehler was working at the church.<br />
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The significance of July 16, to the story, re-enforces this idea, but it is by no means conclusive. This list of soldier who died at the church is incomplete at best. But the coincidental evidence is strong. And, so far, I have not found another unit known to have been at the hospital with a July 16, 1861 muster in date.<br />
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For the record, here is a list of other 13th Mass soldiers known to have died at the Church Hospital. Records are from the 13th Mass roster, with notes from Christ Church.<br />
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Edward Church; age, 28; born, Derby, Conn.; carpenter; mustered in as private, Company E, July 16, 1861; killed July 3, 1863. Wounded in the left shoulder and chest. Died at Christ Church, (roster says July 3rd) 28 years old.</blockquote>
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Horatio A. Cutting; age 44; born, Attleboro, Mass.; bootmaker; muster in as private, Company K, August 1, 1862; died of wounds received at Gettysburg, July 22, 1863. Shot in head, Died at Fort Schuyler, NY July 22d.</blockquote>
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Prince A. Dunton; age 20, born, Hope, Maine; farmer; mustered in as private, Company H, July 16, 1861; died of wounds received July 1, 1863. Shot in the right hip and foot. Died July 1st or July 8.</blockquote>
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Edwin Field; age, 20; born, Chelsea, Mass. clerk; mustered in as private, Company B, July 16, 1861; killed, July 1, 1863. Shot in left lung on July 1st Died at Christ Church July 2nd or 3.</blockquote>
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John Flye; age, 29; born, New Portland, Maine; blacksmith; mustered in as private, Company K, July 16, 1861; died of wounds received at Gettysburg, July 26, 1863. Wounded severely in the leg and captured. The Confederate who captured him exchanged his own worn out gray pants for Flye’s blue pair.</blockquote>
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Frank A. Gould; age, 20; born, Clinton, Mass; mechanic; mustered in as private, Company K, July 16, 1861; died of wounds received at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863. Wounded in hip. Died at Christ Church July 14th. </blockquote>
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Michael O’laughlin; age, 21; born, Ireland; shoemaker; mustered in as private, Company K, July 16, 1861; died of wounds received at Gettysburg, October 8, 1863. Left leg fractured. Pleaded not to have the leg amputated because of his aged mother who was dependent upon him. The leg was removed but he died Nov. 8, at camp Letterman. Single, shoemaker.</blockquote>
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George E. Sprague; age 27; born, Grafton, Mass.; shoemaker; mustered in as private, Company K, July 16, 1861; died of wounds received at Gettysburg, July 15, 1863. Shot in the right lung and forearm.</blockquote>
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<i>Martha Ehler recorded the dying moments of several brave soldiers in her memoirs. I believe this particular case is that of 13th Mass soldier Francis A. Gould, and his comrade in arms, George E. Sprague.</i><br />
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*This passage begins on page 20 of Martha's book.<br />
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<br />B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-88694164532601295872017-11-24T07:13:00.003-05:002017-12-04T10:34:34.574-05:00Gettysburg, The Last Moments of Frank Gould - Part 3<br />
This post is part 3 of 4 parts. If you have not read the other parts you can access them at the links below.<br />
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<a href="http://13thmass.blogspot.com/2017/11/gettysburg-last-moments-of-frank-gould.html" target="_blank">Read Part 1 here.</a><br />
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<a href="http://13thmass.blogspot.com/2017/11/gettysburg-last-moments-of-frank-gould_23.html" target="_blank">Read Part 2 here.</a><br />
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<a href="http://13thmass.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-last-moments-of-frank-gould-part-4.html" target="_blank">Read Part 4, the conclusion, here.</a><br />
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Part 3.<br />
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Company K of the 13th Mass was hit pretty hard at Gettysburg on Oak Ridge July 1, 1863.<br />
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Sgt. Austin Stearns of Company K wrote:<br />
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“The skirmishers in our front commenced a brisk fire when we were ordered to advance into a piece of woods; this we did, and the firing became general in our front.</div>
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"In advancing up, being near the turn in the line, the farther we advanced the greater would be the gap between the two regiments until there was quite a space, the other regiment partially facing the other way. On our left but a little ways off was a little hill, or knoll; this was occupied by the rebels, [who] seeing our exposed position fired directly down our line. This was a most fatal fire for us. Many of our brave boys fell at this time; we being so briskly engaged with those in front we had not noticed them till we received their fire. My place being near the right of the company, I turned to see what had been the effect on old K. The first thing I saw was Sergeant Wheeler laying on the ground but a short distance away. There being so much noise and din, I could not tell by looking at him how bad he was hurt, for I could hear no sound. I went up and spoke to him, but received no answer. I saw that he was shot through the head, the bullet striking him in the left temple, and the blood and brains were oozeing out.”</div>
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William R. Warner of Company K, was promoted 2nd Lieutenant the night before the engagement, and attached to Company G. Regarding the battle July 1, he recorded the following in his journal:<br />
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“Passing through the woods, we attempted to form a line at a stone wall – possibly we were halted there a few moments to allow stragglers to get up – then across an open field to another piece of woods, and hardly before we could realize it we were in the midst of a battle.</div>
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"I had thought very little about it, I mean in the matter of dwelling upon it, & dreading it, and when once engaged, had no time to think. My first impulse, was to pick up gun & some cartridges, and I loaded & fired several times. Sergeant Wheeler of Co. K. was almost the first man I saw struck. - He fell over backwards, a ball having ploughed his forehead – About the same moment, six or seven of the tallest men of Co. K, on the right were wounded, Harvey Ross, H. Cutter, John Flye, M. O. Laughlin, Melville Walker.”</div>
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Melvin Walker wrote:<br />
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“My position in the ranks was on the right of my Company K, which was on the left of the regiment. Of the first eight men four were mortally and three severely wounded. I was so fortunate as to be carried off the field by two comrades of the Twelfth Massachusetts, which regiment had just been relieved and was moving to the rear.”</div>
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Melvin Walker, Pictured right.<br />
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Doubtless, Frank Gould, was one of these wounded men and he was probably carried to the Christ Church Hospital, on Chambersburg Street where Austin Stearns found him the next morning. <br />
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It is stated that Frank was wounded in the back and hip, which is important to this story, and that he died July 14; the date also being important to this story.<br />
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I duly noted the ambiguity of Frank’s final resting place, when I built the ‘Gettysburg Casualties’ page of my website. The tale would have ended there if I had not stumbled upon a reference to the Patriot Daughters of Lancaster County.<br />
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To continue with my research of the 13th Mass Vols after the battle, I had to consider that their division and brigade were nearly destroyed in the first day’s fight at Gettysburg.<br />
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The 13th Massachusetts Volunteers took 260 men into the conflict on July 1st 1863, and reported only 79 men and 15 officers present the next morning. Primary source material in the regiment was getting scarce. So, going forward with my web history, following the battle, I decided to look to other regiments of their brigade, to fill out the story. For instance, Chaplain F. D. Ward of the 104th NY wrote home to a New York Newspaper, in a letter dated August 12:<br />
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“The 950 who passed through Washington sixteen months ago, are reduced to less than 90 ! And where are the absent ones ? At Gettysburg 25 officers and privates were killed; 86 wounded; 94 prisoners and missing. Total, 205. At Bull Run, Antietam and Fredericksburg this “cruel war” found victims from among us. A letter just in from Capt. Geo. Starr, of your city, now a prisoner at Libby Prison, Richmond, informs us that nine of the 104th are confined there — the prospect of an exchange at present not being favorable.</div>
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“The regiment is at present in command of Col. Prey, Captain and Acting Adjutant Van Dresser, Lieuts. McConnell, Trembley and Richardson, who, with Quartermaster Colt and Dr. Rugg and the Chaplain, constitute the entire field, staff and line force. Nor is this an isolate case. The 16th Maine and 13th Massachusetts, in our brigade, are in no better condition.“</div>
<br />
Another source I took for a reference was a letter written by Captain E. D. Roath of the 107th PA Vols.<br />
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Roath’s long letter to the “Weekly Mariettian” newspaper, touched on a variety of subjects, but of particular significance to this story, is this passage regarding the Patriot Daughters of Lancaster county. <br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w6RPloBLI3w/WhgLZ1QXlfI/AAAAAAAAA48/gfy8PE1EAug-wW4NChAf3J5lDk7WYJEpwCLcBGAs/s1600/roath_emanuel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="229" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w6RPloBLI3w/WhgLZ1QXlfI/AAAAAAAAA48/gfy8PE1EAug-wW4NChAf3J5lDk7WYJEpwCLcBGAs/s200/roath_emanuel.jpg" width="166" /></a></div>
“The 104th N.Y. Volunteers is attached to our brigade; they received their initiative with us at Cedar Mountain ; they have participated with us at Rappahannock, Thoroughfare Gap, Bull Run, Chantilly, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg; as soon as they crossed the Pennsylvania line, up went cheer after cheer for the Old Keystone, with a determination that the rebels must be driven from its soil; and their conduct on the 1st, 2d, 3d and 4th days of July, in battle, confirmed their determination; the regiment suffered; their wounded were placed in a hospital about four miles from the town ; they were in want of the necessaries of life and comfort; fortunately that hospital and the wants of the suffering was suppled by the Patriot Daughters. When the wounded and sick were informed that these comforts had been furnished by the Patriot Daughters of Lancaster county, tears of gratitude could be seen standing in the eyes of these bronzed veterans. Three cheers were given of God bless the Patriot Daughters of Lancaster county, for their act of kindness and help. Dr. Ward, their Chaplain, then offered up a prayer, in which he kindly remembered the Daughters; asking God’s blessing for them, and for Him to crown their efforts in the good work they have undertaken for the comforts of the soldier, and as a reward for their services in the righteous cause of humanity, they might enjoy a blessed immortality hereafter. I felt that I was from Lancaster county, and such heart-felt expressions from strangers in praise of the ladies of my county, made me feel doubly proud. The daughters’ work is developing itself; many suffering soldiers are made comfortable and buoyant with the oil and food of kindness sent by those ministering angels among them. It is the soldier that can duly appreciate their works — and may they never be found wanting.”</div>
