The History of the Twenty-ninth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in the Late War of the Rebellion

CHAPTER XXVII.

Chapter 2820,949 wordsPublic domain

MOVEMENT TO WELLS’S FARM--THE CAMP AT PEGRAM’S FARM--BUILDING OF WINTER QUARTERS--ORDERED BACK TO PETERSBURG--DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE MEN--THE REGIMENT OCCUPIES BATTERY NO. 11--FRIENDLY RELATIONS BETWEEN THE PICKETS--BATTLE OF FORT STEDMAN--THE REGIMENT MAKES A GALLANT FIGHT--THE PRISONERS SENT TO LIBBY--CLOSING SCENES BEFORE PETERSBURG--THE REGIMENT ENTERS THE CITY--DUTIES PERFORMED AFTER THE BATTLE--DEATH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN--ORDERED TO ALEXANDRIA, AND FROM THENCE TO GEORGETOWN--PROVOST GUARD--THE GRAND REVIEW--REGIMENT GOES TO TENALLYTOWN, MD.--SOLDIERS OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH MASSACHUSETTS ASSIGNED TO THE TWENTY-NINTH REGIMENT--ORDERED TO MASSACHUSETTS--PARADE IN NEW YORK--IN CAMP AT READVILLE, MASS.--THE LAST ORDER--DISCHARGED THE SERVICE--CLOSING REMARKS.

The last chapter left the regiment at Poplar Grove Church. Here it remained till the 27th of October, when, very early in the morning, the Brigade advanced in line of battle to and a little beyond Wells’s Farm, halted for the night, and the next morning fell back to Pegram’s Farm, between the Squirrel Level and Vaughan roads, the regiment covering the latter movement as skirmishers.

It was supposed that the corps was to pass the winter at this place, and the regimental commanders were ordered to prepare winter quarters for their men. No duty which the soldier is required to perform is so pleasant as that of erecting a house to live in. Such orders after a fatiguing campaign, promising both comfort and rest, are peculiarly welcome, and always cheerfully obeyed. In this, as in every other similar instance, the soldiers worked with great zeal, manifesting much ingenuity in the construction and arrangement of their houses. The rude idea of the negroes of building a chimney with sticks and clay, was adopted by the men, with some improvements of their own, while each hut was provided with comfortable bunks, spacious fire-places, and shelves for their guns and clothing.

This was the first time in nearly two years that the regiment had even seen the prospect of winter quarters, and was the first time in many months that it had been out of the range of the enemy’s sharpshooters and picket-firing. The camp was very unlike the ones it had occupied in front of Richmond, or in Tennessee, but was upon a dry, sandy knoll, well supplied with good water, and in full sight of Fort Sampson, a strong redoubt, named after the brave Captain Sampson of the Twenty-first Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, who fell there in the battle of September 20, with the colors of his regiment in his own hands, gallantly leading his men in a charge. Though the camp was very pleasantly located, yet winter was near at hand, the trees had already lost their foliage, and the cool autumn winds found their way through the cracks and crevices of the humble huts of the soldiers, often reminding them of the necessity of applying a little more of the “sacred soil” of Virginia, if they would be wholly comfortable. Thus quartered, it was natural that they should compare their present lot with that which fell to them the winter before in East Tennessee, where cold, hunger, nakedness, and danger were daily experienced for a dreary succession of weeks and months. But the soldier’s fondest dreams of comfort are often rudely dispelled, and so these anticipations of ease and quiet were never fully realized; the men were scarcely ensconced in their winter homes, before they were ordered to leave them. Any one who has heard a soldier grumble, and has noted some of his expressions, can understand what was said by the men about this change of location. Captain Taylor, who was of a positive temperament, rose to the sublimity of the occasion by swearing that “he would never lift another handful of dirt as long as he remained in the army”; while some of the soldiers declared that the officers were “a mean set,” and were bent on ruining the health and destroying the comfort of the men as a mere pastime.

As usual, all this rage was utterly impotent, and indulged in as a sacred privilege. It operated something like a cushion, however, lessening the severity of impact with a hard surface; to use less elegant language, it “let them down easily.” The lesson of implicit obedience to orders--not unquestioning, for volunteer soldiers were never without their mental reservations as to the propriety of every military movement--had already, and long since, been thoroughly learned. On the 29th of November, when the weather was quite cold and cheerless, the Ninth Corps was ordered to march. The men little dreamed that they were going back to the old blood-stained trenches in front of Petersburg, where they had borne the heat of the summer, and faced the shells of a hundred mortars and as many cannon. Here, however, they soon found themselves, and as they moved along over the battle-field of the 17th of June, and among the graves of their brothers who died for their country there, more than one eye was wet with the tears of manly sorrow. The regiment was ordered to do duty as the garrison of Battery No. 11, a small _ravelin_ covering about three-fourths of an acre, having embrasures for two guns, but no guns being mounted. About two hundred yards from this work was Battery No. 12, a large redoubt mounting four cohorns, garrisoned by a portion of the First Connecticut Heavy Artillery. On the right of Battery No. 11, one hundred and twenty-five yards distant, was Fort Stedman, held by the Fourteenth New York Heavy Artillery; and a little to the rear and left of Battery No. 11 was the Fifty-ninth Massachusetts Volunteers: while to the left of Battery No. 12, and between it and Fort Haskell, was the One Hundredth Pennsylvania Volunteers; and at the right of Fort Stedman, the Fifty-seventh Massachusetts Regiment.

The pickets of both armies were stationed in rifle-pits large enough to hold several men, midway between the respective lines, and these were approached by covered ways.

Though under fire much of the time, the men found opportunity to build quarters, and so far as protection from the cold was concerned, were quite comfortable during the winter. As in the winter of 1863, while the regiment was before Fredericksburg, the pickets of the two armies became friendly; but as these familiarities were strictly forbidden, they were never indulged in except at night.

The members of our regiment performed their full share of picket service, and, like all the rest of our troops, had frequent parleys with the Confederates. A member of the regiment has furnished the writer with a detailed statement of several of the interviews which took place on the picket line, from which it appears that this service was a source of more amusement than danger.

When everything was quiet, one of our men would call out, “Johnnies, have you got any tobacco?” “Yes Yanks; have you got any hard-tack?” was the common answer. “Meet you half-way,” says the Confederate. “All right; come on!” say our men. Then three or four men from each side would leave the pits, crawl out over the space between the two lines, shake hands, have an exchange of tobacco, hard-tack, and talk, crack jokes, and separate with the understanding, that, as soon as each party got back to the pits, they should commence firing, for the purpose of misleading their respective officers.

This state of things was finally discovered by the Confederate and Federal officers, and was terminated by strict orders forbidding the practice under severe penalties. But the practice, though not worthy to be encouraged, resulted in bringing about numerous desertions from the enemy’s camp.

The proclamation of General Grant, encouraging desertions among the Confederates, was, by means of these forbidden interviews, extensively circulated, and scarcely a night passed, during the months of January and February, which did not witness more or less of these desertions.

The Twenty-ninth had been very much reduced in numbers, having less than two hundred muskets; and yet, because of its long and conspicuous service, General Parke, commanding the corps, refused to consolidate it with some other larger Massachusetts regiment, and allowed it to retain a full list of field-officers, only one of whom, under the then existing rules of the War Department, could be mustered. Captain Willard D. Tripp, who had been commissioned as Lieutenant-Colonel, October 12, 1864, had been mustered out on the 13th of December, 1864, his term of service having expired. Captain Charles D. Browne was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, October 14, 1864; Captain Charles T. Richardson commissioned as Major, August 9, 1864, and mustered as such; and Captain Thomas William Clarke commissioned as Colonel, November 8, 1864. During the winter, Colonel Clarke was assigned to duty upon the staff of General Hartranft, commanding the division; Lieutenant-Colonel Browne made Inspector of the division; and Major Richardson had command of the regiment.

No event of particular significance occurred till the 25th of March, 1865. Long before daylight in the morning of this day, a large force of the enemy--afterwards learned to be the corps of General Gordon, supported by the division of General Bushrod Johnson--crossed the level plain between Fort Stedman and the Appomattox River, fully a quarter of a mile to the right of Battery No. 11, and the entire storming party effected a wide breach in the works, and moved directly upon Fort Stedman, entering the rear sally-port almost undiscovered. So complete was the surprise, that the fort was captured at once. Slight firing was heard from this direction by the garrison in Battery Eleven; whereupon Major Richardson caused the men to be aroused, but the firing was so slight, that when the regiment was ordered to “fall in,” the sentinel stationed on the top of the parapet called out that there was “no attack.” The men were not dismissed, however, and stood silently in line for some time, peering into the gray, frosty air of the morning, the Major taking a position on the top of the works, listening intently, and looking down into the ravine below, where he saw his trusty pickets standing quietly by their fires, apparently unaware of any disturbance on the main line. But the commanding officer soon became satisfied that there was an attack in the direction of Fort Stedman; the right curtain of Battery Eleven was re-enforced, and the bugler Pond having sounded the alarm, the garrison was wholly prepared to repel any attack. Up to this time, no general alarm had been sounded along the line, and no word from any source, indicating an attack, had been received by Major Richardson; much less that the line had been broken, or that any danger lurked in his rear. The regiment had remained in line of battle nearly thirty minutes, when suddenly the men in the right curtain commenced firing; they were ordered to cease, lest they should shoot our own pickets, who had begun to come in. The latter order had hardly been given, when some of our soldiers cried out, “The Johnnies are coming in at the rear sally-port!” This was the first positive information that the garrison had received of an attack; but the worst was revealed now,--the enemy had actually captured Fort Stedman, and though our pickets under Lieutenant Josselyn had not been disturbed, yet at least five hundred of Gordon’s and Johnson’s troops had suddenly appeared in our rear. These veteran soldiers of the Confederacy were destined, however, to meet with a stubborn resistance; a hand-to-hand encounter at once began; a Massachusetts battery stationed at the left joined in the desperate conflict, which, in the course of fifteen minutes, ended in the capture by our regiment of three hundred and fifty of the storming party, at least one hundred and fifty more than the whole number of the Twenty-ninth, and the temporary closing of the gap in this part of our lines.

During this encounter, the officers and men behaved with signal bravery. Captain Taylor was especially conspicuous, using a musket, and dealing powerful blows with its breech. Major Richardson, mingling with his men, was in the thickest of the fight, and received a terrible blow on the head from an enemy’s musket, sufficient to overcome an ordinary man; but he was not an ordinary man, and so far from quitting the fight, he kept on in the desperate struggle, cheering his men, and assuring them that the day was theirs.

The enemy now disappeared, the fort was cleared of the prisoners, and word sent to brigade headquarters of the state of affairs at the camp of the Twenty-ninth Regiment. General McLaughlin, commander of the Brigade, soon came up, with the Fifty-ninth Massachusetts Regiment as a re-enforcement, and was greatly surprised at the sight of so large a number of prisoners as he found standing in the rear of the fort. The General gave Major Gould, commanding the Fifty-ninth, imperative orders to assist the Twenty-ninth in holding the fort, and then, with his staff, rode over towards Fort Stedman; he had, probably, not been gone five minutes, before he and all his staff fell into the hands of the enemy. The best possible disposition was now made of what remained of the garrison (for it is true that some had been captured in the first assault and others had been killed and wounded) to resist the attack of the enemy, which he was now preparing to make, having collected his main assaulting column in a ravine in the rear of the battery. Major Gould was offered the command of the forces here, being the ranking officer, but declined; Major Richardson concluded to establish a strong picket line in the rear of the battery, and, with Captain Taylor, went personally to superintend the work. The enemy were already in sight, and firing soon began; on returning to the fort, to their great surprise these officers found the work nearly deserted, and saw in the dim light of the morning the command of Major Gould, and some of their own regiment, moving away down the ditch towards Fort Haskell, which was still held by our troops. During the brief absence of Major Richardson, Major Gould, who had discovered the approach of the enemy in his rear, gave orders to his men to “Leap the breastworks, and retreat between the rebel works and our own to Fort Haskell.”[55] No resistance was now possible; in a few moments the enemy swarmed into the battery, and Major Richardson, Captain Taylor, and a number of their faithful men were captured. This was a cruel fate for these brave soldiers, who had striven so zealously to beat back the enemy; and had their example been followed by others who held equally responsible positions, the little fort would probably have not been lost.

By this time the alarm had spread far and near, and though it was scarcely light, yet the entire corps was under arms and in motion.

The left column of the enemy, passing down the line to Battery No. 9, drove the Fifty-seventh Massachusetts from the works. It next encountered the Second Michigan, and though the regiment was surprised, and some confusion followed, yet it soon rallied, and held its ground against the most determined efforts of the enemy. Re-enforcements arriving at this point, the enemy were repulsed, and fell back towards Fort Stedman, in which their right column was now huddled, having been checked in its further movements by our troops on that part of the line.

The Twenty-ninth rallied about this time, near brigade headquarters, where a regiment of General Hartranft’s command arrived; and the two regiments at once charged and occupied a line of works about one hundred yards in the rear of Battery Eleven, thus completely stopping the opening in that part of the line.

At about seven o’clock, an advance was ordered upon the enemy, in all directions. Battery Eleven was soon retaken by our men, Conrad Homan, the color-bearer of the Twenty-ninth, being the first man who entered the works; and for his distinguished gallantry on this occasion, was promoted to be First Lieutenant, and received one of the medals of honor voted by Congress. The only works now held by the enemy were Fort Stedman and Battery No. 10, which, shortly after eight o’clock, General Hartranft’s division was ordered to attack. The Two Hundred and Eleventh Pennsylvania, though composed wholly of raw troops, was chosen to lead the assault. A finer display of bravery was never witnessed in the army, than that of these untrained soldiers. With great impetuosity, they rushed upon the fort in the face of a blaze of musketry, and in a few minutes were masters of the situation. At the same instant other troops of the division stormed Battery No. 10, and captured it.

The retreat of the enemy was now cut off by the fire from our other works, and one thousand nine hundred and forty-nine of their number, of whom seventy-one were officers, nine stands of colors, and a large number of small arms, fell into our hands. And thus ended this brilliant and well-conceived movement of the enemy. It was, to a great extent, a fair offset to the mine affair, but the disadvantages under which our troops labored could never have been overcome, except by hard fighting and good generalship, which characterized our movements from the beginning.

The events of this terrible battle were mostly sad and distressing; but the affair was not without its ludicrous features. A soldier of Company C,[56] who was captured in the early morning, made an involuntary exchange of hats with a Confederate officer. The soldier’s hat was nearly new, while that which he received from the officer was exceedingly shabby. The soldier broke away from the guard and ran into our lines, taking a gallant part in the charge just mentioned. While circulating among the captured enemy after the battle, he discovered the identical officer who had taken his hat from him. The soldier, in a very droll manner, approached the officer and said: “Well, Mister, if you please, I’ll take my hat now, and here’s yours back again, just as good, and no better, than when I took it about three hours ago.” The two again exchanged hats, and shaking hands “on it,” indulged in a hearty laugh.

