Blog in Real Time - July 25, 1861 - Post #32

Following the Battle of Bull Run, July 21, both sides wondered what would come next.   President Lincoln decided to bring more men forward and strengthen forces in the Shenandoah Valley.  Major General Nathaniel P. Banks was appointed commander of the Department of the Shenandoah July 25.  The 13th Mass. meanwhile, still drilling at Fort Independence would receive orders to report to General Banks in Western Maryland.




The following is from the defunct website, "Letters of the Civil War" by Tom Hayes.

LETTERS OF THE CIVIL WAR.

JULY 25, 1861.

Presentation. – Capt. C. R. M. Pratt, of Co., E, Thirteenth Regiment of Rifles, is to be surprised this afternoon, at the camp at Fort Independence, by the presentation of an army regulation sword, with sash, belt, shoulder-piece, and other accoutrements, all of the finest workmanship.  A number of store-keepers in the vicinity of Webster Hall, are the donors, and intend it as a mark of their esteem, to an able and efficient commander, in Col. Leonard’s famous Rifle Regiment.

The new uniforms of this regiment have been received, and 13th will be sent to join the grand army in a few days.

The following official appointments have been made in the Roxbury Rifle Company: – Captain, C. R. M. Pratt; 1st Lieut., J. Colburn; 2d Lieut., Edwin Frost; all of this city. (Roxbury City Gazette; July 25, 1861; pg. 2, col. 5.)