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This passage was just one short part of Capt. Roath’s letter. My immediate concern in positing the lengthy letter on my website, was to find pictures to go with it. The Patriot Daughters seemed like an interesting subject to learn more about, — and hopefully I could find a picture or two related to them to accompany the letter.<br />
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My interest was only very general at this point. I had no idea that looking into the Patriot Daughters would lead me back to Christ Church Hospital, and what I think is a detailed description of the last moments of Frank Gould and George Sprague, both of Company K; 13th Massachusetts Volunteers.<br />
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To be concluded tomorrow.<br />
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<br />B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-34848131908855774422017-11-23T09:40:00.002-05:002017-12-04T10:37:50.866-05:00Gettysburg: The Last Moments of Frank Gould, Part 2<br />
This story is divided into 4 parts. This is part 2 of 4. You can access the rest of the story at the links below.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://13thmass.blogspot.com/2017/11/gettysburg-last-moments-of-frank-gould.html" target="_blank">Read Part 1 here.</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://13thmass.blogspot.com/2017/11/gettysburg-last-moments-of-frank-gould_24.html" target="_blank">Read Part 3 here.</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://13thmass.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-last-moments-of-frank-gould-part-4.html" target="_blank">Read Part 4, the conclusion, here.</a><br />
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<br />
PART 2 - A Letter from Frank is Discovered<br />
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Seven years after my initial contact with Frank Gould's descendant "Nate," a letter written by Frank surfaced. A collector friend of mine came upon it while corresponding with a colleague, who previously owned the item, then sold his collection to a Gettysburg Civil War artifacts dealer. The former owner, Mr. McHugh, really did his research and wrote up a profile of all the principal people mentioned in the letter, including Frank.<br />
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Here are Mr. McHugh’s notes followed by Frank’s letter:<br />
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Francis A. Gould, private, Company K, 13th Massachusetts Infantry, enlisted 7/16/61 and mustered 7/19/61, residence Southborough, age 20, mechanic, wounded in hip, 7/1/63 Gettysburg, PA and died of wounds 7/14/63 in hospital at Gettysburg, PA, born Clinton, MA, buried A-36 Massachusetts Plot, Gettysburg National Cemetery. (note: This is disputed and Frank is said to be interred at Southboro, MA —B.F.).</div>
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Joseph H. Hapgood, private, Company A, 15th Massachusetts Infantry, enlisted and mustered 7/24/61, residence Sterling, age 22, farmer, wounded 10/21/61, Ball’s Bluff, VA, transferred out 10/9/63 into 28th Company, Veteran Reserve Corps, 2nd Battalion, mustered out 7/19/64.</div>
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Luther M. Hapgood (this is the Uncle Luther who is the “replacement” for Joseph), private, Company A, 15th Massachusetts Infantry, enlisted and mustered 12/15/61, residence Leominster, age 42, farmer, discharged for disability 11/10/62.</div>
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Luther S. Hapgood (my guess is that the “S” stands for Sawyer as mentioned in the letter), private, Company A, 15th Massachusetts Infantry, enlisted and mustered 7/12/61, residence, Sterling, MA, age 24, farmer, POW 10/21/61 Ball’s Bluff, VA (gained), discharged for disability 10/30/62.</div>
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Luther S. Hapgood, private, Company K, 4th Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, mustered out 6/17/65 Washington, DC, born Sterling, MA, member GAR Post #53 in Leominster, MA, died 11/17/1923.</div>
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The letter was written in December, 1861, after six months service in the field picketing the Potomac River from Harper’s Ferry to Sharpsburg. Company K had seen a little action by then, and Frank sums up his six months with the regiment pretty accurately.<br />
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<div style="font-family: Courier; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; text-align: right;">
Head Quarters 13th regt Mass Vol</div>
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Williamsport Md</div>
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Camp Jackson, Dec.29 1861</div>
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Dear Uncle and Aunt</div>
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As I have an optunity to wright a few lines I will improve it by writing to you. I have been thinking of righting to you for a long time but have not seen eny good chance before now. I left West Boylston the first of last April and went down home to Southboro. I staid at home Just a week. When I enlisted into the Company at Westboro, We drilled every day for 7 or 8 weeks when we was attached to the 13 regt. Col. Leonard at Fort - Independence The 29 of June we went to the Fort in Boston Harbor. We staid their first one month when we started for the seat of war. We [went] to Worcester by rail from their to New York from their to Philadelphia from their to Haggerstown Md Where we put up our tents and staid over night We started from their and went to Sharpsburg the distance being 15 miles we walked. it was our first march and we thought that we had a pretty hard time of it We staid at Sharpsburg a bout four weeks guarding the Potomac river to keep the Rebels from crossing the river. We left Sharpsburg and went to Middletown We staid their over night when we started for Harpers Ferry We staid their 10 weeks guarding the river as before H-Ferry is situated on the banks of the Potomac, but it is almost entirely distroyed by fire by Gen, Johnson it was government property so the rebels destroyed most of it when we left their we came to Williamsport where we still remain it is 27 miles from here to harpers Ferry to Williamsport We have been here nine weeks We are still quartered in our tents We have been in four or five skirmishes We have lost 7 or 8 men from our regt We had a brisk skirmish at the Ferry with a lot of rebel Cavalry We had six riffled cannons with us We drove the rebels of and come of Victorious We had four of our men killed in that battle.*</div>
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Williamsport is a large and beautiful town situated on the banks of the river the town is a secesh town and it is under a martial law our Col. is actin a Brigadere General now We have here in this camp at the present time the Maryland first regt the Indiana 12 the Ilinois Second the Mass, 13 regt eight Hundred Cavalry the Philadelphia batery of riffled cannons Bess's batery of Regulars is here. We are all in one camp and all are under our Col. his name is S.H. Leonard, We all like him very much. I have a letter from home quite often the folks are all well now but the two youngest have had the whooping Cough Hattie is still in Northboro running a Stiching machien in the same place where She has been for onne year and a half She is doing pretty well their Addie is in Southboro doing house work She is well last Tuesday I received a letter from Charlotte Hapgood She said the folks wer all well at home except Joseph You have of course herd of his case. he was wounded at Balls Bluff uncle Luther Hapgood has gone to take his place I should not of thought he would of gone. Sawyer was taken prisoner and is at richmond Va I am sorry for him.</div>
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The fleet ther has gone down South does not seem to be doing much at the present time but it has been a terrible blow for the South. our forces have done a good thing in Missouri it is the greatest Victory we have had What do you think of the Mason and Slidell affair - Uncle. We do not think that England will interfear with the case What do you think a bout I do not think that the government will let them go. I hope that they will not for I think that they had better hang them then to let them go dont you think so. I think if England keeps still we will give these rebels all they want next Summer if not before I think by the way things look now that next Summer will tell the story Well as it is getting late I shall have to close</div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Please Except this from your Nephew</span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Courier; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Francis A. Gould</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">I should be very much pleased to have you</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">answer This for I would like to hear</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">from you</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Direct To</span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Courier; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Frank A. Gould</span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Courier; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Co. K 13th Mass Vol</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Williamsport Md</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Camp Jackson</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">*Battle of Bolivar Heights, October 16, 1861. The killed were men from the 3rd Wisconsin.</span></span></div>
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<br />
The letter above gave a little insight into Frank Gould the person. He wasn’t just a name any more. I passed the letter on to Nate, Frank’s descendant, who told me it informed him of several other ‘relatives,’ the Hapgoods, he hadn’t known about. It was a bit more family history to look into.<br />
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I figure if there is one letter out there, there are surely more, and hope someday more of Frank Gould’s letters come to light.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br />
To be continued.<br />
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B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-29674517842355449412017-11-22T11:05:00.002-05:002017-12-04T11:50:40.804-05:00Gettysburg: The Last Moments of Frank Gould; Part 1<br />
The following story is serialized, in 4 parts, to better represent events as they unfolded. This is Part 1. The rest will follow daily, over the holiday. It is a sad story but one I am grateful to be able to tell.<br />
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Happy Thanksgiving !<br />
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<a href="http://13thmass.blogspot.com/2017/11/gettysburg-last-moments-of-frank-gould_23.html" target="_blank">You can read part 2 here.</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://13thmass.blogspot.com/2017/11/gettysburg-last-moments-of-frank-gould_24.html" target="_blank">Read Part 3 here.</a><br />
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<a href="http://13thmass.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-last-moments-of-frank-gould-part-4.html" target="_blank">Read Part 4, the conclusion, here.</a><br />
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PART 1<br />
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Nate contacted me shortly after I volunteered to be a helpful resource for people interested in the 13th Mass regiment. This was long before my friend and fellow 13th Mass. researcher, Greg Dowden, conceived our regimental website, 13thmass.org. I had signed onto a reference/database site now defunct, called "Civil War Units," which I believe, was maintained by LSU, and Nate was one of my earliest contacts.<br />