The following-named soldiers of the regiment were killed in this action, which is known as the “Battle of Fort Stedman”: Company B, Edward J. O’Brien (he was terribly bayoneted in the breast and killed by one of the enemy, after he had been badly wounded, and was found in this mutilated condition after the battle); Company C, Sergeant C. Francis Harlow; Company E, First Lieutenant Nathaniel Burgess, Sergeant Orrin D. Holmes, William Klinker, and Ruter Moritz; Company F, Preserved Westgate; Company G, Nelson Cook, George E. Snow, and John Cronin.

Lieutenant Burgess of Plymouth had been promoted for his great bravery on the 17th of June. Orderly Sergeant Harlow was overpowered, and ordered to surrender; he replied with spirit that he would not, fired, and shot his antagonist; but another Confederate, standing near, seized his gun, and shot the courageous Harlow through the head. After the battle, the dead body of Harlow was found in the fort, lying upon that of a dead Confederate officer, from which fact it was inferred that Harlow shot the officer, and upon being himself killed, fell in the position in which he was found. One of the comrades, who witnessed this sad affair, states that the officer was one Captain Gordon, who led the assaulting party. The death of Burgess causes us to remark, inasmuch as he was the last officer in the regiment killed during its term of service, that the first and last officer in the regiment who fell in battle, were citizens of the historic old town of Plymouth.

NOTE.--The chief facts concerning this battle are somewhat in dispute; two or three distinct and conflicting accounts of it having been published. The version here given, so far as it relates to Battery Eleven, was furnished the writer by Major Chas. T. Richardson of Pawtucket, R. I.; the comments upon that officer, and Captain Taylor, being those of the author, based upon the statements of reliable persons.--AUTHOR.]

The real mettle of the officers and men of the regiment was fairly tested in this battle, and the result shows that they were among the bravest soldiers in the army. In the depressing adversities of the early morning, as well as in the success which followed later in the day, their courage was equally conspicuous. Stubborn and unflinching when the enemy burst upon them in greatly superior numbers, they were impetuous and daring while on the charge.

Captain Clarke, as Adjutant-General of the Brigade, led a large body of re-enforcements on the charge at six o’clock. Lieutenant-Colonel Browne, while carrying an order from the commander of the division, dashed on horseback directly through the lines of a Confederate regiment. Captain Pizer, Lieutenant Josselyn, Lieutenant McQuillan, and Lieutenant Scully, who were captured, all escaped, and fought with great gallantry in the latter part of the battle, and for their bravery were afterwards brevetted.

The captured of the regiment, who did not manage to escape, were carried to Petersburg, and confined in a small room till nine o’clock in the morning. They were then transferred to a large hall in the village, where they were all searched, and their overcoats taken from them. Towards noon they were marched from the hall, together with a number of other prisoners, to an open field on the outskirts of the town, and were kept there under guard till night, when they took the cars for Richmond. During the day it rained and snowed by turns, and the wind was cold and piercing, the poor soldiers, stripped of their overcoats, suffering intensely. No food was given them till about noon of the following day; and then nothing but a small quantity of bean soup, without any seasoning, brought to them in dirty iron kettles. The men were confined together in one room at the notorious Libby Prison; and, as further illustrating the barbarous nature of their treatment, it should be stated, that crowded into the same apartment, which was filthy in the extreme, alive with vermin, and poorly ventilated, were nearly two hundred other prisoners. The quantity and quality of the food dealt out to them was such as hardly to sustain life: the breakfast consisted of a small ration of smoked pork; for dinner they had bean soup; and at night a small loaf of bread, with water. All the food was of the most inferior quality; the meat especially, which frequently emitted a nauseating odor.

Happily, these men were not compelled to endure such privations for many days; but they were days of anxiety and suffering, as the author well knows from his own experience. The life of the wicked Rebellion was fast ebbing away; a few days before Lee’s surrender the men were released, and sent to the prison depot at Annapolis, Maryland, afterwards joining the regiment at Georgetown, District of Columbia.

After the repulse of the enemy on the 25th of March, and the recapture of our works, the regiment again occupied Battery No. 11, supported by the Fifty-seventh and Fifty-ninth Massachusetts regiments. The final movements of our army, which resulted in the surrender of General Lee, were close at hand. A state of feverish excitement prevailed among both armies in front of Petersburg. The enemy were disposed to be belligerent, and for nearly a week kept up a constant fire upon our lines.

On the 27th of March, General Sheridan began his grand movement on the left, and the whole army had orders to be ready to march at a moment’s notice.

On the 30th, General Parke, commanding the corps, was ordered to assault the enemy’s works in his front at four o’clock the next morning, but the order was subsequently countermanded by General Meade.

On the 1st of April, the order for an assault was renewed. At ten o’clock that night our artillery opened all along our line, and at the same time a heavy force of skirmishers was sent forward. General Griffin’s brigade captured the enemy’s picket line, opposite Forts Howard and Hayes, and a number of prisoners. During these movements our whole line was forming for the assault, which was made at about four o’clock in the morning of the 2d. The contest was a bloody one, but was very successful.

At the close of the day, during which the enemy made repeated attacks, General Parke was in possession of several hundred yards of the enemy’s lines, on each side of the Jerusalem Plank Road, including several formidable works. In the meantime a determined attack on the left had been made by the Sixth, Second, and parts of the Twenty-fifth corps, capturing a considerable number of prisoners.

During the battle on this part of the line, General A. P. Hill of the Confederate army was killed. He was one of the most distinguished officers of the long list of able and brilliant Southern Generals. The tragic account of his death, given by E. A. Pollard in his “Lost Cause,”[57] is probably incorrect, and is of the same sensational character as much else that this pseudo historian has written.

The night of the 2d of April was passed by the Ninth Corps on its advanced line with heavy skirmishing, continuing till near midnight. The regiment did not become seriously engaged during the 1st and 2d of April, though it took part in the demonstrations which were made in front of Port Stedman.

At four o’clock in the morning of the 3d of April, all our troops were put in motion, no opposition was encountered, the enemy having deserted their lines. The Brigade was among the first to pass the Confederate works; the Third Maryland Regiment having the honor of being the first to enter the city of Petersburg. The Twenty-ninth, with other troops, soon followed, but at once passed out on the Richmond Stage and Chesterfield roads, where it was placed on picket.

From this time till the 5th, the regiment had its headquarters at a place called Violet Bank, a fine old Virginia plantation, the house of which had been long occupied by General Lee. “There were two pianos in the house, and for two days one would have thought that some impresario had his troupe there, in rehearsal of all the known, and some unknown, operas.” The regiment recrossed the Appomattox on the 5th, and, with its brigade, “was deployed across the country, from the river to the Boydton Road,” with headquarters at Roger A. Pryor’s, “preparing to advance and cover the reconstruction of the railroad, and to guard that and the Cox Road, as the army advanced.”

In the afternoon of the 6th, the regiment marched to Sutherlands, remaining there till midnight, and then moving out on the Cox Road to Beazeley’s. By short marches, made at different times, it finally proceeded to Wilson’s Station, “about twenty miles from Sutherlands, and at the junction of the Grubby and Cox roads.”

While remaining here, the men received the sad news of the death of Abraham Lincoln. Every soldier felt that he had lost a dear friend in the lamented chief magistrate, whose heart always beat with joy at their successes in the field, and sorrowed with the truest sorrow over their reverses and misfortunes. Of all the many true men who stood at the helm of the nation during the stormy days of the war, Abraham Lincoln was pre-eminently the soldier’s friend; he always frowned upon the harsh punishments inflicted by military law, and by his sympathy for the erring, saved from death many who had been thus doomed by the inexorable decrees of courts-martial.

On the 21st of April, the Ninth Corps was ordered to Washington, and the men bid good-by forever to these scenes of their strifes and sufferings. The regiment reached Alexandria on the 28th, and on the next day was ordered to Georgetown, where it was detached from the division and made provost guard at this place, and furnished all the details for General Willcox’s district headquarters.

On the 23d of May occurred the grand review in Washington. The Twenty-ninth was not permitted to participate in this triumphal march of our noble army, but as provost guard, was assigned to the duty, on this memorable day, of keeping the streets of Georgetown clear of obstructions, and of guarding the various “approaches to the route of the procession.” Several of the officers of the regiment, however, who were on staff duty, were in the column, and Colonel Clarke was intrusted with the formation of the First Division line, a duty that he performed with great ability and credit to himself and the State.

On the 7th of June, Colonel Clarke was relieved from duty as Assistant Adjutant-General of the division, and assumed the command of the regiment.

On the 9th, a large portion of the Thirty-fifth Massachusetts Regiment was transferred to the Twenty-ninth. These men were mostly Germans and Belgians, whose term of service did not expire before October 1, 1865. They were asked by their commanding general to which regiment they desired to be transferred. Much attached to their officers, they replied, that “they preferred to go where their officers could go with them.” By an arrangement made with the War Department, eleven officers were transferred with these men, and it speaks well for the regiment that these officers chose to be transferred to the Twenty-ninth. Both officers and men were superior soldiers, and the commanding officer of the Twenty-ninth, in his last report to the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts, speaks of them in terms of high praise.

On this day, the regiment marched to Tenallytown, Md., remaining here till the 29th of July. The formalities of mustering the regiment out of the service were completed on the 29th of July, and on the same day it started for Massachusetts.

Upon its arrival in New York, it became the guest of the New England Association, as also did the Fifty-seventh Massachusetts Regiment, which left Washington at the same time. The Association asked the regiments to parade in the city. The request was granted, and Brevet Brigadier-General McLaughlin (Colonel of the Fifty-seventh) assuming command, marched the troops through Broadway, from the Battery to Union Square, and from the Square again to the Battery. The veterans were greeted with cheers everywhere on the line of their march, and at the close were met by General Burnside, who addressed them in a cordial manner.

At the conclusion of the parade, the Association invited the soldiers to partake of a dinner, at which were present, Major-General Joseph Hooker, the patriotic Colonel Howe, President of the Association, and the Rev. M. H. Smith (Burleigh). It has been said that this was the last parade of Union troops in New York City.

Taking the cars on the Connecticut Shore road, the regiment reached Massachusetts the next morning; but not having been paid or discharged the service, still further delay became necessary, and it was for this purpose ordered into camp at Readville.

It was wholly natural for soldiers who had been so long in the service as had the members of the Twenty-ninth, and were now, at the close of their protracted term, almost within sight and sound of their homes, to feel a disagreeable sense of restraint at being thus detained. They found some fault with this state of things, which they characterized as “the last crop of red tape”; but their soldierly instincts and self-respect kept them from the commission of any act which they or their friends will ever have occasion to regret. Their conduct was so exemplary under these perplexing circumstances, and this event in their career in every sense so historical, that their commanding officer was moved to address them upon the subject. This address was termed, “General Orders. No. 12,” and was the last order issued to the regiment from any source, or by any officer. As it is a well-written paper, alike touching and soldierly in its tone, and altogether a pleasing feature of the record of the regiment, we here give space for it:--

“GENERAL ORDERS, NO. 12.

“HEADQUARTERS TWENTY-NINTH MASSACHUSETTS VETERAN VOLUNTEERS,} “READVILLE, MASS., August 3, 1865. }

“You hold the musket for the last time. From May, 1861, to August, 1865, we are a part of the history of the Republic. The very number of the regiment was prophetic; for twenty-nine battles will be inscribed on the flag which we carry.

“To be soldiers who have never lost a color, have never left the field without orders, have always cheerfully performed the requirements of the service, is indeed a cause for pride. But of one thing we should be prouder yet! Few regiments have had so few desertions, so few dishonorable discharges, so little punishment, of all who have served the Republic in the last four years.

“During the past three days, your conduct has been deserving of all praise. In receiving their welcome home, no men could have proved themselves more worthy of the honors paid them. Trying as the delay has been, anxious as you all were to return to the Commonwealth, no single thing was done unbecoming the good soldier.

“Around you cluster the memories of the two great armies of the Republic: that which fought four long years for Richmond, and that which opened the Mississippi to the commerce of the Northwest.

“You hold in your hands the last muskets of the army of the Potomac,--the last muskets of the army of Sherman. Remember, then, the brilliant record which is yours; and remember hereafter not to tarnish it.”[58]

In concluding this narrative, which the writer fears has already been extended beyond the point which, in the estimation of a purely disinterested person, might be regarded as its proper limit, it seems essential to allude briefly, in review, to certain prominent and remarkable features of the record given in the foregoing pages. The seven companies of Captains Clarke, Wilson, Leach, Chipman, Doten, Chamberlain, and Barnes, were among the first in the country to enter the service for three years; while the regiment was among the last of all the volunteer forces to disband: serving, including the term of these original companies, a period of four years, two months, and twenty days, which is rather more than the whole period of the active hostilities of the war. During this time it served under thirty-one general officers, of more or less distinction, in three army corps, namely, the Second, Fifth, and Ninth; did duty in the States of Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee, and in the District of Columbia: while it carried its flags into fifteen States of the Union, travelling, in the course of fourteen months, a distance of four thousand two hundred and seventy-seven miles. Two of the companies participated in the first pitched battle of the Rebellion; and the regiment was engaged in one of the last battles of the war, which took place just seven days before the surrender of General Lee and his army. The regiment was, therefore, practically, present at the birth--it was also present at the death and funeral--of the Rebellion. It took part in the four great sieges of the war, namely, Richmond, 1862; Vicksburg, 1863; Knoxville, 1863; and Petersburg, 1864-5; was engaged in twenty-nine pitched battles, beside a large number of skirmishes, picket fights, and artillery duels. It is chiefly in connection with the battle record of the Twenty-ninth, that its surviving members have the greatest cause for feelings of profound gratitude; the comparatively small losses sustained by it in all these numerous encounters with the enemy forming, perhaps, the most remarkable feature of its entire career as a regiment. And what seems most singular, is the fact that this good fortune attended the regiment, with two or three exceptions, from the beginning to the close of its term. The time of its arrival at Gaines’ Mill, though it did not operate to prevent it from performing valuable service,--a service that aided in rescuing from destruction Porter’s troops,--alone saved it from the slaughter that covered that sanguinary field with several thousand wounded and dead.

At Antietam it chanced to be placed in a favorable position, while two other regiments of the same brigade, on its right and left, were nearly annihilated; at Fredericksburg it secured exemption from dreadful loss by a timely transfer to another corps of the army, made in the ordinary course of military changes, without the efforts of its officers, or the knowledge on the part of any one as to what results would follow.

