The 13th Mass., at 2nd Bull Run

There's a new web page up at my website.  The page contains 13th Mass., soldiers' letters and memoirs of their experiences at the 2nd Battle of Bull Run.  I've had some of these materials for a long time, and I always wanted to share them with a wider audience.  This is a milestone for my site.  This is the point in the history of the regiment where many original recruits left, one way or another.  Second Bull Run was the first major engagement for the unit.  Forty men were killed, about 200 wounded.  About five hundred went into the fight.

Here's whats on the page.

An overlong introduction  but there are maps! - apologies ahead of time.  Then the source material.

1. Excerpts from the regimental history by Charles E. Davis, (with pictures & maps!).
2. A short piece on Major Jacob Parker Gould who was the senior regimental officer on the field.
3. Westboro Transcript (hometown newspaper).  A letter from Capt. Hovey, Co. K listing casualties.
4. Sergeant Austin Stearns account of the action.  (with pictures !)  Stearns memoirs have been around since the mid 1970's, so its a well referenced source, but he provides a good overall description of the chaos on the field.
5. Letter of Lt. Charles B. Fox to his father.  (Co's I & K) Fox expresses his discouragement in the conduct of the war, and the difficulty of service.
6. Letter of Lyman Low, Co. B.  Low's long account of the battle was published in the 13th Regt. Association Circulars in 1911, but I don't think many historians have seen it.  The Circulars are over 1,000 pages of material, and the letter does not reference 2nd Bull Run in the title.  He describes the death and wounding of several comrades and the chaos at the stone bridge.
7. Letter of Capt. Joseph Cary, Co. B, of his companies losses in the engagement.  From the Boston Herald. (previously available on the defunct website "Letters of the Civil War.")
8. The Three Ponies of Company B.  A story of the death of Charles Mills, and Albert Curtis, on the battlefield; from the regimental history, followed by a brief (1915) letter of their 3rd comrade, Michael Ayers. (with pictures).
9. Letter of John B. Noyes, Co. B.  Another long descriptive letter from John Noyes describing the campaign, and what he saw on the battlefield. (with pictures and maps!).
10. Letter of George Henry Hill, Co. B.  Un published letter shared with me by a family descendant.  Hill describes the experience of being under fire in the heat of battle. (with picture).
11. Roxbury City Gazette (hometown newspaper).  The regular correspondent for the 13th Mass, from Roxbury describes the companies experiences in the campaign.  (Previously posted on the defunct website, "Letters of the Civil War." )(picture of Lt. Colburn).
12. Two letters of James Ramsey, Co. E.  Shared with me by descendants.  Ramsey was taken prisoner on the battlefield and describes his treatment at the field hospital.  He compares this with the shabby treatment he gets later in Washington, D.C. (picture  of James included).
13. Sam Webster's account of the battle.  Another well known source from the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. (with pictures).
14. George F. D. Paine's well known story from the 13th Regt. Association Circulars, "How I Left Bull Run Battlefield."  Paine's narrative is so gripping it is quoted on the brigade's historical marker at Manassas National Battlefield Park. (with pictures).
15. Letter of John B. Noyes.  A second letter, written from a hospital, well after the battle, when Noyes was recuperating from wounds received at Antietam.  He criticizes the conduct of several specific 13th Mass officers in the engagement. He was mad ! (pictures of the rascals included).
16. Charles E. Davis, Jr.'s horrific account of his experience in the battle; lying wounded on the field for a week; and then receiving  worse than lousy treatment from one of the surgeons at Carver Hospital in Washington DC.  It goes on from there too...  Davis went on to write the regimental history of the 13th Mass.  (with pictures!)
17. List of men killed during this campaign.

Here's the link:   http://13thmass.org/1862/second_bull_run.html

Could McDowell Have Moved Faster ?

     It is interesting to read soldiers' letters to get a feel for what was happening as history unfolded.  It is especially interesting if the writer has a keen eye for observation and detail.

Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign;

Late May, 1862

          One of the criticisms of the Union forces trying to cut off Stonewall Jackson during his 1862 Valley Campaign, was that they moved too slow.  John B. Noyes, a private in Co. B, 13^th Mass. Vols, [Hartsuff’s Brigade] participated in the march and he agrees McDowell moved too slowly. 

     Here is the setup:

     General McClellan’s 100,000 troops are closing in around Richmond, the Confederate Capital. General McDowell is close by at Falmouth, with 50,000 troops about to join them.  In an attempt to draw off some of the pressure around Richmond, General Lee sends General Richard Ewell’s troops to the Shenandoah Valley to join forces with Stonewall Jackson and create a disturbance there.  Lee hoped the disturbance would draw away some of McDowell's forces to the valley.  The ploy worked.