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He was himself a Civil War re-enactor, with the 1st New Hampshire Cavalry, and was skilled at riding and shooting. Connections to other ancestors who fought and died in the Civil War had planted the ‘bug’ early in his life.<br />
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His ancestor Francis A. Gould of Company K, was killed at Gettysburg. Family lore held that Frank was wounded July 1, 1863, at Gettysburg. The official record according to Nate, is that “he was wounded in the hip, lay in the field into the night, was removed to a field hospital and there died the next day. …He is buried in Southboro, Massachusetts.” Some other reports were contradictory and said Gould died July 1st. Nate was looking for clarification of the family history.<br />
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The roster in the Regimental history only states that Frank Gould, “died of wounds received July 1, 1863.”<br />
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He was extremely happy to learn from me, about Austin Stearns's published memoirs, “Three Years with Company K,” and immediately purchased a copy. In his memoirs, Sergeant Stearns writes that he found Frank Gould, one of the wounded of Company K, interred at the Church Hospital on Chambersburg Street. On the morning of July 2nd, after sharing a meagre breakfast with a friend, Stearns’s wrote:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“I then went into the church to see the boys. I found there in addition to Ross, Serg’t M.H. Walker wounded in foot, Privates G. E. Sprague in chest, M. O’Laughlin, in knee, Frank Gould in hip and back, Horatio Cutting in head, Albion Vining in foot. Cutting, Gould, O’Laughlin, and Sprague all died in a few days. All the boys were in as good spirits as could be expected, and were all pleased to know that the old flag was still in sight. With the exception of Ross they were all in the same room, the vestibule of the church.”</blockquote>
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This at least confirms Frank lived a short while beyond his wounding July 1st.<br />
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Nate was naturally very excited to get this bit of information, as he had no idea of being so successful in his query. At the time we were both well pleased. Information on soldiers, from primary sources, is not always that readily available! This all happened in April, 2001.<br />
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Where is Frank really buried? That is the 2nd part of the mystery.<br />
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There is a stone marker with his name in the Massachusetts section of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, [pictured, below] but family lore says he is buried in Southboro, Massachusetts. Nate told me he had been there and seen the grave. I confirmed this report many years later when I was working on the "Gettysburg Casualties" page of my website, 13thmass.org.<br />
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On October 12, 2016, I called the Southborough Rural Cemetery, in Worcester County, Mass. They have in their records Frank A. Gould, who was interred at the cemetery July 14, 1863; Section 3, Lot 20.<br />
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I included this information on the “Gettysburg Casualties” page of my website, and figured I had done a pretty good job with the story but there was surprisingly, more to come. Some of it truly remarkable.<br />
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To be continued...<br />
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<br />B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-84711592536108365412017-09-14T13:43:00.003-04:002018-01-21T17:13:20.487-05:00Thoughts on 2nd Bull Run and the mystery of William H. Baker's death<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal;">
<a href="https://draft.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1947608627661246761" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1947608627661246761" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b>155th Anniversary</b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">On Saturday, August 26, I travelled up to Manassas to tour Chinn Ridge with a park historian for the 155th Anniversary of the battle of 2nd Bull Run. The walk was to cover the Union armies defense of the ridge, as well as the progress of Longstreet’s massive flank attack that drove the Federals off of it on August 30, 1862. During the fight, the Federals on the ridge were surrounded on three sides, and outnumbered by at least 3 to 1. The 13th Regiment lost 48 killed, of about 500 soldiers present at this action, -- the first active fighting in a major battle during their service. It had been a long time to wait considering they had mustered in more than a year earlier. As Austin Stearns described it,</span><br />
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<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...we went through a field and up a slight elevation and there was a sight to behold. Longstreets corps was advancing in line of battle or in lines, for there was three or four, and to our eyes the field was full of men. Firing immediately commenced, not only with us but all along the line by both sides; men commenced to fall; ...On, still on, came the heavy lines of Longstreet's Command; no single line could stop them long, and gradually our line was being forced back, although we gave them a brave resistance and contested every inch of ground..."</blockquote>
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">After this fiasco the men were less anxious than before to see action than they had been prior to this "scrap,"— as some called it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I was joined at the battlefield walk by a fellow researcher; renowned in the field of photographic jewelry and other topics, and on both of our minds that day was the story of 13th Mass soldier William Henry Baker, of Weymouth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">My colleague's interest in Baker began with the purchase of a 19th century sewing box, exquisitely built, with a note inside proclaiming it the handy work of William Henry Baker.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Baker, born March 23, 1842, delayed a Harvard education to enlist as a recruit in the 13th Mass. Vols. the summer of ’62. He was a talented young man, 5’8” tall, blond hair and blue eyes, already accomplished for his skill in woodworking and other crafts. Unfortunately I don't have his photograph.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Remarkably, Baker’s 1860 diary exists in the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and it documents his progress on the box.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Quotes: </span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">"February 16, 1861. “Worked on boxes for ambrotype taken. Am going to have photographs taken.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">February 21, 1861. “Got my pictures this eve.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">My friend has done extensive research on the box and Baker. William Henry as he liked to be called, was close to his sister Mary Ellen, who liked to sew, and it is supposed the box was intended to be used for her sewing kit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> His other activities included school, reading, studying, attending temperance meetings, debate clubs, patriotic recruitment meetings, and woodworking.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">He was accepted to the Freshman Class at Harvard University, slated to begin his studies on August 5, 1862, for which he had prepped for months. Harvard University Faculty records of a Special Meeting held, July 15, 1862 list the names of new students, and includes a later update that lists at least 5 out of 55 total, including Baker, who did not show up. William Henry Baker chose to enlist instead!</span></div>
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<a href="https://draft.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1947608627661246761" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1947608627661246761" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Mary Ellen Baker, his younger sister was engaged to marry Captain Elliot C. Pierce; a conspicuous member of the Field & Staff of the 13th Mass. Elliot joined the regiment at Fort Independence, Boston, rather too late to gain an officer’s commission. But he was a friend of Colonel Leonard, and quickly advanced from Sergeant-Major to 1st Lieutenant, Company H, in early 1862, and Captain of that company very soon after. Favoritism was suspected among the 10 Second-Lieutenants in line of promotion, that Eliot ‘jumped’ over. Yet, it was agreed he was a good man, and he made an enviable military service record with the regiment. <a href="http://13thmass.blogspot.com/2013/05/papers-of-major-elliot-clark-pierce.html" target="_blank">You can read more about him here.</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Did William Henry’s relationship to Elliot influence his decision to enlist, or was it simply the patriotic fervor of the time that motivated him, or was it both? Patriotic speeches and rallies were prevalent in the summer of '62. The biography of Samuel S. Gould, another remarkable young man from Harvard, who joined the 13th Mass concurrently with Baker, states he [Gould] was very active at war rallies, encouraging his peers to enlist. <a href="http://13thmass.blogspot.com/2010/01/short-service.html" target="_blank">You can read about Gould here. </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"> The recruits arrived in two groups. Baker was in the first group of about 70 men that unfortunately arrived at the regiments' campground on Monday, August 18, 1862; for this was the day that commanding General John Pope, learned the enemy across the Rapidan River had been heavily re-enforced and was planning an attack. His army was in a trap and he had better make tracks or risk annihilation. </span></span>Just as the recruits were meeting their new comrades in arms, orders came to march. Fellow recruit, Clarence Bell gives an inside look at the passing scenes in his post-war memoir.</div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">“As we marched into camp the Thirteenth boys came out from their tents to greet and welcome us to the field. All seemed heartily glad to see us, nearly every one of us finding acquaintances, school-mates or former "chums" in the ranks. The Regimental Band gave us a harmonious reception and Chaplain Gaylord welcomed us on behalf of the Colonel. Among other words of advice he cautioned us to beware of the wiley veterans and not allow them to "play points" on us; that our bright new dippers were very attractive to their eyes and might tempt them to make invidious suggestions of barter.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">The recruits were, generally, permitted to select the companies to which they wished to be assigned, and the squad having been thus distributed, all began to adjust themselves to the new conditions.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">"We were just beginning to be rested and fairly comfortable when orders came to strike camp and make ready for marching. It took but a few minutes to level the tents, or ponchoes, and, while waiting for further orders we cooked suppers and "turned in" near the camp fire and slept till about eleven o'clock. We left camp and after marching a few miles, halted on a muddy road, where we remained till morning, getting no sleep, for we expected the word "forward" every moment. The boys built fires, made coffee and with the ever ready pipe, stories, jokes and witty sayings the night was passed. Next morning we began the famous "masterly retreat” of Major-General John Pope. We passed through Culpeper and continued our march, with occasional rests, till nine o'clock P.M., when we arrived at Rappahannock Station; crossed the railroad bridge and after some maneuvering went into camp. It was a hard march, especially for those who were so unaccustomed to it, the most tiring part of which occurred after dark, when obstacles in the road were invisible, causing us to stumble over stumps or stones, compelling frequent and somewhat strong expletives.