Even a cursory glance at the records of some of our Massachusetts regiments which lost heavily in the war, will show that their losses were mainly the fruits of unfortunate positions, and, in some instances, that the major part of all their losses were sustained in a single battle, as was the case of several at Ball’s Bluffs, Antietam, and Gettysburg. While we have shown that this exemption of the regiment from heavy battle casualties was in the main the result of accident, yet, from the nature of things, it cannot be wholly so.

The death-lists of many new regiments were often largely increased by the mere inexperience of the troops, and the insane idea sometimes possessed by their officers, that recklessness and wanton exposure were evidence of valor.

The Twenty-ninth was long in the field; its soldiers, for the last three years of their term, were in every sense veterans, having learned, by actual experience, the many little arts and devices always employed by old soldiers to protect themselves while in perilous positions,--a knowledge that the Confederate officers imparted to their soldiers early in the war, and resulted in the saving of life, and the winning of more than one important victory over our armies. The romantic notion which for awhile possessed the soldiers, that it was unmilitary and unsoldierly to make any effort to be comfortable, or to shield themselves from the death-dealing minie, or the howling cannon-ball, soon gave place to more sensible ideas; and long before the close of the war, a rock, a fence, a log, a tree, or even a stump or bush, were often used with great effect for defensive purposes, and saved more than one soldier his life; while his cover, slight as it was, enabled him to fire with greater precision and coolness.

Notwithstanding the remarkable escape of the regiment in many battles, yet its list of the dead, as the reader will perceive, is by no means insignificant; and though but a small part, it yet constitutes a precious part, of the terrible price of human life which the Republic paid for its final victory over treason and rebellion.

A regiment of soldiers is in some respects like a family, having its own quarrels and jealousies, which family pride usually keeps hidden from the knowledge of the world, and which family sufferings and common interests finally cause, in a large measure, to be buried and forgotten.

To his comrades, the author, in closing, would say, let us all, as members of the same regiment, forever forget the petty bickerings and jealousies of the war, if they are not already forgotten; forgive with a generous spirit all who wronged us,--even those who fought against us in the field,--and turn our eyes upon the pleasant spectacle of a Republic and a nation rescued from anarchy and ruin, in part by our own efforts; and, finally, let us hope, that the record of our deeds as volunteer soldiers, saved, it may be, from forgetfulness by this printed volume,--humble as the deeds which it chronicles,--may in the years to come serve, as has that of our fathers of the Revolution, to keep bright and warm the fires of patriotism, and nourish a love for the nation’s flag, and the principles it symbolizes, that neither suffering nor danger can quench.

THE ROSTER OF THE REGIMENT.

NOTE.

There are some facts about the rolls of the regiment that demand explanation. The published rolls of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts give the Twenty-ninth a total membership of eighteen hundred and twenty commissioned officers and enlisted men. Of this number, fourteen commissioned officers[59] and three hundred and thirty-four enlisted men were transferred to it from the Thirty-fifth Massachusetts, June 9, 1865. A large proportion of these enlisted men are placed upon the rolls of the Twenty-ninth, without remark or note indicating that they were transferred, and appear upon our rolls as recruits for 1864. As they joined our regiment after the close of the war, and have their record with the Thirty-fifth for all except about a month of their entire service in the army, there seems to be no reason for publishing their names in this volume. The Twenty-ninth is charged with the desertion of some of these men, while in point of fact it derived no benefit from their service.

Besides these men, and those who are placed upon the following company rolls, there are found, as recruits for 1864, the names of about ninety men on the published rolls of the Twenty-ninth. After a careful consideration of all the facts, I have concluded to print the names of seventy of these soldiers, though it is very doubtful whether all of them actually served with the regiment. I print them in a roll by themselves, for the reason that it does not appear with certainty with what companies of the regiment they were connected. Five of these men are reported to have died in the service, and I have placed their names at the end of the roll of our dead.

The names of the following soldiers of the regiment do not appear at all upon the Adjutant-General’s rolls: Thomas Burt, Edwin H. Hosmer, Charles Kleinhans, Edward L. Pettis, of Company E; Leander Clapp, Henry W. Pettee, of Company F; John Usherwood, Charles Young, George S. Welsch, of Company H; Ira A. Clark of Company I; and Martin Bird, Joseph A. Brown, David Dockerty, and William H. Moore, of Company K. The name of Moore does not appear upon any of the rolls of the regiment which I have been able to find.

The reader will observe that I have noted upon the following rolls the death and wounding of certain soldiers. This has been done because their names were omitted from the list of casualties given in the narrative portion of the work.

The published rolls of the regiment give a list of forty-nine “Unassigned Recruits.” There could not have been any unassigned men who actually joined the regiment for duty, and the publication of this list only shows the unsatisfactory condition of the records of both the War Department and of our own State. With the help of kind comrades in each company, I have closely examined this list, and taken from it all identified names, and placed them with the companies to which they belonged; and it may interest the comrades to know that, but for this examination, some of the best soldiers in the regiment would have suffered the mortification of seeing their names printed in a list of “unassigned recruits.” After all the labor bestowed upon this matter, there are still several soldiers in the list referred to whom we have not been able to identify, and the conclusion is they were never members of the regiment.--AUTHOR.

THE ROSTER OF THE REGIMENT.

FIELD AND STAFF

AT DATE OF ORGANIZATION OF REGIMENT, DECEMBER 13, 1861.

EBENEZER W. PIERCE, Colonel. JOSEPH H. BARNES, Lieutenant-Colonel. CHARLES CHIPMAN, Major. ORLANDO BROWN,[60] Surgeon. GEORGE B. COGSWELL,[61] Assistant Surgeon. HENRY E. HEMPSTEAD,[62] Chaplain. First Lieut. JOHN B. COLLINGWOOD, Adjutant. First Lieut. JOSHUA NORTON, 3d, Quartermaster.

NON-COMMISSIONED STAFF.

HENRY S. BRADEN, Sergeant-Major. WILLIAM W. DAVIS, Quartermaster Sergeant. JOHN B. PIZER, Commissary Sergeant. JOHN HARDY, Hospital Steward.

MEMBERS OF STAFF

APPOINTED SUBSEQUENT TO DATE OF ORGANIZATION OF THE REGIMENT TO FILL VACANCIES, WHOSE NAMES DO NOT ELSEWHERE APPEAR UPON THE ROLLS.

GEORGE KING,[63] Surgeon. ROBERT E. JAMESON,[64] Assistant Surgeon. ALBERT WOOD,[65] Assistant Surgeon. JAMES C. BASSETT,[66] Assistant Surgeon. GUSTAVUS P. PRATT,[67] Assistant Surgeon. EDGAR L. CARR,[68] Assistant Surgeon.

NOTE.--Promotions from Companies to the Field and Staff will be found on the Company rolls.--AUTHOR.

ROLL OF COMPANY A.

The following soldiers originally composed this Company, enlisted April 20, 1861, and were mustered into the United States service, May 21, 1861:--

Thomas Wm. Clarke,[69] Captain. Joshua Norton, 3d,[70] 1st Lieut. John E. White,[71] 2d Lieut. William W. Pray,[72] 1st Sergt. William W. Davis,[73] Sergeant. Albert H. De Costa, “ Albert N. Morin, “ Lysander A. Howard, “ Solomon B. Smith,[74] Corporal. William T. Hamer,[75] “ Thomas Bacon,[74] “ William Coots, “ Henry Alexander, “ Charles T. Lovell, “ Charles H. Thayer, “ Horace Damrell, “ Hiram B. Butler, Musician. James McGovern, “ Charles N. Drake, Wagoner. Myron E. Alger, Private. Cornelius Ahern, “ Alexander Bassett, “ Henry Blackstone, “ Alexander T. Barri, “ Edward C. Blossom, “ Sylvester F. Blake, “ Tom Brooks,[74] “ Oscar H. Bassett,[74] “ Charles Bassett,[76] “ Albert Butler, “ Michael A. Brady,[76] “ David Bly, “ James Brent, “ Malachi Coullahan, “ Joseph J. Crosby, “ Lawrence T. Chickey, “ Henry Carson, “ John Cunningham,[76] “ Hiram Cole, “ Thomas W. Cashman,[74] “ Henry G. Chase, “ Jeremiah J. Crowley, “ Barton De Costa, “ Charles Dwinell, “ Daniel A. Dailey, “ Timothy D. Donovan,[76] “ Michael Edmands, “ Matthew T. Fitzpatrick, “ Albert E. Frost, “ Thomas Foley, “ Levi B. Gaylord,[73] “ Edward L. Gunnison, “ James Golden, “ Charles D. Hodge, “ John Hollihan, “ Conrad Homan,[72] “ John Hardy,[77] “ Frank M. Hobart, “ William M. Hobart, “ Thomas Hawes,[76] “ Joseph E. Holbrook, “ William Henry,[76] “ Richard Harney,[75] “ Alanson K. Joslyn, “ Henry C. Joslyn,[78] “ Holden Johnson,[79] “ Edward Kelley, “ Joseph Leeds,[84] “ James Lyman,[80] “ Charles P. Locke, “ Joseph McAlery, “ James McGlinchy, “ John McCarthy, “ John W. McCarthy,[81] “ Patrick Muldoon,[81] “ Jeremiah Mahoney,[80] “ Martin C. Mullen, “ John W. Morse, “ Edward O’Donnell, “ Edward B. O’Donnell, “ Daniel Owens, “ Dennis O’Connor, “ Chandler H. Pond,[82] “ Edward L. Pickard, “ Isaac H. Perry, “ Henry P. Pitcher, “ Byron Rice, “ Sandford M. Richardson, “ Charles Ross, “ George F. Simpson, “ John Sullivan, “ Charles H. Shaw, “ John M. Sweeny, “ John Scully, “ David P. Scully,[83] “ Frederick C. Shaw,[81] “ George G. Towne, “ George Thomas,[80] “ Charles Vaughan, “ Levi S. York,[80] “ George H. Wise, “

JOINED IN 1861 (July 31).

George H. Taylor,[78] 2d Lieut.

JOINED IN 1862.

Joseph J. Farrell,[79] Private. Philip Sullivan, “ T. D. Sullivan, “

JOINED IN 1863.

James L. West, Private.

JOINED IN 1864.

Morris Connor, Private. Robert Grace, “

ROLL OF COMPANY B.

The following soldiers originally composed this Company, enlisted April 18, 1861, and were mustered into the United States service, May 14, 1861:--

Jonas K. Tyler,[85] Captain. Samuel A. Bent,[85] 1st Lieut. Thomas H. Adams, 2d,[86] 2d Lieut. Walter Frost,[87] 1st Sergt. Emery Hodgkins, Sergeant. James Freel, “ Benjamin B. Brown,[88] “ Joseph L. Mitchell,[89] Corporal. Warren Goodwin,[90] “ Charles F. Bowen, “ William Gray, “ William H. Baker, Musician. John D. Atkinson, Private. Ira D. Bryant, “ George Barnes, “ Stephen H. Caverly, “ John Clark, “ Harrison C. Campbell, “ Thomas Cruse, “ Michael Dorgan, “ John Donnelly,[91] “ Stephen H. Egan, “ Patrick F. Feeney, “ Richard R. Furbush, “ Thomas Finnerty, “ Lyford J. Gilman, “ William Graham, “ William H. Goss, “ John Gordon,[91] “ Samuel Grant, “ John Gallagher, “ John Hancock, “ Lawrence Hayes, “ Frank Hall, “ Thomas Hayes, “ Dennis Hanley, “ James B. Johnson, “ Thomas Kelley, “ Delevan Kimball, “ John J. Lynch, “ John Lucas,[90] “ Mathias Leonard,[92] “ Henry Lynch, “ George Mahann, “ William H. Mosher,[89] “ Martin Minton, “ Patrick Moran, “ Charles McNulty, “ William H. Murphy, “ Theobald M. O’Brien,[89] “ Thomas S. O’Brien, “ Thomas O’Dell, “ John Riley, “ John D. Ratchford, “ John G. St. Clair, “ John H. Hodder, “ Charles F. Hearns, “ Patrick Thompson, “ John M. Thompson, “ Otis S. Whiting, “ George S. Whiting, “

JOINED IN JULY, 1861.

Israel N. Wilson, Captain. Ezra Ripley, 1st Lieut. John B. Anderson, Private. George B. Andrews,[91] “ Thomas Brady,[93] Private. William C. Babcock,[94] “ James Brogan, “ William Baker, “ Henry W. Brigham, “ W. F. Britten, “ Oscar F. Carleton,[93] “ James Cable,[95] “ William Carlin, “ Edward T. Collier, “ Thomas Conway, “ Horace A. Dean, “ William D. Emerson, “ Timothy Fenton, “ George H. Gammons, “ C. E. Getchell, “ Allen Hingston,[96] “ Thomas Harris, “ James Hill, “ George Hale, “ Dan E. Higgins,[93] “ William Havilin, “ Albert N. Johnson, “ Robert Little, “ Anthony La Rochelle, “ Timothy J. Mahony, “ Bernard Molino, “ James S. Messer, “ Henry E. Magee, “ Edward J. O’Brien,[93] “ Francis D. O’Riley, “ Aaron L. Pearsons,[94] “ Philip Sullivan, “ John B. Smithers,[94] “ Henry H. Savage, “ Henry Tufts,[96] “ William Williams, “

JOINED LATER IN 1861.

George O. Bent,[94] Private. John Bellam, “ William S. Collins,[93] “ James Campbell, “ Ezra A. Chase,[96] “ August Dickman,[93] “ Stephen E. Flood, “ John B. Gravlin,[93] “ George F. Gorham, “ John Gorham, “ Foster Ham, “ John Holton, “ Joseph Kelly, “ Ward Locke, “ Thomas Manning, “ Herman Marshall, “ John J. O’Brien, “ James Read, “ James W. Shepard, “ William E. Short, “ John C. Stewart, “

JOINED IN 1862.

George W. Fairbanks, Private. John J. Ryan, “

ROLL OF COMPANY C.