     General Nathaniel Banks, greatly reduced army was holding the Valley for the Union.  His forces were outnumbered by the Confederates two to one.  When Jackson and Ewell surprised a small outpost at Front Royal, Va. on May 22, Banks’ small army was spread thin.  Jacksons’ force swept down on the small garrison at Front Royal and captured 700 of the 1,000 men posted there.

     Banks was taken off guard.  Positioned 10 miles west of Front Royal at Strasburg, he was loath to retreat, but had little choice.  Jackson could advance to Winchester and surround him.  By early morning the next day Banks was racing back to his supply base at Winchester 20 miles north.  His army made a gallant stand from a strong position on two hills southwest of the town on May 25th, but the 15,000 Confederates eventually broke the lines of the 6,000 Federals.  The defeat turned into a Union route, but a masterly retreat nonetheless.  Banks’ army didn’t rest until they crossed the Potomac River into Maryland 35 miles north.  The sometimes dis-organized Jackson, couldn’t pursue because he could not locate his Confederate Cavalry, who like the tired and hungry infantry had stopped to pillage the Union supplies left behind by ‘Commissary Banks.’

     The next day Jackson deployed his army to threaten points north, particularly the Union Garrison at Harper’s Ferry.  President Lincoln and the Washington authorities were panicked.   Lincoln ordered General McDowell in the East, and General Fremont in the West to join forces in the Valley in hopes of capturing Jackson with a ‘pincers’ movement.  McDowell complied with the President’s order, but, understanding the Confederate motives, he told the President, in a telegram March 24:

“I obeyed your order immediately, for it was positive and urgent, and perhaps as a subordinate, there I ought to stop; but I trust I may be allowed to say something in relation to the subject, especially in view of your remark, that everything now depends upon the celerity and vigor of my movements.  I beg to say that cooperation between General Fremont and myself to cut Jackson and Ewell there is not to be counted upon, even if it is not a practical impossibility.  Next, I am entirely beyond helping distance of General Banks; no celerity or vigor will avail so far as he is concerned.  Next, that by a glance at the map, it will be seen that the line of retreat of the enemy's forces up the valley is shorter than mine to go against him.  It will take a week or ten days for the force to get to the valley by the route which will give it food and forage, and by that time the enemy will  have retired.  I shall gain nothing for you there, and shall lose much for you here.  It is, therefore, not only on personal grounds that I have a heavy heart in the matter, but that I feel it throws us all back, and from Richmond north we shall have all our large masses paralyzed, and shall have to repeat what we have just accomplished.  I have ordered General Shields to commence the movement by to-morrow morning.  A second division will follow in the afternoon.  Did I understand you aright, that you wished that I personally should accompany this expedition?  I hope to see Governor Chase to-night and express myself more fully to him.

Very respectfully,

Irvin McDowell.”

     McDowell sent two divisions under General Shields and General Ord to the Valley.  The 13^th Mass were with General Ord. 

The March

     General Shield’s 10,000 men arrived at Front Royal May 31^st, in time to cut off Jackson who was still north of Strasburg.  But Shield’s hesitated, because Gen’l Ord was still a days march behind, and Fremont’s force had not yet appeared from the west. 

 James I. Robertson, jr.  wrote in “Stonewall Jackson,  The Man, The Soldier, The Legend” :  Jackson had no way of knowing that the Union “celerity of movement” necessary for his entrapment had turned into a comedy of errors.’  The author then relates Fremont’s blunders and Shield’s hesitation to attack.

     Way down the chain of command, a private in the ranks, yet a Harvard Graduate and astute observer who would one day prove a very capable officer in the 28^th Mass., Private John B. Noyes, complained in letters home, that McDowell could have quickened his advance to Front Royal.  He placed all the blame on McDowell, as at that time, hatred of McDowell was rampant among the officers and men under his command.  (The source of this contempt will be the subject of a future post.)