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">"At noon the regiment crossed the river and formed in line of battle, while the recruits were ordered to remain in the rear, where beneath the trees we passed the night somewhat anxiously. We were not to be engaged in battle (if one took place) except in case of need. Our number was insignificantly small, we were totally inexperienced and none had received arms, equipments or ammunition, yet many were anxious to take part, while several volunteered to assist in supporting and working the batteries.”</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">The recruits continued to suffer along with the veterans through General Pope’s bungling helter-skelter marches of the next two weeks, always in fits and starts, and with little to no food or rest, until the climatic battle of Second Manassas signaled the end of the campaign. Baker was killed in the battle. How and why Baker was caught in the action is unknown, as Clarence Bell wrote, the unarmed recruits were not yet required to fight.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">“With an early start next morning we continued march till eight P.M., when we camped near the old battlefield of Bull Run. August 30th in column we moved forward a short distance, when we entered a grove and deposited our knapsacks for safe (?) keeping. In the afternoon the Brigade advanced and ascended the hill on our left. The recruits (who had not as yet been supplied with arms or accoutrements) kept up with the regiment until reaching the brow of the hill, when the attack of the enemy became so hot that all were obliged to drop for safety. As the shot and shell came thicker and faster the recruits returned down the hill, when we were challenged several times by mounted rear guards and ordered to return to our regiment, but our explanation that we were "raw recruits" without arms or equipments, and our new appearance confirming our statement, we were permitted to pass; furthermore, in the intense excitement prevalent at the moment, orders could not be, or were not strictly enforced. We "retired in good order," getting out of the range of the messengers of death that whizzed and buzzed over our heads and about us."</span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Neither my colleague nor I, have found any details on Baker’s death. The only ominous hint of it occurs in a letter written by her brother's friend, William Clark to Mary Ellen Baker, regarding her fiancé’s wound. Elliot Clark Pierce was wounded August 30, just above the left hip bone and was left untreated until the 31st. He was sent to Burrows (Metropolitan) Hotel in Washington and attended by Surgeon Clymer of the 13th Mass. Volunteers. William Clark wrote:</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Browns Hotel, Washington</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Noon. Thursday Sept 4</span><span style="font-kerning: none; vertical-align: 5.0px;">th</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> 1862</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Miss Mary E. Baker,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I arrived here this morning at 8 o’clock. Eliot is quite comfortable, being without fever since last evening – and having good quarters and attendance. His wound is in an uncomfortable place on the left side where every motion of his body </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">hurts him</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">. On my entrance to his room this morning I found him sitting upon the edge of the bed.. He is in excellent spirits and I shall use my best efforts to obtain a pass from the Provost Marshall to enable him to get home. I learn with much regret that among the missing is the name of your brother, he is not wounded or killed, as all of both are accounted for. He will probably come in either as a straggler or paroled prisoner. Every hour brings them to light.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">If I am able, it will be my plan to get to South Braintree by Sunday Morning train. With regards to your mother + sister, to Mr. and Mrs. Pierce, your friend and servant,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>William L. Clark</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"> Pierce returned home to recuperate, and married Mary Ellen on October 29, 1862. Baker, of course, never came in. He is buried in Weymouth at Village Cemetery, the same place where Elliot was laid to rest many years later. Baker was one casualty among many.</span></span></span></div>
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B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-84334902372776018692017-08-08T18:11:00.000-04:002017-08-08T21:25:07.017-04:00Battle of Cedar Mountain - They trailed Arms <br />
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The 155th anniversary of the Battle of Cedar Mountain is August 9th 2017. I've always wanted to re-build / update the page on my website for this action, as I have much more material now than I did when I posted that page several years ago; but like many other things I've wanted to add to the site, I just haven't got around to it yet. The reason is I want to keep pressing ahead with the regiment's history, rather than return to periods I've already covered, at least in some detail.<br />
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This is a long introduction.<br />
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So, appropriately, to mark the anniversary of the battle, I'm posting this article about the 13th Mass at Cedar Mountain; one of the favorite ones I've come across since building the page for my website.<br />
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<i>Pictured is the ridge the 13th Mass marched behind as told in this story. Federal artillery was posted on the hill, center, right. Click to view larger.</i><br />
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BOSTON GLOBE</div>
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July 3, 1891.</div>
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THEY TRAILED ARMS</div>
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Quick Wit Saved Many Lives at
Gettysburg. (should read 'Cedar Mountain' – B.F.)</div>
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Boys of the Old 13<sup>th</sup>
Massachusetts Slid in Under the Moonlight.</div>
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Gen. Samuel H. Leonard – “Killed,
Wounded, Missing,” Tells Story.</div>
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“It is a singular experience in one
man’s life.” Said the veteran, with a smile at Young’s on
Wednesday. “But just 28 years ago today I was reported here in
Boston, ‘Killed, wounded, missing,’ all three in one. The
telegraph did it, I suppose. Nobody else could. I was then at
Gettysburg.”</div>
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Those who remember those fateful three
days 28 years ago will well understand the grimness of the veteran’s
remark. He spoke of the first Gettysburg day. I myself vividly call
to mind the circumstances attending the reception of President
Lincoln’s dispatch assuring the country, in his guarded
phraseology, that from what he had heard from the front, all had gone
well with our arms.</div>
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I was a boy then, and stood in front of
the Parker house when that dispatch was read. There was no cheering
among the crowd of anxious men, but everybody, as I remember, went to
their Fourth of July dinner with a better appetite than they had for
about two years.</div>
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“But,” I asked the general, “how
about that episode at Cedar mountain, where the 13<sup>th</sup>
Massachusetts was reported as ‘all correct’ - with none killed,
wounded or missing, and for which your commanding general, Hartsuff,
called you to account. I have for years desired that you should
explain to the public your conduct on that occasion.”</div>
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“Oh, well, there is so much that has
been written, and I suppose will still be written about the war, that
what I have to say won’t count.”</div>
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“But I want to know the true facts,
and this is a good time to tell them.”<br />
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<i>Re-enactors on the Battlefield, August 5, 2017.</i></div>
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The veteran then considered a moment
and at last said:</div>
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“This is the anniversary of my death,
my wounds and – am I missing? (Then he smiled.) That being so I
will tell you.</div>
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“At Cedar Mountain I was in command
of the 13<sup>th</sup> Massachusetts regiment. The boys were all in
good trim and ready to fight. We were in the rear of the 12<sup>th</sup>
Massachusetts (Fletcher Webster’s). There was heavy firing on our
front, and I noticed that the aim of the rebels was almost too
accurate.</div>
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“Right on a knoll directly in our
front was where Capt. N. B. Shurtleff, Jr., of the 12<sup>th</sup>
Massachusetts, after telling the boys of his company to lie low and
keep quiet, raised himself on his arm to see whether they obeyed
orders, when a bullet pierced his heart and he died then and there.
He was one of the noblest smartest, and best of all the Boston boys
who went to the war.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It wasn’t a tear, but I really saw a
gleam in the general’s eye as he said this. It was almost a tear.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“But what about your part in it,
general?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“Well, I saw the moonlight glistening
on a lot of other guns and bayonets to my right and left, which gave
the very mark the enemy were firing at. I didn’t know then, as I
remember of Shurtleff’s death, but taking in the situation, I
instinctively gave the order of command, “Trail arms!” and not a
glistening bayonet of the old 13<sup>th</sup> did the enemy see that
night. We did trail arms. My command went quietly to the front and
occupied the ground assigned, and not a bullet struck one of my men.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“I have read that your were called
before your next superior officer, Gen. Hartsuff, who was at first
dissatisfied with your report the next morning, which was “all
present for duty; no casualties.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“Yes, I was.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“Will you please tell me about that?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The general stroked his beard for a
moment and then slowly said:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“Hartsuff was not only one of the
best men, but one of the best officers I ever knew. I think he had
reason to believe me when I told him the truth, but still when he got
my first report he was, well, not non-plussed, but incredulous.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nudZChk4gew/WYo1vpspNJI/AAAAAAAAA2s/ZNU6q7C_Ky0WMcF-sBVMWFegaerkdqN3QCLcBGAs/s1600/PellamsKnoll_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="419" data-original-width="800" height="208" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nudZChk4gew/WYo1vpspNJI/AAAAAAAAA2s/ZNU6q7C_Ky0WMcF-sBVMWFegaerkdqN3QCLcBGAs/s400/PellamsKnoll_small.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Confederate artillery was posted on the bare hill above the trucks pictured.</i></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“When the order came direct, ‘The
general commanding your brigade desires a correct report from Col.
Leonard of the 13<sup>th</sup> Massachusetts Regiment.’ I didn’t
feel hurt, because I felt secure and knew that I had not only done
right, but had saved my men’s lives and perhaps my own.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“My answer simply was, “’Col.