The following soldiers originally composed this Company, enlisted April 20, 1861, and were mustered into the United States service, May 22, 1861:--

Lebbeus Leach, Captain. Nathan D. Whitman, 1st Lieut. Elisha S. Holbrook,[97] 2d Lieut. Silas N. Grosvenor, 1st Sergt. Thomas Conant, Jr.,[98] Sergeant. George H. Morse,[99] “ Joshua E. Hayward, “ Francis M. Kingman,[100] Corporal. Alfred B. Cummings,[101] “ Levi Wright, “ Lawrence V. Poole, “ Abner H. Holmes, Muician. Walter M. Holmes, “ George W. Allen,[102] Private. Thomas Arnold, “ James A. Bates, “ Isaac N. Bourne, “ Asa W. Bates, “ George D. Brown, “ Irving Bates,[102] “ Minot S. Curtis,[101] “ John Conant,[102] “ Edward F. Drohan, “ Charles Drake, “ Benjamin F. Edson, “ Curtis Eddy, “ George W. Fisher, “ Henry M. Folsom, “ Robert C. Fellows,[102] “ Henry K. Gould,[102] “ Caleb L. Hudson, Jr., “ Preston Hooper,[102] “ James W. Harding, “ Charles H. Hayden,[103] “ Damon Hoyt, “ John A. Holmes, “ C. Francis Harlow,[104] “ John S. Howard, “ Emery Jaquith, “ James G. Johnson, “ Charles E. Jordan,[102] “ William H. Johnson, “ William F. Keith, “ David H. Lincoln, “ Eugene A. Lincoln, “ James H. Leonard, “ Neil McMillan,[101] “ William H. Morse, “ Henry A. Osborne, “ Edward S. Osborne, “ William H. Osborne, “ Ebenezer H. Pratt, “ Edward P. Packard,[105] “ Horace A. Ripley,[101] “ Wallace R. Ripley, “ Joshua S. Ramsdell, “ William F. Rounds, “ William W. Smith, “ William B. Smith, “ John T. Sturtevant, “ Ira C. Shaw,[105] “ James W. Siddall, “ Benjamin Siddall, “ Elijah H. Tolman,[106] “ Charles H. Turner,[106] “ Daniel W. Tribou,[106] “ Freedom Whitman,[106] “ Asa W. Whitman, “ Charles C. Whitman, “ Nehemiah White, “ Thatcher P. Wright, “ Edward Williams, “ James E. White, “

JOINED IN SEPTEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1861.

William B. Hathaway, 2d Lieut. Algernon S. Brett,[107] Private. David Blakeman, “ Marshall M. Chandler, “ Thomas G. Clark, “ James W. Cooper,[106] “ Elbridge R. Curtis, “ George R. Dyer,[108] “ Isaac W. Drinkwater, “ Timothy W. Fisher, “ Charles W. Flagg, “ Granville H. Gould,[109] “ Daniel W. Harding, “ John C. Lambert, “ Harvey Lucas, “ Edward P. Mansfield, “ John M. Nason, “ Alpheus Packard, “ Edmund T. Packard,[107] “ John G. Sampson, “ Alonzo Sharp, “ Hugh Stran, “ Sylvanus Thomas, “ Vernon M. Thompson, “ James L. Washburn, “ Herbert O. White, “ Cyrus L. Williams, “

JOINED IN 1862.

Henry T. Manchester,[107] Private. Isaac H. Bates, “ Rodney Churchill, “ Amos L. Dorr, “ Theodore C. Rodman, “ Patrick Frawley, 2d, “ William J. Stanley, “

ROLL OF COMPANY D.

The following soldiers originally composed this Company, enlisted April 20, 1861, and were mustered into the United States service, May 22, 1861:--

Charles Chipman,[110] Captain. Charles Brady,[111] 1st Lieut. Henry A. Kern,[112] 2d Lieut. William Stuart, 1st Sergt. James H. Atherton,[113] Sergeant. William H. Woodward, “ Edward Brady, “ David B. Coleman, Corporal. George F. Bruce,[114] “ Benjamin H. Hamlin,[115] “ William Breese, “ George E. Crocker,[116] Musician. Christopher B. Dalton, “ George W. Badger, Private. Gustavus A. Badger, “ James Ball, “ John T. Collins,[117] “ James Cox,[118] “ James Cook, “ Patrick Clancy, “ Thomas W. Chapman, “ Alfred Cheval, “ John Campbell, “ Thomas F. Darby,[119] “ Timothy G. Dean, “ Warren P. Dean, “ Edward Donnelly,[118] “ Joseph W. Eaton, “ Perez Eldridge, “ John Fagan, “ Benjamin Fuller, “ John H. Gray, “ James M. Getchell, “ James Guiney, “ John Gordon, “ Samuel W. Hunt, “ Alden P. Hathaway, “ Charles Harkins, “ Michael Heslin, “ James H. Heald, “ David A. Hoxie,[115] “ Charles H. Hoxie, “ Zenas H. Hoxie, “ Samuel N. Haskins, “ Charles E. Jones, “ William D. James, “ David S. Keen, “ Martin L. Kern, Jr.,[118] “ Patrick Long, “ Peter McNulty, “ John McAlaney, “ William McDermont, “ Michael McKenna,[118] “ Patrick McElroy, “ Isaac H. Phinney, “ Peter Russell, “ Caleb T. Robbins, “ Philip Russell, “ William J. Smith,[120] “ Francis C. Swift, “ Martin S. Tinkham, “ Joseph Turner, “ Charles G. Wright, “ Anderson Wright, “ John Weeks, “ John Woods, “ Francis Woods, “ William H. Woods, “ James H. Woods, “ James Ward, “

JOINED IN JANUARY, 1862.

Augustus D. Ayling,[121] 2d Lieut. Frank G. Bumpus, Private. Nathaniel F. Ford, “ Andrew Gaffney, “ James G. B. Haines, “ Joseph J. C. Madigan,[121] “ Edmund L. Pray, “

ROLL OF COMPANY E.

The following soldiers originally composed this Company, enlisted May 6, 1861, and were mustered into the United States service, May 22, 1861:--

Samuel H. Doten,[122] Captain. John B. Collingwood,[123] 1st Lieut. Thomas A. Mayo,[124] 2d Lieut. Edward L. Robbins, 1st Sergt. Horace A. Jenks,[125] Sergeant. John M. Atwood, “ George S. Morey, “ Peter Winsor,[125] Corporal. Benjamin F. Bumpus, “ Ichabod C. Fuller,[126] “ Samuel D. Thrasher, “ Charles Atwood, Private. Columbus Adams, “ John K. Alexander,[127] “ Winslow C. Barnes, “ Antonio Beytes, “ Nathaniel Burgess,[128] “ Moses S. Barnes,[127] “ Simeon H. Barrows, “ Ellis D. Barnes, “ George E. Burbank, “ George F. Bradford, “ Andrew Blanchard, “ Charles C. Barnes, “ Lawrence R. Blake, “ Cornelius Bradford, “ Sylvanus L. Churchill, “ Thomas Collingwood,[127] “ Barnabas Dunham, “ Henry F. Eddy, “ Philander Freeman, “ William P. Goodwin,[127] “ Timothy E. Gay, “ Thomas W. Hayden,[127] “ James S. Holbrook,[126] “ Orrin D. Holmes,[126] “ Seth L. Holmes, “ Samuel H. Harlow,[127] “ William H. Howland, “ John F. Hall,[127] “ Alexander Haskins, “ Henry W. Kimball,[126] “ Thomas P. Mullen, “ Charles E. Merriam, “ William R. Middleton, “ Lemuel B. Morton,[127] “ William Morey, “ Isaac Morton, Jr., “ John E. Morrison, “ John A. Morse, “ William T. Nickerson, “ George F. Pierce, “ Seth W. Paty,[127] “ William H. Pittee, “ John H. Pember, “ Otis W. Phinney, “ Henry H. Robbins, “ Albert R. Robbins, “ Winslow B. Standish,[127] “ Albert Simmons, “ Frank H. Simmons, “ Miles Standish, “ William Swift, “ John Shannon,[125] “ Patrick Smith, “ James E. Stillman, “ Walter Thompson, “ Frank A. Thomas, “ Francis H. Vaughan, “ Leander M. Vaughan, “ George E. Wadsworth,[129] “ Alfred B. Warner,[130] “ John Washburn, “ David Williams, “ Joseph B. Whiting, “ Samuel C. Wright,[129] “ William Williams, “

JOINED IN 1862.

Benjamin F. Bates, Private. Thomas Burt, “ Patrick Cain, “ Elisha S. Doten, “ Edwin R. Eaton, “ Charles A. Faunce, “ Edwin H. Hosmer, “ Justus W. Harlow, “ Charles Kleinhans, “ George H. Partridge, “ George S. Peckham,[130] “ James L. Pettis, “ Charles E. Tillson, “ Albert C. Wilson, “

ROLL OF COMPANY F.

The following soldiers originally composed this Company, enlisted in the autumn of 1861, and were mustered into the United States service, December 30, 1861:--

Willard D. Tripp,[131] Captain. John A. Sayles, 1st Lieut. Thomas H. Husband,[132] 2d Lieut. Joseph O’Neil,[132] 1st Sergt. Robert Clifford, Sergeant. Charles S. Packard, “ Bela H. King,[132] “ George D. Williams,[133] “ George W. Child, Corporal. George E. Westgate, “ Lyman N. Caswell,[134] “ Arthur Clifford, “ John N. Perry, “ Stephen Hodgkins, “ Baylies R. Chase, “ William H. Phillips,[135] “ Ira Bryant, Musician. James Booth, “ George A. Alexander, Private. James Black, “ Edward Belcher, “ Darius Bonny,[136] “ Philip H. Borden, “ Charles G. Bosworth,[132] “ Alexander Brickell, “ David P. Brooks, “ Kendall Brooks, “ George W. Brown,[137] “ George W. Burns, “ Joseph Boyden,[138] “ Leander W. Caswell, “ Linus E. Caswell,[134] “ Leander Clapp, “ Hugh D. Conaty, “ Joseph Davis, “ Benjamin F. Dean, “ Charles Dolan, “ James Dugan, “ Philip Dennehy,[139] “ Charles Dunn, “ Thomas Dixon, “ Alonzo Garvin, “ Michael Geary, “ Benjamin T. Godfrey, “ John Goodwin,[137] “ Peter Harrington, “ John Harvey,[140] “ Ephraim Haskell, “ Martin V. Haskell,[137] “ William Haskell, “ Timothy Hayes,[141] “ Albert D. Hunt, “ Otis S. Hewatt, “ Martin F. Jefferson, “ John Kelly, “ John Kearvin, “ Martin Lackore, “ William Lang, “ Charles Logue, “ John McCarty, “ Owen McMannus, “ James McQuillan,[142] “ Thomas Murphy,[143] “ Timothy O’Sullivan, “ George Pierce, “ Lewis R. Pierce, “ James Pittsley, “ William Pittsley, “ Edward Ratigan, “ Granville T. Records, “ Culbert Reynolds, “ Charles E. Robertson,[144] “ Mason Rogers, “ Thomas Rooney, “ Joseph Short, “ James S. Sherman, “ Francis H. Simmons, “ James Simmons, “ James W. Smith, “ Preston O. Smith, “ Solomon H. Smith, “ Charles Stone, “ Benjamin F. Stowell, “ John Sullivan, “ Edward W. Tarbox, “ Leander Tripp, “ Silas Townsend, “ George Townsend,[145] “ William H. Tyndal,[146] “ George W. Welch,[144] “ Cornelius Westgate, “ Elisha Westgate, “ Elisha B. Westgate, “ John Westgate, “ Joseph L. Westgate, “ Preserved Westgate, “ Oliver A. White, “ Edward Wilbur, “ John Wragg, “

JOINED IN 1862.

John Booth, Private. William H. Burns,[147] “ Joseph Hamer, “ Abraham Haskell, “ Henry L. Hill, “ Michael Mahoney, “ Albert R. Pittsley, “ Henry W. Pettee, “ Edward H. Pierce, “ John B. Pizer,[142] “ Joseph Westgate, “

JOINED IN 1863.

David Cohn, Private.

JOINED IN 1864.

James Liffin, Private.

ROLL OF COMPANY G.

The following soldiers originally composed this Company, enlisted in the autumn of 1861, and were mustered into the United States service, December 31, 1861:--

Charles T. Richardson,[148] Captain. Freeman A. Taber, 1st Lieut. Charles D. Browne,[149] 2d Lieut. George W. Pope,[150] 1st Sergt. Charles A. Carpenter,[151] Sergeant. A. Baylies Richmond, “ Robert L. Watts, “ James C. Allen, “ Lemuel Capen, Corporal. George D. Hodges, “ Joseph Bunker, “ Ephraim E. Follett,[152] “ Charles D. Hodge, “ Ebenezer Fisk,[153] “ Edward W. Greene, “ Robert E. Harris, “ Samuel A. Wilkinson, Musician. John F. W. Clark, “ James H. Ladd, Wagoner. Henry Austin, Private. Daniel B. Blaisdell, “ Joseph Baker, “ Robert Burns, “ George W. Burnham, “ William Brophy, “ John Bartlett, “ William A. Burrill, “ Joseph Bosell, “ Nelson Cook, “ Charles N. Cotton, “ Hiram F. Chace, “ Edward Carney, “ Henry Campbell,[153] “ James F. Clark, “ Lafayette W. Carpenter, “ Patrick Cullen, “ Charles W. Clifford, “ Francis Clark,[154] “ Albert Cobbett, “ William E. Cobbett, “ George C. Cobbett, “ James H. Cram, “ Charles Debelino, “ Joseph Duxbury, “ George E. Darling,[155] “ Patrick Duffy, “ Willard Drake, “ Thomas W. Dean,[153] “ Edmund Davis, “ Elijah H. Esty, “ John Field, “ Albert E. Follett, “ Henry H. Fairbanks, “ Solomon R. Foster, “ Barney Galligar, “ Charles B. Griffin, “ William H. Hudson, “ Henry Ide,[156] “ Talbot Jenks, Jr., “ Daniel A. Jillson,[150] “ Roger Kennedy, “ Patrick McManimay, “ Daniel H. Morey, “ George E. Miller, “ Patrick McLoughlin,[157] “ Lorenzo Macomber, “ Richard Owen, “ John O’Neil,[158] “ Henry J. Paine, “ Hiram Porter, “ Minot E. Phillips, “ James P. Parker, “ William H. Perry, “ Nelson N. Randall, “ Franklin L. Ramsell,[159] “ William B. Richards, “ Albert W. Smith,[160] “ George W. Sprague, “ Orange S. Stearns,[161] “ George E. Snow, “ Charles H. Smith, “ John Thayer, “ Nathaniel I. Thurber, “ Levi Trumbull, “ Henry B. Titus,[162] “ Thomas Ward, “ Daniel Whitmore,[163] “ Roland T. J. White, “ Cornelius L. White, “ Henry Walker, “ James Wood, “

JOINED IN 1862.

Charles M. Dunn,[162] Private. Albert Lincoln,[164] “ Charles F. Roberts,[164] “

JOINED IN 1864.

Wesley L. Beals, Private. George Burns, “ John Cronin,[165] “ Philip P. Lawall, “

ROLL OF COMPANY H.