     In the midst of the campaign on June 8^th Noyes wrote his Father* about McDowell’s move from Falmouth to Front Royal :

     "Perhaps the insensate lollygagging of somebody who kept us on the R.R. from Alexandria to Manassas six hours longer than was necessary, that wasted a whole day at Manassas, a second between that place and Thoroughfare Gap by delaying the cars did not occasion the escape of Jackson.  Why in spite of all this delay we were not twelve hours late.   It took us just seven days to proceed from Falmouth to Front Royal.  The men could have performed the journey better in much less time.  Let us see.  We left Falmouth Sunday afternoon.  The brigade should

have been in Alexandria at 10 A.m. Monday, at Manassas at two o’clock, at Thoroughfare Gap at 3 o’clock of the same day, that is to say at Thoroughfare Gap in 24 hours.  This would have been allowing a large margin for the delay in transporting large bodies of men.  It takes but six hours to sail from Alexandria to Acquia Creek, and an hour or so to ride from thence to Manassas, and another hour to ride to Thoroughfare Gap which is but four miles from Alexandria.  We should have then had two days rations in our haversacks.  Instead of being there on Monday, we did not arrive till Thursday, about five o’clock.  The rebels did not destroy the water building I believe til Thursday A.m., or Wednesday, P.m. when Shields who started from Falmouth on Saturday overland was at the heels of the rebels. Tuesday and Wednesday would have brought us to Front Royal, not without having captured small parties of secesh.  We then would have been some 48 hours ahead of Jackson, and placed him between us and Fremont and crushed him.  As it was we were a half or a whole day late, perhaps I ought to say twelve hours.  Shields beheld the rear guard of Jackson retreating some six miles from Front Royal on Sunday A.m.  He came Saturday  P.M. but was compelled to await our coming before he could proceed with his eighteen regiments of infantry and 36 cannon."

     Noyes puts all the blame on General McDowell but for the wrong reasons, sighting professional jealousies as the reasons for McDowell’s delay.  In his letters home, Noyes continued to berate General McDowell for a myriad of other failings as a commander.

     Still, McDowell’s troops, as well as Fremont’s, did tarry, which allowed Stonewall Jackson to escape.   On May 30^th, Jackson’s forces “were nearly twice as far from Strasburg as the converging forces of Fremont and Shields.”**   On May 31^st Jackson reached Strasburg ahead of the Yankees.  He continued to push his exhausted army south and not only escaped, but out-witted and out-fought the pursuing Federal troops under Fremont and Shields. 

*MS Am2332 (52); Houghton Library, Harvard University

** “Battle Cry of Freedom, by James McPherson; p. 458.

James Lascelle Forbes

Occasionally descendants of 13th Mass. soldiers contact me via email to share or request information. The correspondence always proves interesting. Sometimes I get a great story about a particular soldier. Other times I can provide the descendant with photos or stories about their ancestor. Sometimes nothing at all turns up. This summer I received 3 fascinating inquiries from persons living in England. The life story of James Lascelle Forbes was particularly intriguing as I received it, and, I was able to add some missing links to the story.

Forbes' descendant was writing a biography of James for the family genealogy. He contacted Art Rideout and me, seeking information about James, and his brother, Douglas Forbes. (Art maintains the website of the 13th Mass Roster.) James and Douglas Forbes immigrated to the US from Ireland, and fought in the Civil War, James with the 13th Mass., Douglas with an unknown unit. Art found records of Douglas in the 1900 census and sent them along to our English correspondent. I wasn’t much help with Douglas. An internet database search revealed four regiments with a ‘Douglas Forbes’ listed in the roster. I passed this information along to the descendant, who was also trying to identify a medal James Forbes received for service in the 13th Mass. Again, I could only guess that it was a GAR medal.

James record from the 13th Mass Vols roster states:

James L. Forbes; age 21; born, Dublin, Ire; theatre; mustered in as priv., Co. A, July 16, ’61; was discharged by War Department in ’63.

The story is that James L. Forbes, and his younger brother Douglas, with their widowed mother and another brother came to Boston following their father’s accidental death in Ireland.  James made his living as a scene painter in New York City's thriving theatres. When war broke out he enlisted in the 4th Battalion of Rifles (The nucleus of the 13th Mass) Aged 18 and a teamster, Douglas enlisted in March 1864 at Watertown, Mass, as a private in the Ordnance Corps of the Regular Army.  He was granted a disablity discharge at Watertown Arsenal, Mass, in March 1865.

Family lore had it that James fought at Bull Run, was wounded at Gettysburg, and was nursed back to health by Ella Rosalie Small, and her mother, at a hospital in Harrisburg, PA. He later married Ella.

My only contribution to this tale, was that James fought at 2nd Bull Run, not 1st Bull Run. I couldn’t document James wounding at Gettysburg; I don’t yet have a detailed casualty report for the regiment at that battle, but I promised to keep James in mind when I someday acquire that material.