Leonard’s report is correct as first given.’”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“That settled it, of course general?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“Well, no that didn’t settle it. I
was ordered to headquarters to report personally to my
brigade-commander, just as soon as the aide could go and come.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“I went, and Gen. Hartsuff, generally
cheerful and confiding, asked me somewhat severely, ‘How does it
happen, colonel, that while at the very front last night, while all
the regimental commanders in this brigade reported, ‘Killed,
wounded and missing,’ you report your own command intact?’</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
“That is so, general.’ I responded.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“But how did it happen?’</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“I then quietly said, as near as I
remember, with the moon shining on the glistening guns and bayonets
to give a mark for the rebs to shoot at, I simply shouted to my boys,
‘Trail arms!’ and they all trailed.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kT39-rKxzG4/T8QH1dNTHuI/AAAAAAAAAdU/0Oaxz9Bkqa49jLRChBmJgHVFTTuEtBS9wCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/hartsuff750ab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="324" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kT39-rKxzG4/T8QH1dNTHuI/AAAAAAAAAdU/0Oaxz9Bkqa49jLRChBmJgHVFTTuEtBS9wCPcBGAYYCw/s320/hartsuff750ab.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“Gen. Hartsuff, at that, took a step
backward, turned round, and with a smile of satisfaction I shall
never forget, simply said, ‘Col. Leonard, you did d--- well! I’ve
no fault to find!’”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The writer of this is no stranger to
the boys of the 13<sup>th</sup> Massachusetts Regiment. Right from
that very battlefield, and almost among the dead and the dying, an
old chum, a private in Company D, wrote this to him, just after the
battle (the next day); “We got out of it nicely last night. I
think if they had seen our bayonets they would have hit us hard, and
perhaps I wouldn’t be writing to you now.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I have always remembered the words of
that private soldier, in the days gone by one of my intimate friends.
I have always remembered that little circumstance which saved,
probably his own and many other lives in that hard battle.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Capt. Shurtleff, who was so
unfortunately killed in Col. Leonard’s front, was one of the
brainiest young men who went to the war from Boston. Although only
24 at the time of his death he was already an orator, and had in him
not only the making of an ordinary man, but, as I remember his speech
to Faneuil Hall just before he went to his death, the qualities of a
statesman.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eZmhmYPVh_0/WYo5Imw_9lI/AAAAAAAAA3A/oDTlwoNcHe4p9ykNvdfYFLZtcpHV1vEXACLcBGAs/s1600/shurtleff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="280" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eZmhmYPVh_0/WYo5Imw_9lI/AAAAAAAAA3A/oDTlwoNcHe4p9ykNvdfYFLZtcpHV1vEXACLcBGAs/s320/shurtleff.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
He belongs with Shaw and Lowell and
Putnam and Winthrop. Let his name, too, be remembered.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I violate no confidence when I state
that for at least 10 years the request has stood from me to Gen.
Samuel H. Leonard that I should be permitted to write for publication
this little item in his military experience.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And he only consented when I found him
missing thus: “Twenty-eight years ago today I was reported killed,
wounded and missing.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
He is still one of the youngest of our
veterans.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-19604512849439126702017-07-30T16:46:00.002-04:002017-08-08T20:11:32.923-04:00Making Tracks in the Footsteps of the 13th Mass.<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Road Trip</span></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The pursuit of General Lee’s army after the battle of Gettysburg, is the subject of the two latest pages posted at my website. While assembling the source material, I had the idea to follow part of the route the First Corps took on their march from Maryland, back into Virginia. My purpose was to take photographs along the way to illustrate the soldiers’ narrative on my website.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<a href="http://www.13thmass.org/1863/pursuit.html" target="_blank">You can view the pages here.</a></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Because the road system has changed extensively, I couldn’t be certain I was following the exact route, but I knew the towns the soldiers passed through, and accordingly plotted a trip through those towns of Middleburg, Hamilton, Waterford, and Lovettsville, Virginia to Berlin, Md.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">My final destination was the Washington Monument at South Mountain State Park overlooking the town of Boonsboro, MD. The army camped near there more than one time during their 3 years of service. Drummer Sam Webster’s journal entry for July 8, 1863 says in part: </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">"Camped, high up, to the right side of the Gap, overlooking Boonsboro. Had to build a stone breastwork before doing anything else."</span></blockquote>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">And, on the next day:</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">"Went up to top of the mountain with Sawyer, but failed to see much as the fog covered the fort. Had a good view of the valley in the distance, however."</span></blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CzHB1BmAbNI/WX5CXEC0vMI/AAAAAAAAA08/LkNnEkiJgAkRmCRZofXXuJIZX94a0fcegCLcBGAs/s1600/south_mtn_view_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="720" height="155" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CzHB1BmAbNI/WX5CXEC0vMI/AAAAAAAAA08/LkNnEkiJgAkRmCRZofXXuJIZX94a0fcegCLcBGAs/s400/south_mtn_view_small.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Boonsboro was about a three hour drive for us, but close enough to get there and back in one day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Middleburg, about an hour’s drive from home was my starting point. From the village I plotted a course north on Foxcroft Road [626] to Goose Creek, where Austin Stearn’s of Company K wrote about his difficulty crossing the creek.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">
</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">“I remember of fording Goose Creek one hot summers day where the water was three feet deep if you could keep in the right place, but if you turned but a very little to down stream, to four. Some of the boys plunged right in, not caring for the wet; others would take off their pants and, tucking up their shirts, go through dry with the exceptions of their coat tails. I chose the later way as there was time enough, so strapping my pants and boots on my back and taking a middle course, I got there all right, but when I reached the opposite bank could not climb up, for the banks were steep and so many had gone before that it was only one mass of soft slippery mud. There was nothing to stick to; it all wanted to stick to you. Others were in the same predicament, and after vainly trying several times and slipping back each time, I got a friendly hand and came out all right at last with dry pants and boots. The Gen’l sat on his horse and laughed as though he enjoyed it.”</span></blockquote>
Below is a picture of where Foxcroft Road crosses Goose Creek. Austin Stearns would have crossed the creek somewhere close to here.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ptZ9yA8-2Kk/WX5C00mK37I/AAAAAAAAA1A/LbuBoeRoSb4C6--nqH57RquGaGWP6m7IQCLcBGAs/s1600/goose_creek_mburg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="720" height="205" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ptZ9yA8-2Kk/WX5C00mK37I/AAAAAAAAA1A/LbuBoeRoSb4C6--nqH57RquGaGWP6m7IQCLcBGAs/s400/goose_creek_mburg.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The army marched from North to South, but of course, I was headed in the opposite direction. From Goose Creek, my wife and I continued on route 626 to route 611 and then to where 611 crosses the ‘Snickersville Turnpike.’ At this junction we took Silcott Springs Road [690] north to Purcellville.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Sam Webster recorded in his journal during the army’s march south, that this portion of Virginia, north of the Snickersville Turnpike, had much more Union sentiment as opposed to those residents south of it. </span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Tuesday, July 21st 1863. </span><span style="font-kerning: none;">The loyalty of the people on the north side of the pike through Snicker’s gap was exemplified yesterday. A girl 14 or maybe 16 years old on the way to school emptied her dinner basket and gave her dinner to the men - and did it willingly. A short distance further on, at a house on </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">the right of the road, the lady of the house gave all the bread, etc., she had just taken out of the oven. She said she was a doing this “for her government,” and if she “had only known they were coming, she would have baked more.”</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Besides, she had her boys carrying out water to the road. As an offset Charlie Haas, of 94th N.Y. last evening while waiting at a house for some milk was, with another, surprised by gurerrilas, brought by the man of the house, and carried off to Mosby’s over the Bull Run Mtn. Mosby wished him to join his band, but he refused. He was paroled to go to Alexandria, came into camp instead, and a guard was sent to arrest the man who betrayed him.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">He was found upstairs under a bed, where, he said, he was hunting for something.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Said he had never seen Charlie. (This is all from the story as afterward told by Charlie.)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">At Purcellville we turned directly east on Main street and kept going the short distance to Hamilton. The 13th Mass camped at the west end of the village of Hamilton, or Harmony Church, on Sunday, July 19, 1863, arriving as Charles E. Davis, Jr. wrote, “Alas ! too late for church services.”</span></span></div>
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</span>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kmPDIQ0azCY/WX5ELGqbuBI/AAAAAAAAA1I/fItWySNWjY485xtxKboxYKyPEyVWVa4eACLcBGAs/s1600/Hamilton_yellow_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1133" data-original-width="1600" height="141" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kmPDIQ0azCY/WX5ELGqbuBI/AAAAAAAAA1I/fItWySNWjY485xtxKboxYKyPEyVWVa4eACLcBGAs/s200/Hamilton_yellow_b.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></span></div>
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</span>
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<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">We didn’t attend church either, but stopped for a rather nice lunch at a place called Lowry’s Crab Shack, just on the west side of the village.</span></span></div>
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</span>