The following soldiers originally composed this Company, enlisted in the autumn of 1861, and were mustered into the United States service, January 13, 1862:--

Henry R. Sibley,[166] Captain. Daniel W. Lee,[167] 1st Lieut. William R. Corlew, 2d Lieut. T. W. Wrightington, 1st Sergt. Ansel B. Kellam, Sergeant. George H. Long,[167] “ William F. Pippey,[168] “ Charles F. Colburn,[169] “ George Merritt, Corporal. William F. Willis,[170] “ Edward M. Hastings, “ Lorenzo L. Billings,[171] “ Joseph Dominick, “ George Curtis, “ Waldo F. Corbett,[171] “ Robert F. Greenough, “ Alonzo F. Howe, Musician. James A. Forbes, “ George C. Wheeler, Wagoner. Charles H. Almeder, Private. John H. Aldrich, “ Lyman H. Bigelow, “ Edwin F. Bassett, “ George G. Brigham, “ David Barnes, “ Ezra C. Bemis, “ Charles W. Bates, “ Nathaniel L. Battles, “ Jeremiah Barnett, “ Charles E. Brown, “ Edwin C. Bemis,[170] “ Eben B. Clifford, “ Edward A. Clark, “ James Culter, “ John H. Clark, “ William Coakley, “ Edward E. Dearing, “ Theodore W. Dearing,[172] “ Edward L. Daniels, “ Jacob H. Dow, Jr., “ Chris. C. Eldridge, Jr., “ Obed H. Ellis, “ Daniel C. Easton,[173] “ William P. Farnsworth,[168] “ Henry W. Fuller, “ William H. Gould, Jr., “ John H. Galloway, “ Rufus H. Gurney, “ Joseph P. Gardner, “ Malvin Gear, “ Albert E. Gear, “ Richard Gurney,[170] “ John H. Hancock,[170] “ Albert A. Hill, “ Alanson S. Howe,[170] “ William E. Hadlock, “ John F. Hoit, “ Benjamin F. Hall, “ William Keith, “ Ira W. Keyes,[174] “ George H. Leman, “ Edward L. Loveland, “ Henry O. Lawrence, “ William Henry Lee, “ Ephraim Lucas, “ William McGill, “ John E. McDonald, “ John C. Martin, “ Daniel McDonald, Jr., “ Nathaniel S. Mellon, “ James Neville, “ Charles L. Nightingale,[175] “ Daniel B. Perkins, Jr., “ Frederick Peabody, “ John S. Pulsifer, “ Henry Proctor, “ Horace H. Packard, “ Darius Perry, “ Albert H. Prouty, “ Lewis Prescott, “ George S. Preble, “ John S. Robinson,[176] “ Alonzo C. Richardson,[177] “ Thomas H. Sylvester,[178] “ John H. Spear, “ Artemus Sylvester, “ Silas S. Smith, “ George W. Smith, “ Joseph Staples, “ John F. Smith,[179] “ Timothy Sullivan, “ George W. Swain, “ Henry A. Stephens, “ John Schow, “ Isaac H. Taylor,[176] “ John B. Thomas, “ George L. Woodbury, “ Chris. H. Westphal, “ Jacob W. Wasch, “ Ebenezer Whiting, “ Charles Young, “

JOINED IN 1862.

Etheridge Bryant, Private. Abel W. Burroughs, “ Patrick Boland, “ George A. Bryant, “ Edward Carroll, “ Caleb Clark, “ Ira W. Clark, “ Nathaniel Cobb, “ Joshua G. Fuller, “ Charles J. Hale, “ Michael Harrington, “ William Jones, “ Mathew Kerwin, “ Ira F. Martin, “ William McGaughlin, “ Franklin J. Noyes, “ William O’Conner, “ George B. Perkins, “ Bernard Rooney, “ William Story, “ James E. Sanborn, “ John Usherwood, “ Francis Wyman, “ George S. Welsh, “

JOINED IN 1864.

Henry A. Glines, Private.

ROLL OF COMPANY I.

The following soldiers originally composed this Company, enlisted April 17, 1861, and were mustered into the United States service, May 14, 1861:--

Wm. D. Chamberlain, Captain. Abram A. Oliver,[180] 1st Lieut. John E. Smith,[181] 2d Lieut. William H Burns, 1st Sergt. Elbridge G. Kemp, Sergeant. John W. Barnicoat, “ Aaron O. Atwill, “ Frank Goodwin,[182] Corporal. Gardner Parker, “ Henry E. Hay, “ Nathaniel J. Downing, “ Alvin Moulton,[183] Musician. Samuel L. Eaton, “ William H. Adams, Private. Thomas Ashcroft, “ George W. Armstead, “ Joseph M. Badger, “ Charles I. Betton, “ William W. Bowman, “ Augustus A. Blaney, “ Charles C. Bonner, “ George L. Brown, “ James L. Brown, “ Charles A. Carroll, “ Joseph P. Caldwell, “ Isaac H. Childs, “ William Chesley, “ Charles Chamberlain, “ Edward F. Chase, “ John H. Cummings, “ Willard P. Dailey, “ James G. Dearmid, “ Charles Dodge, “ Charles S. Dow, “ John C. Dow, “ Joseph A. Dow, “ John A. Durgin, “ George W. Forsyth, “ George P. Fowler, Jr., “ Thomas S. Glass, “ Lucius B. Grover, “ William P. Green, “ Daniel Gould, “ John H. Hall, “ George H. Hammond, “ Charles E. Harris, “ Alonzo Hollis, “ George Horton, “ George W. Jewett, “ Joseph W. Knights, “ David Lee, “ George A. Lindsey, “ Joseph A. Millett, “ John B. Moulton,[184] “ Solomon Moulton, “ John S. Miller, “ James W. Noyes, “ Jacob Phillips, “ William Phillips, “ Thomas Pickett, “ Edmond C. Poland, “ Elbridge M. Rawson, “ George H. Rich, “ Curtis S. Rand,[184] “ Clifford I. Rogers, “ George Seeley, “ John H. Shaw, “ David A. Swan, “ William R. Swan, “ James M. Swan, “ George Sullivan, “ Andrew H. Tarr,[185] “ George Townsend,[186] “ Benjamin E. Thompson, “ William K. Williams, “ Isaac O. Willey, “ Addison B. Young, “

JOINED IN 1862.

Walter A. Kezar,[186] Private. Edward G. Bachelder, “ John Q. Bachelder, “ Thomas R. Bartol, “ Ira A. Clark, “ Frederick A. Clark, “ Melvin F. Clough, “ Tennison P. Collins, “ Andrew Dinsmore, “ Oliver H. P. Doak, “ Orrin Fields, “ Benjamin S. Gardner, “ James F. Goodwin, “ Charles F. Gove, “ Eben T. Heath, “ Joseph A. Short, “ Lyman B. Williams, “

JOINED IN 1863.

Harvey G. Smith, Private.

ROLL OF COMPANY K.

The following soldiers originally composed this Company, enlisted April 20, 1861, and were mustered into the United States service, May 22, 1861:--

Joseph. H. Barnes,[187] Captain. James H. Osgood, Jr.,[188] 1st Lieut. William T. Keen,[189] 2d Lieut. William Pray,[188] 1st Sergt. Henry S. Braden,[190] Sergeant. Francis J. Cole, “ James N. Greenwood, “ Henry A. Hunting,[191] Corporal. David Warren, Jr.,[192] “ John B. Keen,[192] “ George R. Rumney,[193] “ Jason L. Blodgett, Private. Edward Boston, Jr., “ Robert M. Blackball,[194] “ Loring Baker,[195] “ Thomas M. Bride, “ John P. Burbeck,[191] “ John F. M. Burk, “ James Brownlow, “ William R. Barker, “ Horace Colby, “ John H. Crafts, “ John L. Chapman, “ Benjamin L. Clark, “ William G. Chambers, “ Henry F. Creighton,[196] “ Edgar Curry, “ David Dockerty, “ Charles A. Daggett,[193] “ Joseph Drugan, “ Andrew P. Fisher, “ Alonzo B. Fisk,[195] “ John E. Fisher, “ Frederick A. Godbold, “ Isaac S. Hill, “ James T. Holmes, “ Abiel R. Henry, “ William H. Howe,[194] “ Richard Howes, “ Joseph F. Hooper, “ Nathaniel J. Huntress, “ John R. Hume, “ Freeman Hall, “ Thomas W. Kenny, “ Benjamin Loveland,[192] “ Abijah Lane, “ Gilbert T. Litchfield,[195] “ Augustus Leavitt, “ Charles H. Leavitt, “ John A. Linnell,[192] “ William P. Lander,[195] “ Charles Laslie, “ John A. McKie, “ William McAllister, “ Jesse Morris, “ William McFarland, “ Hiram A. Mosher,[195] “ Samuel F. G. Newton, “ Frederick G. Parsons, “ Meltiah T. Remick, “ Elisha Ranks, “ Charles Ramsell, “ Henry E. Stewart, “ William W. Sanborn, “ Joseph K. Stafford, “ John Tierney, “ John A. Tighe,[197] “ Ezra Vinal, Jr.,[198] “ Benjamin F. Valpey, “ Charles Walker, “ George Wright, “ Charles H. Winslow, “ George Wood, “ George P. Woodis, “

JOINED IN 1861.

John Ewart,[199] Private. John B. Hibbert, “ Alexander McKinnan, “ Joseph S. Manning, “

JOINED IN 1862.

Joseph A. Brown, Private. Martin Bird, “ Thomas F. Dolan, “ James A. Fisher, “ Joshua Grimes, “ Joseph H. Locke, “ John Moore, Jr.,[200] “ James H. Powers, “ Theodore S. Robinson, “ Nelson H. Snow, “ J. Sturgis Wright, “

JOINED IN 1863.

Sydenham Dumington, Private.

JOINED IN 1864.

William H. Moore, Private.

A list of soldiers whose names are not borne upon the foregoing rolls, some of whom are known to have served, and others are reported as having served in the Twenty-ninth Regiment for short periods during the last few months of the war:--

Jeremiah Austin. Otto Beyer. John Brown. Patrick Boyle. Gerhard Briggerman.[201] John P. Brennan. William Barrett. Larin R. Curtis. Maurice Cronin. John Conly. William Cunningham. Morris Collin. William Claman.[202] Francis Cassidy. William Chapman. Maurice Christian. William Coulter. Peter Doherty. Parker Dwight. Otto Duger.[203] William Doody. Jeremiah Dwyer. Thomas Dyer. James Doherty. George Eaton. Martin Esk. John Easy.[202] Francis Flora. Louis Fruger. Frederick Graven. Frederick Gradholf. Joseph F. Glass. Edward Hazen. Christian Holdt. David Hannaford. John H. Harbourne. Michael Hilly.[202] William Klinker.[204] David Labonne. John G. Moore. Michael McFarland. Louis Monplaiser. James McLaughlin. Herman Meier. Thomas Mooney. Ruter Moritz.[204] Napoleon Mason. Henry Moonshine. Daniel Murphy. Patrick Murphy. Joseph Miller. Robert Nelson.[202] Alexander O’Brien. James O’Bierne. Leopold Obreiter. Manuel Portello. William H. Phillips. Isaac Patton. Henry Rose. Frank A. Roberts. Charles E. Robertson.[201] Andrew J. Rider. John Raftes. Henry J. Sweet, Jr. Hezekiah S. Sargent.[205] John Smith. Emile Taubert.[206] George Townsend. Eli Wigglesworth.

THE DEAD.

“True to their Country and God, To meet at the last reveille.”

NOTE.

In deciding what names should appear upon the rolls of the dead, I adopted this rule, which is that of the Pension Department in the matter of granting pensions: First, those who died in the service from disease, wounds, or injuries contracted while in the service and in the line of their duties as soldiers; second, those who died after their discharge from the service, of disease, wounds, or injuries contracted while in the service and in the line of their duties as soldiers.

I feel confident that the following rolls, under the rule mentioned, give the names of all the regiment’s dead, and that the name of no soldier appears upon them which ought not to be stated, though I regret that in several instances I have not been able to give the place and date of death.

Having had access to the rolls of the dead prepared by the Quartermaster-General of the United States Army, I have made a careful search for the names of all members of the regiment borne on these lists, and where I have been able to find their place of burial have stated it opposite their names, hoping that the information may not only prove comforting but useful to their friends and relatives.

The several company rolls of the dead show a total of one hundred and seventy-three, including the Chaplain. Of these, twenty-two only found a Christian burial at their homes; thirty-five are shown to have been identified and buried in National Cemeteries; leaving one hundred and sixteen who rest, and probably must forever rest, in unknown graves. All of the comrades, five in number, who died at Andersonville, Ga., were identified, and their graves suitably marked by a marble block; but the name of comrade Theodore W. Dearing of Company H, who fell a victim to the filth and exposure at Salisbury, is not found in the long list of 3,538 Union soldiers buried at that place. Such is also the case of Minot E. Phillips and Levi Trumbull of Company H, who suffered martyrdom at Belle Isle, Va., and Isaac S. Hill of Company K, at Florence, S. C. The facts in regard to the management of the three last-named prison-pens relieves one of all wonder at not finding the name of the soldier for which he may be searching. Over 5,000 Union soldiers were originally buried at Salisbury, in thirteen long trenches, “without coffins or boxes, and without any means of identifying them (except sixteen belonging to the Masonic Fraternity), ... who died while confined in the Salisbury prison and in the hospitals near the ‘stockade,’ during the Rebellion. The burial of these soldiers in so inhuman a manner was done by one Sergeant Harris, under the orders of Major Gee, both of the rebel army. Out of nine or ten thousand soldiers confined there, over five thousand fell victims to the cruelty of the Rebels then in charge, by starvation and disease.”[207]

As further showing how the rules of civilized warfare were disregarded by the enemy, Major Dana, who makes the above report, says, that in the Lutheran Cemetery, near the principal prison-pen, were buried fourteen Union soldiers, “who, upon taking the oath of allegiance to the Rebel Government, were admitted into the Rebel hospital, where they afterwards died.” It seems by this, that the only way by which a Union prisoner at this loathsome and accursed place could secure the medical treatment which common humanity would extend even to a savage, was by forswearing allegiance to his Government. Among the unfortunate fourteen, however, not one belonged to the Twenty-ninth regiment.

The grave of William H. Murphy of Company B, and that of Sergeant Wm. T. Hamer of Company A, who were killed in the battle of Spottsylvania, May 12, 1864, and buried on the field under the names of “William Murphy” and “William H. Hamer,” were found, and their bodies afterwards removed to the National Cemetery at Fredericksburg, Va. None of the other members of the regiment killed in that battle were found and recognized by those who gathered up the dead for burial. This is not in the least surprising, for the sad words, “Unknown United States Soldier,” were placed upon the headboards of many hundreds who fell on that bloody field. Large numbers who were killed in this battle were not buried at all until General Sherman marched through the country in May, 1865, when an agreement to that effect was made by that officer with one Mr. Sandford, who resided near Spottsylvania Court-house. “It was no unusual occurrence” says Assistant-Quartermaster Moore of the United States Army, who had charge of the work of removing the dead from this place, “to observe the bones of our men close to the abatis of the enemy; and in one case several skeletons of our soldiers were found in their trenches. The bones of these men were gathered from the ground where they fell, having never been interred, and by exposure to the weather for more than a year, all traces of their identity were entirely obliterated.”