I requested a copy of my correspondent's biography of James when the final draft was completed, and was grateful to receive it in July. From this I learned James Forbes met his future wife Ella at the German Reform Church Hospital in Harrisburg, PA. I have several descriptive letters written from this hospital by John B. Noyes, Company B, following the September 17, 1862 battle of Antietam. Noyes and several other men of the 13th Mass went there to recover from their battle wounds. Forbes wasn’t mentioned specifically in these letters, but Noyes comments about the number of ladies who frequented the hospital to visit the Massachusetts men. Then, I found a letter in the 13th Mass Circulars, written by James H. Lowell of Company A, (the same company as James L. Forbes) dated September, 1920. The letter reminisced about the battle of Antietam, an important engagement in the annals of the regiment. Lowell’s letter states in part:

“Antietam has always been a theme of deep interest - a sort of starting point in my life…

“…I had two assistants from the firing line to the hay stacks on the farm of Samuel Luffenberger. One was a Penn. bucktail, who, when we got past the rear guard, bolted. There came along, under fire, a fellow about my age in civilian rig, who stuck to the job to the hay Stacks. He took down my name, regiment, etc., saying, "I am a correspondent of the New York Sun." How stupid of me not to take his name and address, that I might remember to commend his bravery, later ! The space at this stack hospital was crowded and we remained there till evening, during that time first aid only was given. And there was disclosed the machine like habit of the drilled soldier - more interested in the fortunes of the firing line he had just left than the injury he received there. "How are things going?" was the topic discussed, while the surgeon was making his rounds. The tragedy of the firing line was the tragedy of the wounded, and its fortunes, their fortunes.

That night we were taken to Hagerstown, and our second hospital was "The little White Church," thence the next day through the Cumberland Valley to Harrisburg, where a hospital on Chestnut Street - the Sunday School room of the German Reformed Church was opened for some of us - a frame dining room in the rear. It was a new thing there and our treatment was lavish for quite a while, and always of the friendliest. Eight boys of the 13th were there, possibly I may miss others - John B. Noyes, Robt. Armstrong, Eugene A. Fiske, James L. Forbes, L. L. Dorr, James Dammers, William S. Soule. Alfred Brigham…

“…Dorr, Dammers and self survive. An intimacy life-long with Forbes, Soule and Fiske, has been my good fortune. Forbes inherited a large landed estate in India through an uncle.”

This letter placed James L. Forbes at the hospital where he met his future wife Ella. Oddly, James does not appear on the casualty list for the battle at Antietam. This doesn't dispute his wounding at Gettysburg, but it defines the time and place where he met Ella, the girl who nursed him back to health. It is possible that James rejoined the regiment and fought at Gettysburg before mustering out on May 3, 1864 at Harrisburg. The rest of James' and Ella's story is fascinating:

Around 1868 - 1869 James traveled to North-western India to help manage his maternal Uncle’s indigo plantation. By December, 1873, James had re-located to another region of India, and changed jobs. He was one of 3 managers of the Tarapore Tea Company in Cachar. That’s when Ella Small set sail from America to marry James. They were wed in Calcutta, January 31, 1874. Soon they had two children, a son and daughter. Between extended trips to America, to visit Ella’s relatives, James Uncle died. He left 1/3 of his indigo plantation to James and Ella. James' siblings, who shared in the inheritance, agreed James should run the estate. In early 1881, the family, now with 4 children, settled on "Uncle’s" remote Indigo plantation in NW India. The plantation thrived and the family prospered.

It was a lonely existence with neighbors spread wide apart across the region. The social center was a club located at the nearest town 22 miles away. Celebrations, parties and dances were sometimes hosted there, giving the European population a chance to congregate.

"We would go into Azamgarh, and we would have a whole week there of very good times. We had races: races for men, races for the women. For instance, you had to mount your horse and ride around the course so many times, holding a tennis ball on your tennis racket, and get right round without letting it fall off." So wrote Mary Forbes; James & Ella's eldest daughter.



James died in 1899 at age 60 and was buried in India next to his uncle. His wife Ella continued to travel extensively through Europe and America with her daughters. In 1905 Charlotte, the youngest, married a member of the British Indian Civil Service. The plantation estate was sold in 1920. Ella settled in Paris, France with her two un-wed daughters. Later, her daughter Ella wrote a wistful poem in remembrance of bygone days, and the romantic life she led on a remote indigo plantation in India. Ella senior died in 1925 in Paris. The two girls later relocated to the US, settling finally in Boston, Mass.

Such was the life of James Lascelle Forbes, a one-time Union soldier who made his career in British Colonial India, and his wife Ella, the girl from Harrisburg who nursed him to health.