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<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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</span>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Sgt. Austin C. Stearns and Clarence Bell both mentioned the houses of Hamilton, VA, flying the National flag.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-kerning: none;">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">
</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Lots of cars, traffic signs, telephone poles and other signs of modernity cluttered up some of these picturesque towns, making it difficult to get a suitable image to accompany an 1863 narrative, but I made a few attempts regardless. There was a lot of ground to cover, so we only made the simplest of efforts to that end.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Pictured is a patriotic house in Hamilton. The electrical wires don't do the house justice, but we were in a bit of a hurry to move on. Other pictures in Hamilton proved equally obstructed by modernity.</span><br />
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">From Hamilton, we wanted to go to Waterford, 5.2 miles distant. We turned left on route 704 north, Hamilton Station Road, and followed it northeast, to just south of the town of Waterford.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Waterford was the first town the regiment bivouacked at after they crossed the Potomac River into Virginia from Berlin, Md., on July 18, 1863.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Pictured, is a photo of Waterford, taken en route.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">We took Milltown road [681] to Lovettesville, Va, then followed route 287, the 3.5 miles from there directly to Brunswick, formerly Berlin, Maryland.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">This was as far as I attempted to re-trace the route of the First Corps. We spent the rest of the afternoon, wandering around Western Maryland, going to places I know the regiment visited.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">We followed the Potomac River along the old C & O canal before turning north up Pleasant Valley to Boonsboro, stopping at South Mountain Park.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Along the way we passed through Knoxville, and Sandy Hook, MD, two towns the 13th Mass passed through and camped at, on many occasions early in their service.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">On the way back we went a different route, the idea being to get to Berryville, VA, then up into the mountains to Bluemont, in order to drive the Snickersville Turnpike back down to Middleburg. The 13th Mass also passed this way a few times during their service.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The trip was a lot of fun. We made a day of it and were able to get home by 9 p.m. after many interesting stops along the way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Pictured below is a panoramic of Knoxville, Md. near Sandy Hook and Harper's Ferry. The 13th Mass spent many months in this area in the winter of 1861 - 1862.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">You can view these pictures and get more of a feel for the real march by visiting the new pages of my website. There's lots more there too. I hope you enjoyed the trip.</span></div>
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B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-59250791339447526632017-05-10T13:15:00.004-04:002017-05-10T13:15:46.983-04:00A Trip to Winchester<br /> Living in Virginia has advantages; one such being that nearly everyplace is historic. Saturday I went with family to see my nephew march with the West Allegheny [Pennsylvania] Band in the Winchester Apple Blossom Festival Parade.<br />
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This was my first opportunity to stop in the town. The ground we staked out on the parade route was on Cork Street directly across from historic Loudon Street, which sported a large bold sign over the intersection that read ‘Old Town Winchester.’ Its now a pedestrian arcade. The old buildings had signs that dated them back to the early 1800’s. I asked one of the nearby vendors selling hamburgers if the Old Courthouse was nearby. She was not from the area, but recalled seeing it listed on her gps when she drove to work that morning. It was about a block and 1/2 over that way, she said pointing.<br />
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In March, 1862, the 13th Massachusetts Volunteers marched into Winchester; — among the first ‘Yankees’ to occupy the town, and the first of many times the town would change hands during the war.<br />
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Charles Davis, Jr. wrote in the regiment’s history, “<b>Three Years in the Army</b>,”:<br />
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“<i>We had hardly entered the main street of the town when General Jackson and Colonel Ashby were discovered on horseback, in front of the Taylor House, waving an adieu with their hats. An order was immediately given to fire, but we were not quick enough to do them harm or retard their flight. This was a daring thing to do, though common enough with such men as Jackson and Ashby.</i><br />
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<i> “We were marched down the main street, the band playing patriotic airs, while the people scanned our appearance to see what a Yankee looked like. Some who were prepared to scoff could get no farther than “How fat they are!”</i><br />
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<i> “..The regiment was detailed as provost guard of the town, and proceeded at once to secure quarters in the unoccupied buildings.</i><br />
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<i> “…Two of the companies were quartered in the hall in the court-house.”</i><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cmUceRcnkSI/Sw4CFUPrvLI/AAAAAAAAAog/tFPPTjkDuB00HzmqPN6QuS9RZv4YgmgxQCPcB/s1600/ChaplainGaylord.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cmUceRcnkSI/Sw4CFUPrvLI/AAAAAAAAAog/tFPPTjkDuB00HzmqPN6QuS9RZv4YgmgxQCPcB/s320/ChaplainGaylord.gif" width="216" /></a> The 13th Massachusetts regiment had its fair share of hubris. Four days after arriving, Chaplain Noah Gaylord “preached a rattling sermon on, "The Evils of Secession," in front of the court-house. Notice having been given out to the town-people that he was to preach, advantage was taken by some of them to be present and listen to a “Yankee” preacher. <br />
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A soldier named Frank, in Co. K of the 13th Mass, described the sermon in a letter home, published in the local newspaper, the ’Westboro’ Transcript.’<br />
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<i>“Since writing the above we have attended services. They were held in the square in front of the court-house. </i><br />
<i><br />There was a large assemblage of citizens and soldiers beside our own regt. I don’t know what the people thought of Mr. Gaylord, for he did give it to the rebel Virginians good. I saw some awful long looking faces, and also some smiling ones. He told the citizens that here was a sample of the mudsills of the North. A sample of the soldiers that were a coming South, to burn, destroy property, ravish their women, commit murder, and such depredations, as the Southern press has led the people to believe. He asked the people if they had seen any indications of such actions or treatment amongst the Union troops since they had been here, &c. </i><br />
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<i>Mr. Gaylord was in all his glory as he stood on the court-house steps addressing the people. I never saw him when he was so eloquent. I think he must have forgot it was the Sabbath when he spoke of Senator Mason. He called him a traitor and everything but what was good. He told his hearers that he had draggooned the people of Virginia into this rebellion, and it was such as he, and his kind, that had got the whole South drawn in. There was something novel about our services, considering the time, place and circumstances. I think that Mr. Gaylord is the first chaplain that has had an opportunity of speaking to the Virginians in such a hot-bed of rebeldom, and so large a town as this. “</i><br />
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History shows, Chaplain Gaylord’s sermon made little impression on the citizens of Winchester.<br />
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Back to the parade…<br />
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There was a half hour before the Apple Blossom Festival parade was to start, so with my sister-in-law, we started down the arcade in search of the historic court-house. Like any place, local residents are probably not much impressed with familiar land-marks they see frequently in their home town. Such must be true of the court-house, amidst the ‘touristy attractions’ of local shops and restaurants. But for me, the Chaplain’s sermon always loomed large, among the many memorable and humorous incidents in the history of the 13th Massachusetts Volunteers.<br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jVuEit3S1dI/WRNI0AWlJSI/AAAAAAAAA0Q/Bv3f_t3FsJY6Jxwu_e-82e8wQq9xK404gCLcB/s1600/18359090_10206649512636481_278294347255883768_o-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jVuEit3S1dI/WRNI0AWlJSI/AAAAAAAAA0Q/Bv3f_t3FsJY6Jxwu_e-82e8wQq9xK404gCLcB/s320/18359090_10206649512636481_278294347255883768_o-2.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
Because of the hamburger vendor’s instructions we circumvented the area, not knowing that a short stroll directly down Loudon would get us to our destination. Coming around from the back made the surprise that much greater for me when we found it. My sister-in-law prompted me to have a picture taken on the steps.<br />
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So, here I am in front of the historic Winchester Court-House, now a Civil War museum. I refrained from giving any sermons however, although the subject of "How the 13th Massachusetts Won the Civil War For the Union,” did come to mind. …Perhaps another day.<br />
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Right down the street I spotted the unmistakable architecture of the Taylor House, with its imposing 3 story columns rising up from the street. There were amusing stories about this place too. But it was time to get back for the parade.<br />
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It turned out to be a long wait for the West Allegheny Marching Band. Two hours passed and there was still no evidence of their approach. The afternoon waned and a chill descended upon the parade watchers, for it had been a wet and rainy day. I went in search of coffee to warm ourselves, my wife and I. I was directed across the street to a new bakery that served it. And, of course, while I was inside, waiting for my order, the West Allegheny Marching Band went marching past the big bay window of the store front facing Cork Street.<br />
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We are proud of you Robby!<br />
<br />B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-46180505562304943652016-08-07T12:53:00.002-04:002017-08-08T20:19:41.488-04:00Officers of the 13th Mass.Please, no stealing this image!<br />
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For nearly 9 years the following photo has graced the home page of my website, www.13thmass.org.<br />
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It is my favorite photograph, of the 9 or so images that were tucked into the side flap of my Great-Great Grandfather's war diary. William titled the picture 'Officers of the 13th Regt" and carefully marked with x's, - and labeled the identities of Captain Charles H. Hovey, and Lieutenant Charles B. Fox, both at the time the image was taken, officers of his company, Company K. After all these years, I'd like to try and take a guess at some of the other identities.<br />