In the National Cemetery at Knoxville, which is one of great beauty, ornamented with trees and shrubs, and situated about three-fourths of a mile north of the city, were found the graves of four members of the regiment; namely, Orrin Fields and Sergeant Henry G. Smith of Company I; Sergeant John F. Smith of Company H; and Corporal Gilbert T. Litchfield of Company K. In the cemetery are two graves, marked “Sergt. John F. Smith, Co. H, 29th Mass.,” the date of death of one being given November 29, 1863, and of the other, March 11, 1864. How this mistake arose, or what the explanation of it is, I am unable to say, but mistakes of a similar character appear throughout all the rolls of the Quartermaster-General. For instance, Frank Hall of Company B, buried in the Richmond National Cemetery, is buried under the name of “T. Hall, Co. D, 29th Mass.,” but the date of his death is given correctly, and this was one of the means by which I recognized him. In the Mount Olivet National Cemetery at Frederick City, Md., was at one time buried a soldier whose grave was marked, “Charles F. Adams, Private, 29th Mass., Co. D, date of death Oct. 2, 1862.” No such soldier ever belonged to Company D, or any other company of the regiment. In the same cemetery is buried a soldier whose grave is marked, “Walter W. Horner, 29th Mass., Co. D,” and another called “Benj. Godfrey, Co. H, 29th Mass.” There were no such soldiers in the regiment. Again, in the Knoxville Cemetery is a grave marked, “George Gault, Co. I, 29th Mass., died Mar. 4, 1864.” This is also an error.

In the Hampton, Va., National Cemetery, were found the graves of seven members of the regiment, and in the same yard the graves marked respectively, “Patrick Cain, Co. K, 29th Mass.; P. Finnigan, Co. A, 29th Mass.; C. C. Hadden, Co. C, 29th Mass., and J. C. Williams, Co. H, 29th Mass. Vols.” The names of neither of the three last-named soldiers are found upon the rolls of the regiment, though it is probable that “C. C. Hadden” is Charles H. Hayden of Company C, who died in that department. Mistakes of this nature frequently occur throughout the rolls of the Quartermaster-General, not only in regard to the Twenty-ninth, but other regiments also, leaving in the minds of those familiar with the subject, very grave doubts as to even the general correctness of these lists.

AUTHOR.

THE DEAD.

============================================================================================================== Rank. | NAME. | Place. | Cause. | Date. -------------+-------------------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------+---------------- Chaplain, | Henry E. Hempstead, | Falmouth, Va., | Disease, | Dec. 21, 1862. -------------+-------------------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------+----------------

COMPANY A.

COMPANY B.

COMPANY C.

THE DEAD.--COMPANY C--Continued

RECRUITS OF 1864.

APPENDIX.

REUNIONS OF THE REGIMENT.

The feelings of fraternity which grew out of participation in common dangers and hardships naturally gave rise to a desire on the part of the surviving members of the regiment to occasionally meet each other in a purely social way, exchange greetings, and renew the old and strongly-cemented friendships of army life.

THE FIRST REUNION.

The first of these reunions took place in Boston in June, 1870. A small number of comrades assembled at Evans’s Hall, Boston, May 30, 1870; the meeting was called to order by Sergeant John B. Smithers of Company B, and it was voted to form a temporary organization. Captain Charles Brady was elected President, and Hospital Steward John Hardy, Treasurer, _pro tempore_, whereupon the meeting adjourned till June 17, following, at the same place.

On the 17th of June, 1870, the meeting again assembled, Captain Brady in the chair, and a permanent organization was effected as follows:--

_President._--General Joseph H. Barnes.

_Vice-Presidents._--William H. Osborne, Company C; Sergeants B. B. Brown, Company B; Samuel C. Wright, Company E; William H. Burns, Company I.

_Secretary._--Lieutenant John Lucas, Company B.

_Corresponding Secretary._--John J. Ryan, Company B.

_Treasurer._--Hospital Steward John Hardy.

_Executive Committee._--Colonel Thomas W. Clarke; Captain William D. Chamberlain; John J. Ryan, Company B; Sergeant John B. Smithers, Company B; Corporal Martin L. Kern, Jr., Company D.

Some discussion was had concerning the rolls of the regiment, and Colonel Clarke and Lieutenant-Colonel Willard D. Tripp were appointed a committee to revise the regimental roll prepared by the Adjutant-General. At this meeting it was announced that comrade William H. Osborne was engaged in collecting material for the history of the regiment, and Sergeant Hodgkins, Company B; Lieutenant Henry A. Hunting, Company K; and Daniel B. Perkins, Jr., of Company H, were chosen a committee to assist in the matter.[249]

This meeting was not largely attended, but nearly every company was represented by one or more members.

SECOND REUNION.

In pursuance of a call published in several of the Boston papers, the Association met at the Sherman House, Boston, May 13, 1871. Officers were chosen for the ensuing year, as follows:--

_President._--General Joseph H. Barnes.

_Vice-Presidents._--Lieutenant-Colonel Willard D. Tripp; Major Samuel H. Doten; William H. Osborne, Company C; Sergeant B. B. Brown, Company B; Colonel Henry R. Sibley.

_Recording Secretary._--Lieutenant John Lucas.

_Corresponding Secretary._--John J. Ryan, Company B.

_Treasurer._--Captain George H. Long.

_Executive Committee._--Colonel Thomas W. Clarke; Lieutenant J. O’Neil; Samuel W. Hunt, Company D; Sergeant-Major George H. Morse; Sergeant Samuel C. Wright, Company E.

At this meeting, which was largely attended and of unusual interest, a very valuable paper was read by the President, reviewing an account, written by one Henry Coppee, LL. D., of the battle of the Mine, July 30, 1864, and embracing a particular statement of the facts concerning the transfer of the non-re-enlisting members of the regiment to the Thirty-sixth Massachusetts Regiment.

A vote of thanks was passed to comrades Ryan, Smithers, Captain George H. Taylor, and Lieutenant Lucas, for the interest they had taken in bringing about the reunion of the regiment.

It having come to the knowledge of the meeting that Major-General Ambrose E. Burnside was then in the city, a committee composed of Colonel Clarke, Lieutenant-Colonel Tripp, Captain Long, Adjutant Braden, and comrade Ryan, was chosen to wait on the General, and extend to him the kind greetings and regards of the members of the regiment Action was taken concerning a regimental badge, and Colonel Clarke was appointed a committee to prepare a design for it. This was the first time that the Association dined together, a fine dinner being served at the Sherman House.

THIRD REUNION.

This was Company H’s day; the Association assembled at Monument Hall, Charlestown, May 14, 1872. Colonel Clarke reported a design for a regimental badge, which was adopted. It was a rough bronze medal, stamped with the figures of an upraised right forearm, grasping in the hand an uplifted sword; beneath this a row of cannon-balls, and under all the figures “29.”

OFFICERS FOR 1872-73.

_President._--General J. H. Barnes.

_Vice-Presidents._--Major S. H. Doten, Colonel H. R. Sibley, Major Charles T. Richardson, Captain W. D. Chamberlain, Lieutenant J. Lucas.

_Recording Secretary._--J. J. Ryan.

_Corresponding Secretary._--Lieutenant-Colonel W. D. Tripp.

_Treasurer._--Captain George H. Long.

_Executive Committee._--Major S. H. Doten; Sergeant S. C. Wright, Company E; Colonel T. W. Clarke; Captain Charles A. Carpenter; Emery Jaquith, Company C.

Lieutenant-Colonel Tripp presented the Association with the two large printed volumes entitled, “The Record of Massachusetts Volunteers,” for which a vote of thanks was tendered him.

It was voted to hold the next reunion at Plymouth. A committee of ten, consisting of one member of each company, was chosen to prepare a perfect roster of the regiment.[250]

FOURTH REUNION.

PLYMOUTH, May 14, 1873.

The meeting assembled in Grand Army Hall, and after listening to the reports of its Secretary and several committees, proceeded to choose officers for the year 1873-74.

The officers elected were as follows:--

_President._--General J. H. Barnes.

_Vice-Presidents._--Major Samuel H. Doten; Surgeon George B. Cogswell; Adjutant H. A. Braden; Sergeant John H. Hancock, Company H; Sergeant G. Townsend, Company I.

_Recording Secretary._--J. J. Ryan, Company B.

_Corresponding Secretary._--J. S. Manning, Company K.

_Treasurer._--Colonel T. W. Clarke.

_Executive Committee._--Captain W. D. Chamberlain; Corporal H. E. Hay, Company I; Captain A. A. Oliver; Sergeant George Townsend, Company I; Sergeant J. F. Smith, Company H.

An act of soldierly love for a dead comrade distinguished this meeting from all that had preceded it; indeed, from all that have since been held.

During the latter part of the war, a certain well-known foreigner, with the aid of the friends and relatives of our dead soldiers of this and other States, established in the city of Boston a portrait gallery, which was known as the “Gallery of Departed Heroes.” The friends of Major Charles Chipman had contributed liberally towards an elegant oil-portrait of this worthy soldier of the regiment, which, with a costly frame, had been placed in the aforenamed gallery. Through improper management, leading to the pecuniary embarrassment of the originator, all the portraits in the gallery had become heavily mortgaged, and shortly prior to this meeting, the several mortgages had been foreclosed, and the property not being of a generally saleable character, much of it had fallen into the hands of the mortgagees, including the portrait of Major Chipman.

Previous to this reunion, Sergeant Samuel C. Wright, whose love for his comrades, living and dead, is as pure as refined gold, redeemed at his own expense Major Chipman’s portrait, and brought it to Plymouth with the purpose of eventually presenting it to the widow and family of the deceased. The comrades would not suffer him to bear the whole of this burden, but, at this meeting, generously contributed each one his share of the expense incurred, and then, by an unanimous vote, granted the fine portrait, as a token of their love and esteem, to Mrs. Chipman and her children.

The portrait was soon afterwards sent to the donees, accompanied by a touching letter from the President of the Association.

This reunion was the first that was attended by the wives and lady friends of the comrades, and was one of great enjoyment, the citizens of Plymouth doing all in their power to contribute to its success, and by their many acts of kindness, reviving the memory of the unselfishness and flowing bounty of 1861.

Dinner was served at the Samoset House, at which the Plymouth Band, and many of the first citizens of the town, were in attendance.

FIFTH REUNION.--LYNN, MAY 14, 1874.

OFFICERS.

_President._--General J. H. Barnes.

_Vice-Presidents._--Major S. H. Doten; Colonel Henry R. Sibley; Surgeon George B. Cogswell; Wm. H. Osborne, Company C; Sergeant G. Townsend, Company I.

_Secretary._--J. J. Ryan, Company B.

_Corresponding Secretary._--Sergeant Samuel C. Wright, Company E.

_Treasurer._--Colonel T. W. Clarke.

The business meeting was held in the hall of General Lander Post, G. A. R., at the close of which the comrades and their ladies took carriages and drove to the Relay House, Nahant Beach, where a fine dinner was served. Captain D. W. Lee acted as toast-master for the occasion, and sentiments were responded to as follows: “The President of the United States,” by letter from General Banks; “The Day we Celebrate,” by Surgeon Cogswell; “The Army of the Union,” by General Barnes, who closed by offering this touching sentiment: “Our Heroic Dead: God keep their memory green.” This was responded to by all the comrades, who rose in token of respect to their memory. The other sentiments were, “The State of Massachusetts,” responded to by the band; “The Twenty-ninth Massachusetts Regiment,” by Colonel Clarke and W. H. Osborne. Corporal A. B. Fiske of Company K closed the literary exercises by an eloquent speech.

“The company then spent some time strolling on the shore, enjoying the fine water views and pleasant weather. The day had been warm, and closed like a superb mid-summer day, calm and still, giving the water the appearance of a sheet of silver.” At half-past six o’clock the members took the carriages and drove to the Lynn depot, taking the evening train to Boston.

SIXTH REUNION.

The sixth reunion was held at Downer’s Landing, Hingham Harbor, September 17, 1875. The comrades and their families, to the number of about one hundred, assembled at the Boston wharf of the Hingham Steamboat Company quite early in the morning, took the boat for the Landing, where, upon arrival, a business meeting was held, and officers for the year 1875-76 chosen, as follows:--

_President._--General J. H. Barnes.

_Vice-Presidents._--Wm. H. Osborne, Company C; Corporal Alonzo B. Fiske, Company K; Sergeant W. B. Standish, Company E; Sergeant Geo. Townsend, Company I; Sergeant J. B. Smithers, Company B.

_Recording Secretary._--Sergeant Sam’l C. Wright, Company E.

_Corresponding Secretary._--H. E. Stewart, Company K.

_Treasurer._--Colonel Thos. W. Clarke.

_Executive Committee._--Colonel H. R. Sibley; Lieutenant John Shannon; Captain D. W. Lee; Lieutenant J. O’Neil; Lieutenant J. Lucas.

Comrade W. H. Osborne was called upon to report what progress he had made in writing the history of the regiment, and when he had reported, Colonel Sibley offered a resolution, which was passed, pledging the assistance of the comrades in publishing the work.

The cold and windy character of the day tended to render this meeting of the regiment less successful and interesting than those of former years.

SEVENTH REUNION.--AMERICAN HOUSE, BOSTON, May 15, 1876.

The Association met at one o’clock, P. M., and chose officers and transacted business.

OFFICERS ELECTED.

_President._--General J. H. Barnes.

_Vice-Presidents._--Major Chas. T. Richardson; W. H. Osborne, Company C; Sergeant Geo. Townsend, Company I: Colonel H. R. Sibley; Captain Lebbeus Leach.

_Recording Secretary._--Sergeant Sam’l C. Wright, Company E.

_Corresponding Secretary._--H. E. Stewart, Company K.

_Treasurer._--Colonel T. W. Clarke.

_Executive Committee._--Colonel H. R. Sibley; Lieutenant J. O’Neil; General J. H. Barnes; Captain D. W. Lee; Colonel Thos. W. Clarke; Sergeant Sam’l C. Wright; Wm. H. Osborne; Corporal Geo. W. Allen, Company C.

A vote of thanks was extended to comrade Wm. H. Osborne for his services in writing the regimental history, and also for his invitation to the Association to hold its next meeting at East Bridgewater.