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Starting at the far left, it took close examination but I discovered there is a soldier standing flush with the dark tree who barely shows up in the image. I cropped him out and lightened the sample in photoshop so he might be seen more clearly.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H6XVT2ZRxPo/WPp483vEm-I/AAAAAAAAAvg/Yfoldah6_eYaA_x89eMySGDmwtfbg7H6QCLcB/s1600/lt.neat_adj.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H6XVT2ZRxPo/WPp483vEm-I/AAAAAAAAAvg/Yfoldah6_eYaA_x89eMySGDmwtfbg7H6QCLcB/s200/lt.neat_adj.jpg" width="66" /></a></div>
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g6NbrYN-0AM/WPp6k3icBLI/AAAAAAAAAv4/bwd7ok0V360B_TEhAPcea_WQxyZHVU1FgCLcB/s1600/Neat_Saml_MG_2667.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g6NbrYN-0AM/WPp6k3icBLI/AAAAAAAAAv4/bwd7ok0V360B_TEhAPcea_WQxyZHVU1FgCLcB/s200/Neat_Saml_MG_2667.JPG" width="145" /></a>He is a big 'hairy' fellow, not that they all aren't, in fact that is one reason that its so hard to identify these guys. The facial hair gives them an uncanny resemblance to one another. Anyway, the biggest and hairiest officer I have reference for is First Lieutenant Samuel Neat, of Company A. I think this is him - unintentionally blending into the tree.<br />
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I hope you all can see him. To be honest, Capt. Whitcomb of Co. F also looks very similar to the man in this image. But Lt. Neat has bulkier shoulders and I think this man does too. Another argument in favor of this being Lt. Neat, is that I think the man standing in front of him is Captain James A. Fox, also of Company A.<br />
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By the way, click on these images to see them larger... Here is a more formal portrait of Lieutenant Neat. (above in near b&w)<br />
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Here is a picture of Capt. Whitcomb, Co. F.<br />
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Moving on to Captain Fox... This is a guess on my part. But here is another blurry image of Capt. Fox at Williamsport, with a positive ID. See b&w image below. <br />
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In this image, Capt. Fox is standing next to Quartermaster Craig. The forage cap seems to be a match, and the pointy beard too perhaps? The men standing in this image were carefully identified by its previous owner, George Tainter of Company A. Unfortunately, this small blurry copy is all that I have. The dealer who sent it to me claimed the original was also v. blurry.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qqeP577soyQ/WPp8jxxbHbI/AAAAAAAAAwQ/fVGcjhwEWlMzE1ukOY-UQexzyrvhdFiMQCLcB/s1600/fox_craig_from_tainter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qqeP577soyQ/WPp8jxxbHbI/AAAAAAAAAwQ/fVGcjhwEWlMzE1ukOY-UQexzyrvhdFiMQCLcB/s200/fox_craig_from_tainter.jpg" width="120" /></a>I was going to say, that the next man in line, 3rd from left, (who appears to be 2nd from left because of the tree hiding Lt. Neat) is Captain Fiske of Company G. That is because the man 4th from left is definitely First-Lieutenant Loring Richardson, of same company. However, seeing this blurry image of Capt. Fox and Quartermaster George Craig, makes it clear this man standing third from left is indeed Quartermaster Craig. He is wearing the same get-up with a tie beneath his frock coat. There goes my theory of First-Lieutenants standing next to their Captains, out the window. That would have made the job of trying to identify these guys much easier.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--eSYfYjnkm0/WPqCzdJR25I/AAAAAAAAAw4/wxW_Bq319xkdc7vVXz6nTH5Zhhou1mzZACLcB/s1600/Loring%2BS.%2BRichardson.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--eSYfYjnkm0/WPqCzdJR25I/AAAAAAAAAw4/wxW_Bq319xkdc7vVXz6nTH5Zhhou1mzZACLcB/s200/Loring%2BS.%2BRichardson.gif" width="132" /></a>By the way, any experts on Uniforms, please jump in to help. That is not my strong point.<br />
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Moving right along, I can give a positive ID to Lt. Loring Richardson, as I just stated. His distinctive side burns and strong jaw are clear cut identifiers.<br />
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My Great-Great Grandfather, Private William Henry Forbush has identified the soldier next to Loring Richardson as Captain Charles H. Hovey. I would not have guessed this from other images I have of Hovey, but I can't argue with gramps, and, Capt. Hovey, was quite an imposing officer who rose to the rank of Lt.-Col. of the 13th Mass.(2nd in command) by the time Grant's Overland Campaign began in 1864. The identified officer clearly has a martial bearing.<br />
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I don't know who the little guy is standing in front of him. The detail is poor, for his profile seems noseless, or his head is turned further 3/4 to the rear than it appears, or its just blurred. I'd like to conjecture its one of the 3 Cary brothers, probably Joseph or William, but I can't really compare the images I have of the Cary's with this man, because he is turned away. <br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vHo4AXhZvDs/WPqI9_ii0QI/AAAAAAAAAxU/g2uyn6ZewgEX_rYIOTwB0P4GGuzKBQQqQCLcB/s1600/major_gould.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vHo4AXhZvDs/WPqI9_ii0QI/AAAAAAAAAxU/g2uyn6ZewgEX_rYIOTwB0P4GGuzKBQQqQCLcB/s320/major_gould.jpg" width="163" /></a>First-Lieutenant Charles B. Fox is easily recognized standing slightly apart from the first group, 7th from the left. He would be a positive ID even if my ancestor hadn't pointed him out. Behind Lt. Fox, Major J. P. Gould, his friend. Both Fox & Gould were outside of the 'clique' made up by the other officers in the regiment. In service, however, both Fox and Gould proved their unpopularity was unmerited. <br />
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Major Gould would have been a hard call, but he is positively identified in another image I have from camp, and the likeness between the two images is strong.<br />
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Although this edit from a xerox copy of the image is rough, I found the same image on file in the collection of images belonging to the Westborough Historical Society. Most of the images in their collection had been labeled, probably by the town historian, Dr. Reed, in the 1940's. This soldier was identified as Major Gould. I have seen other copies of the same photograph at Carlisle's Army Heritage Center.<br />
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(Here is the full image. By the way, spacing images with this blogger format isn't easy.)<br />
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So just to recap, in the banner image we have tentatively, standing left to right, Lt. Samuel Neat, Co. A; Capt. James Fox, Co. A; Quartermaster George Craig, holding the sheet of paper; Lieutenant Loring S. Richardson, Co. G; Captain Charles H. Hovey, Co. K; Unknown; Lieutenant Charles B. Fox, Co. K, (facing left); Major Jacob Parker Gould, beside Lt. Fox; and then...<br />
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someone's head is peaking between Major Gould and the next man. The face is very familiar to me for some reason, but I cannot put a positive ID on this soldier just now. It could be Captain William Jackson of Co. C. pictured here.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4WGKeWyashE/WPrIjmYlAAI/AAAAAAAAAy8/nRpxZDPMHUcJ5hIp1gmtoS-tcaKCxEB6gCEw/s1600/William%2BH.%2BJackson.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4WGKeWyashE/WPrIjmYlAAI/AAAAAAAAAy8/nRpxZDPMHUcJ5hIp1gmtoS-tcaKCxEB6gCEw/s200/William%2BH.%2BJackson.gif" title="" width="132" /></a>For the longest time I thought it might be Lt. Col. N. W. Batchelder, with his long mustache and pointy beard, --and maybe it is. The hat matches Batchelder's and the pictured man seems to have the proper facial hair. The one thing that gives me pause is that Major Gould, and Lt.-Col. Batchelder did not get along, and its difficult to consider them standing this close. Perhaps their dislike for each other had not yet ripened when this picture was taken. But I would also think Batchelder would be more front and center considering his rank. <br />
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The pose, with the angle of the face, and the squinty eyes and what seems to be a pointy goatee, though its hard to see, also reminds me of the only portrait I have of Capt. David Brown of Company I. (You really have to zoom in on the picture to see this guy. ) I'd like to think Lieutenant, (later Captain) Brown was in this picture. He's one of those guys I know little about, yet he was with the regiment a long time.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XAR440ZJpZE/WPrBbs2LKYI/AAAAAAAAAyU/ZSG_NSglgO45RnOr220naaM-JlpN-I6AQCLcB/s1600/brown_david_l.tif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XAR440ZJpZE/WPrBbs2LKYI/AAAAAAAAAyU/ZSG_NSglgO45RnOr220naaM-JlpN-I6AQCLcB/s200/brown_david_l.tif" width="169" /></a> This guy needs some further work, but I'm hopeful I'll get it right one day.<br />
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When I began writing this post, I was certain the next man in line was Corporal Morton Tower. I can't recall now what made me so certain at one time, but I do have another image with Tower taken during this time in the history of the unit, but he is not wearing an overcoat, and the corporal stripes are clearly visible. So I'm going to have to go with unknown for most of the rest of the officers pictured.<br />
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Lt. Edwin R. Frost, Co. E, seems to be next (4th from the right). Frost is pictured at right.<br />
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He is interacting with an officer I always thought to be Captain Clark of Company H. Clark is labeled in the xerox image I posted, but he is standing in a shadow and its difficult to see much of him. I probably assumed this was also Clark in my image because he is holding about the same exact stance. What appears to be a prominent lower lip on this officer would be characteristic of Capt. Clark's features, but the facial hair doesn't match the other existing image I have of him. This doesn't rule him out - its just I wish I could get a better copy of that image up in Westboro to compare.<br />
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If its not Clark, it might be Captain Fiske of Co. G. I'll refrain from posting Clark and Fiske, so as not to clutter this page up with any more images, but readers can visit the site map page of my website and find them there.<br />
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I don't know who the remaining two soldiers on the right of the picture could be.<br />
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So for what its worth, that's how it stands. Some positive ID's and a lot of speculation. But I'll keep working at it. It's come a long way from just Hovey & Fox.<br />
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<br />B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947608627661246761.post-56283082632111499102016-08-07T12:53:00.001-04:002017-08-08T20:25:17.870-04:00The Regimental History & GettysburgIt is not often that I find errors in the excellent regimental history of the 13th Massachusetts Volunteers, written by Charles E. Davis, Jr., in 1893, and published in 1894. The history received high praise and is considered a classic of its genre.<br />
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Here's high praise for Davis's work from Lt-Col. Charles H. Hovey written in a letter to historian Major John M. Gould (formerly of the 10th Maine) on March 12, 1894.<br />