At 3 o’clock, P. M., the Association, with its invited guests,--among whom was Governor Rice,--sat down to dinner. Colonel Clarke acted as toast-master, and the first toast, “The President of the United States,” was proposed, and a letter read from Collector Simmons in response to the sentiment. “The Commonwealth of Massachusetts” called out Governor Rice, who was received with cheers, and who said, in the course of his remarks, that he considered it a greater honor to have been a faithful soldier of the Union than Governor of Massachusetts; and also, that if the Association found any pecuniary difficulty in publishing the history of the regiment, to call upon him, in which case he would gladly aid the worthy undertaking. Letters were read from Governor Hartranft of Pennsylvania, Mayor Cobb, and others. Speeches were made by the President, Colonel Clarke, Major Doten and Corporal Fiske.

About eighty comrades were present.

EIGHTH REUNION.

The eighth reunion was held at East Bridgewater, June 18, 1877, two hundred, including members and their families, being present.

The day was one of the most lovely in June, and was keenly enjoyed by the visiting comrades, their wives and children, who strolled about the quiet, shady streets of the town, visited the soldiers’ monument upon the common, which bears the names of a number of the dead of the regiment, and walked through the adjacent groves. The citizens of the town met them everywhere with smiles and words of welcome, and at one o’clock provided them with a bountiful dinner in the lower hall of the Town-house, where a large committee of the ladies of East Bridgewater were in attendance to wait on the tables and testify by their presence and numerous attentions their respect for these veterans of the war.

At the close of the enjoyments at the table the company assembled in the main hall to listen to some fine singing by members of the East Bridgewater Musical Society. After this came speaking, in which several of the townspeople and comrades took part.

The whole meeting was conducted in a pleasantly informal manner, and was, for that reason, all the more productive of enjoyment and profit. Nineteen new members were added to the roll of the Association, and in view of the deep interest taken by the wives of the members in the meeting, they were, by vote, made honorary members of the Association.

While the business meeting was in session in the morning, Captain Leach, whose absence all had been regretting, suddenly came into the hall. The members all rose in their seats and gave him three hearty cheers, to which warm welcome the brave old Captain, now slightly bowed by the weight of seventy-seven years, responded by choking words of gratitude and thanks.

One of the saddest and bravest chapters in the history of the old regiment was brought freshly to remembrance by a fine photograph, suspended in front of the speaker’s desk, of Major Charles Chipman, Lieutenant Burgess, and the three standard-bearers, Grosvenor, Tighe, and Willis, who lost their young lives on the 17th of June, 1864.

The officers elected for the year 1877-78 were:--

_President._--General J. H. Barnes.

_Vice-Presidents._--Major C. T. Richardson; W. H. Osborne, Company C; Sergeant George Townsend, Company I; Colonel H. R. Sibley; Captain Lebbeus Leach.

_Treasurer._--Colonel T. W. Clarke.

_Recording Secretary._--Sergeant S. C. Wright, Company E.

_Corresponding Secretary._--H. E. Stewart, Company K.

_Executive Committee._--Colonel H. R. Sibley; Lieutenant J. O’Neil; General J. H. Barnes; Captain D. W. Lee; Sergeant S. C. Wright, Company E; Colonel T. W. Clarke; William H. Osborne; Corporal George W. Allen, Company C.

The author sincerely hopes that the Secretary of the Association will have the pleasure to record the proceedings of many future meetings of his comrades, and that none will prove to be seasons of less joy and gladness than this, the eighth annual reunion.

PARADE OF THE REGIMENT,

SEPTEMBER 17, 1877.

The beautiful and costly monument erected by the city of Boston in memory of its heroic dead of the late war was dedicated with imposing ceremonies on the 17th of September, 1877, which was the fifteenth anniversary of the battle of Antietam. The monument, one of the finest in the country, is erected on a little hill on the Boston Common, at the foot of which stood the famous Old Elm, destroyed by wind, February 15, 1876. There was once a powder magazine on the hill occupied by the monument, which, during the siege of Boston, was the site of a British fortification bombarded by Washington. In the war of 1812, a body of troops designed to protect the town was encamped about this very spot.

On the side of the monument, facing the south, cut in bold, square letters, is the following inscription:--

TO THE MEN OF BOSTON WHO DIED FOR THEIR COUNTRY ON LAND AND SEA IN THE WAR WHICH KEPT THE UNION WHOLE DESTROYED SLAVERY AND MAINTAINED THE CONSTITUTION THE GRATEFUL CITY HAS BUILT THIS MONUMENT THAT THEIR EXAMPLE MAY SPEAK TO COMING GENERATIONS.

Honorable Charles Devens, Attorney-General of the United States, delivered the oration; and General Augustus P. Martin of Boston acted as Chief Marshal. Colonel Henry R. Sibley of the Twenty-ninth Regiment was honored with the command of the Suffolk County Division of the Grand Army of the Republic.

At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Twenty-ninth Regiment Association, held September 1, 1877, it was voted to parade as a regiment on the occasion of the dedication of the monument, and General Joseph H. Barnes was chosen to act as Colonel and Commander, Colonel Thomas William Clarke as Lieutenant-Colonel, Major Charles T. Richardson as Major, Lieutenant Henry S. Braden as Adjutant, and Captain D. W. Lee as Quartermaster. On the 7th of September, General Barnes issued a circular letter addressed to the comrades of the regiment, inviting them to parade on the 17th, and requesting them to assemble at 29 Pemberton Square, Boston, at 9 o’clock in the morning of that day.

One hundred and fifty comrades responded promptly to the invitation of their old commander, dressed in dark clothes and wearing their corps and regimental badges. Sergeant Samuel C. Wright, who was wounded in four different battles, was assigned to the proud position of National color-bearer. General Barnes, Colonel Clarke, Major Richardson, Lieutenant Braden, and Captain Lee, were handsomely mounted; elegant wreaths of choice cut-flowers adorning the necks of their fine horses.

The procession moved at a little past 12 o’clock, and the regiment took the position assigned it, in the Second Division, commanded by Colonel Edward O. Shepard; in which also marched the First, Second, Sixth, Ninth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth, Twenty-first, Twenty-fourth, Twenty-eighth, Fortieth, Forty-third, Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth Massachusetts Veteran Infantry regiments; also, the Massachusetts Veteran Batteries under Colonel O. F. Nims, the hero of many a battle-field; several Army and Navy Associations; the Third Massachusetts Cavalry; Massachusetts members of General Hooker’s “Old Brigade,” under General Gilman Marston; also the Second New Hampshire Infantry; “Maine Veterans in Massachusetts”; Ninety-ninth New York Infantry, under Colonel David W. Wardrop, and the “Survivors of Rebel Prisons.”

The route of the procession was very extended, and the parade was not concluded till nearly dusk. The day was warm and fine, and it seemed as if every town and city in Massachusetts had emptied their entire population into the streets of Boston. Business in the city was wholly suspended, and the buildings along the route of the procession were tastefully decorated with flowers and bunting. The gay plumes and gaudy uniforms of the militia attracted their usual share of attention; but when the veterans went by, with war-like tramp, carrying the shreds of old war flags, many eyes were wet with tears, and many of the adult spectators gazed with half-quivering lips upon these remnants of the Nation’s Grand Army of Freedom. The presence in the column of Generals McClellan, Hooker, Burnside, and many other old heroes of the war, tended greatly to increase the enthusiasm of the vast throngs of people along the sidewalks, and when a pause was made, hundreds gathered about the carriages in which these soldiers were riding, and greeted them with cheers and gifts of bouquets of fragrant flowers.

The Twenty-ninth made a fine appearance; its mounted officers riding at the head of its column, and the orderly arrangement of its ranks, reminded one forcibly of the bygone days, when it marched in review before its commanding generals; while the earnest, bright faces of the boys showed plainly enough that they had caught again the old spirit that so often, from 1861 to 1865, led them to triumph over the dangers and toils of the war. Captains Leach and Chamberlain, and Surgeon Cogswell, all of whom are somewhat infirm, and were unable to march, and several of the disabled members of the regiment, rode in a carriage in the immediate rear of the regimental column.

The Boston “Home Journal” of September 22 published a very extended and complimentary article concerning the Twenty-ninth Regiment, entitled “Who Are They Now, and Where Are the Rest of Them?” The first part of this question was answered in a manner that must cause its living members and their many friends the keenest satisfaction, while the inquiry, “Where Are the Rest of Them?” which we only have space to quote, touches most tenderly the sweetest and the saddest chords of a soldier’s memory:--

“Where are the rest of them? Half of the living men of 1861 were in the line. The other half are scattered. All parts of the State sent up their contribution. Every New England State sent up its quota. From Maine to Oregon, from the great lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, the residue of the living three hundred are scattered. About seven hundred are dead. The killed in action; the men who died of wounds; the men who died of disease while in the service; the men who died, after their discharge, of disease contracted in the service; the men starved to death in rebel prisons; the men incurably weakened by famine and malaria at Knoxville and Vicksburg and Jackson,--they have all gone. It was the strongest of them that we saw on Monday, the best constitutions, the hardest muscles, the toughest fibres, and all of them were prematurely aged, and the boys’ faces which most of them wore at the time of enlistment, have now no trace of youth in them. To an old comrade, this age, this worn look, was inexpressibly sad, but sadder yet it was to think of the long roll of dead comrades, and how they died.

“And yet, on every man’s face, at some time in the day, in the presence of some old and loved friend, there momentarily returned the transfiguration of youth, and the faces of 1861,--a flash and play of the “battle light” of an earnest, honest, human heart, full of enthusiasm, love, and duty. This was recognizable, and invariably was recognized, no matter how worn and gray the older face and hair might be.

“To have returned to the Commonwealth at least two hundred good citizens, with characters educated by hardships and trials, and by the friendships of the valley of the shadow of death, into a willing and intelligent acquiescence in the rule of law, and the importance of preferring the common weal to mere individual pleasure and profit, is not the least credit of that old regiment; and if the military service has merely succeeded in teaching the necessity of orderly and systematic organization, and the ability to govern one’s self, as it has in most instances everywhere, the work of the war can never be undone, and never should be.”

FOOTNOTES:

[1] There is but one other military body that can claim a share of this honor, to this extent; viz., Capt. P. A. Davis’s company of Lowell, an independent company of infantry called the “Richardson Light Guards,” afterwards organized as the Seventh Massachusetts Light Battery. This company was mustered originally May 21, 1861.

[2] Chap. 222, Acts of 1861.

[3] Adjutant-General’s Report, 1861, page 7.

[4] Letter of Captain Tyler.

[5] This vote was faithfully carried out, each original member of the company receiving three months’ extra pay, amounting to $30.--AUTHOR.

[6] The commission of Captain Bates described him as a “Captain of Company C, Third Regiment of Infantry, Second Brigade, First Division of the Militia of this Commonwealth,” and was dated May 4, 1861.

[7] This sermon was afterward printed in pamphlet form, with the motto, “Stand by the Flag!” and circulated among the volunteers at Fortress Monroe, Va.

[8] “Sandwich Advocate,” April 22, 1861.

[9] Letter in “Barnstable Patriot,” May 21, 1861. This flag was for a time carried by the company, and is now in the possession of Mr. Samuel Wells Hunt of Sandwich, an honored member of that company, who has taken great pains in preserving from forgetfulness the record of the deeds of his comrades.--AUTHOR.

[10] So called (as the author has learned, from an ancient tradition among the inhabitants of that region) from the fact, that, about the year 1609, the starving colonists of that place were succored by the timely arrival of a fleet of vessels, laden with provisions, under the command of Admiral Newport of the English navy. The worthy admiral brought the pinched colonists _good news_, and in honor of the event, and as an expression of their gratitude, they called the place _Newport’s News_.

[11] “First Year of the War,” by Pollard, page 77.

[12] General Butler’s report to Lieutenant-General Scott, published in New York “Tribune” of June 14, 1861.

[13] Letter to the New York “Tribune,” June 14, 1861.

[14] General Butler’s report to Lieutenant-General Scott, printed in New York “Tribune” of June 14, 1861.

[15] Statement of Adjutant Walker, “Mass. Military Record,” page 158.

[16] Statement of same officer, ibid., page 169.

[17] Some fellow, in a spirit of fun-making, had filled the cartridge-box of an unsuspecting comrade with white beans; an incident that greatly amused the inspecting officer, and led him to inquire of the soldier if he had mistaken his cartridge-box for his haversack.

[18] Also called Union Coast Guard.

[19] These facts were related by the father and mother to members of the Battalion, and were afterwards substantially admitted by the officer referred to, to whose credit be it said, that he “very deeply regretted it.”--AUTHOR.

[20] As an example of the discipline at this time enforced in the department, we will state in brief the sentence of one of these unfortunate soldiers. By the sentence, he was to forfeit all pay and allowances during the remainder of his term; to be confined, at hard labor, during that time on one of the Tortugas islands; to wear a twelve-pound ball attached to his right ankle by a chain three feet long; and for a certain number of days in each year be kept in solitary confinement on bread and water.--AUTHOR.

[21] Colonel Pierce was commissioned December 13, 1861.

[22] “Charlestown Advertiser,” December 28, 1861.

[23] At the proper time the bond was awarded to Sergeant John H. Hancock, who gave one of his arms to the country, and who was a brave and deserving soldier.

[24] Brigadier-General of the militia.

[25] This court-martial was composed of the following officers: Colonel Brown, Twentieth Indiana; Colonel Schley, Fifth Maryland; Colonel Dyckman, First New York; Colonel Von Schack, Seventh New York; Lieutenant-Colonel Holland, Fifth Maryland; Lieutenant-Colonel ----, Twentieth Indiana; Lieutenant-Colonel Keller, Seventh New York; Lieutenant Dale, Judge-Advocate.

[26] Report of Captain Van Brunt

[27] General McClellan’s “Report and Campaigns,” page 150.

[28] Formerly, this engine was the property of the Old Colony Railroad Company of Massachusetts, but had been purchased by the Government.

[29] Now Major Twenty-fourth United States Infantry.

[30] The Count makes a mistake as to the composition of this brigade, though the Twenty-ninth Regiment, which was a part of the brigade, can still claim a share of this high compliment.--AUTHOR.

[31] General Sumner’s testimony before the Joint Committee of Congress on the conduct of the war. See Report on the “Conduct of the War,” Part I., page 364.

[32] “Peninsular Campaign in Virginia,” page 293.

[33] The net losses of the Army of the Potomac, from June 20 to this time, amounted to 15,249 men, of whom 1,582 were killed, 7,700 wounded, and 5,958 missing. The loss of the Confederates during the seven days amounted to 20,000 men, to which should be added 5,000 rendered unfit for service from various causes.--_History Civil War in America, by the Compte de Paris, Vol. II., pages 147, 148._

[34] General McClellan’s Report.

[35] General McClellan’s Report, page 382.

[36] General McClellan’s Report, page 382.

[37] Charles C. Whitman, a very brave soldier.--AUTHOR.