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"Before I close will you please allow me to thank you for the Kind and very intelligent review you gave of "Three Years in the War; A Story of the 13th Vol. Infy"</blockquote>
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"My friend Davis mailed the clipping and I read it with the feeling that the book was understood and appreciated by one who knew something about war books.</blockquote>
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"I have read many news-paper notices of the book, but none are equal to yours:</blockquote>
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"I don't Care for more puffs; and praise that seems forced; but I do care very much for a review that indicates an insight and an appreciative knowledge of what the author, (an eighteen year old boy when enlisted, and who writes as a soldier boy, feeling & knowing it all from a private's position) has faithfully and carefully prepared for publication.</blockquote>
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"It may not be known to you that Mr. Davis was very severely wounded at 2nd Bull Run and that the personal experience, that helped him up to that time had to be supplemented by what the rest of us, who served through, could furnish for publication.</blockquote>
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"Some critics think they can discover when he left, and that the last twenty odd months of service were not experienced by Davis, but I think he has worked the Story up wonderfully, and kept up the tone of the first year nearly as well as if he had got to Petersburg with us." - Ch'as H. Hovey, Late Lt. Col. 13th Mass. Vol. Infy</blockquote>
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Private Davis joined the regiment at its inception. He was very badly wounded at the 2nd Battle of Bull Run, on August 30, 1862, and mustered out the following February.<br />
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In 1892, after a failed attempt by another to write a history for the regiment, Davis was elected by the surviving veterans to tackle the job. He was a gifted writer and wrote the history from the perspective of a private, drawing on his personal experiences and those of others.<br />
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To write the regimental history he had at his disposal:<br />
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"the diaries of Lieut. William R. Warner, Samuel D. Webster, Lieut. Edward F. Rollins, Lieut. Robert B. Henderson, and Sergeant William R. Coombs. None of the diaries covered all the time, but those of Messrs. Warner, Webster, and Rollins were the most complete; those of Messrs. Henderson and Coombs included the Mine Run and Wilderness campaigns. Col. Charles H. Hovey made copies of such parts of all his letters as related to our movements during his presence with the regiment. The regimental books, papers, and maps were turned over to me by Col. Samuel H. Leonard. The "War Records" which are in progress of publication by the government have been of great service in settling disputed points." I have derived information from other comrades, whom I have met from time to time, chief among whom is Sergeant Jeremiah P. Blake."*</blockquote>
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Of these references, I have examined all 3 copies of Sam Webster's diary, and have copies of William R. Warner's diary entries for Gettysburg. Edward Rollins was an editor of Bivouac Magazine, 1885 - 1888; and I have mined all of these volumes for his writings. I also have an original copy of the history.<br />
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The only glaring omission in the completed work, is the coverage given to the 6 months service in Maryland during the regiments early days at Sharpsburg, Sandy Hook, Harper's Ferry, Darnestown, Williamsport, Hancock, and other places.<br />
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In comparing the history to other source materials I have found only a few minor errors. But the entries for Gettysburg on July 2nd & 3rd can be downright confusing.<br />
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Davis was not present at the battle so he had to rely on his sources. Drummer Sam Webster, was not in the action so his diary entries are of little use to the narrative. The Warner account is wonderful, but it jumps around a bit giving impressions of all 3 days actions in a somewhat random manner. Perhaps Davis got confused.<br />
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The narrative for July first, is very strong. This was the most important day, when they were heavily engaged on Oak Ridge, and lost 2/3 of their men. The only puzzle I find, is that Davis attributed the prisoners captured on the Mummasburg Road to a 'North Carolina Regiment,' when William R. Warner clearly attributes them to a regiment from Alabama. This seemingly tiny misapprehension has significant implications, for the Alabama brigade attacked the Union line from a different direction than the North Carolinians. The action on this part of the battlefield is still shrouded in some mystery, and Davis's statement unfortunately adds to the confusion.<br />
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My own theory holds that Warner is correct. A prominent Gettysburg historian familiar with this part of the field told me, that he always presumed that the captured prisoners had to be from Alabama.<br />
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The confusion I have with Davis's narrative for July 2nd start 2 1/2 paragraphs into his entry, after he writes,<br />
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"later in the evening we returned to Cemetery Hill to support Ricketts' and Weidrick's batteries, which were being charged by the Louisiana Tigers."</blockquote>
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Up to here all is correct. About 9 p.m. the regiment moved from their supporting position on Cemetery Ridge, somewhat south of where the Pennsylvania Monument stands today, to the support of the batteries on East Cemetery Hill, where the Tigers attacked. But by the time they arrived, the enemy had been repulsed; with the help of re-enforcements sent unsolicited by General Hancock. The next couple of paragraphs in the regimental history are somewhat muddled.<br />
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Davis continues;<br />
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"We were thrown in the front of these guns, with orders to hug the ground as closely as possible while the batteries fired over us." </blockquote>
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Then Davis writes a descriptive paragraph of 6 or 7 sentences describing this dangerous type of duty.<br />
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Evidence does exist, that suggests Robinson's division took a position in front of the batteries, facing sniper fire from the town sometime after 9 p.m the night of July 2nd and first light on July 3rd. Many of the regiments reference as much. [Perhaps more on this later]. But according to these writings, it is uncertain they performed this duty immediately after their arrival, and I do not have historian Davis's source of reference for this passage. It was dark and the batteries were for the most part silent when they arrived at night. <br />
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At the battle of Fredericksburg, the regiment did engage in this type of duty, which is very dangerous, and several of the men were wounded and one man killed as a result of the batteries firing over them. A similar description of the dangers of this type of work is described then. Charles Davis seems to have repeated the description for his Gettysburg entry to add detail and interest to the narrative.<br />
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After describing the dangerous duty of lying in front of the batteries, comes another confusing paragraph.<br />
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Davis writes,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"All the afternoon we listened to the sound of battle at our right on Culp's Hill, dreading defeat and another retreat. It made us sick at heart to think of what might occur in such an event, and glad we were when night came and put a temporary stop to the fighting. Evidently we had not held our own at this point."</blockquote>
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The battle at Culp's Hill took place in the evening, between 7 - 10 p.m. July 2nd, not in the afternoon as Davis writes. Perhaps if he wrote, 'evening,' instead of 'afternoon,' the passage would make more sense. I would also think, even though it was mid-summer, that it was dark well before the fighting on the hill ended, around 9 or 10 p.m.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i7iEueMhWJk/V6eF7xHjPbI/AAAAAAAAAuo/rrC8KdKinEEuH89I0Y8u_71jUlgvZiqggCPcB/s1600/gburg_map_5small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i7iEueMhWJk/V6eF7xHjPbI/AAAAAAAAAuo/rrC8KdKinEEuH89I0Y8u_71jUlgvZiqggCPcB/s320/gburg_map_5small.jpg" width="245" /></a>A couple questions come to mind with this passage. Where was the writer of this comment positioned when listening to the battle at Culp's Hill? [The Warner & Webster diaries don't reference the fighting on Culp's Hill]. The maps of Gettysburg historian, John Bachelder, place them near Little Round Top until about 9 p.m., after which time they moved back towards Cemetery Hill. Exploring their position between 9 p.m. July 2nd and 4 a.m. July 3rd is the subject of another post. But before concluding here, I'd like to point out one other slight error in the entry for July 3.<br />
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The entry for July 3rd has an omission, and a mistake. Davis makes no mention of the early morning fight on Culp's Hill that lasted from first light until about 10 a.m. Instead,he gives an absolutely wonderful description of the regiment changing its position early in the morning. The description is so detailed, it re-enforces the idea that the regiment was in fact in front of the batteries facing the town before first light July 3rd; -- but more on this in another post.<br />
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The slight mistake comes later, when Davis' describes the regiments move towards Zieglar's Grove on Cemetery Ridge in the late afternoon during 'Pickett's Charge.'. Here, Davis inserts a lengthy homage to the 16th Maine, when a shell exploded among their very thin ranks during the double-quick across the ridge. The tribute is moving, and fitting, but the event, according to the history of the 16th Maine, and William Warner's diary, occurred during a similar movement in the late afternoon of July 2nd. It is even mentioned in Davis's narrative for July 2nd. He wrote,<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"While we were formed in line, marching brigade front, a shell exploded in the midst of an adjoining regiment, knocking over a dozen men."</blockquote>
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Why Davis failed to realize the two incidents he described on July 2nd & 3rd were one in the same is unclear.<br />
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Although these are criticisms of the work, they are only brought forth here for clarification. Davis's work on the whole is brilliant. Another post on the subject of Gettysburg may follow as suggested above.<br />
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*I have no source material from Sgt. Blake.<br />
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<br />B. Forbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17520880540467372937noreply@blogger.com0