[38] Corporal Tribou lost his left foot by a cannon-ball while carrying the State colors; he was a good soldier. Corporal Allen, who was likewise a well-drilled and gallant soldier, received a very dangerous wound in the head, from which he has never fully recovered. Lieutenant Atherton, a brave man and true, who was afterward commissioned a First Lieutenant, received a severe wound in one of his arms. Corporal Samuel C. Wright was one of the brave volunteers to pull down the fence on the morning of September 17.--AUTHOR.

[39] The Author does not know what finally became of the four missing ones, though he believes they all afterwards joined their company, and were all wounded while entering the fight. The full name of one of the latter soldiers is not known to me. The names of these men, as they appear in the above list, were taken from the “New York Herald” of September 19, 1862.

[40] Soldier’s diary.

[41] “Rebellion Record,” Vol. VII., pp. 407, 408.

[42] Pollard’s “Third Year of the War,” pages 161, 162.

[43] Adjutant-General’s Report, Massachusetts, 1863.

[44] Irving’s “Life of Washington,” Vol. III., p. 354.

[45] Soldier’s letter.

[46] Diary of Preston Hooper, Company C.

[47] Lieutenant Long was severely wounded, losing a portion of the ulna bone of his right arm. He was promoted to Captain, June 8, 1864, and discharged for this wound, October 8, 1864. He was subsequently commissioned in the Veteran Reserve Corps, and served to the end of the war.

[48] “Burnside and Ninth Army Corps,” pages 409, 410.

[49] The author has been unable to learn that any others actually engaged in this brave exploit, and, though several slightly different versions have been given him, he has chosen this as being in his opinion the correct one. This statement is based upon that of three very reliable soldiers of the regiment, who were present and witnessed the affair.--AUTHOR.

[50] James Liffin was mortally wounded, and died July 29, following.

[51] Letter of General Burnside to General Meade, dated July 26, 1864.

[52] Report of Committee on “Conduct of the War,” Vol. I., pp. 11, 12, 1865.

[53] Report of Committee on “Conduct of the War,” Vol. I., pp. 11, 12, 1865.

[54] The following recommendation was sent forward for Colonel Barnes’s promotion:--

“HEADQUARTERS THIRD DIVISION, NINTH ARMY CORPS,} September 13, 1864. }

“Captain JOHN C. YOUNGMAN, A. A. Gen., Ninth Army Corps.

“CAPTAIN: I have the honor to forward Brigade Commanders’ lists of recommendations for brevet.

“I beg permission to add my own recommendation in favor of ... Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph H. Barnes, Twenty-ninth Massachusetts, lately commanding brigade, First Division, Ninth Army Corps, for distinguished gallantry and success in action, at Blick’s House, Weldon Railroad, resisting enemy’s attack on Ninth Corps’ right.

“Very respectfully, your ob’d’t serv’t, “(Signed) O. B. WILLCOX, Brig. Gen. Com’d’g Div.

“Official: W. V. RICHARDS, Capt. and A. A. A. G.”

[55] Report of Fifty-ninth Regiment in Report of Adjutant-General, 1865, page 595.

[56] Horace Ripley, an excellent soldier.

[57] The “Lost Cause,” page 692.

[58] The author does not vouch for the statement, that the regiment held the last muskets of the armies of the Potomac and Sherman, as he believes there were regiments of both of these armies, that were mustered out even later than the Twenty-ninth.--AUTHOR.

[59] On page 337, the number of officers transferred from the Thirty-fifth Massachusetts to the Twenty-ninth Regiment, is erroneously stated as eleven.--AUTHOR.

[60] Resigned.

[61] Promoted Surgeon, August 7, 1862. Discharged for disability, March 15, 1864.

[62] Appointed January 4, 1862.

[63] Mustered March 18, 1864. Discharged May 15, 1865.

[64] Mustered May 27, 1863. Discharged as Assistant Surgeon, July 29, 1864.

[65] Mustered July 31, 1862. Promoted to Surgeon First Mass. Regt. Cavalry, July 6, 1863.

[66] Mustered August 20, 1862. Resigned February 27, 1863.

[67] Mustered July 20, 1863. Transferred to Nineteenth Mass. Regt., Dec. 7, 1863.

[68] Mustered September 26, 1864. Expiration of term, July 29, 1865.

[69] Promoted to Colonel.

[70] Appointed Assistant Quartermaster Volunteers.

[71] Resigned July 31, 1861. Captain Ninety-ninth New York Volunteers.

[72] Promoted to First Lieutenant.

[73] Promoted to Second Lieutenant.

[74] Promoted to Sergeant.

[75] Promoted to First Sergeant.

[76] Promoted to Corporal.

[77] Promoted to Hospital Steward.

[78] Promoted to Captain.

[79] Promoted to First Sergeant.

[80] Promoted to Sergeant.

[81] Promoted to Corporal.

[82] Promoted to Principal Musician.

[83] Promoted to First Lieutenant and Adjutant.

[84] Promoted to Commissary Sergeant.

[85] Resigned July 18, 1861.

[86] Mustered as Ensign. Promoted to First Lieutenant.

[87] Unjustly reported as a deserter.

[88] Promoted to Second Lieutenant.

[89] Promoted to Sergeant.

[90] Promoted to First Lieutenant.

[91] Promoted to Corporal.

[92] Promoted to First Sergeant.

[93] Promoted to Corporal.

[94] Promoted to Sergeant.

[95] Appointed Musician.

[96] Transferred to U. S. Battery.

[97] Mustered as Ensign.

[98] Promoted to Second Lieutenant.

[99] Promoted to Sergeant-Major.

[100] Promoted to Sergeant and Color-Sergeant.

[101] Promoted to Sergeant.

[102] Promoted to Corporal.

[103] Transferred to U. S. Battery.

[104] Promoted to First Sergeant.

[105] Appointed Musician.

[106] Promoted to Corporal.

[107] Promoted to Sergeant.

[108] Promoted to First Sergeant and Brevet Second Lieutenant.

[109] Appointed Bugler.

[110] Promoted to Major.

[111] Promoted to Captain.

[112] Mustered as Ensign. Promoted to First Lieutenant.

[113] Promoted to First Lieutenant.

[114] Promoted to Hospital Steward U. S. A.

[115] Promoted to Sergeant.

[116] Promoted to Principal Musician.

[117] Commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel U. S. Colored Troops.

[118] Promoted to Corporal.

[119] Promoted to Second Lieutenant.

[120] Wrongly reported as a deserter. Entered United States navy, and received an honorable discharge.

[121] Promoted to First Lieutenant.

[122] Promoted to Brevet Major.

[123] Appointed Adjutant.

[124] Mustered as Ensign.

[125] Promoted to Second Lieutenant.

[126] Promoted to Sergeant.

[127] Promoted to Corporal.

[128] Promoted to First Lieutenant.

[129] Promoted to Sergeant.

[130] Promoted to Corporal.

[131] Promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel.

[132] Promoted to First Lieutenant.

[133] Promoted to Captain.

[134] Transferred to U. S. Battery.

[135] Promoted to Second Lieutenant.

[136] Appointed Musician.

[137] Promoted to Corporal.

[138] Promoted to First Sergeant.

[139] Transferred to Veteran Reserve Corp.

[140] Wounded June 17, 1864. Lost an arm.

[141] Promoted to Sergeant.

[142] Promoted to Captain.

[143] Wounded at White Oak Swamp, June 30, 1862.

[144] Promoted to Corporal.

[145] Promoted to Sergeant.

[146] Promoted to Corporal, and made Color-Corporal.

[147] Promoted to First Lieutenant.

[148] Promoted to Major.

[149] Promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel.

[150] Promoted to First Lieutenant.

[151] Promoted to Captain.

[152] Promoted to Second Lieutenant.

[153] Promoted to Sergeant.

[154] Reported “Absent without leave,” but he afterwards returned to duty.

[155] Wrongly reported as a deserter; received an honorable discharge.

[156] Wrongly reported as a deserter.

[157] Did not desert as reported.

[158] Received an honorable discharge; wrongly reported as a deserter.

[159] Promoted to Second Lieutenant.

[160] Improperly reported as a deserter.

[161] Promoted to First Lieutenant.

[162] Promoted to Sergeant.

[163] Promoted to Corporal.

[164] These two soldiers enlisted in the autumn of 1861; but were rejected, as being too young, by Captain Ames, U. S. A. Mustering Officer. They were taken as orderlies by Colonel Pierce to Newport News, and afterwards, by his order, placed on the rolls of Company G.

[165] Killed March 25, 1865; Fort Stedman.

[166] Promoted to Colonel U. S. Volunteers.

[167] Promoted to Captain.

[168] Promoted to Second Lieutenant.

[169] Promoted to First Sergeant.

[170] Promoted to Sergeant.

[171] Commissioned in U. S. Colored Troops.

[172] Transferred to U. S. Cavalry.

[173] Erroneously reported as a deserter; was wounded at White Oak Swamp, and received an honorable discharge.

[174] Promoted to Corporal.

[175] Promoted to First Lieutenant.

[176] Promoted to Corporal.

[177] Promoted to Quartermaster Sergeant.

[178] Erroneously reported as a deserter.

[179] Promoted to Sergeant.

[180] Promoted to Captain.

[181] Mustered as Ensign.

[182] Promoted to Second Lieutenant.

[183] Promoted to Corporal.

[184] Promoted to Sergeant.

[185] Killed at Malvern Hill, Va., July 1, 1862.

[186] Promoted to Sergeant.

[187] Promoted to Brevet Brigadier-General.

[188] Promoted to Captain.

[189] Mustered as Ensign. Promoted to First Lieutenant.

[190] Promoted to First Lieutenant and Adjutant.

[191] Promoted to Second Lieutenant.

[192] Promoted to Sergeant.

[193] Promoted to First Sergeant.

[194] Promoted to First Lieutenant.

[195] Promoted to Corporal.

[196] Sergeant in Howard’s U. S. Battery.

[197] Promoted to Sergeant and Color-Sergt.

[198] Promoted to Corporal.

[199] Promoted to Second Lieutenant.

[200] Promoted to Sergeant.

[201] Corporal.

[202] Discharged by order of War Department.

[203] Sergeant; discharged by order of War Department.

[204] Killed March 25, 1865.

[205] Died of wounds, January 2, 1865.

[206] Died February 13, 1865, of disease.

[207] Report of J. J. Dana, Major and Quartermaster U. S. A., Brevet Brig. Genl. Roll of Honor No. XIV., page 134.

[208] Wounded September 17, 1862.

[209] Buried in National Cemetery at Hampton, Va. Row 12. Section C. Number of grave, 25.

[210] Buried under name of “Sergeant William H. Hamer,” in Fredericksburg National Cemetery, Va. Terrace Section No. 8. Number of grave, 167. Body removed from Beverly’s Farm, Spottsylvania County.

[211] Buried in National Cemetery at Point Lookout, Md. Number of grave, 63.

[212] Buried in Richmond National Cemetery, Va., under the name of “T. Hall.” Number of grave, 1,272.

[213] Buried in Poplar Grove National Cemetery, Va. Division D. Section D. Number of grave, 218.

[214] Buried under name of “William Murphy,” in National Cemetery at Fredericksburg, Va. Terrace Section No. 4. Number of grave, 290. Originally buried on farm of Harris, Spottsylvania County, Va.

[215] Buried in National Cemetery at Andersonville, Ga. Section C. Number of grave, 1,290.

[216] Buried in Poplar Grove National Cemetery, Va. Division D. Section D. Number of grave, 215.

[217] Buried in National Cemetery at Camp Dennison, Ohio, under name of “C. D. Hudson.” Number of grave, 240.

[218] Buried in Poplar Grove National Cemetery, Va. Division A. Section C. Number of grave, 103.

[219] Buried in National Cemetery at Hampton, Va. Row 9. Section B. Number of grave, 39.

[220] Buried in National Cemetery at Hampton, Va. Row 3. Section D. Number of grave, 4.

[221] While in command of the Fourteenth New York Heavy Artillery Volunteers.

[222] Buried in National Cemetery at Hampton, Va. Row 9. Section B. Number of grave, 23.

[223] Buried in National Cemetery at Hampton, Va. Row 20. Section B. Number of grave, 17.

[224] Buried in Poplar Grove National Cemetery, Va. Division A. Section C. Number of grave, 102.

[225] Buried in National Cemetery at Hampton, Va. Row 1. Section E. Number of grave, 27.

[226] Buried in National Cemetery at Chattanooga, Tenn., under the name of “G. T. Peckham.” Section H. Number of grave, 159. Originally buried at Loudon, Tenn.

[227] Buried in National Cemetery at Hampton, Va. Row 1. Section E. Number of grave, 1.

[228] Buried in National Cemetery at Andersonville, Ga. Section T. Number of grave, 3,898.

[229] Wounds received at White Oak Swamp, Va.

[230] Buried in National Cemetery at Andersonville, Ga. Section B. Number of grave, 2,908.

[231] Wounded June 17, 1864.

[232] Buried under name of “G. Record,” in National Cemetery at Hampton, Va. Row 14. Section D. Number of grave, 48.

[233] Battle of the Mine.

[234] Buried in National Cemetery, Mount Olivet, Frederick City, Md., under the name of “Joseph Tresgate.” Number of grave, 250. Wounded in battle of Antietam.

[235] Battle of Fort Stedman.

[236] Buried in Camp Nelson National Cemetery, Ky., under the name of “Edward Wilber.” Section D. Number of grave, 50.

[237] Buried in Linden Grove National Cemetery, Covington, Ky. Section C. Number of grave, 104.

[238] Buried in National Cemetery at Andersonville, Ga. Section O. Number of grave, 11,080.

[239] Buried in Knoxville National Cemetery, Tenn. Section 6. Number of grave, 98.

[240] While carrying the flag. Buried in Poplar Grove National Cemetery, Va. Division D. Section D. Number of grave, 220.

[241] Buried in Knoxville National Cemetery, Tenn. Section 7. Number of grave, 54.

[242] Buried in Mount Olivet National Cemetery, Frederick City, Md. Number of grave, 834.

[243] Buried in Knoxville National Cemetery, Tenn. Section 4. Number of grave, 161.

[244] Buried in National Cemetery at Andersonville, Ga. Section G. Number of grave, 2,414.

[245] Buried in Lexington National Cemetery, Ky. Circle 12. Number of grave, 531. Originally buried at Lexington, Ky.

[246] Buried in National Cemetery at Knoxville, Tenn. Section 4. Number of grave, 143.

[247] Buried in Camp Nelson National Cemetery, Ky. Section D. Number of grave, 51.

[248] While carrying the colors. Buried in Poplar Grove National Cemetery, Va. Division A. Section C. Number of grave, 216.

[249] This committee never discharged its duties.--AUTHOR.

[250] This committee never did its duty.--AUTHOR.

[Transcriber's Note:

Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]